ἑκόντα μήτ᾽ ἄκοντα. A “μήτε” is understood before “ἑκόντα”: cp. Aesch. Ag. 532“Πάρις γὰρ οὔτε συντελὴς πόλις”: and Soph. O. T. 236 ff. (n.): Soph. Ant. 267.Dindorf changes μήτ̓ to μηδ̓. This is, of course, admissible. When a single “οὐδέ” (or “μηδέ”) connects two words, the negative force is more often, indeed, confined to the second, as in 756 “δεινὸν γὰρ οὐδὲ ῥητόν”. But there are also many examples in which “οὐδέ” negatives the preceding word also: as Thuc. 8. 99“αἱ Φοίνισσαι νῆες οὐδὲ ὁ Τισσαφέρνης...ἧκον”. Ar. Av. 694“γῆ δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀὴρ οὐδ᾽ οὐρανὸς ἦν”. Where, however, “οὐδέ” is thus retrospective, another negative (such as “οὐδέν”) is usu. joined to the verb: Her. 1. 215“σιδήρῳ δὲ οὐδ᾽ ἀργύρῳ χρέωνται οὐδέν”: Thuc. 6. 55“Θεσσαλοῦ μὲν οὐδ᾽ Ἱππάρχου οὐδεὶς παῖς γέγραπται” (add id. 5. 47 cited below): Dem. or. 22 § 4 “ἁπλοῦν μὲν οὐδὲ δίκαιον οὐδὲν ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοι.” μήτε τῳ τέχνῃ. Here again Dindorf writes μηδέ. Note that, whether “μήτε” or “μηδέ” be read, it does not here balance the preceding “μήτε” (or “μηδέ”), since “ἑκ. μήτ᾽ ἄκ”.=(“μήθ̓”) “ἑκ. μήτ᾽ ἄκ”.: hence we might read “μήτ̓ ἄκοντα”, and yet “μηδέ τῳ τέχνῃ”. Cp. Plat. Rep. 426B “οὔτε φάρμακα οὔτε καύσεις οὔτε τομαὶ οὐδ᾽ αὖ ἐπῳδαί”. But it is needless to alter μήτε.—For τέχνῃ, cp. Soph. Ai. 752“παντοίᾳ τέχνῃ”: Thuc. 5. 47“ὅπλα μὴ ἐξέστω ἐπιφέρειν...τέχνῃ μηδὲ μηχανῇ μηδεμιᾷ”: Xen. Anab. 4. 5. 16“ἐδεῖτο αὐτῶν πάσῃ τέχνῃ καὶ μηχανῇ μὴ ἀπολείπεσθαι”.
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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