1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-1
Philoctetes now feels that he is left completely alone and helpless. For the shipmates of Neoptolemus are only to remain for a little while, in the vain hope that he will change his mind. The following commos may be divided into two chief portions. The first, 1081-1160, is in effect one long monody of Philoctetes from the stage, of which the pauses are filled with short recitatives addressed to him by single chorcutae. Without noticing these, he continues the strain of his lament. In the second part, 1161-1217, there is a real interchange of lyric numbers between the Chorus and the chief actor. Still chanting singly, the mariners renew their efforts to win his attention. When they succeed in this, he bids them depart. They make as if to go. Then he calls them back again and begs for means of self-destruction. The commos ends on the re-appearance of Neoptolemus followed by Odysseus. It is evident that the second part of it especially must have been accompanied with various gestures and movements to and fro in the orchestra. The 'melodramatic' character of this portion of the Philoctetes (ll. 730-1217) may be compared with the opening of the Oedipus Coloneus. The metrical scheme (in which again there are several doubtful points) is as follows :-
α'.
(1.)
_ _ _ _ _UU_
__UU_U_ _
_ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_UU_UU_UU_UU_
(?)_U_U_U_
(2.)
_UU_UU_UU_U_ _
1
2
_ Iambic.
_UU_U_ Glyconic.
Glyconic _UU_U_
Dactylic { _UU_UU_
Iambic _U_U_ _ _
β'.
(1.)
_ _ _ _
__UU_U_ _
__UU_U_ _
_UU_UU_U_
_ _
10 _UU_UU_
(2) _U_U_ _
_U_UU_U_UU__
_U__UU_U_U_U_UU_
15 _UU_U_U_UU_UU_UU_U__
3
(2.)
__UU_U_U__
_ _ _ _ _UU_
_ _ _ _ _UU_
_U_UU__
U_ _U_UU_U_U__
4
5
6
For the substitution of − ᴗ – for ᴗ ᴗ in Ionic verse, which is allowed by some writers on metre, see Christ's Metrik, § 521.
ἐπ. (ἀπολελυμένα).
(1.)
_U_U_
_ _U_U_U_U_U_U_U_
_U_U_U_
_ _ _ _
_U_UU__UU__UU__
_ _
_ _UU_UUUUUU
7
_U_U_ _U_U_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _UU_U_
__UU_U_U_
20 U_U_U_
U_UU_UU_
_U_U_U_U_U_U_U_U_
_UU_U_
(2.)
_UU_UU_U_
_ _ _U_UU__
_ _ _ _ _U__
_UU_U_U_UUUUU__
_ _ _
30 U_U_U_U_
_UU_U_
_ _U_U_U_U_
_U_U__U_U_
35 U_U_U_
If the irregularities of the above scheme are compared with those noticed in the note on O. C. 117-254, in vol. 1. p. 298, it will be found that they cannot be adequately accounted for by supposing extensive corruptions of the text. For (a) they are similar in kind to those in O. C., (b) they do not as a rule in either case violate the general laws of metre. While admitting some corruptions, it is reasonable also to suppose that in these later plays of Sophocles the severity of rhythm is relaxed in the lyric dialogue as well as in the senarii. This may be partly accounted for by the 'melodramatic' element encroaching on tragedy, and partly by contemporary innovations in the art of music.
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-2
In antistrophe _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-3
2 Or, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Cp. β' (2), ll. 2, 3.
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-4
3
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-5
In antistrophe U_ _ _
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-6
2 In antistrophe U_UU_U__
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-7
3 In antistrophe _ _UU_U_UU_UU_U_U_
1081-1217.
mvp-comment-740-8
10
1152.
mvp-comment-781-1
Some editors put a comma after
ἐγώ, so as to connect
τανῦν with
ἔχω; but the language runs more simply as in the text.
1153.
mvp-comment-782-1
ἀνέδην.. ἐρύκεται] 'Has no effective guard.' Lit. 'Is guarded by being abandoned,' an oxymoron.
Cp. Aj. 1214, where
ἀνίημι is used of the removal of a defence: Thuc. 4. 27,
σφῶν ἀνέντων τὴν φυλακὴν περιγενήσεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας. The subject of the passive
ἐρύκεται would have been in the dative after the active voice,
ἐρύκειν θῆρας χώρῳ.
Cp. Od. 5. 166,
ἃ κέν τοι λιμὸν ἐρύκοι.
1154.
mvp-comment-783-1
φοβητός is the verbal of
φοβέομαι as a deponent verb = 'To be fled from.'
1155.
mvp-comment-784-1
νῦν καλόν] 'Now is a golden time.'
1156.
mvp-comment-785-1
ἀντίφονον . . πρὸς χαρίν] ‘Το glut your vengeful-gory jaws to heart's content.' For the compound
ἀντίφονον, see
Essay on L. § 54. p. 100, d.
And for
πρὸς χάριν, cp. πρὸς ἡδονήν.
πρὸς χάριν, in Ant. 30, is in a different connection.
1157.
mvp-comment-786-1
ἐμᾶς σαρκὸς αἰόλας] ‘On my discoloured flesh.' On the meaning of
αἰόλος, see note on Trach. 834. Philoctetes is bitterly conscious that he is not as other men are.
Cp. supr. 227.
1158.
mvp-comment-787-1
The tmesis of
ἀπό recurs
infr. 1177, 1207;
supr. 817.
1159.
mvp-comment-788-1
ἐν αὔραις] i. e. With no surroundings but the 'casing' air.
1160.
mvp-comment-789-1
πέμπει] 'Ministers,' 'Gives.'
Cp. Hdt. 7. 106,
τῷ μούνῳ Ξέρξης δῶρα πέμπεσκε. Τhe same notion is resumed in
βιόδωρος, ‘Sustenance,' 'Ministering,' 'Sustaining.' For the refinement by which the simple verb is used for the compound
ἀναπέμπει, which would be more usual in this connection, see
Essay on L. § 55. p. 101, 4.
1161-1168.
mvp-comment-790-1
The reciter of these lines, who is probably the coryphaeus, feels hurt at the prolonged indifference of Philoctetes to the presence of the Chorus, and makes a further and successful effort to engage his attention.
εἴ τι σέβει ξένον] 'If you reverence anything friendly,' i. e. 'If you have any respect for the kindness of a friend.'
πέλασσον.. πελάταν] 'Draw near to him who draws near to thee with the best of good will.'
πελάζω here clearly governs the accusative, as in О. С. 1060. The dative of manner follows the verbal noun.
ἀλλὰ . . ἀποφεύγειν] 'Yet understand, and be well assured that it devolves on thee to make escape from this calamity.'
ἀλλά, as elsewhere, emphasizes entreaty.
σοί here, and in О. C. 721,
νῦν σοὶ τὰ λαμπρὰ ταῦτα δὴ φαίνειν ἔπη, has an idiomatic force =
σὸν ἔργον ἐστίν. The reading in both places has been unnecessarily suspected. For
ἔχειν, ‘Το endure,'
cp. El. 223,
οὐ σχήσω ταύτας ἄτας. For
ὅτι σοί Μ. Seyff. conjectures
ἐπὶ σοί. 'It is one that is piteous to sustain, and supplies no means of bearing the uncounted sorrows in the midst of which it dwells.' The adjectives belong in meaning, not to the pain, but to the subject of the pain.
Cp. Αj. 955,
μαινομένοις ἄχεσιν, and note, and for
βόσκειν, supr. 313,
βόσκων τὴν ἀδηφάγον νόσον.
