ὅ μοι βάλοι: for the optat. referring to an indefinite number of acts in past time, cp. Lys. or. 23 § 3 “οὕς τε ἐξευρίσκοιμι Δεκελέων, ἐπυνθανόμην”: Xen. Cyr. 5. 3. 55“οὓς μὲν ἴδοι,...ἠρώτα”. νευροσπαδὴς, ‘with drawn string,’ i.e., ‘drawn back along with the string.’ The epithet pictures the moment of taking aim, and thus suggests, though it does not literally express, the idea, ‘sped from the string.’ Not, ‘drawing the string back’ (by the pressure of the notch). Cp. Ant. 1216“ἁρμὸν...λιθοσπαδῆ”, an opening made by dragging stones away; where the adj. implies “λίθων ἐσπασμένων”, as here the adj. implies “ἀπὸ νευρᾶς ἐσπασμένης”. ἄτρακτος. If the “ἀ” be for “ἀμφ” (as Curtius suggests, comparing “ἄ-βολος”, cloak), the word meant, ‘what turns (“τρεπ”) round’; hence (1) spindle; then (2) shaft, arrow: Tr. 714: Thuc. 4. 40§ 2, where a Laconian uses it, and Thuc. explains it by “τὸν ὀϊστόν”. Aesch. adds the qualifying epithet “τοξικῷ” (fr. 139). αὐτὸς, having no dog to fetch it.
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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