ὅπως without “ἄν”, as in 688.— ὑμῶν, bitterly identifying her sister with her foes, whom she has hitherto called ‘them’ (348, 355, 361). προσώτατ̓. Several recent editions read προσωτάτω φύγω with L. Dindorf, on the ground that this was the correct form of the superl. adv. It is certainly the only form which elsewhere occurs in classical But HerodotusAttic. , at least, could say “προσώτατα ἀπικέσθαι” (2. 103); as also “τὰ ἀνώτατα” (2. 125), “οἱ...κατώτατα ἑστεῶτες” (7. 23), where an Attic writer would have used “ἀνωτάτω, κατωτάτω”. Pindar has “περαίτερον ἄλλων” (O. 8. 63), instead of “περαιτέρω”. Thucydides uses “ἐγγύτατα” (1. 13 etc.) even more frequently than “ἐγγυτάτω” (3. 38 etc.). It seems rash, then, to asser<*> that Sophocles could not possibly have used “προσώτατα”, especially when it is so decidedly commended by euphony.
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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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