Stranger and symbolon at Sophocles, ot 216–23

The meaning of σύµβολον (221) is “point of connection,” as Lloyd-Jones and Wilson have argued: “I would not be tracking it over a great distance unless I had some connection.” Hence in the following sentence Oedipus emphasizes his connection to the Thebans. But as transmitted, the immediately preceding sentence denies any connection between Oedipus and the matter at hand. Sense suggests that the second ξϵ́νος is corrupt and the meaning of the uncorrupted passage was “I will speak these words as one who, though a stranger to the report, is yet involved in the deed.” The lost word is unrecoverable, but ξυνϵὼν is a reasonable guess.