Ἑρμῆς ὁ πέμπων δόλιος=“Ἑρμῆς δόλιος ὃς πέμπει”, the god of stratagems, who escorts men on their way. ὁ πέμπων: cp. Tr. 620(the herald Lichas speaks) “ἀλλ᾽ εἴπερ Ἑρμοῦ τήνδε πομπεύω τέχνην”: Aesch. Eum. 91(Apollo to Hermes) “πομπαῖος ἴσθι, τόνδε ποιμαίνων ἐμὸν ἱκέτην”. So he is “ὅδιος, ἐνόδιος, ἡγεμόνιος, ἁγήτωρ”, and, in relation to the dead, “ψυχοπομπός” ( Soph. O. C. 1548 n.). δόλιος. Near Pellene in Achaia Pausanias saw a statue of “Ἑρμῆς,—ἐπίκλησιν μὲν Δόλιος, εὐχὰς δὲ ἀνθρώπων ἕτοιμος τελέσαι” (7. 27. 1). Cp. Ar. Th. 1202“Ἑρμῆ δόλιε, ταυτὶ μὲν ἔτι καλῶς ποιεῖς”. The Corcyrean month “ψυδρεύς” was probably sacred to Hermes as “ψυδρός” (=“ψευδής”). In Babrius fab. 57 Hermes is conducting ‘a waggon-load of lies,’ when he is way-laid and robbed of his whole stock by Arabs. Especially, he is the arch-thief ( Hor. Carm. 1. 10. 7: cp. Ovid Fast. 5. 691).— His character of “δόλιος” is similarly combined with that of “πομπός” in El. 1396“Ἑρμῆς σφ᾽ ἄγει δόλον σκότῳ” | “κρύψας, κ.τ.λ.”: and in [Eur.] Rhes. 216 “ἀλλ᾽ εὖ σ᾽ ὁ Μαίας παῖς ἐκεῖσε καὶ πάλιν ι πέμψειεν Ἑρμῆς, ὅς γε φηλητῶν ἄναξ.” νῷν, dat.: cp. on 98.
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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