μὲν seems right. It implies a thought answering, rather than opposed, to ἵλεῳ δεξαίατο: i.e. "gracious on their part may be the welcome, (as, on mine, the duty to remain is clear)": not, "gracious, indeed, may be their welcome, (but, even if they should be stern, I must stay)." Cp. the μέν, without a following δέ, which lightly emphasises rather than contrasts: Xen. Cyr. 1.4.12 “ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ οἶδα” (as others, perhaps, may). τὸν ἱκέτην, without με (which I should at least prefer to ᾿μὲ or ἐμὲ, if μὲν were changed), is more solemn: cp. 284 “ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ἔλαβες τὸν ἱκέτην.” δεξαίατο, Ionic: so 921 “πυθοίατο”, 945 “δεξοίατο”, O. T. 1274 “ὀψοίατο, γνωσοίατο”, 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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