Plutarch, Whether an old man should engage in public affairs 3.785a

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M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
 

Σοφοκλῆς δὲ λέγεται μὲν ὑπὸ πολλῶν πολλῶν M: παίδων Xylander: υἱῶν Stephanus: τῶν υἱῶν Wyttenbach παρανοίας δίκην φεύγων ἀναγνῶναι τὴν ἐν Οἰδίποδι τῶι ἐπὶ Κολωνοῦ πάροδον, ἧς ἐστιν ἀρχή· “εὐίππου—βάσσαις”. θαυμαστοῦ δὲ τοῦ μέλους φανέντος, ὥσπερ ἐκ θεάτρου τοῦ δικαστηρίου προπεμφθῆναι μετὰ κρότου καὶ βοῆς τῶν παρόντων. τουτὶ δ’ ὁμολογουμένως Σοφοκλέους ἐστὶ τὸ ἐπιγραμμάτιον Fr. eleg. 5 West

ὠιδὴν Ἡροδότωι τεῦξεν τεῦξεν Deubner: τεῦξε M Σοφοκλῆς ἐτέων ὢν
πέντ’ ἐπὶ πεντήκοντα.

But many say that when Sophocles was a defendant on trial for dementia, he read the parodos of the Oedipus at Colonus, which begins as follows: ‘of good horses…glades’ (668f.). And since the song seemed marvellous, he was dismissed from the court as if from the theatre, with applause and cheers from those present. This is generally agreed to be a little epigram of Sophocles:

Sophocles composed a song for Herodotus when he was fifty-five years old.

Relevant guides	Sophocles