ἱερᾶς: cp. 391. αἴρων denotes the simple act of lifting, and is thus more picturesque than “αἰρόμενος”. Cp. Ar. Ran. 1339“κάλπισί τ᾽ ἐκ ποταμῶν δρόσον ἄρατε.” ἄλλων, such as fruits, milk, etc.: from “αἴρων” we supply a word of more general sense. The gen. is partitive ( Xen. Cyr. 1. 4. 20“λαβὼν τῶν...ἵππων τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν”). This is better than to repeat φορβὰν with it (‘food consisting in other things’). Such a constr. would be awkward when “φορβὰν” is in apposition with “σπόρον.” τῶν, relat. (14)= “τούτων ἅ”. ἀλφησταί. The popular deriv., from “ἄλφι” and “ἐδ” (‘meal-eating’), may possibly have been in the poet's mind here; though this inference would be stronger if he had placed the word in closer connection with “σπόρον”. Curtius, on the other hand, can fairly cite Aesch. Th. 771“ἀνδρῶν ἀλφηστᾶν ὄλβος ἄγαν παχυνθείς”, in support of the sense ‘workers,’ ‘earners,’ men who eat their bread in the sweat of their brow (rt “ἀλφ”, Lat. lab-os). ἀνέρες, with epic α_, as Tr. 1010, O. T. 869“ἀνέρων”. There is a reminiscence of Od. 13. 261“ἀνέρας ἀλφηστάς”, as well as of ib. 9. 89 “οἵτινες ἀνέρες εἶεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ σῖτον ἔδοντες”.
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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