γῆς ἄδειαν, a strange phrase (perh. corrupt), must mean, security in regard to the land (where I find myself at any given time), a secure resting-place. Cp. Thuc. 8.64 “λαβοῦσαι αἱ πόλεις...ἄδειαν τῶν πρασσομένων”, security in regard to their proceedings. His daughters, so far as they can, give him in exile all that his sons should have given him at Thebes,—(1) maintenance, (2) safety in his movements, (3) generally, the support due from kinsfolk. Nauck's “στέγης τ̓ ἄδειαν” seems too suggestive of a fixed home to suit “τὸν πλανήτην” (3): Wecklein's “κοίτης τ᾽ ἄδειαν” makes a detail too prominent in this general acknowledgment. With regard to “βλάβης τ̓” or “κἄτης ἄδειαν” (Blaydes), remark that “ἄδεια” never occurs with a gen. of that against which one is safe. The καὶ before “γῆς” seems genuine: were it absent, the “καὶ” before “τροφὰς” must answer to that before “γένους”. And, for a rhetorical passage, γῆς is in some degree confirmed by the assonance with “γένους”. γένους ῾συβjεξτιϝε γεν.᾿ ἐπάρκεσιν=“ἣν τὸ γένος παρέχει”. Thuc. 7.34 “διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀνέμου” (subject.) “ἄπωσιν τῶν ναυαγίων” (object.)=“ὅτι ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπωθεῖ τὰ ναυάγια” (Thompson, Synt. § 98).
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.
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.