κλῂς, "that which closes," cannot well be rendered "key" here, any more than in Aesch. fr. 309 “ἀλλ᾽ ἔστι κἀμοὶ κλῂς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ φύλαξ”. The apparent boldness of a Greek metaphor is sometimes thus mitigated by the poet's consciousness of the literal sense; as when Pindar calls an inspiring thought an “ἀκόνη”,—literally, "sharpener," conventionally "whetstone"); or when he calls the master, who tempers a chorus into harmony, a “κρατήρ” (Ol. 6. 82, 91: cp. my paper in Journ. Hellen. Stud. III. 171). — Cp. the “βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ” (Aesch. Ag. 36), perh. a mere metaphor from a heavy weight,—parodied by Menander Ἁλιεῖς fr. 1 “παχὺς γὰρ ὗς ἔκειτ᾽ ἐπὶ στόμα”. Anthol. Pal. 10. 42 “ἀρρήτων ἐπέων γλώσσῃ σφραγὶς ἐπικείσθω”. Eur. Med. 660 “καθαρὰν ἀνοίξ ι αντα κλῇδα φρενῶν”, "having unlocked his heart in sincerity." “κλῃδοῦχος” was said either of a tutelar deity or of a priestess, and on the vases the symbolic key, adorned with woollen threads, is sometimes borne by the priestess (Passeri III. 294, Welcker Alte Denkm. III. 450 ff. etc.): but there is no evidence for the Eleusinian Hierophant actually putting a key to the lips of the initiated. χρυσέα, divine, precious,—because of the truths revealed: O. T. 157 “χρυσέας τέκνον Ἐλπίδος”.
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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