Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus

[1513] I preferοὗ καιρὸς ἐᾷ ζῆν, τοῦ βίου κ.τ.λ. to οὗ καιρὸς ἀεὶ ζῆν, βίου κ.τ.λ. on these grounds. 1. τοῦ before βίου, though not required, is commended, by Greek idiom; it also gives a decidedly better rhythm; and it is not likely to have crept into the text, since the occurrence of ἀεί with the α long was not so uncommon that it should have suggested the need of supplementing the metre by τοῦ: but, apart from metrical motive, there was no other for intruding the article. 2. οὗ καιρός, without any verb, though a possible phrase, is a harsh one. 3. From εαι to αει would be an easy transition. Andκαιρὸς ἐᾷ is quite a natural expression: cp. Eur. IA 858 “δοῦλος: οὐχ ἁβρύνομαι τῷδ᾽: ἡ τύχη γὰρ οὐκ ἐᾷ.” The foreboding of Oedipus is that his daughters must become homeless exiles （1506） unless Creon shelters them at Thebes. “To live where occasion allows” means in his inner thought, “to live at Thebes, if that may be—if not, in the least unhappy exile that the gods may grant you. ” The monosyllabic ἔα （1451, Soph. Ant. 95） and ἐᾷ （ Hom. Il. 5.256 “τρεῖν μ᾽ οὐκ ἐᾷ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη）” go far to remove the metrical objection. Meineke's conjecture, ᾖ, gives a more prosaic phrase, and is too far from the ἀεί of the MSS.