οὐδὲν is adv.: lit., ‘this task would no longer seem to be in any way (“οὐδὲν”) a case for many words, but for entering,’ etc. The two constructions of “ἔργον ἐστίν”, as=opus est, are here combined. (1) For the gen., cp. Plut. 1154 “οὐκ ἔργον ἔστ᾽ οὐδὲν στροφῶν”: (2) for the inf., Ai. 11“καί σ᾽ οὐδὲν εἵσω τῆσδε παπταίνειν πύλης” | “ἔτ᾽ ἔργον ἐστίν”. The peculiarity here is that, instead of the simple “ἔργον”, we have “τόδε τοὔργον”, from which “ἔργον” has to be supplied with the gen. and with the inf. Cp. Eur. Andr. 551“οὐ γάρ, ὡς ἔοικέ μοι”, | “σχολῆς τόδ᾽ ἔργον”.
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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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