ὦ σχῆμα πέτρας δίπυλον, not “διπύλου”, since “σχῆμα-πέτρας” forms one notion: cp. Ant. 794“νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον”.—The word σχῆμα, in such a periphrasis, usu. denotes stateliness (as in Eur. Alc. 911“ὦ σχῆμα δόμων”, and so Eur. Hec. 619“ὦ σχήματ᾽ οἴκων”): here it marks the distinctness of the form present to his thoughts (like “σῶμα...θηρὸς” in Soph. O. C. 1568). Alike in bodily and in mental suffering, the outlines of surrounding objects become vividly stamped upon the mind. Cp. Byron, Prisoner of Chillon (stanza x): ‘But then by dull degrees came back | My senses to their wonted track; | I saw the dungeon walls and floor | Close slowly round me as before.’ αὖθις αὖ πάλιν, a rarer phrase than “αὖθις πάλιν” (342), or “αὖθις αὖ” ( Ar. Ach. 854): in Soph. O. C. 1418 we should read “αὖθις ἂν πάλιν”. 953 The MSS. and edd. give πρὸς σὲ here: but πρός σε is surely required by the sense. There is no emphasis on the pron. (as if the cave were contrasted with some other abode). The stress is on “ψιλός”: his former life in the cave, when he had the bow, is contrasted with the life now before him. ψιλός: cp. O. C. 1029“οὐ ψιλὸν οὐδ᾽ ἄσκευον” (n.).
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.
