ὦ παλάμαι Θεῶν: the ‘devices’ of the gods are their mysterious dispensations, which can bring such misery on a man who was once fortunate. Cp. Pind. P. 1. 48“εὑρίσκοντο θεῶν παλάμαις τιμάν”. I have accepted Lachmann's conjecture here, θεῶν for θνητῶν, because (1) there is a prima facie case for a short penult., answering to that of “ἀθυρόστομος” (188); and (2) “θνητῶν”, so closely followed by “βροτῶν”, is very awkward, while “θεῶν” not only gives a forcible contrast with “βροτῶν”, but suggests a thought well suited to the solemn pathos. Hermann defends θνητῶν at the cost of reading “ἀθυρόγλωσσος” in 188. Heinrich Schmidt also keeps it, but re tains “ἀθυρόστομος” in 188, on the ground that, in this logaoedic measure, the ‘irrational syllable’ is admissible in the choree (“αι_ θνητ”). A probably authentic example is “δεινόν” in 218 (=“θροεῖ” in 209). “παλάμαι θνητῶν”, if sound, would mean, ‘the resources of men’ (as shown by Philoctetes): so Theognis 623 “παντοῖαι κακότητες ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἔασιν”, | “παντοῖαι δ᾽ ἀρεταὶ καὶ βιότου παλάμαι”. Cp. the praise of man as “παντοπόρος” in Soph. Ant. 360.Not, ‘the (wicked) devices of men,’ as seen in the hero's enemies.
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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