ἔξοιδα, Παῖ. Erfurdt's correction of καὶ to παῖ appears certain. The caressing tone of “παῖ” (cp. O. T. 1008, Ant. 1289) is dramatically happy at this moment, when he has just used the jarring word “κλοπεύς”. The arguments in defence of καὶ are examined in the Appendix. φύσει is excusably added to πεφυκότα, since the force of the latter had become weakened by usage (“πεφυκέναι” oft. meaning little more than “εἶναι”): as here, “πεφυκότα...τεχνᾶσθαι” (without “φύσει”) would not necessarily mean more than ‘apt to contrive,’—whether the aptitude was innate, or acquired. So Eur. Bacch. 896“φύσει πεφυκός”: Plat. Crat. 389 C “τὸ φύσει ἑκάστῳ πεφυκὸς ὄργανον. ” φωνεῖν: for the inf. with “πεφυκότα”, cp. 88, 1052.
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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