ἦ ματρόθεν … ἐπλήσω; Didst thou fill thy bed with a mother, δυσώ̂ νυμα (prolept.) so as to make it infamous? (I should not take “ματρόθεν” with “δυσών”. only, “"infamous from a mother."”） ματρόθεν is substituted for “ματρός” by a kind of euphemism: that was the quarter from which the bride was taken. Cp. Aesch. Theb. 840 “οὐδ᾽ ἀπεῖπεν ι πατρόθεν εὐκταία φάτις” (the curse of Oed. on his children). The aor. midd. “ἐπλησάμην” is used by Hom., Her., etc., and (in comp. with “ἐν”) by Attic writers: it seems needless then to write “ἔπλησο” (from epic aor. “ἐπλήμην”) with Bergk. The notion of “"filling"” is perh. tinged with that of “"defiling"” (“ἀναπιμπλάναι, ἀνάπλεως”). The tone of the passage is against rendering “"satisfied,"” as if “λέκτρα”=“λέκτρων ἐπιθυμίαν”. Nauck's ἐπάσω rests on Hesychius I. 1316 “ἐπάσω: ἐκτήσω: Αἰσχύλος Πρωτεῖ σατυρικῷ”. The aor. of “πάομαι” “"to acquire"” occurs elsewhere only in part. “πασάμενος” (Theogn., Theocr., etc.).
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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