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__
675.
mvp-comment-478-1
ὄπωπα δ᾽ οὐ μάλα] ‘Though I never actually saw.' μάλα emphasizes οὐκ ὄπωπα, because seeing is more than hearing. The sorrow of Philoctetes is patent to the eye.
676.
mvp-comment-479-1
ποτέ belongs to the verbal notion in πελάταν.
Cp. supr. 147.
677.
mvp-comment-480-1
Ιξίονα (see v. rr.) is omitted in the text as possibly arising from a gloss.
Cp. Trach. 840.
678.
mvp-comment-481-1
ἄμπυξ is (a) a frontlet; hence (b) may be here understood to mean the convex external surface of a wheel.
ἄμπυκα δρομάδα = 'A rolling rim.' A conjectural reading, ἄντυγα, was proposed by Musgrave. But ἄντυξ, in the literal sense, is no more 'a wheel' than ἄμπυξ.
679.
mvp-comment-482-1
ἔβαλεν] Although ἔλαβε, the MS. reading, is not impossible, if we suppose δέσμιον proleptic ('seized bound' for 'seized and bound'), ἔβαλεν gives a better sense.
Cp. O. C. 475. Mr. Paley reads, κατ᾿ ἄμπυκα δὴ δρομάδ᾽ ὡς βάλε δέσμιον ὁ π. Κ. π. For the metre of this,
cp. infr. 863, 4, 1114, 5; О. С. 253, 4.
680.
mvp-comment-483-1
For ἐσίδον, which is the reading of the first hand of L. and of Par. A,
cp. El. 205.
681.
mvp-comment-484-1
τοῦδ᾽ ἐχθίονι] See
Essay on L. § 10. p. 15, 2 a.
682.
mvp-comment-485-1
'Who having neither harmed nor defrauded any.'
Cp. Od. 4. 690, οὔτε τινὰ ῥέξας ἐξαίσιον, οὔτε τι εἰπών. The use of ἔρδειν absolutely for ἔρδειν τι κακόν is singular, but is assisted by νοσφίσας following.
Cp. the frequent use of παθεῖν τι for παθεῖν τι κακόν. Mr. Paley strangely interprets, 'Having imprisoned any' (as if from ἔργω).
683.
mvp-comment-486-1
ἔν *γ᾽ ἴσοις] This, Hermann's, emendation of ἐν ἴσοις is adopted as the most probable. 'Just, at least amongst the just; i.e. One sure to have been esteemed righteous, if he had lived amongst righteous men.
Cp. (for the form of expression, not for the meaning οἱ ἴσος) O. T. 677, ἐν δὲ τοῖσδ᾽ ἴσος. The force of ye is to throw blame by implication on the Argives at Troy, who treated Philoctetes as if he had been a malefactor.
684.
mvp-comment-487-1
The metre requires some change. Dindorf reads ὠλέκεθ᾽ ὧδ᾽. But τῇδε has more point than ὧδε, and connects better with what follows.
685.
mvp-comment-488-1
τόδε. . ἔχει] 'At this I marvel.' τόδε is accusative after θαῦμ᾽ ἔχει με = θαυμάζω.
Cp. Od. 20. 217, αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ τόδε θυμὸς .. πόλλ᾽ ἐπιδινεῖται.
686.
mvp-comment-489-1
'How then he retained his hold of a life so steeped in tears.'
Cp. supr. 535, διέζων and note,
infr. 1158-60.
687.
mvp-comment-490-1
ἵν᾿ αὐτὸς ἦν πρόσουρος] Sc. ἑαυτῷ. Schndw.
cp. Lucian. Timon. θεοῖς θυέτω καὶ εὐωχείσθω μόνος ἑαυτῷ γείτων καὶ ὅμορος. The phrase is an oxymoron.
Cp. Aesch. Cho. 866, μόνος ὢν ἔφεδρος, (‘Having none to second him').
οὐκ ἔχων βάσιν] 'Without power of movement.'
Cp. supr. 632, ἄπουν, and, for the meaning of the verbal noun,
supr. 18, ἐνθάκησις, and note. Bothe's ingenious correction, ἵν᾽ αὐτὸς ἦν, πρόσουρον οὐκ ἔχων βάσιν (
cp. supr. 171, μηδὲ σύντροφον ὄμμ᾽ ἔχων), is inadmissible, (1) as too diffuse, and (2) because αὐτός εἶμι, “I am by myself,' is not a poetical expression for the misery of solitude. This and the following lines are an echo and expansion of Philoctetes' complaint,
supr. 280 foll. ἄνδρα δ᾽ οὐδέν᾽ ἔντοπον, | οὐχ ὅστις ἀρκέσειεν, οὐδ᾽ ὅστις νόσου | κάμνοντι συλλάβοιτο. Lambinus gives an odd explanation of πρόσ-ουρος, 'expositus ventis.'
688.
mvp-comment-491-1
κακογείτονα] ‘To be a neighbour to his misery.’ This, as Lessing saw (Laoc. p. 37), = γείτονα κακῶν οἱ ἐν κακοῖς.
689-691.
mvp-comment-492-1
By bringing *τάν from before θερμοτάταν, where it injures the metre, to before βαρυβρῶτ', where a syllable is required, we obtain a possible construction for these lines. In whose ear he might lament, with groaning that had response (ἀντίτυπον), the disease (τάν, sc. νόσον) so cruelly gnawing, so dripping with gore.
689.
mvp-comment-493-1
στόνον ἀντίτυπον is thus cognate accusative with ἀποκλαύσειεν, i.e. So as to receive groan for groan.'
Cp. Ant. 592, ἀντιπλῆγες ἀκταί.
692.
mvp-comment-494-1
ἐνθήρου] (
Cp. supr. 226, ἀπηγριωμένον) 'That has lost the human shape,' no longer recognizable as that of a human being.
Cp. Aesch. Ag. 562, τιθέντες ἔνθηρον τρίχα. The etymological analysis of the word is difficult, perhaps = θηρσὶν ἐναριθμούμενος.
693.
mvp-comment-495-1
εἴ τις ἐμπέσοι (sc. αἱμάς)] 'If any attacked him;' i.e. If the bleeding at any time came on.
694.
mvp-comment-496-1
φορβάδος.. ἑλεῖν] ‘Or to take them' (the herbs) 'from the sustaining earth.' There is a slight change of construction; i. e ἑλεῖν = ὅστις ἕλοι, and the order of language, as elsewhere (
Essay on L. § 41, B. p. 77
) reverses the order of fact. This passage has given needless trouble. Mr. Paley reads ἕλοι.
695.
mvp-comment-497-1
*εἶρπε.. ἄν]
Cp. supr. 290 foll.
*ἀλλαχά] This is the simplest change (see v.rr.), which restores correspondence of strophe and antistrophe. Others read ἀτίμως for ἀναξίως in
supr. 686. So τότε is antecedent to ἁνίκα in 704.
696.
mvp-comment-498-1
εἰλυόμενος . . τιθήνας] 'Crawling, like a child without the kindly nurse.' So the Chorus expand the suggestive word εἰλυόμην in 291; i.e. He needed the support of hands as well as feet in the rocky paths.
697.
mvp-comment-499-1
ὅθεν εὐμάρει᾽ ὑπάρχοι] 'To the place where a supply for his wants (the herb for his pain, the birds for his hunger) was to be found.'
πόρον.. ἐξανείη] 'Left him the power of motion; i. e. Allowed him to move again. As the pain might be said ἐμποδίζειν πόρον, so when it ceases it is said ἐξανιέναι πόρον.
Cp. Aj.674-6. This seems the most likely interpretation of a difficult passage. For other suggestions, see Herm., Schndw., Nauck, Dindorf, Paley.
699-700.
mvp-comment-500-1
(1) 'Not lifting for his sustenance the sown-produce' (
cp. Hdt. 4.53) 'of the sacred earth, nor sustenance afforded by other things which we, industrious men, enjoy.' If this is right, φορβάν, which in l. 706 is in apposition to σπόρον (
cp. Plat. Legg. 12. 958 E, ὅσα τροφὴν μήτηρ οὖσα ἡ γῆ πέφυκε βούλεσθαι φέρειν), is to be resumed in l. 707 as the immediate object of αἴρων. (2) Another way is to take σπορόν (sic) as an adjective.
Cp. τορός, τομός. 'Not taking up the sown sustenance afforded by the sacred earth, nor the sustenance afforded by other things, etc.'
702.
mvp-comment-501-1
πτανῶν πτανοῖς] (1) 'From his winged arrows by means of winged birds' (ὀρνέοις, Scholiast).
Cp. supr. 288, 9, τὰς ὑποπτέρους | βάλλον πελείας. Or (2) 'With winged shafts (instrum. dat.) he contrived a sustenance consisting of winged birds' (gen. of material). There is no sufficient ground for suspecting the reading. Perhaps, however, πτανάν, agreeing with φορβάν, would be better than πτανῶν.
Cp. infr. 1146, πταναὶ θῆραι. For the tautology in φορβάδος, φορβάν, φορβάν, see
Essay on L. § 44. pp. 83, 4.
703.
mvp-comment-502-1
ψυχά]
Cp. supr. 55 and note.
704.
mvp-comment-503-1
For the genitive with ἥσθη, see
Essay on L. § 10. p. 16, 5
, and, for the dative χρόνῳ,
ibid. § 11. p. 18, b.
705.
mvp-comment-504-1
λεύσσων . . εἰς] 'Looking to,' in dependence.
Cp. El. 925, μηδὲν ἐς κεῖνόν γ᾽ ὅρα.
στατόν] The remark of Odysseus,
supr. 21, εἴπερ ἐστὶ σῶν, showed that the fountain was not an abundant one, such as would afford a perennial stream of living water.
706.
mvp-comment-505-1
αἰεὶ προσενώμα] 'Fetched it for his daily need.' He had the labour of fetching it continually as he required it.
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.
712.
mvp-comment-511-1
ὁ χάλκασπις ἀνήρ] Heracles. The epithet is picturesque. The orbed shield reflecting the sunlight from the top of Oeta suggests the glory which the hero has amongst the gods, and the fire which consumed his mortality.
713.
mvp-comment-512-1
†πᾶσιν] If this is retained, it is necessary to read εἴ που for ὅπου in the strophe, with Brunck. But Hermann's correction, πάλαι, is not improbable. The passage is to be differently interpreted according as πλάθει is regarded: whether as a literal, or as an historical present. If the latter is correct, then θείῳ πυρί may refer to the golden cloud that descended to take up Heracles from the pyre. If the former, we must suppose a natural confusion between Heracles on Oeta and Heracles in Olympus.
