The Chorus ask, “"And what is it?"” She replies, ἔστιν μὲν εἰκάσαι, “"we may conjecture"” (“τὸ δὲ σαφὲς οὐδεὶς οἶδε”). Cp. Eur. fr. 18 “δοξάσαι ἔστι, κόραι: τὸ δ᾽ ἐτήτυμον οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν”. So 1656 “μόρῳ δ᾽ ὁποίῳ κεῖνος ὤλετ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἷς ι θνητῶν φράσειε”. Better thus than, “"you can guess."”—The MS. οὐκ ἔστιν μὲν=“"we cannot conjecture."” (Not, “"I can liken my grief to no other,"” as Bellermann: schol. “οὐδὲ εἰκόνα ἔχω λαβεῖν τοῦ πάθους”.) οὐκ requires us to omit μέν or else to alter v. 1704, where see n.
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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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