ᾯ μή 'στι τάρβος δρῶντι τοῦτον οὐδ' ἔπος φοβεῖ
if one has no alarm in acting, neither does a word frighten him
Translated by Sheila Kurian6 Jun 2000Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
That is: he who is not afraid of the deed [does] not [fear] the word either.
Greek original · Adler’s text
ᾯ μή 'στι τάρβος δρῶντι, τοῦτον οὐδ' ἔπος φοβεῖ· τουτέστιν ὁ μὴ τὸ ἔργον δεδοικώς, οὐδὲ τὸν λόγον.
Betacode
*(=w| mh/ 'sti ta/rbos drw=nti, tou=ton ou)d' e)/pos fobei=: toute/stin o( mh\ to\ e)/rgon dedoikw/s, ou)de\ to\n lo/gon.
Notes
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 296, with the gloss from the scholia there; again at tau 118. The sentiment -- albeit in the phraseology of the present gloss rather than that of the headword phrase itself -- is closely paralleled in Tragica adespota fr. 459 Nauck. For the active verb
fobe/w "I frighten", cf. phi 560.
Fagles (below) p.175 translates: "He didn't flinch at murder, he'll never flinch at words."
Dawe (below) p.124 comments: "Oedipus takes a more modest view of his prowess at cursing.drw=nti harks back todrw=nt' (293).ou)d' e)/pos : words will not frighten either.ou)d' as in 287."
References
Dawe, R.D.(ed.), Sophocles: Oedipus Rex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982
Sophocles: the Three Theban Plays, translated by Robert Fagles with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox. Viking Penguin Inc./Allen Lane, 1982
Sophocles: the Three Theban Plays, translated by Robert Fagles with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox. Viking Penguin Inc./Allen Lane, 1982
Neighbouring entries
Revision history4 revisions · last 12 Sep 2023
- tweaked translation, expanded note — Catharine Roth
- coding — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- supplied headword; streamlined translator's notes; added other notes; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Sheila Kurian