Τραχινίαν … δειράδα, the chain of heights which bounds the plain of Malis on S. and W.,—the “Τρηχίνιαι πέτραι” of Herod. (see last n.), the “οὔρεα Μηλίδος αἴης” of Callimachus (Hymn. Del. 287). Acc. to Thuc. 3. 92 the dwellers in Malis were classed as “Τραχίνιοι” (highlanders, like the Attic “Ὑπεράκριοι”), “Παράλιοι” (by the Malian Gulf), and “Ἱερῆς” (a doubtful name). All MSS. have δειράδα καὶ τὸν, making an anapaest in the 4th place. Toup proposed δεράδα. As “δέρη” was the Attic form of “δειρή”, an Attic poet might possibly have ventured on “δεράς”. But there is no trace of such a form, while “δειράς” is frequent. Further, “Δειράδες” was the name of an Attic deme of the Leontis tribe (Bekker Anecd. p. 240, 26), and “δειράς” would thus be familiar to Attic ears in ordinary life. Thus Toup's remedy, though attractive by its simplicity, is really a very bold one. I am more disposed to think that δειράδα is sound, and that the corruption lies in the words καὶ τὸν. I conjecture, “Τραχινίαν τε δειράδ̓ ἠδ̓ ἐς εὔροον”. Soph. , like Aesch. and Eur. , admitted “ἠδέ” in iambics (see n. on Soph. Ant. 673). The corruption might arise from the fact that “Δ” was the second letter of two successive syllables. A scribe, copying “ΔΕΙΡΑΔΕΔ” (or, after 403 B.C., “ΔΕΙΡΑΔΗΔ”), might accidentally omit “ΕΔ” (or “ΗΔ”). The verse would then stand, “ΤΡΑΧΙΝΙΑΝΤΕΔΕΙΠΑΔΕΣΕΥΡΟΟΝ”. A subsequent transcriber might easily suppose that “ΔΕΙΡΑΔΕΣ” (taken for “δειράδες”, not “δειράδ᾽ ἐς”) was a mere blunder for “δειράδα”. And, “ΔΕΙΠΑΔΑ” having been replaced, the copula would next be supplied, and the verse patched up, by inserting “ΚΑΙΤΟΝ”.—For other conjectures, see Appendix. εὔροον. Tragic iambics sometimes admit uncontracted forms in “-οος”: e.g. Aesch. fr. 37 “διπλόοι”: id. fr. 275 “χειμάρροον”: id. Aesch. Theb. 493“πυρπνόον”: on the other hand, id. fr. 293 “ἑπτάρους”: Aesch. P. V. 852“πλατύρρους”: ib. 917 “πύρπνουν”. Like the Homeric “ἐΰρροος, ἐυ:ρρείτης”, the epithet refers simply to the beauty of the river, not to that swiftness (“σπέρχομαι”) from which it takes its name ( Il. 16. 176“Σπερχειῷ ἀκάμαντι”: Lucan 6. 366 Ferit amne citato | Maliacas Spercheus aquas). Rising at the foot of Typhrestus, and fed by affluents from Othrys and Oeta, the Spercheius has a considerable volume of water even in the hot season (Tozer, Geo. of Greece, p. 81).
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part IV: The Philoctetes. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1932.
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