ἀκτὴ μὲν ἥδε , implying the antithesis, τῷ δὲ ἔργῳ ἤδη ἐπιχειρητέον, which is virtually given by vv. 11 ff. For μέν thus deprived of its answering δέ by a change in the form of a long sentence, cp. 1199 ff.

ἄστιπτος is the form given by L here, which also has στιπτή in v. 33. στιπτός, not στειπτός, is also the best attested form in Aristophanes 180, and in Theophrastus § 37. See Appendix.

οὐδ’ οἰκουμένη . Aeschylus and Euripides had both written a Φιλοκτήτης, and each had composed his chorus of Lemnians,—thus making it seem strange that the sufferer should have been left so long without aid (Dion Chrysostom, or. 52). Sophocles wished to avoid that defect. Everything that is said of Lemnos throughout this play would naturally suggest a wholly uninhabited island. And the words ascribed to Philoctetes (vv. 220 f., 300 ff.) require us to suppose that he, at least, believed it to be so. The , however, represents Εὔνηος, son of Jason and Hypsipylè, as reigning in Lemnos during the Trojan war (7. 467); and it was into ‘well-peopled Lemnos’ that Achilles sold Lycaon (21. 40). It is simplest to suppose that Sophocles, finding it convenient to have a desert island, ignored the Homeric notices. But it is also possible that he conceived the island as inhabited in some parts and desolate in others. This is the scholiast's view: ἐν ἐρήμῳ γὰρ μέρει τῆς Λήμνου ἐξετέθη. The area of Lemnos is about 150 square miles, or more than thrice that of Jersey. Philoctetes could not crawl far from his sea-side cave (cp. 163, 291).

κρατίστου … τραφείς : strictly, ‘bred from’ (not, ‘reared by’) ‘a sire who was the bravest of the Greeks.’ πατρὸς is not a gen. of agency (like πληγεὶς θυγατρός, Eur. 497), but a gen. of origin, as 1284 ἀρίστου πατρὸς αἴσχιστος γεγώς: cp. 1082 τῆς γὰρ πέφυκα μητρός, 1322 μητρὸς λοχευθείς. τραφείς is more forcible than γεγώς, as suggesting, not birth merely, but the inborn qualities. Cp. 556 δεῖ δ’ ὅπως πατρὸς|δείξεις ἐν ἐχθροῖς οἷος ἐξ οἵου )τράφης, ‘thou must see that thou provest among thy father's foes of what mettle and what breed thou art.’ In Aesch. 792 θαρσεῖτε, παῖδες μητέρων τεθραμμέναι, the gen. seems again to be one of origin, ‘maidens who are true daughters of your mothers’ (i.e., who resemble them, rather than your intrepid fathers). Wakefield's conjecture ἔνθ’ ὦ <’κ> κρατίστου was warranted by the commoner usage of τραφείς (with ἐκ , Soph. 557, Eur. 693; with ἀπό, Eur. 262, Soph. 1229); but it was needless here.

Νεοπτόλεμε , four syllables, the voice gliding so rapidly over the first ε that, with ο, it gives the effect of only one syllable. So in 241, and Eur. 14, Eur. 1126.But the name is a word of five syllables in Eur. 1655 Νεοπτόλεμος γαμεῖν νιν, οὐ γαμεῖ ποτε. Elmsley thought that verse corrupt; the same variation occurs, however, in Θεοκλύμενος, which is of four syllables in 9, but of five ib. 1168 and 1643.

τὸν Μηλιᾶ , belonging to Malis (‘the sheepcountry,’ from μῆλον, as the neighbouring Mount Oeta takes its name from οἶς),—a district almost enclosed by hills, at the head ( i.e., west) of the Μαλιακὸς κόλπος. That bay forms a deep recess in the south coast of Thessaly, just opposite the N.W. end of Euboea. Cp. n. on 490. The (2. 682) includes this region in the domain of Achilles, and assigns Philoctetes to the more northerly region of Thessaly, afterwards called Magnesia: see Introduction.—Her. , consistently Ionic, has, ἡ Μηλὶς γῆ, ἡ Τρηχινίη: Attic writers always have Τραχίς: but Thuc. and Xen. say οἱ Μηλιεῖς, while Aeschines, like later writers, has οἱ Μαλιεῖς. Cp. 725 Μηλιάδων νυμφᾶν.

ἐξέθηκ’ =ἀπεβίβασα: cp. Arist. 24 τὰ περὶ τὴν ἔκθεσιν, the story of Odysseus being put ashore by the Phaeacians in Ithaca ( Hom. 13. 116 ff.).

6 f. Nauck's transposition of these two verses effaces a delicate touch. Odysseus is anxious to present his conduct in the best light. After ἐξέθηκ’ ἐγώ, he hastens to add that he was merely obeying his chiefs (v. 6). And then, in vv. 7 ff., he palliates their conduct by describing how unendurable Philoctetes was.

καταστάζοντα agrees with υἱόν (5): πόδα is acc. of respect: 9 κάρα | στάζων ἱδρῶτι.

διαβόρῳ : 1084 ἡ τάλαινα διαβόρος νόσος (the venom of the hydra). So below, 313 βόσκων τὴν ἀδηφάγον νόσον : 745 βρύκομαι . Aesch. fr. 253 (Philoctetes speaking) φαγέδαιν’ ἀεί μου σάρκας ἐσθίει ποδός: a v. which Euripides borrowed in his own , changing σάρκας ἐσθίει to σάρκα θοινᾶται ( Arist. 22).

λοιβῆς … θυμάτων . The sacrifice regularly preceded the libation (cp. 1. 462); the order here is prompted by metrical convenience (as in 9. 500 λοιβῇ τε κνίσῃ τε), while the natural order is given below, 1033 (αἴθειν ἱερά,...σπένδειν).

προσθιγεῖν , fig., ‘engage in’; so the simple θιγγάνω (408, 546), and ἅπτομαι: cp. 1005 ἐμπύρων ἐγευόμην.

δυσφημίαις , cries of anguish, such as he utters below (743, 785). Cp. Eur. 1144 κραυγὴ δ’ ἐν εὐφήμοισι δύσφημος δόμοις | πέτραισιν ἀντέκλαγξ’ (cries of strife echoing in the Delphian temple from the rocks hard by). At a sacrifice, all present were first sprinkled with consecrated water, then silence was proclaimed, and then the offering began: Ar. 958 αὖθις σὺ περιχώρει λαβὼν τὴν χέρνιβα. | εὐφημἴ ἔστω. ΧΡ. μὴ κατάρξῃ τοῦ τράγου.

The sacrifice which the cries of Philoctetes interrupted must be that which an oracle had commanded the Greeks to offer at Chrysè's altar, in the islet Chrysè. Thence they sailed to Lemnos, which was close by, and put him ashore (270). The word στρατόπεδον could be said of a fleet (Thuc. 1. 117); but the reference in vv. 8 f. can hardly include attempts at sacrifice made between Chrysè and Lemnos.

ἀκμὴ … λόγων : cp. 22 ἔργων ἀκμή. Possibly a covert criticism on the length of the prologue in some previous cp. 1116 n.

μὴ καὶ : this καὶ=‘e'en’ (not ‘both’): cp. 46, 534.

ἐκχέω (aor. subj.), ‘waste’ ( 1291), which would properly be said of the labour bestowed on devising the scheme, is here applied, in the sense of ‘frustrate,’ to the σόφισμα itself: cp. Eur. fr. 789 μόχθων τῶν πρὶν ἐκχέαι χάριν. (Cp. 4. 491 ibi omnis | )

τῷ for ᾧ: 747 n.— Aesch. and Eur. had both represented Odysseus as boldly confronting Philoctetes, who failed to recognise him; a marvel which Eur. excused by supposing that Athena had changed the aspect of Odysseus. These two verses remind us that dramatic probability required Odysseus to keep himself in the background. Cp. 70.

ἔργον … σὸν : a familiar Attic phrase, as appears from its frequency in Ar. , either (a) with inf., as 1343, σὸν ἔργον, ὦ πρεσβῦτα, φροντίζειν κ.τ.λ.: or (b) as a parenthesis before an imperat., as 862, ἱερεῦ, σὸν ἔργον, θῦε: 1208, σὸν ἔργον, φεῦγε. It occurs more often without ἐστί than with it.

ὅπου )στ’ . Three modes of writing these words are possible: (1) as above, with prodelision of the ἔ in ἔστι. Cp. 732 καὶ ποῦ )σθ’ ὁ χῶρος...; Ar. 129 ἀλλ’ Ἀμφίθεός μοι ποῦ )στιν; So Soph. 974 ὡς ἐγὼ ’φάνην, Soph. 457 ἐξ ὅτου ’φάνη. (2) ὁποὔστ’, with crasis, the mode followed by the scribe of L: cp. 812 ὡς οὐ θέμις γ’ ἐμοὔστι. (3) ὅπου ἔστι, with synizesis, the mode preferred by several recent edd. The fact that the 2nd syll. of ὅπου has ictus appears to render (1) or (2) slightly preferable to (3); and (1) seems recommended by the analogy of )φάνην, )φάνη, where, at the end of the verse, a synizesis would have had a very harsh effect.

ὅπου … ἐνταῦθα , i.e., where (precisely) in this region. Ar. 432 ἔχοιτ’ ἂν οὖν φράσαι νῷν | Πλούτων’ ὅπου )νθάδ’ οἰκεῖ;

τοιάδ’, ἵν’ , ‘such that in it’: ἵν’=ἐν ᾗ (for τοιόσδε...ὅς, see 1353). Cp. Eur. fr. 183 νέμων τὸ πλεῖστον ἡμέρας τούτῳ μέρος, | ἵν’ αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ τυγχάνει βέλτιστος ὤν, where ἵν’=ἐν ᾧ.

ἡλίου διπλῆ … ἐνθάκησις , lit., ‘a twofold means of sitting in the sun.’ Cp. 5 § 36 ἑστηκότες ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ: ib. 16 § 1 ἐὰν ἐν ἡλίῳ τεθῶσι. So θακεῖν ἐν (or ἐνθακεῖν) ἡλίῳ could mean, ‘to sit in the sun’; and the genit. in ἡλίου ἐνθάκησις is objective, corresponding to the dat. with the verb. This is better than to make it a gen. of quality, as if the phrase meant, ‘a sunny seat in (the cave).’ The morning sun could be enjoyed at the seaward mouth of the cave, which had a s. or S. E. aspect (cp. 1457); while the afternoon sun fell on the other entrance, looking N. or N. W.

ἀμφιτρῆτος , ‘pierced at both ends,’ ‘tunnelled’: perh. suggested by Eur. 707 δἰ ἀμφιτρῆτος τῆσδε προσβαίνων πέτρας (so Kirchhoff for ποδί). This pass. sense of ἀμφιτρής (ἀμφοτέρωθεν τετρημένον, schol.), in which ἀμφίτρητος would be normal, cannot be illustrated by σιδηροκμής (‘slain with the sword,’ Soph. 325), or δορικμής Aesch. 365), since those adjectives=‘succumbing to’ the sword, etc. (from the poet. sense of οἱ καμόντες, etc.). But βοτοῖς σιδηροκμῆσιν in the former passage illustrates the use of ἀμφιτρής, properly masc. or fem., as a neuter adj.

αὐλίου , as 954, 1087: cp. 30 n.

εἴπερ ἐστὶ σῶν , a doubt the more natural since the island was volcanic (800).

ἅ μοι προσελθὼν … κυρεῖ : ‘advance, I pray thee ( μοι ), towards them’ [the cave and spring], ‘and sign (to me) whether he still occupies this same spot, or is elsewhere.’ The position of μοι indicates that it is the ethic dat. ( 1512), rather than dat. with σήμαινε, with which it can easily be understood.—In the Appendix reasons are given for the following views. (1) The words σήμαιν’ εἵτ’ ἔχει break the metrical rule, since εἴτ’ must be considered as metrically belonging to ἔχει rather than to σήμαινε, and therefore the 5th foot ought to be an iambus. But nevertheless the words are sound, since the natural stress on the first syllable of the imperative σήμαιν’, coinciding with the rhythmical ictus, has the effect of making the next syllable ( αιν) seem relatively short to the ear. (2) In v. 23 the traditional χῶρον πρὸς αὐτὸν is untenable. πρός with acc. could here mean only, ‘looking towards,’ ‘facing’; it could not mean merely, ‘in the neighbourhood of.’ And ἔχει | χῶρον πρὸς αὐτὸν τόνδε could not mean either, ‘(the cave and spring) are situated facing just this spot’; nor, ‘he dwells facing this spot.’ We should read with Blaydes, χῶρον τὸν αὐτόν. (3) τόνδ’ ἔτ’, εἴτ’ is the best correction of L's τόνδ’, ἤτ’ in v. 23: and ἔτ’ confirms the view that Philoctetes is the subject to the verbs. Odysseus is sure that the cave is somewhere near (16). His doubt is whether Philoctetes still lives in it, or has removed to some other part of the island.

τἀπίλοιπα τῶν λόγων , not τοὺς ἐπιλοίπους, because the λόγοι are thought of collectively, not singly; cp. 131 ; 499 τῶν σῶν λόγων | ἀρεστὸν οὐδέν: 682 θεσμῶν οὐδέν : Plat. 352 B τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς ἑστιάσεως . The ref. is to the plan disclosed at 50 ff.

κοινὰ , subst., ‘joint action’ (not adv., ‘jointly,’ as though the subject to ἴῃ were ‘our plan,’ implied in τἀπίλοιπα τῶν λόγων): cp. Thuc. 1. 8 πλωιμώτερα ἐγένετο παρ’ ἀλλήλους.

ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἴῃ , lit., ‘proceed from both’: cp. Eur. 294 λόγος γὰρ ἔκ τ’ ἀδοξούντων ἰὼν | κἀκ τῶν δοκούντων αὑτὸς οὐ ταὐτὸν σθένει.

τοὔργον οὐ μακρὰν λέγεις ,=τὸ ἔργον ὂ λέγεις οὐ μακράν ἐστι, ‘the task of which thou speakest is not far off,’ i.e. I can do thy bidding without going far. τὸ ἔργον is the search for (and in) the cave. This seems simpler than to take μακράν as=‘to a distance’ ( 16), and τοὔργον as=‘mission.’ For the adverb as predicate, cp. 586 ἀλλ’ ἐν βραχεῖ δὴ τήνδε μ’ ἐξαιτεῖ χάριν, n.: 962 ἀγχοῦ δ’ ἄρα κοὐ μακρὰν | προὔκλαιον (sc. ὄν), ‘the sorrow foretold by my lament is near, and not afar’: 1191 πόθεν τοῦτ’ ἐξεσήμηνας κακόν;

ἄνωθεν, ἢ κάτωθεν ; i.e. above or below Neoptolemus, who is climbing the rocks. Odysseus is on the sea-shore. Cp. 1000 ff.

καὶ στίβου γ’ οὐδεὶς κτύπος , ‘and of foot-fall, at least, there is no sound.’ The γε , which has been suspected, is fitting; he is still a little below the cave, and cannot yet see whether it is empty. Seyffert's καὶ στίβου δ’ would be appropriate only if it followed the mention of some other sign that the cave was empty.

στίβου , usu. ‘track (path),’ or ‘footprint,’ here, the act of treading: cp. 206 στίβου κατ’ ἀνάγκαν, n. Remark how strongly κτύπος (L's reading) is confirmed, as against τύπος , by v. 30, where Odysseus says (in effect), ‘perhaps the reason why you hear no sound is that he is asleep within.’—Other readings are καὶ στίβου γ’ οὐδεὶς τύπος (Tricl. and Brunck): καὶ στίβου )στ’ οὐχ ἑ=ς τύπος (Mudge): καὶ στίβου )στ’ οὔδει τύπος (Bergk; though οὖδας is the only case of the noun found in Tragedy). These assume that there was sand or earth just in front of the cave on the side towards the sea. But vv. 1000 ff. imply that the cave's seaward mouth opened on steep rocks at some height above the beach. And if v. 29 referred to the presence or absence of foot-prints, v. 30 would lose its special point.

καθ’ ὕπνον : 970 καθ’ ὕπνον ὄντα: but here ὤν need not be supplied; the phrase is adverbial, with καταυλισθεὶς κυρῇ.

καταυλισθεὶς , ‘lodged’ (cp. 19 αὐλίου, 153 αὐλάς), a word suitable to rough or temporary quarters, as to a bivouac: Xen. 7. 5. 15 κατηυλίσθησαν δ’ ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ: so Soph. 304(Electra speaking of her rustic cot tage) οἵοις ἐν πέπλοις αὐλίζομαι (cp. ib. 168 ἀγρότειραν αὐλάν). κατακλιθεὶς , the weak reading of some later MSS., was prob. suggested by καθ’ ὕπνον.

κυρῇ is the reading of our MSS., and, though their authority on such a point is not great, the subjunct. seems here slightly better than κυρεῖ . ὅρα μὴ...κυρεῖ, ‘see whether he is not,’ would imply that in the speaker's mind there was little doubt on the subject: cp. notes on 278, Ant. 1253 : Plat. 163 A ἀλλ’ ὅρα μὴ ἐκεῖνον κωλύει : 196 C ἀλλ’ ὁρῶμεν μὴ Νικίας οἴεταί τι λέγειν : 145 C ὅρα μὴ παίζων ἔλεγεν . These are admonitions in the polite guise of suggestions. Now here we may, indeed, conceive Odysseus as saying μὴ... κυρεῖ : but, in the anxious uncertainty which he actually feels, it is more natural that he should say μὴ...κυρῇ . If it be said that general Attic usage rather favours the indic. after ὅρα μή, we may refer to 1003 and fr. 82 (ἀλλ’ ὅρα μὴ κρεῖσσον ᾖ) as a few places out of several where the subjunct. after ὅρα μή is proved by metre.

ὁρῶ . Neoptolemus, mounting the rocks, has now just reached the mouth of the cave. κενὴν is made more explicit by ἀνθρώπων δίχα : ‘empty,—yes, there is no man there.’ Such iteration is natural when the mind confirms itself in a first impression, or dwells on a striking thought; so Verg. 4. 588 vacuos sensit sine remige portus (‘empty,—no rower there’); 464 γυμνὸν φανέντα τῶν ἀριστείων ἄτερ ‘(when I return) ungraced,—aye, without the meed of valour.’ Cp. 487: 57 n., 445 n.

οἰκοποιός … τις τροφή , ‘any comforts, such as make a human dwelling,’ in contradistinction to a wild beast's lair. τροφή here=‘what sustains life,’—not only food and drink, but also provision for necessary repose and warmth: cp. Plat. 667 B ἐδωδῇ μὲν καὶ πόσει καὶ ξυμπάσῃ τροφῇ , ‘food and drink and the comforts of life generally.’ The question of Odysseus is comprehensive; in reply, Neopt. can only mention a bed; but that does not require us to assume that Od.used τροφή in the specific sense of ‘furniture.’ The objection which has been made to τροφή here thus falls to the ground. Against Welcker's τρυφή , remark:—(1) The irony would be misplaced here, where Od.is anxiously seeking information; it is otherwise in v. 37, where the slightly ironical tone of θησαύρισμα shows the first gleam of sinister joy. (2) The phrase οἰκοποιὸς...τρυφή would be infelicitous. The adjective itself shows that the substantive ought to denote the rudiments, not the refinements, of a home.

στιπτή γε κ.τ.λ., ‘aye, a heap of leaves pressed down, as if for the use of one who sleeps in the place.’ Here γε serves to correct the suggestion contained in the negative question: ‘There is nothing there?’ ‘Yes, there is something.’ In this use it may be compared with the Fr.si, since it is corrective without being emphatic. (‘Vous n'avez pas été là?’—‘Si.’) Cp. 35. For the spelling στιπτή, see v. 2. A bed of leaves (or rushes, etc.) was called στιβάς ( Eur. 507 στιβάδα πρὸς χαμαιπετῆ). [Eur. ] 9 λεῖπε χαμεύνας φυλλοστρώτους (of soldiers bivouacking). στιπτή means, pressed down by the body of the person who has slept on it. Some take ἐναυλίζοντίτῳ as dat. of agent with στιπτή (pressed down by some one lodging here); but the order of words renders it simpler to take the dat. as one of interest. Hartung, whom Nauck follows, changes στιπτή to στρωτή , finding a hint of the latter in one of the two scholia on this v. in L, χαμαιστρωσία ἐκ φύλλων. But that may refer to the one word φυλλάς: while the other scholium unequivocally refers to στιπτή, —ἡπλωμένη καὶ πατουμένη, (‘spread out, and pressed down,’) ὡς κοιμωμένου ἐπ’ αὐτῇ τινος. If it be said that ἡπλωμένη might refer to στρωτή , we may reply that πατουμένη could refer only to στιπτή: and by ἡπλωμένη the schol. meant (I think) to express that the leaves formed, not a soft heap, but only a shallow layer. στιπτή is more graphic than στρωτή : it suggests the recent impress of the body, and the cheerless discomfort of the couch.—For ὡς with ἐναυλίζοντί τῳ, cp. 203.

τὰ δ’ ἄλλ’ , all parts of the cave except that covered by the bed of leaves: ἔρημα , ‘bare,’ i.e. without any sign of inhabitation. The second question, κοὐδέν κ.τ.λ., repeats the first in a more precise form.

αὐτόξυλον , ‘of mere wood,’ means here, ‘of wood not artistically treated’; the piece of wood remained as nearly in its original state as was compatible with its serving for a cup. Cp. fr. com. 322 αὐτόποκον ἱμάτιον, a cloak of rough wool: Alexis Κύπριος 2 τὸν δ’ αὐτόπυρον ἄρτον, the loaf of unbolten wheat-flour: see 192 αὐτοπέτρου βήματος n.

φλαυρουργοῦ : seemingly the only extant instance of the form φλαῦρος in a compound adj.

τεχνήματ’ : the poet. plur. has a certain dignity, and there is possibly a shade of designed irony in its use here: 313 τρίπος, κλυτὰ ἔργα περίφρονος (Ηφαίστοιο: Eur. 1053 μνῆμα, ...κέδρου τεχνάσματα (a coffin,...finely wrought of cedar): Virg. 5. 359 clypeum … Didymaonis artes.

πυρεῖα , igniaria, ‘means of kindling a fire,’ the stones mentioned in 296, and perhaps also bits of wood with which to catch the spark.

κείνου , predicate, cp. Plat. 20 E οὐ γὰρ ἐμὸν ἐρῶ τὸν λόγον (=ὁ λόγος, ὃν ἐρῶ, οὐκ ἐμὸς ἔσται).

θησαύρισμα , ‘store’ (not so strong as ‘treasure’): the verb θησαυρίζω was used of ‘laying in’ supplies for household use ( Xen. 8. 2. 24); cp. Soph. 497 θησαύρισμα Διονύσου (store of wine). Yet here the word is ironical, since the ‘store’ is so wretched.

ἰοὺ ἰού , a cry of surprise, with which the watcher greets the beacon in Aesch. 25,—where it is ‘extra metrum,’ as in Soph. 737.It stands within the verse, as here, in Soph. 1071, Soph. O. T. 1182, Soph. 1143.

καὶ ταῦτά γ’ . In v. 29, καὶ στίβου γ’, γε specially emphasises the word στίβου: here, it does not specially emphasise ταῦτα, but helps καί to introduce the new fact; i.e., it is not, ‘and here are rags,’ but rather, ‘yes, and here are rags.’ Wherever καί … γε occurs, it is well to note in which of these two ways it is used. Examples like καὶ ταῦτά γ’ here are, below, 1296 καὶ πέλας γ’: 1132 κοὐδέν γε θαῦμα: ib. 1319 καὶ θαῦμά γ’ οὐδέν. Examples like καὶ στίβου γ’ are, below, O. T. 674 καὶ σέ γ’ εἰσάξω: 1277 καὶ πέρα γ’ ἴσθ’ ἢ λέγω.

ἄλλα , ‘withal’ ( i.e., besides the other objects already found): cp. 290 n.: Aesch. 424 γίγας ὅδ’ ἄλλος.

θάλπεται , ‘are drying’ in the sun at the seaward mouth of the cave (cp. 17). Not, ‘are warm’ to the touch,—as if recently used. Cp. 181 ἁλίου πέπλους | αὐγαῖσιν ἐν ταῖς χρυσέαις | ἀμφιθάλπουσ’.

βαρείας , ‘grievous,’ the epithet of the malady itself, as 1330 νόσου βαρείας. Not ‘fetid’ (like gravis...hircus, Hor. 12. 5 ),—a sense in which βαρύς occurs only when it is the epithet of ὀσμή, ἀτμίς ( 9. 5), etc.

νοσηλείας (subst. from νοσηλός, ‘morbid,’) here=the matter discharged from the ulcer in the foot; cp. 824. Isocr. uses νοσηλεύω as=‘to tend the sick,’ and Plut. has νοσηλεία as either (i) ‘sickness,’ or (ii) ‘nursing of the sick.’

πλέα , tainted, stained with: cp. Xen. 1. 3. 5(ἡ χεὶρ) πλέα σοι ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ἐγένετο, has been defiled by those things: so πλήρεις, Soph. 1017.

οὐχ ἑκάς που , as 163 πέλας που, 1410 ἔξω...που.

κηρὶ , ‘plague,’ as 1166 κῆρα τάνδ’ ἀποφεύγειν,—but without ref. to the idea that the νόσος was ordained by fate (1326).

προσβαίη , in the sense of ‘advance,’ where we should have expected προβαίη, is certainly strange. It is partly excused, however, by the fact that the speaker is himself outside of the cave, and so can the more naturally place himself in imagination at the external point towards which the movement is made,—saying, ‘come far,’ instead of, ‘go far.’ I do not feel sure, then, that προσβαίη is corrupt, though it is suspicious. If corrupt, it probably conceals a compound with πρό. In the (vol. II. p. 324, 1888) I have conjectured προσκάζοι , ‘limp forth.’ Minuscule β and κ often resemble each other (thus in 1094 λακεῖν is corrected from λαβεῖν). If προσκάζοι had become προσβάζοι, thelatter would easily have generated προσβαίη. A verb describing painful movement would be fitting here, after νοσῶν...κῶλον παλαιᾷ κηρί: cp. ὀγμεύει (163), εἰλυόμην (291). It is immaterial that this particular compound of σκάζω does not occur elsewhere; many verbal compounds occur once only, as, e.g., προδείσας ( 90), προκλίνας ( 201). For other conjectures, see Appendix.

φορβῆς νόστον . The defence of this much-impugned phrase depends on three points. (1) νόστος is poetically used in the general sense of ὁδός: 1261 (speaking of the Greeks), οἷς νόστος οὐκ ἔστ’ )Ιλίου πύργους ἔπι. (2) In φορβῆς‐νόστος, a food-journey, the gen. denotes the object of the νόστος: the principle is the same as in 1066 γῆς πατρῴας νόστος, ‘a fatherland-return,’ i.e. a return to it: 200 ἐπὶ πλόον Ἀξείνοιο, on a voyage to the Euxine. (3) The poet has not said, ἐξελήλυθε φορβῆς νόστον (‘cognate’ acc.), but ἐξελήλυθεν ἐπὶ φορβῆς νόστον, thus marking that νόστον denotes, not merely the act of going out, but the purpose of that act, viz., a quest. In other words, the presence of ἐπὶ before it already tinges νόστον with the sense of ζήτησιν: cp. Her. 4. 140 ὑπέστρεφον ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τῶν Περσέων.—The conjecture ἀλλ’ ἢ )πὶ φορβὴν νόστον ἐξελήλυθεν seems, then, needless; but it is also open to a strong positive objection, viz. that νόστον then becomes a mere pleonasm. A cognate acc. added to ἐξελήλυθεν ought here to qualify it in some manner (cp. Soph. 287 ἐξόδους ἕρπειν κενάς).

ἢ φύλλον κ.τ.λ. The constr. is, ἤ, εἰ φύλλον νώδυνόν τι κάτοιδέ που, (ἐπ’ αὐτό): rather than, ἢ (ἐπὶ) φύλλον, εἴ τι νώδυνον ( φύλλον) κάτοιδέ που.

νώδυνον , in active sense: app. 57 φαρμάκοις ἀνωδύνοις.

τὸν … παρόντα ,—‘thy attendant,’— the young chief's πρόσπολος, who is called σκοπός at v. 125. The phrase does not imply that he is actually at his master's side on the rocks.

μὴ καὶ , cp. 13 .

προσπεσών , of sudden and unforeseen approach ( 1157): the same phrase below, O. C. 156, and Eur. 338.

ἕλοιτό μ’ . The enclitic με is warranted here (though ἕλοιτ’ ἔμ’ might seem more natural), since the words, μὴ καὶ λάθῃ με προσπεσών, have already indicated Odysseus as the person chiefly menaced. It is as though he said: ‘We must take care that he does not surprise me; it would delight him more than to capture all the Greeks’; where the unemphatic ‘it’ would resemble the enclitic με as merely referring back to a case already indicated. A similar instance (and one that is certified by metre) occurs below, 1049 ff.: οὗ γὰρ τοιούτων δεῖ, τοιοῦτός εἰμ’ ἐγώ· | χὥπου δικαίων κἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν κρίσις, | οὐκ ἂν λάβοις μου μᾶλλον οὐδέν’ εὐσεβῆ: where the ἐγώ in 1049 makes it needless to have ἐμοῦ in 1051. Such cases are distinct from those in which the enclitic form of the pers. pron. is justified by the fact that the chief emphasis is on a verbal notion (e.g., 958: 546 μή μοι θάνῃς σὺ κοινά, ‘share not my death’).—The first hand in L seems to have written ἕλοιτε μ’ (sic): the corrector changed the second ε to ο, accenting the latter. If there had been reason to think that the first hand in L wrote ἕλοιτ’ ἔμ’, then I should have taken that reading, not as better than ἕλοιτό μ’, but as equally good and better attested.— λαβεῖν , ‘catch,’ ‘find in his power.’ μολεῖν in A was prob. a conjecture, or a mere error, rather than, as Boissonade supposed, a corruption of μ’ ἑλεῖν . For the difference between ἑλεῖν and λαβεῖν (in regard to warfare), see 5. 144 ἔνθ’ ἕλεν Ἀστύνοον (‘slew’), and ib. 159 ἔνθ’ υἷας Πριάμοιο δύω λάβε Δαρδαvίδαο, | εἰν ἑνὶ δίφρῳ ἐόντας (‘caught’). Cp. below, 101, 103; 266 ζητῶν τὸν αὐτόχειρα τοῦ φόνου λαβεῖν (‘find’).—Blaydes says that λαβεῖν is ‘clearly wrong,’ and reads βαλεῖν (‘hit’).

ἀλλ’ , in assent, like ‘oh, well,’ —the implied adversative sense being, ‘nay, I have no objection’: cp. 232, 336, 645, 647.

ἔρχεται , sc. ὁ παρών (45), ‘he goes,’ i.e., ‘I send him’ (said as he makes a sign to the πρόσπολος). Cp. 1181 μὴ...ἔλθῃς, ‘depart not’: 99 ἄνους μὲν ἔρχει : 595 ἐλεύσεται (‘depart’).— τε καὶ marks the full assent to v. 45: he shall go, and for that purpose.

φυλάξεται , the fut. pass. in good prose also ( Xen. 4. 9): φυλαχθήσομαι was late. For other such futures, cp. 303: 93 n.

δευτέρῳ λόγῳ , ‘in further speech,’— continuing the former discourse. Cp. Pind. 1. 43 δευτέρῳ χρόνῳ ,=ὑστέρῳ.

ἐφ’ οἷς =ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐφ’ οἷς, ‘for’ (i.e., ‘so as to aid’) ‘the objects for which,’ etc.; cp. 1457 μὴ )πί τῳ δεινῷ κακῷ.—The sentence begins as if the form were to be, δεῖ...γενναῖον εἶναι, μὴ μόνον τῷ σώματι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ: he must show his true-bred spirit, not merely physically, but morally,— i.e., by bringing himself ( τόλμα, 82 ) to aid plans which may be repugnant to him. Neopt. supposed that his task was to take Phil. by force ( πρὸς βίαν, 90 ). Odysseus seeks to prepare the disclosure very gently. Hence the hypothetical clause which takes the place of a simple ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ, viz., ἀλλ’ ἤν τι καινόν, κ.τ.λ. After that clause, a modal partic., ὑπουργοῦντα (‘by serving’), ought to have balanced the instrumental dat. τῷ σώματι. But, instead of it, we have a second infin., ὑπουργεῖν , depending, like εἶναι, on δεῖ: just as, in independent sentences, a new finite verb is often substituted for a second participial clause ( 351 n.: 256, Ant. 816 ).

γενναῖον , ‘true-bred.’ τὸ γενναῖον is, as Arist. defines it ( 1. 1. 32), τὸ μὴ ἐξιστάμενον ἐκ τῆς αὑτοῦ φύσεως. Odysseus calls on Neopt. to prove himself a true son of his sire (cp. 3) by complete loyalty to his mission.

τῷ σώματι : cp. 886 ἵπποις τε χαίρων τόξα τ’ ἐντείνων χεροῖν, | πόλει παρασχεῖν σῶμα χρήσιμον θέλων.

καινόν , euphemistic, as oft.: cp. α. δ. § 2 καινότατα γὰρ δή, εἰ χρὴ καινότατα μᾶλλον ἢ κακουργότατα εἰπεῖν, διαβάλλουσί με.

ὧν (τούτων ἃ ) πρὶν οὐκ ἀκήκοας , ‘(some novel thing), viz., one of those things which thou hast not heard before’; i.e., ‘a part of my plans which has not hitherto been disclosed to thee.’ Cp. Eur. 356 οὐ γάρ τι δράσεις δεινόν, ὧν φόβος μ’ ἔχει.

ὑπηρέτης , like ὑπηρετεῖν in 15, said of a friend and equal. Cp. Soph. 821(Orestes) Πυλάδην μὲν εἵλετ’ ἐν πόνοις ὑπηρέτην, | δμῶας δ’ ἀπωθεῖ: and so even in good prose, as Xen. 1. 9. 18.

τί δῆτ’ ἄνωγας ; The division of the verse between the speakers (ἀντιλαβή) serves at once to mark the surprise of Neopt. and to introduce the words of Od.with a certain abrupt force: cp. 722 n.

σε δεῖ κ.τ.λ. Two other examples of this constr. are extant: 556 δεῖ σ’ ὅπως πατρὸς | δείξεις ἐν ἐχθροῖς οἶος ἐξ ὅου )τράφης: Cratinus (the poet of the Old Comedy), Νέμεσις fr. 3 δεῖ σ’ ὅπως εὐσχήμονος | ἀλεκτρυόνος μηδὲν διοίσεις τοὺς τρόπους. In both these passages, as in this, the constr. is used by an elder, or superior, in giving a precept of conduct. The admonitory tone thus associated with the formula confirms the text, as against Matthiae's conjecture, σε δεῖν ψυχὴν ὅπως λόγοισιν ἐκκλέψεις λέγω . The acc. of the object (σε) is like that in δεῖ σε τούτου: while the ὅπως clause (answering to the genitive there) is like that in ἐδέοντο Βοιωτοὺς ὅπως παραδώσουσι ( Thuc. 5. 36§ 2). The partic. λέγων explains the instrum. dat. λόγοισιν more clearly; it is not instrumental (‘by speaking’), but temporal; i.e., literally, ‘as you go on speaking.’ It indicates that Neopt. is to converse alone with Phil. (cp. 70 , ὁμιλία), and is to deceive him in the course of their conversation. The next verse makes this still clearer:—‘, say,’ etc. A similar use of λέγων, to denote the process of talk, is frequent in Herod. , when, after epitomising part of a speech, he gives the sequel in the speaker's own words; as 3. 156, ‘νῦν τε,’ ἔφη λέγων,... ‘And now,’ he went on to say,...(lit., said, as he went on speaking).—Other ways of taking λέγων , which seem less good, are:—(1) As instrum. partic., with which αὐτούς is to be supplied from λόγοισιν: ‘with words,...i.e., by speaking them.’ For this view, Schneidewin cp. 885 B ὅσα λόγῳ καὶ ὅσα ἔργῳ περὶ θεοὺς ὑβρίζει τις λέγων ἢ πράττων. (2) As instrum. partic., used absolutely, to emphasise λόγοισιν,—‘with words,—I repeat, by speaking.’ (3) As instrum. partic., to be taken closely with λόγοισιν, in the sense, ‘speaking vain words.’ This is Seyffert's view, who explains λόγοις λέγειν as meris verbis dicere: a sense which the phrase could not bear.

ἐκκλέψεις : here related to κλέπτειν, fallere ( 243 εἰ μὴ συμφοραὶ κλέπτουσί με), as ἐξαπατᾶν to ἀπατᾶν. Cp. 968 . 14. 217 ἥ τ’ ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων.

λέγειν , infin. for imper. ( 481 n.); not depending on δεῖ in 54.— Ἀχιλλέως, ˘¯¯. The ε suffers synizesis again in 364, 582, 1066 , 1237, 1298, 1312: though not in 4, 50, 241, 260 , 1220, 1433.

τόδ’ οὐχὶ κλεπτέον : lit., ‘this thing’ (his parentage) ‘must not be represented falsely,’— i.e., the truth must not be hidden. κλέπτειν τι can mean, ‘to do (or speak) a thing fraudulently’: 189 κλέπτουσι μύθους, they speak false words. In 437 μὴ...ἐκκλέψῃς λόγον= ‘do not keep back the story’; but the simple κλέπτειν could not literally express this. —κρυπτέον is a tame conjecture.

πλεῖς is more dramatic than πλεῖν , which would also be awkward after λέγειν.

ὡς πρὸς οἶκον . πρός states the direction of the voyage: ὡς merely adds an indication of the voyager's purpose: ‘thou art homeward bound.’ (Not, ‘thou art sailing as if for home,’ with ref. to the story being untrue.) Cp. 44 ἦ καὶ τὸ βούλευμ’ ὡς ἐπ’ Ἀργείοις τόδ’ ἦν; ‘was this plot, in his intention (ὡς), against the Greeks?’ (though the actual victims were the cattle). Thuc. 4. 93 παρεσκευάζετο ὡς ἐς μάχην, made his dispositions with a view (ὡς) to fighting. 1. 1. 12 ἀνάγεσθαι ἤδη αὐτοῦ μέλλοντος ὡς ἐπὶ ναυμαχίαν.

ἔχθος ἐχθήρας μέγα : cp. 1034 οὐδ’ αὖ τοσοῦτον ἔχθος ἐχθαίρω σ’ ἐγώ. For the aor. part. cp. 227, 309: Pind. 7. 88 φιλήσαντ’ (having formed a friendship); Soph. 11 n., Soph. O. T. 649 n.

οἵ , with causal force (Lat. qui with subjunct.): 263 n.

ἐν λιταῖς , by means of prayers: cp. 102 ἐν δόλῳ...ἄγειν, 1393 ἐν λόγοις | πείθειν: 764 n.— στείλαντες … μολεῖν : lit., having caused thee to set forth, so that thou shouldst come from home: cp. 164 ὑμᾶς δ’ ἐγὼ πομποῖσιν ἐκ πάντων δίκα | ἔστειλ’ ἱκέσθαι. Odysseus and Phoenix were sent from Troy to bring the young Neoptolemus from Scyros: 343 ff.

μόνην . If L's μόνην δ’ were sound, then στείλαντες (μέν) and ἔχοντες δέ would express two reasons why the conduct of the Atreidae was bad:—‘when they had brought thee from home, and when that was their only way of taking Troy,’— the second clause implying that, as his presence was so momentous, his claim to good treatment was the stronger. But μόνην, without δ’, is clearly right. Then ἔχοντες is causal, expressing the motive of στείλαντες,—‘having brought thee,... since they had no other way,’ etc. The insertion of δ’, if not a mere error, may have been due to a corrector who, not perceiving the relation of the two participles, thought that they required a copula.

ἅλωσιν , means of capture: Thuc. 2. 75 χῶμα ἔχουν πρὸς τὴν πόλιν, νομίζοντες ταχίστην αἵρεσιν [τὴν αἵρεσιν Classen] ἔσεσθαι αὐτῶν (the quickest way of taking the place).

τῶν Ἀχιλλείων ὅπλων , gen. depending on the principal verb ἠξίωσαν , instead of an acc., τὰ Ἀχίλλεια ὅπλα, depending on the infin. δοῦναι . This construction arises from eagerness for compact expression of the main idea,— as here the main idea is completely expressed by v. 62. The ‘epexegetic’ infin., like δοῦναι , is usu. the only word added: but here it is naturally supplemented by the words which denote the aggravating circumstances (ἐλθόντι...κυρίως αἰτουμένῳ). 941 D δίκης οὖν οὐδέτερον οὐδετέρου ἐλάττονος...ὁ νόμος ἀξιοῖ ζημιοῦν (instead of ἀξιοῖ ζημιοῦν δίκῃ). Thuc. 3. 6 καὶ τῆς μὲν θαλάσσης εἶργον μὴ χρῆσθαι τοὺς Μυτιληναίους. Cp. Soph. 1211 n.— κυρίως , with good right (tuo iure), as heir of Achilles; cp. Dem. or. 36 § 32 κυρίως δόντος τοῦ πατρὸς...κατὰ τοὺς νόμους αὐτὴν γεγαμῆσθαι.

παρέδοσαν , handed over,—a word suggesting fraud or treachery, as oft.; cp. 399.

λέγων refers back to λέγειν in 57 (with which, as infin. for imperat., the nomin. is rightly used in the 2nd pers., 1529 n.). Odysseus leaves the available epithets to his young friend's imagination. Cp. 1287 βοᾷ διοίγειν κλῇθρα καὶ δηλοῦν τινα | τοῖς πᾶσι Καδμείοισι τὸν πατροκτόνον, | τὸν μητρός, αὐδῶν ἀνόσἰ οὐδὲ ῥητά μοι. 16 καὶ λέγει Κάλχας τάδε· | ...‘παῖδ’ οὖν ἐν οἴκοις σὴ Κλυταιμνήστρα δάμαρ | τίκτει’— τὸ καλλιστεῖον εἰς ἔμ’ ἀναφέρων— | ‘ἣν χρή σε θῦσαι.’

καθ’ ἡμῶν , in this context, seems best taken as=κατ’ ἐμοῦ: for the sing. με so closely following, see n. on 734 πόλις γὰρ ἡμῖν ἁμὲ χρὴ τάσσειν ἐρεῖ;

ἔσχατ’ ἐσχάτων : cp. 465 ἄρρητ’ ἀρρήτων n.

66 *τούτῳ γὰρ κ.τ.λ. The reading τούτων γὰρ οὐδέν μ’ ἀλγυνεῖς is probably that which stood in L's archetype; for the inserted ν, by which οὐδέμ’ has been made into οὐδένμ’, is due to the first corrector of L, who revised the work of the scribe by comparing the copy with the original. The first question, then, is whether that reading can be kept. It is required to mean:—‘for in regard to no one of these things’ (viz., the κακά, taunts) ‘wilt thou pain me.’ But it would properly mean:—‘for thou wilt not cause me any of these pains.’ Cp. 1021 ἐγὼ δ’ ἀλγύνομαι | τοῦτ’ αὔθ’ ὅτι ζῶ κ.τ.λ., ‘I feel just this pain,—that I live,’ etc.: Ar. 2 ἥσθην δὲ βαιὰ... | ἃ δ’ ὠδυνήθην, κ.τ.λ.: Soph. 550 τί ταῦτ’ ἀνιᾷς μ’ (cause me this distress). Before τούτων γὰρ οὐδέν μ’ ἀλγυνεῖς could be accepted, it would be needful to show that a cognate acc. (οὐδέν) could thus replace an instrum. dat. The next question concerns its origin. It might be suggested that the οὐδέμ’ of the 1st hand in L came, not from οὐδέν μ’, but from οὐδέν’, and that the sense is, ‘thou wilt pain no one of them’ (masc.),—so that καθ’ ἡμῶν in 65 should mean, Odysseus and the Atreidae. But this cannot be; for, here, there has been no direct mention of the Atreidae,—only of Ἀχαιῶν generally (59); and so, for contrast with πᾶσιν Ἀργείοις (67), the pain denoted by ἀλγυνεῖς must be pain to Odysseus. τούτων γὰρ οὐδέν’ ἀλγυνεῖς being thus set aside, we have to weigh (1) τούτων γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀλγυνεῖ μ’ ,— Dindorf's conjecture; and (2) τούτῳ γὰρ οὐδέν μ’ ἀλγυνεῖς ,—Buttmann's. Both being possible, the question is, which of them is most likely to have generated τούτων γὰρ οὐδέν μ’ ἀλγυνεῖς. The fact that ἀλγυνεῖς precedes ἐργάσει diminishes the probability that ἀλγυνεῖς arose from ἀλγυνεῖ μ’ by assimilation of persons. Further, had οὐδέν μ’ ἀλγυνεῖς come from οὐδὲν ἀλγυνεῖ μ’, we might have expected to find a variant, οὐδὲν ἀλγυνεῖς μ’. If, on the other hand, the words οὐδέν μ’ ἀλγυνεῖς are genuine, we have only to suppose a change of τούτωι into τούτων . On these palaeographical grounds Buttmann's reading appears preferable to Dindorf's.

μὴ : for εἰ ἐργάσει μή, instead of εἰ μὴ ἐργάσει, cp. 332, 653, 328 n., 993: for μή as first word of a verse, when a word with which it is construed stands in the preceding verse, cp. 1349(εἰ... | μή), 348(ὅσον | μή).— βαλεῖς here=ἐμβαλεῖς (or προσβαλεῖς), ‘inflict’ on them: cp. 915 f. δεμνίοις | ...βάλλουσαν φάρη: Eur. 1534 σκότον ὄμμασι σοῖσι βαλών. In poetry the simple dat. (instead of dat. or accus. with a prep.) is sometimes thus used to denote the object to, or against, which an action is directed: cp. n. on Soph. 1232 πτύσας προσώπῳ. Not, ‘launch against them,’ as though the λύπη were a missile; nor, ‘sow’ sorrow for them, like ἀνίας μοι κατασπείρας , Soph. 1005.

εἰ ... μὴ ληφθήσεται, οὐκ ἔστι κ.τ.λ. ‘if the bow is not to be taken, then it is impossible’ etc. Here the condition expressed by the fut. ind. in the protasis is really a present one; the meaning is, ‘if it is (now) settled that the bow is not to be taken.’ Cp. Xen. 3. 4. 39 οὐκ ἔστι παρελθεῖν, εἰ μὴ τούτους ἀποκόψομεν: ‘it is an impossibility to advance, if we are not to dislodge these men’ (i.e. assuming that we do not mean to dislodge them). Practically, this is a more emphatic way of expressing the necessity of the act to which the protasis refers. Distinguish those cases in which the condition expressed by the fut. indic. is really future; as in 66 f., εἰ μὴ ἐργάσει (‘if thou fail to do this’), βαλεῖς: and in 75 f. εἴ με αἰσθήσεται (‘if he shall perceive me’), ὄλωλα (i.e. ὀλοῦμαι): where ἐὰν μὴ ἐργάσῃ, ἐάν με αἴσθῃ would differ from the fut. ind. with εἰ only as being somewhat less vivid.

οὐκ ἔστι πέρσαι σοι . The difference between σοι and σοὶ here resembles that between ‘thou canst never take’ and ‘ thou canst never take.’ L supports σοὶ , which is, of course, quite tenable. But σοι seems preferable, because (a) in giving a reason, as γάρ implies, why ‘all the Greeks’ will be pained, it seems less fitting to place the personal concern of Neoptolemus in the foreground; and (b) the necessary emphasis on σοὶ in v. 70 would have a slightly awkward effect if the same pron. had been emphasised in v. 69. Cp. n. on 47, ἕλοιτό μ’ .

τὸ Δαρδάνου πέδον , the land of Dardanus,—meaning Τροία in its larger sense, the town with its territory (cp. 920 τὰ Τροίας πεδία, 1435 ἑλεῖν τὸ Τροίας πεδίον). So 380 τὸ Καδμείων πέδον=Θήβης πέδον (ib. 415). Dardanus, son of Zeus, was fifth ancestor of Priam ( 20. 215 ff.). Cp. Pind. 13. 56 πρὸ Δαρδάνου τειχέων: 1493 Δαρδάνου | πόλιν.

ὡς δ’ ἔστ’ ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐχί κ.τ.λ.: cp. Xen. 2. 5. 35 οἱ δὲ πάντες μὲν οὐκ ἦλθον, Ἀριαῖος δὲ καὶ Ἀρτάοζος κ.τ.λ. —Odysseus anticipates the objection that, if there is to be a stratagem, he should conduct it himself,—as Aesch. and Eur. had made him do: cp. 13 n.

ὁμιλία , merely ‘intercourse,’ in a general sense: the special meaning, ‘colloquy,’ (seen in the Gk. μοδ. ὁμιλέω=‘to speak,’) is postclassical.

πιστὴ , trusted by Philoctetes; cp. 1272. βέβαιος , safe for Neoptolemus.

ἔνορκος . Odysseus was bound by the oath which all the suitors of Helen had sworn to her father Tyndareus,— that they would come to her husband's aid, if he was robbed of her: 61 ὅτου γυνὴ γένοιτο Τυνδαρὶς κόρη, | τούτῳ ξυναμυνεῖν, εἴτις ἐκ δόμων λαβὼν | οἴχοιτο. So Ajax came to Troy οὕνεχ’ ὅρκων οἷσιν ἦν ἐνώμοτος ( 1113). Paus. was shown the place, called Ἵππου μνῆμα, on the road from Lacedaemon into Arcadia, where Tyndareus, having sacrificed a horse, τοὺς Ἑλένης ἐξώρκου μνηστῆρας (3. 20. 9).

ἐξ ἀνάγκης : Odysseus feigned madness, in order to avoid going to Troy, but Palamedes detected the trick: cp. 1025 n.—τοῦ πρώτου στόλου , partit. gen., thou hast not sailed ‘on’ (=‘as a member of’) the first expedition. Cp. Dem. or. 21 § 202 οὐδαμοῦ πώποτε ὁ Μειδίας τῶν συνηδομένων οὐδὲ τῶν συγχαιρόντων ἐξητάσθη τῷ δήμῳ (‘has nowhere figured in the ranks of those who share the pleasure and joy of the people’).—The πρῶτος στόλος is the original Greek expedition, as distinguished from the voyage of Odysseus and Phoenix when they brought Neop. from Scyros (343 ff.).

ἐγκρατὴς : for the omission of ὤν, even when, as here, the adj. marks a condition, cp. n. on 1327 βράχιστα γὰρ κράτιστα τἀν ποσὶν κακά i.e. βράχιστα (ὄντα) κράτιστά (ἐστι ).

ὄλωλα : cp. 1166 ὄλωλας, εἴ σε ταῦτ’ ἐρήσομαι πάλιν: Xen. 1. 8. 12 κἂν τοῦτ’, ἔφη, νικῶμεν, πάνθ’ ἡμῖν πεποίηται. Plaut. 1. 1. 64 perii, si me adspexerit.

προσδιαφθερῶ ought not to be changed (as Tournier proposed) to προσδιαφθείρω . The force of ὄλωλα, used in the sense of ὀλοῦμαι, would be weakened, not enhanced, by a repetition of the device; while, on the other hand, the natural future προσδιαφθερῶ makes the rhetorical ὄλωλα more impressive: cp. 1002 τούτου δὲ χωρισθεῖσ’ (=εἰ χωρισθήσομαι) ἐγὼ μὲν ὄλλυμαι, | σὺ δ’ ἂν τὸ σαυτοῦ θέμενος εὖ νόστου τύχοις.

αὐτὸ τοῦτο prepares the emphasis on κλοπεὺς , while it also refers back to 54 f. τὴν Φιλοκτήτου...ἐκκλέψεις. The connection of thought is:—‘No; open force is out of the question; the object which our ingenuity must compass is precisely that (which I have already indicated),—viz., how the bow can be taken by craft.’

σοφισθῆναι : cp. Ar. 1401 χαρίεντά γ’, ὦ πρεσβῦτ’, ἐσοφίσω καὶ σοφά.

κλοπεὺς … γενήσει : cp. 721 φονέα γενέσθαι πατρός: 582 ὅταν θάνω )γὼ καὶ σύ μου ταφεὺς γένῃ.

ἔξοιδα, Παῖ . Erfurdt's correction of καὶ to παῖ appears certain. The caressing tone of παῖ (cp. 1008, 1289) is dramatically happy at this moment, when he has just used the jarring word κλοπεύς. The arguments in defence of καὶ are examined in the Appendix.

φύσει is excusably added to πεφυκότα , since the force of the latter had become weakened by usage (πεφυκέναι oft. meaning little more than εἶναι): as here, πεφυκότα...τεχνᾶσθαι (without φύσει) would not necessarily mean more than ‘ apt to contrive,’—whether the aptitude was innate, or acquired. So Eur. 896 φύσει πεφυκός: Plat. 389 C τὸ φύσει ἑκάστῳ πεφυκὸς ὄργανον.

φωνεῖν : for the inf. with πεφυκότα, cp. 88, 1052.

ἡδὺ γάρ τι κτῆμα (τὸ κτῆμα) τῆς νίκης λαβεῖν (ἐστι): the possession consisting in victory (defining gen.) is a pleasant possession to win. κτῆμα, which, without an art., stands as predicate, has to be supplied, with an art., as subject. So Plat. 209 E ἡδὺ χρῆμ’ ἂν εἴη τοῦ καλλίστου τῶν περὶ ἐπιστήμης λόγου , i.e. (τὸ χρῆμα ) τοῦ...λόγου ἡδὺ χρῆμ’ ἂν εἴη, (‘our most successful definition of knowledge would be a pretty affair’): where (τὸ χρῆμα) τοῦ...λόγου is a mere periphrasis for ὁ...λόγος. Eur. 957 σοφόν τι χρῆμα τοῦ διδάξαντος βροτοὺς | λόγους ἀκούειν, ‘a wonder of wisdom was he who taught’ (etc.), where (τὸ χρῆμα) τοῦ διδάξαντος is a periphrasis for ὁ διδάξας. Sometimes the defining gen. has no art.: Eur. 181 ἐπίφθονόν τι χρῆμα θηλειῶν ἔφυ: i.e. (τὸ) θηλειῶν (χρῆμα) ἐπίφθονόν τι χρῆμά ἐστι.—The reading ἡδὺ γάρ τοι (instead of τι ) is preferred by several edd. The combination ἀλλὰ... γάρ τοι is unusual (no example occurs in Soph. ); but that matters little, since here ἀλλὰ γάρ is not elliptically used (cp. Soph. 148 n.); i.e. ἀλλά goes with τόλμα, and therefore γάρ, in the parenthetic clause, could be followed by τοι as legitimately as if there were no ἀλλά in question. The reasons for preferring τι seem to be these: (a) τοι would be bluntly sententious, while τι has a more delicate persuasiveness: ( b) τι is elsewhere associated with the peculiar constr. used here: see Eur. 181, Eur. Andr. 957, quoted above, and ib. 727 ἀνειμένον τι χρῆμα πρεσβυτῶν ἔφυ .—(τὸ κτῆμα) τῆς vίκης : for the defining gen., cp. 159 f., 403 f.: 1474 τὰ φίλτατ’ ἐκγόνοιν ἐμοῖν (‘my darlings—my two daughters’), 471 τὸ γέννημα τῆς παιδός.

λαβεῖν epexeg., as 439 ταῦθ’ ἥσσω λαβεῖν | ἐμοὶ πέφυκε, n. The conjecture λαχεῖν would be as good, but no better.

τόλμα , bring thyself to do it: cp. 481, 184, 528.

δίκαιοι … ἐκφανούμεθα sc. ὄντες (cp. 1063 ἐκφανεῖ κακή ): 13. 278 ἔνθ’ ὅ τε δειλὸς ἀνήρ, ὅς τ’ ἄλκιμος, ἐξεφαάνθη.

αὖθις , afterwards, — some other day: 1204 n.

νῦν δ’ κ.τ.λ., has been suggested by the contrast with αὖθις , and so the thought already conveyed by τόλμα is re-stated more explicitly: then ἡμέρας μέρος βραχύ suggests, in its turn, κᾆτα τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον κ.τ.λ., which repeats the sense of δίκαιοι δ’ αὖθις ἐκφανούμεθα. Cp. n. on 465 ff.

εἰς ἀναιδὲς ἡμέρας μέρος βραχὺ , ‘for one little roguish day’: ἡμέρας μέρος βραχὺ=‘a short space (consisting in) one day’ (cp. Eur. 1247 ἀλλὰ τήνδε γε | λαθοῦ βραχεῖαν ἡμέραν παίδων σέθεν, | κἄπειτα θρήνει). μέρος is a fraction of the life-time which is before him: and since ἡμέρας‐μέρος (‘dayspace’) forms one notion, ἀναιδὲς has the same force as if it were ἀναιδοῦς, agreeing with ἡμέρας ( Soph. 794 νεῖκος—ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον, n.). For several epithets joined (without copula) to one subst., cp. Soph. 586 ποντίαις ... δυσπνόοις... | Θρῄσσαισιν... πνοαῖς. For εἰς marking a limit of time, cp. below, 1076 χρόνον τοσοῦτον εἰς ὅσον τά τ’ ἐκ νεὼς | στείλωσι ναῦται, κ.τ.λ. —Others take εἰς ἀναιδὲς by itself, as=εἰς ἀναίδειαν (ἡμ. μέρος βρ. being acc. of duration of time), ‘for shamelessness.’ Such an abstract sense for the neut. adj., without the art., seems impossible. Campbell compares Plat. 504 C ἐμοὶ γὰρ δοκεῖ ταῖς μὲν τοῦ σώματος τάξεσιν ὄνομα εἶναι ὑγιεινόν (as though ὑγιεινόν stood for τὸ ὑγιεινόν, or ὑγίειαν): but cp. Cope's ver sion: ‘For my opinion is, that order in the body of every kind bears the name of ‘healthy’:’ i.e. ὄνομα is equiv. to ‘epithet.’ In Thuc. 5. 18§ 4 δικαίῳ χρήσθων καὶ ὅρκοις, δικαίῳ is certainly a subst. (‘law,’ in the sense of ‘legal procedure’): but that does not warrant ἀναιδὲς as=ἀναίδεια. —Blaydes, again takes εἰς ἀναιδὲς in a concrete sense, as=‘for a shameless deed’ (supplying ἔργον). We can hardly supply ἔργον, though we might perhaps supply τι (cp. Soph. 517, Soph. O. T. 1312, Soph. 687). This view seems just possible, but very improbable.

δός μοι σεαυτόν , i.e. allow me to overrule your scruples, a phrase applicable to friendly remonstrance, as 1117 δός μοι σεαυτόν, μὴ τοσοῦτον ὡς δάκνει | θυμῷ δύσοργος: cp. n. on 718.Brunck cp. 5. 3. 838 |

κἐκλησο : for the perf., cp. 119, 366, 736.

μὲν merely emphasises ἐγώ ( 11 n.); it is not opposed to ἀλλ’ in 90.

Λαερτίου : the same form (always in the 1st or 5th place, the α being long) 417 , 628 , 1357 , 101: but Λαέρτου below, 366, 614, fr. 827: and Λαρτίου , 401, 1286 , 1, 380. Eur. , too, has these three forms: while in the Hom. , where the name occurs 22 times, Λαέρτης alone is used.

τούσδε , referring back to οὓς ἂν : cp. 1332 οἷς ἂν σὺ προσθῇ τοῖσδ’ ἔφασκ’ εἶναι κράτος: so 441, 23, Tr. 820.Prose would here use τούτους, because οὗτος regularly (though not always) points back, while ὅδε points forward. Buttmann's τοὺς δὲ , though admissible, would be too emphatic: see Appendix.

πράσσειν λόγους, as meaning, ‘to put words into acts,’ is not a strictly correct phrase, but the verb is used here, with some poetical freedom, as if οὓς ἂν τῶν λόγων...τούσδε were ἃ ἂν λεγόμενα...τάδε: i.e. λόγοι are virtually ‘proposed deeds.’ The prose equivalent of this πράσσειν would be ἔργῳ ἐπιτελεῖν ( Thuc. 1. 70). Distinguish Eur. 1305 ἔπραξε γὰρ βούλησιν ἣν ἐβούλετο, where the verb= ἐξέπραξε, ‘effected.’—Isocr. or. 1 § 15 has the converse maxim, ἃ ποιεῖν αἰσχρόν, ταῦτα νόμιζε μηδὲ λέγειν εἶναι καλόν (cp. Soph. 1409).

ἐκ τέχνης : for ἐκ=‘by means of,’ cp. 563, 710, 279 ἐκ δόλου. 475 ὀπτὸν ἐκ πυρὸς περισκελῆ.

πράσσειν : for the inf., cp. 80: for the repetition of the word from 87, cp. 554 n., 76 n.

οὔτ’ αὐτὸς κ.τ.λ.: instead of οὔτε γὰρ αὐτὸς ἔφυν, οὔτε ὁ ἐκφύσας (ἔφυ): cp. 461 ἐπάξιος μέν, Οἰδίπους, κατοικτίσαι, | αὐτός τε παῖδές θ’ αἵδ’.

οὔθ’, ὡς φασίν, οὑκφύσας : as in 9. 312Achilles says, ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν, | ὅς χ’ ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ: and in 926 ἐγὼ δ’ ἐν ἀνδρὸς εὐσεβεστάτου τραφεὶς | Χείρωνος ἔμαθον τοὺς τρόπους ἁπλοῦς ἔχειν .

πρὸς βίαν : so 594 πρὸς ἰσχύος κράτος: cp. πρὸς ἡδονήν, πρὸς χάριν, etc.: ἄγειν =ἀπάγειν (cp. 941), as 102, 985 etc. — καὶ μὴ δόλοισιν· μή is generic (it does not, and could not here, go with the inf. ἄγειν ): i.e., the phrase means strictly, ‘and by such means as are not frauds’: cp. on 409 (μηδὲν δίκαιον), 494 τῶν μηδὲν ὀρθῶς...τεχνωμένων.

οὐ γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: the γάρ implies, ‘this ought to satisfy thee, for force cannot fail': it is thus already a trace of irresolution. ἐξ ἑνὸς ποδὸς , lit. starting from one foot,’ i.e. ‘when he has the use of only one foot,’—ἐκ marking that εἷς πούς is the condition which makes his victory impossible. Cp. n. on 848 οὔκουν ποτ’ ἐκ τούτοιν γε μὴ σκήπτροιν ἔτι | ὁδοιπορήσῃς. In 455 Ὀρέστην ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερὸς | ἐχθροῖσιν...ἐπεμβῆναι, (‘that, with victorious might, he may trample on his foes,’) the ὑπερτέρα χείρ is similarly the antecedent condition.

τοσούσδε (sc. ὄντας, cp. n. on ἐγκρατής, 75): the 15 seamen who form the Chorus will be at hand to help them.

πεμφθείς γε μέντοι : γε emphasises πεμφθείς, and μέντοι=‘however’: cp. 442 n.

προδότης : he is thinking of what Od.said in v. 53.— βούλομαι δ’: δέ=ἀλλά ( 85).

ἐξαμαρτεῖν , aor., ‘to fail’ (regarded as an event occurring at some one moment); νικᾶν , pres., ‘to be victorious’ (a continuing state: 437 n.). Cp. 1397 πάσχειν...παθεῖν.

ἀργόν , fem.: in good Attic prose as well as verse this adj. is of two terminations, and the v. l. ἀργήν here represents only a later usage: Aristotle (if our MSS. may be trusted) wrote in I. 14 (Berl. ed. p. 352 a 13) ἡ μὲν γὰρ (χώρα) ἀργὴ γέγονε, yet in 2(Berl. ed. p. 1348 a 3) τῆς χώρας ἀργοῦ γενομένης.

εἰς ἔλεγχον ἐξιὼν , going forth to those contests of real life by which the adult tries the maxims learned in youth. ἔλεγχος here is the test which the man applies to the principle (γλῶσσαν μὲν ἀργόν κ.τ.λ.); not the test applied to the man himself. The latter is, however, the usual sense of this phrase: cp. fr. 101 γένος γὰρ εἰς ἔλεγχον ἐξιὸν καλὸν | εὔκλειαν ἂν κτήσαιτο: Eur. 640 ἔδειξας εἰς ἔλεγχον ἐξελθὼν ὃς εἶ: 278 C εἰς ἔλεγχον ἰὼν περὶ ὧν ἔγραψε.

βροτοῖς ‘for men,’ i.e. in their estimation, an ethic dat. ( Ar. 445 πᾶσι νικᾶν τοῖς κριταῖς). πάνθ’ ἡγουμένην , ‘taking the lead, having the chief influence (absol., as 386) in all things’: for the adv. πάντα cp. Soph. 904 πάντ’ ἀνάσσων.—We might also take βροτοῖς directly with ἡγουμ. as= ‘showing the way in all things to men’) cp. 133): but here the notion required is that of ‘swaying’ rather than ‘guiding’; and in the former sense ἡγουμένην would take the genit. βροτῶν. There is an allusion to the Athenian demagogues (cp. 388 διδασκάλων λόγοισι): as Cleon says ( Thuc. 3. 38) of the citizens in the ecclesia, εἰώθατε θεαταὶ μὲν τῶν λόγων γίγνεσθαι, ἀκροαταὶ <*>ὲ τῶν ἔργων (‘absorbed in the drama of debate, but content with rumours from the field of action’).

τί μ’ οὖν . With Nauck, I adopt Wakefield's transposition here, while recognising that much may be said for τί οὖν μ’ . Two questions are involved, and should be kept distinct; viz. (1) whether Tragedy ever used the licence, denied to it by Porson ( 892), of hiatus after τί: and (2) whether Sophocles is likely to have written τί οὖν μ’ rather than τί μ’ οὖν here. As to (1), the strongest instance is Aesch. 704 τί οὖν ἔτ’ ἂν σαίνοιμεν ὀλέθριον μόρον; where τί δ’ οὖν, τί νῦν, τί δῆτ’ are all improbable. It would seem, then, that Aesch. , at least, sometimes admitted the hiatus; so that, if we transpose μ’ here, it does not necessarily follow that the same transposition should be made in Aesch. 902 τί οὖν μ’ ἄνωγας τῇδ’ ἐφυμνῆσαι χθονί; But the prevailing character of Sophoclean verse certainly favours τί μ’ οὖν rather than τί οὖν μ’. As against conjecturing τί νύν μ’, it is well to note Soph. 1247 πράσσειν ἄνωγας οὖν με πανδίκως τάδε ; Soph. 1364 ἄνωγας οὖν με τὸν νεκρὸν θάπτειν ἐᾶν; though no argument can be drawn from the fact that οὖν precedes με in those places. Cp. 733, 753, 917. See Appendix.

τί … ἄλλο , sc. ποιεῖν: cp. 310, and n. on 497 θέλεις τί μεῖζον ἢ κατακτεῖναι μ’ ἐλών;

λέγω σ’ … λαβεῖν , ‘I say that thou art to take.’ In this constr., ‘say’ means ‘command’; the act commanded is denoted by the inf., and the agent by the acc., as subject to the inf. Cf. 1047 σὲ φωνῶ τόνδε τὸν νεκρὸν χεροῖν | μὴ συγκομίζειν : 932 εἶπον μὲν οὖν καὶ πρόσθεν, ἐννέπω δὲ νῦν, | τὰς παῖδας ὡς τάχιστα δεῦρ’ ἄγειν τινά: 137 ff. σὲ...ἐλπίσιν λέγω | τάδ’ αἰὲν ἴσχειν. The agent can also stand in the dat. as object to the verb of saying: 840 χαλᾶν λέγω σοι.—This verse has no caesura: cp. 1369: 1021 οὐδ’ ὄρνις εὐσήμους ἀπορροιβδεῖ βοάς, with n. there. Distinguish these rare examples from those which have an elision after the 3rd foot (‘quasi-caesura’), as 276: 44 ἦ γὰρ νοεῖς θάπτειν σφ’, ἀπόρρητον πόλει;

ἐν δόλῳ : cp. 60 .

πείσαντ’ , i.e. by persuading him that it is for his own good to come to Troy,—instead of deceiving him by a pretext of taking him home to Greece (58).

οὐ μὴ πίθηται , a strong denial: cp. 381, 418, 849 n.

πρὸς βίαν δ’ : persuasion will be in vain: and, when persuasion has failed, force will be useless (cp. 90).

οὕτως ... τι δεινὸν κ.τ.λ. It seems truer to regard τι as adj. with δεινὸν than as adv. with οὕτως: cp. Xen. 5. 1. 24 οὕτω δεινός τις ἔρως...ἐγγίγνεται. For the enclitic τις preceding its noun, cp. 519, 280 n. In Herod. , indeed, οὕτω δή τι (‘so very...’) often qualifies adjectives (1. 185, 3. 12, etc.): but in the Attic examples of οὕτω τι with an adj. the latter is usually a neut. sing., as Posidippus Μύρμηξ fr. 2 οὕτω τι πολύπουν ἐστὶν ἡ λύπη κακόν.

ἰσχύος θράσος , strength-confidence, i.e., strength which makes him confident. Against κράτος , conjectured by Nauck and Blaydes, (the latter placing it in the text,) observe that θράσος agrees well with οὐ μὴ πίθηται . If Philoctetes is deaf to persuasion, and risks the alternative of having force used against him, he must have some resource which inspires him with such boldness.

ἰοὺς : we might expect ἰούς γ’ , since the question in 104 is not, ‘what resource has he?’ but, ‘has he some resource?’ And in 104 we cannot well change τι to τί . L has probably lost γ’ in some other places: see, e.g., on 648, Ant. 1241.But γ’ is not indispensable, and by its absence the reply gains a certain abrupt force. Cp. 985, 629.

ἐκείνῳ γ’ : γε emphasises the pron., ‘then we dare not even approach him,’—a man with such arrows as those.

προσμεῖξαι : the spelling μείξω, ἔμειξα, is attested for saec. VI.—IV. B.C. by numerous Attic inscriptions (Meisterhans, p. 87, n. 690).

θρασύ , a thing that may be dared; Pind. has this pass. sense, Pind. 7. 50 θρασύ μοι τόδ’ εἰπεῖν. Cp. Plat. 450E τἀληθῆ εἰδότα λέγειν ἀσφαλὲς καὶ θαρραλέον.

μὴ δόλῳ λαβόντα , acc. as subj. to προσμεῖξαι, (it is not safe that one should approach him,) unless one has ensnared him; for λαβόντα, cp. 47 n.

τὰ ψευδῆ . The art. with the neut. adj. gives a certain emphasis (‘those things which are false’), and the objection to it here would have point only if, instead of the adj., we had the subst., τὰ ψεύδη. For the same reason, τὰ ψευδῆ λέγειν seems rather better than τὸ ψευδῆ λέγειν, though at first sight the latter is specious. In fr. 325 καλὸν μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔστι τὰ ψευδῆ λέγειν, also, τὰ appears sound. Cp. Antiphon or. 1 § 10 αὕτη γὰρ καὶ τοὺς τὰ ψευδῆ παρεσκευασμένους λέγειν τἀληθῆ κατηγορεῖν ποιήσει. Cavallin changes δῆτα τὰ to δηλαδὴ , ‘evidently’ ( 1501): but this would be better suited to ironical reproof than to ingenuous surprise.

τὸ σωθῆναι : i.e. the success of the Greeks at Troy. The aor. inf. is used because the speaker is thinking of that success as an event (to be marked by the fall of Troy), not as a process or state (τὸ σῴζεσθαι). Cp. Andoc. or. 2 § 12 οὐ περὶ τοῦ σῶσαι τὰς Ἀθήνας ὁ κίνδυνος ἦν αὐτοὺς μᾶλλον ἢ περὶ τοῦ μηδὲ αὐτοὺς σωθῆναι (referring to the Athenian army at Samos in 411 B.C.): where, as here, the aorists infinitive mark the critical moments.

πῶς οὖν βλέπων κ.τ.λ. By using οὖν, he concedes (at least for argument's sake) what Od.has just said. ‘Granting, then, that a falsehood is not disgraceful when it has such a motive, how is one to have the face to tell it?’ In vv. 91 ff. we saw the first trace of irresolution: this verse marks a further step. He now demurs to play the part, not (as in v. 108) because it is immoral, but because it is distasteful and difficult. For πῶς οὖν , cp. 124 πῶς οὖν ὁ λῃστής (‘granting that there was a robber, how then...?’): for πῶς … βλέπων , 1371 ὄμμασιν ποίοις βλέπων, n.

λακεῖν of bold or impudent utterance, as Ar. 1046 τοιαῦτα λάσκων: cp. Soph. 1094 n.

εἰς κέρδος , for it, with a view to it: cp. 23. 304 πατὴρ δέ οἱ ἄγχι παραστὰς | μυθεῖτ’ εἰς ἀγαθά: Eur. 395 ἀλλ’ ἐς τὸ κέρδος παρὰ φύσιν δουλευτέον: Xen. 8. 1. 33 ἰδὼν ἂν αὐτοὺς ἡγήσω τῷ ὄντι εἰς κάλλος ζῆν.

αἱρεῖ , the oracular pres., denoting what is to happen: Aesch. 126 χρόνῳ μὲν ἀγρεῖ Πριάμου πόλιν ἅδε κέλευθος: id. Aesch. 170 τὸ νέον βούλευμ’ ὑφ’ ὅτου | σκῆπτρον τιμάς τ’ ἀποσυλᾶται: Her. 3. 155 ἤδη ὦν, ἢν μὴ τῶν σῶν δεήσῃ, αἰρέομεν Βαβυλῶνα.

ὡς ἐφάσκετ’ : when Odysseus and Phoenix visited Scyros, and persuaded him to come to Troy (345 ff.).

οὔτ’ ἂν sc. πέρσειας: cp. 364 τῆς σῆς δ’ οὐκ ἐρῶ τιμῆς τυχεῖν, | οὔτ’ ἂν σύ, σώφρων γ’ οὖσα (sc. ἐρῴης): 462(κοὔπω τις...ἠνέγκατ’...ὄνειδος)· ἥδε δ’ οὐδ’ ἂν (sc. ἐνέγκαιτο), κ.τ.λ.

θηρατἔ οὖν γίγνοιτ’ ἄν , they would then become (by logical inference) desirable prizes: cp. Plat. 338C εἰ δὲ αἱρήσεσθε..., αἰσχρὸν γὰρ τοῦτο τῷδε γίγν εται. So γίγνομαι denotes arithmetical process ( Thuc. 3. 17 αἱ πᾶσαι (νῆες) ἅμα ἐγίγνοντο διακόσιαι κ.τ.λ.), or legal succession to property (Isae. or. 5 § 44 ἃ ἐκείνων ἐγίγνετο). This usage of γίγνομαι is decisive for γίγνοιτ’ against γένοιτ’ , a v. l. found in a few late MSS.

οὖν , the conjecture of Triclinius, seems better here than the other corrections, θηρατἔ ἂν γίγνοιτ’ ἄν (or γίγνοιτ’ ἄῤ).

ὡς … φέρει , (be sure) that thou winnest: cp. 39 ΑΘ. ὡς ἔστιν ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε τἄργα ταῦτά σοι: Eur. 1664 ΚΡ. ὡς οὔτις ἀμφὶ τῷδ’ ὑγρὰν θήσει κόνιν: id. 400 ΕΚ. ὡς τῆσδ’ ἑκοῦσα παιδὸς οὐ μεθήσομαι.

φέρει , reportas: cp. 500 n.

τὸ δρᾶν : for the art., cp. 442 τὸ δρᾶν | οὐκ ἠθέλησαν, and ib. 47 n. —Neoptolemus was already all but per suaded by the promise that he should take Troy. If, besides that reward, there is yet another, then his mind is made up.

σοφός τ|) … κἀγαθός : schol. σοφὸς μὲν διὰ τὸ κλέψαι, ἀγαθὸς δὲ διὰ τὸ πορθῆσαι. Cp 1088 δύο φέρειν ἐν ἑνὶ λόγῳ, | σοφά τ’ ἀρίστα τε παῖς κεκλῆσθαι.

αὑτὸς : 458 ἀδελφὸς αὑτὸς καὶ πατήρ, n.

κεκλᾖ : for the forms of the optat. perf. pass., see n. on 49.

ἴτω is a defiance of the possible consequences (‘happen what may’): cp. Eur. 819(Medea, having taken her resolve to kill the children) ἴτω· περισσοὶ πάντες οὑν μέσῳ λόγοι .

ποήσω . Numerous Attic inscriptions of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. show that in this verb the letter ι was regularly omitted before a following E-sound (ε or η), though never before an O-sound (ο or ω): hence (e.g. ) ποεῖ, ποήσας, but ποιοῦσι, ποιῶν. It should be noted that πο‐ and ποι‐, according as the E- or O-sound follows, sometimes occur in the same inscription: thus in 167, 55 (of 334—326 B.C.) we find ποιῶν (thrice) in company with ποήσας. The omission of ι before the E-sound was not, indeed, rigorous; thus an Attic inscription of the 5th cent. B.C. gives Εὔφρων ἐξεποίησ’ οὐκ ἀδαὴς Πάριος: but the facts prove that it was usual. See Meisterhans, , p. 27. As to L, its practice is not constant. It almost always gives πο, not ποι, before ε or η, when the first syllable is short,—as here, and in vv. 552, 752, 926, 1010. In a few such places where the first hand had written ποι it has been corrected to πο. But there are also a few places where ποι remains. See Appendix. In writing ποήσω , etc., I. rely primarily on the epigraphic evidence belonging to the poet's own time: but L's prevailing practice must also be considered as strengthening the grounds for believing that those inscriptions represent the general rule.

πᾶσαν αἰσχύνην ἀφείς . This verse does not (as some have objected) mark an abrupt change of mind; that change has come by a series of steps which the poet has indicated by light touches (91 ff., 110, 116, 118). Rather this very phrase hints that the feeling shown in v. 110 still lingers with him. He will do the deed, but there is still a sense of αἰσχύνη which it costs an effort to shake off. These are the words of one who may yet feel remorse.

μνημονεύεις . Almost all recent edd. adopt the conjecture μνημονεύσεις , but without necessity. The question, ‘dost thou remember my advice?’ naturally implies here, ‘dost thou intend to observe it?’—and so N.'s answer, σάφ’ ἴσθ’ , follows the present tense just as fitly as it would follow the future. For the place of οὖν in the verse, cp. 1205, 1247.

ἅ … παρῄνεσα : referring to 56 ff.

συνῄνεσα , ‘agreed’: 1508 n. Remark the two compounds of αἰνέω at the end of two successive verses: cp. Ar. 1370 f. μετεγγραφήσεται, | ... ἐγγεγράψεται: Soph. 1265 f. συγγνωμοσύνην | ...ἀγνωμοσύνην.

ἐκδέχου , excipe. The idea of the compound is, ‘be ready for him,’—prepared to deal with him the moment that he appears. The figurative use of the word in Her. 4. 1 is essentially the same, —Σκύθας...κατιόντας ἐς τὴν σφετέρην ἐξεδέξατο οὐκ ἐλάσσων πόνος (as if it had been lying in wait for them).

κατοπτευθῶ : cp. 829 πρὸς ἐχθρῶν του κατοπτευθείς.

καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν κ.τ.λ. The σκοπός is the attendant of Neoptolemus who had been sent to watch the neighbourhood of the cave, lest Philoctetes should take Odysseus by surprise (46). Now that Odysseus is going back to his ship, such a σκοπός is no longer needed. And it is natural that Odysseus should expect to meet the sentinel, since the latter would be keeping watch on that side of the cave at which Odysseus himself had hitherto been standing; viz., the side nearest to the ships. ναῦν here means the ship of Neoptolemus. See Introduction, p. xx, n. 1.

καὶ δεῦῤ . If any undue delay occurred, Odysseus might reasonably suppose that Neoptolemus was failing to persuade Philoctetes. In case of such delay, then, Odysseus will send back N.'s man, disguised as the captain of a ship. The object of the disguise is that the supposed captain may tell a story which shall quicken the desire of Philoctetes to leave Lemnos, and shall also confirm his trust in Neoptolemus.

τοῦ χρόνου … τι κατασχολάζειν . Nauck's conjecture πέρα σχολάζειν would suit the sense; but it would leave the origin of the vulgate unexplained. I believe that Soph. has used κατασχολάζειν τοῦ χρόνου, somewhat boldly, in the sense of ‘to lag behind the due time,’—the use of σχολάζειν in the sense ‘to linger,’ ‘to delay,’ permitting a genitive to be used, as after ὑστερεῖν, λελεῖφθαι, etc. The compound κατασχολάζειν may be compared with καθυστερεῖν, where κατά merely implies that the delay is to be regretted or blamed. At first sight there is much in favour of the more generally received view, that τοῦ χρόνου τι κατασχολάζειν means, ‘to waste part of our (precious) time by lingering.’ But the tone of that phrase seems very unsuitable here.

ἐκπέμψω . The prep. is not otiose, as Burges thought, but marks that the person sent will come as the sender's agent.

ναυκλήρου : the man, when he comes, pretends to be the captain of a small merchant-ship, trading between Greece and the Troad (547 ff.). In Plaut. 4. 3. 41 ff. the ‘skipper's dress’ (ornatus nauclericus) consists of a darkcoloured hat with broad brim (causia), and a garment of the same colour, well girt-up, and looped on the left shoulder, leaving the right arm bare, like the Greek ἐξωμίς. The colour of both hat and tunic is described by ferrugineus, (‘nam is colos thalassicust’). This was a dark violet, rather than, as Nonius (p. 549) makes it, iron-grey: see Conington on Verg. 1. 467, and Munro on Lucr. 4. 76.

τρόποις , as Aesch. 479 τρόποισιν οὐ τυραννικοῖς θανών: often with ἐν, as Aesch. 918 γυναικὸς ἐν τρόποις. Not τρόπον , which would mean, ὥσπερ ναύκληρος δολοῖ τὴν μορφήν: cp. Her. 2. 57 ὄρνιθος τρόπον... φθέγγεσθαι=ὥσπερ ὄρνις φθέγγεται .

ἀγνοία : ignorance, on the part of Philoctetes, as to the real quality of the σκοπός. Disyllables in οια (as Τροία) have final α—, but longer words have α^. Other exceptions are: 350 ἀγνοία μ’ ἔχει: fr. 521 ἁνοία τρέφει: fr. 748 παλιρροία βυθοῦ: Aesch. 402 ἁνοία τινί (Blomf. ἐννοίᾳ): Eur. 520 καὶ γὰρ ἀνοία | μεγάλη (in anapaests): Ar. fr. 29 ὦ παρανοία καὶ ἀναιδεία (do.).— προσῇ , may be an attendant circumstance, i.e., may aid our plan: cp. Soph. 1251 ἥ τ’ ἄγαν σιγὴ βαρὺ | δοκεῖ προσεῖναι, n. — The reading ἀγνοίᾳ is certainly wrong: the sense would then be, ‘that he (the σκοπός) may be added to your company without suspicion’ (dat. of circumstance): it could not be, as Musgrave took it, ‘that thou mayest approach the man without seeming to know him’ (προσῇ being then 2nd pers. subj. aor. midd. of προσίημι ).

οὗ δῆτα . Blaydes conjectures οὗ δὴ σύ . But δῆτα is right. It means, ‘then, of course’—differing from δή by implying more clearly that the step prescribed by δέχου is the obvious one.— οὗ =παρὰ οὗ, with δέχου : cp. 1163 ἐδεξάμην δέ του. This is better than to take οὗ...αὐδωμένου as gen. absol.

ποικίλως , ‘craftily,’—i.e., in terms fitted to beguile Philoctetes. Not, ‘in riddling speech,’ as if the point of the artifice lay in second meanings which Neoptolemus was to divine. The word could, indeed, mean that (cp. 130 ἡ ποικιλῳδὸς Σφίγξ): but the more general sense agrees better with vv. 542—627.

αὐδωμένου , midd., as 852, 772: the pass. occurs below, 240, 430 .

τὰ συμφέροντα : for the neut., cp. 24 n. τῶν ἀεὶ λόγων , the words spoken by him from moment to moment,—the tenor of his discourse. The phrase is explained by the dialogue between the disguised σκοπός and Neo ptolemus (vv. 542—627). The σκοπός tells a story; N. follows his lead, and strikes in from time to time with artful comments, —reasserting his hatred of the Atreidae, his sympathy with Philoctetes, etc. These opportunities, or ‘cues,’ are ‘the useful hints’ (τὰ συμφέροντα).

σοὶ παρεὶς τάδε , ‘having committed these matters to thee,’ —a parting reminder of the responsibility. Not, ‘having given thee these directions.’

Ἑρμῆς ὁ πέμπων δόλιος =Ἑρμῆς δόλιος ὃς πέμπει, the god of stratagems, who escorts men on their way.

ὁ πέμπων : cp. 620(the herald Lichas speaks) ἀλλ’ εἴπερ Ἑρμοῦ τήνδε πομπεύω τέχνην: Aesch. 91(Apollo to Hermes) πομπαῖος ἴσθι, τόνδε ποιμαίνων ἐμὸν ἱκέτην. So he is ὅδιος, ἐνόδιος, ἡγεμόνιος, ἁγήτωρ, and, in relation to the dead, ψυχοπομπός ( Soph. 1548 n.).

δόλιος . Near Pellene in Achaia Pausanias saw a statue of Ἑρμῆς,—ἐπίκλησιν μὲν Δόλιος, εὐχὰς δὲ ἀνθρώπων ἕτοιμος τελέσαι (7. 27. 1) . Cp. Ar. 1202 Ἑρμῆ δόλιε, ταυτὶ μὲν ἔτι καλῶς ποιεῖς. The Corcyrean month ψυδρεύς was probably sacred to Hermes as ψυδρός (=ψευδής). In Babrius fab. 57 Hermes is conducting ‘a waggon-load of lies,’ when he is way-laid and robbed of his whole stock by Arabs. Especially, he is the arch-thief ( Hor. 1. 10. 7: cp. Ovid 5. 691).— His character of δόλιος is similarly combined with that of πομπός in 1396 Ἑρμῆς σφ’ ἄγει δόλον σκότῳ | κρύψας, κ.τ.λ.: and in [Eur.] 216 ἀλλ’ εὖ σ’ ὁ Μαίας παῖς ἐκεῖσε καὶ πάλιν | πέμψειεν Ἑρμῆς, ὅς γε φηλητῶν ἄναξ.

νῷν , dat.: cp. on 98.

Νίκη τ’ Ἀθάνα Πολιάς . The personified Νίκη meant Victory not merely in war but in any contest. She was especially associated with Zeus; but his daughter was the only goddess with whom she was actually identified. Thus Eur. ( Eur. 452 ff.): τὰν...ἐμὰν | Ἀθάναν ἱκετεύω, | ...ὦ μάκαιρα Νίκα, | μόλε. And Aristeides, in his oration on Athena, says of her, μόνη μὲν ἁπάντων θεῶν, ὁμοίως δὲ πασῶν, οὐκ ἐπώνυμος τῆς vίκης ἐστίν [in such epithets as νικηφόρος], ἀλλ’ ὁμώνυμος (I. p. 29). At Athens the small Ionic temple of Ἀθηνᾶ Νίκη stood on the platform of a bastion (πύργος) springing from the south wing of the Propylaea, on the right hand of one ascending to the Acropolis. The figure of the goddess, probably a work of Calamis, bore a helmet in her left hand, and in her right a pomegranate (σίδη), her regular attribute in the Athena-cult at Sidè in Pamphylia. As Benndorf has shown (, Vienna, 1879), the temple probably commemorated Cimon's victory over the Persians at the mouth of the Eurymedon, near Sidè (466 B.C.). This Ἀθηνᾶ Νι—/κη was the figure which at Athens came to be popularly known as the Wingless Victory, Νίκη Ἄπτερος. Wings were the distinctive attribute of Νίκη in art: and Athenians were familiar with the winged Νίκη which the chryselephantine Athena of Pheidias, in the Parthenon, held in her outstretched right hand (cp. Ar. 574). The conception of Ἀθηνᾶ Νίκη was not exclusively Athenian. Thus Pausanias saw at Megara ἱερὸν Ἀθηνᾶς...καλουμένης Νίκης (1. 42. 4).

The same remark applies to the name Πολιάς . At Athens it denoted Athena as guardian of citadel, city, and land. Athena Polias was represented by the old βρέτας of olive-wood in the Erechtheum. But she bore the title Πολιάς in many other places also, especially in the Ionic cities of Asia Minor,—as at Erythrae, Prienè, Teos, Phocaea (Paus. 7. 5. 3, 4 : 2. 31. 9). Equivalent titles were Πολιᾶτις, Πολιοῦχος, and (in a case noticed by Leake, , II. p. 80) Ἁγησίπολις. Cp. Aristeides I. p. 21: καὶ εἰσὶν αἱ πόλεις δῶρα Ἀθηνᾶς· ὅθεν δὴ καὶ Πολιοῦχος ἄπασι κέκληται. Thus Sophocles, though writing for Athenians, is not making purely local allusions.

ἣ σῴζει μ’ ἀεί : as in the . In 14 he calls her φιλτάτης ἐμοὶ θεῶν.

ἐν ξένᾳ ξένον : cp. 685 n.: 184 ξεῖνος ἐπὶ ξένης.

στέγειν … λέγειν : for the likeness of form in the words (παρονομασία), combined with likeness of sound (παρομοίωσις), cp. Isocr. or. 4 § 186 φήμην δὲ καὶ μνήμην.

ὑπόπταν : the subst. expresses a fixed habit of mind more forcibly than ὕποπτον would have done: cp. Thuc. 6. 60 ὁ δῆμος...χαλεπὸς ἦν τότε καὶ ὑπόπτης ἐς τοὺς περὶ τῶν μυστικῶν τὴν αἰτίαν λαβόντας. Xen. 3. 9 τοὺς...ὑπόπτας φύσει (ἵππους), naturally shy. The Chorus, now entering the orchestra for the first time, cannot be conceived as thinking of what Hom. Od.has said (70 ff.): but they know how Philoctetes has been treated, and may naturally expect him to be ‘shy’ of Greek strangers.

τέχνα , the skill of the ruler, whose art is the highest of all: see on 380 f., τέχνη τέχνης | ὑπερφέρουσα.

ἑτέρας , not, another kind of skill, but rather, skill in another man: see on 230 ἀπάταις ἑτέραις.

γνώμα , sc. γνώμας προὔχει. As dist. from τέχνη—the art of ruling — γνώμη here is intellectual power generally. The latter would not be separately ascribed to the king, if we adopted γνώμας , which is thus the weaker reading.

παρ’ ὅτῳ : in whose keeping. The anteced. is ἐκείνου understood: cp. 956: 1388 κτανεῖν θ’ ὑφ’ οὗπερ ἐξελήλασαι: 1050 δοκοῦντ’ ἐμοί, δοκοῦντα δ’, ὃς κραίνει στρατοῦ.

τὸ θεῖον Διὸς σκῆπτρον , the godlike Zeus-sceptre, i.e., sceptre derived from Zeus (gen. of source), διόσδοτον.

ἀνάσσεται implies ἀνάσσω σκῆπτρον (an almost adverbial cogn. acc.), as=‘to rule with sceptre’: cp. 449 σκῆπτρα κραίνειν, to have sceptred sway.—The tone here is genuinely Homeric. Cp. 9. 98 λαῶν ἐσσὶ ἄναξ καί τοι Ζεὺς ἐγγυάλιξεν | σκῆπτρόν τ’ ἠδὲ θέμιστας, ἵνα σφίσι βουλεύῃσθα .

σὲ … ἐλήλυθεν , hath come to thee. There is perhaps no other example of the simple ἔρχομαι with acc. of person: but there is an exact parallel in the rare use of βαίνω with acc. of person, Eur. 1371 καὶ νῦν ὀδύνα μ’ ὀδύνα βαίνει. Eur. Itis doubtless more than a mere coincidence that both these instances are lyric; and that a lyric boldness was felt in them may be inferred from the parody in 30, ἀτὰρ τί χρέος ἔβα με; If σὲ δ’...ἐλήλυθεν occurred in an iambic trimeter, the case for σοὶ δ’ would be strong: but here, in lyrics, we should keep σὲ δ’ .—We cannot properly compare ἱκνεῖσθαι, or ἱκάνειν, after which an acc. of pers. was common.

πᾶν κράτος , complete (i.e. sovereign) power. Distinguish the phrase with the art., Her. 6. 35, εἶχε μὲν τὸ πᾶν κράτος Πεισίστρατος, which gives the same meaning in a slightly different way (‘the whole power’).

ὠγύγιον , predicate with ἐλήλυθεν, ‘from of old,’ i.e., ‘from thine ancestors’: for ὠγύγιον, see 1770 n.

τὸ , ‘therefore’: 3. 176 ἀλλὰ τάδ’ οὐκ ἐγένοντο· τὸ καὶ κλαίουσα τέτηκα. So, in Attic, ταῦτα, Xen. 4. 1. 21 ταῦτ’ ἔσπευδον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐχ ὑπέμενον: esp. ταῦτ’ ἄρα , 319, etc.—For the like use of τῷ, cp. 511 n.

144 f. The Chorus has asked, How are we to help? He replies, in effect, ‘The moment for you to help has not come yet. Meanwhile you can approach, and look at the cave. When Philoctetes returns, then you must be guided by the signs that I shall give you.’ The Chorus are supposed to be on the shore, below the cave, and at a point from which they have not a clear view of it. Invited by Neoptolemus, they now advance nearer. The word ἀμφίθυρον (159) implies that, having approached the seaward mouth of the cave, they can see right through it; and v. 161 (ποῦ γὰρ ὁ τλήμων...;) confirms this; their own eyes now assure them that the cave is empty. But nothing indicates that they actually enter it.

ἐσχατιαῖς , locative dat. ( 411 n.), ‘in the extreme parts’ of the island,— those, namely, which are on the edge of the sea. This reading, which has the best authority, is also intrinsically better than the gen. sing.: τόπον ἐσχατιᾶς (‘region, part, of the sea-marge’) would be an unusual phrase. Homer, indeed, uses only the sing. of this word: and it is very likely that Soph. was thinking of Hom. 9. 182 ἔνθα δ’ ἐν ἐσχατιῇ σπέος εἴδομεν ἄγχι θαλάσσης , ib. 5. 238 νήσου ἐπ’ ἐσχατιῇ , etc. But that is no reason why Soph. should not have used the plur., which was familiar in Attic (e.g. 2. 4. 4 τῶν ἀγρῶν... εἰς τὰς ἐσχατιάς ).

ὅντινα κεῖται , in which he is situated, abides. The verb is esp. suitable to a crippled sufferer; cp. 183: 2. 721(of Philoctetes) ἐν νήσῳ κεῖτο κρατέρ’ ἄλγεα πάσχων. Verbs of position (as ‘sitting’ or ‘standing’) sometimes take an acc. (which may be regarded as a kind of ‘cognate’ acc.), denoting the place in or on which one sits, stands, etc. Aesch. 183 σέλμα...ἡμένων (on the same principle as ἕδραν ἕζομαι): 987 τί ποτ’ αἰθερίαν ἕστηκε πέτραν; (as if one said, ἕστηκε πετρίνην στάσιν): ib. 657 δεξιὸν τεταγμένους | κέρας (τάξιν). Poetry could say, then, τόπον...ὅντινα ἕστηκε or τέτακται: and so also κοῖται. It is true that κεῖται τόπον is not precisely like κεῖται θέσιν ( Thuc. 1. 37 ἡ πόλις...αὐτάρκη θέσιν κειμένη): for κεῖμαι served as perf. pass. of τίθημι (τέθειμαι being midd.), and in κεῖται θέσιν the acc. is therefore as strictly ‘cognate’ as it would be in ἐτέθη θέσιν. But the difference between κεῖται θέσιν and κεῖται τόπον is, in principle, only the same as that between ἕζομαι ἕδραν and ἕζομαι ζυγόν.

τῶνδ’ Οὑκ μελάθρων . For ἐκ I read οὑκ. Wakefield and Hermann were right in feeling that the sense required τῶνδ’ ἐκ μελάθρων to be connected with ὁδίτης (‘metuendus vir qui ex hoc antro abiit’), and not with μόλῃ . Then, however, the article ὁ becomes indispensable. Let it be granted that we could say, ὁρῶ ὁδίτην ἐκ τῶν μελάθρων, ‘I see one leaving the abode,’—ὁδίτην having the constr. of ὁδεύω: as, in τὰς...κινήσεις τῷ σώματι ( 631 C), the dat. after κινήσεις is that which might follow κινεῖσθαι. But no Greek could have written ὁπόταν μόλῃ ὁδίτης ἐκ τῶν μελάθρων in the sense, ‘when he who has left the abode shall return to it,’—the movement denoted by ἐκ τῶν μελάθρων being opposite to that denoted by μόλη. For the order of words, τῶνδε ὁ ἐκ μελάθρων , instead of ὁ τῶνδε ἐκ μ., cp. 735 καὶ τίς χρόνος τοῖσδ’ ἐστὶν οὑξεληλυθώς=ὁ τοῖσδε ἐξεληλυθώς. For other examples of this crasis in Soph. , cp. below, Soph. 639 πνεῦμα τοὐκ πρῴρας: Soph. 1540 τοὐκ θεοῦ παρόν: Soph. 731 γνοὺς δ’ οὑξ Ἀθηνῶν δεινὸς ἡνιοστρόφος.—With the simple ἐκ , only two versions are possible. (1) Taking ἐκ with μόλῃ : ‘when he shall come forth from this abode.’ But N. knows that Ph. is not now in the cave, and he cannot assume that, on returning, Ph. will enter it from the landward side, to emerge at the other. Philoctetes is, in fact, outside of the cave from his first appearance at v. 219 up to v. 675. (2) Taking ἐκ with προχωρῶν , as referring to the Chorus: ‘moving forth from this abode.’ But the Chorus never enter the cave,—they only look into it: and, in any case, a gradual retreat from it (πρὸς ἐμὴν αἰεὶ χεῖρα) would be unsuitable. — Seyffert refers τῶνδ’ ἐκ μελάθρων to the Chorus, but does not connect it with προχωρῶν, taking ἐκ in the pregnant sense of ἔξω ὤν: i.e., ‘having quitted the cave (=ἐκ), advance ever at my beck,’ etc. This seems impossible.

πρὸς ἐμὴν αἰεὶ χεῖρα προχωρῶν , coming forward towards my (beckoning) hand,—i.e., at a sign given by me,—from time to time (αἰεί). This phrase is explained by the part which the Chorus actually plays in the dialogue between Philoctetes and Neoptolemus,—interposing, from time to time, with some utterance fitted to confirm the belief of Philoctetes in the story which Neoptolemus is telling (317, 391, 508, 676, etc.). προχωρῶν , because the sailors would remain at some distance from their master while he conversed with Ph. , but would naturally move a step or two nearer at the moments when they offered their own remarks. Not in a fig. sense, ‘directing your course of action.’ πρὸς ἐμὴν … χεῖρα , too, is literal (i.e., it does not mean simply, ‘following the lead’ of my words).

τὸ παρὸν θεραπεύειν , to provide for the need of the moment. Cp. Dem. or. 18 § 307 τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καιροὺς ἀντὶ τῶν τῆς πατρίδος θεραπεύειν. Cp. the proverb τὸ παρὸν εὖ ποιεῖν ( Plat. 499C), ‘to do the best one can.’

μέλον … μέλημα : with a certain emphasis; cp. Eur. 868 δείμ’ <*> δειμαίνεις. The Chorus first reply to the last words of N., and then respond to his suggestion that perhaps they wish to see the abode of Ph. —The text is sound, when, with Triclinius, we have ejected τὸ σὸν (see cr. n.),—a gloss added by some one who, taking the ὄμμα to be that of N., naturally felt the want of the pos sessive pron. The ὄμμα is that of the Chorus, and is the subject to φρουρεῖν : this appears certain, when we compare Soph. 225 οὐδέ μ’ ὄμματος | φρουρὰν [φρουρὰ L] παρῆλθε, ‘nor hath it escaped my watchful eye.’ Dindorf takes ὄμμ’ as a sort of ‘cognate’ acc., ‘to watch with the eye,’ and compares Soph. 914 κἀγὼ λαθραῖον ὄμμ’ ἐπεσκιασμένη | φρούρουν: but there the partic. is the warrant for it.

ἐπὶ σῷ καιρῷ =lit., ‘for thine occasion,’ i.e., ‘for the moment at which a thing can be done for thine advantage.’ The use of the sing. καιρός with the possessive is rare, but is akin to a freq. use of the plur., as Isocr. or. 6 § 80 ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις καιροῖς (i.e. at the moments advantageous for us) ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς αὑτῶν ποιήσασθαι τοὺς κινδύνους. And how naturally ὁ σὸς καιρός might approximate (esp. in lyric poetry) to the sense of τὸ σὸν κέρδος, is suggested by such phrases as that in Her. 1. 206 οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἰδείης εἴ τοι ἐς καιρὸν ἔσται ταῦτα τελεόμενα, ‘seasonably for thee,’=‘for thine advantage.’

αὐλὰς ποίας : cp. 30. The plur. αὐλαί could denote a single chamber ( 945). The Chorus are not supposed to have been present when the cave was found, and do not yet know the nature of Ph. 's quarters.

ἔνεδρος , ‘resident,’ is not pleonastic, since ναίει can be said of a wanderer with ref. to the place that he is in at a given moment: 892: 117 n.

χῶρον τίν’ ἔχει , i.e., where he is now: cp. 22, 37.

τὸ γὰρ οὐκ ἀποκ. μοί (ἐστι ) μαθεῖν : τό is pron. in nom. case (cp. 1172 τὸ δ’ ἦν ἄρ’ οὐδὲν ἄλλο): μαθεῖν, epexeg. inf.— προσπεσών : 46 n.

τίς τόπος … θυραῖον ; The iteration, and the want of coherence, are meant to mark eager anxiety.

ἔχει στίβον here=‘is planting his steps’ (cp. 29), rather than, ‘is following a path’ (48): hence the narrow space implied by ἔναυλον is no objection. But with Wakefield's τίς ἔχει στίβος the sense ‘path’ would be unavoidable.

οἶκον … κοίτης , a home consisting in a rocky sleeping-place (defining gen.: cp. 81 n.).

ἀμφίθυρον : cp. 16.— The μὲν implies, ‘but where he is, I know not.’ The Chorus then say, ποῦ γὰρ ...; i.e., (you surprise me;) for (if he is not here) where can he be?

φορβῆς : cp. 43 .— ὀγμεύει, ὄγμος, from rt. ἀγ. of ἄγω (cp. agmen), is prop. any line drawn out by movement; then, esp., a furrow in ploughing ( 18. 546, Theocr. 10. 2); or the track (‘swathe’) made by reapers through corn. Here the image is from ploughing; the furrow which the ploughman leaves behind him is compared to the track left by the helpless foot which Philoctetes drags after him. Cp. 291 εἰλυόμην, δύστηνον ἐξέλκων πόδα (where see n.). The word ὀγμεύει also serves to suggest the laborious character of the progress. Cp. Lucan 9. 721 (of a serpent) contentus iter cauda sulcare.

τῇδε seems a necessary correction of τόνδε , since στίβον...τόνδε would mean, ‘his path yonder’ (as though N. could point to it): not merely ‘his path in this neighbourhood’ (though invisible).

ταύτην , i.e. by making expeditions in quest of food,—referring to 162 f. Others take it to mean, ‘in the following manner,’—viz., θηροβολοῦντα. This is possible ( 787): but then we should expect θηροβολεῖν.

φύσιν =τρόπον.

στυγερὸν στυγερῶς : cp. 1369 κακῶς.. κακούς: 479 μέλεος μελέῳ ποδὶ χηρεύων. Tragedy applies στυγερός, in the sense of ‘wretched,’ not only to things ( 1016 βίου...τοῦ στυγεροῦ), but also to persons, as 144 τοῖν στυγεροῖν (the sons of Oed.: where see n.). Almost all recent editors, however, have received Brunck's conjecture, σμυγερὸν σμυγερῶς , i.e., ‘with painful toil.’ At first sight, this is favoured by the schol. here, ἐπιμόνως, which can scarcely be explained as meaning ‘with grim resolve,’ and ought doubtless to be ἐπιπόνως. Now, as Brunck points out, Hesych. has σμυγερὸν, ἐπίπονον, οἰκτρόν, μοχθηρόν· σμυγερῶς, ἐπίπονως. So Eustath. p. 1463 ἔστι δὲ σμυγερῶς, τὸ ἐπιπόνως, ὀδυνηρῶς. Yet the following considerations make me hesitate to forsake the MSS. (1) Is it so clear that, in this context, the schol. could not have used ἐπιπόνως to explain στυγερῶς, seeing that the notions of πόνος and ‘wretchedness’ are often so near to each other, esp. in poetry? (2) Apollonius Rhodius seems to be the earliest extant writer who uses σμυγερός: 2. 374 σμυγερώτατοι ἀνδρῶν (most laborious'): 4. 380 σμυγερῶς, ‘painfully.’ Homer has only ἐπισμυγερῶς: Hesiod has ἐπισμυγερός. On the other hand, the form μογερός is used five times by Aesch. , thrice by Eur. , once by Soph. ( Soph. 93), and once by Ar. ; but σμυγερός never.

ἐπινωμᾶν , intrans., ‘direct his course towards,’ ‘approach’: cp. 717, where προσενώμα also seems to be intrans., ‘bent his course towards’ the water. This intrans. use must come from the trans. sense of νωμάω ‘to ply’ the limbs, or ‘guide’ a chariot, etc., as 10. 358 γούνατα νωμᾶν : 468 πόδα νωμᾶν : Pind. 4. 18 δίφρους τε νωμάσοισιν: we must mentally supply πόδα, ὁδόν, or the like. Apart from the two instances in this play, there appears to be no sound example of an intrans. νωμάω. See Appendix.

οἰκτίρω , the spelling attested by Attic inscriptions ( 13 n.).

ὅπως , ‘(thinking) how’: cp. 510 οἴκτιρε δ’, ὦναξ, παῖδα τὸν σόν,...ὅσον κακὸν | κείνῳ τε κἀμοὶ τοῦθ’, ὅταν θάνῃς, νεμεῖς.

μή του . The force of μή (as dist. from οὐ) is here ‘generic,’ i.e., it presents the situation as typical of a class; ‘in a case where there is none to tend’: and this implies the cause of pity,—‘seeing that there is none to tend.’ Cp. 256, 715: 397 n.

μηδὲ seems better than any of the proposed corrections (see cr. n.): and for μή του κηδομένου..., μηδὲ ἔχων , cp. 737 οὐκ ἐξ ἑνὸς στείλαντος, ἀλλ’ ἀστῶν ὕπο | πάντων κελευσθείς , n.: 291 νῦν σοι τέρψις ἐμφανὴς κυρεῖ, | τῶν μὲν παρόντων, τὰ δὲ πεπυσμένῃ λόγῳ.— The second syllable of the verse might be short (see Anal.), and therefore σύντροφον could stand. But, as there is no other instance of that syllable being shortened in this strophe or antistrophe, Brunck's ξύντροφον is better, and is received by Heinrich Schmidt (, p. clxii.).

ξυντρ. ὄμμ’ , the face of a man who lives with one; cp. 977 ὦ φίλτατ’ Αἴας, ὦ ξύναιμον ὄμμ’ ἐμοί.

ἀλύει , properly, ‘wanders in mind’; hence, here, of despairing perplexity, cp. 1194. This use of the word might be illustrated by Alexis Κυβερνήτης 13 εἶθ’ οἱ μὲν εὐποροῦμεν, οἱ δ’ ἀλύομεν, ‘some of us are rich, while others are at their wits' ends.’

παντί τῳ χρείας =each item or article of need, i.e., each new form in which need besets him. Cp. n. on 1229 ἐν τῷ (=τίνι) συμφορᾶς. ἱσταμένῳ =ὅτε ἵσταται, as it arises. Cp. 1263: 21. 240 κυκώμενον ἵστατο κῦμα.

ὦ παλάμαι Θεῶν : the ‘devices’ of the gods are their mysterious dispensations, which can bring such misery on a man who was once fortunate. Cp. Pind. 1. 48 εὑρίσκοντο θεῶν παλάμαις τιμάν. I have accepted Lachmann's conjecture here, θεῶν for θνητῶν , because (1) there is a prima facie case for a short penult., answering to that of ἀθυρόστομος (188); and (2) θνητῶν, so closely followed by βροτῶν, is very awkward, while θεῶν not only gives a forcible contrast with βροτῶν, but suggests a thought well suited to the solemn pathos. Hermann defends θνητῶν at the cost of reading ἀθυρόγλωσσος in 188. Heinrich Schmidt also keeps it, but re tains ἀθυρόστομος in 188, on the ground that, in this logaoedic measure, the ‘irrational syllable’ is admissible in the choree (αι— θνητ). A probably authentic example is δεινόν in 218 (=θροεῖ in 209). παλάμαι θνητῶν , if sound, would mean, ‘the resources of men’ (as shown by Philoctetes): so Theognis 623 παντοῖαι κακότητες ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἔασιν, | παντοῖαι δ’ ἀρεταὶ καὶ βιότου παλάμαι. Cp. the praise of man as παντοπόρος in Soph. 360.Not, ‘the (wicked) devices of men,’ as seen in the hero's enemies.

γένη , ‘races,’ in the narrower sense of ‘houses’ or ‘families,’ such as the princely house to which Philoctetes belonged: cp. 15. 533 ὑμετέρου δ’ οὐκ ἔστι γένος βασιλεύτερον ἄλλο. Not ‘generations,’ γενεαί ( 1186): nor, again, ‘sons of men,’—a sense which could not be justified by the bold phrase in 784, Τέκμησσα, δύσμορον γένος. In Her. 3. 159 read ἵνα σφι γενεὴ (not γένεα) ὑπογίνηται.

οἷς μὴ μέτριος αἰών . αἰών here= not ‘life’ merely (as 583), but ‘fortune in life,’ as 34 τοιοῦτος αἰὼν εἰς δόμους τε κἀκ δόμων | αἰεὶ τὸν ἄνδρ’ ἔπεμπε. μὴ , ‘such as to exceed the ordinary lot,’—in prosperity, and afterwards in misery. The more highly placed a man is, the greater may be his fall. Cp. 505 f.: 1186 ff., O. T. 1282 ff. (the reverses of Oed.): 1161 ff. (those of Creon). Aesch. 528 παντὶ μέσῳ τὸ κράτος θεὸς ὤπασεν. Eur. 123 ἐμοὶ γοῦν ἐπὶ μὴ μεγάλοις | ὀχυρῶς εἴη καταγηράσκειν. | τῶν γὰρ μετρίων πρῶτα μὲν εἰπεῖν | τοὔνομα νικᾷ: where it is added that ‘excess of good fortune’ (τὰ ὑπερβάλλοντα) ‘brings greater calamities on houses, when the god is wroth,’ μείζους δ’ ἄτας, ὅταν ὀργισθῇ | δαίμων οἴκοις ἀπέδωκεν. Her. 7. 10 φιλέει γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὰ ὑπερέχοντα πάντα κολούειν.—Others take μὴ μέτριος as, ‘exceeding the ordinary measure of woe.’ Cp. Eur. 717 οὐ γὰρ μέτρια πάσχομεν κακά. I prefer the former view, because (a) the sense of γένη suggests the greatness that precedes the abasement; and (b) vv. 180 ff., which comment on οἷς μὴ μέτριος αἰών, show that these words suggested a contrast between Ph. 's past and present fortunes.

πρωτογόνων : schol. εὐγενῶν . Elsewhere πρωτόγονος always = ‘firstborn.’ But as ἀρχαιόγονος can mean ‘of ancient race’ ( 981), so πρωτόγονος ‘of foremost race.’ Cp. Thuc. 3. 65§ 2 ἄνδρες ὑμῶν οἱ πρῶτοι καὶ χρήμασι καὶ γένει.

ἴσως does not imply a doubt as to whether Philoctetes is of noble birth, but merely gives a certain vagueness to the surmise that no one else was nobler. Yet Nauck (following Burges) changes ἴσως to γεγὼς because the Chorus must have known the hero to be noble. Cp. 301(Deianeira is pitying the captives sent to her by Heracles), αἳ πρὶν μὲν ἦσαν ἐξ ἐλευθέρων ἴσως | ἀνδρῶν: where ἴσως does not mean that she doubts their former freedom, but merely that she does not know their fathers' names. Cp. που in Thuc. 7. 77§ 2 (Nicias speaking of himself), οὔτ’ εὐτυχίᾳ δοκῶν που ὕστερός του εἶναι. So we sometimes guard a statement by saying, ‘perhaps’ the greatest, etc.

οὐδενὸς sc. ἀνδρός. οὐδεὶς οἴκων πρωτογόνων could mean either (a) no house of those houses, or ( b) no man belonging to them; cp. Plat. 316B Ἀπολλοδώρου υἱός, οἰκίας μεγάλης. Here it is possible, indeed, to supply οἴκου (‘a man inferior to no house,’ i.e., ‘to no member of a house’). But in compressed Greek comparison the type τὸ ἐκείνου γένος οὐχ ὕστερόν ἐστι τῶν βασιλέων (sc. τοῦ γένους), is commoner than ἐκεῖνος (for τὸ ἐκείνου γένος) οὐχ ὕστερός ἐστι τοῦ τῶν βασιλέων γένους,—which latter would be the type here. Further, the fact that οὐδενὸς (οἴκου) depends on οἴκων would increase the awkwardness. The reading ἥκων for οἴκων is specious; cp. Soph. 636 δς ἐκ πατρῴας ἥκων γενεᾶς <ἄριστος>: though ἄριστος is there doubtful. But οἴκων is confirmed (a) by Eur. 1073 ἁ τῶν εὐπατριδᾶν γεγῶσ’ οἴκων: and (b) by the bold use of πρωτογόνων, which οἴκων helps to interpret.— οὐδενὸς ὕστερος , as Plat. p. 20 A οὐσίᾳ καὶ γένει οὐδενὸς ὕστερος ὢν τῶν ἐκεῖ .

ἐν βίῳ belongs to ἄμμορος (destitute, in his life, of all things): it cannot go with πάντων , as if we had πάντων τῶν ἐν βίῳ: but the sense is virtually the same.

μοῦνος ἀπ’ ἄλλων , alone, apart from his fellows: an epic phrase; 3. 193 ὁ δὲ ταῦρος ἐβόσκετο μοῦνος ἀπ’ ἄλλων: cp. 16. 239 μούνω ἄνευθ’ ἄλλων.

στικτῶν (the epithet of an ἔλαφος in 568, and of νεβρίδες in Eur. 111) naturally suggests deer, and, acc. to one interpretation, is meant here to denote the class of ‘peaceful animals,’ as dist. from λασίων , beasts of prey. The latter epithet, it might be objected, could equally well suggest goats and sheep. Another and stranger view is that στικτῶν means birds (pictae volucres), as dist. from beasts. Obviously the poet used the epithets simply in order to call up a general picture of creatures that haunt the wilds; he was not carefully classifying them. Cp. 937.

μετὰ . The last syllable of a verse is of variable value (ἀδιάφορος, anceps ); i.e., a short may stand for a long, as here, or vice versa. Cp. Heinrich Schmidt, , p. 58, who cites Aesch. 1531 εὐπάλαμον μέριμναν | ὅπα κ.τ.λ.: the ‐α^ν there serves as ‐α—ν. So 188 (ἀθυρόστομ ος ), 1089 (ἆμαρ ), 1104 (ὕστερ ον ), 1110 (χερςὶν ), etc. It is needless, then, to alter μετά.

ἔν τ’ ὀδύναις =ἐν ὀδύναις τε (cp. 258 n.): for this ἐν of circumstance, ib. 1112 ἐν...μακρῷ | γήρᾳ , n.

Ὀρεία δ’ , MeklerS. 's correction of βαρεῖα δ’ , occurs in his revision of Dindorf (6th Teubner ed., 1885), where it is placed in the text. But, so far as I know, the arguments for it have not yet been stated. It is one of those emendations, the probability of which cannot be adequately estimated at a first glance, but must be carefully considered in relation to the peculiarities of the MS. (1) We observe, then, that L has βαρεῖ|αδ’ ἀθυρόστομος. This favours the view that v. 188 began with α δ’ rather than ἁ δ’. But, as metre proves, that α must have been α—, not α^: and this points to an ending ‐εί|α—, as in ὀρεί|α. (2) Some corruptions in L, as in other MSS., have arisen through the genuine word being mistaken for one resembling it in form; as ἄχος has become ἄχθος in 1355.And this could occur even when the initial of the false word did not belong to the true word. See 887 στονόεντος ἐν τομᾷ σιδάρου. For τομᾷ, L there has στομαῖ: and this, not merely through the influence of στονόεντος, but, evidently, because the scribe was thinking of στόμα. Thus, even without assuming an intermediate ἀρεί |α or ἀρεῖ|α, we see that βαρεῖ |α was a possible corruption of ὀρεί|α. Note, as increasing the probability, that v. 208, βαρεῖα τηλόθεν αὐδά, stands in L in the middle of the same page (82 A) which contains this verse. (3) ὀρεία , as an epithet for Echo here, is illustrated by the only other place in the play where such echo is spoken of: 1458 πολλὰ δὲ φωνῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας | Ἑρμαῖον ὄρος παρέπεμψεν ἐμοί. The θῆρες have just been mentioned (185); and at 937 we have θηρῶν ὀρείων. Cp. 19. 21 κορυφὴν δὲ περιστένει οὔρεος ἠχώ. Echo is the ‘neighbour’ of Pan (Moschus 6. 1), himself ὀρεσσιβάτης ( 1100).—For other conjectures, see Appendix.

ἀθυρόστομος is not extant elsewhere. Cp. Eur. 903 ἀνήρ τις ἀθυρόγλωσσος, ἰσχύων θράσει . Ar. 838 ἔχοντ’ ἀχάλινον ἀκρατὲς ἀθύρωτον στόμα. Theognis 421 πολλοῖς ἀνθρώπων γλώσσῃ θύραι οὐκ ἐπίκεινται | ἁρμόδιαι.—Wecklein reads ἀθυροστομοῦς’ (comparing θρασυστομεῖν, πολυστομεῖν), for the sake of the long final syll.: but see on μετὰ in 184.

Ἀχὼ τηλεφανὴς , Echo, appearing afar,—as if she came forth from her secret abode in response to the voice. Eur. introduced Echo as an (unseen) speaker in his cp. Ar. 1059 ff. (Ἠχώ, λόγων ἀντῳδός, ἐπικοκκάστρια ‘mocker’). But she was not, in the classical age, a distinctly recognised δαίμων: though Paus. (2. 35. 10) saw at Corinth a ἱερόν of ἡ Χθονία, locally called Ἠχώ. Cp. Wieseler, (Göttingen, 1854).

πικραῖς | οἰμωγαῖς ὑπακούει is the best correction yet proposed for πικρᾶς οἰμωγᾶς ὑπόκειται . With the latter verb, the dat. πικραῖς οἰμωγαῖς would be required. The sense would then be, ‘Echo is subject to his cries,’ i.e., attends upon them, follows them, as a kind of understrain or accompaniment. Such a use of ὑπόκειται is not merely forced; it is (to my mind) inconceivable. Prof. Campbell, keeping the gen. πικρᾶς οἰμωγᾶς, renders ὑπόκειται ‘lies close to, i.e. keeps following upon’: and quotes Plat. 465B τῇ μὲν οὖν ἰατρικῇ...ἡ ὀψοποιϊκὴ κολακεία ὑπόκειται: but that means, ‘Cookery is a flattery which ranges under medicine,’ i.e., corresponds to it, as the counterfeit to the genuine art. And, on any view of ὑπόκειται, the dat. is needful. For ὑπακούει , cp. Hom. 4. 283(Helen was calling to the heroes in the wooden horse; they were eager) ἢ ἐξελθέμεναλ, ἢ ἔνδοθεν αἶψ’ ὑπακοῦσαι, ‘to come forth, or to answer promptly from within.’ And ib. 10. 82 ποιμένα ποιμὴν | ἠπύει εἰσελάων, ὁ δέ τ’ ἐξελάων ὑπακούει, ‘herdsman hails herdsman as he drives in, and the other, as he drives forth, makes answer.’ In classical prose, ὑπακούειν more often means to ‘respond’ in the sense of ‘comply.’ But the passages just cited prove that the word was also familiar as=‘to speak in reply’: nor was this latter sense confined to poetry; cp. Arist. 8. 11(Berl. ed. p. 157 b 14) ἐρωτώμενοι τἀναντία καὶ τὸ ἐν ἀρχῇ πολλάκις ὑπακούουσιν, = ἀποκρίνονται (the word used previously in the same passage).—Other emendations of ὑπόκειται are examined in the Appendix.

θεῖα , predicate, ‘from the gods’: cp. 1039, 1326.

κἀγώ , I also (as well as others): the καί gives a modest tone; 719 n.

καὶ τὰ παθήμ. κεῖνα . The καί here = ‘e'en’: its force is to mark that, from the very beginning, his troubles were heaven-ordained. This seems better than to take it as ‘both,’ answering to the καὶ νῦν in 195.

τῆς ὠμόφρ. Χρύσης , gen. of source, with ἐπέβη . Such a simple gen. usu. denotes the place whence ( 152 Πυθῶνος ἔβας), but the idea of ‘source’ could easily be connected with a person also; cp. 1515 στράψαντα χειρὸς τῆς ἀνικήτου βέλη. It is also possible to join παθήματα … Χρύσης as ‘sufferings inflicted by her’: cp. 422 τὰ κείνων κακά, n.: but (a) the order of words renders this less natural: and (b) a gen. after πάθημα ought to denote the sufferer.— Philoctetes was bitten by a serpent that guarded the altar of Chrysè, in the islet of the same name, near Lemnos: cp. 1326.

ὠμόφρονος , as cruelly punishing his intrusion. The (2. 723) speaks of him as ἕλκει μοχθίζοντα κακῷ ὀλοόφρονος ὕδρον. The relation of Chrysè to the gods is like that of Calypso in the The δαίμων can work her will on the mortal; but only so far as the higher powers permit.

οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὡς οὐ , sc. πονεῖ: for ὡς instead of the usual ὅπως, cp. 750 ταύτην ποτ’ οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὡς ἔτι ζῶσαν γαμεῖς. This shows that we ought not to read οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐ θεῶν μελέτῃ (omitting του).

τοῦ μὴ … τεῖναι , ‘in order that he should not bend...’ τοῦ μή is not to be taken with μελέτῃ (‘care to prevent his bending’), but with the whole preceding sentence. This constr. occurs ( a) after words of hindering, Xen. 3. 5. 11 πᾶς...ἀσκὸς δύο ἄνδρας ἕξει τοῦ μὴ καταδῦναι: (b) where the notion of hindering is not expressed, but only implied, as Thuc. 1. 23§ 5 τὰς αἰτίας προέγραψα..., τοῦ μή τινα ζητῆσαί ποτε ἐξ ὅτου τοσοῦτος πόλεμος...κατέστη. Id. 2. 22§ 1 ἐκκλησίαν οὐκ ἐποίει..., τοῦ μὴ ὀργῇ...ξυνελθόντας ἐξαμαρτεῖν. So, in affirmative sentences, τοῦ without μή: id. 1. 4 τό τε λῃστικὸν ...καθῄρει..., τοῦ τὰς προσόδους μᾶλλον ἰέναι αὐτῷ.

τεῖναι … βέλη , point them, like sagittas tendere ( 1. 29. 9): we need not suppose that a word proper to the bow (‘stretch’) is transferred to the arrows. τὰ θεῶν , i.e., given by the gods (cp. 140 Διὸς σκῆπτρον), because the bow of Philoctetes was originally the gift of Apollo to Heracles ( Apollod. 1. 4. 11§ 9). Cp. 943.

πρὶν...ἐξήκοι , not πρὶν ἂν ἐξήκῃ , although the tense of the principal verb (πονεῖ, understood in v. 196) is primary, since a secondary tense is implied in the phrase θεῶν του μελέτῃ: i.e., ‘he is suffering, because the gods ordained that he should suffer, until the time should be fulfilled,’ etc. Cp. Dem. or. 22 § 11 τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον ὁ νόμος...ἵνα μηδὲ πεισθῆναι μηδ’ ἐξαπατηθῆναι γένοιτ’ ἐπὶ τῷ δήμῳ: ‘the law stands thus, that the people might not even have the power’: where ‘stands’ (ἔχει) implies ‘was made’ (ἐτέθη). γένηται would be regular there, as πρὶν ἂν ἐξήκῃ would be here: yet in both places the optat. is natural. The speaker is tracing a present fact to a past motive.

λέγεται : the Trojan seer Helenus had said that Troy was to be taken by Philoctetes before the summer was over (1340).— τῶνδε, τῶν βελῶν: cp. on τούσδε, 87.

εὔστομ’ ἔχε =σῖγα ἔχε: for the neut. pl. as adv., cp. 883 n. Her. 2. 171 ταύτης...μοι πέρι (τῆς τελετῆς) εὔστομα κείσθω, i.e., ‘it will be best to observe silence.’ Aelian 14. 28 τά γε παῤ ἐμοῦ ἔστω πρὸς αὐτοὺς (the gods) εὔστομα. 833 εὐστόμει=εὐφήμει.

τί τόδε ; ‘what now?’ So τί τοῦτο; 513.Here, as in 210 f., the rapid tribrachs mark excitement.

προὐφάνη : cp. 189 τηλεφανής.

σύντροφος , sharing his life, i.e. , constantly attending on him, habitual to him: cp. 639 οὐκέτι συντρόφοις | ὀργαῖς ἔμπεδος, the dispositions that have grown with his growth,—the promptings of his own nature. Thuc. 2. 50(the plague) ἐδήλωσε...ἄλλο τι ὂν ἢ τῶν ξυντρόφων τι (the familiar maladies). Polyb. 4. 20 (τὴν μουσικὴν) σύντροφον ποιεῖν. The genit. ( φωτὸς ), though less usual than the dat., hardly requires us to view σύντροφος as a subst. (‘companion’): cp. 96D τὰ αὐτῶν οἰκεῖα, the things appropriate to them.

ἤ που : cp. 215. Cavallin reads ἦ που with a note of interrogation after τόπων: but they do not doubt that it comes from one of the two quarters. τῇδ’ … τῇδε : 857 n. The Attic form seems warranted by the colloquial tone; then, with ἐτύμα, we return to lyric Doricism. τόπων with τῇδε : 108 ποῦ γῆς;

βάλλει : the fuller phrase in 1187 καί με φθόγγος... | βάλλει δἰ ὤτων. So βάλῃ, simply, of smell, ib. 412.

ἐτύμα , real,—not due to a hallucination of the senses. Cp. Theocr. 15. 82 (with ref. to painted figures), ὡς ἔτυμ’ ἑστάκαντι καὶ ὡς ἔτυμ’ ἐνδινεῦντι (‘move in the dance’), | ἔμψυχ’, οὐκ ἐνυφαντά. Elsewhere the Attic fem. is ἔτυμος ( 351, Ar. 114).

στίβον … ἕρποντος : cp. 1223: 287 ἐξόδους ἕρπειν κενάς.

κατ’ ἀνάγκαν , i.e., under stress of pain: cp. 215 πταίων ὑπ’ ἀνάγκας. Eur. 88 ἐν ὠδίνων | λοχίαις ἀνάγκαισι.—The reading στίβου κατ’ ἀνάγκαν would mean, ‘with painfulness of movement,’ στίβου being then the act of planting the steps (cp. 29, 157). This is tenable; but I prefer στίβον , because (a) the phrase with στίβον seems a little forced, and (b) with the gen. του... ἕρποντος the effect of an interposed gen. would be somewhat unpleasing.

οὐδέ με λάθει : this reiteration is natural, since the sound continues, and draws nearer. For the negative form after the positive, cp. 222 ἔξοιδ’, οὐ λάθει μ’ ὀργά, and ib. 131: 24. 563 καὶ δέ σε γιγνώσκω, Πρίαμε, φρεσίν, οὐδέ με λήθεις.

βαρεῖα , grievous, i.e., expressing pain; so Eur. 791 ἠχὼ βαρεῖα. τρυσάνωρ should properly be active, ‘man-wearing,’ like φθισήνωρ, ‘man-destroying’ (epith. of πόλεμος, 2. 833). And so some understand αὐδὰ τρυσάνωρ as=a lament for a disease that wears one: cp. on 695 f. στόνον...βαρυβρῶτ’. This, however, seems verystrained. More probably the poet has boldly used αὐδὰ τρυσάνωρ as=αὐδὰ ἀνδρὸς τετρυμένου, like αἷμα ἀνδρόφθορον for αἷμα ἀνδρὸς ἐφθαρμένου ( 1022), κτύπος διόβολος for κτύπος δίου βέλους ( 1463). Cp. 421 φειδωλοῦ καὶ τρυσιβίου γαστρός, where τρυς. seems to be pass.,=τετρυμένον βίον ἔχοντος, rather than act. (as if it imposed the hardships).

διάσημα γὰρ θροεῖ . This, the reading of the MSS., seems sound. As to the metre, see n. on 218 (προβοᾷ τι γὰρ δεινόν).

ἀλλ’ ἔχε . In many editions XO. is printed before these words, presumably to mark that they open the 3rd antistrophe. But, as the part of the Chorus is continuous from v. 202, a XO. here is confusing. It does not exist in L.

ἀλλ’ , hortative, like, ‘come, then.’ ἔχε … φροντίδας vέας : i.e. turn from thy reflections on his hard lot (162—168) to such thoughts as the moment of action demands. The effect of N.'s interpellation, λέγ’ ὅ τι , is to mark excitement, and to bring out the reply with greater force. See n. on 645.

οὐκ ἔξεδρος : for they have now learned that he has a permanent dwelling here (cp. 153 ).

μολπὰν … ἔχων , engaged in it; cp. 24. 515 ἀρετῆς πέρι δῆριν ἔχοντες.

σύριγγος : cp. 18. 525(on the shield) δύω θ’ ἅμ’ ἕποντο νομῆες, | τερπόμενοι σύριγξι. Plat. 399D λύρα δή σοι...καὶ κιθάρα λείπεται, καὶ κατὰ πόλιν χρήσιμα· καὶ αὖ κατ’ ἀγροὺς τοῖς νομεῦσι σύριγξ ἂν εἴη:—a good illustration of ἀγροβότας here. Theocr. 7. 27 φαντὶ τὺ πάντες | συρικτὰν ἔμεναι μέγ’ ὑπείροχον ἔν τε νομεῦσιν | ἔν τ’ ἀμητήρεσσι. Cp. ἄλυρος, ἀφόρμικτος, ἀκίθαρις, ἄχορος, as epithets of wailing, etc. ( Soph. 1223 n.).

ποιμὰν , not ποιμὴν, is surely required here, where μολπὰν precedes and ἀγροβότας, ἀνάγκας, ἰωάν follow. Cp. 132, where L has τᾶς εὐφήμου.

ἀγροβότας, ἐν ἀγρῷ βόσκων : cp. 1103 πλάκες ἀγρόνομοι, n. Philoctetes is returning from wild places to his dwelling. This suggests the contrast with a shepherd who, playing his pipe, comes cheerily home from the ‘otia dia pastorum.’

ἀλλ’ ἤ που κ.τ.λ. After οὐ μολπὰν ἔχων we ought to have had ἀλλὰ ...βοῶν: but a finite verb, βοᾷ , takes the place of a second participle, as oft.: see n. on 351.—Join ὑπ’ ἀνάγκας with πταίων rather than with βοᾷ : the ἀνάγκη, or stress of pain (206),—from the ulcered foot which he drags after him (291),— causes him to stumble on the rough ground.

τηλωπὸν ἰωάν , a cry heard from a distance. τηλωπός = (1) ‘of distant aspect,’ (ὤψ,) i.e., ‘seen afar’: then (2) simply, ‘distant,’ though the object is not visible: 564 τηλωπὸς οἰχνεῖ. It is in this general sense of ‘distant’ that τηλωπός is here applied to a sound heard from afar. We cannot properly compare τηλεφανής, said of the personified Echo (189). In Aesch. 103 κτύπον δέδορκα may imply the mental picture called up by the clash of arms, as Verrall observes.

ναὸς ἄξενον … ὅρμον , a haven that has no ship for its guest; cp. 1383 ἀπάτωρ ἐμοῦ, ‘having no father in me’: and ib. 677 n. ἄξενος is here the opposite of πολύξενος rather than of εὔξενος. Thus ναὸς ἄξενον is not less correct, while it is more forcible, than ναυσὶν ἄξενον would be. The waters off the rock-bound coast are a ὅρμος ἄνορμος (cp. 302).— Others render, ‘the inhospitable anchorage of our ship,’—which was not visible from the cave (cp. 467), but might have been seen by Philoctetes from another point. The sense seems, however, to be:—‘his cry is caused, either by physical pain, or by a feeling of despair as he looks at the lonely sea.’ The Chorus have been dwelling on his two great calamities—disease, and solitude (173 f., 185 f.). In this closing strain, it is natural that the two motives of their pity should be identified with the two sources of his anguish.

προβοᾷ τι γἀρ δεινόν . Wunder thus transposes γάρ τι. It was hardly needful to defend the place of γάρ by 1036 (ὑποπτεύω τι γάρ): cp. below, 1450 f. Heinrich Schmidt seems right in holding that δεινόν here does not require θρηνεῖ (for θροεῖ ) in 209. Lachmann's conjecture, προβοᾷ γὰρ αἴλινον , hardly deserved to be adopted by Blaydes. See Metrical Analysis.—Hermann's view, that in 209 διάσημα θροεῖ γάρ should be read, as here, προβοᾷ δέ τι δεινόν, involves the arbitrary substitution of δέ for γάρ. It would be obvious to suggest προβοᾷ τι γὰρ αἰνόν, or προβοᾷ γὰρ ἐλεινόν: but neither is probable.

ἰὼ ξένοι , ‘extra metrum,’ as 736 ἰὼ θεοί, 1468 ἴθ’, ὦναξ, etc. Here ἰώ is a cry of surprise. In 822 ἰὼ ξένοι (within the verse) is a despairing appeal (‘Alas, friends...’).

κἀκ ποίας πάτρας . In judging between this reading and the variant ναυτίλῳ πλάτῃ (see crit. n.), the probabilities of corruption must be carefully weighed. Suppose, first, that the poet wrote κἀκ ποίας πάτρας. A transcriber who found ποίας πάτρας in v. 222 might well assume that there was a fault either there or in v. 220: and since in v. 222 the words fit the construction, he might think that the fault was in v. 220. The substitute, ναυτίλῳ πλάτῃ, might then be suggested by κατέσχετ’ itself: cp. Ar. 1207 ναυτίλῳ πλάτῃ | Ἄργος κατασχών (from the of Eur. ). Emendations not less arbitrary were sometimes made in early times: see, e.g., on Soph. 134 and 1529. Next, suppose that ναυτίλῳ πλάτῃ was the true reading. It is clear and neat. To account for the variant κἀκ ποίας πάτρας, we must then suppose either (a) that a scribe wrote those words by an oversight,—his eye having wandered to v. 222; which is the less likely, since v. 222 did not give him κἀκ: or ( b) that, ναυτίλῳ πλάτῃ having been somehow lost, he filled the gap with a clumsy loan from v. 222. Neither hypothesis seems so probable as that a double ποίας πάτρας should have led to guess-work in v. 220. Another point, though not a strong one, in favour of κἀκ ποίας πάτρας is that the two questions (‘who, and whence?’) are habitually combined in such inquiries: e.g. , Soph. 779 χαίρετ’, ὦ ξένοι· τίνες | πόθεν πορεύεσθ’, ἐστέ τ’ ἐκ ποίας χθονός; Her. 1. 35 τίς τε ἐὼν καὶ κόθεν...ἥκων: id. 2. 115 τίς εἴη καὶ ὁκόθεν πλέοι: 4. 145 τίνες τε καὶ ὁκόθεν εἰσί. On the other hand, we cannot insist on L's authority as against A's; for L has sometimes lost a true reading which A has kept (as in Soph. 28).

But κἀκ ποίας πάτρας in v. 220 and ποίας πάτρας in 222 cannot both be wholly sound. The first πάτρας might easily be corrected to χθονὸς (with Wecklein). It is slightly more probable, how ever, that the second πάτρας arose from the eye glancing back. Thus in 831L has τάκει (for τέγγει), due to τακομέναν in 828. In v. 222 we might conjecture ποίας πόλεως . (For πόλεως in the 2nd place of the senarius, cp. 630.) The series of questions in vv. 220— 222 would then correspond with the Homeric τίς πόθεν ε<*>ς ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις ἠδὲ τοκῆες; ( 1. 170.)

κατέσχετ’ . κατέχειν (sc. ναῦν, though νηΐ is sometimes added) εἰς τόπον is the usu. prose constr., but poets use also a simple acc., as 1206 ποδαπὸς δ’ ὅδ’ ἁνὴρ καὶ πόθεν κατέσχε γῆν; The difference between κατέχω and προσέχω (236) is like that between ‘to put into harbour’ and to ‘touch at’; i.e., the latter implies a further destination; the former does not necessarily imply it, though it does not exclude it (cp. 270).

222 On the grounds given in n. on 220, I conjecture πόλεως instead of πάτρας . But this does not affect the question of metre. It is more probable that, with Triclinius, we ought simply to place ὑμᾶς after γένους than (1) that Soph. wrote ποίας πάτρας (or πόλεως ) ὑμᾶς ἄν, κ.τ.λ.,— a verse like 101: or (2) that we should read ποίας ἂν ὑμᾶς πατρίδος, with Dind., who remarks that πατρίδος holds that place in Soph. 641, Soph. O. T. 825, Soph. 428.

τύχοιμ’ ἂν εἰπών , be right in calling. Aesch. 1232 τί νιν καλοῦσα δυσφιλὲς δάκος | τύχοιμ’ ἄν; So κυρῶ Soph. 663.For the doubled ἄν, cp. Soph. 339 n.

σχῆμα κ.τ.λ. The sense is, σχῆμα στολῆς ὑπάρχει Ἑλληνικόν, προσφιλέστατον ἐμοί. But, instead of that, we have σχῆμα ὑπάρχει (σχῆμα ) Ἑλλάδος στολῆς , and the epithet (προσφιλέστατον), which would more naturally go with σχῆμα, is joined to στολῆς:—‘the fashion is, to begin with, (ὑπάρχει,) that of Hellenic garb,—the garb which I love best.’ The σχῆμα ( habitus) denotes the general ‘fashion,’ or effect to the eye: στολὴ Ἑλλάς refers to the actual garments distinctive of Hellenes, such as χιτών and ἱμάτιον. Cp. Eur. fr. 476 Τευθράντιον δὲ σχῆμα Μυσίας χθονός (the fashion of garb worn by the people of Teuthrania in Mysia). In 246 ποδαποί; τίνος γῆς ὄνομ’ ἔχουσιν οἱ ξένοι; Monk conjectured σχῆμ’ for ὄνομ’.—Nauck rejects this verse, because the hero loves the land, not the clothes, of Hellas; and because he cannot yet be sure that these Greeks are friends.

ὄκνῳ κ.τ.λ. It seems simplest and best to construe thus: καὶ μὴ ὄκνῳ ἐκπλαγῆτε, δείσαντές με ἀπηγριωμένον (cp. 1535 ταρβοῦσα τλήμων κἀκπεπληγμένη φόβῳ); though ἐκπλαγῆτε could directly govern με ( 1045 οὐδὲν ἐκπλαγεῖσά σε). In 1625 στῆσαι φόβῳ δείσαντας ἐξαίφνης τρίχας, the dat. is causal (‘through fear’): in 176, φόβῳ...ταρβοῦσαν, it has an adverb. force (‘sorely afraid’; cp. 65).

ἀπηγριωμένον , made like to an ἄγριος, or wild man: cp. the description of Philoctetes, as Diomedes and Odysseus found him at Lemnos, in Quintus Smyrnaeus 9. 364 ff.: αὐαλέαι δέ οἱ ἀμφὶ κόμαι περὶ κρατὶ κέχυντο | θηρὸς ὅπως ὀλοοῖο... | καί οἱ πᾶν μεμάραντο δέμας, περὶ δ’ ὀστέα μοῦνον | ῥινὸς ἔην, ὀλοὴ δὲ παρηΐδας ἀμφέχυτ’ αὐχμὴ | λευγαλέον ῥυπόωντος. Attius fr. 14 quod te obsecro, aspernabilem ne haec taetritudo mea me inculta faxit. Cp. Tennyson, ‘Downward from his mountain gorge | Stept the longhair'd long-bearded solitary, | Brown, looking hardly human, strangely clad’...

κακούμενον , suffering hardship. Cp. 268 πρὸς θεῶν κακοῦται (he suffers reverses). 932 D τῶν κακούντων ἢ κακουμένων, those who inflict or who suffer injury. This is a certain correction of the vulg. καλούμενον , which cannot be defended either as (1) pass., ‘called,’—explained by Blomfield as being here little more than ὄντα: or (2) midd., ‘invoking’ you. Soph. once uses the midd., Soph. 1385(ἀρὰς) ἅς σοι καλοῦμαι: but here the obscurity would be extreme.

ἀλλ’ , appealing, ‘nay’ ( 237 n.).

ὑμῶν ἁμαρτεῖν τοῦτό γ’ , lit., to be disappointed, in regard to this, on your part. The gen. ὑμῶν is not construed directly with ἁμαρτεῖν (as though ‘to fail of you’ meant ‘to be repulsed by you’), but is like the gen. in 580 πάντ’ ἐμοῦ κομίζεται (‘from me’), ib. 1163 ἐδεξάμην δέ του. The acc. τοῦτο , again, is not directly governed by ἁμαρτεῖν, but is analogous to the acc. of pronouns or adjectives which can stand, almost adverbially, after τυγχάνω and κυρῶ, as Aesch. 711 τυγχάνειν τὰ πρόσφορα: see Soph. 1298 n. In L the reviser has written εἰς τοῦτο over τοῦτο, showing that he understood it thus. Cp. Eupolis fr. 25 λέγ’ ὅτου )πιθυμεῖς, κοὐδὲν ἀτυχήσεις ἐμοῦ (so Meineke, with Priscian 18. 1175, who has καὶ οὐδὲν: though Bekker 462 gives οὐ γὰρ). Thus Wunder's change of τοῦτό γ’ to τοῦδέ γ’ seems needless, though the double gen. could be illustrated by 1315 (cp. 1170 n.), and the phrase by Eur. 867 οὐ τἂν ἁμάρτοις τοῦδέ γ’, ἀλλ’ ἀκούσομαι.

ἀλλ’ , in assent: 48 n.

οὕνεκα = ὅτι: 63 n.

φεῦ , expressing joyful wonder: Ar. 1724 ὦ φεῦ φεῦ τῆς ὥρας, τοῦ κάλλους.

τὸ καὶ λαβεῖν , ‘that I should e'en, really, have received....’ Cp. Eur. 1051 ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐμῆς κάκης, | τὸ καὶ προσέσθαι μαλθακοὺς λόγους φρενί (‘nay, out upon my cowardice,—that I should e'en have admitted such soft pleadings to my soul!’). Xen. 2. 2. 3 εἶπε πρὸς αὑτόν· Τῆς τύχης, τὸ ἐμὲ νῦν κληθέντα δεῦρο τυχεῖν (‘to think that...!’).

τοιοῦδ’ ἀνδρὸς , not merely a Greek, but one of such gentle breeding as is announced by the stranger's mien and speech.

ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ , after it: cp. Eur. 305 χρόνῳ σὸν ὄμμα μυρίαις ἐν ἁμέραις | προσεῖδον: Soph. 88 n.

προσέσχε has been much suspected, because προσέχω, in its nautical use, means, ‘touch at’ a place, not, ‘cause one to touch at it.’ But προσέχω, as=‘touch at,’ meant properly, ‘to guide one's ship towards’ ( Her. 9. 99 προσσχόντες τὰς νέας),— ναῦν being commonly understood. Where prose, then, would say, τίνος χρῄζων προσέσχες (τὴν ναῦν); poetry might surely say, τίς χρεία προσέσχε σε; ‘what need guided thy course to land?’ It may be added that προσήγαγεν is itself an argument for προσέσχε . ‘Brought thee to this shore,—aye, brought thee to my side.’ προσέσχε implies only a passing visit to the coast; προσήγαγε supplements it in a way suitable to the forlorn man's eager hope.

τίς ἀνέμων ὁ φίλτατος ;=τίς (ἄνεμος), ἀνέμων ὁ φίλτατος (ὤν); the art. emphasizes the superl.: see n. on 100 τὸ κάλλιστον...τῶν προτέρων φάος.

γέγωνε , imperat. of the perf. γέγωνα, of which the subjunct. γεγώνω occurs 213(n.).

ὅπως εἰδῶ without ἄν, as 776, 6, etc.: 889 λέξαθ’, ὡς εἰδῶ τὸ πᾶν.

γένος , acc. of respect: 706 Αἰνιὰν γένος: fr. 61. 3 κἀργείᾳ γένος. Verg. 8. 114 Qui genus (sc. estis)?

Σκύρου : for the gen., cp. 236 n. Scyros (still ), the small island, about 25 miles long from N.W. to S.E. , which lies about 35 miles E. of Euboea, nearly in the latitude of Trachis. In 469 B.C. Cimon expelled the predatory Dolopes from the island, and brought the reputed remains of Theseus to Athens. Scyros then became a possession of the Athenians, in whose estimation it was a dreary and insignificant little place ([Dem.] or. 52 § 9 ): Σκυρία ἀρχή suggested the same idea as vacuis aedilis Ulubris. The name means ‘stony.’ σκύρος (ὁ), which Curtius connects with ξύειν ‘to scrape,’ was used to denote ‘chips from hewn stones’ (λατύπη). At Cyrene the σκυρωτὴ ὁδός ( Pind. 5. 93) was not a ‘paved’ road, but a road ‘hewn’ out of the solid rock.—Cp. Apollodorus 3. 13. 8: ‘Thetis, in the foreknowledge that Achilles must perish if he went to the war, disguised him in woman's attire, and left him, as a girl, in Scyros. There he grew up, and married Deidameia (Δηϊδάμεια) daughter of Lycomedes [king of Scyros]; and a son was born to them, Pyrrhus, afterwards called Neoptolemus.’<

Νεοπτόλεμος : ¯˘˘˘ : cp. 4n.— οἶσθα δὴ τὸ πᾶν : cp. 389: 1240: 402 πάντ’ ἐπίστασαι, n.

ὦ φίλης χθονός , O thou (who belongest to) a dear land. The possessive gen. can thus be used, without a subst., just as the gen. of origin (a special form of the possessive) is so used, 379 ὦ δύστηνος | καὶ δυστήνου πατρός. We cannot well repeat παῖ with ὦ φίλης χθονός, because, though classical idiom allowed παῖδες Ἑλλήνων, it would hardly allow παῖς Ἑλλάδος in the fig. sense, ‘a son of Greece.’ That would mean rather, ‘a boy belonging to Greece’ (cp. Ἑλλάδος νεανίαι, 52). It seems needless to write ὦ )κ φίλης χθονός.

θρέμμα Λυκομήδους , because the infant Neoptolemus was left to the care of his maternal grandfather, Lycomedes (239 n.), after his father had gone to Troy. Cp. 19. 326(Achilles speaks) ὃς Σκύρῳ μοι ἔνι τρέφεται φίλος υἱός. In 1143 θρέμμα =‘foster-son.’— στόλῳ (causal dat.), mission, errand: 358 τίς σ’ ἐξῆρεν οἴκοθεν στόλος;— προσέσχες … γῆν . The usual dative would be awkward here, on account of τίνι στόλῳ: and the acc. is warranted by the analogy of κατέχω γῆν as=κατέχω εἰς γῆν (221 n.): cp. 355 f. In Polyb. 2. 9. 2 μέρος δέ τι (τῶν λέμβων ) προσέσχε τὸν Ἐπιδαμνίων λιμένα, Bekker is probably right in adding πρὸς before τόν.—After γῆν a comma seems better than a note of interrogation: cp. τίς πόθεν εἶς, etc. (220 n.).

ἐξ Ἰλίου τοι δὴ κ.τ.λ. Here τοι =‘you must know,’ and δὴ =‘then’ ( i.e., ‘since you ask me’). The effect of the particles (which could be properly represented only by voice and manner) is to give an easy, ready tone to the answer. Cp. n. on 1171(though the tone there is somewhat different) κείνου γέ τοι δὴ παῖς ἐκλήζεθ’. Burges thinks that τοι δὴ , without a preceding γε, is strange, and conjectures )γὼ δὴ . But τοί and δή have each their proper force, which does not depend on γε: and here a γε before τοι would have over-emphasised Ἰλίου.

οὐ γὰρ δὴ σύ γ’ : (How can you be coming from Troy?),—for you certainly did not go there with us at first. For this use of οὐ γὰρ δή...γε in rejecting an alternative supposition, see 110 n.—The order of the words almost compels us to join κατ’ ἀρχὴν τοῦ … στόλου : cp. 664 E κατ’ ἀρχὰς τῶν λόγων. Then ἦσθα ναυβάτης (cp. 1027) ἡμῖν (dat. of interest)=‘sailedst in our fleet.’ But it would also be possible to join ναυβάτης with τοῦ στόλου (partitive gen., cp. 73), taking κατ’ ἀρχήν as=‘originally.’

ἦ γὰρ in eager question: 322, 654, 64.

πόνου , of warfare, the peculiarly Homeric use (as 11. 601 εἰσορόων πόνον αἰπὺν ἰῶκά τε δακρυόεσσαν), also freq. in Herod. (9. 27 ἐν τοῖσι Τρωϊκοῖσι πόνοισι): cp. Eur. 107 ἐξ Ἰλίου τε κἀπὸ Τρωϊκῶν πόνων.

οὐ γὰρ ...; As in ἦ γάρ (248) and πῶς γάρ (250), the γάρ marks surprise (‘your words are strange, — for ...’ etc.).

οἶσθα κάτοιδ’ , as 1063 f. ἴσθι...κατισθι: 922 ΗΛ. οὐκ οἶσθ’ ὅποι γῆς οὐδ’ ὅποι γνώμης φέρει. ΧΡ. πῶς δ’ οὐκ ἐγὼ κάτοιδ’ ἅ γ’ εἶδον ἐμφανῶς;

πῶς … κάτοιδ’ ; ‘how do I know?’=‘of course I do not know.’ This form is more emphatic, because more direct, than πῶς ἂν ᾔδη (or εἰδείην), or πῶς ἔμελλον εἰδέναι; But it is rare except in affirmation (i.e., with πῶς οὐ...), as in ; Xen. 18§ 3 τοῦτο μὲν οἶσθα...τί δ’ οὐκ, ἔφην ἐγώ, οἶδα; See, however, Her. I. 75 κῶς γὰρ...διέβησαν αὐτόν; (=‘how can they have crossed the river?’).

ὄνοὐ ἄῤ is better than ὄνομά γ’ (cp. fr. 315 ὑμεῖς μὲν οὐκ ἄρ’ ᾖστε τὸν Προμηθέα;). The variant οὐδ’ οὔνομ’ might seem to favour οὐ τοὔνομ’ , but the latter (without ἄρα) would be too abrupt: οὐδ’ is clearly genuine. More probably οὔνομ’ (a form unknown to Tragedy) was merely a late attempt to mend the metre.— Ph. here asks, in effect: ‘Finding me, a lonely sufferer, here in Lemnos, cannot you guess who I am?’—and the youth answers, No. This is quite consistent with 261, where Ph. assumes that his name, when announced, will be recognised. Neoptolemus might have heard of him as possessing the bow of Heracles (262), and yet not have heard of him as suffering on Lemnos. We could not join ὄνομα, as=‘mention,’ with κακῶν.

διωλλύμην , all these ten years, while my former comrades have been active at Troy.<

ἴσθι με ὡς μηδὲν εἰδότ’ , rest assured that I know nothing. ὡς marks the mental point of view (‘regard me in the light of one who knows nothing’): distinguish this use of it from that in 117 (n.). μηδὲν is generic (170 n.), not due to the imperat.: cp. 415; 1063 ὡς μὴ )μπολήσων ἴσθι τὴν ἐμὴν φρένα. For ὡς cp. also below, Ant. 567: 848.

πόλλ’ adv., ‘very’: 1514 n.

πικρὸς : schol. ἐχθρός. Cp. Eur. 955(a soothsayer) ἢν μὲν ἐχθοὰ σημήνας τύχῃ, | πικρὸς καθέστηχ’ οἶς ἂν οἰωνοσκοπῇ, ‘odious.’ Hence the conject. στυγνὸς (Nauck) is wholly needless. The active sense, ‘hostile,’ is more freq., as Soph. 1359 νῦν φίλοι καὖθις πικροί .

οὗ μηδὲ κ.τ.λ., a man of whom no report (the generic μή, 170n.).

οἴκαδε , to Malis (4 n.),—where the tidings would have had a special interest: μηδ’ Ἑλλάδος γῆς μηδαμοῦ , nor in any part of Hellas (for the gen., cp. 204 τῆδε τόπων n.). As Neoptolemus is coming from Troy, the words have more force if we suppose the poet to use Ἑλλάς in the larger sense which was so familiar in his own day,— as including all lands inhabited by Greeks. Thus the Ἑλλάς of Her. comprises Ionia (I. 92) and Sicily (7. 157); and Soph. himself ( Soph. 1060) has οὔθ’ Ἑλλὰς οὔτ’ ἄγλωσσος. The thought will then be, ‘he had not heard of me from the mainland of Greece before he left Scyros; nor has he heard of me, since he has been at Troy, from any part of the Greek world.’ It is no objection, of course, that the Homeric poems do not recognise the Greek colonies in Asia Minor; the Attic drama was not careful in such matters. Even, however, if we restricted Ἑλλάδος γῆς to Greece Proper, it would still be natural that Ph. should say, ‘neither to Malis, nor to any part of Greece.’ Nauck, thus limiting Ἑλλάς, pronounces the distinction unmeaning; he further objects to ὧδ’ ἔχοντος (because Ph. means that, not merely his plight, but his existence, is unknown); and therefore rejects ὦδ’ ἔχοντος οἴκαδε | μηδ’ Ἑλλάδος γῆς.

μηδαμοῦ need not be changed to μηδαμοῖ: cp. 1019 ὁδοῦ ... τῆς ἐκεῖ (=ἐκεῖσε): 1099 ὁδοιποροῦμεν ἔνθα (=οἷ) χρῄζομεν.

πω should prob. be read instead of που . The long lapse of time imagined renders πω forcible; while που could mean only, ‘I ween’; it could not go with μηδαμοῦ as=‘to no place whatsoever.’ In 1370, where πω is certain, L has που from the first hand. In fr. 467, again, λόγῳ γὰρ ἕλκος οὐδὲν οἶδά που τυχεῖν, the correction πω (Dindorf) is clearly right.

σῖγ’ ἔχοντες , i.e., saying nothing about Ph. 's fate, but allowing it to pass out of men's minds. Cp. Soph. 954 ἦ ῥα κελαινώπαν θυμὸν ἐφυβρίζει πολύτλας ἀνήρ, | γελᾷ δὲ τοῖσδε μαινομένοις ἄχεσιν | πολὺν γέλωτα.

τέθηλε : 260(πήματα) θάλλοντα μᾶλλον ἢ καταφθίνονθ’ ὁρῶ.

κἀπὶ μεῖζον ἔρχεται : cp. 638(οὐ) μὴ τὸ μηδὲν ἄλγος εἰς μέγ’ οἴσετε; Thuc. 1. 118§ 2 ἐπὶ μέγα ἐχώρησαν δυνάμεως: 4. 117 ἐπὶ μεῖζον χωρήσαντος αὐτοῦ (when he had made further progress).

ἐξ : cp. 910 : 193 παίδων τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου, n.

ὅδ’ εἴμ’ ἐγώ σοι (ethic dat.) κεῖνος : cp. 665 ἥδε σοι κείνη πάρα: 138 ὅδ’ ἐκεῖνος ἐγώ, n.— κλύεις , pres., knowest by hearsay: cp. 591: 305 εἰ καὶ μὴ κλύεις τῶν ἀγγέλων: 792 ὅσῳπερ κἀκ σαφεστέρων κλύω.

τῶν Ἡρ ... ὅπλων : the bow given by Apollo to Heracles, and by him to Ph. , as a reward for kindling the pyre on Oeta: cp. 198 n., 670 n.

δεσπότην : cp. Aesch. 27 τοιῶνδε δεσπότης μαντευμάτων. So dominus.

ὃν οἱ : for the art. at the end of the v., see on 409 ἣ κατεῖχε τὸν | νέκυν.

χὡ Κεφαλλήνων ἄναξ : cp. 2. 631 αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἦγε Κεφαλλῆνας μεγαθύμους: who are there described as inhabiting Ithaca, Zacynthus, Samos (=Cephallenia, first so called in Her. 9. 28), and other islands off the coast of Acarnania, as well as part of the mainland itself. So Hom. 24. 378(Laertes) Κεφαλλήνεσσιν ἀνάσσων. Buttmann thinks that both here and in 791 (ὦξένε Κεφαλλήν) the name is used scornfully. Its Homeric associations, at least, are honourable (cp. Hom. 4. 330 , Κεφαλλήνων ἀμφὶ στίχες οὐκ ἀλαπαδναί). To assume that the Cephallenians were despised because the Taphii, their neighbours, were pirates ( Hom. 15. 427), seems a little unfair to them. But it is very likely that the name is used, if not with scorn, yet with a tone of dislike,—‘king of those crafty islanders.’ The Athenians had experienced the skill of Cephallenians in laying a deadly ambuscade ( Thuc. 2. 33).

ἀγρίᾳ is followed by ἀγρίῳ in 267. The effect is certainly unpleasing. But with regard to such repetitions it must always be remembered that ancient poetry was far less fastidious than modern: see n. on 88 (πράσσειν). On the other hand, Eustathius, the witness for φοινίῳ in 267 (cp. cr. n.), was frequently loose in citation: see , append., p. 249. The recurrence of ἔρημον in 269 offends less, but is noteworthy. It is not surprising that interpolation should have been suspected. Three views have been held. (1) Prinz would reduce vv. 264—269 to three (see crit. note). This reconstruction is too violent to be probable. (2) Nauck would omit the words ἔρημον, ἀγρίᾳ | νόσῳ καταφθίνοντα. But ξὺν ᾗ in 268 confirms vόσῳ: it could not refer to ἐχίδνης. And ξὺν ᾧ would hardly have become ξὺν ᾗ. (3) Jacob A. proposed to omit vv. 268-70. This would obviate the repetition of ἔρημον, and of ᾤχοντ’ (273); but it would also suppress the notice of Chrysè; which, however, Ph. would naturally mention, as he supposes that the whole story is new to the youth. I believe that there has been no interpolation, though Soph. has written with some verbal negligence. The point of vv. 264—267 is the putting ashore (ἔρ‐ ριψαν): that of 268—270, the desertion (ᾤχοντ’).

τῆς … ἐχίδνης , that which guards Chrysè's shrine (1327). The definite art. is sufficiently natural, as Ph. is following the train of his own memories, —even if he supposes that N. has not heard of the ἔχιδνα before (cp. 255).— χαράγματι , the rent left by the serpent's bite: cp. 26 πυρὸς χάραγμ’ (brand of fire,—on horses): [Eur. ] 73 νῶτον χαραχθείς (wounded).

ξὺν ᾗ , referring to νόσῳ,— ‘in company with’ it,=ᾗ ξυνόντα , cp. 1022: 17 σὺν γήρᾳ βαρεῖς.

ᾤχοντ’ would probably follow ἔρημον , but gains emphasis by coming first; for the irregular order of words, cp. 1251 n.

τῆς ποντίας Χρύσης , the small island near Lemnos (see n. on 8 ff., and Introd.). κατέσχον : 221 n.

ἄσμενοι , because they could now slip away without being vexed by his entreaties and reproaches. The word adds an effective touch to the picture of their heartlessness. Dindorf's ἄσμενον (received by Nauck and Blaydes) is far weaker; nor is it suitable. In Lys. or. 1 § 13 ἐκάθευδον ἄσμενος means, ‘I gladly went to sleep’ (inchoative imperf.). Here, however, ἄσμενον εὕδοντα would mean, not ‘gladly going to sleep,’ but ‘gladly sleeping,’—as though with conscious satisfaction.

ἐκ πολλοῦ σάλου , after the rough passage from the islet of Chrysè to Lemnos (see on 8 ff.). Cp. 150 ἐκ ...πολέμων : ib. 163 πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες .

κατηρεφεῖ , roofed over, i.e., here, over-arching,—forming a cave; cp. 885 n.

πέτρᾳ , ‘a rock,’ is a necessary correction of πέτρῳ , ‘a stone.’ πέτρος is never used in the larger sense, nor could the epithet here justify such a use. Cp. Xen. 4. 3. 11 ἐν πέτρᾳ ἀντρώδει: but ib. 7. 12 οὐδεὶς πέτρος (i.e., none of the λίθοι mentioned in § 10) ἄνωθεν ἠνέχθη .

οἷα , adv.,=ὡς , cp. 293, 751: φωτὶ δυσμόρῳ , as for some poor wretch, some beggar, for whom their least gifts were good enough. Cp. Ar. 424 ἀλλ’ ἦ φιλοκτήτου τὰ τοῦ πτωχοῦ λέγεις; ( sc. ῥάκη). Not, ‘rags such as my wretched state required’ (i.e. for dressing his wound, cp. 39).

καί τι καὶ : cp. 308: fr. 304 καὶ δή τι καὶ παρεῖκα τῶν ἀρτυμάτων: Thuc. 1. 107 καί τι (adv.) καὶ τοῦ δήμου καταλύσεως ὑποψίᾳ: id. 2. 17 καί τι καὶ Πυθικοῦ μαντείου ἀκροτελεύτιον: Pind. 1. 28 καί πού τι (adv.) καὶ βροτῶν φάτις κ.τ.λ.

βορᾶς : to avoid the pollution of directly causing his death by starvation: cp. on 775 φορβῆς τοσοῦτον ὡς ἄγος μόνον προθείς.

οἷ’ αὐτοῖς τύχοι : cp. 315 : Xen. 3. 2. 3 οἴομαι γὰρ ἂν ἡμᾶς τοιαῦτα παθεῖν οἶα τοὺς ἐχθροὺς οἱ θεοὶ ποιήσειαν.

σὺ δὴ (which has been needlessly altered, see cr. n.) suits the earnest appeal: ‘try to imagine for yourself what I felt.’

ἀνάστασιν , cogn. acc. with στῆναι as=ἀναστῆναι (cp. 50 στάντες τ’ ἐς ὀρθόν).

ποἶ ἐκδακρῦσαι ( δάκρυα): cp. Eur. 1344 ὥστ’ ἐκδακρῦσαί γ’ (burst into tears).

ποἶ ἀποιμῶξαι κακά , ‘what woes I lamented.’ This version is recommended (a) by the fact that the following verses develope a picture of the κακά: (b) by the ordinary use of ἀποιμώζειν with an acc. of the object deplored, as 1224: Eur. 31: Eur. 635, Eur. Alc. 768: Aesch. fr. 134. But another version is also possible: ‘shrieked out reproaches.’ Here, however, he is speaking rather of his misery than of his resentment.

ὁρῶντα ναῦς μὲν βεβώσας, ἄνδρα δὲ κ.τ.λ.: cp. 1136 ὁρῶν μὲν αἰσχρὰς ἀπάτας, στυγνὸν δὲ φῶτ’ ἐχθοδοπόν. In both passages the irregular place of μέν is due to the writer having begun as if he intended to repeat the partic. of ὁράω: as here, ὁρῶντα μὲν ναῦς...ὁρῶντα δὲ ἄνδρα ( 25 φθίνουσα μὲν...φθίνουσα δ’, n.). Cp. 372 ff., n.

οὐχ is equivalent to a repetition of οὐδένα. For ὅστις ἀρκέσειεν , cp. 693 f. παρ’ ᾧ...ἀποκλαύσειεν (where, as here, the sentence is negative). 588 ff. οὐδένα γὰρ εἶχον ὅστις Ἀργόθεν μολὼν | εἰς Ἄργος αὖθις τὰς ἐμὰς ἐπιστολὰς | πέμψειε. And in a positive sentence, Soph. 903 κρύψασ’ ἑαυτὴν ἔνθα μή τις εἰσίδοι. The relative clause with the optative is, in such instances, virtually a final clause (as here, ‘no one to help’). Instead of such an optative, we usually find in Attic the fut. ind., even after a secondary tense; as if here we had οὐχ ὅστις ἀρκέσει: e.g. 2. 3. 2 ἔδοξε τῷ δήμῳ τριάκοντα ἄνδρας ἑλέσθαι, οἳ τοὺς πατρίους νόμους συγγράψουσι.

The origin of this use of the optative is disputed. (1) According to one view, it is an extension of the deliberative use. From the direct question, τίς ἀρκέσῃ; comes the indirect ἀπορῶ ὅστις ἀρκέσῃ: and, after a secondary tense, ἠπόρουν ὅστις ἀρκέσειεν. ( 7. 4. 39 ἠπόρει ὅ τι χρήσαιτο τῷ πράγματι.) In οὐδένα εἶχον ὅστις ἀρκέσειεν the interrogative sense of ὅστις has passed into a purely relative sense, and the clause has become final. For this view, see Sidgwick A. in , vol. v. p. 148, 1891. (2) Others hold that this optative is simply a potential, equivalent to the optative with ἄν. Prof. W. G. Hale, after a full discussion, decides for this view: see , vol. XXIV. pp. 156—205, 1894.

νόσου κάμνοντι συλλάβοιτο , put a helping hand to the disease, i.e., help to lighten its burden, for me in my suffering. As λαμβάνομαί τινος=to lay hold on a thing, so συλλαμβάνομαί τινός τινι=to lay hold on it along with another person; i.e., to help him with it. Eur. 946 συλλήψομαι δὲ τοῦδέ σοι κἀγὼ πόνου. Thuc. 4. 47§ 2 ξυνελάβοντο δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου οὐχ ἥκιστα, they mainly contributed to such a result. Cp. id. 4. 10 § 1 οἱ ξυναράμενοι τοῦδε τοῦ κινδύνου.

πάντα δὲ σκοπῶν : δέ here=ἀλλά: 85 n.

πλὴν ἀνιᾶσθαι : for the absence of the art., cp. 608 n.: Antiphanes fr. incert. 51 καταλείπεθ’ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τεθνηκέναι. παρόν : cp. 959 πάρεστι μὲν στένειν | ... | πάρεστι δ’ ἀλγεῖν. Musgave cp. Hor. 2. 5. 68 invenietque Nil sibi legatum praeter plorare suisque.

εὐμάρειαν , ease (704), hence, abundance. Cp. Aesch. fr. 237 κοὔπω τις Ἀκταίων’ ἄθηρος ἡμέρα | κενόν, πόνου πλουτοῦντ’ ἔπεμψεν οἴκαδε. The author of the ‘Letters of Phalaris’ had this passage in mind, 33 (Schaefer) ἐδήλωσεν ὅτι πάντων ἐνδεεῖς ἐστὲ πλὴν λιμοῦ καὶ φόβου· τούτων δὲ [cp. τούτου δὲ here] ὑμᾶς καὶ λίαν εὐμοιρεῖν [v. l. εὐπορεῖν].

ὁ μὲν χρόνος δὴ διὰ χρόνου κ.τ.λ. The text has been boldly altered by some editors (see cr. n.), in order to get rid of διὰ χρόνου: but the iteration is itself a proof of soundness. Such iteration is constantly employed in expressing a succession of seasons or periods; ‘day by day,’ ἔτος εἰς ἔτος ( 340), παρ’ <*>μαρ ἡμέρα ( 475), Mod. Gr. χρόνο σὲ χρόνο (‘year after year’), truditur dies die (Hor. 2. 18. 15) , etc. The phrase διὰ χρόνου regularly means, ‘after an interval of time’: cp. 758: Lys. or. 1 § 12 ἀσμένη με ἑωρακυῖα ἥκοντα διὰ χρόνου : Xen. 1. 4. 28 ἤκω διὰ χρόνου . So here, ὁ χρόνος προὔβαινέ μοι , time was ever moving on for me, διὰ χρόνου , as (each) space of time was left behind. (The ‘each’ is implied in the imperfect προὔβαινε, which denotes not a single advance, but a series of advances.) Suppose that the interval denoted by διὰ χρόνου is a month. ‘One month having elapsed’ (διὰ χρόνου—as each month came to an end), ‘time kept moving on’ ( i.e. a new month began). Render, then, ‘Time went on for me, season by season.’ Cp. Tennyson, ‘Thus over Enoch's early-silvering head | The sunny and rainy seasons came and went | Year after year.’—Ellendt, rightly starting from the sense of διὰ χρόνου as ‘after an interval,’ wrongly explains it here as simply tarde, ‘pausenweise’: i.e. ‘time went on with many a pause’: as if, to Philoctetes, time seemed, at moments, to stand still. The error here consists in excepting the intervals denoted by διὰ χρόνου from the whole progress described by προὔβαινε.—Not: ‘time kept moving on through time’: as if ὁ χρόνος were the moving point, while διὰ χρόνου denoted its course.—For προὔβαινε , cp. Her. 3. 53 τοῦ χρόνου προβαίνοντος: Lys. or. 1 § 11 προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου .

κἄδει τι . The sense of τι here is nearly ἕκαστόν τι, just as τις sometimes =ἕκαστός τις ( Thuc. 1. 40 τοὺς ξυμμάχους αὐτόν τινα κολάζειν); a sense which the impf. ἔδει brings out, by implying successive needs at successive moments.— βαιᾷ , of size, as Aesch. 447 νῆσος... | βαιά .

διακονεῖσθαι , midd.: schol. ἐμαυτῷ ἐξυπηρετεῖσθαι. That the midd. would suggest, to an Attic ear, ‘serving oneself,’ may be inferred from 763 A διακονοῦντές τε καὶ διακονούμενοι ἑαυτοῖς, ‘serving (the State), and serving themselves’ (cp. Ar. 1017 αὑτῷ διακονεῖται). In later Greek, however, the midd. is sometimes no more than the act.; e.g. Lucian 35 δεξιῶς ὑπηρέτει καὶ διηκονεῖτο ἡμῖν.

ὑποπτέρους is perh. meant here to suggest ‘shy’ (and therefore hard to shoot); for the word often implies ‘taking wing’: cp. 1236 μεθίημι vεῖκος τὸ σόν, ἴτω δ’ ὑπόπτερον: id. fr. 420. 4 ὑπόπτερος δ’ ὁ πλοῦτος. So 139 πέφόβημαι, | πτηνῆς ὡς ὄμμα πελείας.

ὅ μοι βάλοι : for the optat. referring to an indefinite number of acts in past time, cp. Lys. or. 23 § 3 οὕς τε ἐξευρίσκοιμι Δεκελέων, ἐπυνθανόμην : Xen. 5. 3. 55 οὓς μὲν ἴδοι,...ἠρώτα.

νευροσπαδὴς , ‘with drawn string,’ i.e., ‘drawn back along with the string.’ The epithet pictures the moment of taking aim, and thus suggests, though it does not literally express, the idea, ‘sped from the string.’ Not, ‘drawing the string back’ (by the pressure of the notch). Cp. 1216 ἁρμὸν...λιθοσπαδῆ, an opening made by dragging stones away; where the adj. implies λίθων ἐσπασμένων, as here the adj. implies ἀπὸ νευρᾶς ἐσπασμένης .

ἄτρακτος . If the ἀ be for ἀμφ (as Curtius suggests, comparing ἄ‐βολος, cloak), the word meant, ‘what turns (τρεπ) round’; hence (1) spindle; then (2) shaft, arrow: 714: Thuc. 4. 40§ 2, where a Laconian uses it, and Thuc. explains it by τὸν ὀϊστόν. Aesch. adds the qualifying epithet τοξικῷ (fr. 139).

αὐτὸς , having no dog to fetch it.

εἰλυόμην (cp. 702), ‘crawl’; cp. Plat. 92A ἄποδα...καὶ ἰλυσπώμενα ἐπὶ γῆς. The word suggests that each step with the sound foot is followed by a slight halt, while the other foot is dragged after it. Thus the notion is different from that of εἰλίποδες (βοῦς), where a ‘rolling’ gait is meant. Cp. on 163. A cornelian intaglio in the Berlin collection shows Philoctetes thus εἰλυόμενος, with the help of a stick in his left hand, while the righ<*> holds his bow and quiver; the left foot is the wounded one. (Milani, p. 78: see Introd.) It is clear from 215 (πταίων) and 894 (ὀρθώσει) that the poet imagines him as striving to walk erect, and not as creeping prone, with the knee of the sound leg against the ground.

ἂν with the iterative impf. in apodosis, after optat. in protasis, as oft.: cp. Isocr. or. 6 § 52 τὸν παρελθόντα χρόνον, εἰ...εἷς μόνος Λακεδαιμονίων βοηθήσειεν, ὑπὸ πάντων ἂν ὡμολογεῖτο (‘it used to be allowed’) παρὰ τοῦτον γενέσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῖς. Cp. 294 f.

δύστηνον , as 1377 δυστήνῳ ποδί.

ἐξέλκων : cp. Eur. 303 γήρᾳ τρομερὰν ἕλκω ποδὸς βάσιν.

πρὸς τοῦτ ἄν : for the repetition of ἄν, cp. 223 n.: that of πρὸς τοῦτο emphasises the limit of the painful effort.

πάγου χυθέντος : cp. 853 κέχυται νόσος, ‘hath spread abroad’ (through his frame). Attius, fr. 1 profusus gelus. Psalm cxlvii. 16: ‘He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels.’

οἷα : 273 n.— Nauck would delete this verse, because it is unreasonable that the hero should delay providing himself with firewood until the frost has set in.

ξύλον τι . Lemnos is now almost devoid of wood, save for a few plane-trees in the water-courses, and a little undergrowth.—For ἄν with iterative impf., cp. on 291 f.

ἐν πέτροισι πέτρον . For the change of quantity, cp. 827 (ὕπνε ): 442 οἱ τοῦ πατρὸς τω—| πατρὶ: ib. 883 ἆρ’ οὐχ ὕβρις τάδ);—ὕβρις: 1310 f. δείλαι^ος...—δειλαίᾳ: 148 ἃ Ἴτυν, αἰὲν Ἴτυν ὀλοφύρεται.

ἐκτρίβων , rubbing hard (ἐκ=‘thoroughly,’ i.e. till the spark comes). The v. l. ἐκθλίβων would mean, ‘pressing’ or ‘squeezing,’ and is unsuitable. Cp. Xen. 2. 2. 15 ἔκ γε σοῦ πῦρ...ῥᾷον ἄν τις ἐκτρίψειεν ἢ γέλωτα ἐξαγάγοιτο. The use of two stones would suggest concussion rather than friction. The Eskimos kindle fire by striking a piece of iron pyrites with a piece of quartz (instead of flint); the Alaskans of North America, and the Aleutian islanders (in the North Pacific), use two pieces of quartz, smeared with native sulphur. (M. Elie Reclus, in , art. ‘Fire.’) ἐκτρίβων might, however, cover the case of a slanting or scraping blow. In Lucian 1. 32 τὰ πυρεῖα συντρίψαντες refers to rubbing sticks together.

ἔφην’ ἄφαντον φῶς , made the invisible light visible, i.e. drew the spark forth from its hiding place in the stone. Cp. 647(Time) φύει τ’ ἄδηλα καὶ φανέντα κρύπτεται. Blaydes compares Synesius 138 σπινθῆρα κεκρυμμένον καὶ ἀγαπῶντα λανθάνειν. 1. 135

ἄφαντον could hardly be, ‘barely seen,’ as if the sense were that the feeble spark instantly vanished again.

οἰκουμένη γὰρ οὖν , ‘for indeed...’: cp. 489 n. Remark οὖν in the thesis of the 3rd foot; so δή ( 23), and even περ (ib. 896).

ἐμέ has been suspected. But it serves to qualify the general sentiment by a reference to his special circumstances:—‘shelter and fire give all that a man needs—except, in my case, health.’

φέρε … μάθῃς , L's reading, presents an unexampled construction. Elsewhere the subjunctive after φέρε occurs only in the first person, sing., as 1452, 787 φέρ’ ἴδω: or plur., as id. 1516 φέρε νυν...ξυγχωρήσωμεν. On the other hand, φέρ’ εἰπέ occurs eight times in Soph. (433; Soph. 390, Soph. O. T. 536, Soph. O. T. 1142: Soph. 534: Soph. 310, Soph. El. 376: Soph. 890). In Her. 4. 127 φέρετε, τούτους ἀνευρόντες συγχέειν πειρᾶσθε αὐτούς, the 2nd verb is imperat., not subj. If φέρε...μάθῃς be retained, it can be defended only as an irregular equivalent for φέρε...φράσω or the like (cp. Her. 2. 14 φέρε δὲ νῦν καὶ αὐτοῖσι Αἰγυπτίοισι ὡς ἔχει φράσω ).

Several recent editors (see cr. n.) cut the knot by reading μάθε . It is, however, improbable that, if μάθε had been the genuine reading—giving so plain a construction—it would have been corrupted to the unparalleled μάθῃς . A more attractive conjecture is Seyffert's κἂν … μάθοις . If κἂν had once become καὶ (a most easy change), then μάθοις might have been altered to μάθῃς by a postclassical corrector. For the optat. with ἄν in courteous proposal or request, cp. 674 : 637 κλύοις ἂν ἤδη .

τὸ τῆς νήσου , its case, condition: cp. Thuc. 8. 89 οὐκ ἐδόκει μόνιμον τὸ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας ἔσεσθαι: 712 D τὸ γὰρ τῶν ἐφόρων...τυραννικὸν...γέγονε: id. 450C τὸ τῆς τέχνης : Eur. 785 τὸ τῆς τύχης. Hence τὰ is a needless conjecture.

οὐ γάρ τις ὅρμος ἐστίν . The absence of a safe ὅρμος is compatible with the existence of λιμένες (936 n.); and Philoctetes knows only the coast near his cave. If the calls Lemnos ἐϋκτιμένη (21. 40), it also calls it ἀμιχθαλόεσσα (24. 753), which was probably understood in antiquity as ‘inhospitable’ (μίγνυμι); though a modern view co<*>nects it with μιχ‐, ὀμίχλη, (our mist,) as=‘smoky,’ i.e., volcanic. In the time of Sophocles, Lemnos possessed two towns,—Hephaestia, on the N. coast, of which the site has lately been identified by Conze (); and Myrīna, now Kastro, on the W. coast. There was once an excellent harbour at Hephaestia; there still is one at Kastro, the present seat of trade. Geod anchorage is also afforded by a deep bay on the N. coast (now ‘Purnia’), and by another on the S. (now ‘Mudros’).

οὐδ’ ὅποι πλέων : nor (is there a place), sailing to which, ἐξεμπολήσει κέρδος , a man shall sell off his wares at a profit. There is no ἐμπόριον. The acc. κέρδος seems to be ‘cognate’ (=κερδαλέαν ἐξεμπόλησιν), rather than objective (as if ἐξεμπ. meant, ‘achieve by trading’): cp. Her. 1. 1 ἐξεμπολημένων (Ion.) σφι σχεδὸν πάντων: cp. Soph. 1036 ἐξημπόλημαι n. (We cannot compare Soph. 92 τό γ’ εὖ πράσσειν...κέρδος ἐμπολᾷ, ‘brings in’ gain.) The subject to ἐξεμπολήσει is τις, easily supplied from ναυβάτης (301).

ξενώσεται , pass.: cp. 48 n. In Lycophron 92 this form is fut. midd. There is no class. example of ξενωθήσομαι. Attic, indeed, generally prefers the midd. form for the fut. pass. in ‘pure’ verbs (those of which the stem ends in a vowel).— For the fut. indic. in a relative clause of purpose, cp. Dem. or. 1 § 2 πρεσβείαν πέμπειν ἥτις ταῦτ’ ἐρεῖ καὶ παρέσται τοῖς πράγμασιν.

ἐνθάδ’ =δεῦρο : cp. 256 μηδαμοῦ n.

πλοῖ : this nom. pl. occurs also in Xen. 5. 7. 7 καλοὶ πλοῖ: the dat. pl. in Antiphon or. 5 § 83 πλοῖς. In L's σώφροσι the omission of the ν ἐφελκυστικόν is doubtless a mere error; though Soph. sometimes lengthens ι^ before βρ or βλ in compounds ( Soph. 336 , 996 n.).

βροτῶν : cp. 279 πρὸς τὸν εὐσεβῆ βροτῶν.

τάχ’ οὖν τις … ἔσχε : ‘perhaps, indeed, some one has put in.’ οὖν has a concessive force; cp. 1306 ἀλλ’ οὖν n. When τάχα stands without ἄν, it usu.= ‘quickly’: but cp. 711 A ὑμεῖς δὲ τάχα οὐδὲ τεθέασθε τυραννουμένην πόλιν (where τάχ’ ἄν is impossible). Here the force of τάχα is, ‘I grant that visitors have come now and then; let us suppose such a moment.’

ἔσχε =προσέσχε , appulit: Thuc. 6. 62§ 2 ἔσχον ἐς Ἱμέραν. Cp. 221, 236.

πολλὰ γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: ‘for such things (viz., such necessities as ἄκων implies) are likely to occur often (πολλὰ predicative adj., here practically equiv. to the adv.) in the long course of human life.’ Now and again in the course of his lifetime, a sailor might be driven to seek shelter even on such a coast as that of Lemnos. ὁ μακρὸς ἀνθρώπων χρόνος is the long term of man's normal life; cp. 461 εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου | πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι, ‘before my natural term.’ Cp. Her. 1. 32 ἐν γὰρ τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ πολλὰ μὲν ἔστι ἰδεῖν τὰ μή τις ἐθέλει, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ παθεῖν. ἐς γὰρ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτεα οὖρον τῆς ζόης ἀνθρώπῳ προτίθημι . Id. 5. 9 γένοιτο δ’ ἂν πᾶν ἐν τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ. A reminiscence of these phrases may have been in the poet's mind.

οὗτοι referring to the indefinite τις (305): cp. 709 οὖτοι referring to ὅστις in 707 (n.).

λόγοις ἐλεοῦσι … οἰκτίραντες . As a general rule, ἐλεεῖν=‘to show pity or mercy in act’: οἰκτίρειν, ‘to feel pity.’ Thus Dem. or. 28 § 20 σώσατε, ἐλεήσατε. [Dem. ] or. 57 § 45 ἐλεοῖντ’ ἂν...δικαιότερον ἢ προσαπολλύοιντο. Lys. or. 31 § 19 οἷς ἕτεροι διδόναι παρ’ ἑαυτῶν τι (i.e. ἐλεεῖν) προῃροῦντο, διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν οἰκτίραντες αὐτούς. See Heinrich Schmidt, , vol. III. pp. 577 ff.

καί πού τι : see on 274 .

στολήν : cp. 223 f. n.

ἐκεῖνο … θέλει sc. ποιῆσαι: cp. 100 n.

σῶσαί μ’ ἐς οἴκους : cp. Aesch. 737 πρὸς ἤπειρον σεσῶσθαι: Soph. 189 n.

ἐν λιμῷ τε καὶ κακοῖσι . Some critics suspect κακοῖσι as not distinctive enough (see cr. n.); but it can surely denote those ‘hardships’ of his life which were superadded to the λιμός and the νόσος. For καί at the end of the v., cp. 267, O. T. 1234.

βόσκων : cp. 1167.— ἀδηφάγον : so 7 διαβόρῳ: 745 βρύκομαι. The νόσος is personified, as in 759 by ἐξεπλήσθη.

βία : cp. 321 : 38 Ἰφίτου βίαν.

οἷ’ , Porson's correction of οἷς , is certain. The sufferer prays that their sufferings may be like his own: cp. 275 n.: 927.With οἷς, both αὐτοῖς (as= ‘themselves’) and ἀντίποιν’ become comparatively tame.

ἐμοῦ : cp. 592 ὡς τῆς θυγατρὸς ἀντίποινα λαμβάνεις.

ἴσα could imply either (1) ‘as fully as they pitied you in their hearts,’— the sense in which the speaker means Ph. to take it: or (2) ‘only as much as they showed you pity in their deeds’: cp. Soph. 516 n. on ἐξ ἴσου.

ἐποικτίρειν is much better than Nauck's ἐποικτιρεῖν , which, as expressing a presentiment, would call too much attention to the ambiguity of ἴσα.

ἐν λόγοις . If ἐν is sound, the phrase must mean ‘a witness present at (the utterance of) these words.’ Cp. Plat. 115E μηδὲ λέγῃ ἐν τῇ ταφῇ, ‘at the funeral,’ i.e., while it is taking place. The expression is unusual; but I hesitate to receive Gernhard's conject. ὢν .

συντυχὼν , ‘having found them bad men in my intercourse with them (σύν‐).’ The force of the simple τυχών here prevails over that of the prep., and so a gen. replaces the regular dat. Since in 1483 σοῦ τύχοιμι must be read for συντύχοιμι, there is no other extant example of συντυγχάνω with gen. But there are analogies for the exception: in 1333 ἐντυχὼν Ἀσκληπιδῶν is the only instance of a gen. (instead of dat.) with ἐντυγχάνω, except Her. 4. 140 λελυμένης τῆς γεφύρης ἐντυχόντες. Again, Her. 552 προστυχόντι τῶν ἴσων and Soph. 1463 ἐμοῦ κολαστοῦ προστυχών are isolated examples of a gen., instead of dat., with that compound. In 719 παιδὸς ὑπαντήσας (instead of παιδὶ) is also unique. Cp. Soph. 17 κοίτης ἐμπελασθῆναι (where the dat. would be normal). It may be added that here, where συντυχών expresses, not merely a meeting with the men, but an experience of their character, the gen. has a special excuse.—We cannot make συντυχών mean=‘having found them bad men, as you have done’ (i.e., σύν σοι).

ἦ γάρ , 248 n.

τοῖς πανωλέθροις : cp. Soph. 86 χἡ πανώλεθρος | μήτηρ.

παθών , and not merely κλύων.

324 f. The corruption in the MSS., θυμῷ...χεῖρα, is of the same nature as that in 376(με...σοῦ for σε ἐμοῦ). Cp. Plat. 465A εἴ πού τίς τῳ θυμοῖτο, ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ πληρῶν τὸν θυμὸν (sating his wrath) ἧττον ἐπὶ μείζους ἂν ἴοι στάσεις.

Μυκῆναι , as the city of Agamemnon: Σπάρτη , as that of Menelaus. γνοῖεν , after the optative γένοιτο: cp. Aesch. 297 ἔλθοι (‘may she come !’)... | ὅπως γένοιτο τῶνδ’ ἐμοὶ λυτήριος: and Soph. 506 n.

εὖ γ’ , euge: Ar. 213 εὖ γ’, εὖ γε νὴ Δἴ, εὖ γε· λέγε, λέγ’, ὦγαθέ. There is no other example in Tragedy of this colloquial εὖ γε without a verb.

τίνος γὰρ : lit., ‘Now (γάρ, 249 n.), on account of what have you come thus charging them with (having provoked) the great anger (which you show)?’ τίνος , causal gen., not with τὸν...χόλον alone, but with the whole sentence: cp. 751, 1308: 698 δίδαξον κἄμ’, ἄναξ, ὅτου ποτὲ | μῆνιν τοσήνδε πράγματος στήσας ἔχεις.

ὧδε , ‘thus’ (not ‘hither,’ as in 7).— χόλον ἐγκαλεῖν κατά τινος=to make one's anger a subject of accusation against a person, i.e. to charge him with having provoked it. The causal τίνος helps to explain the pregnant sense. Cp. 702 λέγ’, εἰ σαφῶς τὸ νεῖκος ἐγκαλῶν ἐρεῖς, ‘speak, if you can make a clear statement in imputing (the blame of) the feud.’

ἐξερῶ, μόλις δ’ ἐρῶ . In such phrases μόλις usu. stands in the first clause, with μέν: 1105 μόλις μέν, καρδίας δ’ ἐξίσταμαι, n. For ἐξερῶ—ἐρῶ , cp. 249 f. The feeling is like that of Odysseus when asked by Alcinous to tell his story: 9. 12 σοὶ δ’ ἐμὰ κήδεα θυμὸς ἐπετράπετο στονόεντα εἴρεσθ’, ὄφρ’ ἔτι μᾶλλον ὀδυρόμενος στεναχίζω.

μολών : to Troy, 353.

ἔσχε . The pres. ἔχει would mean ‘constrains’; cp. 1065 τρεῖς μία τύχη τοὺς φιλτάτους, | ἢ γῆς πατρῴας νόστος, ἢ θανεῖν, ἔχει. The aor. (‘ingressive’) =‘came upon him with constraint’: cp. 1117: fr. 529 τοὺς δὲ δουλείας... | ζυγὸν ἔσχ’ ἀνάγκας : Eur. 4 ἐπεὶ Φρυγῶν πόλιν | κίνδυνος ἔσχε δορὶ πεσεῖν Ἑλληνικῷ.

φράσῃς … μὴ πέρα : for the place of μή, cp. 67 n.

τοξευτὸς … δαμείς =τόξοις δαμείς. The adj. here defines the instrument, as oft. elsewhere the place ( 1411 θαλάσσιον | ἐκρίψατ’), or the manner ( 1637 κατῄνεσεν τάδ’ ὅρκιος).

ὡς λέγουσιν implies that there was something mysterious in the death; Paris might seem to have inflicted it, but, in men's belief, the true slayer was Apollo. ἐκ , however, does not here denote ulterior, as dist. from immediate, agency (‘by doom of Phoebus’; 1453); it is here no more than ὑπό .—According to one account, Paris shot Achilles, but with the aid of Apollo (as Athena had helped Achilles against Hector): so 19. 416(the immortal steed Xanthus to Achilles) ἀλλὰ σοὶ αὐτῷ | μόρσιμόν ἐστι θεῷ τε καὶ ἀνέρι ἶφι δαμῆναι: and Hector's prophecy ( 22. 359) ὅτε κέν σε Πάρις καὶ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων | ἐσθλὸν ἐόντ’ ὀλέσωσιν ἐπὶ Σκαιῇσι πύλῃσιν. Verg. 6. 57 , ... | Another account speaks of Apollo without naming Paris: so 21. 278Achilles says that Thetis had predicted to him that he should die Ἀπόλλωνος βελέεσσιν. Cp. Aesch. fr. 350. 8 (Thetis speaks of Apollo) αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κτανὼν | τὸν παῖδα τὸν ἐμόν. So, too, Hor. 4. 6. 1 ff. Quintus Smyrn. 3. 61 (Apollo, hidden in a mist) στυγερὸν προέηκε βέλεμνον | καί ἑ θοῶς οὔτησε κατὰ σφυρόν. As to the vulnerable heel of Achilles, cp. Statius 1. 269, where Thetis says: progenitum Stygis amne severo | (totumque utinam!). Hyginus ( 107) fused the two versions by making Apollo take the guise of Paris.—The ‘cyclic’ epic which related the death of Achilles was the , ascribed to Arctînus of Miletus, c. 776 B.C. (, p. 153).

ἀλλ’ εὐγενὴς μὲν : ἀλλά=‘well’ (said as if with a sigh); μέν has a reflective tone, ‘certainly,’—‘it must be granted.’ Cp. Plat. 460A ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ μὲν οῖμαι, κ.τ.λ. (The δέ in 337 does not answer to this μέν.) Cp. 524 ἀλλὰ...μέντοι n.— κτανών … θανών : A frequent παρήχησις. 1263 ὦ κτανόντας τε καὶ | θανόντας βλέποντες ἐμφυλίους . 553 ἡ κτανοῦσα χὡ θανών . 488 κτανὼν ἄρ’ ἥξεις ἢ θανὼν αὐτοῦ μενεῖς.

ἐλέγχω … στένω : delib. subjunct.: for the pres., cp. 651 n.

οἶμαι μὲν , as 1051: so δοκῶ μέν, 995 n.

καὶ τὰ ς’ , ‘even...’. Cp. 1216 ἀλλ’ ἀρκέσει καὶ ταῦτα. For the elision in σ’, 64 n.

τοιγαροῦν (‘so, then’) occurs also in 1519, 490, 1257.— αὖθις πάλιν ( 1418 n.) refers to 329 —331. He had there intimated that, on reaching Troy, he had suffered some grievous wrong. Yet it has been proposed to reject v. 342 on the ground that Ph. could not ask for the repetition of a story which he had not yet heard.

ὅτῳ , ‘wherein,’ dat. of respect: cp. Thuc. 2. 65§ 12 σφαλέντες...ἄλλῃ τε παρασκευῇ καὶ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ τῷ πλείονι μορίῳ: id. 4. 73 § 4 τῷ βελτίστῳ τοῦ ὁπλιτικοῦ βλαφθῆναι. The dat. ὅτῳ has not been influenced by the ἐν in the compound. For the acc. with ἐνυβρίζω, cp. Kaibel 195 1 μή μου ἐνυβρίξῃς ἁγνὸν τάφον. The ἐν has the same force as in ἐγγελᾶν: cp. Soph. 68 ἐν τοῖς ἐμοῖς γὰρ οὐκ ἐνύβρισας κακοῖς.

ποικιλοστόλῳ , ‘with gaily decked prow’: not simply ‘gaily drest’ (like λευκόστολος, etc.). Cp. Aesch. 408 εὐθὺς δὲ ναῦς ἐν νηῒ χαλκήρη στόλον | ἔπαισεν, where στόλος poetically=ἔμβολον, the beak or ram, which was attached to the ship below the prow. The term ἀκροστόλιον was sometimes applied to the ‘figure-head’ (such as the head and neck of a swan). Here, ποικιλοστόλῳ seems to denote some special adornment, intended to mark the solemnity of the mission. These envoys came, not only to announce the death of Achilles, but to salute his heir. Cp. Pind. 2. 62 εὐανθέα δ’ ἀναβάσομαι στόλον: where (whether στόλον be taken as ‘prow,’ or, more tamely, as ‘voyage’) the epithet refers to the adorning of the ship with garlands on a festal occasion. So, too, when the Salaminia was about to leave Athens on the annual θεωρία to Delos, the priest of Apollo crowned the stern with garlands ( 58C).—Others regard ποικιλοστόλῳ as merely a constant epithet, equiv. to the Homeric μιλτοπάρῃος (now explained by some as referring ‘to a literal painting of a face upon the bows’; Leaf, 2. 637). The v. l. ποικιλοστόμῳ is merely a prosaic corruption.

δῖός τ’ Ὀδυσσεὺς : this is the Homeric πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς. The epithet δῖος (‘bright’) may be rendered ‘princely,’ or ‘noble,’ when applied to a chief (the idea of personal comeliness being included therein): or by the more general word, ‘goodly,’ in other cases. Cp. Note 2 to Butcher and Lang's ‘Froissart and Brantome apply respectful terms of moral excellence to knights and ladies whom they describe as anything but moral.’

χὡ τροφεὺς : Phoenix, who, having been driven from the house of his father Amyntor, was received by Peleus, and entrusted with the care of the infant Achilles: to whom he says in 9. 485 καί σε τοσοῦτον ἔθηκα (reared thee up to manhood), θεοῖς ἐπιείκελ’ Ἀχιλλεῦ, | ἐκ θυμοῦ φιλέων. Another legend represents Achilles as brought up by Cheiron ( 11. 832).

εἴτ’ ἄρ’ οὖν , ‘or, after all (ἄρα), it may be (οὖν)’: for οὖν with the second εἴτε, cp. 90, and n. ib. 1049.

ἀληθὲς does not occur as=ἀληθῶς, though τὸ (or τό γε) ἀληθές is so used, like re vera. Here it has, indeed, an adverbial force, but is properly the acc. governed by λέγοντες . So in Eur. 275 we may point thus: τί δαὶ τόδ); ἆρ’ ἀληθές; ἢ μάτην λόγος; For μάτην , falso, cp. also Soph. 63, Soph. El. 1298.

γίγνοιτ’ : they said, οὐ θέμις γίγνεται, it becomes unlawful (by the fact that Achilles is now dead): cp. 116 n.

ἄλλον ἢ )μ’ . If there had been any previous indication of Neoptolemus, the reading ἄλλον ἤ μ’ would have been tenable (see on 47 ἕλοιτό μ’): as there is none, we surely require ἢ )μ’ . Cp. 83 μὴ )μοῦ προτάρβει .

οὐ πολὺν κ.τ.λ.: ‘they did not cause me to make any long delay, or to refrain from sailing at once’: another way of saying, ‘they filled me with burning eagerness to sail at once.’ He speaks with a certain bitterness, meaning, ‘they well knew how to act their part, when they put the matter in that light.’ For ἐπέχω τινά as=‘to cause one to pause,’ see Thuc. 4. 5 καί τι καὶ αὐτοὺς ὁ στρατὸς ἔτι ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ὢν ἐπέσχε, ‘partly, too, the fact that their army was in Attica caused them to delay’ (instead of marching out at once). Id. 1. 129 καί σε μήτε νὺξ μήτε ἡμέρα ἐπισχέτω (pres. imper.) ὥστε ἀνεῖναι πράσσειν τι. This sense of the trans. ἐπέχω and ἐπίσχω is not precisely the same as that in Soph. 517 ὅς σ’ ἐπεῖχ’ ἀεὶ | μήτοι θυραίαν οὖσαν αἰσχύνειν φίλους, ‘ restrained thee’ (by compulsory detention): i.e., οὐ πολὺν χρόνον μ’ ἐπέσχον is not, ‘they did not succeed in restraining me long’ (as if they had been trying to do so); but rather, ‘they gave me no cause for delaying long’;— not, ‘non diu me cohibuerunt,’ but ‘effecerunt ne diu morarer.’

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. 1387 οὐκ ἂν ἐσχόμην | τὸ μὴ )ποκλῇσαι, n. The repetition of με , as subject to ναυστολεῖν, may seem slightly inelegant; but it is not grammatically objectionable.—See Appendix.

οὐ γὰρ εἰδόμην , ‘for I had (never) seen him.’ The comment ζῶντα, written after εἰδόμην in the margin of L, represents the simplest and best interpretation. Neoptolemos was born in Scyros, and remained there, under the care of his maternal grandfather, Lycomedes (243), until he went to Troy (see n. on 239 f.). Soon after the birth of Neoptolemus, his father Achilles had returned to Phthia; whence, some eight or ten years later, he went to Troy, without revisiting Scyros. Hence Neoptolemus can say that he had never seen his father. In this conception Sophocles is following the From 11. 765—782 it appears that Phthia, not Scyros, was the place from which Achilles went to Troy. And in 19. 331 f. Achilles speaks of his son as having never seen Phthia; for, apostrophising the dead Patroclus, he says, ‘my soul had hoped that thou should'st return to Phthia,’—ὡς ἄν μοι τὸν παῖδα θοῇ ἐνὶ νηὶ μελαίνῃ | Σκυρόθεν ἐξαγάγοις, καί οἱ δείξειας ἕκαστα, | κτῆσιν ἐμὴν δμῶάς τε καὶ ὑψερεφὲς μέγα δῶμα.—Apollodorus (3. 13. 8) follows a different version, according to which Achilles had remained in Scyros till he was brought thence to Troy by Odysseus.—For the midd. εἰδόμην in dial., cp. 977 ἴδεσθε, ib. 892 κατειδόμην, 151 εἰσίδοιτο: in lyrics, below, Tr. 1113, 351; and in anapaests, 1004.Cp. ὁρωμένη (midd.) in dial., 306.—See Appendix.

ἔπειτα μέντοι , answering to μάλιστα μέν (350): cp. 647 f. μάλιστα μέν...ἔπειτα (without δέ): ib. 777 θαυμάσαι μὲν ἀξία, | σπουδῆς γε μέντοι κ.τ.λ. In Eur. 1145 ff. πρὶν μὲν... ἔπειτα μέντοι is not strictly similar, since ἔπειτα is there temporal.

χὡ λόγος καλὸς προσῆν , ‘there was a further charm’ (καλός predicate) ‘in the reason suggested,—if indeed I was to take,’ etc.: ὁ λόγος is the reason for going, suggested by the envoys, (as distinguished from the natural ἵμερος in the son's mind,) and is explained by εἰ...αἱρήσοιμ’. Not, ‘the fame, too, was attractive.’ For προσῆν cp. 3. 1. 28 μισθὸς μὲν ἡμῖν...εἴργασται..., ἢν δέ τι προσεργασώμεθα, καὶ ταῦτα προσέσται. For a different use, cp. 129 n.

εἰ … αἱρήσοιμ’ , oratio obliqua: he said to himself, εἰ αἱρήσω. For the fut. opt., cp. Xen. 3. 1. 3 εἴ τινα φεύγοντα λήψοιτο, προηγόρευεν ὅτι ὡς πολεμίῳ χρήσοιτο (he said, εἰ λήψομαι ...χρήσομαι). For εἰ with optat., where one's own former thought is indicated in dependence on a past tense, cp. Lys. or. 3 § 3 αἰσχυνόμενος, εἰ μέλλοιεν πολλοί μοι συνείσεσθαι, ἠνεσχόμην (his thought had been, αἰσχύνομαι, εἰ μέλλουσι ).

τἀπὶ Τροίᾳ πέργαμ’ (cp. 611), the citadel which crowns the city of Troy, the Πέργαμος ἄκρη of Homer ( 5. 460, Il. 6. 512),—who uses only the sing. Hence Ilios is called αἰπεινή, ὀφρυόεσσα ( 22. 411): cp. , p. 148. For the prep. ἐπί , cp. Pind. 8. 32(Apollo and Poseidon) Ἰλίῳ μέλλοντες ἐπὶ στέφανον τεῦξαι (sc. πύργων).

ἰών , oft. added to a verb denoting enterprise: cp. 768 n.

πλέοντί μοι : dat. of relation, as oft. with ref. to time: cp. 2. 1. 27 ἐπεὶ ἦν ἡμέρα πέμπτη ἐπιπλέουσι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. The distance from Scyros to Sigeum is about 125 miles.

κἀγὼ : for καί in temporal parataxis (instead of ὅτε), cp. 718 n.

πικρὸν Σίγειον . Sigeum, the N.W. promontory of the Troad (now Yeni Shehr), is fitly named, as being the point for which he, coming from Scyros in the S.W., would make; and also because the tumulus, traditionally known as the ‘tomb of Achilles,’ is near Sigeum. It is ‘bitter’ or ‘cruel’ to him, not only on account of his father's death, but through the memory of his wrongs. The epithet is here a fine dramatic touch: while the conjecture κἀγὼ )π’ ἄκρον, which many recent edd. adopt, is tamely prosaic. Cp. 17. 448 μὴ τάχα πικρὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ Κύπρον ἵκηαι.

οὐρίῳ πλάτῃ , instrum. dat.; sped by oars, while a W. S. wind also filled his sails. Cp. ‘velis remisque,’ ‘ventis remis,’ etc.

κατηγόμην , was coming into harbour at, with acc. instead of the usual acc. with εἰς : cp. 244 προσέσχες...γῆν (n.). Poetry is bold in its use of the simple acc. after verbs of motion; cp. 1175: 643 δόμους στείχειν .

ὀμνύντες after στρατός : so 17. 755 τῶν δ’ ὥστε ψαρῶν νέφος ἔρχεται ἠὲ κολοιῶν, | οὖλον κεκλήγοντες: cp. 1021 f. n.

ζῶντ’ Ἀχ. πάλιν : legend naturally revived the image of the father in his son; Nauck cites trag. fr. adesp. 363 οὐ παῖς Ἀχιλλέως, ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνος αὐτὸς εἶ.

ἔκειτ’ , ‘lay low in death,’ a poet. equiv. for ‘had died’ (not=προέκειτο, ‘lay on the bier,’ ready for the ἐκφορά). Cp. 1134 ὅπως θανὼν ἔκεισο τῇ τόθ’ ἡμέρᾳ | τύμβου πατρῴου κοινὸν εἰληχὼς μέρος. 1174 καὶ τίς φονεύει; τίς δ’ ὁ κείμενος; Simonides fr. 60 κεῖσαι ζῶν ἔτι μᾶλλον τῶν ὑπὸ γᾶς ἐκείνων. It is natural to suppose that the son's wish to arrive before the burial (351) was fulfilled; for the tidings of the death would have been sent at once, and he would have reached Troy not later, perhaps, than five days after it (cp. 354). In Hector's case the funeral took place only on the tenth day after his remains had been brought home ( 24. 785). The conciseness of the narrative here, which does not refer to the obsequies (unless in )δάκ‐ ρυσα), is Sophoclean: cp. 415 n. The welcome by ‘all the host’ (356) cannot be considered as a direct allusion to the funeral rites; cp. the reception of Teucer by the army ( 721 ff.).

)δάκρυσα : for the prodelision of the augment, cp. 1062 ταχεῖ )πόρευσαν: 457 n.

οὐ μακρῷ χρόνῳ , after it: 1648 χρόνῳ βραχεῖ στραφέντες.

ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν goes closely with φίλους ,—‘friends, as it was reasonable to suppose them.’ The only peculiarity is that ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν here refers to a just hope felt at a past moment, and not to the fitness of a past fact (as if the sense was, ‘friends, as they naturally were,’—or, ‘having gone, as I naturally did’). Cp. Plat. 247B φίλοι παρὰ φίλους ἡμᾶς ἀφίξεσθε.

τά τ’ ἄλλ’ ὅσ’ ἦν : Homer describes the κλισία of Achilles as handsomely furnished (cp., e.g., 24. 597), and it now contained the treasures which Priam had brought as the Ἑκτορέης κεφαλῆς ἀπερείσἰ ἄποινα (ib. 228—236: 579).

τλημονέστατον λόγον , here=ἀναιδέστατον, most audacious, shameless (in Eur. 562 the same phrase=‘most courageous speech’): Soph. 439 εἰ μὴ τλημονεστάτη γυνὴ | πασῶν ἔβλαστε: Aesch. 383 τλάμονι καὶ πανούργῳ | χειρί.

πάρεστί σοι , ‘it is open to thee,’ ‘thou hast free leave’; cp. 213 n.

Λαέρτου : cp. n. on 86 f.

δακρύσας , the tears of pain and anger started into his eyes. (For the aor. part., cp. 116D καὶ ἅμα δακρύσας, μεταστρεφόμενος ἀπῄει.) Many recent editors change this to ἀκούσας, or a compound of it (see cr. n.). But the traditional reading is incomparably more forcible; it is also thoroughly Homeric in spirit; 23. 385(Diomedes, when Apollo strikes the whip from his hand in the chariot-race) τοῖο δ’ ἀπ’ ὀφθαλμῶν χύτο δάκρυα χωομένοιο. Cp. Iuv. 1. 168

ἐξανίσταμαι : he had been seated, as in converse with friends.

ὀργῇ : modal dat., 405 n., βαρείᾳ , vehement: cp. μῆνιν βαρεῖαν ( 1328, 656).

κᾳταλγήσας : cp. 767 νοῦς δ’ ἐστὶ τηλικοῦτος ἀλγήσας βαρύς. This compound (in which κατά is intensive) occurs elsewhere only in later Greek.

ὦ σχέτλἰ is said to Agamemnon: ἦ )τολμήσατ’ (cp. 360 )δάκρυσα) refers to him and Menelaus: so 1104 προσέλθετ’, ὦ παῖ (said to Antigone, entering with Ismene).

πρὶν μαθεῖν ἐμοῦ , before ye had heard from me (that ye might do so). The phrase is so far unusual that, when μανθάνω takes a gen. (of the person) only, it usually=‘to understand,’ as Plat. 463D ἆρ’ οὖν ἂν μάθοις ἀποκριναμένου; Id. 51C εἴ μου μανθάνεις. Similar is Soph. 545 μανθάνειν...σοῦ, to comprehend thy teachings. Cp., however, Soph. O. T. 541, ὧν μαθόντες,=‘having made inquiries of them.’ So here μαθεῖν is little more than ἀκοῦσαι or πυθέσθαι .

ὁ δ’ εἶπ’ Ὀδυσσεύς . Here ὁ is a substantival pronoun, and the proper name is added as by an after-thought: a Homeric use, as 2. 402 αὐτὰρ ὁ βοῦν ἱέρευσεν, ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων (cp. Monro § 258). Cp. 780 ff. ὁ δ’ εὐθὺς... Τεῦκρος: 70B ἦ δ’ ὅς, ὁ Σωκράτης.

ὢν κυρεῖ . Hermann objected to the historic pres. as unsuitable to a parenthetic remark; but without cause. Cp. 253 f., with n.: Eur. 963 ff. σχές· τυγχάνω γὰρ ἐν μέσοις Θρῃκης ὅροις | ἀπών, ὅτ’ ἦλθες δεῦῤ· ἐπεὶ δ’ ἀ φικόμην, ... | ἐς ταὐτὸν ἥδε συμπίτνει. Brunck's ἦν κυρῶν (cp. 544) is smoother, indeed, but could hardly have generated the MS. reading.

τάδε does not imply that the arms are present (one of Nauck's grounds for preferring δεδράκας’ ), but only that they are the subject of conversation.

παρών , not merely, ‘being here at Troy’ (while Neoptolemus was absent, 379), but, ‘being present at the critical moment’: cp. 1405: Ar. 283 τασδὶ δὲ... | ἐγὼ οὐκ ἄρα σχήσω παρὼν τολμήματος τοσούτου; Eur. 1242 τίς ἄνδρ’ ἄριστον βούλεται σῶσαι παρών; (i.e. , to go and save).— Acc. to Arctînus in the , it was Ajax who carried the body of Achilles out of the fray, while Odysseus kept the Trojans off (Proclus p. 479). In 5. 309 f. Odysseus speaks of the day, ὅτε μοι πλεῖστοι χαλκήρεα δοῦρα | Τρῶες ἐπέρριψαν περὶ Πηλείωνι θανόντι. In Ov. 13. 284 he says: his...humeris ego corpus Achillis | Et simul arma tuli.

ἤρασσον : cp. 725 ὀνείδεσιν | ἤρασσον ἔνθεν κἄνθεν: for the lit. sense, 1276.

κακοῖς τοῖς πᾶσιν : the art. properly means, ‘with all the taunts that exist’: cp. 716 φθείρει τὰ πάντα κνώδαλ’.

οὐδὲν ἐνδεὲς ποιούμενος , making (on my part) nothing deficient, i.e. leaving nothing unsaid that occurred to me. For this use of the midd. ποιοῦμαι, cp. 1144 οὐ γὰρ λόγοισι τὸν βίον σπουδάζομεν | λαμπρὸν ποεῖσθαι.

εἰ … ἀφαιρήσοιτο : he said, (δεινόν ἐστιν) εἰ ἀφαιρήσεται: cp. 353 n. For the double acc., cp. Eur. 613 ἀφείλου πατέρας ...τέκνα. Since the idea of the taker's interest is usually implied, the middle voice of this verb is more freq. than the active.

ἐνθάδ’ ἥκων , brought to that point.—provoked so strongly: cp. 687 ὁρᾷς ἵν’ ἥκεις : ib. 1158 ἀλλ’ εἰς τόδ’ ἥξεις.

οὐ δύσοργος : as his mother speaks of his ἀγανοφροσύνη ( 11. 203).

πρὸς ἁξήκουσεν with δηχθείς , not with ἠμείψατο . πρός with acc., as=‘in view of,’ can always represent the cause of a feeling; cp. 1211 ἀλλ’ εἰ φοβεῖ πρὸς τοῦτο.

ἃ ἐξήκουσεν , the taunts which had been addressed to him (382): here ἐξ merely strengthens the notion of ‘being reviled,’ as in ἐξονειδίζω: cp. 676.

ἐπειδὴ καὶ λέγεις , ‘since thou must speak thus,’—καί emphasising λέγεις: cp. 1129: but ib. 412 ἐπειδὴ καὶ τυφλόν μ’ ὠνείδισας is different, καί going with τυφλόν.

οὐ μήποτ’ : 103 n.— τὴν Σκῦρον (240): the art. is scornful: cp. 1060.

ἐκπλεύσῃς implies a further taunt: having come out so late, he will not even now stay and fight.

382 ff. The words ἀκούσας κἀξονειδισθείς form a rhetorical climax,— ‘having been addressed, yes, insulted, with such taunts’: κακά is object to ἀκούσας, and also ‘cognate’ acc. with ἐξονειδισθείς. Wecklein's ingenious κἀξονειδίσας seems unlikely, since N. is dwelling on his wrongs rather than on his own heat in resenting them.

πρὸς οἴκους : the plur. implies, ‘the home country,’ as 60 ἐξ οἴκων μολεῖν. The sing. (suggesting rather the private home) occurs in 58, 240, 488, 548.

τητώμενος : 1200 n.

κἀκ κακῶν , as the reputed son of Sisyphus, 417 n. Cp. 1397 κακός τ’ ὢν κἀκ κακῶν.

τοὺς ἐν τέλει , the Atreidae: cp. 67 n.

πᾶσα and σύμπας have here an adverbial force,—‘wholly’: cp. 275 κεῖνός τε λύπῃ πᾶς ἐλήλαται κακῇ.

ἔστι … τῶν ἡγουμένων : is under their influence: cp. 917 ἔστι τοῦ λέγοντος, n. (But in 738 οὐ τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἡ πόλις νομίζεται; ‘is deemed his property.’)

στρατός , ‘army’ (with reference to the Greek army at Troy): not=δῆμος,—a sense which occurs in Aesch. and elsewhere ( Soph. 8 n.), but which is nowhere requisite in Soph. , and which would be weak here, just after πόλις.

οἱ δ’ ἀκοσμοῦντες βροτῶν (the gen. as in 304), the unruly; those who violate the rights of others, as Odysseus has done: cp. 730 and 660.

διδασκάλων λόγοισι . This play was brought out in the spring of 409 B.C. The Revolution of the Four Hundred, in the summer of 411 B.C., was emphatically a case in which οἱ ἡγούμενοι—Peisander and his fellow oligarchs—had corrupted or intimidated a πόλις. The Army at Samos had illustrated the same process in the case of a στρατός,—the oligarchic officers, in correspondence with Alcibiades, having been the first agents of mischief. ( Thuc. 8. 47 and 75: Grote VIII. pp. 9 and 63.) Thus, to the ears of an Athenian audience, the poet's verses might well suggest a lightly-hinted apology for those citizens who, against their will, had been compromised by the conspirators.—Cp. Soph. 1537 n.

λόγος λέλεκται πᾶς : cp. 241 n.

Ἀτρείδας . We notice the art with which, all through his story, Neoptolemus has contrived to throw the chief odium on the Atreidae. Thus, after calling their speech τλημονέστατος (363), he remarks incidentally that Odysseus was a goodtempered man (377); and though he calls him, indeed, κάκιστος (384), he hastens to add that the higher powers were more to blame (385). And now, at the close, he names the Atreidae alone. Thus he acts in the spirit of his mentor's advice (64 f.), but refines upon it.

φίλος : cp. 585 f.

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.

This strophe, to which vv. 507—518 form the antistrophe, is a ὑπόρχημα, or ‘dance-song’ ( 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.

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.

ὀρεστέρα : cp. 1301, where the ὀρεία... | μάτηρ θεῶν is identified with Demeter. In order to appreciate the large significance of this epithet in relation to the ‘Phrygian Mother,’ we must remember that ‘Phrygia’ originally denoted the whole interior highlands of Asia Minor west of the Halys (Kiepert, § 64). παμβῶτι : cp. the epithets βιόδωρος (1162), φερέσβιος, πουλυβότειρα, φυσίζοος, κουροτρόφος, etc.

μᾶτερ αὐτοῦ Διός : the Μητρῷον at Athens was sacred to Rhea Cybele: see on 1070 ff. The name Rhea (probably connected with ἔρα, earth) was doubtless older than Cybele (see Welcker I. 221), and in Crete the ancient cult of Rhea seems never to have passed into that of Cybele, while in Asia Minor Rhea and Cybele came to be identified. Hence Demetrius of Scepsis (in the Troad) could say that Rhea was not worshipped in Crete, because, by Rhea, he understood Cybele (Strabo p. 472). The legends of the Cretan Ida were easily transferred to the Mysian: there was a Δίκτη in the Troad (Strabo l.c.) as well as in Crete. Cp. Apoll. Rh. 1. 1139 ῥόμβῳ καὶ τυπάνῳ Ῥείην Φρύγες ἱλάσκοντο. Propertius 3. 1. 27 (the river at Troy),

Πακτωλὸν : mentioned here as the river on which Sardis was situated, —that city being a famous seat of Cybele's worship. Her. 5. 102 Σάρδιες μὲν ἐνεπρήσθησαν (during the Ionian revolt in 502 C.B. ), ἐν δὲ αὐτῇσι καὶ ἱρὸν ἐπιχωρίης θεοῦ Κυβήβης· τὸ σκηπτόμενοι οἱ Πέρσαι ὕστερον ἀντενεπίμπρασαν τὰ ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἱρά. Hence an Athenian poet might well think of Sardis in speaking of Cybele. Lydiawas included in the older and larger meaning of Phrygia (cp. 825 n.).

εὔχρυσον . When the attribute of a noun which has the article consists of more than one element (as here of μέγαν and εὔχρυσον), part of it may stand between the art. and noun, and the rest after the noun, without art.: cp. 986 τὸ παγκρατὲς σέλας | Ἡφαιστότευκτον: 1199 τὰν γαμψώνυχα παρθένον | χρησμῳδόν. The Pactolus brought down gold dust from Mount Tmolus, the range just south of Sardis ( Verg. 10. 142: Hor. 15. 19, etc.).

κἀκεῖ , at Troy also (as now in Lemnos).

ἐπηυδώμαν = ἐπεκαλούμην: the only classical example of this compound.

Ἀτρειδᾶν ὕβρις πᾶς’ , ‘all’ their insolence,—referring to the full account of it which N. has just given (363 ff.). Others understand: (1) ‘the complete’ or ‘consummate’ ὕβρις: cp. 142 πᾶν κράτος (n.). Or (2), making πᾶσ’ predicative, ‘went with all its force’ (cp. 385 n.).

τὰ πάτρια , which had belonged to his father, Achilles: a rare poetical use of πάτριος as=πατρῷος: cp. Pind. 6. 62 πατρία ὄσσα, the voice of his father (Apollo). In Soph. 1394 τὰ πάτρια... δώματ’=‘the house of my fathers,’ πάτριος having its usual sense. But that sense is impossible here, since Achilles had been the first possessor of the arms wrought by Hephaestus. —παρεδίδοσαν : cp. 64 n.

ἰὼ calls on the goddess to note the wrong: μάκαιρα , i.e. θεά, as Sappho fr. 1. 13 τὺ δ’, ὦ μάκαιρα, | μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ.

ταυροκτόνων , a general epithet, marking the fierceness of the creatures whom the goddess subdues: cp. 18. 579 σμερδαλέω δὲ λέοντε δὔ ἐν πρώτῃσι βόεσσιν | ταῦρον ἐρύγμηλον ἐχέτην.

λεόντων ἔφεδρε is best taken literally, of riding on lions. Cybele riding sideways on a lion was often represented in works of art (statues, reliefs, coins). Pliny 35. 109 says that Nicomachus painted deum...matrem in leone sedentem. This painter belonged to the Thebano-Attic school, and flourished c. 360 B.C.: we may well suppose, then, that the lion-riding Cybele was familiar in the time of Sophocles. Cp. Eur. 202 πτεροῦντος ἔφεδρον ἵππου (Bellerophon).—But, as the Homeric ἵππων ἐπιβάς ( 5. 328) refers to chariot-driving, so here λεόντων ἔφεδρε might also mean, in a car drawn by lions. An altarrelief of the Roman age, reproduced by Baumeister ( p. 801), from Zoega's (1. 13), shows her thus: two lions draw her car; she wears a shortsleeved chiton, while the long veil attached to the back of her mural crown flows down like a mantle; in her right hand is a laurel branch; her left rests on the rim of the tympanon, holding it upright on her left knee.—It is less likely that λεόντων ἔφεδρε means, ‘seated above lions’; i.e., on a throne with lions crouching below at each side. Arrian ( 9) mentions such a representation, which, like the other two, seems to have been frequent.

σέβας must be acc. in appos. with τεύχεα: it cannot be (as the first schol. suggests) a vocative addressed to the goddess. The armour of Achilles, made by the god Hephaestus, is a σέβας, an object on which men gaze with reverent wonder. So Thetis describes these arms as καλὰ μάλ’, οἷ’ οὔπω τις ἀνὴρ ὤμοισι φόρησεν ( 19. 11). Cp. 685(Orestes) εἰσῆλθε λαμπρός, πᾶσι τοῖς ἐκεῖ σέβας. The dat. τῷ Λαρτίου must be taken with παρεδίδοσαν, which requires it. And it seems best not to take that dat. with σέβας also. If we did so, the phrase would mean, ‘an object of reverence’ to Odysseus; not, an ‘honour’ or ‘glory’ to him. But, though τῷ Λαρτίου is not construed with σέβας, their juxtaposition is forcible; ‘to him—those peerless arms.’ The long separation of the verb from its dative is excused by the fact that the interposed ἰὼ μάκαιρα... ἔφεδρε prepares the indignant emphasis on τῷ Λαρτίου.

We should not, then, change σέβας to γέρας . As Nauck remarks, the two words are confused in the schol. on Eur. 383(vol. 2, p. 122, Eur. Or. 18Dind.). L affords an instance of γ corrupted to ς in 571 (ἔσω for ἐγώ). In uncials σέβας might have originated from B for P. But the sense given by γέρας would be tamer.

σύμβολον … λύπης , a grieftoken, i.e. a token consisting in your grief (defining gen.; cp. 159 οἶκον...κοίτης, n.). σύμβολα were tallies, sometimes consisting of dice (λίσπαι, Plat. 193A) or knuckle-bones ( ἀστράγαλοι) sawn in two. A message or request, purporting to come from a friend at a distance, could thus be tested. The bearer was asked to produce the other half of the divided token. See Her. 6. 86. 2 ἀποδεικνύντες τὰ σύμβολα, ἀπαίτεον τὰ χρήματα: Eur. 613 ξένοις...πέμπειν σύμβολ’,=to give one credentials to friends abroad. When two persons established such signs between them, they were said σύμβολα ποιεῖσθαι: 87 ποιησάσθω δὲ καὶ σύμβολα ἡ βουλὴ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τὸν Σιδωνίων, ὅπως ἂν ὁ δῆμος ὁ Ἀθηναίων εἰδῇ ἐάν τι πέμπῃ...δεόμενος τῆς πόλεως. As each half was called σύμβολον, the word can mean ‘counterpart’: Plat. 191D ζητεῖ δὴ ἀεὶ τὸ αὑτοῦ ἕκαστος ξύμ‐ βολον.—Musgrave (ed. 1809) first compared Aristeides 1. 416 (=625 Dind.) διὸ καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἱκανόν ἐστι πρὸς αὐτήν (Athens), ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι σύμβολον, αὐτὸ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ἀτυχίας. Cp. Plaut. 5. 2. 87 Ego sum ipsus quem tu quaeris.—Si ita est, tesseram conferre si vis hospitalem.

προσᾴδεθ’ , ye are in accord with me, i.e. your complaint strikes a note which finds an echo in my own mind. Cp. 1113 ξυνᾴδει τῷδε τἀνδρὶ σύμμετρος (in respect of age). ξυνᾴδειν is properly said of two or more voices which harmonise; προσᾴδειν of a vocal accompaniment which harmonises with music. Cp. Eur. 359 προσῳδὸς ἡ τύχη τὠμῷ πάθει.

ταῦτ’ … ἔργα =ταῦτα τὰ ἔργα ( 471 n.).

ἂν … θιγόντα =ὅτι θίγοι ἂν: cp. Thuc. 7. 42 ὁρῶν...εἰ ἐπικρατήσειέ τις...ῥᾳδίως ἂν αὐτὸ ληφθέν (=ὅτι ῥᾳδίως ἂν ληφθείη). Soph. 761 κἀπὸ παντὸς ἂν φέρων | λόγου δικαίου μηχάνημα ποικίλον, n.—With πανουργίας , despite its derivation, πάσης must be supplied: so in Soph. 300 f. πανουργίας is followed by παντὸς ἔργου.

ἀφ’ ἧς μηδὲν … ποεῖν : from (=as a result of) which he would be likely, in the end, to effect anything not just. His objects have always something unjust in them; and he is unscrupulous in the choice of means. When the optat. with ἄν (as here the implied θίγοι ἄν) stands in the antecedent clause, the optat. (without ἄν) often stands in the relative clause: cp. n. on 560 δεινὴν γάρ τιν’ ἂν πρᾶξιν τύχοις | λέξας ὁποίας ἐξαφισταίμην ἐγώ. This usage confirms L's μέλλοι against μέλλει (though the latter would be tenable: cp. 375 n.).

μηδὲν here admits of two distinct explanations, though the sense is virtually the same with either. (1) It is ‘generic’ (170 n.): i.e. his purposes are of such a kind as can have no honest result. Cp. 1006 μηδὲν ὑγιὲς...φρονῶν: 493 ὁ θυμὸς... | τῶν μηδὲν ὀρθῶς <*>v σκότῳ τεχνωμένων. I prefer this view. (2) It is ‘final’: i.e. μέλλοι ποεῖν=ποήσοι: ‘from which he shall not effect anything just.’ When the fut. indic. in a relative clause denotes purpose, the negative is μή: cp. 1412 ἐκρίψατ’ , ἔνθα μήποτ’ εἰσόψεσθ’ ἔτι (n.).

ἐς τέλος , ultimately (though his λόγος may be plausible at first sight): cp. Her. 9. 37 οὐ μέντοι ἔς γε τέλος οἱ συνήνεικε τὸ ἔχθος (‘in the end,’—though for a time he prospered).

ποεῖν : for the spelling, cp. on 120: for the pres. inf. after μέλλοι, 967 n.

ὁ μείζων , the son of Telamon; Ajax the son of Oileus (the leader of the western Locrians) was μείων, οὔ τι τόσος γε ὅσος Τελαμώνιος Αἴας ( 2. 528).— οὐκ ἦν ἔτι ζῶν . Soon after the death of Achilles, and either just before or just after the coming of Neoptolemus, the Atreidae had awarded the arms to Odysseus. The suicide of Ajax followed closely on the award. He died, then, either just before, or just after, the arrival of Neoptolemus at Troy. Neoptolemus implies that he left Troy for home just after the award (382). Since his indignation is feigned, it might be supposed that the interval between the award and his sailing (for Lemnos) had really been longer. But, even if that interval had been as brief as he represents it, he might still have known, before leaving Troy, that Ajax was dead.

ἀλλ’ ἦ ...; In this formula ἦ asks the question: ἀλλά marks surprise, as it so often marks remonstrance (‘ nay, can it be so?’ or, ‘what, can that be true?’). The fact that ἀλλ’ is absent from L (see cr. n.) has led some editors to prefer the conjecture ἦ γάρ . But it may be observed:—(a ) ἀλλ’ ἦ was a comparatively unfamiliar phrase, and therefore the fact that the other MSS. have it is presumptive evidence of its genuineness. (b) The preceding πῶς εἶπας cannot be urged as an objection: cp. Eur. 58 πῶς εἶπας; ἀλλ’ ἦ καὶ σοφὸς λέληθας ὤν; Eur. Itis true, however, that such a preface to ἀλλ’ ἦ is unusual: cp. Soph. 879 : Aesch. 220: Eur. 816, 490, 425, 932, [Eur. ] 36. —Remark that in 26, where ἀλλὰ and ἦ are separated, the peculiar force of ἀλλ’ ἦ is not present.

ὡς μηκέτ’ ὄντα : see on 253.

οἴμοι τάλας , ‘woe is me’ (not, ‘alas, poor Ajax’): as 744 n.— ἀλλ’ οὐχ : the negative is repeated, for greater emphasis, in 418: cp. 5 ὁποῖον οὐ | τῶν σῶν τε κἀμῶν οὐκ ὄπωπ’ ἐγὼ κακῶν, n. —ὁ Τυδέως γόνος , Diomedes. Philoctetes had no personal grievance against him, but dislikes him as being a man of the same stamp as Odysseus, with whom the tenth book of the associates him in stealing the horses of Rhesus. In 6. 230 it is Diomedes who proposes to Glaucus that the latter should exchange ‘golden armour for armour of bronze.’ Lesches, in the , and Euripides, in his , made Diomedes come to Lemnos to fetch Philoctetes: see Introd. Cp. 592.

οὑμπολητὸς Σισύφου Λαερτίῳ , ‘the son of Sisyphus, bought by Laertes,’ —because Anticleia was said to have been pregnant when Laertes married her. The word ἐμπολητός probably means that Laertes gave a large ‘bride-price’ (ἕδνα) to Anticleia's father, Autolycus. So the scholiast, πολλὰ δοὺς χρήματα ἠγάγετο. This is simpler than to suppose that ἐμπολητός is merely ‘acquired’ (as a bad bargain), like λωβητὸν ἐμπόλημα in 538.

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. 190, fr. 143 (ὡς ὁ Σίσυφος πολὺς | ἔνδηλος ἐν σοί): 524, 104: Lycophron 344 (τῆς Σισυφείας δ’ ἀγκύλης λαμπουρίδος, ‘crafty fox’): Ov. 13. 31 sanguine cretus | Sisyphio, furtisque et fraude simillimus illi.

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 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 1514 αἱ πολλὰ βρονταὶ διατελεῖς: cp. n. on 1245.—The genit. Λαερτίου (see cr. n.) cannot be defended by understanding, (1) ‘the son of Laertes, bought from Sisyphus’; or (2) ‘the bought son of Laertes-Sisyphus,’ i.e., of a father, nominally Laertes, but really Sisyphus.

ἔδει : cp. 1363 χρῆν: 256 n.

καὶ μέγα θάλλοντες , full greatly prosperous: cp. Plat. 272D τοῦτο... καὶ μάλ’ εὔκριτον.

τί δ’ ; οὐ κ.τ.λ. The fact that the first hand in L wrote ὠ (sic) is a good reason for believing that either οὐ or αὖ was the original reading. With αὖ, the proper punctuation would be,—τί δ’ αὖ παλαιὸς κἀγαθὸς φίλος τ’ ἐμός, | Νέστωρ ὁ Πύλιος, ἔστιν; ‘And then, again, what of Nestor,—is he alive?’ Cp. 101 εἶεν, τί γὰρ δὴ παῖς ὁ τοῦ Λαερτίου, | ποῦ σοι τύχης ἕστηκεν; and ib. 983. But the context strongly favours οὐ . Philoctetes is wondering how the Atreidae and Odysseus had been allowed to work their will without hindrance. ‘How could Ajax allow it?’ ‘He was dead.’ ‘Well, but is not Nestor alive? used to restrain them.’ For τί δ’ , cp. 941 τί δ); οὐχ ὁ πρέσβυς Πόλυβος ἐγκρατὴς ἔτι;— With respect to the reading τί δ’ ὃς , we observe:—(1) ὃς might easily have been generated by the unmetrical conjecture ὁ which has been written in L above ὠ: (2) the ellipse of ἐστί after ὅς would be peculiarly awkward here, where the principal verb is ἔστι.

παλαιός , simply ‘old’: not, (as some take it,) ‘one of the good old school.’ For καί … τε , cp. 581, 656.

τά γε κείνων κακά , their misdeeds, at least: cp. 773 τοῦ σοῦ κακοῦ, thy crime. The γε means that, if Nestor could not ward off all troubles from the army, at any rate he was able to prevent acts of flagrant wrong on the part of such men as Odysseus and Diomedes. Placed thus between τά and κείνων κακά, γε must emphasize that phrase only; it cannot here be taken with the whole sentence (‘restrained, at least...’), as in 1278(n.). Philoctetes alludes either to what he had seen on the voyage to Troy, or to what his occasional visitors had reported.—For the place of the art., cp. 67 τὸ γὰρ | περισσὰ πράσσειν, n.

ἐξήρυκε : the compound occurs only here. For ἐρύκειν as=arcere, cp. Theocr. 7. 127 τὰ μὴ καλὰ νόσφιν ἐρύκοι.

Ἀντίλοχος . Pindar is our earliest authority for the story of Antilochus saving his father Nestor's life: he brings it in à propos of a son who had driven his father's chariot in the Pythian games, and won the race ( 6. 38 ff.). Memnon was pressing Nestor hard, and one of the horses in Nestor's chariot had been wounded by Paris. Nestor called for help to Antilochus, who diverted Memnon's attack from his father to himself, and was killed; thus winning the fame, ὕπατος ἀμφὶ τοκεῦσιν ἔμμεν πρὸς ἀρετάν. The notices that Antilochus was slain by Memnon, but does not say that he fell in saving his father (4. 188). At the end of the Antilochus is still living (23. 785 ff.); in 8. 90 it is Diomedes who rescues Nestor (from Hector). Pindar's source was the of Arctînus, in which Achilles avenged Antilochus by slaying Memnon.

ὃς παρῆν γόνος , the son who was at his side:—not (I think) with direct reference to the saving of Nestor's life by Antilochus,—this is more than παρῆν could suggest, without further explanation (cp. 373),—but rather in the general sense that the son was the stay and comfort of his father's old age.—The MS. reading, ὅσπερ ἦν γόνος , would clearly imply that Antilochus was Nestor's only (or last surviving) son. The describes Nestor as having two sons at Troy, Thrasymedes and Antilochus (17. 378); and according to the (3. 413 ff.) six sons were left to Nestor after the death of Antilochus, one of these being Thrasymedes. If it be suggested that the may have represented Antilochus as the last surviving son, we may reply that this is extremely improbable, when it is remembered that several Ionian colonies claimed to have been founded by the Neleidae, descendants of Nestor who emigrated from Pylus (, p. 167). The same consideration condemns Seyffert's ὅς γ’ ἔτ’ ἦν . Cavallin's ὅς ποτ’ ἦν is free from this objection, but is somewhat weak.—See Appendix.

δὔ αὖ τώδ’ ἄνδρ’ ἔλεξας , a correction which I published in 1869 (see cr. n.), still appears to me the most probable. Porson's δὔ αὖ τώδ’ ἐξέδειξας is founded on the schol. in L, γρ. δὔ αὐτὼ δ’ ἐξέδειξας, and may be deemed certain so far as the words δὔ αὖ τώδ’ are concerned. But no one has justified the use of ἐξέδειξας. We see the proper uses of the word in 1021 ἵν’ αὐτὸς ἐκδε<*>ξῃς ἐμοί (point them out, discover them, to me): 348 τὸ τούτων μῖσος ἐκδείξειας ἄν (‘manifest’). Eur. 1298 παιδὸς ἐκδεῖξαι φρένα | τοῦ σοῦ δικαίαν. But here the word is strangely inappropriate, ‘thou hast pointed out,’ instead of, ‘thou hast named.’ And ἔλεξας , the most natural word, is in all the MSS. Eur. Itseems very rash, then, to assume, on the strength of the schol., that ἔλεξας is spurious, and ἐξέδειξας genuine, especially when we remember the quality of some of the variants which rest on the same authority; e.g., in v. 423, the schol. on κάκ’ ἐξήρυκε gives γρ. κἀξεκήρυξεν. L's reading, δὔ αὔτως δείν’ ἔλεξας , with an erasure of two letters after δείν’, may well have arisen from δὔ αὖ τώδ’ ἄν[ δρ] ἔλεξας. The word ΔΕΙΝ would easily have been suggested by ΔΑΝ if the ΔΠ had from any cause been obscured: or, again, a misreading of ΔΑΝ as ΔΕΙΝ may have led to the omission of ΔΠ. In minuscule writing the process would have been hardly less easy.

As to the reading δὔ αὕτως δείν’ ἔλεξας , two things seem clear. (1) αὕτως, or, as it is better written, αὔτως, yields no fitting sense here. It could not mean, ‘in those few words.’ It would rather mean, ‘just as in the former cases.’ Cp. 931 n. (2) δύο...δείν’ ἔλεξας, οἷν, would be most awkward, whether rendered (a) ‘thou hast told dreadful news about two persons’ (δύο masc.), or (b) ‘thou hast told two calamities concerning persons,’ etc. (δύο neut., with τούτοιν understood from ο<*>ν).

δὔ … ἄνδρε : Ajax (415) and Antilochus. Prof. Campbell says that v. 415 is ‘too remote to allow of this’: but vv. 416— 420 form merely a parenthetic contrast suggested by the death of Ajax, and with v. 421 we come to the father of Antilochus. If δὔ ἄνδρε are to be Nestor and Antilochus (as Campbell holds), ὀλωλότοιν has to mean ‘desolate’ in the case of the living father, and ‘dead’ only in the case of the son. But surely οἵδε in 428 must include both the men mentioned in 426.

ἂν ἠθέλης’ , as 1348: so below, O. T. 1239 ἂν...ἐβουλόμην, O. T. 1278 ἤθελον...ἄν. Cp. 88 n.

σκοπεῖν here= προσδοκᾶν, a rare use. More often σκοπεῖν=‘look for’ in the sense of ζητεῖν: Xen. 5. 7. 32 σκοπεῖτε παῦλάν τινα.

οἵδε , Ajax and Antilochus; perh. he thinks of Achilles (331) too.

Ὀδυσσεὺς δ’ ἔστιν αὖ κἀνταῦθ’ : ‘while Odysseus survives in this case also,’ —outliving Ajax and Antilochus (οἵδε, 428), as he had already outlived Achilles (371). Once more, death has spared the worse man (436). According to other views, (1) κἀνταῦθα=‘ and’ [not ‘also’] ‘in a case where’; i.e., ‘not only does he live, but he has survived men so much his betters.’ (2) κἀνταῦθα=‘and in such a crisis as this,’—i.e., when, Achilles being dead, the Greeks at Troy could ill spare true men. (3) The schol. explains κἀνταῦθ’ by ἐν τοῖς ζῶσιν: but this ignores καί, and makes ἐνταῦθα weak.—Some think that the phrase used by Philoctetes was intended to have a second meaning (‘here in Lemnos’) for the spectator; but this is improbable.

αὐτὸν , illum, not ipsum: the latter would be fitting only if Odysseus had been responsible for the deaths of the others. αὐδᾶσθαι : cp. 1478 ζῶντας θανοῦσιν οὕνεκ’ ἀνταυδᾷς ἴσα, speakest of the living as if they were dead.

παλαιστὴς : cp. Ar. 877 ὅταν εἰς ἔριν ὀξυμερίμνοις | ἔλθωσι στρεβλοῖσι παλαίσμασιν ἀντιλογοῦντες (‘when they enter the strife, contending with subtle, tortuous tricks’). Aeschin. or. 3 § 205 πάλαισμα τοῦτ’ ἐστὶ δικαστηρίου, a trick of the law-courts.

ἐμποδίζονται : the word seems to have been suggested by παλαιστής,—alluding to a wrestler tripping up his adversary: cp. Ar. 262(with ref. to the tricks by which Cleon outwits his simple victims), διαλαβών, ἀγκυρίσας, | εἶτ’ ἀποστρέψας τὸν ὦμον αὐτὸν ἐνεκολήβασας (‘you put one of your legs between his,—hook it round them,— force his shoulder back,—and fall heavily on him’).

θεῶν , a monosyll.: 964 n.

ποῦ γὰρ : for γάρ , cp. 249 f.

σοι , ethic dat., implying, ‘how was it that you did not find him ready to help you at that crisis?’ Cp. 81 ἦ βέβηκεν ἡμὶν ὁ ξένος;

τὰ φίλτατα , of one person, as Eur. 521 τὰ φίλταθ’ εὑρών ( i.e. τὸν υιόν): but of several persons, Soph. 1110 etc.

λόγῳ … ἐν βραχεῖ : cp. 673 τέθνηκ’ Ὀρέστης· ἐν βραχεῖ συνθεὶς λέγω. Aesch. 505 βραχεῖ δὲ μύθῳ πάντα συλλήβδην μάθε.

τοῦτ’ , instead of τόδ’, referring to what follows: cp. n. on 787.

πόλεμος κ.τ.λ.: the γνώμη stands as an independent sentence, unconnected with the prefatory τοῦτ’ ἐκδιδάξω: cp. 612 ἐπαρκέσει νόμος ὅδ)· οὐδὲν ἕρπει κ.τ.λ.

ἑκὼν , ‘by choice’: i.e., war has a marked preference for killing good men, though, of course, it kills some bad men too. The word ἑκών does not involve a definite personification of πόλεμος (like that in Ar. ): we can say, ἡ φύσις βούλεται ποιεῖν τι ( 4), without writing Φύσις. Cp. fr. 652 τοὺς εὐγενεῖς γὰρ κἀγαθούς, ὦ παῖ, φιλεῖ | Ἄρης ἐναίρειν· οἱ δὲ τῇ γλώσσῃ θρασεῖς | φεύγοντες ἄτας ἐκτός εἰσι τῶν κακῶν· | Ἄρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν λωτίζεται. Anacreon fr. 101 Ἄρης δ’ οὐκ ἀγαθῶν φείδεται, ἀλλὰ κακῶν. The same thought is implied in the phrase of Andoc. , or. 3 § 30 πολλοὺς μὲν Ἀθηναίων ἀπολέσαντες ἀριστίνδην, —as if the ἄριστοι had been selected.

κατ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτό γε , in accordance with this very thing, = ‘on this very ground’: cp. Isocr. or. 18 § 34 οὐκ ἄξιον οὔτε κατὰ χάριν οὔτε κατ’ ἐπιείκειαν οὔτε κατ’ ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἢ κατὰ τοὺς ὅρκους περὶ αὐτῶν ψηφίσασθαι.

φωτὸς , about him (gen. of connection): cp. 441: n. on 307.— τί … κυρεῖ. κυρέω, in ref. to a person's fortunes, can be either (1) intrans., with adv., as 1424 ΗΛ. Ὀρέστα, πῶς κυρεῖτε; ΟΡ. τἀν δόμοισι μὲν | καλῶς: or (2) trans., with acc., as Aesch. 214 ἐπεὶ τί νῦν ἕκατι δαιμόνων κυρῶ; (‘what do I obtain?’). Here κυρεῖ seems to be intrans., while τί is virtually adverbial: cp. Soph. 1704 ἔπραξεν οἷον ἤθελεν (=ὅπως ἤθελεν), ‘he has fared as he would.’

ποίου δὲ τούτου : cp. 572: 67 ΞΕ. ἐκ τοῦ κατ’ ἀστυ βασιλέως τάδ’ ἄρχεται. ΟΙ. οὗτος δὲ τίς λόγῳ τε καὶ σθένει κρατεῖ; (=τίς ἔστιν οὗτος ὃς κρατεῖ;) —where, as here, δέ continues a conversation by putting a question which the last speaker's words suggest.

ἐρεῖς , i.e., of whom do you mean to speak. Cp. 595 ΟΙ. πέπονθα, Θησεῦ, δεινὰ πρὸς κακοῖς κακά. ΘΗ. ἦ τὴν παλαιὰν ξυμφορὰν γένους ἐρεῖς;

Brunck's conjecture, τοῦτο for τούτου , has been preferred by some; because, where a verb of speaking or asking thus takes a simple gen., the object of the verb is usu. represented, either (a) by an acc., as in 317 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής; or (b) by a relative clause, as above in 440 by τί νῦν κυρεῖ; But in 307 κλύων σοῦ (‘hearing about thee’) is an exception to the supposed rule. Further, ἐρεῖς is here merely a short expression for ἐξερήσει τί νῦν κυρεῖ .

Θερσίτης =‘the bold one,’ θέρσος being the Aeolic form of θάρσος (Bekker p. 1190. 2), as κρέτος of κράτος: cp. Ἁλιθέρσης, Θέρσανδρος. Here he survives Achilles. But, according to the commoner legend, he died before him. Achilles had slain the leader of the Amazons, Penthesilea. Thersites thrust his spear into the eyes of the corpse, and taunted Achilles with his love for her; when the hero killed him. This was the version given by Arctînus in the (Proclus, p. 478). It was the subject of a play (prob. a satyric drama) by Chaeremon, called Ἀχιλλεὺς Θερσιτοκτόνος (Suidas, s.v. ὑπάρχων, calls it simply Θερσίτης). See Nauck, p. 607.

ὃς οὐκ ἂν εἵλετ’ κ.τ.λ. This sentence deserves study as an example of Attic expression. (1) οὐκ ἂν εἵλετο= ‘never used to choose.’ Xen. 7. 1. 10 ὁπότε προσβλέψειέ τινας...εἶπεν ἄν. In this use the aor. differs from the impf. by marking a moment; as εἵλετο expresses the making of the choice, while ἡρεῖτο would express the sentiment of preference. (2) ὅπου μηδεὶς ἐῴη , ‘in a case where no one was for allowing him to speak’: the optat. denotes indefinite frequency (as 289 ὅ μοι βάλοι). Cp. προσβλέψειε in the example just cited. μηδείς is ‘generic,’ i.e. marks the occasion as being one of a class: cp. 170 n. And since οὐκ ἐῶ= ‘dissuade,’ ‘remonstrate,’ ὅπου μηδεὶς ἐῴη =ὅπου πάντες μὴ‐ἐῷεν, ‘where all were protesting.’ Cp. 1184 τάφου μεληθεὶς τῷδε, κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ,=κἂν πάντες μὴ‐ἐῷσιν, ‘though all the world forbid.’ (3) ‘He would never choose to speak (only) once’ = ‘he would always choose to speak often’; —a μείωσις of the same order as οὐχ ἥκιστα for μάλιστα. Thus the whole sense is—ἀεὶ ἂν εἵλετο πολλάκις λέγειν, ὅπου πάντες σιγᾶν κελεύοιεν. Remark that, in the negative form actually used, the aor. inf. (εἰπεῖν) suits εἰσάπαξ better than a pres. inf. (λέγειν) would have done.

Sophocles here reproduces the two salient traits of the Homeric Thersites: (1) he is irrepressible: 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’ : for the construction, cp. 534, 544, 549, 573: 1197 f., 1242 f.

αὐτόν should not be changed to αὐτός , which would be too emphatic here. He speaks in a careless tone. The following νιν , though it was not necessary, affords no argument against αὐτόν.

ἔμελλ’ , sc. ε<*>ναι: cp. 448 n.

ἐπεὶ οὐδέν : the synizesis as in 948, 1037; fr. 479. 3 ἐπεὶ οὐδ’ ὁ κρείσσων.—Cp. frag. adesp. 276 (Nauck) οὐδὲν κακὸν <γὰρ> ῥᾳδίως ἀπόλλυται.

περιστέλλουσιν , cherish, protect (as Her. 9. 60 etc.), a sense derived from that of ‘dressing’ or ‘wrapping up’ (cp. Soph. 903).

τὰ πανοῦργα : for the neut., instead of τοὺς κακούργους, see on 1196.

παλιντριβῆ , lit. ‘rubbed again and again,’ hence, thoroughly versed in knavery (cp. νόμοισιν ἐντριβής, 177). So 260 λέγειν γενήσει τρίμμα, κρόταλον, παιπάλη: ib. 447 εὑρησιεπής, περίτριμμα δικῶν.

ἀναστρέφοντες : alluding esp. to the story of Sisyphus cheating Pluto: cp. 621 n.

τὰ δὲ : cp. 442 n.— τὰ χρήστ’ : cp. 972 φιλεῖ γὰρ πρὸς τὰ χρηστὰ πᾶς ὁρᾶν (=τὰς χρηστάς).— ἀποστέλλους’ : cp. 1664 ἐξεπέμπετ’ (of Oed.): Plat. 179E (θεοὶ Ἀχιλλέα) εἰς μακάρων νήσους ἀπέπεμψαν. Eur. 1274 ἄρδην ἂν ἐξέπεμψας εἰς Ἅιδου δόμους (με). The word is so natural after ἀναστρέφοντες that Nauck's alteration of it to προυσελοῦς’ is strange indeed.

ποῦ χρὴ τίθεσθαι : where am I to place these things (in a theory of divine government), i.e., what am I to think of them? For this use of the midd. τίθεμαι, cp. 473, 876: Dem. or. 18 § 299 (ταῦτα) πόρρω μέντοι που τῶν ἐμοὶ πεπολιτευμένων τίθεμαι (‘rank them far below...’).

ποῦ δ’ αἰνεῖν : and in what respect to praise them: cp. 390 ποῦ σὺ μάντις εἶ σαφής; and ib. 355 n.

ὅταν κ.τ.λ. The simplest form of question would have been:—‘What is one to think of these things, seeing that they conflict with one's belief in beneficent gods?’ This is amplified into—‘What is one to think of these things, seeing that, while one praises the dealings of the gods, one finds (by these facts) that the gods are bad?’ ἐπαινῶν is best taken in a simple temporal sense, (=‘at the same time that one praises,’) rather than as tentative (‘while one tries to praise’), or concessive (‘though one praises’).

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).

ἐγὼ μὲν : 11 n.

Οἰταίου , since Poeas was king of the Malians; cp. 4 n.

τηλόθεν … εἰσορῶν , ‘eyeing them from a distance, i.e. holding aloof from them. The phrase is figurative; it is not an oxymoron, like ἐν σκότῳ ὁρᾶν ( 1273), as though it meant ‘never seeing them.’ This τηλόθεν εἰσορᾶν is a poetical counterpart of πόρρωθεν ἀσπάζεσθαι,— familiar in Attic as meaning ‘to give a wide berth’ to an objectionable person or thing: Plat. 499A οἵων ζητεῖν μὲν τὸ ἀληθὲς...τὰ δὲ κομψά τε καὶ ἐριστικὰ ...πόρρωθεν ἀσπαζομἑνων. Eur. 102 πρόσωθεν αὐτὴν (Aphrodite) ἁγνὸς ὢν ἀσπάζομαι. Antiphilus (c. 60 A.D. ) in 9. 29 (speaking of the golden age), εὖτ’ ἀπὸ χέρσου | τηλόθεν, ὡς Ἅιδης, πόντος ἀπεβλέπετο. Cp. the phrases, tinged with a similar irony, in 795, O. T. 997.

φυλάξομαι , midd. sc. αὐτούς: cp. fr. 428 δισσὰ γὰρ φυλάσσεται, | φίλων τε μέμψιν κεἰς θεοὺς ἁμαρτάνειν.

ὅπου =παρ’ ὅτοις, followed by τούτους : cp. 1081 ὅπου δ’ ὑβρίζειν δρᾶν θ’ ἃ βούλεται παρῆ, | ταύτην νόμιζε τὴν πόλιν κ.τ.λ.

δειλὸς is rightly restored by Brunck for δεινὸς of the MSS. It alludes to Odysseus as a trickster (407) and a coward (1025). Cp. 326 τὰ δειλὰ κέρδη, where, again, L has the false reading δεινὰ. δεινός , by itself, would mean simply ‘able.’ As Arist. says, δεινότης is the faculty of finding means to an end; ἂν οὖν ὁ<*>σκοπὸς ᾖ καλός, ἐπαινετή ἐστιν· ἂν δὲ φαῦλος, πανουργία ( 6. 13). So, in v. 440, the bad sense of δεινοῦ is hinted by γλώσση. Campbell quotes Isocr. or. 12 § 48 to show that δεινός could, by itself, mean ‘a clever ρογυε’: there, however, δεινήν (said of Sparta) means ‘formidable’ (=φοβεράν just before), and the sense of δεινὴν...νομίζειν is presently repeated in φοβεῖσθαι...καὶ δεδιέναι.

Σκῦρος : see on 240 .

ἐξαρκοῦσά μοι … ὥστε (με ) τέρπεσθαι δόμῳ , sufficient to make me content with my abode (and resigned to seeing no more of the army).

χαῖρε is repeated, as Ar. 582 χαῖρε χαῖῤ, ib. 1363 χαίρετε χαίρετ’, etc. ὡς μέγιστα : cp. μέγα χαῖρε ( 1. 466 etc.).

μεταστήσειαν : 1442 βλέψον πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ μετάστησον κακῶν.

ὡς αὐτὸς θέλεις : 2. 417 ῥεῖα μάλ’ ἐπρη+/υνεν ἑκηβόλον, ὡς ἔθελ·, αὐτός.

πλοῦν ἡμὶν εἴκῃ : a very rare instance of εἴκω τινί τι as=concedo aliquid alicui. We cannot compare 172 εἴκοντας ἃ δεῖ, or 1243, εἴκειν ἃ τοῖς πολλοῖσιν ἤρεσκεν κριταῖς, where the acc. merely denotes the things in regard to which one is to yield. Still, 23. 337 εἶξαί τέ οἱ ἡνία (‘to give the horse rein’) seems to confirm εἴκῃ here. The analogy of παρείκω suggests to me that the constr. here would be somewhat softened if, instead of πλοῦν , we might read πλεῖν : cp. 934 C ὅπως ἂν ἡμῖν παρείκωσι θεοὶ ... νομοθετεῖν. But the change, though tempting, is not necessary.

καιρὸς , the need of the moment; for the semi-personification, cp. 1450; 75 καιρὸς γάρ, ὅσπερ ἀνδράσιν | μέγιστος ἔργου παντός ἐστ’ ἐπιστάτης: ib. 39 ὅταν σε καιρὸς εἰσάγῃ. καλεῖ , as Eur. 1042 βούλεσθ’ ἐπεισπέσωμεν; ὡς ἀκμὴ καλεῖ | Ἑκάβῃ παρεῖναι. Lucian ( 65) quotes, as a familiar stage ‘tag,’ καιρὸς δὲ καλεῖ μηκέτι μέλλειν.

πλοῦν … σκοπεῖν , to watch for (428 n.) favourable weather: cp. Antiphon or. 5 § 24 (the speaker had been detained in port by adverse winds) πλοῦς ἡμῖν ἐγίγνετο, καὶ ἀνήγετο πλοῖα ἅπαντα . Thuc. 1. 137 μέχρι πλοῦς γένηται.

μὴ )ξ ἀπόπτου , not at a distance (from the ship); strictly, so that the quarter in which their ship lies shall not be ἄποπτος, i.e., ‘seen (only) at a distance.’ Cp. Galen 3. 222 ἐξ ἀπόπτου θεασάμενος, and append. on 762(p. 230, 2nd ed.). At the cave they are close to the sea, and can judge of the weather as well as at another point on the coast. But he means that they must be close to their ship, in order to sail as soon as ever the wind changes. At present it is adverse (640) for a voyage to Scyros: i.e., it is south or south-west (cp. 355).—Others take ἐξ ἀπόπτου σκοπεῖν as=‘to watch from a place where one cannot (properly) see,’ a sort of oxymoron, like ἐν σκότῳ ὁρᾶν.

πρός νύν σε πατρὸς ... πρός τ’ εἴ τι κ.τ.λ.: cp. n. on 250 πρός σ’ ὅ τι σοι φίλον ἐκ σέθεν ἄντομαι.

ἱκέτης strengthens ἱκνοῦμαι much as in 760, ἐξικέτευσε τῆς ἐμῆς χειρὸς θιγών, the verb is strengthened by the added phrase, which serves to mark the attitude of formal supplication. Cp. below, O. T. 930.For ἱκνεῖσθαι=ἱκετεύειν , cp. 932, 275 and 1011: 588: 136.

οἵοις ὁρᾷς … ἐνναίοντα ,—the disease, and the wretched dwelling: ὅσοισί τ’ ἐξήκουσας ,—the painful provision of food, water, fuel and fire (285 —299). Cp. 174 f.

ἐν παρέργῳ θοῦ με , lit., regard me (451 n.) as a secondary task: i.e., ‘give me a place, however lowly, in thy care.’ The thought is: ‘I should not have asked you to alter your course for me; but since you are going home at any rate, let this good deed be an accident of your voyage.’ Cp. Soph. 509 ἦλθον γὰρ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τάφον, πάρεργ’ ὁδοῦ (as an incident of the journey). Thuc. 1. 142(with ref. to naval skill) οὐκ ἐνδέχεται... ἐκ παρέργου μελετᾶσθαι.

ἐν παρέργῳ =ἐν παρέργου μέρει ( Plat. 370C).

δυσχέρεια : cp. 900.

ἔξοιδα , by the bitter experience to which he alludes in 1031 f.

φορήματος , freight, as φορέω is said of ships ( 2. 390).

τό τ’ αἰσχρὸν κ.τ.λ. The objections which have been made to this verse seem idle. Philoctetes is appealing to the generous instincts of the young man. ‘To noble natures, what is (morally) shameful is hateful, and what is worthy appears glorious.’ εὐκλεές implies, ‘even if there is no applause to be gained, the γενναῖος is rewarded by the sense that he has merited true εὔκλεια,—i.e., that his deed is, in itself, honourable.’ Then, in vv. 477—479, Philoctetes passes to a different and a lower argument,—viz., that Neoptolemus will incur reproach if he refuse to do this act of mercy, and that, in the other case, he will have men's praises. All the difficulties which have been raised have come from failing to see (1) that the subjective sense of εὐκλεές is justified by the fact that τοῖσι γενναίοισι is an ethic dat.,—‘in the sight of the generous,’—not a dat. of interest: and (2) that the considerations urged in 475 —479 are of two distinct orders.

ἐκλιπόντι τοῦτ’ = ἐὰν ἐκλίπῃς τοῦτο, if thou forsake, abandon, this deed (which is a duty laid on thee): cp. 750 εἰ δ’, ἐκλιπὼν τὸν ὅρκον, ἀδικοίης ἐμέ.

ὄνειδος is strengthened by οὐ καλόν , as in 842 by αἰσχρόν, in 753 by ἄθλιον, in 1035 by δεινόν. Ellendt, indeed, is with those who trace here an original ‘middle’ sense of ὄνειδος as=‘a thing said of one’ (good or evil). It would be equally reasonable to infer a neutral meaning for κήρ from 454 κὴρ πρόσεστιν οὐ καλή.

πλεῖστον =μέγιστον: cp. 1051: 4. 697 αἲ γὰρ δή, βασίλεια, τόδε πλεῖστον κακὸν εἴη· | ἀλλὰ πολὺ μεῖζον κ.τ.λ.

μόλω )γὼ : cp. 472 εἰ μὴ )γώ .

ἴθ’ , in entreaty; cp. 750, 1468 n.

ἡμέρας … μιᾶς . The distance from Lemnos to Scyros is about 75 miles; and, acc. to v. 354, the voyage from Scyros to Sigeum (about 125 miles) took less than two whole days.

τόλμησον : cp. 82 n.

ὅπῃ , L's reading, is here not less good than ὅποι : it goes with ἐμβαλοῦ only. ἄγων is added as in 488, 910, 1342: here it expresses how passive he is content to be in the hands of Neoptolemus.

ἀντλίαν , the hold of the ship, where he could be stowed away beneath the rowers. Cp. Athen. p. 37 D κατα‐ βαλὼν ἐμαυτὸν ὑπὸ τοὺς θαλάμους (the places of the θαλαμῖται, or lowest rank of rowers) ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα κατωτάτω ἐκείμην. Dionysius comicus (350 B.C.) Θεσμοφόρος fr. 1. 40 describes a seaman as ἐξ ἀντλίας ἥκοντα , i.e., the man was one of the θαλαμῖται. Cp. Her. 8. 118: Xerxes is making a long voyage in stormy weather; but he and the numerous Persian nobles with him are all on the deck (ἐπὶ τοῦ καταστρώματος), while only the Phoenician sailors occupy the part below (κοίλην νέα). So, too, in [Dem. ] or. 32 § 5, during a voyage of many days, all the passengers live on deck, the κοίλη ναῦς being used by the rowers only.

πρῷραν … πρύμνην . Lucian ( 5), speaking of a large vessel, mentions αἱ κατὰ πρύμναν οἰκήσεις, but ordinarily only the κυβερνήτης would be located at the stern, as the πρῳρεύς at the prow. πρύμνα was the later Attic form: but πρύμνη is used by Attic poets for metre's sake, as 399 ἤν πως πρύμνην ἀνακρούσηται. Cp. 1451.

ὅπου (or ὅπῃ) is necessary: ὅποι could not stand either for ὅποι βεβλημένος, or for ἐκεῖσε ὅπου. The corruption of υ to ι is one of the commonest.

μέλλω … ἀλγυνεῖν , instead of ἀλγυνῶ (the relative clause, with the fut. indic., expressing purpose): cp. 409. For the fut. inf. after μέλλω, cp. 967 n.

ἱκεσίου : cp. 1181: 616 Ζηνὸς ἱκεσίου κότον | μέγαν προφωνῶν: 13. 213 Ζεὺς σφείας τίσαιθ’ ἱκετήσιος (see , p. 54).

γόνασι : cp. Eur. 293 γονυπετεῖς ἕδρας προσπίτνω σ’: and n. on Soph. 2.

ἀκράτωρ . As 1236 is the only extant Attic example of ἀκρατής as =‘weak,’ so is this the only example of ἀκράτωρ in that sense. Plato uses ἀκράτωρ in the regular Attic sense of ἀκρατής as =impotens sui ( 579C ἑαυτοῦ...ἀκράτωρ). The scholium here (if it be not rather a fusion of two distinct scholia) recognises both meanings: ἀσθενὴς, ἑαυτοῦ κρατεῖν μὴ δυνάμενος.

ἢ πρὸς οἶκον τὸν σὸν κ.τ.λ. He asks N. to convey him, either merely to the youth's own home (Scyros), or, better still, a little further, viz., to Euboea (cp. n. on 240); whence it will be easy to reach Malis (492).

τὰ Χαλκώδοντος Εὐβοίας σταθμά , the Euboean abode of Chalcodon, i.e. Euboea, his realm. Cp. 1191 τὸν Οἴτης Ζηνὸς ὕψιστον πάγον. In 2. 536 ff. Elephenor, son of Chalcodon, figures as the leader of all the Euboeans in the Greek army, who are called Ἄβαντες, and represent six towns, including Carystus at the extreme south of the island, Chalcis at the middle point of its west coast, and Histiaea in the extreme north.

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. 35).

εἰς Οἴτην . The three names here—Oeta—Trachis—the Spercheius— mark the great features of the region. Typhrestus, at the southern end of Pindus, throws off two ranges towards the eastern sea. One runs nearly due east, and skirts the s. borders of Thessaly: this is Othrys, the lofty ‘brow’ which looks down from the north on the plain of Malis. The other—, the ‘sheep-land’ —runs s. of Othrys, and parallel with it at first; then, turning S. and E. , it throws out cliffs which enclose the plain of Malis on S. and W. —‘the rugged’— stood below those cliffs; they themselves were called ‘the Trachinian Rocks.’ ( Her. 7. 198 ὄρεα ὑψηλὰ καὶ ἄβατα περικλῄει πᾶσαν τὴν Μηλίδα γῆν, Τρηχίνιαι πέτραι καλεόμεναι.) The — ‘the vehement’—rises at the base of Typhrestus. As it runs eastward, its broad valley separates the ranges of Othrys and Oeta. It passes through the plain of Malis, and enters the Malian Gulf. Its old mouth was about five miles N. of Trachis: the present mouths are more to the south.

Τραχινίαν … δειράδα , the chain of heights which bounds the plain of Malis on S. and W.,—the Τρηχίνιαι πέτραι of Herod. (see last n.), the οὔρεα Μηλίδος αἴης of Callimachus ( 287). Acc. to Thuc. 3. 92 the dwellers in Malis were classed as Τραχίνιοι (highlanders, like the Attic Ὑπεράκριοι), Παράλιοι (by the Malian Gulf), and Ἱερῆς (a doubtful name).

All MSS. have δειράδα καὶ τὸν , making an anapaest in the 4th place. Toup proposed δεράδα . As δέρη was the Attic form of δειρή, an Attic poet might possibly have ventured on δεράς. But there is no trace of such a form, while δειράς is frequent. Further, Δειράδες was the name of an Attic deme of the Leontis tribe (Bekker p. 240, 26), and δειράς would thus be familiar to Attic ears in ordinary life. Thus Toup's remedy, though attractive by its simplicity, is really a very bold one.

I am more disposed to think that δειράδα is sound, and that the corruption lies in the words καὶ τὸν . I conjecture, Τραχινίαν τε δειράδ’ ἠδ’ ἐς εὔροον. Soph. , like Aesch. and Eur. , admitted ἠδέ in iambics (see n. on Soph. 673). The corruption might arise from the fact that Δ was the second letter of two successive syllables. A scribe, copying ΔΕΙΡΑΔΕΔ (or, after 403 B.C., ΔΕΙΡΑΔΗΔ), might accidentally omit ΕΔ (or ΗΔ). The verse would then stand, ΤΡΑΧΙΝΙΑΝΤΕΔΕΙΠΑΔΕΣΕΥΡΟΟΝ. A subsequent transcriber might easily suppose that ΔΕΙΡΑΔΕΣ (taken for δειράδες, not δειράδ’ ἐς) was a mere blunder for δειράδα. And, ΔΕΙΠΑΔΑ having been replaced, the copula would next be supplied, and the verse patched up, by inserting ΚΑΙΤΟΝ.—For other conjectures, see Appendix.

εὔροον . Tragic iambics sometimes admit uncontracted forms in ‐οος: e.g. Aesch. fr. 37 διπλόοι: id. fr. 275 χειμάρροον: id. Aesch. 493 πυρπνόον: on the other hand, id. fr. 293 ἑπτάρους: Aesch. 852 πλατύρρους: ib. 917 πύρπνουν.

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 ( 16. 176 Σπερχειῷ ἀκάμαντι: Lucan 6. 366 | ). 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, , p. 81).

ὃν (=περὶ οὗ )... δέδοικ’ : cp. 297 ταρβεῖν τὸν εὖ πράσσοντα, μὴ σφαλῇ ποτε.

παλαιὸν =παλαιόν (ἐστιν) ἐξ ὅτου , a parenthetic clause equiv. to a simple adverb ( πάλαι) going with δέδοικα. Cp. Isocr. or. 5 § 47 οὖτοι γὰρ ἄρχοντες τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὐ πολὺς χρόνος (sc. ἐστὶν) ἐξ οὖ καὶ κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν εἰς τοσαύτην μεταβολὴν ἦλθον. 600 ἐγὼ δ’ ὁ τλάμων παλαιὸς ἀφ’ οὗ χρόνος | ...εὐνῶμαι.—In L παλαιὰν is manifestly a mere blunder for παλαιὸν. Those who read παλαἴ ἂν explain it in one of two ways. (1) εἴη is to be supplied with it, —βεβήκῃ, or βέβηκε, being read in 494. Such an ellipse of εἴη is impossible. (2) The ἂν is to go with βεβήκοι in 494. Cp. 630 δέδοικα γὰρ | μὴ πρὼ| λέγοις ἄν: Thuc. 2. 93 προσδοκία οὐδεμία (ἦν) μὴ ἄν ποτε οἱ πολέμιοι...ἐπιπλεύσειαν. But in this constr. the ἄν which belongs to the optative verb could not precede the μή. In Eur. 941 οὐκ οἶδ’ ἂν εἰ πείσαιμι, the place of ἄν has a special excuse, viz., the analogy of sentences with the inf. (such as οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι πεῖσαι).

μή μοι βεβήκῃ . μοι is ethic dat. ( 50 n.) The subjunct. is right here: cp. 30 κυρῇ, n. The indic. βέβηκε would also be correct ( Dem. or. 19 § 96 δέδοικα μὴ λελήθαμεν), but would express conviction rather than anxious fear.—For βέβηκα as= οἴχομαι, of death, cp. Eur. 1026 βέβακε δ’ Ἀτρείδας ἀλόχου παλάμαις.

τοῖς ἱγμένοις , instr. dat.: for ἔστελλον , cp. 60 n.—The partic. ἱγμένος occurs only here. In 229 we have ἵγμεθα .

αὐτόστολον πέμψαντα , having sent with his own στόλος, i.e., having sent a ship of his own. Cp. 7. 585 (on a fisherman who died by the burning of his boat at sea), αὐτόστολος ἦλθεν | εἰς Ἀΐδην, νεκύων πορθμίδος οὐ χατέων, ‘he went to Hades in his own ship’ [because it perished along with him],—not needing to use Charon 's bark. Musaeus 255 αὐτὸς ἐὼν ἐρέτης, αὐτόστολος, αὐτόματος νηῦς, where, similarly, αὐτόστολος =‘providing his own στόλος,’ i.e. ‘selfwafted,’—answering to the word vector in Ovid's parallel v., ( 18. 147).—If αὐτόστολον were understood as=‘setting forth in person’ (cp. μονόστολος, ὁμόστολος), then πέμψαντα would be best taken as ‘having escorted me’ (cp. 913, 1465), and would go closely with ἐκσῶσαι . Nauck, interpreting αὐτόστολον in this second way, substitutes πλεύσαντα (the conj. of Blaydes) for πέμψαντα. This would certainly make the v. easier; but it is not necessary.