1409.
mvp-comment-930-1
Heracles now appears on the
θεολογεῖον. His approach (on the
μηχανή) is marked by the anapaestic movement, ll. 1409-1417, at the end of which he is seen in full view.
1413.
mvp-comment-931-1
ἀκοῇ τε] For the position of
Te, see
Essay on L. § 36. p. 65.
1414.
mvp-comment-932-1
οὐρανίας ἕδρας] ‘My abode in heaven.'
Cp. Aj. 460,
ναυλόχους λιπὼν ἕδρας.
1418.
mvp-comment-933-1
λέξω] Dindorf says that
λέγω would be preferable, presumably because the recital which the future tense seems to promise is not given. But the whole of this speech has the appearance of a hasty sketch. The real knot of the drama has been solved, and the action hastens to a close.
1419-1420.
mvp-comment-934-1
Philoctetes knew the labours of Heracles, but not the glory which is now revealed to him. The emphasis conveyed by
ὅσους therefore belongs rather to the main predication than to the relative clause: 'How, after all that course of labour, I attained immortal renown.'
ἀρετή is 'Glory of virtue,' as
δυσσέβεια, in Ant. 924, is 'Meed of impiety.' For
ἔσχον = κάτέσχον, ‘I won,' see
Essay on L. § 55. p. 101, and § 32. p. 55
, and
cp. Aj. 465,
ὧν αὐτὸς ἔσχε στέφανον εὐκλείας μέγαν. The aor.
ἔσχον = 'I came to have,' as
ἐβασίλευσε = 'He came to reign.' See many instances of this use in Ast's Lexicon Platonicum, s. v.
ἔχειν.
1420.
mvp-comment-935-1
ὡς πάρεσθ' ὁρᾶν] This implies some more elaborate stage effect than is commonly supposed to have belonged to the Greek theatre.
1421.
mvp-comment-936-1
τοῦτ᾽ ὀφείλεται παθεῖν] 'This fate is destined.'
Cp. El. 1173,
πᾶσιν γὰρ ἡμῖν τοῦτ᾽ ὀφείλεται παθεῖν.
1422.
mvp-comment-937-1
ἐκ.. βίον] In apposition with
τοῦτο. For this epexegesis,
cp. supr. 1355,6.
1423.
mvp-comment-938-1
τῷδ᾽ ἀνδρί]
τῷ Νεοπτολέμῳ.
1425.
mvp-comment-939-1
For
μέν followed by
τε, see
Essay on L. § 36. p. 65.
And, for
ἀρετῇ, κ.τ.λ.,
supr. 997, 1062, 1344, 5.
1428-1430.
mvp-comment-940-1
σκύλα] The spoils which Philoctetes is to send home are those which he receives as the prize of valour; those which he is to carry to the place of Heracles' pyre are the trophies taken by him in battle with the bow. (Unless we are to suppose an annual procession to Mount Oeta with the
σκύλα Τρωϊκά.)
1429.
mvp-comment-941-1
ἐκλαβών]
Cp. Hdt. 8. 11,
καὶ τὸ ἀριστήϊον ἔλαβε οὗτος: ib. 123.
1430.
mvp-comment-942-1
Οἴτης] For Oeta, as a name for the country of Trachis,
cp. supr. 453,
ὦ γένεθλον Οἰταίου πατρός. This word in the mouth of Heracles appeals more than all else to the heart of Philoctetes.
1431.
mvp-comment-943-1
τοῦδε τοῦ στρατοῦ] Sc.
τοῦ Τρωϊκοῦ. For this vague use of the pronoun
ὅδε, see
Essay on L. § 22. p. 34
, and
cp. supr. 1426,
ὃς τῶνδ᾽ αἴτιος κακῶν ἔφυ, τοῦδε τοῦ πόνου. Schndw. conj.
τοῦ δῄου στρατοῦ.
1432.
mvp-comment-944-1
μνημεῖα] Accusative in apposition to
κόμιζε: “An act commemorative of my bow.'
πυρὰν ἐμήν] It is evident that the high-place on Mount Oeta, where Heracles was supposed to have been glorified, after having been laid upon the pyre, was kept sacred in the time of Sophocles; and, like the place of Oedipus' disappearance, it is imagined to have been a place of worship in heroic times. Hyllus had often stood there sacrificing, Trach. 1192. Perhaps some well-known image of the hero there, with a brazen shield, may have occasioned the expression in
supr. 727.
1433-1437.
mvp-comment-945-1
καὶ σοὶ τόνδ'] These words are
διὰ μέσου. Heracles turns for a moment to Neoptolemus, and then resumes his address to Philoctetes.
ταῦτα refers generally to all that precedes. Neoptolemus must aid Philoctetes and not forget his obligation to the bow of Heracles.
1434-1435.
mvp-comment-946-1
Cp. supr. 112-115.
1435.
mvp-comment-947-1
τὸ Τροίας πεδίον]
Supr. 69.
1436.
mvp-comment-948-1
λέοντε συννόμω] 'Two lions, who share one hunting-ground.'
1437.
mvp-comment-949-1
ἐγὼ δ' ᾿Ασκληπιόν] Having so far broken ground with the supernatural, the poet carries the celestial machinery one step further. Machaon was the healer of Philoctetes, according to the common story which is followed
supr. 1333. in the anticipation of Neoptolemus. Here it is Asclepius himself.
1439.
mvp-comment-950-1
τὸ δεύτερον] For the taking of Troy by Heracles in the former time,
cp. II. 5.638-642: Pindar, Nem. 4.25: Aj. 1300 foll.
1440.
mvp-comment-951-1
ἐννοεῖσθ᾽] 'Keep this in your thoughts.' For
ἐννοεῖν, of an intention or design,
cp. O. T. 330,
ἀλλ' ἐννοεῖς ἡμᾶς προδοῦναι, κ.τ.λ. The force of the middle voice is, 'Be careful to bear in mind.'
Cp. supr. 375. 'His non paruit Neoptolemus.' Lambinus.
1441.
mvp-comment-952-1
τὰ πρός] 'As towards.'
Cp. O. C. 617,
καὶ ταῖσι Θήβαις εἰ τανῦν εὐημερεῖ | καλῶς *τὸ πρὸς σέ.
1442.
mvp-comment-953-1
δεύτερ᾽ ἡγεῖται] O. C. 351.
1443.
mvp-comment-954-1
συνθνήσκει βροτοῖς] ‘Follows men in death.' Of the pious only can it be said that their works do follow them. A confused expression, arising from haste or inadvertence like many that might be quoted from Shakspeare. The whole of this speech of Heracles, as compared with the rest of Sophocles, is a careless piece of work. Did the poet leave the
ῥῆσις ἀπὸ μηχανῆς to Iophon or to some pupil, being unheedful of the celestial machinery, like Shakspeare in Cymbeline? Or is this a case, like that of Iphigeneia in Aulide, where a later interpolation has taken the place of the original text? Nothing is to be gained here by conjectural emendation (see for example that of Hermann suggested by Ellendt,
ἡ γὰρ εὐσέβεια συνθνήσκειν βρότοις, | κἂν ζῶσι, κἂν θάνωσιν, οὐκ ἐπίσταται: or that of Cavallin,
ἡ γ. εὐσ. συμφέρει βροτοῖς, | καὶ ζῶσι καὶ θανοῦσιν, οὐδ᾽ ἀπόλλυται), nor by obelizing particular lines. In ll. 1452-1471, the master's hand is again apparent. For the sentiment,
cp. Pind. Isthm. 4. 41,
καὶ πάγ καρπον ἐπὶ χθόνα καὶ διὰ πόντου βέβακεν | ἐργμάτων ἀκτὶς καλῶν, ἄσβεστος αἰεί : Thuc. 2. 43.