αἰνῶ τάδ̓, ὦ παῖ. ‘Thanks, my son’ (lit., ‘I commend what you say’). The phrase implies a courteous recognition of the proposal that the sailors should carry him: but, as is shown by “καί μ̓ ἔπαιῤ ὥσπερ νοεῖς”, it is not a direct way of refusing the offer, like ‘No, thank you.’ The formula αἰνῶ τάδε regularly means, as here, ‘I commend your words’ ( Eur. Or. 786, Eur. Med. 908). Eur. Itis known, indeed, that Soph. used “αἰνῶ” like “ἐπαινῶ”, as a civil form of refusal, in his Alcmaeon (Hesych. s. v. “αἰνῶ”): cp. Hes. Op. 641“νἦ ὀλίγην αἰνεῖν, μεγάλῃ δ᾽ ἐνὶ φορτία θέσθαι”. But here “αἰνῶ τάδε” is better taken in its simple and usual sense.
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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