135-218.
mvp-comment-91-1
We have here a commatic parados (cp. El., O. C.), in which Neoptolemus responds in anapaests to lyric measures chanted apparently by single members of the Chorus, as they take their places in the orchestra. Their entrance must be subsequent to l. 134, for the conversation in ll. 50 foll. would lose its effect if Odysseus and Philoctetes were not alone. The anapaests of Neoptolemus and l. 161, chanted by the coryphaeus, accompany movements of the Chorus, who at l. 169 have already taken up their position. The metres of the lyric part are as follows:- α΄. Glyc. β'. Glyc. γ. Glyc. It is evident that the lyric strains were accompanied with gesticulation, especially in στρ. and ἀντ. γ'. The fact that the Chorus at entering have some knowledge of that which has just been made known upon the stage, is not a sufficient reason for supposing them to have been present during any part of the previous scene. Similarly, in the O. T. the Chorus have been gathered by the news of the arrival of Creon from Delphi, which happens in the midst of the prologos, l. 87; and in the Ajax, the mariners speak of the slanders of Ulysses, which could only be disseminated after his exit. It is best, therefore, to suppose, as above, that the Chorus enter as usual after the prologos, and that the first strophe is begun as soon as they are well within hearing of the stage. The whole passage is meant to interest the spectator in Philoctetes, and to prepare for the effect to be produced by his entrance, infr. 219. Cp. Aj. 201-332.
135.
mvp-comment-92-1
The correction of this line by Triclinius has been retained by most editors.
136.
mvp-comment-93-1
στέγειν] 'To keep close.' Cp. Ο. Τ. 341, κἂν ἐγὼ σιγῇ στέγω. πρὸς ἄνδρ᾽
ὑπόπταν
ἁποπταν] 'In my intercourse with one who is full of suspicion.' They feel that he must have been made so by ill-treatment and solitude.
138.
mvp-comment-94-1
τέχνα . . ἀνάσσεται] ‘For the skill and wisdom of him who holds the sceptre divine given by Zeus surpasses that of another.' Cp. O. T. 380, καὶ τέχνη τέχνης | ὑπερφέρουσα: ib. 398, γνώμῃ κυρήσας, where τέχνη and γνώμη are used of practical wisdom. The reading γνώμας is probably due to an interlinear explanation of γνώμα.
139.
mvp-comment-95-1
γνώμα]
γνώμασ
γνώμας
γνώμα παρ᾿ ὅτῳ] Sc. παρ' ἐκείνῳ, παρ᾿ ᾧ (or simply ᾧ).
140.
mvp-comment-96-1
For σκῆπτρον
ἀνάσσεται
ἀνά·::· σσεται
ἀνάσσεται, cp. Ο. C. 449, σκῆπτρα κραίνειν. The expression Διὸς σκῆπτρον recalls the monarchical feeling of heroic times.
