πολλὰ πολλαχῇ, “"with repeated and manifold calling."” There seems to be no genuine instance of “πολλαχῇ” meaning simply “πολλάκις”. It is always “"by many routes"” (as Xen. Anab. 7.3.12), “"in many ways"” (Her. 6.21), or “"on many grounds"” (id. 1. 42). The phrase here, then, cannot mean "loudly (“πολλά”) and often": nor can it be merely, “"again and again."” But “πολλαχῇ” need not refer to different forms of words. It is enough to understand it of varying tones in which the name was sounded, or of the voice seeming to come from different points at successive moments. It is strange that a modern critic should have thought this “"alienissimum a divina maiestate"” (Schaefer). He must have forgotten that a divine summons had already been thrice repeated when “"the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel."”
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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