οὐ γὰρ...; As in “ἦ γάρ” (248) and “πῶς γάρ” (250), the “γάρ” marks surprise (‘your words are strange, — for ...’ etc.). οἶσθα κάτοιδ̓, as Ant. 1063 f. “ἴσθι...κατισθι”: El. 922“ΗΛ. οὐκ οἶσθ᾽ ὅποι γῆς οὐδ᾽ ὅποι γνώμης φέρει. ΧΡ. πῶς δ᾽ οὐκ ἐγὼ κάτοιδ᾽ ἅ γ᾽ εἶδον ἐμφανῶς;” πῶς … κάτοιδ̓; ‘how do I know?’=‘of course I do not know.’ This form is more emphatic, because more direct, than “πῶς ἂν ᾔδη” (or “εἰδείην”), or “πῶς ἔμελλον εἰδέναι”; But it is rare except in affirmation (i.e., with “πῶς οὐ”...), as in El. l.c.; Xen. Oecon. 18§ 3 “τοῦτο μὲν οἶσθα...τί δ᾽ οὐκ, ἔφην ἐγώ, οἶδα”; See, however, Her. I. 75 “κῶς γὰρ...διέβησαν αὐτόν;” (=‘how can they have crossed the river?’).
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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