ἔκειτ̓, ‘lay low in death,’ a poet. equiv. for ‘had died’ (not=“προέκειτο”, ‘lay on the bier,’ ready for the “ἐκφορά”). Cp. El. 1134“ὅπως θανὼν ἔκεισο τῇ τόθ᾽ ἡμέρᾳ” | “τύμβου πατρῴου κοινὸν εἰληχὼς μέρος”. Ant. 1174“καὶ τίς φονεύει; τίς δ᾽ ὁ κείμενος”; Simonides fr. 60 “κεῖσαι ζῶν ἔτι μᾶλλον τῶν ὑπὸ γᾶς ἐκείνων”. It is natural to suppose that the son's wish to arrive before the burial (351) was fulfilled; for the tidings of the death would have been sent at once, and he would have reached Troy not later, perhaps, than five days after it (cp. 354). In Hector's case the funeral took place only on the tenth day after his remains had been brought home ( Il. 24. 785). The conciseness of the narrative here, which does not refer to the obsequies (unless in “᾿δάκ-” “ρυσα”), is Sophoclean: cp. Ant. 415 n. The welcome by ‘all the host’ (356) cannot be considered as a direct allusion to the funeral rites; cp. the reception of Teucer by the army ( Ai. 721 ff.). ᾿δάκρυσα: for the prodelision of the augment, cp. O. C. 1062“ταχεῖ ᾿πόρευσαν”: Ant. 457 n. οὐ μακρῷ χρόνῳ, after it: O. C. 1648“χρόνῳ βραχεῖ στραφέντες”.
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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