ἐφῆκεν … διαφθοράν, ‘consigned her as a prey,’ since he charged Nauplius to drown her,—though the charge was not executed. Schol.: “ὁ πατὴρ Ναυπλίῳ παρέδωκεν, ἐντειλάμενος ἀποποντῶσαι: ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐποίησεν”.—Cp. Eur. H. F. 458“ἐτέκ-” “ομεν ὑμᾶς: πολεμίοις δ᾽ ἐθρεψάμην ι ὕβρισμα κἀπίχαρμα καὶ διαφθοράν”. ἐλλοῖς, traditionally explained as ‘mute,’ is a word of unknown origin. In Athen. 277 C this verse is quoted, and the question is raised whether any one before Sophocles had used the word: the answer is a quotation from a “Τιτανομαχία” (variously ascribed to Eumêlus or Arctînus), “ἐν δ᾽ αὐτῇ πλωτοὶ χρυσώπιδες ἰχθύες ἐλλοί”: with the comment, “ἔχαιρε δὲ Σοφοκλῆς τῷ Ἐπικῷ κύκλῳ”. The form “ἔλλοψ” occurs in Scut. 212 (“ἔλλοπας ἰχθῦς”), and as a subst. (‘fish’) in the Alexandrian poets (Lycophron 598, 1375: Nicander Alex. 481). A third form, “ἔλλοπος”, is the epithet of “ἰχθύς” in Empedocles, v. 12. A desperate etymology is suggested in Athen. 307 C, from “ἴλλεσθαι” (as=“εἴργεσθαι”) and “ὄψ”, ‘debarred from utterance.’ Cp. Aesch. Pers. 578“σκύλλονται πρὸς ἀναύδων, ἐή”, | “παίδων τᾶς ἀμιάντου”.
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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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