ἃ δ᾽ ἂν λάβῃς “κ.τ.λ.”: ‘and whatsoever spoils thou receivest from that army (the Greek “στρατεύματος” of 1429), (from those spoils) take memorials of my bow (i.e., a thank-offering for its work) to my pyre.’ A portion of the “σκῦλα” is to be dedicated to Heracles on Mount Oeta; where in historical times such relics were doubtless shown at the so-called Pyra ( Liv. 36. 30: Introd. § 1). After the relative clause, “ἃ δ᾽ ἂν λάβῃς”, we understand, not “ταῦτα” (in apposition with “μνημεῖα”), but a partitive gen., “τούτων”. This construction is a simple and natural one. For the partitive gen. thus understood, cp. n. on 1161 f., and Xen. Cyr. 8. 1. 20 quoted there. The sentence could have no ambiguity for a Greek audience, familiar with the custom that, after a victory, a part of the spoil (usually a “δεκάτη”) should be dedicated to the gods. Cp. Her. 8. 121(after the battle of Salamis) “διεδάσαντο τὴν ληίην καὶ τὰ ἀκροθίνια ἀπέπεμψαν ἐς Δελφούς”. Xen. Anab. 5. 3. 4“τὴν δεκάτην ἣν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι ἐξεῖλον καὶ τῇ Ἐφεσίᾳ Ἀρτέμιδι διέλαβον οἱ στρατηγοί, τὸ μέρος ἕκαστος, φυλάττειν τοῖς θεοῖς”. As Cavallin remarks, the passage was rightly understood by the schol. on 1432, “ἐκ τῶν ἀριστείων κἀμὲ τίμησον”. For the simple gen., τοῦδε τοῦ στρατοῦ, after λάβῃς, cp. Soph. O. T. 580“ἐμοῦ κομίζεται”, ib. 1022 “δῶρόν ποτ̓, Soph. O. T. i῎σθι, τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν λαβών”: ib. 1163 “ἐδεξάμην δέ του”.—For other views, see Appendix.
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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