ἀλλ᾽ οὖν … γε: cp. Ant. 84 n. τοὺς πρ. στρατοῦ: for the omission of “τοῦ”, cp. Ant. 10 n. ψευδοκήρυκας, ‘lying heralds.’ The word alludes more particularly (as is indicated by ἐν δὲ τοῖς λόγοις θρασεῖς) to the protest which Odysseus has just made ‘in the name of the whole army’ (1293 f.), and to his threat at vv. 1257 f.:—it is not merely an equivalent for ‘false envoy’ (because he had executed his mandate by fraud). In Attic Tragedy the “κῆρυξ” was especially associated with unsuccessful bluster. Examples are afforded by the herald of Aegyptus ( Suppl. 836 ff.), the herald of Creon ( Suppl. 399 ff.), and the herald of Eurystheus (id. Heracl. 55 ff.). Menelaus plays a similar part when he forbids the burial of Ajax ( Ai. 1047), and he is then attended by a “κῆρυξ” (ib. 1115 “πρὸς ταῦτα πλείους δεῦρο κήρυκας λαβών κ.τ.λ.”). With “ψευδοκῆρυξ” cp. “ψευδόμαντις” ( O. C. 1097): for the allusive plur., O. T. 366 n. πρὸς αἰχμήν: cp. Tr. 266“πρὸς τόξου κρίσιν”.
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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