ὑποπτέρους is perh. meant here to suggest ‘shy’ (and therefore hard to shoot); for the word often implies ‘taking wing’: cp. Helen. 1236 “μεθίημι ϝεῖκος τὸ σόν, ἴτω δ᾽ ὑπόπτερον”: id. fr. 420. 4 “ὑπόπτερος δ᾽ ὁ πλοῦτος.” So Ai. 139“πέφόβημαι”, | “πτηνῆς ὡς ὄμμα πελείας”.
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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