πῶς οὖν βλέπων “κ.τ.λ.” By using “οὖν”, he concedes (at least for argument's sake) what Od.has just said. ‘Granting, then, that a falsehood is not disgraceful when it has such a motive, how is one to have the face to tell it?’ In vv. 91 ff. we saw the first trace of irresolution: this verse marks a further step. He now demurs to play the part, not (as in v. 108) because it is immoral, but because it is distasteful and difficult. For πῶς οὖν, cp. O. T. 124“πῶς οὖν ὁ λῃστής” (‘granting that there was a robber, how then...?’): for πῶς … βλέπων, O. T. 1371“ὄμμασιν ποίοις βλέπων”, n. λακεῖν of bold or impudent utterance, as Ar. Ach. 1046“τοιαῦτα λάσκων”: cp. Soph. Ant. 1094 n.
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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