Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus

With “κἀναπαύσατον” (note that L has κἀναπαύσετον) the words are usu. taken to mean, "and give me relief from this hapless wandering, desolate before," —i.e. since Antigone was carried off (844).

πλάνου, then, must mean, "wanderer's doom," for we cannot explain it merely of restless movements on the scene since his daughter's departure. But this seems forced. Wecklein explains it figuratively, of the insecurity felt by a blind man who has no guide (“"Haltlosigkeit und Unsicherheit, wie sie der Blinde ohne Führer fühlt"”). But how could πλάνου alone denote this mental state? Neither “τὸν πρόσθ᾽ ἔρημον τοῦδε δυστήνου πλάνου” nor “τοῦ πρ. ἐρήμου τόνδε δύστηνον πλάνου” mends matters. Schneidewin (rightly, I think) referred πλάνου to the carrying away of the maidens by Creon's guards, rendering, "repose from your late forlorn and hapless wandering." But “ἀναπαύσατον” could not thus stand for the midd.: when the act. seems to do so, there is an acc. to be mentally supplied, as Thuc. 4.11 “ἀναπαύοντες ἐν τῷ μέρει”, (not "resting," but) "relieving (their comrades) in turn": Xen. Hellen. 5.1.21 “ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀπεῖχε πέντε ἢ ἓξ στάδια τοῦ λιμένος ἡσυχίαν εἶχε καὶ ἀνέπαυε” (sc. “τὰς ναῦς”). I would read κἀναπνεύσατον: for the gen. cp. Ai. 274 “ἔληξε κἀνέπνευσε τῆς νόσου”: Il. 11.382 “ἀνέπνευσαν κακότητος”: 15. 235 “ἀναπνεύσωσι πόνοιο”. At such a moment it is surely natural that the father should have a word of sympathy for the late terror and distress of his helpless daughters, instead of dwelling solely on the pain to himself of being left without their support. The ε in L is a trace of the truth.