Sophocles Philoctetes 378

mvp-comment-772-1 χαῖῤ, ὦ μέλαθρον ¹

mvp-comment-772-2 ξύμφρουρον ²

mvp-comment-773-1 Νύμφαι τ’ ³

mvp-comment-774-1 ἄρσην ⁴

mvp-comment-774-2 The MS. προβλής ⁵ θ’ ⁶ κτύπος ⁷ προβολῆς ⁸ προβλής θ’ ⁹ θ’ ¹⁰ πόντου ¹¹ προβλής ¹² κτύπος ¹³ προβολῆς ¹⁴

mvp-comment-775-1 οὗ ¹⁵

mvp-comment-775-2 πολλάκι ¹⁶

mvp-comment-775-3 ἐνδόμυχον ¹⁷

mvp-comment-775-4 πληγαῖσι ¹⁸

mvp-comment-775-5 1459 This Ἑρμαῖον ὄρος ¹⁹

mvp-comment-775-6 The only rival claim is that of Mount Skopia, near Cape Murzephlo (the N.W. promontory), which has greatly the advantage of Plaka in height. But two points are in favour of Plaka. (1) It was a fitting place for the beacon; for it is in a direct line between Ida and Athos; it is the nearest point to the Troad; and it runs out far into the sea. (2) The cave of Philoctetes commanded a view of the volcano Mosychlus (v. 800), and his cries were re-echoed from Mount Hermaeum. The two hills were therefore at no very great distance from each other. But there is no reason to suppose that a volcano ever existed near Cape Murzephlo, while there is some ground for thinking that one may have existed on the eastern coast (cp. Appendix on v. 800). See Tozer, Islands of the Aegean, pp. 273 f. (1890).

mvp-comment-775-7 Hermaeum occurs elsewhere also as the ancient name of a promontory,— e.g., in Sardinia (=C. Marrargiu, on the W. coast), and on the European shore of the Bosporus (=Rumili Hissar).

mvp-comment-775-8 The MSS. give the accent Ἕρμαιον ²⁰ Ἑρμαῖον ²¹

mvp-comment-776-1 ἀντίτυπον ²² χειμαζομένῳ ²³

mvp-comment-777-1 Λύκιόν τε ποτόν ²⁴ Λύκιον ²⁵ γλύκιον ²⁶

mvp-comment-777-2 Traces of Apollo

in Lemnos are not surprising. From early times he had been worshipped under that title, not only in the valley of the Xanthus, but also in the Troad (cp. Il. 4. 101 , with Leaf's note). A gloss in Hesychius (s.v. ) points to a cognate worship of Apollo in the neighbouring islet of Chrysè. and may both alike be referred to , as designating the god of light. In actual Greek usage, while was usually connected with the idea of ( O. T. 203 n.), was chiefly associated with Lycia. But, instead of the title being derived thence, it is more likely that the country of the people once called Tremǐlae took its name from the cult of the . (Cp. Preller, I. 202.)

mvp-comment-777-3 It has been objected to the mention of

that at v. 717 Ph. was described as having only : but that was merely the conjecture of the Chorus. Cp. 21 .

mvp-comment-778-1 λείπομεν ὑμᾶς, λείπομεν ἤδη ²⁷ ἤδη ²⁸ οὐ δὴ ²⁹ λείπομεν ³⁰

mvp-comment-778-2 ἐπιβάντες ³¹

mvp-comment-779-1 καί μ’ εὐπλοίᾳ πέμψον ³²

mvp-comment-779-2 ἀμέμπτως ³³

mvp-comment-780-1 ἔνθ’ ³⁴

mvp-comment-780-2 Μοῖρα ³⁵

mvp-comment-780-3 φίλων ³⁶ πανδαμάτωρ δαίμων ³⁷

1452. mvp-comment-961-1 στείχων] In departing.' Cp. supr. 1408: O. T. 1521, στεῖχέ νυν, τέκνων δ᾽ ἀφοῦ. καλέσω] · Let me address.' The word is used with some association from the frequent use of 'addressing a deity,' as in O. C. 1389 foll. Another somewhat singular use of καλεῖν occurs in O. T. 780, καλεῖ.. πλαστὸς ὡς εἴην, κ.τ.λ.

1453. mvp-comment-962-1 ξύμφρουρον ἐμοί] 'Sole comrade of my watch.' In the absence of companionship, the homeless cave was more than a dwelling-place to Philoctetes, supr. 298, 9, 533, 952, 1081 foll. The low roof of rock (his μέλαθρον) reflecting the feeble light of his fire, was all the society that cheered him through the watches of the night.

1454. mvp-comment-963-1 'And water-nymphs of the green meadow.' The bit of moist ground about his spring ( supr. 21), or the standing-pool ( supr. 716, 7), was peculiarly sacred to Philoctetes.

1455. mvp-comment-964-1 ἄρσην] ‘Bass.' Cp. the use of ἀνδρεῖος and γυναικεῖος for bass and treble in Hdt. 1.17,-and Shak. Tempest, 3. 3, 'Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it; | The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, | That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced | The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.' πόντου *προβολῆς] ‘Of the bluff that juts into the deep.' This conjectural emendation of Hermann is more probable than πόντου προβλής θ'. For, though the latter involves a slighter change, it leaves κτύπος ἄρσην too indistinct. πόντου is objective genitive: sc. εἰς τὸν πόντον προβεβλημένου.

1456. mvp-comment-965-1 οὗ refers either generally to the whole region described in the preceding lines, or to the last word only, the 'jutting foreland' being no other than the ἀκτή of l. 1, in which the cave was situated.

1456-1457. mvp-comment-966-1 'My head withdrawn into the deepest nook was (notwithstanding) wetted by the lashing wind.' νότος is here the south-east. See Introduction.

1458. mvp-comment-967-1 φωνῆς .. ἡμετέρας] The genitive follows ἀντίτυπον, for which word, cp. supr. 693.

1459. mvp-comment-968-1 Ἑρμαῖον] Cp. Aesch. Ag. 283, Ἑρμαῖον λέπας | Λήμνου.

1460. mvp-comment-969-1 χειμαζομένῳ] 'In tempest of my woe.' If there were storms without, so too was there a storm within. For a metaphorical use of χειμάζεσθαι, cp. esp. Aesch. Prom. 562, τόνδε χαλινοῖς ἐν πετρίνοισιν | χειμαζόμενον. Cp. also Shak. Lear, 3. 4, 'Thou think'st it much that this contentious storm | Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee; But where the greater malady is fixed, The lesser is scarce felt... When the mind's free, The body 's delicate: the tempest in my mind | Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there.'

1461. mvp-comment-970-1 Λύκιον] This, like ' Ἑρμαῖον supr., is probably a name actually associated with Lemnos, though we cannot pretend to know more than the Scholiast respecting its origin: ἢ οὕτω καλουμένη κρήνη ἐν Λήμνῳ Λυκίου ᾿Απόλλωνος, ἢ οἷον ἐν ἐρημίᾳ ὑπὸ λύκων πινόμενον. Possibly Sophocles himself could not have determined this.

1463. mvp-comment-971-1 δόξης. ἐπιβάντες] 'Though we never embarked upon this thought,' i. e. 'never entertained it, never thought of doing so.' He refers partly to his steady refusal to go to Troy, and partly to his abnegation of all hope. For the expression, cp. O. C. 189, and note: Hdt. 3. 67, ἐπιβατεύων τοῦ ὁμωνύμου Σμέρδιος τοῦ Κύρου: Plat. Legg. 3.699 B. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος ὀχούμενοι ταύτης εὕρισκον καταφυγὴν αὑτοῖς εἰς αὐτοὺς μόνους εἶναι καὶ τοὺς θεούς.

1464. mvp-comment-972-1 ὦ.. ἀμφίαλον] He sums up the preceding invocations in one expression.

1465. mvp-comment-973-1 καὶ.. ἀμέμπτως] ‘And speed me with good voyage to heart's content.' The fair wind, blowing off-shore, is regarded as the breath of the land. Seyffert takes ἀμέμπτως to mean, 'Without grudging,' as if Philoctetes apprehended that the isle might resent his leaving it. But this fancy is too finely spun.

1466. mvp-comment-974-1 ἡ μεγάλη Μοίρα] Referring to supr. 1337-47.

1467. mvp-comment-975-1 γνώμη τε φίλων] Supr. 1374, 1381, 1389. χώ πανδαμάτωρ | δαίμων] This refers to the intervention of Heracles, to whom the epithet πανδαμάτωρ is, in the mouth of Philoctetes at least, sufficiently appropriate. Cp. Trach. 1102, κοὐδεὶς τροπαῖ᾽ ἔστησε τῶν ἐμῶν χερῶν.

1468. mvp-comment-976-1 The compound ἐπέκρανεν, ‘Consummated,' exactly describes the action of Heracles here. Others understand the words of Zeus. But it is very unlikely both that Zeus should be alluded to in Sophocles and not named, and that the word δαίμων should be applied to Zeus in Attic Greek of this period.