κατοικτίρων οἰκτίρω, not οἰκτείρω, is the spelling attested by Attic inscriptions of circ. 550-350 B.C.: see Meisterhans,
Grammatik der Attischen Inschriften, p. 89.
μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων . An infinitive or participle, which for any reason would regularly take
μή, usually takes
μὴ οὐ if the principal verb of the sentence is negative. Here,
δυσάλγητος =
οὐκ εὐάλγητος:
Dem. 19.123 (πόλεις) χαλεπαὶ λαβεῖν … μὴ οὐ χρόνῳ καὶ πολιορκίᾳ
(sc.
λαμβάνοντι,) where
χαλεπαί =
οὐ ῥᾴδιαι· “cities
not easy to take,
unless by a protracted siege.” The participial clause,
μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων, is equivalent to a protasis,
εἰ μὴ κατοικτίροιμι. Prof. Kennedy holds that the protasis is
εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι understood, and that
μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων is epexegetic of it: —“Yes(
γάρ) I should be unfeeling,
if I did not wish (to help you): that is, if I refused to pity such a supplication as this.” But the double negative
μὴ οὐ could not be explained by a negative in the protasis
(εἰ μὴ θέλοιμἰ· it implies a negative in the apodosis
(δυσάλγητος ἂν εἴην). Since, then, the resolution into
οὐκ εὐάλγητος ἂν εἴην is necessary, nothing seems to be gained by supposing a suppressed protasis,
εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι.