κακὸς κακῶς, as in 1391, O.T. 248, Ph. 1369. ἄθαπτος ἐκπέσοι χθονός, ‘may he be cast out of the land, unburied’: i.e., may he perish, and may his body then be cast beyond the boundaries of his country. Cp. Soph. Ph. 1629“Πολυνείκους νέκυν ι ἐκβάλετ᾽ ἄθαπτον τῆσδ᾽ ὅρων ἔξω χθονός”. Under Athenian law a person put to death for treason (“προδοσία”) or sacrilege was not to be buried in Attica ( H. 1. 7. 22): thus when Phocion was executed in 317 C.B. , “ἔδοξε καὶ τὸ σῶμα..ἐξορίσαι” ( Plut. Phoc. 37). Teucer's curse is worded as if the supposed offender were at home in Greece, and not at Troy. ἐκπέσοι: cp. O.C. 766 “ὅτ᾽ ἦν μοι τέρψις ἐκπεσεῖν χθονός”.
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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.
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