ηὑρέθησαν. Attic inscriptions nearly as old as the poet's time confirm “ηὑ-” against “εὑ-”: cp. O. T. 546 n. τέκνων has been suspected. The literal meaning of ἀνόσιοι γάμοι τέκνων can be nothing but “"unholy nuptials with children"” (such as Iocasta's with Oed.). But here the sense should be, “"unholy nuptials with parents"”: cp. 978 “μητρὸς...γάμους”. Can τέκνων, then, be defended? Thus, I think. ξυνόντες suggests the consort. Hence “ἀνόσιοι γάμοι τέκνων” is said, with poetical boldness and also with a certain designed obscurity, in this sense:—“"a woman who has made an unholy marriage with her son."” Wecklein takes “τέκνων” as "relative" gen. with “ἀνόσιοι”, in the sense of “παιδουργίας, σπορᾶς”: "a marriage unholy in respect of its offspring." This seems forced. Musgrave's “τοκέων” would be more specious if the gen. of a noun in “-εύς” anywhere else suffered synizesis in this place of the verse. (In 1361 “φονέως” is in the 4th place.) Soph. has “γονέων” El. 146, 241, and “τοκέων” ib. 187, Eur. the latter H. F. 915, Or. 815, and in these 5 places (all lyric) the words are scanned as trisyllables: a fact which, so far as it goes, is against “τοκέων” here. Neither “τέκνοις” nor “τέκνῳ” is a probable remedy; nor is “φίλων”. In my belief “τέκνων” is sound.
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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