Sir Richard C. Jebb Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes 13

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Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. 1932.

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Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes (English) (Sophocles, The plays and fragments with critical notes. Part 4, The Philoctetes. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, author. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1932.)

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1 focus
᾿ΑΚΤῊ μὲν ἥδε τῆς περιρρύτου χθονὸς
1
Λήμνου, βροτοῖς ἄστιπτος οὐδ᾽ οἰκουμένη οἰκουμένην,
ἔνθ᾽, ὦ κρατίστου πατρὸς ῾Ελλήνων τραφεὶς
᾿Αχιλλέως παῖ Νεοπτόλεμε, τὸν Μηλιᾶ
Ποίαντος υἱὸν ἐξέθηκ᾽ ἐγώ ποτε,
5
ταχθεὶς τόδ᾽ ἔρδειν τῶν ἀνασσόντων ὕπο,
νόσῳ καταστάζοντα διαβόρῳ πόδα·
ὅτ᾽ οὔτε λοιβῆς ἡμὶν ἦμιν ἡμὶν οὔτε θυμάτων
παρῆν ἑκήλοις προσθιγεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγρίαις
κατεῖχ᾽ κατείχετ' κατεῖχ᾿ ἀεὶ πᾶν στρατόπεδον δυσφημίαις,
10
βοῶν, στενάζων. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τί δεῖ
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-134 focus
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1 focus
This coast of sea-girt Lemnos, where we stand,
1
Is uninhabited, untrodden of men.
1
And here, O noble son of noblest sire,
1
Achilles-born Neoptolemus, I erewhile,—
Ordered by those who had command,—cast forth
Trachinian Philoctetes, Poeas’ son,
His foot dark-dripping with a rankling wound;
When with wild cries, that frighted holy rest,
Filling the camp, he troubled every rite,
That none might handle sacrifice, or pour
Wine-offering, but his noise disturbed our peace.
5
But why these words? No moment this for talk,
5
Lest he discern my coming, and I lose
The scheme, wherewith I think to catch him soon.
Now most behoves thy service, to explore
This headland for a cave with double mouth,
Whose twofold aperture, on wintry days,
Gives choice of sunshine, and in summer noons
The breeze wafts slumber through the airy cell.
Then, something lower down, upon the left,
Unless ’tis dried, thine eye may note a spring.
Go near now silently, and make me know
If still he persevere, and hold this spot,
10
Or have roamed elsewhere, that informed of this
10
I may proceed with what remains to say,
And we may act in concert.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
Das ist der Strand von Lemnos' ringsumfloss'nen Gau'n, 1 2
1
Stets unbetreten, unbewohnt von Sterblichen.
Hier, Sohn Achillens, edler Sproß des tapfersten
Hellenen, o Neoptolemos, hier hab' ich einst
Den Sohn des Pöas ausgesezt, den Melier, 3
5
Wie durch des Heeres Fürsten mir geboten ward,
Weil ihm von eklem Eiter troff der wunde Fuß,
Da ruhig weder Räucherwerk noch Spenden wir 4
Anrühren konnten: also füllt er ohne Rast
Mit grauser Töne wildem Ruf das Lager an,
10
Und heulte, stöhnte. Doch wozu dies Alles noch
Erwähnen? Lang zu reden ist hier keine Zeit;
Er könnte mich bemerken und mein ganzer Plan
Zerrinnen, der, ich hoffe, bald ihn fahen soll.
Sezt ist es deine Sache, mir hülfreich zu sein,
15
Und auszuspähen, wo der doppelmündige
Fels ist, in welchem Winters für die Sonne sich
Zwiefach die Einkehr öffnet, und im Sommer Schlaf
Die kühlen Lüfte durch die offne Grotte weh'n.
Ein wenig tiefer, links hinab, erblickst du wohl
20
Den Born zum Trinken, wenn er nicht versiegen ging.
Tritt leise näher und bedeute mir sofort,
Ob dort die Grotte wirklich ist, ob anderwärts,
Daß du vernehmest, was ich sonst anordne noch,
Und ich's dir sage; denn gemeinsam sei das Werk!
25
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1 focus
At length, my noble friend, thou bravest son
1
Of a brave father — father of us all,
1
The great Achilles — we have reached the shore
1
Of sea-girt Lemnos, desert and forlorn,
Where never tread of human step is seen.
Or voice of mortal heard, save his alone,
Whom here I left ; for such were my commands
From Grecia's chiefs, when by his fatal wound
Oppressed, his groans and execrations dreadful
Alarmed our hosts, our sacred rites profaned,
And interrupted holy sacrifice.
But why should I repeat the tale 1 The time
5
Admits not of delay. We must not linger.
5
Lest he discover our arrival here,
And all our purposed fraud to draw him hence
Be ineffectual. Lend me then thy aid.
Surv'eying round thee, canst thou see a rock
With double entrance — to the sun's warm rays
In winter open, and in summer's heat
Giving free pasj^age to the welcome breeze ?
A little to the left there is a fountain
Of li\-ing water, where, if yet he breathes.
He slakes his thirst. If aught thou seest of this
Inform me \ so shall each to each impart
10
Council mast fit, and serve our common cause.
10
Ned. ]}iaiing Ulysses a little behind /dm]. If I
10
mistake not, I behold a cave,
E'en such as thou describst.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1 focus
THIS is the shore of Lemnos, sea-girt isle;
1
No human footstep marks the ground: no hut,
1
Which man inhabits, rises to the eye :
1
Here, Neoptolemus, thou noble son
Of the most valiant of the Grecian Chiefs,
In times long past, commanded by the kings
To do this deed; for from his wounded foot
A rankling ulcer oozed, and undisturb'd
Nor victim nor libation could our hands
Present; through all the camp his dismal groans
And horrid cries resounded. But these things
5
Why should I now relate? This is no time
5
For long discourse, lest, my arrival known,
5
I frustrate all my subtle trains, in which
I think to take him soon. Thine now the task..
To act as I direct thee, and observe
If here the pierced rock to the winter's sun
Presents on either side a cheerful seat;
But in the summer through the pervious cleft
The gently-passing gale leads sleep along.
A little lower, on the left, perchance
A fountain thou may'st see, of whose pure stream,
If living yet, he drinks: with silent step
Advance, and tell me in, that place if still
10
He holds his habitation, or elsewhere.
10
Further instructions then thou may'st receive,
And I may give them: mutual be our toil.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-130 focus

Notes on the current edition

Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes

1. Episode of the merchant (vv. 542 —627).
2. An able critic in the Athenœum ( Aug. 13, 1892 ) further suggests that the episode of the merchant may serve to explain an obscure point. When Philoctetes discovers that he is to be taken to Troy, he denounces the deceit of Neoptolemus (vv. 927—962). And yet in v. 1365 he speaks as if he still believed the false story told by Neoptolemus in vv. 343—390, that he had been defrauded of his father's arms. The apparent inconsistency can be explained (the critic remarks) if Philoctetes supposed that, while he was asleep, Odysseus reached Lemnos, and then for the first time won Neoptolemus to his plans. On this view, in vv. 971 f. (
οὐκ εἶ κακὸς σύ, πρὸς κακῶν δ’ ἀνδρῶν μαθὼν
|
ἔοικας ἥκειν αἰσχρά
),
ἥκειν
must mean, ‘to have come back’ (from a colloquy with Odysseus, held near the spot where Philoctetes was sleeping. But the natural sense of
ἥκειν
is clearly, ‘to have come to Lemnos.’ And if (notwithstanding his alleged wrong) Neoptolemus could listen to Odysseus in Lemnos, why should he not have become his accomplice before leaving Troy? Another point, however, which the critic notes is independent of this question. Neoptolemus would naturally feel some fresh remorse and shame when he perceived (from v. 1365) that the whole extent of his duplicity was not even then surmised by Philoctetes. And these feelings may have been conceived by the dramatist as motives which helped to determine his final resolve.
3. The Chorus.