εἰκὸς γὰρ “κ.τ.λ.”: ‘(I will not act with thee), for it is likely that one who makes the attempt should e'en (“καὶ”) fare ill.’ It is perhaps best to take ἐγχειροῦντα in this absolute sense, rather than to supply “κακοῖς” (or “κακά”) from “κακῶς”, as if the verse were a symmetrical “γνώμη”, ‘Evil ventures are likely to bring evil fortunes.’ Had the poet meant this, he might rather have written “πάσχειν κακά”: cp. fr. 877 “εἰ δείν᾽ ἔδρασας, δεινὰ καὶ παθεῖν σε δεῖ”. The participle is in the masc., since the statement is general: cp. 145.— πράσσειν, not “πράξειν”. For the pres. inf., cp. 305 “μέλλων..δρᾶν”: Ph. 1398 f. “ᾔνεσας”.. | “πέμπειν”: Thuc. 3. 13“ὥστε οὐκ εἰκὸς αὐτοὺς περιουσίαν νεῶν ἔχειν, ἢν ὑμεῖς...ἐπεσβάλητε”. In such cases the notion of fut. time is sufficiently expressed by the principal verb.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VI: The Electra. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1894.
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