ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' Soph.OT 828-29

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Stirling Bartholomew
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ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' Soph.OT 828-29

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus
Line 828-29

Ἆρ' οὐκ ἀπ' ὠμοῦ ταῦτα δαίμονός τις ἂν
κρίνων ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' ἂν ὀρθοίη λόγον;

“Would not one judge and rightly say that on me
these things were sent by some malignant god?”
David Grene 1942

“Would one not be right who judged that this came upon me by the action of a cruel deity?”
LCL Hugh Lloyd-Jones 1994

“Then would he who judged these things to be sent down by some cruel divinity not be right about Oedipus?” R. C. Jebb

Geoffrey Steadman agrees with Jebb's notes concerning ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' “in the case of this man” which appears to link κρίνων semantically with ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' which seems fair enough but there is another alternative.

One might read ἀπ' ὠμοῦ ταῦτα δαίμονός … ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' as verb-less metaphor of travel where ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' is the goal with perhaps an adversative color “sent/coming against this man.” The expression ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' being a means of indirect reference used for whatever (??) reason. The adversative part is a bit a of stretch since that idiom isn’t peculiar to Attic Tragedy according to G. Cooper who finds it in Herodotus.

The sentence initial position of ἀπ' ὠμοῦ ταῦτα δαίμονός (after the particles) is used for focus marking. This is most salient unit of new information. Those who prefer a final position for focus marking could argue that ὀρθοίη λόγον is in focus.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
cwconrad
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Re: ὀρθοῦν and ὠμός in Soph.OT 828-29

Post by cwconrad »

Stirling Bartholomew wrote:Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus
Line 828-29

Ἆρ' οὐκ ἀπ' ὠμοῦ ταῦτα δαίμονός τις ἂν
κρίνων ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' ἂν ὀρθοίη λόγον;
I find this discussion fascinating. The text cited here is fascinating in its own right. The diction here is as interesting as the syntax and discourse items that Clay has focused on. Upon checking, I was surprised to find how often the verb ὀρθοῦν has been used in the metaphoric sense in which we find it here:
LSJ, s.v. ὀρθόω wrote:II metaph.2 (from signf. 1.2) guide aright, γνώμην A.Ag.1475 (lyr.); πόλλʼ ἁμαρτὼν οὐδὲν ὤρθωσας φρενί Id.Supp.915; ὀ. ἀγῶνας, ξυμφοράς, bring them to a happy end, Id.Ch.584, Eu.897; τὰ . . πόλεος θεοὶ . . σείσαντες ὤρθωσαν πάλιν S.Ant.163; τύχη τέχνην ὤρθωσεν Men.Mon.495, cf. 625:—Pass., of actions or persons acting, succeed, prosper, ἢν ἡ διάβασις μὴ ὀρθωθῇ Hdt.1.208; στρατηγὸς πλεῖστʼ ἂν ὀρθοῖτο Th.3.30, cf. 42; ὀρθοῦνται τὰ πλείω ib.37; τὸ -ούμενον success, Id.4.18; of persons and places, to be safe and happy, flourish, S. Ant.675, Antipho 5.7, Th.2.60; of words and opinions, to be right, be true, οὕτως ὀρθοῖτʼ ἂν ὁ λόγος Hdt.7.103; ὀρθοῦσθαι γνώμην E.Hipp. 247 (anap.); ἐν ἀγγέλῳ γὰρ κρυπτὸς ὀρθοῦται λόγος it lies with the messenger to set right a secret message, A.Ch.773 (κυπτὸς v. l. ap. Sch.Il.15.207, i. e. to straighten a crooked message).
I've been thinking recently about the Homeric phrase in the formula ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηῦδα -- "words that 'hit the nail on the head" (to double up on the metaphor).
No less interesting is the metaphoric usage of ὠμός, an adjective that makes one think of Lévi-Strauss' title on mythology, The Raw and the Cooked. Here too there's nothing original in Sophocles' usage, which goes back to Homer but appears even in Thucydides' celebrated meditation on social revolution (so vivid that it made me wonder if Thucydides foresaw the French Revolution in details):
LSJ, s.v. ὠμός wrote:II metaph., savage, fierce, cruel, [δεσπόται] ὠμοί τε δούλοις A.Ag.1045; ὠ. φρόνημα Id.Th.536; ὠμῇ ξὺν ὀργῇ Id.Supp.187; δαίμων S.OT828; τὰ . . Ἀγαμέμνονος κλύεις ὠμὰ καὶ πάντολμʼ E.IA913 (troch.); ὠμὸς ἔς τινα Id.Hipp.1264; and so in Prose, ὠμὸν τὸ βούλευμα . . ἐγνῶσθαι Th. 3.36; οὕτως ὠμὴ <ἡ> στάσις προὐχώρησε ib.82; θηρευταὶ ὠμοὶ καὶ ἄνομοι Pl.Lg.823e; ὠμὴ ψυχή ib.718d; χαλεπὸς καὶ ὠ. X.An.2.6.12; τὸν οὕτως ὠμόν, τὸν οὕτως ἀγνώμονα D.21.97; ὠμοὶ χρόνοι hard times, IG3.1372 (metr.). Adv., ὠμῶς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτως Th.3.[84], cf. X. Vect.5.6; ὠ. καὶ σχετλίως ἔχειν Isoc.19.31; ὠ. καὶ πικρῶς D.29.2; ὠ. ἀποκτείνειν Lys.13.63 codd. ὁμοίως Lipsius): Sup., ὠμότατα διακεῖσθαι πρός τινα Isoc.9.49.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: ὀρθοῦν and ὠμός in Soph.OT 828-29

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

cwconrad wrote:
Stirling Bartholomew wrote:Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus
Line 828-29

Ἆρ' οὐκ ἀπ' ὠμοῦ ταῦτα δαίμονός τις ἂν
κρίνων ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' ἂν ὀρθοίη λόγον;
I was surprised to find how often the verb ὀρθοῦν has been used in the metaphoric sense in which we find it here:
LSJ, s.v. ὀρθόω wrote:II metaph.2 (from signf. 1.2) guide aright, γνώμην A.Ag.1475 (lyr.); πόλλʼ ἁμαρτὼν οὐδὲν ὤρθωσας φρενί Id.Supp.915; ὀ. ἀγῶνας, ξυμφοράς, bring them to a happy end, Id.Ch.584, Eu.897; τὰ . . πόλεος θεοὶ . . σείσαντες ὤρθωσαν πάλιν S.Ant.163; τύχη τέχνην ὤρθωσεν Men.Mon.495, cf. 625:—Pass., of actions or persons acting, succeed, prosper, ἢν ἡ διάβασις μὴ ὀρθωθῇ Hdt.1.208; στρατηγὸς πλεῖστʼ ἂν ὀρθοῖτο Th.3.30, cf. 42; ὀρθοῦνται τὰ πλείω ib.37; τὸ -ούμενον success, Id.4.18; of persons and places, to be safe and happy, flourish, S. Ant.675, Antipho 5.7, Th.2.60; of words and opinions, to be right, be true, οὕτως ὀρθοῖτʼ ἂν ὁ λόγος Hdt.7.103; ὀρθοῦσθαι γνώμην E.Hipp. 247 (anap.); ἐν ἀγγέλῳ γὰρ κρυπτὸς ὀρθοῦται λόγος it lies with the messenger to set right a secret message, A.Ch.773 (κυπτὸς v. l. ap. Sch.Il.15.207, i. e. to straighten a crooked message).
Carl,

That metaphor sounds familiar with some parallels in English. It is a "deep structure" travel metaphor is it not? I don't have the right terminology but I quit worrying about that some time ago.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: ὀρθοῦν and ὠμός in Soph.OT 828-29

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Stirling Bartholomew wrote: It is a "deep structure" travel metaphor is it not?
I am having second thoughts about that. However we see a less ambiguous travel metaphor in the closing lines of Oedipus speech.


Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus
Line 828-33
Ἆρ' οὐκ ἀπ' ὠμοῦ ταῦτα δαίμονός τις ἂν
κρίνων ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' ἂν ὀρθοίη λόγον;
Μὴ δῆτα, μὴ δῆτ', ὦ θεῶν ἁγνὸν σέβας,
ἴδοιμι ταύτην ἡμέραν, ἀλλ' ἐκ βροτῶν
βαίην
ἄφαντος πρόσθεν ἢ τοιάνδ' ἰδεῖν
κηλῖδ' ἐμαυτῷ συμφορᾶς ἀφιγμένην.

Never, never, O sacred majesty of the gods,
may I see that day, but may I vanish from among men
before I see the stain of such a disaster come upon me!
LCL Hugh Lloyd-Jones 1994

Indirection, what might also be called oblique reference, first noted in ἐπ' ἀνδρὶ τῷδ' a reference to Oedipus, occurs again in appeal to the gods ὦ θεῶν ἁγνὸν σέβας " O sacred majesty of the gods" Hugh Lloyd-Jones 1994.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
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