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النشر الإلكتروني

1500

Εκτήσαθ ̓ ὑμᾶς, ὧν περ αὐτὸς ἐξέφυ.
Τοιαῦτ ̓ ὀνειδιεῖσθε κατα τίς γαμε;
Οὐκ ἔςιν ἐδεὶς, ὦ τέκν', ἀλλὰ δηλαδὴ
Χερσος φθαρῆναι καγάμες ὑμᾶς χρεών.
Ω παί Μενοικέως, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπεὶ μόνος πατὴρ
Ταύταιν λέλειψαι, (νῷ γὰρ, ὦ φυτεύσαμεν,
Ολώλαμεν δύ ̓ ὄντες μή σφε παρίδης
Πτωχὰς, ἀνάνδρες, ἐγΓενεῖς ἀλωμένας· 1505
Μηδ' ἐξισώσης τάσδε τοῖς ἐμοῖς κακοῖς·
Αλλ' οἴκτισον σφᾶς, ὧδε τηλικάσδ ̓ ὁρῶν,
Πάντων ἐρήμες, πλὴν ὅσον τὸ σὸν μέρος·
Ξύννευσον, ὦ γενναῖε, σῇ ψαύσας χερί. 1509
Σφῶιν δ ̓, ὦ τέκν', εἰ μὲν εἰχέτην ἤδη φρένας,
Πολλ ̓ ἂν παρήνουν· νῦν δε τότ ̓ εὐχεσθέ μοι,
Οὗ καιρὸς αἰεὶ ζῆν, βίς δε λῴονος

Υμᾶς κυρῆσαι το φυτεύσαντος πατρός.

1509. Ξυννευσον, relates to the librations of the moon, and αλωμενας (1505) to her wandering as a planet.

1512. Note 3 καιρος αιει ζην.

ΤΡΟΧΑΙΟΙ.

Κρ. Αλις ἵν ̓ ἐξήκεις δακρυων· ἀλλ ̓ ἴθι ςέγης

Οι. Πειςέον, καί μηδὲν ἡδύ.

Κρ. Πάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.
Οι. Οἶσθ ̓ ἐφ ̓ οἷς ἦν εἰμί ;

Κρ. Λέξεις, και τοτ ̓ εἴσομαι κλύων:
Οι. Γἧς μ ̓ ὅπως πέμψεις ἄποικον.

Κρ. Το 9εδ μ' αἰτᾶς δόσιν.

Οι. Αλλά θεοῖς γ' ἔχθιςος ἥκω.

Κρ. Τοιγαρόν τεύξη τάχα.

Οι. Φῂς τάδ' ἐν;

[ἔσω.

1515

Κρ. Α μὴ φρονῶ γὰρ, & φιλῶ λέγειν μάτην.

Οι. Απαγε νῦν μ' ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη.

Κρ. Στείχε νῦν τέκνων δ ̓ ἀφδ.

Οι. Μηδαμῶς ταύτας γ' ἕλη με.

Κρ. Πάντα μὴ βόλε κρατεῖν·

او

1520

Καὶ γάρ ἃ κράτησας, ἔ σοι τῷ βίῳ ξυνέσπετο. Χο. Ω πάτρας Θήβης ἔνοικοι, λεύσσετ', Οιδίπους ὅδε,

1514. Ιθι σεγης εσώ.

ὃς τὰ κλείν ̓ αἰνίγματ ̓ ᾔδει, καὶ κράτιςος ἦν ἀνὴρ, Οςις & ζήλῳ πολιτῶν καὶ τύχαις ἐπιβλέπων,1525

1524. Ος τα κλειν αινιγματ' ηδες. The sphinx's riddle, printed at the head of the play, has commonly this answer assigned to it; namely, that it means a man, who, going in his childhood upon his hands and fect, may then be said to walk as it were with four legs; who, in his middle age, walks only upon his two legs; but helping himself commonly in his old age with a staff, may then be said to walk upon three legs. But, though this may be one answer, and satisfactory to a common intent, yet has it no particular relation either to a sphinx, or to Edipus, who guessed the riddle; nor has it any relation to the sea, or to the air, in conformity with that part of the riddle which mentions TOTOV and aidega. A more appropriate answer to it may be this, that the div, concerns a hawk, as drawn in figure 140; the TETRATOV, a hog, as in figure 141; and the TPITE, τριπεν, a hake, a species of cod-fish, as in figure 142; which moving through the water by means of its two fins and tail, may be said to have, as it were, three legs. So denominated, these animals have all of them the same name, in sound, except that in pronouncing the word hake, a little less stress

Εἰς ὅσον κλύδωνα δεινῆς συμφορᾶς ἐλήλυθεν ; Ωςε, θνητὸν ὄντ', ἐκείνην τὴν τελευταίαν ἰδεῖν

Fig. 140.

Fig. 142.

Fig. 141.

is laid on the letter a, (αλλασσε δε βοην μονον). One of them moves through the air, another through the sea, and the third on the ground, wallowing there like a reptile, (ερπετα κινειται). The fact that the hog with his four legs goes slower than either of the

σε

αν

66 Ημέραν ἐπισκοπῶνία, μηδὲν ὀλβίζειν, πρὶν ἂν 66 Τέρμα το βίο περάση, μηδὲν ἀλγεινον παθών,

others with their smaller number of legs, is sufficiently obvious. It is called the sphinx's riddle, because the sphinx, as drawn ante, in figure 126, is composed of the very same shadows in the moon of which the prototype of those animals, drawn as above, are made up, the head of the hake in particular fronting the north, with the north on the left hand: and in this sense it is that Edipus guesses the riddle; for his prototype likewise (vide fig. 124, ante) is composed of the same shadows as those of the sphynx, and of those animals; or, in other words, he is an answer to the riddle.

But how is it that the answer to an ancient Greek riddle, should involve a reference to any English names of objects? Something of an answer to this question will result from the general contents of the next and following volumes, although it must be admitted that the reader may be warranted to put it with additional force, when he sees what follows stated as part of a third answer to the same riddle. The French sphynx, as I call it for distinction sake, which is drawn in

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