Laudator Temporis Acti

Sophocles, Oedipus the King 977-979 (Jocasta to Oedipus; tr. Richard Jebb):

What should a mortal man fear, for whom the decrees of Fortune
are supreme, and who has clear foresight of nothing?
It is best to live at random, as one may.

τί δ᾽ ἂν φοβοῖτ᾽ ἄνθρωπος ᾧ τὰ τῆς τύχης
κρατεῖ, πρόνοια δ᾽ ἐστὶν οὐδενὸς σαφής;
εἰκῆ κράτιστον ζῆν, ὅπως δύναιτό τις.

979 εἰκῇ L: εἰκῆ KA

C.M. Bowra, Sophoclean Tragedy (1944; rpt. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952), pp. 207-208:

The words may easily be underestimated. Though they are not the language of complete unbelief, they show a grave irresponsibility and culpable ignorance of what the gods are. Luck was not unreal or always unworthy of respect. So long as it was associated with some higher power, it was even pious to take note of it. There is nothing wrong when Pindar calls Luck the daughter of Zeus.³ But it was a different matter to substitute the rule of Luck for that of the gods, and this is what Jocasta does. She is perilously near to denying the power of the gods altogether and displays a scepticism like that of Euripides' Talthybius:

O Zeus, what shall I say? that you regard
Mankind? Or are the gods an idle fancy
And Luck the only governor of the world?¹

or his Odysseus:

Or should we think Luck a divinity,
And everything divine less strong than she?²

Since Jocasta denies the rule of the gods, she also denies human responsibility towards them and thinks that it is best to live at random, without purpose or plan. She can be contrasted with the pious Nicias who thought it unwise to trust in Luck,³ and her real motives are well illustrated by Democritus' searching words that 'Men have made an image of Luck as an excuse for their own lack of wisdom'.⁴ By exalting Luck Jocasta defies the gods and denies her responsibilities. This is not only impious; it is imprudent. It means that she has no foresight for the fixture. Thucydides distrusts those who believe in Luck and says that we attribute to it anything that turns out contrary to our reckoning.⁵ When Jocasta says that providence or foresight is impossible and that it is best to live at random, she deprives life of order and security. She offends against religion, morality, and common prudence. The audience would expect her to be corrected, and before the scene is over she has been.

[p. 207]
³ Ol. xii.1.

[p. 208]
¹ Hec. 488-91 [including 490, omitted by Bowra]

ὦ Ζεῦ, τί λέξω; πότερά σ᾽ ἀνθρώπους ὁρᾶν;
ἢ δόξαν ἄλλως τήνδε κεκτῆσθαι μάτην,
ψευδῆ, δοκοῦντας δαιμόνων εἶναι γένος
τύχην δὲ πάντα τἀν βροτοῖς ἐπισκοπεῖν;

² Cyc. 606-7

ἢ τὴν τύχην μὲν δαίμον᾽ ἡγεῖσθαι χρεών,
τὰ δαιμόνων δὲ τῆς τύχης ἐλάσσονα;

³ Thuc. v.16.

⁴ Fr. 119

ἄνθρωποι τύχης εἴδωλον ἐπλάσαντο πρόφασιν ἰδίης ἀβουλίης.

⁵ Thuc. i.140.1.