If the MS. ὅποι (Vat. ὅπη) is right, the phrase is harsh beyond example. ποῖ, ὅποι, instead of ποῦ, ὅπου, are often boldly used, when the verb implies either (a) motion, as 227 “καταθήσεις”, 476 “τελευτῆσαι”, Eur. Bacch. 184 “καθιστάναι”, etc.; or (b) patience up to a point, as Aristoph. Lys. 526 “ποῖ γὰρ καὶ χρῆν ἀναμεῖναι;” But it is hard to see how ὅποι κατοικτιοῦσιν could mean "how far they will prolong (thy woes) before they pity them." To supply προελθόντας or προαγαγόντες is to cut the knot. If the phrase meant anything, it ought rather to mean, "up to what point they will pity them." As in 335 “ποῖ” is a MS. error for ποῦ, so here ὅποι for ὅπου (Wecklein prefers ὅπῃ, "in what way"). Note that, in this context, πόνους = the woes of Oed. generally (mental and physical), not merely his toils in wandering: this is against the emend. κατοικιοῦσιν.
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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