Sophocles Philoctetes 45

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Neoptolemus
191
The want of food hath doubtless drawn him forth
To toil with painful step, not distant fari
For he sustains his miserable life
By miserably piercing with his shafts
The beasts that haunt these wilds; nor for his wound
Finds he a cure, or to his pains relief.

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)) — 45 focus
τὸν οὖν παρόντα πέμψον εἰς κατασκοπήν,
45
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-134 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 45 focus
NEO
144
Even now methinks thou longest to espy
Near ocean’s marge the place where he doth lie.
Gaze without fear. But when the traveller stern,
Who from this roof is parted, shall return,
Advancing still as I the signal give,
145
To serve each moment’s mission thou shalt strive.
145
That, O my son, from of old
145
Hath been my care, to take note
What by thy beck’ning is told;
Still thy success to promote.
But for our errand to-day
Behoves thee, master, to say
Where is the hearth of his home;
Or where even now doth he roam?
O tell me, lest all unaware
He spring like a wolf from his lair
And I by surprise should be ta’en,
Where doth he move or remain,
Here lodging, or wandering away?
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 54 focus
Und was begehrst du?
Strebe Philoktetes' Geist
Mir schlau zu hintergehen durch der Rede Kunst.
55
Sobald er anfragt, wer du seist, aus welchem Land,
So sprich: „Achilleus' Sohn"; in diesem rede wahr:
Du schiffest heimwärts, habest dort der Danaer
Schiffsheer verlassen, dem du zürnst in schwerem Zorn,
Das aus der Heimat dich gelockt durch langes Fleh'n,
60
Weil, Ilion zu stürzen, so nur möglich sei,
Und doch dich nicht gewürdigt, dir des Vaters Wehr
Zu geben, die du kommend als dein Recht begehrt,
Nein, ich, Odysseus, habe sie: und sage dann
Von mir das Aergste, Schmach um Schmach, so viel du willst.
65
Mich kränkst du damit nimmermehr; doch, thust du's nicht,
So bringst du Sammer über Argos' ganzes Heer.
Denn wird des Mannes Bogen nicht entwandt von uns,
So kannst du Troja's Veste nicht bewältigen.
Warum ich selbst nicht, sondern du allein dich ihm
70
Getrost und sicher nähern kannst, das höre nun.
Du schifftest, Keinem zugethan durch Eidesschwur, 1
Nach Troja, nicht gezwungen, nicht im ersten Zug; 2
Mir steht von allem diesem Nichts zu läugnen an.
Drum wenn er, seines Bogens Herr, mich hier gewahrt,
75
Bin ich verloren und verderbe dich mit mir.
Hier also gilt es eine List, wir müssen spähn,
Wie du der unbesiegten Wehr den Mann beraubst.
Wohl hat, ich weiß es, die Natur dich nicht gemacht
Zu solchen Reden, noch zu Trug und Hinterlist;
80
Doch reizend ist es, einzufah'n des Sieges Glück;
So wag' es; künftig handeln wir dann wieder gut.
Sezt gib dich nur für eines Tages kurze Frist
Mir hin zu dreister Lüge; für die Folge dann
Laß dich den Frömmsten nennen, der auf Erden ist!
85
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 45 focus
Chorus
169
Alas ! 1 pity him. Without a friend.
Without a fellow-sufferer, left alone,
Deprived of all the mutual joys that flow
From sweet society — distempered too !
How can he bear it ? O unhappy race
170
Of mortal man ! doomed to an endless round
170
Of sorrows, and immeasurable woe !
170
Second to none in fair nobility
170
Yet here he lies, from every human aid
Far off removed, in dreadful solitude,
And mingles with the wild and savage herd ;
With them in famine and in misery
Consumes his days, and weeps their common fate.
Unheeded, save when babbling echo mourns
In bitterest notes responsive to his woe.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-130 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-115-1 Ἀχὼ τηλεφανὴς 1

mvp-comment-115-2 πικραῖς | οἰμωγαῖς ὑπακούει 2 πικρᾶς οἰμωγᾶς ὑπόκειται 3 ὑπακούει 4

mvp-comment-116-1 θεῖα 5

mvp-comment-116-2 κἀγώ 6

mvp-comment-116-3 καὶ τὰ παθήμ. κεῖνα 7

mvp-comment-116-4 τῆς ὠμόφρ. Χρύσης 8 ἐπέβη 9 παθήματα … Χρύσης 10

mvp-comment-116-5 ὠμόφρονος 11

mvp-comment-117-1 οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὡς οὐ 12

mvp-comment-118-1 τοῦ μὴ … τεῖναι 13

mvp-comment-118-2 τεῖναι … βέλη 14 τὰ θεῶν 15

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

135-218. mvp-comment-91-1 We have here a commatic parados (cp. El., O. C.), in which Neoptolemus responds in anapaests to lyric measures chanted apparently by single members of the Chorus, as they take their places in the orchestra. Their entrance must be subsequent to l. 134, for the conversation in ll. 50 foll. would lose its effect if Odysseus and Philoctetes were not alone. The anapaests of Neoptolemus and l. 161, chanted by the coryphaeus, accompany movements of the Chorus, who at l. 169 have already taken up their position. The metres of the lyric part are as follows:- α΄. Glyc. β'. Glyc. γ. Glyc. It is evident that the lyric strains were accompanied with gesticulation, especially in στρ. and ἀντ. γ'. The fact that the Chorus at entering have some knowledge of that which has just been made known upon the stage, is not a sufficient reason for supposing them to have been present during any part of the previous scene. Similarly, in the O. T. the Chorus have been gathered by the news of the arrival of Creon from Delphi, which happens in the midst of the prologos, l. 87; and in the Ajax, the mariners speak of the slanders of Ulysses, which could only be disseminated after his exit. It is best, therefore, to suppose, as above, that the Chorus enter as usual after the prologos, and that the first strophe is begun as soon as they are well within hearing of the stage. The whole passage is meant to interest the spectator in Philoctetes, and to prepare for the effect to be produced by his entrance, infr. 219. Cp. Aj. 201-332.

189. mvp-comment-129-1 τηλεφανής] 'Coming from afar.' Cp. infr. 202, προὐφάνη κτύπος: 216, τηλωπὸν ἰωάν.

189-190. mvp-comment-130-1 πικρᾶς.. ὑπόκειται ὑπὸ κειται ὑπόκειται ὑποκεῖται] ὑπόκειται, if genuine, means, Lies close to,' i. e. Keeps following upon.' Cp. Plat. Gorg. 465 Α, τῇ μὲν οὖν ἰατρικῇ.. ἡ ὀψοποιικὴ κολακεία ὑπόκειται. Brunck conjectured ὑπακούει, ' Answers,' as it were a summons. Hermann, ὕπ᾿ ὀχεῖται. And ἐποχεῖται seems possible, though too uncertain an emendation to be admitted into the text.

192. mvp-comment-131-1 θεῖα is predicative. Ant. 593.

193. mvp-comment-132-1 τὰ παθήματα κεῖνα] 'His troubles in that former time.'

194. mvp-comment-133-1 τῆς ὠμόφρονος Χρύσης] Genitive of the cause. It was the nymph Chrysa, whose shrine was guarded by the serpent who bit Philoctetes. Sophocles conceives of the offence as accidental: infr. 1326, 7.

195-196. mvp-comment-134-1 καὶ νῦν . . μελέτῃ] Sc. πονεῖ. Neoptolemus here shows himself better informed than supr. 112, where Odysseus in his reply does not say more than that the bow of Philoctetes is necessary for the taking of Troy. Cp. also infr. 1326 foll. See Introd. p. 363.