A note on Sophocles, Oedipus Coloneus 1054-1055

In the second stasimon of Sophocles' Oedipus Coloneus the chorus describes the clash between Theseus and the Thebans. In Soph. OC 1054 ms. L, the families r (R Q) and z (Zn Zo) attest the adjective ἐγρεμάχαν referred to Theseus, whereas the family a (A U Y) reports ὀρειβάταν. L offers ὀρειοβάταν as γράφεται variant; this is probably a mistake for ὀρειβάταν. The most recent editors print ἐγρεμάχαν.

This paper argues that no explanation for the corruption of one word into the other stands up to scrutiny. Therefore, it is better to suppose that both ἐγρεμάχαν and ὀρειβάταν coexisted in the original text of the tragedy. Hermann proposed to keep both adjectives in the text but his proposal involved other emendations, which do not seem necessary if we print ll. 1054-5 as follows: ἔνθʼ οἶμαι τὸν ἐγρεμάχαν / ὀρειβάταν Θηϲέα καὶ τὰϲ διϲτόλουϲ and we interpret 1054 as dim. chor. B − − − ∪ − ∪ ∪ − and 1055 as ia chor ia ∪ − ∪ − − ∪ ∪ − − − ∪ −. [Publisher's text]