1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-1
Philoctetes now feels that he is left completely alone and helpless. For the shipmates of Neoptolemus are only to remain for a little while, in the vain hope that he will change his mind. The following commos may be divided into two chief portions. The first, 1081-1160, is in effect one long monody of Philoctetes from the stage, of which the pauses are filled with short recitatives addressed to him by single chorcutae. Without noticing these, he continues the strain of his lament. In the second part, 1161-1217, there is a real interchange of lyric numbers between the Chorus and the chief actor. Still chanting singly, the mariners renew their efforts to win his attention. When they succeed in this, he bids them depart. They make as if to go. Then he calls them back again and begs for means of self-destruction. The commos ends on the re-appearance of Neoptolemus followed by Odysseus. It is evident that the second part of it especially must have been accompanied with various gestures and movements to and fro in the orchestra. The 'melodramatic' character of this portion of the Philoctetes (ll. 730-1217) may be compared with the opening of the Oedipus Coloneus. The metrical scheme (in which again there are several doubtful points) is as follows :-
α'.
(1.)
_ _ _ _ _UU_
__UU_U_ _
_ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_UU_UU_UU_UU_
(?)_U_U_U_
(2.)
_UU_UU_UU_U_ _
1
2
_ Iambic.
_UU_U_ Glyconic.
Glyconic _UU_U_
Dactylic { _UU_UU_
Iambic _U_U_ _ _
β'.
(1.)
_ _ _ _
__UU_U_ _
__UU_U_ _
_UU_UU_U_
_ _
10 _UU_UU_
(2) _U_U_ _
_U_UU_U_UU__
_U__UU_U_U_U_UU_
15 _UU_U_U_UU_UU_UU_U__
3
(2.)
__UU_U_U__
_ _ _ _ _UU_
_ _ _ _ _UU_
_U_UU__
U_ _U_UU_U_U__
4
5
6
For the substitution of − ᴗ – for ᴗ ᴗ in Ionic verse, which is allowed by some writers on metre, see Christ's Metrik, § 521.
ἐπ. (ἀπολελυμένα).
(1.)
_U_U_
_ _U_U_U_U_U_U_U_
_U_U_U_
_ _ _ _
_U_UU__UU__UU__
_ _
_ _UU_UUUUUU
7
_U_U_ _U_U_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _UU_U_
__UU_U_U_
20 U_U_U_
U_UU_UU_
_U_U_U_U_U_U_U_U_
_UU_U_
(2.)
_UU_UU_U_
_ _ _U_UU__
_ _ _ _ _U__
_UU_U_U_UUUUU__
_ _ _
30 U_U_U_U_
_UU_U_
_ _U_U_U_U_
_U_U__U_U_
35 U_U_U_
If the irregularities of the above scheme are compared with those noticed in the note on O. C. 117-254, in vol. 1. p. 298, it will be found that they cannot be adequately accounted for by supposing extensive corruptions of the text. For (a) they are similar in kind to those in O. C., (b) they do not as a rule in either case violate the general laws of metre. While admitting some corruptions, it is reasonable also to suppose that in these later plays of Sophocles the severity of rhythm is relaxed in the lyric dialogue as well as in the senarii. This may be partly accounted for by the 'melodramatic' element encroaching on tragedy, and partly by contemporary innovations in the art of music.
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-2
In antistrophe _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-3
2 Or, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Cp. β' (2), ll. 2, 3.
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-4
3
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-5
In antistrophe U_ _ _
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-6
2 In antistrophe U_UU_U__
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-7
3 In antistrophe _ _UU_U_UU_UU_U_U_
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-8
10
1081-1082.
mvp-comment-741-1
ὦ.. παγετῶδες] ‘Ο cavernous rocky cell, sultry and chill (by turns)!' This phrase presents the other side of the comfortable description given by Odysseus in
supr. 17-19.
1084-1085.
mvp-comment-742-1
ἀλλὰ .. συνοίσει] ‘But in death also thou wilt be with me.' 'Comes eris,' Lamb. For
συμφέρειν in a nearly neutral sense =
συνεῖναι,
cp. Hes. Op. and D. 300,
λιμὸς γάρ τοι πάμπαν ἀεργῷ σύμφορος ἀνδρί. And for the future middle,
cp. O. C. 641,
τῇδε γὰρ ξυνοίσομαι. Porson's and Reiske's conjecture,
συνείσει, ('Thou wilt know of me'), is therefore unnecessary.
1087-1088.
mvp-comment-743-1
πληρέστατον . . ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ] 'Overfull of my sorrow.' This refers not only to physical evils,
supr. 38, 9.-but to the resonance of his cries and the remembrance of his moments of despair. For such clinging of association to a spot,
cp. Tennyson's Elaine, 'A horror lived about the tarn, and clave | Like its own mists to all the mountain-side.' Also Maud, 'The red-ribbed ledges drip with a silent horror of blood, | And Echo there, whatever is ask'd her, answers, Death.'
1089.
mvp-comment-744-1
τί ποτ᾿ αὐ μοι τὸ κατ᾿ ἀμαρ ἔσται] 'What henceforth shall be my daily portion?'
Ср. O. С. 3. 4,
τίς τὸν πλανήτην Οἰδίπουν καθ᾿ ἡμέραν τὴν νῦν σπανιστοῖς δέξεται δωρήμασιν ;
1090-1091.
mvp-comment-745-1
τοῦ . . σιτονόμου ἐλπίδος ;] 'What hope of obtaining food?' For
τοῦ, attributive, see
E. on L. § 21. p. 33.
And for the double interrogation,
cp. Trach. 421,
τίς πόθεν μολών, κ.τ.λ.
σιτονόμου =
τοῦ νέμεσθαι σίτον. For this condensation of a phrase into an adjective, see
Essay on L. § 43. p. 81
, and
cp. especially El. 857, 8,
ἐλπίδων . . κοινοτόκων | εὐπατρίδων τ᾽ ἀρωγαί.
1092.
mvp-comment-746-1
εἴθ᾽.. ἕλωσι] 'I wish that from the skies aloft the cowering creatures there may cleave the shrilling winds to conquer me.'
εἴθε is not elsewhere found with the conjunctive. Either (1) there is a confusion of
ἕλωσι (conjunctive for imperative) with
εἴθ' ἕλοιεν, or (2) the text is unsound. In the latter case a possible emendation is to read
εἶ' (ela) for
εἴθ'.
Cp. Plat. Soph. 239 B,
ἀλλ᾽ εἷα δή, νῦν ἐν σοὶ σκεψώμεθα. (Where however
α is sometimes read.) Hermann conjectures
ἴθ'.
1093.
mvp-comment-747-1
ὀξύτονος, which elsewhere is descriptive of sound, may here suggest (1) the whistling of the wind amongst the rocks. But, possibly, (2) the meaning is simply 'Strong.'
