μετασπᾶν, to snatch to the other side (cp. “μετακινεῖν, μεταπείθειν” etc.), found only here, but not open to just suspicion, though Blaydes changes it to “μ᾽ ἀποσπᾶν”. So “μεθέλκειν” in Anth. Plan. 5. 384. σκληρὰ μαλθακῶς λέγων, putting hard purposes into soft words: disguising the ungenerous treatment which was really contemplated (399) under the name of a recall to home and friends (757). For the verbal contrast cp. Epicharmus fr. 121 “ὦ πονηρέ, μὴ τὰ μαλακὰ μώεο μὴ τὰ σκλήρ᾽ ἔχῃς”, "woo not softness, lest thou wed hardness." Arist. Rhet. 3.7.10“῾σπεακινγ οφ τηε ρελατιον το βε οβσερϝεδ βετωεεν τηε σουνδς οφ ωορδς, ανδ τηε τονες οφ τηε ορατορ᾽ς ϝοιξἐ ἐὰν οὖν τὰ μαλακὰ σκληρῶς καὶ τὰ σκληρὰ μαλακῶς λέγηται, ἀπίθανον γίγνεται”. Cp. 1406.
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.
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.