εἴποις ἂν: the figure called “ὑποφορά” (Lat. subiectio, Cornificius 4. 23. 33), the "suggestion" of an objection, with the reply; Tiberius περὶ σχημάτων § 36 (Spengel Rhet. III. 77) “ὑποφορὰ δέ ἐστιν ὅταν μὴ ἑξῆς προβαίνῃ ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ᾽ ὑποθείς τι ἢ ὡς παρὰ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου ἢ ὡς ἐκ τοῦ πράγματος ἀποκρίνηται πρὸς αὑτόν, ὥσπερ δύο ἀντιλεγόμενα πρόσωπα μιμούμενος”. Oed. here speaks chiefly to Ism., whose pain for her brothers (420) might suggest the excuse; though in 445, 457 he addresses the Chorus. Wecklein conceives Oed. as speaking directly to the spectators, who might recollect the close of the O. T. Need we charge the poet with this dramatic impropriety? θέλοντι, "desiring" (not merely "consenting"): cp. 767: O. T. 1356 “θέλοντι κἀμοὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἂν ἦν”. The desire of Oed. to be sent away from Thebes is passionately expressed in the O. T. (1410 ff., 1449 ff.). At the end of that play he repeats the request (1518), and Creon replies that it must be referred to Delphi. τότε with “κατῄνεσεν”, i.e. "when I was banished"; so Ai. 650 “τότε”="in those old days."
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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