Sophocles, Philoctetes, Robert Potter (Translator), 155

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Neoptolemus

Wou'dst thou suppress the pain of thy disease?

Philoctetes. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.

Current edition Experimental

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 155 focus

μαθεῖν οὐκ ἀποκαίριον,

155

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 135-217 focus

Χορός

τί χρὴ τί χρή με, δέσποτʼ, ἐν ξένᾳ ξένον
135

στέγειν ἢ τί λέγειν πρὸς ἄνδρʼ ὑπόπταν;

φράζε μοι. τέχνα γὰρ

τέχνας ἑτέρας προύχει

καὶ γνώμα παρʼ ὅτῳ τὸ θεῖον

Διὸς σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσεται.
140

σὲ δʼ, ὦ τέκνον, τόδʼ ἐλήλυθεν

πᾶν κράτος ὠγύγιον· τό μοι ἔννεπε

τί σοι χρεὼν ὑπουργεῖν.

144

Νεοπτόλεμος

νῦν μέν, ἴσως γὰρ τόπον ἐσχατιαῖς

προσιδεῖν ἐθέλεις ὅντινα κεῖται,
145

δέρκου θαρσῶν· ὁπόταν δὲ μόλῃ

δεινὸς ὁδίτης, τῶνδʼ οὑκ μελάθρων

πρὸς ἐμὴν αἰεὶ χεῖρα προχωρῶν

πειρῶ τὸ παρὸν θεραπεύειν.

150

Χορός

μέλον πάλαι μέλημά μοι λέγεις, ἄναξ,
150

φρουρεῖν ὄμμʼ ἐπὶ σῷ μάλιστα καιρῷ·

νῦν δέ μοι λέγʼ, αὐλὰς

ποίας ἔνεδρος ναίει

καὶ χῶρον τίνʼ ἔχει. τὸ γάρ μοι

μαθεῖν οὐκ ἀποκαίριον,
155

μὴ προσπεσών με λάθῃ ποθέν·

τίς τόπος ἢ τίς ἕδρα; τίνʼ ἔχει στίβον,

ἔναυλον ἢ θυραῖον;

159

Νεοπτόλεμος

οἶκον μὲν ὁρᾷς τόνδʼ ἀμφίθυρον

πετρίνης κοίτης.
160

Χορός

ποῦ γὰρ ὁ τλήμων αὐτὸς ἄπεστιν;

Νεοπτόλεμος

δῆλον ἔμοιγʼ ὡς φορβῆς χρείᾳ

στίβον ὀγμεύει τῇδε πέλας που.

ταύτην γὰρ ἔχειν βιοτῆς αὐτὸν

λόγος ἐστὶ φύσιν, θηροβολοῦντα
165

πτηνοῖς ἰοῖς στυγερὸν στυγερῶς,

οὐδέ τινʼ αὐτῷ

παιῶνα κακῶν ἐπινωμᾶν.

169

Χορός

οἰκτίρω νιν ἔγωγʼ, ὅπως,

μή του κηδομένου βροτῶν
170

μηδὲ ξύντροφον ὄμμʼ ἔχων,

δύστανος, μόνος ἀεί,

νοσεῖ μὲν νόσον ἀγρίαν,

ἀλύει δʼ ἐπὶ παντί τῳ

χρείας ἱσταμένῳ. πῶς ποτε πῶς δύσμορος ἀντέχει;
175

ὦ παλάμαι θεῶν,

ὦ δύστανα γένη βροτῶν,

οἷς μὴ μέτριος αἰών.

180

Χορός

οὗτος πρωτογόνων ἴσως
180

οἴκων οὐδενὸς ὕστερος,

πάντων ἄμμορος ἐν βίῳ

κεῖται μοῦνος ἀπʼ ἄλλων,

στικτῶν ἢ λασίων μετὰ

θηρῶν, ἔν τʼ ὀδύναις ὁμοῦ
185

λιμῷ τʼ οἰκτρός, ἀνήκεστα μεριμνήματʼ ἔχων· ὀρεί-

α δʼ ἀθυρόστομος

Ἀχὼ τηλεφανὴς πικραῖς

οἰμωγαῖς ὑπακούει.
190

191

Νεοπτόλεμος

οὐδὲν τούτων θαυμαστὸν ἐμοί·

θεῖα γάρ, εἴπερ κἀγώ τι φρονῶ,

καὶ τὰ παθήματα κεῖνα πρὸς αὐτὸν

τῆς ὠμόφρονος Χρύσης ἐπέβη,

καὶ νῦν ἃ πονεῖ δίχα κηδεμόνων,
195

οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὡς οὐ θεῶν του μελέτῃ

τοῦ μὴ πρότερον τόνδʼ ἐπὶ Τροίᾳ

τεῖναι τὰ θεῶν ἀμάχητα βέλη,

πρὶν ὅδʼ ἐξήκοι χρόνος, ᾧ λέγεται

χρῆναί σφʼ ὑπὸ τῶνδε δαμῆναι.
200

201

Χορός

εὔστομʼ ἔχε, παῖ.

Νεοπτόλεμος

τί τόδε;

Χορός

προυφάνη κτύπος,

φωτὸς σύντροφος ὡς τειρομένου του,

ἤ που τῇδʼ ἢ τῇδε τόπων.

βάλλει βάλλει μʼ ἐτύμα
205

φθογγά του στίβον κατʼ ἀνάγκαν

ἕρποντος, οὐδέ με λάθει

βαρεῖα τηλόθεν αὐδὰ τρυσάνωρ· διάσημα γὰρ θρηνεῖ.

210

Χορός

ἀλλʼ ἔχε, τέκνον,
210

Νεοπτόλεμος

λέγʼ ὅ τι.

Χορός

φροντίδας νέας.

ὡς οὐκ ἔξεδρος, ἀλλʼ ἔντοπος ἁνήρ,

οὐ μολπὰν σύριγγος ἔχων,

ὡς ποιμὴν ἀγροβότας, ἀλλʼ ἤ που πταίων ὑπʼ ἀνάγκας
215

βοᾷ τηλωπὸν ἰωάν,

ἢ ναὸς ἄξενον αὐγάζων ὅρμον· προβοᾷ τι γὰρ δεινόν.

Translations (4)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 155 focus

NEO

What?

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 159 focus

Hier siehst du sein Haus, dies Felsengemach

Mit doppelter Thür.

Wo weilt denn der Unglückselige selbst?

Ich glaube gewiß, er schleppte sich fort,
160

Auf Nahrung aus, in die Nähe wohin.

Denn diese Gewohnheit pflegt er stets,

So sagt man: mühvoll müht er sich ab,

Mit beschwingtem Geschoß zu erlegen das Wild,

Und nirgend erscheint¹
165

Ihm aus der Bedrängniß ein Retter.

Zweite Strophe.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 155 focus

Philoctetes

My son, my son !
745

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 135-215 focus

Chorus

I am a stranger in a strange land, Master. What must I hide, what must I reveal to a man who will be swift to suspicion? Show me the way! His skill excels all other skill, his wisdom has no equal, whose hands govern the godlike
135

scepter given by Zeus. To you, my son, that sovereign power has descended from the dawn of time. Therefore tell me how I must serve you.
140

144

Neoptolemus

For the present—since perhaps you wish to see the place

on the island’s edge where he resides—survey it without fear. But when the dread traveler, who has left this dwelling, returns, step forward at my signal from time to time, and try to help as the moment may require.
145

150

Chorus

Long have I been careful of this care, my prince: that my eyes should be watchful for your good above all else. And now tell me, in what manner of shelter does he keep his dwelling? In what region is he now? It is not inopportune for
150

me to learn so that he may not come upon me unawares from somewhere. In what place does he wander, or rest? Does he plant his steps within his shelter, or abroad?
155

159

Neoptolemus

Well, here you see his home with its two portals,

his rocky cell.
160

Chorus

And its wretched occupant, where is he gone to?

Neoptolemus

It seems clear to me, anyway, that he is plowing his way along somewhere near here in search of food. For I know of a report that

this is his means of sustenance—a wretch wretchedly shooting prey with his feathered shafts—and that no one comes near to him to heal his misery.
165

169

Chorus

For my part, I pity him when I think how,

with no one to care for him, and seeing no companion’s face, but suffering eternally alone, he is plagued by fierce disease and bewildered by each need as it arises.
170

How, how does he endure his bitter fate? Ah, contrivances of the gods! Ah, unhappy tribes of mortals, whose life-portion exceeds due measure!
175

180

Chorus

That man—inferior in no way, probably, to any man belonging to the oldest families—lies alone without companions and stripped of all life’s gifts
180

among the dappled or shaggy beasts. He is a man to be pitied for his torments and his hunger alike, enduring anguish that has no cure. But to his bitter cries the mountain nymph, babbling Echo, coming from afar,
185

gives answer.
190

191

Neoptolemus

No part of this is a marvel to me. God-sent—if a man such as I may judge—are both those sufferings which attacked him from savage Chryse ,

and those with which he now toils untended. Surely he toils by the plan of some god so that he may not bend against Troy the invincible arrows divine, until the time be fulfilled at which, men say,
195

by those arrows Troy is fated to fall.
200

201

Chorus

Hush,boy!

Neoptolemus

What is it?

Chorus

I heard a sudden thud, one that might naturally come from a man worn by pain. From there it came, I think—or there.

It strikes, strikes hard on my ear, the sure sound of someone creeping along his way as if tortured. I cannot miss that grievous cry of a man hard-pressed, even from afar—its tone is too clear.
205

210

Chorus

But listen, son—
210

Neoptolemus

To what? Tell me.

Chorus

To my latest thoughts. For he is not far from his home, but nearby. And not with music of the flute, like a shepherd pasturing his flocks, does he come,—

no—but crying out a far-sounding howl as he stumbles, perhaps, from tortuous pain, or as he scans the haven unvisited by any ship. His cries are loud, and terrible.
215

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-184-1 ἦ γάρ ¹

mvp-comment-184-2 τοῖς πανωλέθροις ²

mvp-comment-184-3 παθών ³

mvp-comment-184-4 324 f. The corruption in the MSS.,

θυμῷ...χεῖρα

, is of the same nature as that in O. T. 376 (

με...σοῦ

for

σε ἐμοῦ

). Cp. Plat. Rep. 465A

εἴ πού τίς τῳ θυμοῖτο, ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ πληρῶν τὸν θυμὸν

(sating his wrath)

ἧττον ἐπὶ μείζους ἂν ἴοι στάσεις.

mvp-comment-184-5 Μυκῆναι ⁴ Σπάρτη ⁵ γνοῖεν ⁶

mvp-comment-185-1 εὖ γ’ ⁷

mvp-comment-185-2 τίνος γὰρ ⁸ τίνος ⁹

mvp-comment-185-3 ὧδε ¹⁰ τίνος ¹¹

mvp-comment-186-1 ἐξερῶ, μόλις δ’ ἐρῶ ¹²

mvp-comment-186-2 μολών ¹³

mvp-comment-187-1 ἔσχε ¹⁴

mvp-comment-188-1 φράσῃς … μὴ πέρα ¹⁵

mvp-comment-189-1 τοξευτὸς … δαμείς ¹⁶

mvp-comment-189-2 ὡς λέγουσιν ¹⁷ ἐκ ¹⁸ ὑπό ¹⁹

mvp-comment-190-1 ἀλλ’ εὐγενὴς μὲν ²⁰ δέ ²¹ κτανών … θανών ²²

mvp-comment-191-1 ἐλέγχω … στένω ²³

mvp-comment-192-1 οἶμαι μὲν ²⁴

mvp-comment-192-2 καὶ τὰ ς’ ²⁵

mvp-comment-193-1 τοιγαροῦν ²⁶ αὖθις πάλιν ²⁷

mvp-comment-193-2 ὅτῳ ²⁸

mvp-comment-194-1 ποικιλοστόλῳ ²⁹ ποικιλοστόμῳ ³⁰

mvp-comment-195-1 δῖός τ’ Ὀδυσσεὺς ³¹

mvp-comment-195-2 χὡ τροφεὺς ³²

mvp-comment-196-1 εἴτ’ ἄρ’ οὖν ³³

mvp-comment-196-2 ἀληθὲς ³⁴ λέγοντες ³⁵

mvp-comment-196-3 γίγνοιτ’ ³⁶

mvp-comment-197-1 ἄλλον ἢ )μ’ ³⁷ ἢ )μ’ ³⁸

mvp-comment-198-1 οὐ πολὺν ³⁹

mvp-comment-198-2 Instead of

μή με ναυστολεῖν

, we might well prefer, with Blaydes,

μὴ οὐχὶ ναυστολεῖν

, were it not that palaeographically it is so improbable. And for

μή

where

μὴ οὐ

might be expected, cp. O. T. 1387

οὐκ ἂν ἐσχόμην

τὸ μὴ )ποκλῇσαι

, n. The repetition of με ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-199-1 οὐ γὰρ εἰδόμην ⁴¹ εἰδόμην ⁴²

mvp-comment-200-1 ἔπειτα μέντοι ⁴³

mvp-comment-200-2 χὡ λόγος καλὸς προσῆν ⁴⁴ ὁ λόγος ⁴⁵ προσῆν ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-200-3 εἰ … αἱρήσοιμ’ ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-200-4 τἀπὶ Τροίᾳ πέργαμ’ ⁴⁸ ἐπί ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-200-5 ἰών ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-201-1 πλέοντί μοι ⁵¹

mvp-comment-201-2 κἀγὼ ⁵²

mvp-comment-201-3 πικρὸν Σίγειον ⁵³

mvp-comment-201-4 οὐρίῳ πλάτῃ ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-201-5 κατηγόμην ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-202-1 ὀμνύντες ⁵⁶ στρατός ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-202-2 ζῶντ’ Ἀχ. πάλιν ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-203-1 ἔκειτ’ ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-203-2 )δάκρυσα ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-203-3 οὐ μακρῷ χρόνῳ ⁶¹

mvp-comment-204-1 ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν ⁶² φίλους ⁶³

mvp-comment-204-2 τά τ’ ἄλλ’ ὅσ’ ἦν ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-205-1 τλημονέστατον λόγον ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-206-1 πάρεστί σοι ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-206-2 Λαέρτου ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-207-1 δακρύσας ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-207-2 ἐξανίσταμαι ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-207-3 ὀργῇ ⁷⁰ βαρείᾳ ⁷¹

mvp-comment-207-4 κᾳταλγήσας ⁷²

mvp-comment-208-1 ὦ σχέτλἰ ⁷³ ἦ )τολμήσατ’ ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-208-2 πρὶν μαθεῖν ἐμοῦ ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-209-1 ὁ δ’ εἶπ’ Ὀδυσσεύς ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-209-2 ὢν κυρεῖ ⁷⁷ ἦν κυρῶν ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-209-3 τάδε ⁷⁹ δεδράκας’ ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-210-1 παρών ⁸¹

mvp-comment-211-1 ἤρασσον ⁸²

mvp-comment-211-2 κακοῖς τοῖς πᾶσιν ⁸³

mvp-comment-211-3 οὐδὲν ἐνδεὲς ποιούμενος ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-211-4 εἰ … ἀφαιρήσοιτο ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-212-1 ἐνθάδ’ ἥκων ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-212-2 οὐ δύσοργος ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-212-3 πρὸς ἁξήκουσεν ⁸⁸ δηχθείς ⁸⁹ ἠμείψατο ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-212-4 ἃ ἐξήκουσεν ⁹¹

mvp-comment-213-1 ἐπειδὴ καὶ λέγεις ⁹²

mvp-comment-213-2 οὐ μήποτ’ ⁹³ τὴν Σκῦρον ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-213-3 ἐκπλεύσῃς ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-213-4 382 ff. The words ἀκούσας κἀξονειδισθείς ⁹⁶ κακά ⁹⁷ κἀξονειδίσας ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-213-5 πρὸς οἴκους ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-213-6 τητώμενος ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-213-7 κἀκ κακῶν ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-214-1 τοὺς ἐν τέλει ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-214-2 πᾶσα ¹⁰³ σύμπας ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-214-3 ἔστι … τῶν ἡγουμένων ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-214-4 στρατός ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-214-5 οἱ δ’ ἀκοσμοῦντες βροτῶν ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-214-6 διδασκάλων λόγοισι ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-215-1 λόγος λέλεκται πᾶς ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-215-2 Ἀτρείδας ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-215-3 φίλος ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-216-1 Mindful of their young chief's precept—

πειρῶ τὸ παρὸν θεραπεύειν

(149)—the Chorus seize this moment in order to deepen the impression left on the mind of Philoctetes. It was in the land of the Trojans—often called ‘Phrygians’ —that Neoptolemus was wronged by the Atreidae. ‘Then and there’—say the Chorus—‘we invoked the most awful deity of the land, the great Earth Mother, the Phrygian Cybele—to punish our prince's wrong.’ The interposition of the Chorus is admirably effective for the purpose of making their master's indignation appear genuine.

mvp-comment-216-2 This strophe, to which vv. 507—518 form the antistrophe, is a

ὑπόρχημα

, or ‘dance-song’ ( O. T. 1086 n.). The dochmiacs of which it is mainly composed (see Metrical Analysis) are accompanied by animated movement, expressive of the lively resentment which these memories suggest.

mvp-comment-216-3 From a mythological point of view the verses are of singular interest. The attributes given to the goddess belong to three groups. (1)

παμβῶτι Γᾶ

recognises her in the primary character of an Elemental power. (2)

μᾶτερ...Διός

identifies her with Rhea. (3)

ὀρεστέρα, λεόντων ἔφεδρε

, and the mention of the Pactolus, present her as the specially Phrygian Cybele. But these three characters are completely fused in the unity of the

μάτηρ πότνια

mvp-comment-217-1 ὀρεστέρα ¹¹² παμβῶτι ¹¹³

mvp-comment-217-2 μᾶτερ αὐτοῦ Διός ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-218-1 Πακτωλὸν ¹¹⁵

mvp-comment-218-2 εὔχρυσον ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-219-1 κἀκεῖ ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-219-2 ἐπηυδώμαν ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-219-3 Ἀτρειδᾶν ὕβρις πᾶς’ ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-220-1 τὰ πάτρια ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-221-1 ἰὼ ¹²¹ μάκαιρα ¹²²

mvp-comment-221-2 ταυροκτόνων ¹²³

mvp-comment-221-3 λεόντων ἔφεδρε ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-222-1 σέβας ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-222-2 We should not, then, change σέβας ¹²⁶ γέρας ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-223-1 σύμβολον … λύπης ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-224-1 προσᾴδεθ’ ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-224-2 ταῦτ’ … ἔργα ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-225-1 ἂν … θιγόντα ¹³¹ πανουργίας ¹³²

mvp-comment-225-2 ἀφ’ ἧς μηδὲν … ποεῖν ¹³³ μέλλοι ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-225-3 μηδὲν ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-225-4 ἐς τέλος ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-225-5 ποεῖν ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-226-1 ὁ μείζων ¹³⁸ οὐκ ἦν ἔτι ζῶν ¹³⁹

mvp-comment-227-1 ἀλλ’ ἦ ¹⁴⁰ ἦ γάρ ¹⁴¹ πῶς εἶπας ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-228-1 ὡς μηκέτ’ ὄντα ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-229-1 οἴμοι τάλας ¹⁴⁴ ἀλλ’ οὐχ ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-230-1 οὑμπολητὸς Σισύφου Λαερτίῳ ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-230-2 The legend is not Homeric, but is already known to Aesch. (fr. 169), and is congenial to the spirit in which the dramatists often conceive Odysseus; cp. Soph. Ai. 190 , fr. 143 (

ὡς ὁ Σίσυφος πολὺς

ἔνδηλος ἐν σοί

): I. A. 524, Cycl. 104 : Lycophron 344 (

τῆς Σισυφείας δ’ ἀγκύλης λαμπουρίδος

, ‘crafty fox’): Ov. Met. 13. 31

sanguine cretus | Sisyphio, furtisque et fraude simillimus illi.

mvp-comment-230-3 With regard to the order of words, note:—(1)

ὁ ἐμπολητὸς Σισύφου

ὁ ἐμπ. Σισυφίδης

, the simple gen. of origin being placed as

Σισύφου παῖς

would have been; though usually such a simple gen. comes immediately after the art. (as Ai. 450

ἡ Διὸς γοργῶπις ἀδάματος θεά

). (2)

Λαερτίῳ

merely supplements

ἐμπολητός

, and hence can be placed as though it were an afterthought; the principle is the same as in O. C. 1514

αἱ πολλὰ βρονταὶ διατελεῖς

: cp. n. on O. T. 1245. —The genit. Λαερτίου ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-231-1 ἔδει ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-232-1 καὶ μέγα θάλλοντες ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-233-1 τί δ’ ¹⁵⁰ ὠ ¹⁵¹ οὐ ¹⁵² αὖ ¹⁵³ οὐ ¹⁵⁴ τί δ’ ¹⁵⁵ τί δ’ ὃς ¹⁵⁶ ὃς ¹⁵⁷ ὁ ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-233-2 παλαιός ¹⁵⁹ καί … τε ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-233-3 τά γε κείνων κακά ¹⁶¹ γε ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-233-4 ἐξήρυκε ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-234-1 Ἀντίλοχος ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-234-2 ὃς παρῆν γόνος ¹⁶⁵ ὅσπερ ἦν γόνος ¹⁶⁶ ὅς γ’ ἔτ’ ἦν ¹⁶⁷ ὅς ποτ’ ἦν ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-235-1 δὔ αὖ τώδ’ ἄνδρ’ ἔλεξας ¹⁶⁹ δὔ αὖ τώδ’ ἐξέδειξας ¹⁷⁰ ἔλεξας ¹⁷¹ δὔ αὔτως δείν’ ἔλεξας ¹⁷²

mvp-comment-235-2 As to the reading δὔ αὕτως δείν’ ἔλεξας ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-235-3 δὔ … ἄνδρε ¹⁷⁴ ὀλωλότοιν ¹⁷⁵ οἵδε ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-235-4 ἂν ἠθέλης’ ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-236-1 σκοπεῖν ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-236-2 οἵδε ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-237-1 Ὀδυσσεὺς δ’ ἔστιν αὖ κἀνταῦθ’ ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-238-1 αὐτὸν ¹⁸¹ αὐδᾶσθαι ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-239-1 παλαιστὴς ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-239-2 ἐμποδίζονται ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-240-1 θεῶν ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-240-2 ποῦ γὰρ ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-240-3 σοι ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-240-4 τὰ φίλτατα ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-241-1 λόγῳ … ἐν βραχεῖ ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-241-2 τοῦτ’ ¹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-241-3 πόλεμος ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-241-4 ἑκὼν ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-242-1 κατ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτό γε ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-243-1 φωτὸς ¹⁹⁴ κυρεῖ ¹⁹⁵ τί ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-244-1 ποίου δὲ τούτου ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-244-2 ἐρεῖς ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-244-3 Brunck's conjecture, τοῦτο ¹⁹⁹ τούτου ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-245-1 Θερσίτης ²⁰¹

mvp-comment-246-1 ὃς οὐκ ἂν εἵλετ’ ²⁰² ὅπου μηδεὶς ἐῴη ²⁰³

mvp-comment-246-2 Sophocles here reproduces the two salient traits of the Homeric Thersites: (1) he is irrepressible: Il. 2. 212

Θερσίτης δ’ ἔτι μοῦνος ἀμετροεπὴς ἐκολῴα

, |

ὅς ῥ) ἔπεα φρεσὶν ᾗσιν ἄκοσμά τε πολλά τε ᾔδη

: (2) he disgusts those whom his bluster was intended to amuse or flatter; ib. 222

τῷ δ’ ἄρ’ Ἀχαιοὶ

ἐκπάγλως κοτέοντο

.— τοῦτον οἶσθ’ ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-247-1 αὐτόν ²⁰⁵ αὐτός ²⁰⁶ νιν ²⁰⁷

mvp-comment-248-1 ἔμελλ’ ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-248-2 ἐπεὶ οὐδέν ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-248-3 περιστέλλουσιν ²¹⁰

mvp-comment-249-1 τὰ πανοῦργα ²¹¹

mvp-comment-249-2 παλιντριβῆ ²¹²

mvp-comment-249-3 ἀναστρέφοντες ²¹³

mvp-comment-249-4 τὰ δὲ ²¹⁴ τὰ χρήστ’ ²¹⁵ ἀποστέλλους’ ²¹⁶ προυσελοῦς’ ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-250-1 ποῦ χρὴ τίθεσθαι ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-250-2 ποῦ δ’ αἰνεῖν ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-250-3 ὅταν ²²⁰ ἐπαινῶν ²²¹

mvp-comment-250-4 Theognis, in a similar strain, asks how a mortal is to revere the gods when he sees good men afflicted and bad men prosperous (743—752).

mvp-comment-251-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ²²²

mvp-comment-251-2 Οἰταίου ²²³

mvp-comment-252-1 τηλόθεν … εἰσορῶν ²²⁴

mvp-comment-252-2 φυλάξομαι ²²⁵

mvp-comment-253-1 ὅπου ²²⁶ τούτους ²²⁷

mvp-comment-253-2 δειλὸς ²²⁸ δεινὸς ²²⁹ δεινός ²³⁰

mvp-comment-254-1 Σκῦρος ²³¹

mvp-comment-254-2 ἐξαρκοῦσά μοι … ὥστε ²³² τέρπεσθαι δόμῳ ²³³

mvp-comment-255-1 χαῖρε ²³⁴ ὡς μέγιστα ²³⁵

mvp-comment-255-2 μεταστήσειαν ²³⁶

mvp-comment-255-3 ὡς αὐτὸς θέλεις ²³⁷

mvp-comment-256-1 πλοῦν ἡμὶν εἴκῃ ²³⁸ πλοῦν ²³⁹ πλεῖν ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-257-1 καιρὸς ²⁴¹ καλεῖ ²⁴²

mvp-comment-258-1 πλοῦν … σκοπεῖν ²⁴³

mvp-comment-258-2 μὴ )ξ ἀπόπτου ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-259-1 πρός νύν σε πατρὸς ²⁴⁵ πρός τ’ εἴ τι ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-260-1 ἱκέτης ²⁴⁷ ἱκνοῦμαι ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-261-1 οἵοις ὁρᾷς … ἐνναίοντα ²⁴⁹ ὅσοισί τ’ ἐξήκουσας ²⁵⁰

mvp-comment-262-1 ἐν παρέργῳ θοῦ με ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-262-2 ἐν παρέργῳ ²⁵²

mvp-comment-262-3 δυσχέρεια ²⁵³

mvp-comment-263-1 ἔξοιδα ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-263-2 φορήματος ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-264-1 τό τ’ αἰσχρὸν ²⁵⁶ εὐκλεές ²⁵⁷ εὐκλεές ²⁵⁸ τοῖσι γενναίοισι ²⁵⁹

mvp-comment-265-1 ἐκλιπόντι τοῦτ’ ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-265-2 ὄνειδος ²⁶¹ οὐ καλόν ²⁶²

mvp-comment-266-1 πλεῖστον ²⁶³

mvp-comment-266-2 μόλω )γὼ ²⁶⁴

mvp-comment-267-1 ἴθ’ ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-267-2 ἡμέρας … μιᾶς ²⁶⁶

mvp-comment-268-1 τόλμησον ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-268-2 ὅπῃ ²⁶⁸ ὅποι ²⁶⁹ ἐμβαλοῦ ²⁷⁰ ἄγων ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-269-1 ἀντλίαν ²⁷²

mvp-comment-269-2 πρῷραν … πρύμνην ²⁷³

mvp-comment-269-3 ὅπου ²⁷⁴ ὅποι ²⁷⁵ υ ²⁷⁶ ι ²⁷⁷

mvp-comment-269-4 μέλλω … ἀλγυνεῖν ²⁷⁸

mvp-comment-270-1 ἱκεσίου ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-270-2 γόνασι ²⁸⁰

mvp-comment-271-1 ἀκράτωρ ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-272-1 ἢ πρὸς οἶκον τὸν σὸν ²⁸²

mvp-comment-272-2 τὰ Χαλκώδοντος Εὐβοίας σταθμά ²⁸³

mvp-comment-272-3 Schneidewin remarks that Philoctetes, the former comrade of Heracles, might naturally name Chalcodon, who had been the companion of Heracles in an expedition against the Eleans ( Paus. 8. 15. 6 ). But that was merely a local Arcadian myth; and Pausanias finds it inconsistent with the better-known Theban tradition, according to which Chalcodon was slain by Amphitryon in a war between the Euboeans and Thebans (9. 19. 3). At any rate the Attic poet might think of the Attic legend, according to which Theseus had sent his sons for protection to Chalcodon's son Elephenor, before retiring from Athens to Scyros ( Plut. Thes. 35 ).

mvp-comment-273-1 εἰς Οἴτην ²⁸⁴

mvp-comment-274-1 Τραχινίαν … δειράδα ²⁸⁵

mvp-comment-274-2 All MSS. have δειράδα καὶ τὸν ²⁸⁶ δεράδα ²⁸⁷

mvp-comment-274-3 I am more disposed to think that δειράδα ²⁸⁸ καὶ τὸν ²⁸⁹

mvp-comment-274-4 εὔροον ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-274-5 Like the Homeric

ἐΰρροος, ἐυ·ρρείτης

, the epithet refers simply to the beauty of the river, not to that swiftness (

σπέρχομαι

) from which it takes its name ( Il. 16. 176

Σπερχειῷ ἀκάμαντι

: Lucan 6. 366 Ferit amne citato | Maliacas Spercheus aquas). Rising at the foot of Typhrestus, and fed by affluents from Othrys and Oeta, the Spercheius has a considerable volume of water even in the hot season (Tozer, Geo. of Greece, p. 81).

mvp-comment-275-1 ὃν ²⁹¹ δέδοικ’ ²⁹²

mvp-comment-275-2 παλαιὸν ²⁹³ ἐξ ὅτου ²⁹⁴ παλαἴ ἂν ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-276-1 μή μοι βεβήκῃ ²⁹⁶

mvp-comment-276-2 τοῖς ἱγμένοις ²⁹⁷ ἔστελλον ²⁹⁸

mvp-comment-277-1 αὐτόστολον πέμψαντα ²⁹⁹ αὐτόστολον ³⁰⁰ πέμψαντα ³⁰¹ ἐκσῶσαι ³⁰² πλεύσαντα ³⁰³

mvp-comment-277-2 δόμους ³⁰⁴ δόμοις ³⁰⁵

mvp-comment-277-3 497 ff. After τὰ τῶν διακόνων ³⁰⁶ ποιούμενοι ³⁰⁷ τὸ ³⁰⁸ τὰ ³⁰⁹

mvp-comment-277-4 ὡς εἰκός ³¹⁰ οἶμαι ³¹¹ οἴμοι ³¹²

mvp-comment-277-5 ἐν σμικρῷ ³¹³

mvp-comment-277-6 μέρος ³¹⁴ μέρει ³¹⁵

mvp-comment-277-7 ἤπειγον ³¹⁶

mvp-comment-278-1 πομπόν τε καὐτὸν ἄγγελον ³¹⁷

mvp-comment-278-2 ἥκω ³¹⁸

mvp-comment-279-1 δεινὰ κἀπικινδύνως … κεῖται ³¹⁹ παθεῖν ³²⁰ παθεῖν μὲν εὖ, παθεῖν δὲ θάτερα ³²¹

mvp-comment-279-2 θάτερα ³²²

mvp-comment-280-1 ἐκτὸς ὄντα ³²³ τὰ δείν’ ὁρᾶν ³²⁴

mvp-comment-281-1 εὖ ζῇ ³²⁵

mvp-comment-281-2 τὸν βίον ³²⁶ λάθῃ ³²⁷

mvp-comment-282-1 : antistrophe to 391—402. The pity expressed by the Chorus may well be sincere; but in this utterance of it, their first aim is to aid their master's design. Verse 510 shows this.

mvp-comment-282-2 πόνων ἆθλα ³²⁸

mvp-comment-282-3 οἷα ³²⁹ οἷα ³³⁰ ἅσσα ³³¹ τύχοι ³³² λάχοι ³³³

mvp-comment-283-1 πικρούς ³³⁴

mvp-comment-284-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ³³⁵ πορεύσαιμ’ ἂν ³³⁶

mvp-comment-284-2 τὸ κείνων κακὸν ³³⁷

mvp-comment-284-3 μετατιθέμενος ³³⁸

mvp-comment-284-4 ἐπιμέμονεν ³³⁹

mvp-comment-285-1 εὐστόλου ³⁴⁰

mvp-comment-286-1 τὰν θεῶν νέμεσιν ³⁴¹

mvp-comment-287-1 νῦν μὲν … ὅταν δὲ ³⁴²

mvp-comment-287-2 εὐχερὴς ³⁴³ τις ³⁴⁴ παρῇς ³⁴⁵

mvp-comment-288-1 τῆς νόσου ³⁴⁶ πλησθῇς· ξυνουσίᾳ ³⁴⁷

mvp-comment-288-2 αὑτὸς τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις ³⁴⁸

mvp-comment-289-1 οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὅπως ³⁴⁹

mvp-comment-290-1 ἀλλὰ … μέντοι ³⁵⁰

mvp-comment-290-2 αἰσχρὰ ³⁵¹

mvp-comment-290-3 σοῦ γέ μ’ ³⁵² σοῦ γ’ ἔμ’ ³⁵³

mvp-comment-290-4 πρὸς τὸ καίριον ³⁵⁴

mvp-comment-290-5 πονεῖν ³⁵⁵

mvp-comment-291-1 ὁρμάσθω ³⁵⁶ ταχύς ³⁵⁷ χἡ ναῦς ³⁵⁸

mvp-comment-291-2 ἀπαρνηθήσεται ³⁵⁹

mvp-comment-292-1 μόνον ³⁶⁰

mvp-comment-292-2 βουλοίμεσθα ³⁶¹

mvp-comment-293-1 ὦ φίλτατον μὲν ³⁶²

mvp-comment-293-2 πῶς ἂν … γενοίμην ³⁶³

mvp-comment-294-1 ἴωμεν ³⁶⁴ ἴωμεν ³⁶⁵ ἴωμεν ³⁶⁶ εἰσοίκησιν ³⁶⁷ προσκύσαντε ³⁶⁸ εἰς οἴκησιν ³⁶⁹ προσκύσαντε ³⁷⁰

mvp-comment-294-2 ὡς … καὶ ³⁷¹

mvp-comment-295-1 ἀφ’ ὧν ³⁷²

mvp-comment-295-2 διέζων ³⁷³

mvp-comment-296-1 οἶμαι γὰρ ³⁷⁴

mvp-comment-296-2 μόνην ³⁷⁵ μόνον ³⁷⁶ τάδε ³⁷⁷ θέαν λαβόντα ³⁷⁸ τλῆναι ³⁷⁹

mvp-comment-297-1 προὔμαθον ³⁸⁰

mvp-comment-298-1 ἐπίσχετον ³⁸¹ μάθωμεν ³⁸²

mvp-comment-298-2 ἀλλόθρους ³⁸³

mvp-comment-298-3 ὧν μαθόντες ³⁸⁴

mvp-comment-298-4 αὖθις ³⁸⁵ εἴσιτον ³⁸⁶

mvp-comment-298-5 542 Odysseus said that he would send back the

σκοπός

, disguised as a merchant captain, if N. seemed to be tarrying too long (126 ff.). The actor who now comes on as

ἔμπορος

would not, however, be the same who played the

σκοπός

(a mute person), but the tritagonist, who played Odysseus. The sailor who accompanies him is a mute person; and that part may have been taken by the former representative of the

σκοπός

mvp-comment-298-6 As N. has already ensnared Ph. , and is on the point of starting with him, there is no actual need for the intervention of the

ἔμπορος

. But Odysseus, at the ship, could not know this; and we are to suppose that he had become impatient. The scene which follows heightens the dramatic interest by bringing out the horror with which Ph. regards the idea of returning to Troy.

mvp-comment-298-7 ξυνέμπορον ³⁸⁷

mvp-comment-299-1 φράσαι σε, ποῦ ³⁸⁸

mvp-comment-299-2 κυρῶν εἴης ³⁸⁹

mvp-comment-300-1 δοξάζων μὲν οὔ ³⁹⁰

mvp-comment-300-2 ὁρμισθεὶς ³⁹¹ ταὐτὸν … πέδον ³⁹²

mvp-comment-301-1 οὐ πολλῷ στόλῳ ³⁹³

mvp-comment-302-1 Πεπάρηθον ³⁹⁴ εὔβοτρυν ³⁹⁵

mvp-comment-302-2 ἤκουσα τοὺς ναύτας ὅτι ³⁹⁶ πάντες ³⁹⁷ συννεναυστοληκότες ³⁹⁸ οἱ νεναυστοληκότες ³⁹⁹ σοὶ ⁴⁰⁰

mvp-comment-303-1 ἔδοξέ μοι ⁴⁰¹ προστυχόντι ⁴⁰² ποεῖσθαι ⁴⁰³ μὴ σῖγα, πρὶν φράσαιμι ⁴⁰⁴ προστυχόντι ⁴⁰⁵ προστυχόντι ⁴⁰⁶

mvp-comment-303-2 τῶν ἴσων ⁴⁰⁷ προστυχόντι ⁴⁰⁸ σοι ⁴⁰⁹

mvp-comment-304-1 ἃ τοῖσιν ⁴¹⁰

mvp-comment-304-2 vέα ⁴¹¹

mvp-comment-305-1 οὐκέτ’ ἐξαργούμενα ⁴¹² ἔργα ⁴¹³ δρώμενα ⁴¹⁴

mvp-comment-306-1 ἀλλ’ ⁴¹⁵ ἡ χάρις … τῆς προμηθίας ⁴¹⁶ προμηθίας ⁴¹⁷

mvp-comment-306-2 εἰ μὴ κακὸς πέφυκα ⁴¹⁸

mvp-comment-306-3 προσφιλὴς ⁴¹⁹ χάρις ⁴²⁰

mvp-comment-307-1 ἅπερ γ’ ⁴²¹ ἅπερ κἄλεξας ⁴²² γε ⁴²³ ἅπερ ⁴²⁴

mvp-comment-308-1 νεώτερον ⁴²⁵

mvp-comment-308-2 ἀπ’ Ἀργείων ⁴²⁶ βούλευμα ⁴²⁷ ἔχεις ⁴²⁸ μοι ⁴²⁹

mvp-comment-309-1 φοῖνιξ ⁴³⁰

mvp-comment-309-2 οἵ τε Θησέως κόροι ⁴³¹

mvp-comment-310-1 ἐκ βίας ⁴³²

mvp-comment-310-2 λόγοις ⁴³³ δόλοις ⁴³⁴

mvp-comment-311-1 καθ’ ὁρμὴν ⁴³⁵

mvp-comment-312-1 ὡς ταῦτ’ ἐπίστω δρώμεν’ ⁴³⁶

mvp-comment-313-1 πρὸς τάδ’ ⁴³⁷

mvp-comment-313-2 αὐτάγγελος ⁴³⁸

mvp-comment-314-1 κεῖνός γ’ ⁴³⁹

mvp-comment-314-2 ὁ Τυδέως παῖς ⁴⁴⁰ ἔστελλον ⁴⁴¹

mvp-comment-315-1 πρὸς ποῖον αὖ τόνδ’ … ἔπλει ⁴⁴² αὖ ⁴⁴³ αὖ ⁴⁴⁴ ἂν ⁴⁴⁵

mvp-comment-315-2 If ἂν ⁴⁴⁶

mvp-comment-316-1 σοι ⁴⁴⁷

mvp-comment-317-1 τὰ πλείον’ ⁴⁴⁸

mvp-comment-317-2 σεαυτὸν ξυλλαβὼν ⁴⁴⁹

mvp-comment-318-1 τί με ⁴⁵⁰ διεμπολᾷ … πρός σε ⁴⁵¹ τί με ⁴⁵² τί δὲ ⁴⁵³ διεμπολᾷ ⁴⁵⁴

mvp-comment-319-1 εἰς φῶς ⁴⁵⁵ καί … τε ⁴⁵⁶

mvp-comment-320-1 σπέρμ’ ⁴⁵⁷

mvp-comment-320-2 στρατῷ ⁴⁵⁸

mvp-comment-320-3 ἃ μὴ δεῖ ⁴⁵⁹

mvp-comment-320-4 δρῶν ἀντιπάσχω ⁴⁶⁰ οἷ’ ἀνὴρ πένης ⁴⁶¹

mvp-comment-320-5 χρηστά θ’ ⁴⁶²

mvp-comment-321-1 ἐγώ εἰμ’ ⁴⁶³

mvp-comment-321-2 φίλος μέγιστος ⁴⁶⁴

mvp-comment-322-1 λόγων ⁴⁶⁵ λόγον ⁴⁶⁶ ὧν ⁴⁶⁷

mvp-comment-323-1 ὅρα ⁴⁶⁸

mvp-comment-323-2 πάλαι ⁴⁶⁹

mvp-comment-324-1 ποιοῦ ⁴⁷⁰

mvp-comment-324-2 λέγων ⁴⁷¹

mvp-comment-325-1 λέγω ⁴⁷²

mvp-comment-325-2 )πὶ τοῦτον ⁴⁷³

mvp-comment-325-3 τοῦτον ⁴⁷⁴

mvp-comment-325-4 592 Although Odysseus and Diomedes had been named in 570, it is obviously natural that their names should be repeated in this more explicit statement.

mvp-comment-326-1 διώμοτοι ⁴⁷⁵

mvp-comment-326-2 ἦ μὴν ⁴⁷⁶

mvp-comment-327-1 πείσαντες ⁴⁷⁷ πρὸς ⁴⁷⁸

mvp-comment-328-1 πλέον ⁴⁷⁹

mvp-comment-328-2 θατέρου ⁴⁸⁰

mvp-comment-329-1 τίνος … πράγματος χάριν ⁴⁸¹

mvp-comment-329-2 χρόνῳ τοσῷδε ⁴⁸²

mvp-comment-329-3 ἐπεστρέφοντο ⁴⁸³

mvp-comment-329-4 ἄγαν οὕτω ⁴⁸⁴

mvp-comment-329-5 The order of the words is remarkable, not only because τίνος ⁴⁸⁵ πράγματος ⁴⁸⁶ τοῦδ’ ⁴⁸⁷

mvp-comment-330-1 εἶχον … ἐκβεβληκότες ⁴⁸⁸

mvp-comment-330-2 χρόνιον ⁴⁸⁹

mvp-comment-331-1 τίς ὁ πόθος ⁴⁹⁰

mvp-comment-331-2 ἵκετ’ ⁴⁹¹

mvp-comment-331-3 θεῶν βία ⁴⁹²

mvp-comment-331-4 νέμεσις ⁴⁹³

mvp-comment-331-5 ἀμύνουσιν ⁴⁹⁴

mvp-comment-332-1 ὄνομα δ’ ὠνομάζετο ⁴⁹⁵

mvp-comment-333-1 Ἕλενος ⁴⁹⁶

mvp-comment-333-2 The statement of the

ἔμπορος

is only part of the truth. Helenus had indeed been captured, and had said that Troy could not be taken without Philoctetes. But he had also said that Troy was destined to be taken that summer,—as if he knew that fate had decreed the return of Philoctetes,—who was then to be healed by the Asclepiadae, and to share with Neoptolemus the glory of the victory (1329—1342). Odysseus, however, believed that Philoctetes would not listen to persuasion, but must be brought back by a stratagem (103). And so the object of the

ἔμπορος

in referring to Helenus is merely to convince Philoctetes that Odysseus is coming, in order that the sufferer may become still more anxious to depart with Neoptolemus for Greece, as he supposes.

mvp-comment-334-1 ἀκούων ⁴⁹⁷

mvp-comment-334-2 λωβητὰ ἔπη ⁴⁹⁸

mvp-comment-335-1 ἐς μέσον ⁴⁹⁹ ἔδειξ’ ⁵⁰⁰

mvp-comment-336-1 τά τ’ ἄλλα … πάντα ⁵⁰¹ καὶ ⁵⁰²

mvp-comment-337-1 τἀπὶ Τροίᾳ πέργαμ’ ⁵⁰³

mvp-comment-337-2 οὐ μή ποτε πέρσοιεν ⁵⁰⁴ οὐ μή ⁵⁰⁵

mvp-comment-337-3 οὐ δηποτε πέρσοιεν ⁵⁰⁶

mvp-comment-338-1 ἄγοιντο ⁵⁰⁷ ἀγάγοιντο ⁵⁰⁸ ἄξοιντο ⁵⁰⁹ ἄγοιντο ⁵¹⁰

mvp-comment-338-2 νήσου ⁵¹¹

mvp-comment-338-3 617 The words οἴοιτο μὲν μάλιστα ⁵¹²

mvp-comment-338-4 μάλιστα ⁵¹⁴ οἴοιτο ⁵¹⁵

mvp-comment-339-1 τούτων ⁵¹⁶ μὴ τυχών ⁵¹⁷

mvp-comment-339-2 κάρα τέμνειν ⁵¹⁸ ἐφεῖτο ⁵¹⁹

mvp-comment-340-1 τὸ σπεύδειν ⁵²⁰

mvp-comment-340-2 σοι καὐτῷ ⁵²¹ πέρι ⁵²²

mvp-comment-341-1 ἡ πασα βλάβη ⁵²³

mvp-comment-342-1 πεισθήσομαι ⁵²⁴

mvp-comment-342-2 γὰρ ⁵²⁵

mvp-comment-342-3 ὧδε ⁵²⁶

mvp-comment-342-4 πρὸς φῶς ἀνελθεῖν ⁵²⁷

mvp-comment-342-5 οὑκείνου πατήρ ⁵²⁸

mvp-comment-343-1 συμφέροι ⁵²⁹

mvp-comment-344-1 τάδε ⁵³⁰

mvp-comment-345-1 ἂν ⁵³¹ δεῖξαι ⁵³²

mvp-comment-345-2 νεὼς ἄγοντ’ ⁵³³

mvp-comment-346-1 οὔ· ⁵³⁴

mvp-comment-346-2 πλεῖστον ἐχθίστης ⁵³⁵

mvp-comment-347-1 ἄπουν ⁵³⁶

mvp-comment-348-1 πάντα λεκτά ⁵³⁷

mvp-comment-349-1 ὡς … ὁρίζῃ ⁵³⁸ ὁρίζει ⁵³⁹

mvp-comment-350-1 τοὐκ πρῴρας ⁵⁴⁰

mvp-comment-350-2 ἀνῇ ⁵⁴¹

mvp-comment-350-3 στελοῦμεν ⁵⁴²

mvp-comment-351-1 οὔκ, ἀλλὰ ⁵⁴³ οὐκ ⁵⁴⁴ οἶδ)· ⁵⁴⁵ ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ ⁵⁴⁶

mvp-comment-352-1 ἀλλ’ ⁵⁴⁷

mvp-comment-352-2 χωρῶμεν … λαβὼν ⁵⁴⁸ λαβόνθ’ ⁵⁴⁹

mvp-comment-353-1 καίπερ οὐ πολλῶν ἄπο ⁵⁵⁰

mvp-comment-354-1 νεώς γε τῆς ἐμῆς ἔπι ⁵⁵¹ ἔνι ⁵⁵² ἔπι ⁵⁵³ ἔνι ⁵⁵⁴ νεώς ⁵⁵⁵ ἔνι ⁵⁵⁶ ἔνι ⁵⁵⁷

mvp-comment-355-1 πάνυ ⁵⁵⁸

mvp-comment-356-1 τί γὰρ ἔτ’ ⁵⁵⁹

mvp-comment-356-2 γάρ ⁵⁶⁰

mvp-comment-357-1 εἴ μοί τι τόξων ⁵⁶¹ τόξα ⁵⁶²

mvp-comment-357-2 ἀπημελημένον ⁵⁶³

mvp-comment-357-3 παρερρύηκεν ⁵⁶⁴

mvp-comment-357-4 ὡς λίπω μή ⁵⁶⁵ λαβεῖν ⁵⁶⁶

mvp-comment-358-1 οὐ γὰρ ἄλλ’ ἔστ’, ἀλλ’ ἃ κ.τ.λ. ⁵⁶⁷ ἀλλ’ ⁵⁶⁸ ἄλλ’ ⁵⁶⁹ ἄλλος ⁵⁷⁰ ἃ βαστάζω ⁵⁷¹ ταῦτ’ ⁵⁷² ἄλλα γ’ ἔσθ’ ἃ ⁵⁷³

mvp-comment-359-1 ὥστε ⁵⁷⁴ ἔστιν ⁵⁷⁵

mvp-comment-359-2 θεόν ⁵⁷⁶ θεός ⁵⁷⁷

mvp-comment-360-1 ξυμφέρῃ ⁵⁷⁸ ἐρῶ ⁵⁷⁹

mvp-comment-361-1 καὶ μὴν … γε ⁵⁸⁰ πάρες ⁵⁸¹

mvp-comment-362-1 ὅσια … θέμις ⁵⁸²

mvp-comment-363-1 ὅς γ’ ⁵⁸³

mvp-comment-363-2 φάος ⁵⁸⁴

mvp-comment-363-3 δέδωκας ⁵⁸⁵

mvp-comment-363-4 χθόν’ Οἰταίαν ⁵⁸⁶

mvp-comment-364-1 ἀνέστησας πέρα ⁵⁸⁷ πέρα ⁵⁸⁸ πέρα ⁵⁸⁹ ἔνερθεν ⁵⁹⁰ πέρα ⁵⁹¹ μ’ ὕ ⁵⁹² περ ⁵⁹³ ἀναστήσας πάρει ⁵⁹⁴ πέρα ⁵⁹⁵

mvp-comment-365-1 ταῦτα ⁵⁹⁶ παρέσται σοι ⁵⁹⁷ καὶ θιγγάνειν ⁵⁹⁸

mvp-comment-366-1 καὶ δόντι δοῦναι ⁵⁹⁹ δοῦναι ⁶⁰⁰ ἐπεύξασθαι ⁶⁰¹ θιγγάνειν ⁶⁰²

mvp-comment-366-2 669 The acc. μόνον ⁶⁰³ δόντι ⁶⁰⁴ μόνῳ ⁶⁰⁵ μόνον ⁶⁰⁶ ς’ ⁶⁰⁷ ἀρετῆς ⁶⁰⁸

mvp-comment-367-1 εὐεργετῶν ⁶⁰⁹

mvp-comment-368-1 These three verses, called ‘manifesto spurii’ by Dindorf, are clearly genuine. If they are rejected, then Neoptolemus deigns no reply beyond

χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω

to the gracious and cordial speech of Philoctetes. In proof that the verses are pointless, Dindorf says:—‘Neque enim quidquam beneficii a Philocteta accepit Neoptolemus, ut

εὖ παθών

dici possit.’ Blaydes, though he does not bracket the verses, assents to this argument:—‘Certainly

εὖ παθὼν

cannot well apply to Neoptolemus.’ But

εὖ παθών

refers, of course, to Philoctetes. Neoptolemus means:—‘I am not sorry that chance drove me to Lemnos, and thus enabled me to gain your friendship. One who is ready to requite a benefit (viz., conveyance to Greece) by such a kindness as this (the promised loan of the bow), must indeed prove to be a priceless friend.’

mvp-comment-369-1 εὖ δρᾶν εὖ παθὼν ⁶¹⁰

mvp-comment-369-2 κτήματος ⁶¹¹

mvp-comment-370-1 χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω ⁶¹² καὶ σέ γ’ εἰσάξω ⁶¹³ γε ⁶¹⁴ σέ ⁶¹⁵ χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω ⁶¹⁶

mvp-comment-370-2 τὸ γὰρ ⁶¹⁷ νοσοῦν ⁶¹⁸ τὸ … νοσοῦν ⁶¹⁹

mvp-comment-371-1 ἐξήκους’ ⁶²⁰

mvp-comment-371-2 ὄπωπα δ’ οὐ μάλα ⁶²¹

mvp-comment-372-1 τὸν πελάταν ⁶²²

mvp-comment-372-2 The comparison with Ixion is the more forcible here, since reference has just been made to the gratitude shown by Philoctetes (672). Ixion was the great example of ingratitude. Cp. Pind. P. 2. 21

θεῶν δ’ ἐφετμαῖς Ἰξίονα φαντὶ ταῦτα βροτοῖς

λέγειν ἐν πτερόεντι τροχῷ

παντᾷ κυλινδόμενον·

τὸν εὐεργέταν ἀγαναῖς ἀμοιβαῖς ἐποιχομένους τίνεσθαι

mvp-comment-372-3 λέκτρων … τῶν Διὸς ⁶²³ τῶν ⁶²⁴

mvp-comment-373-1 κατὰ δρομάδ’ ἄμπυκα … Κρόνου παῖς ⁶²⁵ Ἰξίονα ⁶²⁶ δέσμιον ⁶²⁷ Ἰξίονα ⁶²⁸ δέσμιον ⁶²⁹ Ἰξίονα ⁶³⁰

mvp-comment-373-2 (1) The poet's tendency to omit the proper name in mythical allusion, when the context made his meaning clear, might be illustrated from Ant, 133, where Capaneus is described, yet not named; and from 966—987 of the same play, where Cleopatra—whose fate is being compared with Antigone's—is only indicated as the mother of the Phineidae (980) and the daughter of Boreas (985).

mvp-comment-373-3 (2) δέσμιον ⁶³¹ κατ’ ἄμπυκα … ἔβαλεν ⁶³² δέσμιον ⁶³³ κατ’ ⁶³⁴ ἀν’ ⁶³⁵

mvp-comment-373-4 Ἰξίον’ ἀν’ ἄμπυκα δὴ δρομάδ’ ὡς ἔβαλεν ⁶³⁶ δέσμιον ⁶³⁷

mvp-comment-373-5 ἄμπυκα ⁶³⁸ δρομάδα ⁶³⁹

mvp-comment-373-6 Cp. Hesych.,

ἄμπυκες, τροχοί· οὕτω Σοφοκλῆς ἐν Φιλοκτήτη

. Musgrave's ἄντυγα ⁶⁴⁰

mvp-comment-374-1 τοῦδ’ ⁶⁴¹

mvp-comment-375-1 οὔτ’ ἔρξας τιν’, οὔ τι νοσφίσας ⁶⁴² οὔ τι ⁶⁴³ οὔτε ⁶⁴⁴ οὐκ ⁶⁴⁵ νοσφίσας ⁶⁴⁶ ἔρξας ⁶⁴⁷ νοσφίσας ⁶⁴⁸

mvp-comment-376-1 ἴσος ὢν ἴσοις ⁶⁴⁹ ἴσος ὢν ἴσοις ⁶⁵⁰ ἴσος ⁶⁵¹

mvp-comment-376-2 L has ἴσως ⁶⁵² ἐν ἴσοις ⁶⁵³ ἔν γ’ ⁶⁵⁴

mvp-comment-377-1 ὤλλυθ’ ⁶⁵⁵

mvp-comment-377-2 The MS. text here is ὤλλυθ’ ὧδ’ ἀναξίως· τόδε θαῦμ’ ἔχει με ⁶⁵⁶ τόδε τοι θαῦμά μ’ ἔχει ⁶⁵⁷ τότ’ ἂν εἰλυόμενος ⁶⁵⁸ ὤλλυθ’ ὧδ’ ἀναξίως ⁶⁵⁹ εἷρπε γὰρ ⁶⁶⁰ εἷρπε δ’ ⁶⁶¹ ὤλλυθ’ ⁶⁶² ὠλέκεθ’ ⁶⁶³ ὤλλυτο τῇδ’ ⁶⁶⁴ ἀναξίως ⁶⁶⁵ ἄλλᾳ ⁶⁶⁶ ἀλλ ⁶⁶⁷ αχ ⁶⁶⁸ ᾷ ⁶⁶⁹

mvp-comment-378-1 ἀμφιπλάκτων ⁶⁷⁰ κλύζων ⁶⁷¹

mvp-comment-379-1 βιοτὰν κατέσχεν ⁶⁷²

mvp-comment-380-1 ἵν’ αὐτὸς ἦν πρόσουρος ⁶⁷³ ἦν ⁶⁷⁴ οἱ ⁶⁷⁵ πρόσουρος ⁶⁷⁶

mvp-comment-380-2 οὐκ ἔχων βάσιν ⁶⁷⁷ πρόσουρον οὐκ ἔχων βάσιν ⁶⁷⁸ πρόδουλον … βάσιν ⁶⁷⁹ οὔτιν’ ἐς ἔγχωρον ⁶⁸⁰

mvp-comment-381-1 κακογείτονα ⁶⁸¹

mvp-comment-381-2 Compounds to which

κακός

gives the first part are of two classes, according as the

κακο‐

element is (1) adj. or (2) subst. In class (1) there are again two types. ( a) The commonest is that of

κακόβιος

, =

κακὸν βίον ἔχων

: i.e., the compound denotes ‘possessing’ the subst. as qualified by

κακός

. ( b) A rarer, chiefly poet., type is that of

Κακοΐλιος

as simply=

κακὴ Ἴλιος

. In class (2) ( a) the

κακο‐

is most often equiv. to the subst.

κακόν

κακά

in the acc., governed by a verb: as

κακοποιός

κακὰ ποιῶν

. ( b) But sometimes this

κακο‐

represents a gen. or dat., depending on another noun: thus

κακόμαντις

, ‘prophet of evil’ ( Aesch. Pers. 10 etc.)=

κακῶν μάντις

. Cratinus used

κακόδουλος

as =

κακὸς δούλοις

(‘cruel to slaves’),

Θρᾷτται

fr. 7. And so

κακογείτων

could belong either to (1) b,=

κακὸς γείτων

: or, as it actually does here, to (2) b,

κακῶν γείτων

. Cp.

ἁλιγείτων, ἀστρογείτων, ἀστυγείτων

mvp-comment-381-3 The schol. joined κακογείτονα ⁶⁸² στόνον ⁶⁸³ κακογείτονα ⁶⁸⁴

mvp-comment-382-1 παρ’ ᾧ ⁶⁸⁵ ἀποκλαύσειεν ⁶⁸⁶

mvp-comment-382-2 ἀντίτυπον ⁶⁸⁷

mvp-comment-382-3 βαρυβρῶτα … αἱματηρόν ⁶⁸⁸ στόνον ⁶⁸⁹

mvp-comment-383-1 ὃς τὰν ⁶⁹⁰ οὐδ’ ὃς τὰν ⁶⁹¹ οὐδ’ ⁶⁹² τὰν ⁶⁹³ ὃς τὰν ⁶⁹⁴ οὐδ’ ὃς ⁶⁹⁵

mvp-comment-383-2 αἱμάδα ⁶⁹⁶ κηκι—ομέναν ⁶⁹⁷

mvp-comment-383-3 ἑλκέων ⁶⁹⁸

mvp-comment-383-4 ἐνθήρου ⁶⁹⁹

mvp-comment-384-1 εἴ τις ἐμπέσοι ⁷⁰⁰ ἑλών ⁷⁰¹ ἑλεῖν ⁷⁰²

mvp-comment-384-2 Some read εἴ τιν’ ἐμπέσοι ⁷⁰³ εἵ τι ⁷⁰⁴ συμπέσοι ⁷⁰⁵ ἑλεῖν ⁷⁰⁶

mvp-comment-384-3 φορβάδος ⁷⁰⁷

mvp-comment-385-1 εἷρπε ⁷⁰⁸ ἂν ⁷⁰⁹ εἷρπε ⁷¹⁰ εἰλυόμενος ⁷¹¹

mvp-comment-386-1 παῖς … ὡς ⁷¹²

mvp-comment-387-1 ὅθεν ⁷¹³ ὅθεν ὑπάρχοι ⁷¹⁴

mvp-comment-387-2 εὐμάρεια … πόρου ⁷¹⁵ πόρων ⁷¹⁶ πόρον ⁷¹⁷

mvp-comment-387-3 ἐξανείη ⁷¹⁸

mvp-comment-387-4 δακέθυμος ⁷¹⁹

mvp-comment-388-1 ἱερᾶς ⁷²⁰

mvp-comment-388-2 αἴρων ⁷²¹

mvp-comment-388-3 ἄλλων ⁷²² φορβὰν ⁷²³ τῶν ⁷²⁴

mvp-comment-388-4 ἀλφησταί ⁷²⁵

mvp-comment-388-5 ἀνέρες ⁷²⁶ α— ⁷²⁷

mvp-comment-389-1 πτανοῖς ⁷²⁸

mvp-comment-389-2 ἰοῖς ⁷²⁹

mvp-comment-390-1 ψυχά, ὃς ⁷³⁰

mvp-comment-390-2 ὃς μηδ’ ⁷³¹

mvp-comment-390-3 ἥσθη ⁷³²

mvp-comment-390-4 οἰνοχύτου ⁷³³

mvp-comment-390-5 δεκέτει χρόνῳ ⁷³⁴ δεκέτη χρόνον ⁷³⁵

mvp-comment-391-1 λεύσσων ⁷³⁶ ὅπου γνοίη ⁷³⁷ προσενώμα ⁷³⁸ εἰς στατὸν ὕδωρ ⁷³⁹ γνοίη ⁷⁴⁰ προσενώμα ⁷⁴¹ στατὸν … ὕδωρ ⁷⁴²

mvp-comment-392-1 ἀνδρῶν ἀγ ⁷⁴³

mvp-comment-392-2 ὑπαντήσας ⁷⁴⁴

mvp-comment-393-1 ἀνύσει εὐδαίμων ⁷⁴⁵

mvp-comment-393-2 ἐκ κείνων ⁷⁴⁶

mvp-comment-394-1 ποντοπόρῳ ⁷⁴⁷

mvp-comment-394-2 δούρατι ⁷⁴⁸

mvp-comment-394-3 πλήθει … μηνῶν ⁷⁴⁹

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

324. mvp-comment-234-1 May it be mine one day to satiate my wrathful soul with violent action!' There can be little doubt that the correction is right. For a similar confusion in all the MSS., cp. O. Т. 376.

324. mvp-comment-234-2 May it be mine one day to satiate my wrathful soul with violent action!' There can be little doubt that the correction is right. For a similar confusion in all the MSS., cp. O. Т. 376.

327. mvp-comment-235-1 εὖ γ᾽, ὦ τέκνον] 'Well said, my son!' Philoctetes' delight in Neoptolemus is further heightened by this supposed discovery of a common resentment. τίνος . . ἐλήλυθας] ‘For what cause do you thus bring against them the accusation of your violent anger?' τίνος, genitive of the reason (Essay on L. § 10. p. 15). Cp. Ο. Τ. 698, ὅτου μῆνιν τοσήνδε πράγματος στήσας ἔχεις. γάρ asks for explanation. ἐλήλυθας is redundant (Essay on L. § 40. p. 75). τὸν μέγαν χόλον] The mighty anger which you now evince.' For the slight inexactness in ἐγκαλεῖν χόλον, cp. О. Т. 702, λέγ', εἰ σαφῶς τὸ νεῖκος ἐγκαλῶν ἐρεῖς.

327. mvp-comment-235-2 εὖ γ᾽, ὦ τέκνον] 'Well said, my son!' Philoctetes' delight in Neoptolemus is further heightened by this supposed discovery of a common resentment. τίνος . . ἐλήλυθας] ‘For what cause do you thus bring against them the accusation of your violent anger?' τίνος, genitive of the reason (Essay on L. § 10. p. 15). Cp. Ο. Τ. 698, ὅτου μῆνιν τοσήνδε πράγματος στήσας ἔχεις. γάρ asks for explanation. ἐλήλυθας is redundant (Essay on L. § 40. p. 75). τὸν μέγαν χόλον] The mighty anger which you now evince.' For the slight inexactness in ἐγκαλεῖν χόλον, cp. О. Т. 702, λέγ', εἰ σαφῶς τὸ νεῖκος ἐγκαλῶν ἐρεῖς.

329. mvp-comment-236-1 μόλις δ᾽ ἐρῶ] 'Though I shall find it hard to speak of it, i.e. To command myself sufficiently to do so. Schol. ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς. Cp. Ο. C. 326, λύπῃ . . μόλις βλέπω.

329. mvp-comment-236-2 μόλις δ᾽ ἐρῶ] 'Though I shall find it hard to speak of it, i.e. To command myself sufficiently to do so. Schol. ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς. Cp. Ο. C. 326, λύπῃ . . μόλις βλέπω.

331. mvp-comment-237-1 ἐπεὶ γάρ] These words introduce the occasion of his coming, in explanation of μολών. ἔσχε.. θανεῖν] 'The fate of death overtook Achilles.' θανεῖν, epexegetic inf. For ἔσχε, cp. Eur. Hec. 5, ἐπεὶ Φρυγῶν πόλιν | κίνδυνος ἔσχε δορὶ πεσεῖν Ἑλληνικῷ.

331. mvp-comment-237-2 ἐπεὶ γάρ] These words introduce the occasion of his coming, in explanation of μολών. ἔσχε.. θανεῖν] 'The fate of death overtook Achilles.' θανεῖν, epexegetic inf. For ἔσχε, cp. Eur. Hec. 5, ἐπεὶ Φρυγῶν πόλιν | κίνδυνος ἔσχε δορὶ πεσεῖν Ἑλληνικῷ.

332-339. mvp-comment-238-1 This brief digression and the longer one below (410-460), have the effect (a) of showing the generous nature of Philoctetes, who, beneath his apparently obdurate resentment, really retains an unabated interest in the affairs of the army, and (b) of giving opportunity for the growth of friendly feeling between him and Neoptolemus. The news of Achilles' death so affects him as to make him for a moment forget his own suffering (339-40).

332-339. mvp-comment-238-2 This brief digression and the longer one below (410-460), have the effect (a) of showing the generous nature of Philoctetes, who, beneath his apparently obdurate resentment, really retains an unabated interest in the affairs of the army, and (b) of giving opportunity for the growth of friendly feeling between him and Neoptolemus. The news of Achilles' death so affects him as to make him for a moment forget his own suffering (339-40).

334. mvp-comment-239-1 ἀνδρός is genitive of cause, for which ὕπο afterwards supplies a more distinct construction.

334. mvp-comment-239-2 ἀνδρός is genitive of cause, for which ὕπο afterwards supplies a more distinct construction.

335. mvp-comment-240-1 τοξευτὸς .. δαμείς] Subdued, so they tell the tale, with an arrow from the bow of Phoebus.' τοξευτός is a subsidiary predicate to δαμείς, for which word in this connection, cp. Il. 19. 417, θεῷ τε καὶ ἀνέρι ἶφι δαμῆναι. ἐκ rather than ὑπό, because the arrow came from the hand of Apollo. Cp. Il. 21. 277, 8, ἥ μ᾿ ἔφατο Τρώων ὑπὸ τείχεϊ θωρηκτάων | λαιψηροῖς ὀλέεσθαι᾿ Απόλλωνος βελέεσσιν. Or, if the arrow were that of Paris, ἐκ denotes the remote agent, and Neoptolemus must be supposed to avoid mentioning the slight man' who had been the immediate author of Achilles' death.

335. mvp-comment-240-2 τοξευτὸς .. δαμείς] Subdued, so they tell the tale, with an arrow from the bow of Phoebus.' τοξευτός is a subsidiary predicate to δαμείς, for which word in this connection, cp. Il. 19. 417, θεῷ τε καὶ ἀνέρι ἶφι δαμῆναι. ἐκ rather than ὑπό, because the arrow came from the hand of Apollo. Cp. Il. 21. 277, 8, ἥ μ᾿ ἔφατο Τρώων ὑπὸ τείχεϊ θωρηκτάων | λαιψηροῖς ὀλέεσθαι᾿ Απόλλωνος βελέεσσιν. Or, if the arrow were that of Paris, ἐκ denotes the remote agent, and Neoptolemus must be supposed to avoid mentioning the slight man' who had been the immediate author of Achilles' death.

336. mvp-comment-241-1 Cp. Il. 21. 280, τῷ κ᾿ ἀγαθὸς μὲν ἔπεφν᾽, ἀγαθὸν δέ κεν ἐξενάριξεν.

336. mvp-comment-241-2 Cp. Il. 21. 280, τῷ κ᾿ ἀγαθὸς μὲν ἔπεφν᾽, ἀγαθὸν δέ κεν ἐξενάριξεν.

337-338. mvp-comment-242-1 The delicate courtesy of these lines is no less obvious than their self-forgetfulness.

337-338. mvp-comment-242-2 The delicate courtesy of these lines is no less obvious than their self-forgetfulness.

342. mvp-comment-243-1 ὅτῳ σ᾽ ἐνύβρισαν] ὅτῳ (governed by ἐν in ἐνύβρισαν) is best taken separate from τὸ σὸν πρᾶγμα. ‘Tell me your own affair; what was the point in which they insulted you?'

342. mvp-comment-243-2 ὅτῳ σ᾽ ἐνύβρισαν] ὅτῳ (governed by ἐν in ἐνύβρισαν) is best taken separate from τὸ σὸν πρᾶγμα. ‘Tell me your own affair; what was the point in which they insulted you?'

343. mvp-comment-244-1 ἦλθον.. μέτα = μετῆλθον. ποικιλοστόλῳ] = σὺν ποικιλίαις ἐσταλμένῃ, 'Decked out with ornament,' as being sent on an honorific mission. Others, With variegated prow' (στόλος); but in this less poetical sense it would be better to read ποικιλοστόμῳ. See v. rr.

343. mvp-comment-244-2 ἦλθον.. μέτα = μετῆλθον. ποικιλοστόλῳ] = σὺν ποικιλίαις ἐσταλμένῃ, 'Decked out with ornament,' as being sent on an honorific mission. Others, With variegated prow' (στόλος); but in this less poetical sense it would be better to read ποικιλοστόμῳ. See v. rr.

344. mvp-comment-245-1 δῖος] The constant Homeric title, which Neoptolemus uses out of habit. χώ τροφεύς] Phoenix.

344. mvp-comment-245-2 δῖος] The constant Homeric title, which Neoptolemus uses out of habit. χώ τροφεύς] Phoenix.

345. mvp-comment-246-1 μάτην] 'Groundlessly.'

345. mvp-comment-246-2 μάτην] 'Groundlessly.'

346. mvp-comment-247-1 ὡς . . γίγνοιτ'] 'That it came to be a thing irreconcileable with destiny.' Cp. Ant. 260, κἂν ἐγίγνετο, and note.

346. mvp-comment-247-2 ὡς . . γίγνοιτ'] 'That it came to be a thing irreconcileable with destiny.' Cp. Ant. 260, κἂν ἐγίγνετο, and note.

348-349. mvp-comment-248-1 οὐ πολὺν .. ταχύ] · They did not long restrain me, but that I set forth with speed.' On the indirectness of this way of saying, 'Their words were like a goad inciting me,' see Essay on L. § 42, a. p. 79. For μή we should rather expect μὴ οὐ. But though the addition of οὐ is permissible in such cases, there is no absolute rule. And ὦ ξένε, by suggesting 'You may imagine,' gives an hypothetical turn to the expression.

348-349. mvp-comment-248-2 οὐ πολὺν .. ταχύ] · They did not long restrain me, but that I set forth with speed.' On the indirectness of this way of saying, 'Their words were like a goad inciting me,' see Essay on L. § 42, a. p. 79. For μή we should rather expect μὴ οὐ. But though the addition of οὐ is permissible in such cases, there is no absolute rule. And ὦ ξένε, by suggesting 'You may imagine,' gives an hypothetical turn to the expression.

351. mvp-comment-249-1 οὐ γὰρ εἰδόμην] 'For I had not seen my father.' Schol. ζῶντα. It is objected to this that when Achilles went to Troy from Scyros, Neoptolemus must have been old enough to remember him. But this is one of those improbabilities which are external to the action and were it otherwise, there is no proof that Sophocles in the Philoctetes follows the version of the story which made Scyros Achilles' starting-point for Troy. Nor would there be anything unnatural in Neoptolemus saying, 'I had not seen him,' without adding, for so long.' Cp. Aj. 570, εἰσαεί, and note; Eur. Troad. 377, οὐ παῖδας εἶδον, sc. πάλιν. Seyffert reads, οὐδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ εἰδόμην, and Prof. Jebb has suggested εἰ γὰρ εἰδόμην. But (a), as Mr. Blaydes remarks, it is natural to infer from 359 that Neoptolemus did see the body of Achilles: and (b) does not such an ejaculation unduly interrupt the flow of the narrative? Neoptolemus is not speaking from real feeling, and there is no occasion for him to 'daub it so far, nor for the poet to invent the circumstance of his failing to see the body. The language resembles that of Od. 4. 200, 1, οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγε | ἤντησ᾽ οὐδὲ ἴδον, said by Peisistratus of his eldest brother Antilochus. But Peisistratus (Od. 3. 401) would be a mere infant at the time of the departure for Troy.

351. mvp-comment-249-2 οὐ γὰρ εἰδόμην] 'For I had not seen my father.' Schol. ζῶντα. It is objected to this that when Achilles went to Troy from Scyros, Neoptolemus must have been old enough to remember him. But this is one of those improbabilities which are external to the action and were it otherwise, there is no proof that Sophocles in the Philoctetes follows the version of the story which made Scyros Achilles' starting-point for Troy. Nor would there be anything unnatural in Neoptolemus saying, 'I had not seen him,' without adding, for so long.' Cp. Aj. 570, εἰσαεί, and note; Eur. Troad. 377, οὐ παῖδας εἶδον, sc. πάλιν. Seyffert reads, οὐδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ εἰδόμην, and Prof. Jebb has suggested εἰ γὰρ εἰδόμην. But (a), as Mr. Blaydes remarks, it is natural to infer from 359 that Neoptolemus did see the body of Achilles: and (b) does not such an ejaculation unduly interrupt the flow of the narrative? Neoptolemus is not speaking from real feeling, and there is no occasion for him to 'daub it so far, nor for the poet to invent the circumstance of his failing to see the body. The language resembles that of Od. 4. 200, 1, οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγε | ἤντησ᾽ οὐδὲ ἴδον, said by Peisistratus of his eldest brother Antilochus. But Peisistratus (Od. 3. 401) would be a mere infant at the time of the departure for Troy.

352-353. mvp-comment-250-1 However, besides this, the proposal had a fair colour given to it in their declaration that, if I came (ἰών), Ι should take the citadel that commanded Troy.' For ὁ λόγος, cp. supr. 345-7. προσῆν] Cp. supr. 129, ὡς ἂν ἀγνοία προσῇ.

352-353. mvp-comment-250-2 However, besides this, the proposal had a fair colour given to it in their declaration that, if I came (ἰών), Ι should take the citadel that commanded Troy.' For ὁ λόγος, cp. supr. 345-7. προσῆν] Cp. supr. 129, ὡς ἂν ἀγνοία προσῇ.

353. mvp-comment-251-1 For εἰ.. αἱρήσοιμι, see Essay on L. § 28. p. 46.

353. mvp-comment-251-2 For εἰ.. αἱρήσοιμι, see Essay on L. § 28. p. 46.

355. mvp-comment-252-1 πικρὸν Σίγειον] 'Cruel Sigeum,' i. e. where I was destined to find so much vexation: the mourning for his father, who was buried there, being embittered by the refusal of the arms. Cp. Rhes. 734, ὦ στυγνοτάτην Τροίαν ἐσιδών. To this, however, some editors prefer the conjecture of Burges, 'π' ἄκρον Σίγειον ! οὐρίῳ πλάτῃ] · With favourable voyage.' This is objected to, apparently because oars would not be used under a fair wind. But πλάτη often occurs in Tragedy in the general sense of making way at sea. Cp. Eur. Hel. 192, Ι. Τ. 242. And as the vessel drew near shore the sail would of course be lowered, and the oars brought into play.

355. mvp-comment-252-2 πικρὸν Σίγειον] 'Cruel Sigeum,' i. e. where I was destined to find so much vexation: the mourning for his father, who was buried there, being embittered by the refusal of the arms. Cp. Rhes. 734, ὦ στυγνοτάτην Τροίαν ἐσιδών. To this, however, some editors prefer the conjecture of Burges, 'π' ἄκρον Σίγειον ! οὐρίῳ πλάτῃ] · With favourable voyage.' This is objected to, apparently because oars would not be used under a fair wind. But πλάτη often occurs in Tragedy in the general sense of making way at sea. Cp. Eur. Hel. 192, Ι. Τ. 242. And as the vessel drew near shore the sail would of course be lowered, and the oars brought into play.

356-357. mvp-comment-253-1 κατηγόμην, | καὶ καὶ . . εὐθὺς .. ἐκβάντα] The narrative is condensed.

356-357. mvp-comment-253-2 κατηγόμην, | καὶ καὶ . . εὐθὺς .. ἐκβάντα] The narrative is condensed.

358. mvp-comment-254-1 'Achilles, who no longer lived, alive again.' Cp. the Trag. fr. quoted by Plutarch, Alc. 203 D, οὐ παῖς ᾿Αχιλλέως ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνος αὐτὸς εἶ.

359. mvp-comment-255-1 ἔκειτ'] 'Lay low.' The most natural way of understanding this is to suppose that Neoptolemus saw his father laid out and buried, without being burned. Cp. Aj. sub fin. (from 1402). It might also mean that Achilles was already buried when Neoptolemus arrived. But, as Hermann observes, there is nothing to indicate that the hope expressed in supr. 351 was thus disappointed. The fiction of Neoptolemus is rather that after the funeral the question of the arms was quickly disposed of whilst he was absorbed in his grief.

360. mvp-comment-256-1 οὐ μακρῷ χρόνῳ] • Before long.' These words are connected with what follows, and imply that the mourning did not long detain him from the object of his ambition.

361. mvp-comment-257-1 πρὸς φίλους, ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν] i. e. πρὸς ᾿Ατρ. ὡς πρὸς φίλους, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν αὐτοὺς εἶναι φίλους. For the omission of ὡς with ὡς following, see Essay on L. § 39. p. 73, 5, a. 'Assuming their friendship, as I had reason to do.'

362. mvp-comment-258-1 ὅσ᾽ ἦν] Sc. τοῦ πατρός.

363. mvp-comment-259-1 οἴμοι expresses not only personal disappointment (infr. 368, καταλγήσας), but also grieved astonishment that men could be so hardened.

364-365. mvp-comment-260-1 τἄλλα .. πατρῷ᾽ ἑλέσθαι] Cp. Αj. 572, μήθ᾽ ὁ λυμεὼν ἐμός. In ordinary Greek the article would be repeated with πατρῷα, which, however, is here resumed in close connection with ἑλέσθαι. 'To take in right of your father the other things:' i. e. To take the other things which are yours in right of your father.

365. mvp-comment-261-1 κείνων] "Those well-known arms,' viz. τῶν Ἡφαιστοτεύκτων.

367-368. mvp-comment-262-1 Then tears burst from me, and I straightway rose in grievous wrath, and broke forth on them indignantly, and said.' καταλγήσας, sc. κατ᾿ αὐτῶν.

369. mvp-comment-263-1 ὦ σχέτλι', ἢ τολμήσατ᾽] The voc. sing. σχέτλιε is addressed to Agamemnon, or whichever was the spokesman of the Atreidae. It is unnecessary to suppose a crasis of σχέτλιοι ἦ. For ἀντ' ἐμοῦ, cp. Αj. 444, οὐκ ἄν τις αὔτ᾽ ἔμαρψεν ἄλλος ἀντ᾿ ἐμοῦ.

370. mvp-comment-264-1 τὰ τεύχη τἀμά] The repeated article here emphasizes both words. 'Those arms, my arms, without consulting me!' πρὶν μαθεῖν ἐμοῦ] 'Before understanding from me,' sc. my will concerning them.

371. mvp-comment-265-1 ὁ δ᾽ εἰπ᾿ Ὀδυσσεύς] The order of words is in the Epic manner (see Essay on L. § 21. p. 33, 5), the noun being placed in apposition to the article as a demonstrative pronoun. 'Then spake that other, Odysseus, for he was at hand.' ὢν κύρει] The omission of the augment, Epicè, in narrative ῥήσεις is proved by the crucial instance τινὸς | θώϋξεν in O. C. 1623, 4. It was therefore unnecessary to resort to conjectural emendation here. (ἦν κυρῶν, Brunck.)

372. mvp-comment-266-1 ναί, παῖ] 'Yea, child!' Odysseus is supposed to treat the youth with insolent condescension.

373. mvp-comment-267-1 This achievement of Odysseus is alluded to in Od. 5. 309, ἤματι τῷ ὅτε μοι πλεῖστοι χαλκήρεα δοῦρα | Τρώες ἐπέρριψαν περὶ Πηλείωνι θανόντι. It was doubtless fully narrated in the Ilias Minor, from which Ovid probably derived it, Met. 13. 284, (quoted by Gedike): 'His humeris, his, inquam, humeris ego corpus Achillis | Et simul arma tuli, quae nunc quoque ferre laboro.' παρών hints the reproach which comes out afterwards, l. 379.

374. mvp-comment-268-1 ἤρασσον] 'I laid it on ;' ἀράσσω is here used absolutely. Cp. Ar. Nub. 1373, ἐξαράττω. And for the meaning, 'To assail with violent words,' cp. also Aj. 725, (αὐτὸν . . ὀνείδεσιν) ἤρασσον ἔνθεν κἄνθεν.

375. mvp-comment-269-1 οὐδὲν ἐνδεὲς ποιούμενος, εἰ] The clause with εἰ (for which see Essay on L. § 28, 1. p. 46), depends on the notion of the middle voice in ποιούμενος. Not caring to make any omission' (sparing no abuse) 'when I thought how my arms were to be taken from me by Odysseus.' Cp. Od. 21. 170, (νεμεσσῶμαι δέ τ᾽ ἀκούων) εἰ δὴ τοῦτό γε τόξον ἀριστῆας κεκαδήσει | θυμοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς. ποιούμενος is subj. middle, - for my part.'

376. mvp-comment-270-1 κεῖνος] i. e. ὁ κακὸς κἀκ κακῶν Ὀδυσσεύς, infr. 384.

377. mvp-comment-271-1 ἐνθάδ᾽ ἥκων] 'At this pass,' i. e. when he found himself resisted by a boy.

378. mvp-comment-272-1 δηχθεὶς πρὸς ἁξήκουσεν] ‘Stung at what he heard.' πρός with accusative, as in πρὸς ταῦτα. πρὸς ἀξ. should be joined in the first instance with δηχθείς, and resumed with ἠμείψατο.

379. mvp-comment-273-1 ἵν᾿ οὐ σ᾽ ἔδει] Sc. ἀπεῖναι. 'Where you ought to have been present.' The reproach is not that Neoptolemus was at Scyros, but that he was not in the battle field at Troy at the time when his father fell. Schol., οὐ παρῆς, ἔνθα ἔδει σε παρεῖναι. Infr. 429.

380. mvp-comment-274-1 The language is not perfectly exact; ταῦτα is primarily the object of ἔχων, but is to be resumed with λέγεις in a different sense. For such ellipse, see E. on L. § 39. p. 73, and cp. supr. 361, and note.

384. mvp-comment-275-1 κἀκ κακῶν] Alluding to the supposed Sisyphian parentage, which threw suspicion on the nobility of δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς. To this extent Neoptolemus follows the suggestion of Odysseus, supr. 64, 5.

385. mvp-comment-276-1 ὡς = τοσοῦτον ὅσον, cp. Aj. 679, 80, Ant. 775.

386-387. mvp-comment-277-1 'For a city or army depends wholly upon those who govern.' ἔστι with the genitive here means, 'Is determined by,' i. e. Takes its character from.' πᾶσα = σύμπασα, Wholly, rather than 'Every city.'

388. mvp-comment-278-1 διδασκάλων.. κακοί] Have teachers from whose instruction their badness flows.' This remark is not immediately relevant to Odysseus, but rather to the vote of the army by which the arms were awarded to him, and which is supposed to have been instigated by the Atreidae. Schndw. conjectured δ. τρόποισι.

390. mvp-comment-279-1 ἐμοί θ᾽ ὁμοίως... φίλος] The sentence in being expanded is changed from an assertion to a wish; i.e. ἐμοί τέ ἐστι φίλος καὶ ὁμοίως εἴη καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς φίλος. Cp. Ant. 686, οὔτ᾽ ἂν δυναίμην, μήτ' ἐπισταίμην λέγειν.

391-402;507-518. mvp-comment-280-1 The Chorus show their interest and support Neoptolemus by these strains, which are interwoven with the action, like those in O. T. 660 foll., 689 foll., О. С. 1447-1456, 1477-1485. They wish to assist their master by simulating hatred of the Atreidae and sympathy with Philoctetes. That both feelings are merely assumed, and that the Chorus really understand the situation, is obvious from the exaggerated strength of expression in 510, εἰ δὲ πικρούς, ἄναξ, ἔχθεις ᾿Ατρείδας. Their feigned excitement, to which the mixture of dochmiac and iambo-bacchic metre is well suited, was no doubt expressed with gestures accompanying the recitation, by the two half-choruses, of strophe and antistrophe severally.

391. mvp-comment-281-1 The Great Mother, who is here invoked, is said to have been worshipped at Lemnos as well as in Phrygia Steph. Byz. s. ν. Λήμνος, quoted by Gedike). And there is besides a special appropriateness in the invocation of this primal power of nature upon a desert shore, where no temples were to be seen. Bernhardy's remark, that the invocation of Rhea confirms the late date of the Philoctetes, is hardly warranted.

392. mvp-comment-282-1 ἃ . . νέμεις) 'That givest the mighty river Pactolus to be rich in gold.' For νέμω, meaning, 'To dispense or give forth,' cp. O. C. 687, Κηφισοῦ νομάδες ῥεέθρων. εὔχρυσον is a supplementary predicate = ὥστε εὔχρυσον εἶναι οἱ ῥεῖν. μέγας is, 'Deserving awe and reverence.' Cp. Plato, Phaedo, 62 Β, ὁ . . ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λόγος . . μέγας τέ τίς μοι φαίνεται καὶ οὐ ῥάδιος διϊδεῖν. The Pactolus comes from the mountains of Phrygia, and its peculiar virtue is attributed to the bounty of the universal mother, whose home was there.

395. mvp-comment-283-1 ἐπηυδώμαν ἐπηυδώμαν The middle voice expresses, 'I invoked for my behoof.'

396. mvp-comment-284-1 ὕβρις πᾶσα] 'The boundless insolence.' For πᾶς intensive, see E. on L. § 55. p. 101, 6. The bacchic rhythm shows that πᾶσα is not to be taken predicatively with ἐχώρει.

397. mvp-comment-285-1 παρεδίδοσαν] 'They were wrongfully giving away from him.' Cp. supr. 64, παρέδοσαν, and note.

400. mvp-comment-286-1 ἰὼ . . ἔφεδρε] This long parenthesis belongs to the wild nature of the strain, and would be assisted with significant gestures. λεόντων ἔφεδρε, 'Thou that sittest above the lions,' that draw thy car. Cp. the use of ἵπποι as equivalent to ἅρμα in Epic Greek.

401. mvp-comment-287-1 τῷ Λαρτίου . . ὑπέρτατον] 'Investing the son of Laertes with supreme glory.' The accusative, σέβας ὑπέρτατον, is in apposition either (1) to τεύχεα, or (2) to the action of παρεδίδοσαν. The dative is not to be taken with παρεδίδοσαν, but with σέβας ὑπέρτατον, sc. γενέσθαι, i. e. ὥστε τὸν Λ. ὑπέρτατον σέβας ἔχειν, (Ant. 304.)

402ff. mvp-comment-288-1 A point of rest has now been gained, and the action remains stationary for a little while. Neoptolemus has completely won the friendship of Philoctetes, and is confident of the attainment of his purpose. Cp. О. С. 631, 667.

402-403. mvp-comment-289-1 ἔχοντες σύμβολον σαφές | λύπης . . πεπλεύκατε] 'The grief ye have brought with you in sailing forth is a token which clearly commends itself to me.' Cp. Aristid. vol. 1. p. 416, ἱκανόν ἐστι πρὸς αὐτήν, ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι σύμβολον, αὐτὸ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ἀτυχίας, a passage which shows that πρὸς ἡμᾶς should be taken with ἔχοντες σύμβολον rather than with πεπλεύκατε. The participle has the chief emphasis: see Essay on L. § 41. p. 77. β.

405. mvp-comment-290-1 καί μοι προσᾴδεθ'] 'And your words strike on a note that is in unison with my experience.' For a similar metaphor, cp O. T. 1112, 3, ἔν τε γὰρ μακρῷ γήρᾳ ξυνάδει τῷδε τἀνδρὶ σύμμετρος.

407. mvp-comment-291-1 ἂν . . θιγόντα] I know that he would not refrain his tongue from any mischievous word or from any villany.' The effect of ἄν here is to mark that the supposed fact is in accordance with general probability.

408. mvp-comment-292-1 ἀφ᾿ ἧς . . ποιεῖν] 'Whereof the issue in his hands was likely to be some great iniquity.' For the indirect form of expression, see E. on L. § 42. p. 79.

409. mvp-comment-293-1 δίκαιον δὲ βαιον δίκαιον μηδέν] μή, because of the hypothetical nature of the sentence implied in ἂν θιγόντα. ἐς τέλος] 'In the end.' Cp. Eur. Ion 1615, χρόνια μὲν τὰ τῶν θεῶν πως, εἰς τέλος δ᾽ οὐκ ἀσθενῆ. μέλλοι] The optative because ἂν θιγόντα = ὅτι ἂν θίγοι.

410-411. mvp-comment-294-1 ἀλλ᾽ εἰ . . ἠνείχετο] Sc. θαυμάζω. 'But' (it does seem marvellous) 'if the taller Ajax, being there, endured to see this done.' παρών] i. e. supposing him to be at Troy, and not absent on some expedition. ὁ μείζων] The son of Telamon is so distinguished from the Ὀϊλῆος ταχὺς Αἴας.

412. mvp-comment-295-1 Editors have raised the question whether the award of the arms and the death of Ajax are supposed to precede or follow the arrival of Neoptolemus at Troy. But the Greek drama is not careful of such minute adjustments of time, especially in what the audience know to be a fictitious tale. The true story about Ajax in relation to the arms was not suited for Neoptolemus' purpose. The supposition which best suits the context is that, according to Neoptolemus, the award of the arms took place immediately after the funeral of Achilles, while he, the chief mourner, was still absorbed in his grief; and that the death of Ajax is not connected by him with the arms at all.

415. mvp-comment-296-1 νόει κεῖνον ὡς μηκέτ' ὄντα ἐν φάει] μή, because of the subjective meaning of νόει.

417. mvp-comment-297-1 'Nor the son whom Laertes bought of Sisyphus.' (The other reading, Λαερτίου, would mean, Laertes' son whom he bought from Sisyphus.' But the two genitives are here extremely improbable).

421-422. mvp-comment-298-1 τί δ᾽ ὃς.. ἔστιν] ‘But what of him who was an old man, and a good man, and a friend of mine, Nestor the Pylian? Is he yet alive?' ὃς has been much questioned, but appears sound.

422-423. mvp-comment-299-1 Here the question is raised, whether Philoctetes had been at all at Troy. But this point also is ἔξω τοῦ μυθεύματος, and is not necessarily determined by the poet. Philoctetes had been long enough with the host, at Tenedos or elsewhere, to know the characteristics of the chief men.

424. mvp-comment-300-1 κεῖνός γε ‘Ay, he.' γε gives a modified assent to the meaning of the question.

425. mvp-comment-301-1 The words ὅσπερ ἦν γόνος, '(The son whom he had') are slightly wanting in point, but they are commended by their simplicity, and no thoroughly satisfactory alternative has been proposed. The Scholiast mentions μόνος as having been read for γόνος. But although this reading, ὅσπερ ἦν μόνος, 'His only son,' affords a possible context (supposing the ellipse of υἱός), it involves (as the Scholiast felt) too great a departure from the common tradition, according to which Nestor had other sons remaining when Antilochus was no more. The conjectures most deserving mention are ὃς παρῆν γόνος, Herm. ('His son who was with him,') ὃς παρῆν μόνος, Musgr., and ὃς παρῆν πόνοις, Arndt., ('Who supported him in toils of war').

426. mvp-comment-302-1 δύ᾽ αὕτως δείν᾽ ἔλεξας] (1) In those few words (αὕτως), you have told me a twofold calamity, (affecting those) of whom, etc.' Or, (2) 'In those few words you tell me sad news of two, of whose misfortune, etc.' (δεινά being cognate and almost adverbial, as if it were δεινῶς ἔχοντε). The alternative reading, δύ' αὖ τώδ' ἐξέδειξας (inferred by Porson from the Scholia, see v. rr.), although more plausible than some others recorded by the διορθωτής of L, is not really better. It is slightly improved upon by Prof. Jebb and Mr. Blaydes, who propose to read, δύ᾽ αὖ τώδ᾽ ἄνδρ᾽ ἔλεξας: (the letters erased after δεὶν' in L. were said by Dübner to be ἄν).-It has been commonly assumed that Ajax and Antilochus are the persons meant. But line 415 is too remote to allow of this, whether αὕτως or αὖ τώδ' is the reading chosen. The meaning is that the death of Antilochus is a twofold calamity, destroying the life of one good man (Antilochus) and the happiness of another (Nestor). But οἵδε in l. 428 infr. includes not only Ajax and Antilochus, but also Achilles. The doubt remains, whether δεινά is not too strong a word for the connection. (Qu. δύ᾽ αὐτ᾿ ἀλγείν᾽ ἔλεξας?)

427. mvp-comment-303-1 For ὀλωλότοιν, including Nestor's desolation, cp. Aj. 896, El. 674.

428. mvp-comment-304-1 τί δῆτα δεῖ σκοπεῖν] i. e. ποῖ βλέπωμεν εἰς σωτηρίαν; Το what must we look, when Providence so manifestly fails us?' Cp. Ant. 922, 3, τί χρή με τὴν δύστηνον εἰς θεοὺς ἔτι | βλέπειν; Ο. Τ. 964, El. 924, 5, τἀκείνου δέ σοι | σωτήρι ἔρρει· μηδὲν εἰς κεῖνών γ᾽ ὅρα. Ὀδυσσεὺς δ᾽ ἔστιν αὖ] But Odysseus, on the contrary, is alive.'

429. mvp-comment-305-1 κἀνταῦθ᾽] 'And in such a juncture of affairs.' The crisis implied in the narrative of Neoptolemus (viz. the exigency which led to his being brought from Scyros) required that the mischievous Odysseus should be replaced by better men. Philoctetes again involuntarily shows his interest in the success of the army. Hermann's way of joining the words, Ulysses is found to be alive, as in other emergencies, so again in this,' is not satisfactory. Nor is there any real ground for his objection to Buttmann's rendering of αὖ, - Av si, ut Buttmanno videtur, ex altera parte significaret, deberet statim post Ὀδυσσεύς positum esse. As if there were not also an antithesis between τεθνᾶσιν and ἔστιν! The notion of Odysseus always turning up at critical moments, as lively as ever, is pleasant enough, but αὖ should have something to refer to, and ἵνα must be correlative to ἐνταῦθα, and cannot mean 'whereas.'

430. mvp-comment-306-1 αὐτόν = eum, not ipsum, though with a certain emphasis. αὐδᾶσθαι indicates the desire of Philoctetes to hear of Odysseus' death.

431-432. mvp-comment-307-1 Neoptolemus says this to humour Philoctetes, and encourage him to hope that his wish may be some day realized. But to the audience the words also suggest an anticipation of the complications which follow.

433. mvp-comment-308-1 γάρ is used with conversational freedom. ποῦ . . ἐνταῦθα] 'Where, then, in the circumstances which you describe?'

436. mvp-comment-309-1 τοῦτ᾽] 'This truth: i. e. the general truth of which these facts are instances. πόλεμος, κ.τ.λ.] This, like the preceding τί δεῖ σκοπεῖν, is a bit of commonplace pessimism. Cp. Aesch. Fr. 94, ἀλλ᾿ ῎Αρης φιλεῖ | ἀεὶ τὰ λῷστα πάντα τἀνθρώπων στρατοῦ: Soph. fr. 652, ῎Αρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν *λωτίζεται. ἑκὼν αἱρεῖ = φιλεῖ αἱρεῖν.

438. mvp-comment-310-1 κατ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο] ‘In connection with this very point,' viz. Your observation that the bad survive.

439. mvp-comment-311-1 ἀναξίου .. φωτός] Sc. πέρι. For this genitive, see E. on L. § 8. p. 13, 3. ἀναξίου = οὐδενὸς ἀξίου.

440. mvp-comment-312-1 τί= πῶς : cp. Εl. 1424, πῶς κυρεῖτε, E. on L. § 22. p. 36.

441. mvp-comment-313-1 'Ay? Who may that be, if you can mean any one but Odysseus?' The syntax of the previous sentence is continued. E. on L. § 35. p. 60.

442. mvp-comment-314-1 οὐ τοῦτον εἶπον] In the spirit of ll. 64, 5, supr. Neoptolemus professes to be impatient of the very name of Odysseus. Cp. infr. 1400, 1.

442-444. mvp-comment-315-1 'I meant not him. But there was one Thersites, who would never be content with speaking once, where all cried, Silence.' This, like supr. 348, 9, is a strong instance of ironical indirectness of expression. For ὅπου μηδεὶς ἐψη, cp. esp. Plat. Symp. 175 Β, ἐπειδάν τις ὑμῖν μὴ ἐφεστήκῃ. Also Aj. 1184, κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ, 'Though all say, You shall not.'

443. mvp-comment-316-1 ἂν εἴλετο is a singular instance of ἄν with the aor. ' of custom.' Cp. the curious use of the imperfect with ἄν, Ant. 260, κἂν ἐγίγνετο | πληγὴτελευτῶσ᾽, and note. Dobree conjectured ἀνείχετ'.

445. mvp-comment-317-1 αὐτόν] Burges conjectured αὐτός. ἔτ᾿ ὄντα νιν] The Scholiast, whose account agrees in the main with that of Quintus Smyrnaeus (1. 741, foll.), finds here another departure from the Epic tradition, according to which Thersites had been killed by Achilles with a blow of his fist.

446. mvp-comment-318-1 'I was sure of it. For never evil perished yet.' The reading οὐδέπω κακόν may be defended by comparing supr. 83, εἰς ἀναιδές, and note. The correction οὐδέν πω (Herm.) has been generally adopted.

447. mvp-comment-319-1 εὐ περιστέλλουσιν αὐτά] ‘Carefully defend them from harm.' αὐτά] Sc. τὰ κακά, which, like τὰ .. πανούργα καὶ παλιντριβῆ refers to persons. Cp. τὰ μέσα τῶν πολιτῶν and similar expressions.

448. mvp-comment-320-1 καί πως] Cp. Eur. Med. 119. παλιντριβή] • Froward.' The notion in παλιντριβής is that of something which resists treatment: cp. ἀντίτυπος.

449. mvp-comment-321-1 ἀναστρέφοντες ἐξ "Αιδου] “In turning back, i. e. when on their way thither. Like his father Sisyphus, who intrigued himself out of Hades (infr. 625), Odysseus bears a charmed life.

451. mvp-comment-322-1 ποῦ χρὴ τίθεσθαι ταῦτα] · What is one to make of these things? What place assign to them in thought?' i. e. how bring them into harmony with our other thoughts? ποῦ δ᾽ αἰνεῖν] ποῦ is used for πῶς by attraction, or the tendency to repeat the same expression (οἷον ῥυμή τις τοῦ λόγου), for which, see E. on L. § 35. p 60. What place can we find for their approval? i. e. How can we acquiesce in them? Cp. Eur. Heracl. 369, ποῦ ταῦτα καλῶς ἂν εἴη;

452. mvp-comment-323-1 Since, in seeking to approve the doings of the gods, I find that the gods are evil doers; i. e. In praising the gods I must call them wise and good, but this experience shows them to be either malignant or weak. The tense in ἐπαινῶν has an inceptive or conative force.

453-465. mvp-comment-324-1 Neoptolemus, while still professing hatred of Troy, uses language that is calculated to excite to the utmost the desire of Philoctetes to be taken home. He addresses him with reference to his father and the sacred hill (infr. 729), where he saw the last of Heracles. He speaks of his own isle of Scyros by name, and affects to look forward to the happiness of an unambitious home. He points to the departure of his vessel as imminent.

454-455. mvp-comment-325-1 τηλόθεν εἰσορῶν φυλάξομαι] Will avoid, beholding afar off.' For the indirect expression, see E. on L. § 42. p. 79, and cp. esp. Ο. Τ. 795. ἄστροις. . ἐκμετρούμενος χθόνα, and note: Eur. Hippol. 102, πρόσωθεν αὐτὴν ἁγνὸς ὢν ἀσπάζομαι.

457. mvp-comment-326-1 χώ δεινὸς κρατεῖ] 'And power is in the hands of clever rogues.' For this dislike of δεινότης, cp. Thuc. 8. 68, ὑπόπτως τῷ πλήθει διὰ δόξαν δεινότητος διακείμενος: Isocr. Panathen. p. 242, C, ἐπαινεῖν μὲν . . τὴν . . ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γεγενημένην, δεινὴν δὲ νομίζειν τὴν αὑτῇ τὰ συμφέροντα διαπραττομένην. Many have preferred δειλός, which involves a very slight change.

460. mvp-comment-327-1 ὥστε τέρπεσθαι δόμῳ] ‘And I shall have full contentment in my home.' Cp. Od. 13. 61, σὺ δὲ τέρπεο τῷδ᾽ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ, | παισί τε καὶ λαοῖσι καὶ ᾿Αλκινόῳ βασιλῆϊ.

461. mvp-comment-328-1 He again reminds Philoctetes of his father, this time by name.

462. mvp-comment-329-1 ὡς μέγιστα] The slight exaggeration shows Neoptolemus' feeling of the hollowness of this farewell.

463. mvp-comment-330-1 ὡς αὐτὸς θέλεις] Cp. Od. 6. 180, σοὶ δὲ θεοὶ τόσα δοῖεν, ὅσα φρεσὶ σῇσι μενοινᾷς.

464-465. mvp-comment-331-1 ὡς .. ὁρμώμεθα] 'That we may sail at whatever moment Heaven vouchsafes to yield us a fair voyage.' Cp. Od. 9. 138, 9, εἰσόκε ναυτέων | θυμὸς ἐποτρύνῃ καὶ ἐπιπνεύσωσιν ἀῆται. The wind is favourable for the voyage to Troy, but not for that to Scyros. Cp. infr. 639, 40, 855, 1450, 1.

466. mvp-comment-332-1 καιρός] 'The moment calls upon us,' cp. infr. 1450; καιρός here probably refers to the time of day. Should the wind now shift, he might hope to reach Scyros before night-fall. It cannot mean, 'The chance of a favouring breeze invites us.' Cp. infr. 639, 40.

467. mvp-comment-333-1 πλοῦν.. σκοπεῖν] ‘Τo watch the opportunity of sailing not from far off but close at hand.' Cp. Thuc. 4. 23, σκοποῦντες καιρόν, εἴ τις παραπέσοι, ὥστε τοὺς ἄνδρας σῶσαι: Eur. Hec. 901, μένειν ἀνάγκη πλοῦν ὁρῶντας ἡσύχους. We have here another instance of indirect expression. See Essay on L. § 42. p. 79. Οη ἐξ ἀπόπτου, see Aj. 15, and note.

468ff. mvp-comment-334-1 The moment, for which the preceding scene has prepared the spectator, is now come. Philoctetes' agony of supplication is made more pathetic by our knowledge that he is 'working against his own desire,' and running thus eagerly 'to meet what he would most avoid.' πρός ... προσφιλές] Cp. О. С. 250, πρός σ' ὅ τι σοι φίλον ἐκ σέθεν ἄντομαι, and note: Od. 10. 66, πατρίδα σὴν καὶ δῶμα καὶ εἴ πού τοι φίλον ἐστίν.

472. mvp-comment-335-1 ὅσοισί τ᾽ ἐξήκουσας] Viz. supr. 263-313; cp. infr. 591, ἅπερ κλύεις.

473. mvp-comment-336-1 ἀλλ᾽ ἐν παρέργῳ θοῦ με] (1) 'But stow me away' (or 'dispose of me') * as a supernumerary. θοῦ, sc. ἐν τῇ νηΐ: cp. infr. 481, ἐμβαλοῦ μ᾿ ὅπῃ θέλεις (sc. τῆς νεώς). ἐν παρέργῳ, sc. τῶν φορουμένων: cp. Eur. El. 63, πάρεργ Ορέστην κἀμὲ ποιεῖται δόμων.

474. mvp-comment-337-1 'Indeed, as I well know, much annoyance is involved in such a freight.' δυσχέρεια contains the chief predicate. For the genitive, see E. on L. § 9. p. 12, 1a. This line is strangely suspected by Nauck, It exactly expresses the humbleness of Philoctetes in his extreme need.

475-476. mvp-comment-338-1 τοῖσι . . εὐκλεές] Surely the noble heart hates what is base, and appreciates the glory of kindness.' εὐκλεές, while opposed to ἐχθρόν, is partly suggested by αἰσχρόν, so that the whole argument, if drawn out at length, would be τὸ μὲν αἰσχρὸν ἐχθρόν, τὸ δὲ εὐκλεὲς φίλον, τὸ δέ γε χρηστὸν εὐκλεές. Philoctetes perceives that a noble youth like Neoptolemus must be ambitious of the purest renown.

477. mvp-comment-339-1 οὐ καλόν] Full of disgrace.' Cp. Trach. 454, κὴρ πρόσεστιν οὐ καλή.

478. mvp-comment-340-1 πλεῖστον εὐκλείας γέρας] 'An abundant meed of fair renown.' πλεῖστον rather than μέγιστον, which would agree better with γέρας, because πλεῖστον γέρας εὐκλείας = γέρας πλείστης εὐκλείας. See E. on L. § 42. γ. p. 80. Philoctetes thinks of the gratitude of Poeas and his Melian friends as enough to satisfy any man's ambition.

480. mvp-comment-341-1 The expression is modified as the sentence proceeds: "Tis the labour of a day, nay, not of one whole day.'

481. mvp-comment-342-1 τόλμησον] 'Take heart to do it.' Cp. Ο. C. 184, τόλμα, κ.τ.λ., and note.

478-481. mvp-comment-343-1 ὅπῃ θέλεις] In what part (of the ship) you will.' ἄγων] 'If you will but take me.' Cp. infr. 590, ποιοῦ λέγων. And see E. on L. § 36. р. 63.

482. mvp-comment-344-1 ὅποι, sc. βεβλημένος, or = ἐκεῖσε ὅπου. The construction is attracted to that of the preceding words. See Essay on L. § 35, a. p. 59.

483. mvp-comment-345-1 ξυνόντας] Cp. infr. 520, τῆς νόσου ξυνουσίᾳ.

484. mvp-comment-346-1 πρὸς αὐτοῦ Ζηνός] Wishing to add something to his previous adjuration, supr. 468, 9, he can only think of Ζεὺς ἱκέσιος himself, whom he now brings forward, ὡς ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸν κολοφῶνα.

485. mvp-comment-347-1 γόνασι] (1) 'By falling on my knees,' (instrum. dat.). Or, (2) 'On my knees,' (locative). Cp. γονυπετής. Philoctetes kneels as far as his lameness will allow, and in the same act calls attention to the pitiable weakness which hinders even the posture of supplication.

487. mvp-comment-348-1 χωρὶς ἀνθρώπων στίβου] 'Apart from track of men,' i. e. where no man comes. Cp. Ant. 773, ἔρημος ἔνθ᾽ ἂν ᾖ βροτῶν στίβος.

488-489. mvp-comment-349-1 Philoctetes longs to be taken home (492), but, in order to obtain his petition, he limits it to what is easiest of performance. ἄγων is here unemphatic; not as supr. 481.

489. mvp-comment-350-1 Χαλκώδοντος Εὐβοίας σταθμά] To the Euboean dwelling of Chalcodon, i. e. Chalcis. Chalcodon is the father of Elephenor, who led the Euboeans to Troy; Il. 2. 536-541, οἱ δ' Εὔβοιαν ἔχον ... | τῶν αὖθ᾽ ἡγεμόνευ Ελεφήνωρ όζος ῎Αρηος | Χαλκωδοντιάδης, μεγαθύμων ἀρχὸς ᾿Αβάντων. The thoughts of Philoctetes are with the older generation (Poeas, Peleus, Telamon, Lycomedes, Chalcodon), who had known Heracles, and were still vigorous when Philoctetes left home for Troy. According to a tradition, which is here ignored, Chalchodon had long since been slain by Amphitryon.

491. mvp-comment-351-1 The correction of δειράδα καί (see v.rr.) is very uncertain. δεράς does not occur elsewhere. Other corrections are δειράδ᾽ ἤ (Porson), πρῶνα καί (Wunder), δειράδ' ἐπί (Hermann in one edition), δειράδ' ἀνά (Seyffert). Philoctetes imagines the features of his native land as they would successively disclose themselves in the homeward voyage in l. 488.

492. mvp-comment-352-1 πατρὶ . . φίλῳ] 'That so thou mayest give me to my dear father's sight.' ὡς δείξῃς depends on ἔκσωσον in l. 488.

493. mvp-comment-353-1 παλαί᾽ ἂν ἐξότου = παλαιὸς χρόνος ἂν εἴη ἐξ ὅτον, is to be joined as an adverbial expression with βεβήκῃ. Cp. Thuc. 1. 6, where οὐ πολὺς χρόνος ἐπειδὴ ἐπαύσαντο φοροῦντες = ἔναγχος ἐφόρουν καὶ οὐ πολὺς χρόνος γέγονεν ἐπειδὴ ἐπαύσαντο. Others read παλαιὸν ἐξ ὅτου. If this is adopted, the phrase is still to be joined to βεβήκη, and not το δέδοικα.

494. mvp-comment-354-1 μὴ . · βεβήκη] 'Who, my fears tell me, may be long since gone.' Βεβήκοι might be defended as continuing the construction with ἄν; but this is improbable. μοι is ethical dative. πολλά, adv. τοῖς ἱγμένοις] 'By means of those who had come,' (supr. 301 fol.). Cp. Ant. 164, 5, πομποῖσιν . . ἔστειλα.

495. mvp-comment-355-1 ἔστελλον] 'I urged him.' Cp. infr. 623. The imperfect tense represents an endeavour.

496. mvp-comment-356-1 αὐτόστολον] 'With a ship and crew of his own providing.' Agreeing with αὐτόν. δόμοις] Wund. conjectured δόμους, perhaps rightly; but for the dative, see Essay on L. § 11. p. 18, 3.

497-499. mvp-comment-357-1 τὰ τῶν διακόνων .. ποιούμενοι] Either (1) τὰ τῶν διακόνων simply = οἱ διάκονοι, with which ποιούμενοι agrees. Or (2) the mode of expression is altered from 'the service of my messengers failed me' (ἐξαπώλετο ἤ τι τοιοῦτον), to 'my messengers cared little for what concerned me, but pushed their homeward voyage, etc.'

498. mvp-comment-358-1 ὡς εἰκός] Philoctetes attributes to such involuntary visitants the homesickness which he himself feels. τοὐμὸν . . ποιούμενοι] He says this as feeling bitterly his insignificance. Cp. supr. 254,5.

500. mvp-comment-359-1 Seyffert rightly omits the comma after νῦν δ'. Cp. supr. 144, 5. εἰς σὲ .. ἥκω) · I am come to thee,' i e. My fate has brought me to you in the succession of those who come. For the transference of words of place to time, see E. on L. § 24. p. 41, 7. πομπόν τε καὐτὸν ἄγγελον] Who wilt be my guide at the same time that thou dost thyself report concerning me.' αὐτόν belongs to both nouns, i. e. not only to transmit news of me, but to announce me yourself in person; not only to announce me, but to take me home. Philoctetes still clings to the hope that Neoptolemus will bring him all the way to Trachis.

501. mvp-comment-360-1 εἰσορῶν] 'Seeing,' in the example now present before you.

502-503. mvp-comment-361-1 δεινά] Sc. ἐστί. How to mortals all things are beset with peril and hazard; there is a chance of good and a chance of the opposite.' Philoctetes has deeply learnt the lesson: 'It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, And that craves wary walking. Neoptolemus must show mercy, and thus avoid provoking the gods. For πάντα δεινά, Wakefield conjectured πάντ' ἄδηλα.

504. mvp-comment-362-1 ὁρᾶν] Το be ware of. Schol. εὐλαβεῖσθαι. Cp. Aj. 1313, ὅρα μὴ τοὐμόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σόν.

506. mvp-comment-363-1 διαφθαρείς] Sc. ὁ βίος. Cp. Thuc. 8. 91, λήσειν διαφθαρέντας (sc. ἔφη Θηραμένης τοὺς τειχίζοντας τὴν Ἠετιώνειαν τοῖς ᾿Αθηναίοις).

507-518. mvp-comment-364-1 In the strophe supr. 391-402, the one half-chorus echoed the falsehood of Neoptolemus. The other half-chorus now in similar measures professedly responds to the appeal of Philoctetes, and recommends him to the kindness of Neoptolemus. L. 510 is equivalent, although not identical in metre, with l. 395: Each consists of two dochmiacs.

508-509. mvp-comment-365-1 πόνων ἆθλ'] Cp. Trach. 506, ἄεθλ᾽ ἀγώνων. ὅσσα] Porson's conjecture, οἷα, has been adopted by several editors. Other proposed corrections are ἄσσα and ἄθλους ἅ (Dobree). ὅσσα is at once, So many as,' and 'So great as.' τύχοι] λάχοι, which Nauck reads, would be in a more usual construction. But the change is unnecessary.

510. mvp-comment-366-1 πικρούς] Cp. supr. 320-3, 363, 369, 396.

511. mvp-comment-367-1 τὸ κείνων μετατιθέμενος] Converting their evil deed into a benefit for him.' According to the pretended situation, the same iniquity which cast Philoctetes forth has sent Neoptolemus from Troy, and Neoptolemus has now the opportunity of taking Philoctetes home. Thus evil may be made the occasion of good. The middle voice in μετατιθέμενος is subjective='On your own part.'

515. mvp-comment-368-1 ἐπιμέμονεν] Sc. πορεύεσθαι. Cp. Εl. 1435, ᾗ νοεῖς ἔπειγέ νυν.

516. mvp-comment-369-1 ἐπ᾿ εὐστόλου ταχείας νεώς] Οn your trim swift bark.' For the double epithet, see Essay on L. § 23. P. 37.

517. mvp-comment-370-1 τὰν *θεῶν] ἐκ (see v.rr.) is required by the same metrical reason which led to Λαερτίου being changed το Λαρτίου in l. 401.

518. mvp-comment-371-1 νέμεσιν] The possibility of some Divine retribution following refusal was gently hinted at the conclusion of Philoctetes' speech, ll 501-506.

519. mvp-comment-372-1 Consider, lest you who now stand there so goodnaturedly, may show a different spirit from your present words when you are wearied through contact with the disease.' For the 'paratactic' structure, see Essay on L. § 36. p. 68. τις is added to a predicative word as in Ο. Τ. 618, 9, ὅταν ταχύς τις οὑπιβουλεύων λάθρα χωρῇ. The slight redundancy of the expression, for which, cp. Εl. 506, ὡς ἔμολες αἰανή, κ.τ.λ., has suggested an unnecessary doubt whether παρῆς may not be from παρίημι (‘You grant permission').

521. mvp-comment-373-1 For αὑτὸς τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις, ср. О. Т. 557, καὶ νῦν ἔθ᾽ αὑτός εἰμι τῷ βουλεύματι, and note.

522-523. mvp-comment-374-1 are spoken by the coryphaeus.

524-525. mvp-comment-375-1 'It were shame if I were found more backward than you are to serve a stranger in his need.' ξένῳ either = τῷ ξένῳ, i. e. ‘Τo Philoctetes,' or, with a slight difference, (2) more generally, 'To a stranger-friend,' -as Philoctetes is. The dative depends on ἐνδεέστερον φανῆναι (= γενέσθαι) and is to be resumed with πονεῖν.

525. mvp-comment-376-1 πρὸς τὸ καίριον is an adverbial expression, like πρὸς τὸ κάρτερον, πρὸς τὸ λιπαρές, etc., and the infinitive depends on ἐνδεέστερον.

527. mvp-comment-377-1 οὐκ ἀπαρνηθήσεται] (1) He shall not be denied.' This suits the feeling of the passage better than (2) the impersonal sense (The favour shall not be denied'), which, however, is also possible.

529. mvp-comment-378-1 The emphatic position of ἡμᾶς at the beginning of the line shows that Neoptolemus deliberately includes Philoctetes in his prayer. βουλοίμεσθα is optative because of the preceding optative (cp. 325, 961) and partakes of the indefiniteness of the wish. Neoptolemus feels that when they leave the shore the intention of his voyage will not be that which he now professes, and he trusts that by that time the wish of Philoctetes may be the same with his own.

533. mvp-comment-379-1 *προσκύσαντε εἰσοίκησιν] Schndw. threw suspicion on these words because of the ἅπαξ λεγόμενον εἰσοίκησις, and various modes of alteration have been suggested. But it is idle to object to every ἅπαξ λεγόμενον. And these words give an excellent sense. If ἐξοικεῖν, a rare word, means ἔξω οἰκεῖν (Lys. 187. 29, Dem. 845. 19), why may not εἰσοικεῖν mean ἔσω οἰκεῖν? (It is so used in Anth. P. 7. 320, according to the MS. reading.) Cp. εἰσίδρυμαι, εἰσίζομαι, εἰσοικίζω. In that case ἡ εἰσοίκησις is ἡ ἔσω οἴκησις, and τὴν ἔσω.. εἰσοίκλησιν is merely a common instance of pleonasm, much as when we speak of the interior of a cave. If εἰς οἴκησιν is read, it becomes necessary to suppose a lacuna, for ἴωμεν here can only mean, 'Let us depart.' For the participial expression (προσκύσαντε = ' but first let us pay a farewell visit to'), ср. О. Т. 680, μαθοῦσά γ' ἥτις ἡ τύχη. Philoctetes'attachment to his bare and comfortless dwelling-place shows itself here, together with the longing expressed supr. 251 foll, that the extent of his misery and endurance might be known.

535. mvp-comment-380-1 ἀφ᾽ ὧν] ἀπο- as in ἀποζῆν. διέζων] 'I kept life afoot.' δια- of a persevering effort, as in διαμάχεσθαι.

536. mvp-comment-381-1 μόνην θέαν] 'Even the mere sight.' The adjective has the force of the adverb μόνον.

538. mvp-comment-382-1 προὔμαθον] Either (1) ‘I long since learned,' or (2) 'I learnt by degrees,' i.e. conquering each evil as it met me. Cp. προδιδάσκειν.

539-541. mvp-comment-383-1 These lines are spoken by the coryphaeus. The Σκοπός of supr. 125 is seen approaching, disguised as a ship-master, and accompanied by another of Neoptolemus's crew.

540. mvp-comment-384-1 ἀλλόθρους is simply a stranger, 'Not one of ourselves.' The word ξένος (infr. 557) would not apply to the man until they knew whether he was of Scyros or not. He professes afterwards to come from Peparethus.

541. mvp-comment-385-1 αὖθις] Blaydes conjectures αὐτίκ'. But αὖθις is 'afterwards,' as αὖτις in Il. 1. 140, ταῦτα μεταφρασόμεσθα καὶ αὖτις. After that, ye shall go in'

542. mvp-comment-386-1 τόνδε τὸν ξυνέμπορον] 'This companion of my way,' viz. from the mooring place to before the cave.

544. mvp-comment-387-1 ποῦ κυρῶν εἴης] • Where you were at this moment to be found.' A conversational pleonasm.

545. mvp-comment-388-1 ἀντέκυρσα] Sc. σοί. ‘Our paths have crossed.' δοξάζων μὲν οὔ] 'Not that I had any thought of such a thing.' For the combination of aorist and imperfect (δοξάζων = ὅτε ἐδόξαζον), cp. Ο. Τ. 1457, θνήσκων ἐσώθην.

546. mvp-comment-389-1 ὁρμισθείς] 'Brought to anchor.' He has been baffled by the headwind mentioned infr. 639.

547. mvp-comment-390-1 ὡς ναύκληρος, οὐ πολλῷ στόλῳ] 'With the modest outfit of a merchant-man.' This accounts for his approach not having been descried. He is supposed to be a purveyor (infr. 583, 4) of provisions to the army, perhaps of wine from his own vine-clad (εὔβοτρυν) island. Cp. ΙΙ. 7. 467, νῆες δ᾽ ἐκ Λήμνοιο παρέστασαν οἶνον ἄγουσαι. Peparethus is midway between Scyros and the entrance to the Maliac gulf. The same wind that is pretended to have detained Neoptolemus would also delay the merchantman on his homeward voyage.

549-550. mvp-comment-391-1 ὡς νεναυστοληκότες] 'When I had ascertained in the course of conversation that the mariners who had manned the vessel were one and all your men' (σοί, possessive pronoun). So Hermann, Opusc. 8. p. 190, rightly, although the reason which he gives ('Nam sic demum nauclerus tuto referre poterat, quae erat narraturus'), is not required. Dobree conjectured συννεναυστοληκότες (‘That they had all accompanied you in your voyage').

552. mvp-comment-392-1 προστυχόντι τῶν ἴσων depends οη τὸν πλοῦν ποιεῖσθαι as an affirmative expression: i. e. ἔδοξέ μοι, φράσαντι καὶ τῶν ἴσων προστυχόντι, οὕτω τὸν πλοῦν ποιεῖσθαι. · When first I had received fair recompense.' For the naiveté of this parenthetical demand, as not unbefitting the relations of the sea-captain to Neoptolemus (who is no less careful to assure him of his gratitude, infr. 557, 8), ср. О. Τ. 1005, 6, καὶ μὴν μάλιστα τοῦτ᾽ ἀφικόμην ὅπως | σοῦ πρὸς δόμους ἐλθόντος εὖ πράξαιμί τι: Trach. 190, 1, ὅπως τοι πρῶτος ἀγγείλας τάδε πρὸς σοῦ τι κερδάναιμι.

553. mvp-comment-393-1 οὐδὲν σύ που] The asyndeton marks the urgency of the intelligence.

554. mvp-comment-394-1 ἀμφὶ σοῦ * νέα] This emendation of Auratus has been generally received. And although the MS. reading may be possibly defended by the comparison of such phrases as τίνος δὴ χάριν ἕνεκα, etc. (see especially Thuc. 8. 92, ὅσον καὶ ἀπὸ βοῆς ἕνεκα), the meaning as well as the grammar is distinctly improved by the change.

556. mvp-comment-395-1 δρώμεν', οὐκέτ᾽ ἐξαργούμενα] Ιn act, no longer left undone.' Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1359, τοῦ δρῶντός ἐστι καὶ τὸ βουλεῦσαι πέρι.

559. mvp-comment-396-1 φράσον . . ἔλεξας] Declare at full what you have now mentioned.'

560. mvp-comment-397-1 ἀπ᾿ ᾿Αργείων] Sc. φαινόμενον. ἔχεις] Cp. Trach. 318, οὐδ᾽ ὄνομα πρὸς του τῶν ξυνεμπόρων ἔχεις; Ο. C. 1451, μάτην γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀξίωμα δαιμόνων ἔχω φράσαι.

562. mvp-comment-398-1 οἱ.. Θησέως κόροι] Acamas and Demophon, said to have been first mentioned in the Ἰλίου πέρσις of Arctinus. These names help to commend the lie to the fancy of the Athenian audience.

563. mvp-comment-399-1 λόγοις] By persuasion.' Cp. infr. 612, 623 foll., 629, 30.

563,565. mvp-comment-400-1 These vague replies show that Neoptolemus has not yet seized his cue. Cp. 570, 1 foll.

566. mvp-comment-401-1 οὕτω καθ' ὁρμήν] ‘Thus incontinently' (in the old sense); referring to supr. 555. 6.

567. mvp-comment-402-1 ὡς ταῦτ᾽ ἐπίστω δρώμεν] i. e. ἐπίστασο, ὡς ταῦτα δρώμενα (sc. ἐστίν). For ἐπίστασο ταῦτα ὡς δρώμενα this would be too violent an inversion.

568. mvp-comment-403-1 πρὸς τάδε] 'Hereupon,' i. e. 'When such was the counsel of the Argives.' αὐτάγγελος] ‘'Bringing the message in person;' i. e. αὐτὸς καὶ μὴ δι᾽ ἄλλων ἀγγέλων. Phoenix and the Theseidae were ἄγγελοι of the resolution of the chieftains to Neoptolemus.

569. mvp-comment-404-1 ἢ.. νιν] Neoptolemus assumes a spirited tone, and suggests a mean motive in Odysseus, in order to gratify Philoctetes.

570. mvp-comment-405-1 ἐπ᾿ ἄλλον ἄνδρα] ‘With designs upon another person.'

571. mvp-comment-406-1 When I left the harbour, they were making ready.'

572. mvp-comment-407-1 'Who could this be. with a view to whom Odysseus himself was setting forth?' i e. ποῖος ἂν εἴη πρὸς ὃν ἔπλει; So the unusual insertion of ἄν may be explained. See Essay on L. § 27. p. 45. And the meaning is so appropriate, that it seems better to retain the particle, although πρὸς ποῖον αὖ τόν δ' is a conjectural reading involving only a slight change.

575. mvp-comment-408-1 'Sir, you have the privilege of seeing here the famous Philoctetes.' Thus Neoptolemus humours the feeling which Philoctetes had shown supra 261, 2, ὅδ᾽ εἴμ᾽ ἐγώ σοι κεῖνος, ὃν κλύεις ἴσως | τῶν Ἡρακλείων ὄντα δεσπότην ὅπλων.

576. mvp-comment-409-1 τὰ πλείον'] For the article, cp. Trach. 731, and note.

577. mvp-comment-410-1 ἔκπλει σεαυτὸν ξυλλαβών] 'Snatch yourself up and sail away.' Cp. Eur. H. F. 833 foll., ἄλλ' εἶ', ἄτεγκτον ξυλλαβοῦσα καρδίαν . . ἔλαυνε, κίνει, κ.τ.λ.: also Plat. Rep. 1. 336 В, συστρέψας ἑαυτὸν ἧκεν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. The Ἔμπορος speaks low, as he had charged Neoptolemus to do. This awakens the lively suspicion of Philoctetes, who hears enough to understand that there is a danger of his being left behind. Mr. Paley conjectures, ἔκπλευσον αὐτὸν συλλαβών, comparing infr. 621. But there the case is altered by Neoptolemus having avowed his friendship for Philoctetes in ll. 585, 6.

578. mvp-comment-411-1 κατὰ σκότον] 'In secret.' So infr. 581, εἰς φῶς, Openly."

579. mvp-comment-412-1 διεμπολᾷ λόγοισι πρός σε] Is treating me dishonestly in his talk with thee.' Cp. Ant. 1036, ἐξημπόλημαι κἀκπεφόρτισμαι.

581. mvp-comment-413-1 εἰς φῶς = 'Openly.' Cp. О. Т. 93, ἐς πάντας αύδα. τούσδε τε] The Chorus.

582-583. mvp-comment-414-1 μή με.. ἃ μὴ δεῖ] 'Bring me not into discredit with the army, through my telling what I should keep close; i. e. Do not make me tell, and so make them angry with me. λέγοντα = διὰ τὸ λέγειν, cp. Thuc. 8.87, ἣν εἶπε πρόφασιν οὐ κομίσας (i. e. δι᾽ ὅ, τι οὐκ ἐκόμισεν).

583-584. mvp-comment-415-1 'I. being poor, receive much kindness from them for service which I do.' For γε, which modifies the sentence, to which it gives a pleading tone, see Essay on L. § 26. p. 41. οἱ᾿ ἀνὴρ πένης] (1) As is natural in the case of one who is poor: rather than, (2) 'Such service as a poor man may do.' Cp. supr. 273, and note.

585ff. mvp-comment-416-1 Neoptolemus professes to demand that, if there is danger, the Ἔμπορος should risk it for his and Philoctetes' sake. The Ἔμπορος in his reply insinuates that the danger, if he is made to speak, is common to them all three, and that Neoptolemus will be responsible for the consequences.

589. mvp-comment-417-1 καί belongs in meaning to the whole sentence = καὶ δὴ σκοπῶ. ἐγώ] 'Of myself,' without this caution from you.

590. mvp-comment-418-1 ποιοῦ λέγων] 'Make me so, if you will but speak. For this emphatic use of the participle, cp. especially O. C. 1038, χωρῶν ἀπείλει νυν, -also supr. 481, and note.

591. mvp-comment-419-1 ἅπερ κλύεις] Supr. 570, 1.

592. mvp-comment-420-1 ἥ τ᾿ Ὀδυσσέως βία] Cp. supr. 314, 321.

593. mvp-comment-421-1 διώμοτοι] 'Expressly sworn.' Cp. Trach. 378, ὥσπερ οὑπάγων διώμνυτο: Ο. Τ. 834, διεῖπε χρῆναι, κ.τ.λ. For the meaning, cp. infr. 618, 9, 623.

594. mvp-comment-422-1 ἢ . . κράτος] Or were they to prevail by force.'

597. mvp-comment-423-1 δράσειν τάδε is added as a resumption of ταῦτα, depending on λέγοντος (not on θάρσος εἶχε).

598-599. mvp-comment-424-1 i. ε. τίνος δὲ πράγματος χάριν ᾿Ατρείδαι, χρόνῳ τοσῷδε, οὕτως ἄγαν ἐπεστρέφοντο τοῦδε. For the order of the words, see Essay on L. § 41. p. 78, 8.

600. mvp-comment-425-1 εἶχον . . *ἐκβεβληκότες] Cp. El. 590, ἐκβαλοῦσ᾽ ἔχεις. The periphrasis serves to fix on the agent the responsibility of the consequences of his act.

601-602. mvp-comment-426-1 'Whence came they thus to wish him back again? Or were they moved by a mighty impulse from the angry gods: the gods, who requite evil deeds?' For θεῶν βία, cp. Aesch. Suppl. 97, βίαν . . τὰν ἄπονον δαιμονίαν (?).

603. mvp-comment-427-1 ἴσως . . ἀκήκοας] 'For I dare say you have not heard of it.' The important share of Neoptolemus in the prophecy of Helenus is studiously concealed, and it is assumed that in his short stay at Troy the circumstance may have escaped him altogether. The true account is given by Neoptolemus afterwards, infr. 1337 foll. He himself in supr. 344 foll. had professed to attach slight importance to the assertion that he was destined to take Troy.

607. mvp-comment-428-1 ἀκούων] 'Called by,' i.e. deserving. αἰσχρὰ.. ἔπη] 'Names of disgrace and contumely.' On the meaning of the verbal adjective, see Essay on L. § 53. p. 98.

609. mvp-comment-429-1 ἔδειξ᾽.. ἐς μέσον] Displayed publicly to the Achaeans. ἔδειξε marks Odysseus' pride at bringing in his captive. Cp. infr. 616, δηλώσειν : 630, δεῖξαι: 944, φήνασθαι.

610. mvp-comment-430-1 The part of the prophecy which relates to Neoptolemus is thus slurred over.

611. mvp-comment-431-1 τἀπὶ Τροίᾳ πέργαμα] Cp.supr. 353.

612. mvp-comment-432-1 πέρσοιεν (as being the oratio obliqua of πέρσετε) seems to be an exception to the rule that οὐ μή takes after it not the future indicative, but the aorist subjunctive. But this is not a sufficient ground for altering the reading. Paley compares Plat. Crito, p. 44 B, οὐδένα μήποτε εὑρήσω.

613. mvp-comment-433-1 ἄγοιντο] The middle voice implies, 'Should bring for their purpose.' νήσου τῆσδ'] For the genitive of place, see Essay on L. § 8. p. 11, a. Observe the alliteration in νήσου .. ναίει .. νῦν.

614. mvp-comment-434-1 ταῦτα] Governed of ἤκουσε and resumed with τὸν μάντιν εἰπόντα, which is added to complete the sentence.

615ff. mvp-comment-435-1 The statement in supr. 593-7 is here repeated with some additional circumstances.

617. mvp-comment-436-1 οἴοιτο] The optative is used in turning the parenthetical οἴομαι into the oratio obliqua, as if ὅτι had preceded. Cp. Lys p. 130, Θηραμένης ἀναστὰς λέγει ὅτι ποιήσει ὥστε τὴν πόλιν ἐλαττῶσαι μηδέν· οἴοιτο δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τι ἀγαθὸν εὑρήσεσθαι.

618-619. mvp-comment-437-1 'And if he failed in this, he offered his head to any who chose, to cut it off.' For the order of words, see Essay on L. § 41, α. p. 77. κάρα governed (1) of ἐφεῖτο, and (2) οἱ τέμνειν, which is epexegetic inf. μὴ τυχών = εἰ μὴ τύχοι. For the sense, cp. II. 2. 259, μηκέτ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ Ὀδυσῆϊ κάρη ὤμοισιν ἐπείη, κ.τ.λ.: Od. 16. 102 αὐτίκ᾽ ἔπειτ' ἀπ᾿ ἐμεῖο κάρη τάμοι ἀλλότριος φώς, εἰ μή, κ.τ.λ. τέμνειν = ἀποτέμνειν. Cp. καράτομος.

620. mvp-comment-438-1 τὸ σπεύδειν] The article probably refers to supr. 576, 7.

621. mvp-comment-439-1 κεἴ τινος κήδει πέρι] Sc. παραινῶ ἐκείνῳ τὸ αὐτό. The supposed stranger does not venture to compromise himself by giving this advice directly to Philoctetes. He alludes to supr. 585, 6.

622. mvp-comment-440-1 Οι ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη, ‘That utter pest.' see Essay on L. § 51. p. 95; and cp. El. 301.

624-625. mvp-comment-441-1 'The persuasion that has force to bring me back to Troy, would fetch me from the dead.'

626. mvp-comment-442-1 οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ἐγὼ ταῦτ] The professed Ἔμπορος is too discreet to mix further than he can help in such a hazardous business. Cp. O. Τ. 530, οὐκ οἶδ᾽· ὁ γὰρ δρῶσ᾽ οἱ κρατοῦντες οὐχ ὁρῶ. The purpose of his coming has been accomplished, and he retires. For the synaphea, cp. especially O. T. 555, ὡς χρείη μ᾽ ἐπὶ | τὸν σεμνόμαντιν, κ.τ.λ.

627. mvp-comment-443-1 σφῶν.. θεός] 'May heaven be with you both for your best good!' συμφέρειν is used nearly as συμφέρεσθαι in O. C. 641, τῇδε γὰρ ξυνοίσομαι (‘Your choice shall have my concurrence').

628ff. mvp-comment-444-1 Should have imagined it possible ever with cajoling words to bring and show me on his ship amongst the Argives.' Philoctetes has hitherto had his attention fixed on the Ἔμπορος, and has said ll. 622-5 half to himself. But as the stranger departs he turns to Neoptolemus with these indignant words.

629. mvp-comment-445-1 ποτ᾿ ἄν with δεῖξαι = ὅτι δείξειεν ἄν ποτε. λόγοισι μαλθακοῖς] Cp. O. С. 774, σκληρὰ μαλθακῶς λέγων.

630. mvp-comment-446-1 δείξαι] Cp. supr. 616, δηλώσειν. δεῖξαι νεὼς ἄγοντα = δεῖξαι ἐκ νεὰς ἄγοντα ἐπὶ νηΐ. Or, in other words, the phrase, On ship-board,' which should depend on ἄγοντα, is attracted into a new construction with δεῖξαι. See Essay on L. § 35. p. 60, and cp. О. Т. 808, ὄχου . . τηρήσας. κ.τ.λ. : Εl. 900. Herm. and Schndw. take νεὼς ἄγοντα to mean, 'Bringing ashore.' Cp. supr. 355-7. But ἄγειν is continually used elsewhere in the play for conveyance by sea; and the instrumental dative λόγοισι μαλθακοῖς connects more naturally with ἄγοντα than with δεῖξαι. Moreover, the meaning obtained by so joining νεὼς ἄγοντ' is wanting in simplicity.

631. mvp-comment-447-1 οὔ] Those who have suspected this reading have not observed the frequency of asyndeton in the language of Philoctetes (Essay on L. § 34. p. 58). The proposed readings, οὗ θᾶσσον (Welcker), ἢ θᾶσσον (Schndw.), are less forcible than the MS. text. Schndw. imagined οὔ to be a marginal gloss on ἢ. For the double superlative in πλεῖστον ἐχθίστης, see Essay on L. § 40. p. 76.

632. mvp-comment-448-1 ἄπουν = οὐκ ἔχοντα βάσιν, infr. 692.

633. mvp-comment-449-1 ἐκείνῳ.. λεκτά] 'He is capable of saying anything.' Cp. O. С. 495, ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐχ ὁδωτά : ibid. 1000, 1, εἶ γὰρ οὐ δίκαιος, ἀλλ᾽ ἅπαν καλὸν | λέγειν νομίζων, ῥητὸν ἄρρητόν τ᾽ ἔπος.

635-636. mvp-comment-450-1 ὡς.. ὁρίζῃ] • That wide seas may part us.'

637. mvp-comment-451-1 ἥ τοι.. ἤγαγεν] Cp. Aj. 674,5, ἐκοίμισε . . πόντον, and note.

639. mvp-comment-452-1 ἐπειδὰν πνεῦμα τοὐκ πρώρας ἀνῇ] When this head wind (1) ceases' (ἀνῇ absolute), or (2) 'lets us go' (ἀνῇ ἡμᾶς, sc.). The same doubt occurs in Hdt. 2. 113, οὐ γὰρ ἀνίει τὰ πνεύματα (sc. μιν?) Cp. Od. 19. 199, ἔνθα δυώδεκα μὲν μένον ἤματα δίοι ᾿Αχαιοί, | εἴλει γὰρ βορέης ἄνεμος μέγας, κ.τ.λ. | τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ δ' ἄνεμος πέσε, τοὶ δ᾽ ἀνάγοντο. The correction of Pierson here is all but certain.

641. mvp-comment-453-1 Cp. Il. 14. 80, οὐ γάρ τις νέμεσις φυγέειν κακόν, οὐδ᾽ ἀνὰ νύκτα,

642. mvp-comment-454-1 οὔκ· ἀλλά] 'Nay, but -.' οὐ denies the general drift of the preceding line; i. e. The evil is not so imminent that you need fly from it with such haste. Cp. Plat. Rep. 6. 491 Ε, οὔκ, ἀλλά, ἢ δ᾽ ὅς, οὕτως, where there is a nearly similar inexactness of response. There is no sufficient ground for transposing 643, 4, 2, 1, with Prof. Paley. The order is far more natural as it stands.

643-644. mvp-comment-455-1 'Robbers feel not any contrary wind when it is a time to steal and take by force.'

645. mvp-comment-456-1 χωρῶμεν, ἔνδοθεν λαβών] 'Let us depart, when you have taken from within.' The participle agrees with part of the subject, and the second person has been implied in εἰ δοκεῖ, SC. σοι. For the limitation of subject, see Essay on L. § 33. p. 56, and cp. Trach. 205, ὀλολύξατε δόμοις, | ὁ μελλόνυμφος, ἐν δὲ κοινὸς ἀρσένων | ἴτω κλάγγα, κ.τ.λ. : ib. 333: Aesch. Eum. 141.

648. mvp-comment-457-1 What, that is not somewhere on board my ship?' νεώς, partitive genitive. Essay on L. § 10. p. 15. Ср. Αj. 659, γαίας ὀρύξας ἔνθα, κ.τ.λ.: Ο. C. 694, γᾶς ᾿Ασίας οὐκ ἐπακούω. τοῦθ᾽ ὅ is singular, though ὧν in 647 is plural. Essay on L. § 20, B. p. 31.

649. mvp-comment-458-1 φύλλον . . πάρεστιν] 'There is a leaf which I have.' Cp. infr. 704, ὅθεν εὐμάρει᾽ ὑπάρχοι: supr. 44: Ο.Τ. 766.

650. mvp-comment-459-1 πραΰνειν] 'To assuage its violence.' There is no example of πραΰνειν being used intransitively. πρᾷος is opposed to ἄγριος, cp. supr. 265. Philoctetes is eager to assure Neoptolemus that the evil is not intractable. Cp. infr. 733 foll.

651. mvp-comment-460-1 τί γὰρ ἔτ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ἐρᾷς λαβεῖν] Philoctetes shows by his manner that the herb is not the only thing that he requires. To this look of longing hesitation γάρ refers.

652. mvp-comment-461-1 εἰ.. παρερρύηκεν] This is said to explain his unsatisfied look (' I would make search,' implied in ἐρᾷς λαβεῖν), * in case some of these my arrows may have slipped from my side.' Cp. Il. 13. 256, ἔρχομαι, εἴ τί τοι ἔγχος ἐνὶ κλισίῃσι λέλειπται, | οἰσόμενος.

653. mvp-comment-462-1 ὡς λίπω μή] For the order, see Essay on L. § 41, γ. p. 78.

655. mvp-comment-463-1 οὐ γὰρ ἄλλα γ᾽ ἔσθ'] 'For indeed there is no other.' These words have been commonly taken as equivalent to ἐκεῖνα καὶ οὐκ ἄλλα: whence Blaydes conjectures ταῦτ᾽ οὐ γὰρ οὖν ἔστ᾿ ἄλλ'. But the meaning given above is more in point. Cp. Morris' Story of Sigurd, That hath not the like in the heavens, nor hath earth of its fellow told.'

656. mvp-comment-464-1 ἆρ᾿ ἔστιν ὥστε] 'Is it possible that one might?' ὥστε as after verbs of permission asked or obtained. The periphrasis is expressive of modesty. κἀγγύθεν] From close at hand, as well as from a distance. For με added in the second clause, cp. supr. 257.

657. mvp-comment-465-1 For the sacredness of the bow, cp. infr. 943.

658. mvp-comment-466-1 τῶν ἐμῶν] Of things within my power.'

659. mvp-comment-467-1 ὁποῖον. ξυμφέρῃ] 'That is of a nature to accord with your desires.' Cp. supr. 627, and note. γενήσεται] 'Shall be granted.'

661. mvp-comment-468-1 πάρες] 'Let it go by;' i.e. Take no more notice of my wish.

662. mvp-comment-469-1 ὅσια .. φωνεῖς] 'Your words are blameless.' 'You speak innocently.'

663. mvp-comment-470-1 For the suppressed antecedent in the expression of strong feeling, see Essay on L. § 39. p. 72, 2. And for the emphatic repetition of ὅς, cp. O. C. 610, φθίνει μὲν ἰσχὺς γῆς, φθίνει δὲ σώματος, and see E. on L. § 44. p. 83.

664. mvp-comment-471-1 μόνος] Supr. 500.

665. mvp-comment-472-1 πέρα] 'Above their reach.' 'Where they cannot come.' ἀνιστάναι here is not merely 'To raise upright,' but To set up on high.' Cр. O. С. 661-3, κείνοις δ᾽ ἴσως κεὶ δείν᾽ ἐπερρώσθη λέγειν | τῆς σῆς ἀγωγῆς, οἶδ᾽ ἐγώ, φανή- | σεται | μακρὸν τὸ δεῦρο πέλαγος, οὐδὲ πλώσιμον: Aesch. Cho. 789.

666. mvp-comment-473-1 θιγγάνειν] ‘To handle for a while.’ This word, expressing a lingering process, is rightly in the continuous tense, although δόντι . . ἐξεπεύξασθαι are aorists. Cp. Il. 6. 322, τόξ᾽ ἁφόωντα.

667. mvp-comment-474-1 καὶ δόντι δοῦναι] This illogical addition is singularly expressive of the nervous anxiety of Philoctetes at the thought of giving the bow out of his hands: 'You shall have it in your grasp; I will give it you, and you will give it me again; and then you shall freely boast, etc.' While saying this, Philoctetes does not at once give the bow to Neoptolemus. Cp. infr. 762 foll.

669. mvp-comment-475-1 Cp. infr. 801-3.

670-672. mvp-comment-476-1 These three lines seem out of place. Either there is a lacuna after 670, or they have crept into the text out of the margin, where some hand had inserted them as an apposite quotation from some other play. They have not the appearance of a deliberate interpolation, nor is the difficulty obviated by assigning them to Neoptolemus. If they are retained, they can only mean, 'I do not feel this generous action burdensome, now that I have seen and found a friend in you. For no possession can be equal to a friend who knows (as I am sure you do) how to return kindness for kindness done to him.' In other words, to secure so true a friend as Neoptolemus, even the effort of relinquishing the bow for a moment is not too much. But ἄχθομαι has no object; and the promised kindness of Neoptolemus was not conditional on his being allowed to handle the bow.

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.

Sophocles Philoctetes 155

Robert Potter (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Neoptolemus

Wou'dst thou suppress the pain of thy disease?

Current edition Experimental

Νεοπτόλεμος

οἶκον μὲν ὁρᾷς τόνδʼ ἀμφίθυρον

πετρίνης κοίτης.
160

Χορός

ποῦ γὰρ ὁ τλήμων αὐτὸς ἄπεστιν;

Χορός

εὔστομʼ ἔχε, παῖ.

Νεοπτόλεμος

τί τόδε;

Χορός

ἀλλʼ ἔχε, τέκνον,
210

Νεοπτόλεμος

λέγʼ ὅ τι.

NEO

What?

Der Chor.

Philoctetes

My son, my son !
745

Neoptolemus

For the present—since perhaps you wish to see the place

on the island’s edge where he resides—survey it without fear. But when the dread traveler, who has left this dwelling, returns, step forward at my signal from time to time, and try to help as the moment may require.
145

Neoptolemus

Well, here you see his home with its two portals,

his rocky cell.
160

Chorus

And its wretched occupant, where is he gone to?

Neoptolemus

It seems clear to me, anyway, that he is plowing his way along somewhere near here in search of food. For I know of a report that

this is his means of sustenance—a wretch wretchedly shooting prey with his feathered shafts—and that no one comes near to him to heal his misery.
165

Chorus

Hush,boy!

Neoptolemus

What is it?

Chorus

But listen, son—
210

Neoptolemus

To what? Tell me.

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Neoptolemus Wou'dst thou suppress the pain of thy disease?

Current edition Experimental

Νεοπτόλεμος οἶκον μὲν ὁρᾷς τόνδʼ ἀμφίθυρον πετρίνης κοίτης. 160

Χορός ποῦ γὰρ ὁ τλήμων αὐτὸς ἄπεστιν;

Χορός εὔστομʼ ἔχε, παῖ.

Νεοπτόλεμος τί τόδε;

Χορός ἀλλʼ ἔχε, τέκνον, 210

Νεοπτόλεμος λέγʼ ὅ τι.

NEO What?

Der Chor.

Philoctetes My son, my son ! 745

Neoptolemus For the present—since perhaps you wish to see the place on the island’s edge where he resides—survey it without fear. But when the dread traveler, who has left this dwelling, returns, step forward at my signal from time to time, and try to help as the moment may require. 145

Neoptolemus Well, here you see his home with its two portals, his rocky cell. 160

Chorus And its wretched occupant, where is he gone to?

Neoptolemus It seems clear to me, anyway, that he is plowing his way along somewhere near here in search of food. For I know of a report that this is his means of sustenance—a wretch wretchedly shooting prey with his feathered shafts—and that no one comes near to him to heal his misery. 165

Chorus Hush,boy!

Neoptolemus What is it?

Chorus But listen, son— 210

Neoptolemus To what? Tell me.

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Neoptolemus

Wou'dst thou suppress the pain of thy disease?

Νεοπτόλεμος

οἶκον μὲν ὁρᾷς τόνδʼ ἀμφίθυρον

πετρίνης κοίτης.
160

Χορός

ποῦ γὰρ ὁ τλήμων αὐτὸς ἄπεστιν;

Χορός

εὔστομʼ ἔχε, παῖ.

Νεοπτόλεμος

τί τόδε;

Χορός

ἀλλʼ ἔχε, τέκνον,
210

Νεοπτόλεμος

λέγʼ ὅ τι.

NEO

What?

Philoctetes

My son, my son !
745

Neoptolemus

For the present—since perhaps you wish to see the place

on the island’s edge where he resides—survey it without fear. But when the dread traveler, who has left this dwelling, returns, step forward at my signal from time to time, and try to help as the moment may require.
145

Neoptolemus

Well, here you see his home with its two portals,

his rocky cell.
160

Chorus

And its wretched occupant, where is he gone to?

Neoptolemus

It seems clear to me, anyway, that he is plowing his way along somewhere near here in search of food. For I know of a report that

this is his means of sustenance—a wretch wretchedly shooting prey with his feathered shafts—and that no one comes near to him to heal his misery.
165

Chorus

Hush,boy!

Neoptolemus

What is it?

Chorus

But listen, son—
210

Neoptolemus

To what? Tell me.