Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/479

469 On a passage of the Philoctetes of Sophocles. 469 meaning of cpw^. Solger gives a good sense, but one which is not contained in the words : Turn aside from the sleeper'^s eyes this light which is now poured out over them. Butt- man also understands the light of day, comparing Homer's aXX €7ri vv^ oXorj TCTarac ^eiXolcn (ipoTo^at. According to him the chorus desires the Genius of sleep, as dwelling, in the eye, to withstand the light and ward off its glare. To this it has already been objected that tuvvv added to a word expressing day-light would he superfluous, and that ofxjuiaai would require a praeposition. It may be added that the image is not sufficiently natural. For if Sleep is dwelling in the eye, it is already closed against the light : and it is not from within that the light is kept back : Sleep repels it from without with his outspread wings, or in some other like manner. So in the Iliad xiv. 359 - eirel avrip eyoy liaXaKov irept kcojul eKaXvyp^a : and vrjcv/xo9 aiicbi'^vOeL^^ v. 253. Hermann retracts his original conjecture, which may be seen in Erfurdf s edition, and translates : keep before Ms eyes the glare which is now spread over them: that is, no glare, but darkness : and this explanation has satisfied Seidler, Wunder, and Schneider. The conception, which is the same that Wakefield and Erfurdt sought to express by writing dyXvv^ is certainly the right one : but the sense given to the words would not suit the present case, if for no other reason, because the sight of Philoctetes overpowered by sleep could not give the chorus occasion either for jest or bitter irony : and one of these is always coupled with such a mode of expression. As to its being playful, Hermann himself (in V. 1429) in objecting to a signification defended as per acumen^ observes : acumen illud non esse serice orationis. Beside which, the language of the chorus, instead of being witty, like the words in the Phineus of Sophocles : jie(papov KeKXeiaral y cos KaTrrjXeiov Ovpac : or those in the Philoctetes 849, aXX' w9 Tis^ 'AiSa TrapaKeijuievos opa, would be only af- fected, and in fact tame. Expressions like jueXajuLtpaes epe^o^j dvrjXios Xa/xTra, TvCpXov (peyyo^, have a different character. It is more correct to compare them with ei/ ctkotco ox/zo^aro, (Ed. R. 1274, of a blind man. Whereas they evidently ought to be distinguished from eucprjjuos f^orj, Electr. 620. by which it is impossible to vmderstand silentium : unless