λόγῳ … ἐν βραχεῖ: cp. El. 673“τέθνηκ᾽ Ὀρέστης: ἐν βραχεῖ συνθεὶς λέγω”. Aesch. P. V. 505“βραχεῖ δὲ μύθῳ πάντα συλλήβδην μάθε.” τοῦτ̓, instead of “τόδ̓”, referring to what follows: cp. n. on O.C. 787. πόλεμος κ.τ.λ.: the “γνώμη” stands as an independent sentence, unconnected with the prefatory “τοῦτ᾽ ἐκδιδάξω”: cp. Ant. 612“ἐπαρκέσει νόμος ὅδ̓: οὐδὲν ἕρπει κ.τ.λ.” ἑκὼν, ‘by choice’: i.e., war has a marked preference for killing good men, though, of course, it kills some bad men too. The word “ἑκών” does not involve a definite personification of “πόλεμος” (like that in Ar. Pax): we can say, “ἡ φύσις βούλεται ποιεῖν τι” ( An. Gen. 4), without writing “Φύσις”. Cp. fr. 652 “τοὺς εὐγενεῖς γὰρ κἀγαθούς, ὦ παῖ, φιλεῖ” | “Ἄρης ἐναίρειν: οἱ δὲ τῇ γλώσσῃ θρασεῖς” | “φεύγοντες ἄτας ἐκτός εἰσι τῶν κακῶν:” | “Ἄρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν λωτίζεται”. Anacreon fr. 101 “Ἄρης δ᾽ οὐκ ἀγαθῶν φείδεται, ἀλλὰ κακῶν”. The same thought is implied in the phrase of Andoc. , or. 3 § 30 “πολλοὺς μὲν Ἀθηναίων ἀπολέσαντες ἀριστίνδην”, —as if the “ἄριστοι” had been selected.
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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