ἐπαξιοῖ: lit. “"he deems thee, thy city, and thy friends worthy (of a recompense),—that he should make a due return, after receiving benefits."” The constr. is of the same class as “χρῄζω στόματος” (instead of “στόμα”) “προσπτύξασθαι” (Eur. Med. 1399), i.e. the inf. is added epexegetically, outside of the construction with the principal verb (cp. 752 “ἁρπάσαι”, 1212 “ζώειν”). This is, however, a peculiarly bold example, since we should have expected “δικαίας χάριτος”. Against the conject. “σοι καὶ πολίταις καὶ φίλοις”, remark that the strophic v. (1482) has no spondee. πόλισμα in Attic prose usu. implies a town of the smaller kind, as Thuc. 4.109 (of Thracian tribes) “κατὰ δὲ μικρὰ πολίσματα οἰκοῦσι”. But Eur. Med. 771 has “ἄστυ καὶ πόλισμα Παλλάδος”, “"the town and stronghold of Pallas"” (Athens), Bacch. 919 “πόλισμ᾽ ἑπτάστομον” (Thebes): so it is used of the grand Cloud-city (Aristoph. Av. 553, 1565): and Her. applies it to Ecbatana (1. 98). παθών does not require us to supply anything: it is strictly, “"for treatment received,"” χάριν sufficing to mark that this treatment was good. Cp. 1203.
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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