ὡς … ἕξειν. Against the tempting conjecture θεοὶ … ἕξουσ᾽, remark that in some other passages, where our MSS. give this mixed construction, the acc. and inf. could not be eliminated without strong measures: thus Xen. Hellen. 6.5.42 “ἐλπίζειν δὲ χρὴ ὡς ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς μᾶλλον ἢ κακοὺς αὐτοὺς γενήσεσθαι”: Cyr. 8. 1. 25 “πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐλογίζετο ὡς εἰ πάντες οἱ κοινῶνες θεοσεβεῖς εἶεν, ἧττον ἂν αὐτοὺς ἐθέλειν”: where the least violent remedy would be to delete ὡς—a course not possible here. In some other such places, indeed, the inf. can be very easily corrected (as Hellen. 3. 4. 27 “εἴη” for “εἶναι”, 7. 4. 39 “δεῖ” for “δεῖν”). ὡς … θεοὺς ἕξειν may be sound. Harsh as it seems to us, usage had perhaps accustomed the ear to hearing the speaker's own view introduced by ὡς, even when the corresponding construction did not follow. ὧδ᾽ ἐμοῦ would be weak. But ὥστ᾽ ἐμοῦ (against which the presence of “ὥστε” in 386 is not conclusive, cp. on 544) is worth weighing: cp. Eur. Or. 52 “ἐλπίδα δὲ δή τιν᾽ ἔχομεν ὥστε μὴ θανεῖν”.
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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