στιπτή γε “κ.τ.λ.”, ‘aye, a heap of leaves pressed down, as if for the use of one who sleeps in the place.’ Here γε serves to correct the suggestion contained in the negative question: ‘There is nothing there?’ ‘Yes, there is something.’ In this use it may be compared with the Fr.si, since it is corrective without being emphatic. (‘Vous n'avez pas été là?’—‘Si.’) Cp. 35. For the spelling “στιπτή”, see v. 2. A bed of leaves (or rushes, etc.) was called “στιβάς” ( Eur. Tro. 507“στιβάδα πρὸς χαμαιπετῆ”). [Eur. ] Rhes. 9 “λεῖπε χαμεύνας φυλλοστρώτους” (of soldiers bivouacking). “στιπτή” means, pressed down by the body of the person who has slept on it. Some take “ἐναυλίζοντίτῳ” as dat. of agent with “στιπτή” (pressed down by some one lodging here); but the order of words renders it simpler to take the dat. as one of interest. Hartung, whom Nauck follows, changes στιπτή to στρωτή, finding a hint of the latter in one of the two scholia on this v. in L, “χαμαιστρωσία ἐκ φύλλων”. But that may refer to the one word “φυλλάς”: while the other scholium unequivocally refers to “στιπτή, —ἡπλωμένη καὶ πατουμένη”, (‘spread out, and pressed down,’) “ὡς κοιμωμένου ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ τινος”. If it be said that “ἡπλωμένη” might refer to στρωτή, we may reply that “πατουμένη” could refer only to “στιπτή”: and by “ἡπλωμένη” the schol. meant (I think) to express that the leaves formed, not a soft heap, but only a shallow layer. στιπτή is more graphic than στρωτή: it suggests the recent impress of the body, and the cheerless discomfort of the couch.—For ὡς with “ἐναυλίζοντί τῳ”, cp. 203.
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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