ἔνορκος. Odysseus was bound by the oath which all the suitors of Helen had sworn to her father Tyndareus,— that they would come to her husband's aid, if he was robbed of her: I. A. 61 “ὅτου γυνὴ γένοιτο Τυνδαρὶς κόρη”, | “τούτῳ ξυναμυνεῖν, εἴτις ἐκ δόμων λαβὼν” | “οἴχοιτο”. So Ajax came to Troy “οὕνεχ᾽ ὅρκων οἷσιν ἦν ἐνώμοτος” ( Ai. 1113). Paus. was shown the place, called “Ἵππου μνῆμα”, on the road from Lacedaemon into Arcadia, where Tyndareus, having sacrificed a horse, “τοὺς Ἑλένης ἐξώρκου μνηστῆρας” (3. 20. 9). ἐξ ἀνάγκης: Odysseus feigned madness, in order to avoid going to Troy, but Palamedes detected the trick: cp. 1025 n.—“τοῦ πρώτου στόλου”, partit. gen., thou hast not sailed ‘on’ (=‘as a member of’) the first expedition. Cp. Dem. or. 21 § 202 “οὐδαμοῦ πώποτε ὁ Μειδίας τῶν συνηδομένων οὐδὲ τῶν συγχαιρόντων ἐξητάσθη τῷ δήμῳ” (‘has nowhere figured in the ranks of those who share the pleasure and joy of the people’).—The “πρῶτος στόλος” is the original Greek expedition, as distinguished from the voyage of Odysseus and Phoenix when they brought Neop. from Scyros (343 ff.).
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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