φονᾷ: cp. Ant. 117 n. τί ποτε; the verb understood is “ἔστιν”, not “φονᾷ”: cp. Ant. 381“τί ποτ̓”; ‘What means this?’ πατέρα ματεύων, as if “φονῶ” rather than “φονᾷ νόος” had preceded: cp. O. T. 159 n. In vv. 492 ff. he had expressed the fear that his aged father must be dead; and here, in the bitterness of despair—when he feels himself utterly friendless upon earth—he utters a yearning to join Poeas in the world below. At brighter moments, again—when there is a gleam of hope that he may return to Malis—he thinks of his father as still living (665, 1371). And Heracles tells him that Poeas is indeed alive (1430).
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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