1279-1280.
mvp-comment-848-1
εἰ δὲ μὴ.. πέπαυμαι] 'But, as my words are unacceptable, I have done.' For
εἰ.. μή τι = εἴ τι μή,
cp. El. 31,
εἰ μή τι καιροῦ τυγχάνω, μεθάρμοσον.
πρὸς καιρὸν λέγειν is, 'To speak to the point,' (1) really, (2) in the estimation of the person addressed, as here.
Cp. πρὸς τρόπου, e.g. Plat. Rep. 5. 470 C.
1280.
mvp-comment-849-1
γάρ] 'And rightly, for-.'
1281.
mvp-comment-850-1
οὐ γὰρ. φρένα] 'For you will never win my heart to feel kindly towards you.' For examples of the repetition of
γάρ, see Ellendt. Lex. Soph. s. v.
γάρ, 7, d. and
cp. 1158, 9. For
κτήσει, Wakefield proposed
θήσει (for which,
cp. supr. 532), but for uses of
κτᾶσθαι, cp. Aj. 1360,
κτᾶσθαι φίλους: El. 1303,
τὰς ἡδόνας ἐκτησάμην : Trach. 191,
κτῴμην χάριν : ib. 470:
infr. 1370,
ἐξ ἐμοῦ κτήσει χάριν. The word expresses Philoctetes' sense of the value of his own friendship.
Cp. supr. 478, and note.
1282-1283.
mvp-comment-851-1
τὸν βίον .. ἀπεστέρηκας]
Cp. supr. 931.
1283-1284.
mvp-comment-852-1
νουθετεῖς ἐμὲ | ἐλθών] ‘You come and give me advice.' That he should come at all, after what he has done, is an offence.
ἔχθιστος]
αἴσχιστος, the conjecture of Pierson, has been accepted by recent editors. It certainly makes the antithesis more exact, and
ἔχθιστος and
αἴσχιστος are confounded in MSS. of Aj. 658, and elsewhere. But for inexact antithesis, see
Essay on L. § 41. p. 78, €,
and for
ἐχθρός simply expressing abhorrence,
cp. supr. 928,
τέχνημ᾽ ἔχθιστον, and many other places in Sophocles. Translate, 'Most abhorred son of a father whom I most admired.'
Cp. supr. 242,
ὦ φιλτάτου παῖ πατρός.