Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes

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ἄγοιντο: he said, “ἐὰν μὴ ἄγησθε”, if ye shall not bring. Blaydes places his conjecture ἀγάγοιντο in the text, and also suggests ἄξοιντο. Either would serve; but ἄγοιντο is right also. In a conditional sentence, the pres. subj. can have either of two meanings: (1) “ἐὰν ἄγησθε, καλῶς ἕξει”,—‘if ye shall bring, it will be well’—a particular supposition referring to the future: or (2) “ἐὰν ἄγησθε, καλῶς ἔχει”,—‘if ye (ever) bring, it is (always) well,’—a general supposition referring to the present. Here, of course, “ἄγοιντο” represents (1). Cp. Xen. Cyr. 3. 2. 13“ἢν μὲν πόλεμον αἱρῆσθε, μηκέτι ἥκετε δεῦρο ἄνευ ὅπλων...ἢν δὲ εἰρήνης δοκῆτε δεῖσθαι, ἄνευ ὅπλων ἥκετε”: ib. 5. 3. 27 “ἐὰν οὖν ἴῃς νῦν, πότε ἔσει οἴκοι”; For similar instances of this pres. subj. (referring to the future) represented by the optative in oratio obliqua, cp. Dem. or. 18 § 148 “εἰ μὲν τοίνυν τοῦτο...τῶν ἐκείνου συμμάχων εἰσηγοῖτό τις” (representing “ἐὰν εἰσηγῆταί τις”), “ὑπόψεσθαι τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐνόμιζε” (“πάντας”). Xen. Anab. 6. 1. 25“ἐδόκει δῆγον εἶναι ὅτι αἱρήσονται αὐτόν, εἴ τις ἐπιψηφίζοι” (=“ἐάν τις ἐπιψηφίζῃ”).

νήσου, gen. after a verb of motion: 630, El. 324“δόμων...ἐντάφια... φέρουσαν”: O. T. 142 n.

617 The words οἴοιτο μὲν μάλιστα are parenthetical, just as if we had “εἰκότως μὲν ἑκούσιον λαβών”: and the optat. is used as if “εἶπεν ὅτι δηλώσοι” had preceded. Cp. Lys. or. 13 § 19 “λέγει ὅτι, ἐὰν αὐτὸν ἕλησθε περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης πρεσβευτὴν αὐτοκράτορα, ποιήσειν [ιρρεγ. φορ “ποιήσει” ορ “-σοι”] ὥστε μήτε τῶν τειχῶν διελεῖν μήτε ἄλλο τὴν πόλιν ἐλαττῶσαι μηδέν: οἴοιτο δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τι ἀγαθὸν...εὑρήσεσθαι”. Similarly a clause with “γάρ” can take the optat. in oratio obliqua: H. 7. 1. 23 “γέγων ὡς μόνοις μὲν αὐτοῖς πατρὶς Πελοπόννησος εἴη, μόνοι γὰρ αὐτόχθονες ἐν αὐτῇ οἰκοῖεν.”

μάλιστα with οἴοιτο, indicating what he thought most likely: cp. El. 932“οἶμαι μάλιστ᾽ ἔγωγε”, and O.C. 1298 n.