Sophocles Philoctetes 718

Richard Jebb (Translator)

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Philoctetes. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1898.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Philoctetes (English) (Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 4: The Philoctetes. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 718 focus
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 718 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 718 focus
But now, consorted with the hero’s child,
He winneth greatness and a joyful change;
Over the water wild
Borne by a friendly bark beneath the range
Of Oeta, where Spercheius fills
710
Wide channels winding among lovely hills
Haunted of Melian nymphs, till he espies
The roof-tree of his father’s hall,
And high o’er all
Shines the bronze shield of him, whose home is in the skies.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 718 focus
Doch nun, weil er den Sohn rühmlicher Ahnherrn fand,
Wird er glücklich und groß aus dem Geschick ersteh'n:
695
Auf meerwandelndem Boot führt ihn der Retter heim,
Nach viel Monden, zum vaterländ'schen Wohnsiz
Melischer Meerjungfrau'n,
An Spercheios' Gestad, wo sich der Held, prangend in eh'rnem Schild, 1
Zum Göttersiz aus göttlicher Glut empor
700
Hob über dem Deta.
(Neoptolemos und Philoktetes treten aus der Höhle.) Neoptolemos. Philoktetes. Der Chor.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 718 focus
Hi
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 718 focus
A noble youth he now hath found,
Who with his father's virtues glows;
By fortune now his patience crown'd,
He rises greater from his woes.
The bark shall waft him, after these sad hours,
710
To thy loved banks, Sperchius, where their bow'rs
The Melian Nymphs delight to twine;
Where Eta blazed with flames divine,
Whence glorious to the blest abodes
The hero rose a god among the gods.

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-392-1 ἀνδρῶν ἀγ 1

mvp-comment-392-2 ὑπαντήσας 2

mvp-comment-393-1 ἀνύσει εὐδαίμων 3

mvp-comment-393-2 ἐκ κείνων 4

mvp-comment-394-1 ποντοπόρῳ 5

mvp-comment-394-2 δούρατι 6

mvp-comment-394-3 πλήθει … μηνῶν 7

mvp-comment-395-1 πατρίαν 8 πατρῴαν 9

mvp-comment-395-2 Μαλιάδων 10 αὐλὰν 11 ὄχθας 12

mvp-comment-395-3 παρ’ ὄχθας 13 Σπερχειοῦ τε 14 Σπερχειοῖο 15 ὄχθαις 16

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

675-714. mvp-comment-477-1 The preceding scene was calculated to deepen the feeling of compassion for Philoctetes, which had already been awakened both in Neoptolemus and in the Chorus. His generous willingness to trust them with his all, contrasted with their felt dissimulation, has intensified the sympathy which Neoptolemus afterwards avows, 905, 965, 6. Yet the Chorus do not imagine for a moment that their master will relinquish his purpose. Hence, while sincerely pouring forth their lament over Philoctetes' innocent sufferings (which they can only compare with the torment of the guilty Ixion), and really rejoicing in the prospect of his deliverance, they maintain, as in duty bound (since they are within hearing of the cave), the deceptive notion of the voyage to Trachis, and make no mention of Troy. But it must be borne in mind that from the prophecy of Helenus, of which they knew, they had every reason to suppose that the return to Troy, though Philoctetes was averse to it, would be for his good. While this stasimon is being sung (whether by half-choruses or by the whole together), Neoptolemus is with Philoctetes in the cave, and is finding still more cogent evidence of his misery. This stasimon consists of two strophes and antistrophes, of which the first are chiefly logaoedic, the second chiefly choriambic.

675-714. mvp-comment-477-2 α'.
1 _uu_u_u_
_uu__uu_u_
_uu_uu_
_uu_u_u_u_
5 _u_u_u_
10 __u_u_u__
_u_u_

1 Cp. Aesch. Suppl. 550. 2 Ion. anacl., infr. p. 451, β' 15 and note 3.
β'.
_uu_u_ _
_uu_u_ _
_uu_u_uu__
_uu_uu__
5 __u_ _
_uu_u_uu_u_uu_u_
_u_uu___u_uu_u_
_uu__

707. mvp-comment-506-1 ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν] ‘Of a brave hero,' i. e. Achilles. Poetical plural. παιδὶ συναντήσας is a good conjecture of Fröhlich.

708. mvp-comment-507-1 'He shall win happiness and glory after being so low.' εὐδαίμων is predicative and proleptic-ἐς τὸ εὐδαίμων εἶναι. Cp. Ο. Τ. 166, ἠνύσατ' ἐκτοπίαν φλόγα πήματος, i. e. ὥστε ἐκτοπίαν γενέσθαι. κείνων refers to 691-718.

709. mvp-comment-508-1 πλήθει πολλῶν μηνῶν] 'In the fulness of many months.' Cр. О. Т. 156, περιτελλομέναις ὥραις : Aesch. Ag. 504, δεκάτῳ σε φέγγει τῷδ᾽ ἀφικόμην ἔτους: Trach. 824, 5, ὁπότε τελεόμηνος ἐκφέροι | δωδέκατος ἄροτος.

710. mvp-comment-509-1 πατρώαν.. αὐλάν] ‘Τo his father's hall.’ The change to πατρίαν, adopted by most editors- cp. supr. τὰ πάτρια τεύχεα seems to be required for the metre, _uu_u_uu_u_uu_u_ (ἀνύσειε γαστρὶ φορβάν, supr. 712). But see l. 1100, λῳονος.

711-712. mvp-comment-510-1 'Beside the banks of the Spercheius, that are haunted by the Melian nymphs' (literally, 'Belonging to the Melian nymphs and (the river-god) Spercheius'). This is a more natural connection for the words Μηλιάδων νυμφᾶν than when they are joined with the preceding line.