τοῦτον refers to “χῶρον”, the place where he was to “"die,"” i.e. disappear. This place is accurately described at 1590. It was the grave (1545) that was to remain secret. But here, by a slip, the poet identifies them (see Introd.). We should not change τοῦτον to τύμβον. — Note how Soph. uses the vagueness of the local legend as to the grave. Secrecy was imposed by the dying breath of Oed. himself. The descent of the secret in the line of the Attic kings would serve to explain any esoteric knowledge on the subject which, in the poet's time, may have been claimed by a gens of hereditary priests. μήθ᾽ οὗ κέκευθε: neither where (precisely) it is concealed, nor (even) whereabouts it is situated.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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