ἄλλου δ᾽ ἐν μεταλλαγᾷ is Hermann's emendation of ἀλλ᾽ ἐν μεταλλαγᾷ, which is shorter by a syllable than the antistrophic v., 1157 “ἐμᾶς σαρκὸς αἰόλας”. It is the simplest and most probable correction. ἐν here denotes an attendant circumstance (cp. Eur. H. F. 931“ὁ δ᾽ οὐκέθ᾽ αὑτὸς ἦν”, | “ἀλλ᾽ ἐν στροφαῖσιν ὀμμάτων ἐφθαρμένος”): and the gen. after μεταλλαγᾷ denotes the ownership to which the change is made: cp. Thuc. 6. 18“ἀπραγμοσύνης μεταβολῇ”, a change to inactivity. Thus the phrase is equiv. to “μεταλλάξαν ἄλλον πολυμήχανον ἄνδρα, ἐρέσσει” (“ὑπ᾽ αὐ<*>ῦ”): ‘having got a new master—a man of many wiles—thou art wielded (by him).’ For the idiomatic ἄλλου cp. Aesch. Th. 424“γίγας ὅδ᾽ ἄλλος”. ἐρέσσει means that the new owner's hands can deal with the bow as they will. For “ἐρέσσω” (‘row,’ then fig., ‘ply’), cp. Ant. 158 n. The word is here a poet. synonym for “νωμάω”. Cp. Il. 5. 594“ἔγχος ἐνώμα”: Tr. 512“τόξα καὶ λόγχας ῥόπαλόν τε τινάσσων”. Cavallin's conject., ἀλλ᾽ αἰὲν μετ᾽ ἀγκάλαις (which others have modified, see cr. n.), is liable to this primary objection, that “μετ᾽ ἀγκάλαις” could not here stand for “μετὰ χερσίν”. Such phrases as “ἐν ἀγκάλαις ἔχειν” are used only of what is carried ‘in the arms.’ Odysseus does not hug the bow.
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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