ἐγκρατὴς: for the omission of “ὤν”, even when, as here, the adj. marks a condition, cp. n. on Ant. 1327“βράχιστα γὰρ κράτιστα τἀν ποσὶν κακά” i.e. “βράχιστα” (“ὄντα”) “κράτιστά” (“ἐστι”). ὄλωλα: cp. O. T. 1166“ὄλωλας, εἴ σε ταῦτ᾽ ἐρήσομαι πάλιν”: Xen. An. 1. 8. 12“κἂν τοῦτ̓, ἔφη, νικῶμεν, πάνθ᾽ ἡμῖν πεποίηται”. Plaut. Amphitruo 1. 1. 64 “perii, si me adspexerit.” προσδιαφθερῶ ought not to be changed (as Tournier proposed) to προσδιαφθείρω. The force of “ὄλωλα”, used in the sense of “ὀλοῦμαι”, would be weakened, not enhanced, by a repetition of the device; while, on the other hand, the natural future “προσδιαφθερῶ” makes the rhetorical “ὄλωλα” more impressive: cp. I. T. 1002 “τούτου δὲ χωρισθεῖς᾿” (=“εἰ χωρισθήσομαι”) “ἐγὼ μὲν ὄλλυμαι”, | “σὺ δ᾽ ἂν τὸ σαυτοῦ θέμενος εὖ νόστου τύχοις”.
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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