χαῖῤ, ὦ μέλαθρον “κ.τ.λ.” The eight verses which follow call up a picture of his past life in Lemnos,—the lonely cave,—the plain to the west of it,—the loud sea to the east,—the echoing cliffs to the north. Then, at v. 1461, his thoughts turn to the voyage that lies before him. ξύμφρουρον, the witness of his weary watching and waiting: the cave is personified, as in 1081 ff. Cp. Aesch. P. V. 142“τῆσδε φάραγγος σκοπέλοις ἐν ἄκροις” | “φρουρὰν ἄζηλον ὀχήσω”.
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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