10. τί δ' ὅντιν' εἴπε; μηδὲν ἐντραπῆς. τὰ δὲ
ῥηθέντα βούλου μηδὲ μεμνῆσθαι μάτην.
She knows that the true answer to 1055 will be ‘yes’, and that it must lead to the discovery of the parricide and incest. ‘Waste not a thought on what he said…' twere idle’; so Jebb, like everybody else construing μάτην with μεμνῆσθαι. But at that rate this final word of the couplet is superfluous and falls flat. Manifestly μάτην must go with ῥηθέντα. As a hyperbaton this would be far too harsh and pointless; here, surely, is a clear case of accidental transposition in the ends of consecutive lines. For Jocasta will have spoken with feeling, here as everywhere else, and said τί… ἐντραπῇς· μάτην | ῥηθέντα βούλου μηδὲ μεμνῆσθαι τάδε.