Elmsley reads ἄρχει τίς αὐτῶν; "Who is their king?" But Oed. rather asks, “"Have they a monarchy or a democracy?"” It would be a prosaic objection that the question is hardly suited to the heroic age of “πατρικαὶ βασιλεῖαι” (Thuc. I. 13). ἢ 'πὶ τῷ πλ. λόγος; "or does power of discussion rest with the people?" πλήθει, the popular assembly, as oft. τὸ ὑμέτερον πλῆθος in the Attic orators. Thuc. 2.40 (Pericles, on the Athenian democracy) “οὐ τοὺς λόγους τοῖς ἔργοις βλάβην ἡγούμενοι”. The schol. paraphrases, ἢ ἐν τῷ πλ. ἐστὶν ἡ ἰσχύς; and κράτος is a conject. instead of λόγος. Elmsley and others cp. Eur. Cycl. 119 “τίνος κλύοντες; ῾υνδερ ωηατ κινγ̣̓ ἢ δεδήμευται κράτος;” There is no evidence for λόγος as (1) the commanding word, "sway": (2) the deciding word, "arbitrament": or (3) the "principle" (ratio) of government.
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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