Posible escenario normativo futuro

In the prologue o f Oedipus at Colonus there is a movement from the state of ignorance to the state of recognition, in terms of Oedipus' attempt to identify a place in which he can shed the burden o f his suffering. He has been following the signs of Apollo who disclosed to him that he would reach a final destination, the country which would accept Oedipus as a stranger, offering him a permanent dwelling among the semnai theai (87- 90).'

The opening lines convey a different mood from the concluding ones of the prologue. The first speech o f Oedipus (1-13) has a tone o f uncertainty in dealing with the uncodified signs of the unknown place.^ His final speech (84-110), a prayer to the Eumenides, is a declaration that he has attained knowledge and acquainted himself with the natural elements o f the holy precinct. This is already stressed in Oedipus' determination to leam where he has come (1-2, 11-12), and his subsequent acknowledgement that his wanderings have driven him safely to this grove (96-98).

* "Im Eingang des Ôdipus auf Kolonos hat Sophokles vollig auf die Exposition der Vorgeschichte verzichtet; einzig daran, daA er ein Orakel erhalten hat, erinnert Ôdipus", Schmidt (1971)29. But it is important to highlight the slight vagueness which hangs on the designation 6eû)v oEjxvœv (89/90) when Oedipus recalls Apollo's oracle; the context

signifies that this is the abode o f Eumenides at Colonus (40,42, 84ff.), but at his arrival, it is by a slow process o f discovery that Oedipus identifies the holy place in which he will terminate his wanderings. Cp. also the vagueness in aXoEaiv Oecov visualized by Oedipus in line 10 and his forthcoming question Toû 0E©v vopiÇexai; in line 37. It is notable that Colonus is gradually reveaJed to Oedipus in response to his repetitive questions to the Stranger (38, 52), which makes Oedipus realize that he reached the right place. See also Brown (1984b) 260-281, esp. 276-278.

2 „

Thereafter, the intervening encounters between Oedipus' first and last verbal appearance in the prologue are dramatically chosen in order to bring together, in a striking way, the involvement of two important elements featuring in the prologue: the complicated characterization of Oedipus, and the entanglement of Colonus with Oedipus' fate.^ Colonus becomes the central theme of Oedipus' first speech (1-13),"^ which is followed by Antigone's detailed response to his impatient questioning (14-20). In the ensuing stichomythic dialogue (21-32) Oedipus and Antigone reveal their intention to find out the name of the region. This short stichomythia constructs an intermediate level which links the first scene between Oedipus and Antigone closely with the second scene of the prologue between Oedipus and the Stranger (33-80).^ In this three-actor scene Antigone becomes a silent witness,

Antigone is in the same position as Oedipus with regard to her lack of knowledge about the place, apart fi-om the fact that she possesses sight, so that her presence by her father's side is justified in order to describe to her father what she sees. Though we might say that things are presented in reverse order for Oedipus and Antigone: Oedipus cannot see but he seems to sense the place around him (9-10), and Antigone can see the place but

^ "Die Bedeutung des Ortes spiegelt sich im Ethos der Personen", Nestle (1930) 45. Cp. a more general remark by Schmidt (1971) 31: "Eine wichtige Funktion des Eingangs aller Sophokleischen Dramen liegt daran, das Ethos der Personen zu exponieren". Moreover, Nestle points out that the holiness of Delphi in Eumenides is presented in an objective way whereas the persons of the prologue in O.C. are strongly characterized (p.45).

^ Mastronarde (1979) 36; cp. also Nestle (1930) 50.

^ Nestle (1930) 51: "Wenn Sophokles [...] diese Expositionsszenen durch regieartige Bemerkungen abschlieât, so ist er andererseits bestrebt, die Verbindung mit der folgenden Szene durch kleine Zwischendialoge moglichst eng zu gestalten".

she cannot realize where she is.^ So the suburbs of Athens are described by Antigone, who can admire the beauty o f the physical environment without knowing the name of the district. In a short speech with a twofold function she depicts in expressive colours the place whose deeper meaning for the action still remains concealed (16-18), and her tranquillity makes a contrast with Oedipus who is anxious to find out where his destiny is leading him.

In response to Oedipus' appeal to show him a seat (9ff.), Antigone indicates a stone where she leads her father to sit in repose.^ In the following dialogue the question of locality is pushed forward in the "impatient exchange" * between Oedipus and his daughter. He is now seated on a rock, the "unpolished rock" which is "within the bounds of the grove".^ He asks Antigone to tell him more about the place (23). Antigone is unable to tell the place but she can recognize the city of Athens (24). In response to her father's admonition to find out the name of the place Antigone is about to leave when she is halted by the approach o f a Stranger. So far in the surviving prologues with three actors, Sophocles has never shown signs of making a second speaker vanish from view

^ The point has been raised by Dunn (1992) 4 who continues that "and the audience can see the stage and its properties, but is unsure what they represent".

^ "This image o f Oedipus sitting in repose, is to be the dominating external feature o f the drama", Seale (1982) 115. For the significance of the seat see Allison (1984) 71-73 who stresses the symbolical meaning of the word (aÇecyxoç Tcéxpoç 19, êÔpa 36, 45, 84, Pà0pov ôcoKéTcapvov 101, and later the second seat êôpova, abTÔTüExpov P îp a 192), which is repeated and described in the text to signal "the suppliant's bond with the land and place that is to receive him". See also Burian (1974) 408-429, esp. 410-411 for the supplication-theme in O.C.

* Dunn (1992) 2 and also p.3 for the identity of the setting in the opening scenes.

^ For the stage arrangements o f the prologue as far as v. 201 see Jebb, Introduction, xxxvii-xxxviii.