χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω: Tr. 624“στείχοις ἂν ἤδη”. Cavallin gives these words, as well as the following, to Philoctetes, because the invitation to enter the cave ought to come from him, whose home it is. But then the words καὶ σέ γ᾽ εἰσάξω lose their proper force; for we have to understand Ph. as saying,—‘Pray enter: — or rather —I will lead you in.’ But γε can only emphasise σέ: and therefore χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω must be said to Philoctetes. In these words Neoptolemus reverts to the wish which he had already expressed (645, 651) that Ph. should fetch from the cave anything that he needed for the voyage. τὸ γὰρ | νοσοῦν: for the art. as penult. word of the v., cp. O. T. 231; O. C. 265, O. C. 351: Ant. 67, Ant. 78.τὸ … νοσοῦν, my sick estate: cp. Thuc. 1. 36“τὸ μὲν δεδιὸς αὐτοῦ...τὸ δὲ θαρσοῦν” (his mood of fear or courage).
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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
