σθένει: cp. Tr. 497 “μέγα τι σθένος ἁ Κύπρις ἐκφέρεται νίκας ἀεί.” ἐπινικείῳ for “ἐπινικίῳ”: cp. Ant. 358 “ὑπαίθρεια” (Boeckh, for “αἴθρια”). τὸν εὔαγρον τελειῶσαι λόχον (grant to the Athenians) to accomplish the successful surprise,— the way-laying of Creon's guards, by which the Athenians will secure their quarry (“ἄγρα”), viz. the maidens. τὸν εὔαγρον, proleptic: cp.
λόχον, “"ambuscade,"” seems here to have the more general sense, “"scheme of capture"” (cp. Od. 4.395 “φράζευ σὺ λόχον θείοιο γέροντος”, a way to take him): though there is nothing in the scanty references to the pursuit which necessarily excludes the idea of a literal ambush. Taking λόχον as=“"company,"” we could render, “"grant this to our folk,—that thou shouldst crown the successful band with victory"” (“τελειῶσαι”): cp. El. 1508 “ὦ σπέρμ᾽ Ἀτρέως … ι τῇ νῦν ὁρμῇ τελεωθέν”, “"crowned with peace by this day's effort"”: but the construction thus supposed is less simple, while the frequent poetical association of “λόχος” with capture points to the other sense.
