Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus

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ἦ ἑσθῶ; "am I to sit down?" deliberative aor. subj. of ἕζομαι. This aor. of the simple verb occurs nowhere else: but ἐκαθέσθην is used in later Greek (as καθεσθέντα Paus. 3.22.1). Since ἑ is the radical vowel, it seems better to suppose a synizesis (ἦ ἑσθῶ;) than an aphaeresis (ἦ ᾿σθῶ;): the ἦ, though not necessary, is prob. genuine. I have left this questionable ἑσθῶ in the text, on the strength of ἐκαθέσθην: but the v.l. ἦ στῶ ("am I to halt?"), preferred by the schol. in L, seems more defensible than it has been thought by recent edd. The answer of the Chorus, no doubt, refers to sitting down. So, however, it could do after ἦ στῶ; He has already been told to go no further (191 f.): but, in his anxiety to avoid further offence, it is conceivable that he should repeat his question in the clearest form. (Cp. Eur. Hec. 1079 “πᾶ βῶ, πᾶ στῶ, πᾶ κάμψω”...;)

λέχριός γ᾽ … ὀκλάσας, "yes, moving sideways," — the rocky seat being near his side — "(sit down), crouching low on the top of the rock." ὀ-κλάζω (cp. ὀ-δάξ, from √δακ), from κλά-ω, to bend the hams in crouching down; Xen. Anab. 6.1.10 “τὸ Περσικὸν ὠρχεῖτο,...καὶ ὤκλαζε καὶ ἐξανίστατο”, “"he danced the Persian dance, sinking down and rising again by turns"” (there was a dance called ὄκλασμα): so ὀκλαδίας=a folding campstool.

βραχὺς, “"low,"” (as μέγας=“"tall,"”) because the seat is near the ground.

ἄκρου, on the outer edge of the rocky platform (βῆμα 192).

λᾶος, gen. of λᾶας, as Od. 8.192 “λᾶος ὑπὸ ῥιπῆς”. No part of λᾶας occurs in trag., except here and Eur. Phoen. 1157 acc. “λᾶαν”. The MSS. have λάου, and the schol. in L quotes Herodian (160 A.D.), “ἐν τῷ ε_ τῆς καθόλου” (=bk 5 of his lost work ἡ καθόλου προσῳδία), as taking it from a nom. λάος: but Herodian had perhaps no warrant besides this passage, and no other trace of such a form occurs.