ἦ που: cp. 1123 “καί που” n.— “ἐλεινὸν ὁρᾷς”, lookest piteously, i.e., with a look expressing sorrow for thyself, and pity for him. Cp. Tr. 527 f. “ὄμμα”... | “ἐλεινὸν”: Scut. 426 “δεινὸν ὁρῶν ὄσσοισι.” τὸν Ἡράκλειον ἄρθμιον, the ally, friend, of Heracles. ἄρθμιον seems a certain correction of the MS. ἄθλιον. The word “ἄρθμιος” (expressing the bond of alliance or friendship) was a poet. synonym for “φίλος”: Od. 16. 427“οἱ δ᾽ ἡμῖν ἄρθμιοι ἦσαν”: Theognis 1312 “οἷσπερ νῦν ἄρθμιος ἠδὲ φίλος”. Cp. Hom. hym. 3. 524 “ἐπ᾽ ἀρθμῷ καὶ φιλότητι”: and the Homeric “ἐρίηρες ἑταῖροι”. The adj. Ἡράκλειον represents the gen. “Ἡρακλέους”, since “ἄρθμιος” with the art. can be treated as a subst. (like “οἰκεῖος, ἐπιτήδειος”, etc.): cp. O. T. 267“τῷ ααβδακείῳ παιδί” (n.). Prof. Campbell reads “ἆθλον <ἔμ̓> ὧδέ σοι”, adopting “ἆθλον” from the margin of L, and conjecturally adding “ἔμ̓”. He renders: ‘me thus destined no more to use thee in the Heraclean exercise,’—taking the “Ἡράκλειος ἆθλος” to be archery.
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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