τάχ᾽ οὖν τις … ἔσχε: ‘perhaps, indeed, some one has put in.’ “οὖν” has a concessive force; cp. 1306 “ἀλλ᾽ οὖν” n. When “τάχα” stands without “ἄν”, it usu.= ‘quickly’: but cp. Legg. 711 A “ὑμεῖς δὲ τάχα οὐδὲ τεθέασθε τυραννουμένην πόλιν” (where “τάχ᾽ ἄν” is impossible). Here the force of “τάχα” is, ‘I grant that visitors have come now and then; let us suppose such a moment.’ ἔσχε=“προσέσχε”, appulit: Thuc. 6. 62§ 2 “ἔσχον ἐς Ἱμέραν”. Cp. 221, 236. πολλὰ γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: ‘for such things (viz., such necessities as “ἄκων” implies) are likely to occur often (“πολλὰ” predicative adj., here practically equiv. to the adv.) in the long course of human life.’ Now and again in the course of his lifetime, a sailor might be driven to seek shelter even on such a coast as that of Lemnos. “ὁ μακρὸς ἀνθρώπων χρόνος” is the long term of man's normal life; cp. Ant. 461“εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου” | “πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι”, ‘before my natural term.’ Cp. Her. 1. 32“ἐν γὰρ τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ πολλὰ μὲν ἔστι ἰδεῖν τὰ μή τις ἐθέλει, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ παθεῖν. ἐς γὰρ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτεα οὖρον τῆς ζόης ἀνθρώπῳ προτίθημι”. Id. 5. 9“γένοιτο δ᾽ ἂν πᾶν ἐν τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ”. A reminiscence of these phrases may have been in the poet's mind.
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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