εἴ τί σοι ξίφος πρόχειρον (= “πάρεστι”) χεροῖν, if you have any sword ready in your hands. “πρόχειρος” can be combined with “χεροῖν” (as in Soph. El. 696“πρόχειρον ἔγχος χειρὶ βαστάζουσ᾽ ἐμῇ”) without seeming pleonastic, since the derived sense of the compound adj. (promptus) is prominent. Cp. 407 n.: Plat. Theaet. 200C “ἐὰν μὴ προχείρους ἔχῃ” (“ἐπιστήμας”) “ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ”. πάταξον εἰς ἄκρον πόδα. The ulcered heel is to be severed from the foot. “ἄκρος ποῦς” seems to mean simply, ‘the end of the foot,’ i.e. the heel (“πτέρνα”), the seat of the ulcer. Cp. 824. The phrase could also mean, ‘the foot at the end of the leg,’ as in Il. 16. 640“ἐκ κεφαλῆς εἴλυτο διαμπερὲς ἐς πόδας ἄκρους” (=simply ‘from head to foot’): but this is less fitting here.
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.
