ἐπεὶ δίδαξον: “"for else—if this is not so—tell me"”: the controversial ἐπεί, on which see O. T. 390 n. Note the early repetition (after 966): see on 554: cp. “ἀλλ̓” 985, 988. εἴ τι θέσφατον: “"if, by oracles (χρησμ., instrum. dat.), some divine doom was coming on my sire, that he should die,"” etc.: ἱκνεῖτο, impf., because the doom was impending from the moment at which the Delphic oracle spoke: that moment itself, on the other hand, is marked by the aor. in O. T. 711 “χρησμὸς γὰρ ἦλθε Λαΐῳ ποτ̓...
ὡς αὐτὸν ἥξοι μοῖρα πρὸς παιδὸς θανεῖν
”. See Introd. to the O. T. p. xix.
