Sophocles Philoctetes 855

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)) — 855 focus
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 855 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 855 focus
Huge are the dangers that drift.
855
The wind is fair, my son, the wind is fair,
The man is dark and helpless, stretched in night.
(O kind, warm sleep that calmest human care!)
Powerless of hand and foot and ear and sight,
Blind, as one lying in the house of death.
(Think well if here thou utterest timely breath.)
860
This, O my son, is all my thought can find,
Best are the toils that without frightening bind.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 855 focus
Fahrwind athmet ja, Fahrwind,
Sohn! Hülflos liegt er und augenlos,
Der Mann hier, nächtlich im Schlafe gestreckt,
(Willkommener Schlaf uns!)
Weder der Hand noch dem Fuße gebeut er,
830
Nein, als läg' er im Schooße des Aïdes,
So blickt er. Sprich, was an der Zeit ist!
Dies eine nur, o Sohn, wurde mir klar:
Wagst du furchtlos, glückt die That wohl.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 855 focus
We'll take him with us. 'Twere an easy task.
Leave it to me, my son. There is no danger.
Ned. No more ! His eyes are open. See, he moves.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 855 focus
Aids the design; nor hand nor foot discharge
Their functions; but like one, for whom the tomb
Is open'd, see him stretched: this hath a voice
That calls us to the deed; to seize him now
Were easy; be the task to me assign'd:
860
Best is that toil on which no danger waits.

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-465-1 οὖρος 1

mvp-comment-466-1 οὐδ’ ἔχων ἀρωγὰν 2 νύχιος 3

mvp-comment-467-1 ἀλεὴς ὕπνος ἐσθλός 4 ἀλεής 5 ἀλέας 6 ἀδεὴς 7 δ’ 8 ἀλεὴς 9

mvp-comment-467-2 Some reject ἀλεὴς ὕπνος ἐσθλός 10 ἀδεὴς 11 ἀδεὴς πόνος ἐσθλός 12 πόνος ὁ μὴ φοβῶν κράτιστος 13 ἀδεὴς πόνος ἐσθλός 14

mvp-comment-468-1 οὔ τινος 15

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

827-862. mvp-comment-578-1 Odysseus ( supr. 77, 115), whose words appear in some way to have reached the Chorus ( supr. 136 foll.), spoke only of the necessity of obtaining the bow. For this the Chorus now see the opportunity, and cannot understand the inaction of Neoptolemus, who is better informed (839-42, cp. infr. 1329-43), and is moreover chained to the spot by remorseful sympathy with Philoctetes. This passage, which does the work of a stasimon in separating two episodia, is in so far of the nature of a commos that it contains a lyrical interchange between the Chorus and one of the persons on the stage. The text is imperfect in several places, and Bergk conjectures that four lines of Neoptolemus', answering to 839-42, have dropped out between 854, 5. It seems most probable that ll. 827-32 were sung by one half-chorus, and ll. 843-48 by the other, in subdued tones; that 833-8, 849-54 were recited severally by two of the chief choreutae, and that 855-64 were recited by the coryphaeus, or, possibly, sung by the whole Chorus. The metres of this irregular strain are dactylic, anapaestic, trochaic, iambic, and choriambic. The following is an approximate scheme of them :- στρ. and ἀντ.
Logaoedic 1 _UU_UU_UU_U_
(?)
Anapaestic { __ | __
Choriambic _UU_ __
Logaoedic 5 __UU_U_
Iambic U_U_ __
Iambic U_U_U_
Trochaic
Iambic U_ U_U_ __
Iambic 10 U_ U_U_ __
Iambic U_U_U_U_
Paracelèusmatic, { _ UU _ UU _
with logaoedic close (?)

The strophe is followed by four dactylic hexameters, the antistrophe by an epode, of which this is the scheme:-
Logaoedic {: __
Dactylic {: _UU_UU__ | _UU_UU_ _ (?)
Iambo-trochaic 5 _U_U_U_ _ (?)
Dactylic _UU_UU_UU_UU_
Iambic U_U_U_
For νύχιος, l. 858, cp. Eur. Hel. 1479, Suppl. 280.

855-862. mvp-comment-600-1 It is probable that Neoptolemus answered here; and to this the words βλέπ᾽ εἰ καίρια φθέγγει may be referred :- 'Whether you speak seasonably,' viz. in hinting that we must take him away. Else they must allude to supr. 826, 6, which is far off. οὖρος, κ.τ.λ.] This is to be taken literally, not figuratively with the Scholiast. Cp. supr. 639, 40, and note. Schndw. quotes Theocr. 13. 52, κουφότερ', ὦ παῖδες, ποιεῖσθ᾽ ὅπλα· πλευστικὸς οὖρος.

856. mvp-comment-601-1 οὐκ ἔχων ἀρωγάν] ‘Helpless, in sleep, disease and solitude, and in the loss of his arms.' For ἀνόμματος, 'Without use of eyes,' cp. supr. 632, ἄπουν, 'Lame.'