Sophocles Philoctetes 839

ed. Francis Storr

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Philoctetes. Sophocles. ed. Francis Storr. London. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Φιλοκτήτης (Greek) (Sophocles, Volume 2. Storr, Francis, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, 1913.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 839 focus
ἀλλ᾽ ὅδε μὲν κλύει οὐδέν, ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὁρῶ οἵνεκα θήραν
τήνδ᾽ ἁλίως ἔχομεν τόξων, δίχα τοῦδε πλέοντες.
840
τοῦδε γὰρ ὁ στέφανος, τοῦτον θεὸς εἶπε κομίζειν.
κομπεῖν δ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἀτελῆ σὺν σὺμ σὺν ψεύδεσιν αἰσχρὸν ὄνειδος.
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 839 focus
He hears not. But I see that to have ta’en
His bow without him were a bootless gain
He must sail with us. So the god hath said
840
Heaven hath decreed this garland for his head:
And to have failed with falsehood were a meed
Of shameful soilure for a shameless deed.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 839 focus
Wohl, er vernimmt nichts mehr. Doch glaube mir, daß wir des Bogens
810
Beute vergeblich errungen, entschiffen wir ohne den Mann hier.
Denn sein wartet der Kranz, ihn hieß uns bringen die Gottheit.
Unvollendeter That mit Lug sich zu rühmen, wie schmachvoll!
Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 839 focus
Sleep hath o'ertaken him. See, his head is lain
On the cold earth ; the balmy sweat thick drops
From every limb, and from the broken vein
Flows the warm blood ; let us indulge his slumbers.
INVOCATION TO SLEEP.
Sleep, thou patron of mankind,
Great physician of the mind,
Who dost nor pain nor sorrow know,
840
Sweetest balm of every woe,
840
Mildest sovereign, hear us now ;
840
Hear thy wretched suppliant's vow ;
840
His eyes in gentle slumbers close.
840
And continue his repose ;
840
Hear thy wretched suppliant's tow,
840
Great physician, hear us now.
And now, my son, what best may suit thy purpose
Consider well, and how we are to act.
What more can we expect? The time is come ;
For better far is opportunity
Seized at the lucky hour than all the counsels
Which wisdom dictates or which craft inspires.
Ned. He hears us not. But easy as it is
To gain the prize, it would avail us nothing
Were he not with us ? Phoebus hath reserved
For him alone the crown of victory ;
But thus to boast of what we could not do.
And break our word, were most disgraceful to us.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 839 focus
True, he hears nothing: but these arms in vain
We make our prize, without him if we sail;
For his the crown; he must be borne to Troy;
840
So will'd the god. How base to boast of deeds,
Which e'en with falsehood could not be achieved!
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 839 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-457-1 ἀλλ’ ὅδε μὲν 1

mvp-comment-457-2 θήραν … ἔχομεν 2

mvp-comment-458-1 τοῦδε … τοῦτον 3

mvp-comment-458-2 ὁ στέφανος 4

mvp-comment-459-1 κομπεῖν δ’ 5 ἀτελῆ σὺν ψεύδεσιν 6

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.

839-842. mvp-comment-590-1 Hexameters occur similarly in the commos of Trachiniae, ll. 1017-23, where solemn reflections are intermingled with the more excited lyric strains. Cp. also ib. 1009-13, 1031-1040.

839. mvp-comment-591-1 θήραν | τήνδ'] 'This capture,' accomplished supr. 779.

841. mvp-comment-592-1 τοῦδε γὰρ ὁ στέφανος] Cp. infr. 1344-7, Ἑλλήνων ἕνα | κριθέντ᾽ ἄριστον.. κλέος ὑπέρτατον λαβεῖν. ‘The prize was to be his.' Others (Paley) render, 'In him was the prize.' εἶπε] Sc. δεῖν.

842. mvp-comment-593-1 'To have an unaccomplished work to boast of, and that with the help of falsehood, is a reproach that carries deep disgrace.' To bring away the bow, as if performing a great feat, would only expose them to the reproach of not having brought Philoctetes. And this, when Neoptolemus had lied for the purpose.