κρατίστου … τραφείς: strictly, ‘bred from’ (not, ‘reared by’) ‘a sire who was the bravest of the Greeks.’ πατρὸς is not a gen. of agency (like “πληγεὶς θυγατρός”, Eur. Or. 497), but a gen. of origin, as 1284 “ἀρίστου πατρὸς αἴσχιστος γεγώς”: cp. O.T. 1082 “τῆς γὰρ πέφυκα μητρός”, O.C. 1322 “μητρὸς λοχευθείς”. τραφείς is more forcible than “γεγώς”, as suggesting, not birth merely, but the inborn qualities. Cp. Ai. 556“δεῖ δ᾽ ὅπως πατρὸς”|“δείξεις ἐν ἐχθροῖς οἷος ἐξ οἵου ᾿τράφης”, ‘thou must see that thou provest among thy father's foes of what mettle and what breed thou art.’ In Aesch. Th. 792“θαρσεῖτε, παῖδες μητέρων τεθραμμέναι”, the gen. seems again to be one of origin, ‘maidens who are true daughters of your mothers’ (i.e., who resemble them, rather than your intrepid fathers). Wakefield's conjecture “ἔνθ᾽ ὦ <）κ> κρατίστου” was warranted by the commoner usage of “τραφείς” (with “ἐκ”, Soph. Ai. 557, Eur. Ion 693; with “ἀπό”, Eur. Ion 262, Soph. Ai. 1229); but it was needless here.
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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