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

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καὶ σύ μ᾽ ἐξ ὁδοῦ πόδα κρύψον all MSS. (1) This is usu. explained by partitive apposition (σχῆμα καθ᾽ ὅλον καὶ μέρος), the part πόδα being in appos. with the whole με: "Hide me,—that is, my foot,—apart from the road." The construction is common ( Ph. 1301 “μέθες με...χεῖρα”, Hom. Il. 11.240 “τὸν δ᾽ ἄορι πλῆξ᾽ αὐχένα”): the question here is as to the sense. ἄγαγέ με πόδα could bear such a sense: but κρύψον με πόδα cannot do so, unless we grant that κρύπτειν πόδα could mean "to guide another's steps to a hiding place." Wholly different is Eur. Hec. 812 “ποῖ μ᾽ ὑπεξάγεις πόδα;” "whither art thou withdrawing thy steps from me?" =ποῖ με φεύγεις; (2) Paley thinks that πόδα is "quite redundantly used," as if ἄγουσα had been part of the sentence. The evidence cited for a "redundant" use of πόδα consists in (a) the phrase βαίνω πόδα, Eur. El. 1173 etc., where βαίνω is trans.: (b) one place, Eur. Alc. 1153 “ἀλλ᾽ εὐτυχοίης, νόστιμον δ᾽ ἔλθοις πόδα”: where, if right, π. is a bold cognate acc., come with returning foot: but ὁδόν and δόμον are vv. ll. (3) Campbell takes με as governed, πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, by κρύψον πόδα as=ὑπέξαγε: but this involves the difficulty noticed under (1). I regard as probable H. Keck's ἐκποδὼν ὁδοῦ. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 978 “χθονὸς τῆσδ᾽ ἐκποδών”. No substitute for πόδα is satisfactory: among the conjectures are κόρα, μέ ποι, πάλιν, πέλας, πέρα, πρόσω, τάχα, τόδε, τόδ᾽ ἄψ.