μὴ κατ᾽ ἄστυ is a comforting parenthesis. μὴ is due to the preceding imperative μέν̓: cp. Thuc. I. 124 “ψηφίσασθε τὸν πόλεμον, μὴ φοβηθέντες τὸ αὐτίκα δεινόν”: Xen. Cyr. 3.1.37 “ἀπάγου τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς παῖδας, μηδὲν αὐτῶν καταθείς”: but it has, in itself, almost the effect of a reassuring injunction, "do not suppose that I mean." We could not make οἱ ἐνθάδ᾽ αὐτοῦ μὴ κατ᾽ ἄστυ δημόται a single phrase, as=such of the folks as are not in the town, but here. ἐνθάδ᾽ αὐτοῦ: Solon fr. 36. 11 “τοὺς δ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ αὐτοῦ” (in Attica, as opp. to abroad): so Eupolis fr. inc. 1. 4 (where Bothe after Meineke badly points τῶν ἐνθάδ᾽, αὐτοῦ), etc. The word δημότης in Ant. 690, Ai. 1071 =a common man as opp. to a chief. Here, as in Eur. (Aesch. has not the word) and Pind. (Nem. 7. 65), δημόται are the "citizens" generally; though in this place the term is tinged with the notion of "demesmen."
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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