ψηφοποιὸς, ‘making votes,’ in the sense of procuring them by a secret canvas among the chiefs. The word “ἔπραξαν” used by Ajax in 446 implies some such intrigue. Cp. Pindar's phrase, “κρυφίαισι...ψάφοις”, in N. 8. 26 (quoted on 447 ff.). Sophocles doubtless conceived the chiefs as voting by “ψῆφοι” placed in urns (cp. Aesch. Eum. 709), and this view appears in art (Introd. § 20). Eustathius remarks the anachronism (on Il. 2. 852): though, of course, neither “ἐψήφισαν” in 449 nor “ψηφοποιός” here necessarily excludes the supposition that the votes were given, in Homeric fashion, by voice.—For other views of “ψηφοποιός”, see Appendix. The gen. αὐτοῦ depends on the phrase “κλέπτης ψηφοποιός”, as it might depend on “λωβητής” or the like.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.