τηλόθεν … εἰσορῶν, ‘eyeing them from a distance, i.e. holding aloof from them. The phrase is figurative; it is not an oxymoron, like “ἐν σκότῳ ὁρᾶν” ( O. T. 1273), as though it meant ‘never seeing them.’ This “τηλόθεν εἰσορᾶν” is a poetical counterpart of “πόρρωθεν ἀσπάζεσθαι”,— familiar in Attic as meaning ‘to give a wide berth’ to an objectionable person or thing: Plat. Rep. 499A “οἵων ζητεῖν μὲν τὸ ἀληθὲς...τὰ δὲ κομψά τε καὶ ἐριστικὰ ...πόρρωθεν ἀσπαζομἑνων”. Eur. Hipp. 102“πρόσωθεν αὐτὴν” (Aphrodite) “ἁγνὸς ὢν ἀσπάζομαι”. Antiphilus (c. 60 A.D. ) in Anthol. 9. 29 (speaking of the golden age), “εὖτ᾽ ἀπὸ χέρσου” | “τηλόθεν, ὡς Ἅιδης, πόντος ἀπεβλέπετο”. Cp. the phrases, tinged with a similar irony, in O. T. 795, O. T. 997. φυλάξομαι, midd. sc. “αὐτούς”: cp. fr. 428 “δισσὰ γὰρ φυλάσσεται”, | “φίλων τε μέμψιν κεἰς θεοὺς ἁμαρτάνειν”.
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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