πέτρᾳ, locative (rather than instrum.) dat. with αἱμάξω: cp. O. T. 1266“ἐπεὶ δὲ γῇ” | “ἔκειτο.” πέτρας, from the rock, with πεσών: cp. 613, 630. Such a use of the simple gen. with “πίπτειν” would be somewhat harsh, were there nothing in the context to explain it; but here the adv. ἄνωθεν, ‘from above,’ placed between “πέτρας” and “πεσών”, prevents any obscurity. (“ἄνωθεν” cannot be a prep. governing “πέτρας”, since it could mean only, ‘above the rock.’) Cp. Tr. 782(where Lichas is hurled from the cliff) “κρατὸς διασπαρέντος αἵματός θ᾽ ὁμοῦ”.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part IV: The Philoctetes. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1932.
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