ἀλλὰ … μέντοι: cp. Ant. 567.The fact that “ἀλλὰ” recurs so soon, in v. 526, has caused a corruption to be suspected in the latter place (see crit. n.): but there it has a different tone (‘come, now’). This elasticity of meaning in “ἀλλά” is one reason why classical poetry so readily allows it to be repeated at short intervals (cp. e.g. 645, Ant. 647, Ant. 651: O. C. 238 ff. “ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ...ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ...ἀλλ᾽ ἴτε”: El. 137— 140, El. 879—882: Tr. 592—594). As to the tolerance of such repetition generally, cp. 762: O. C. 554 n. αἰσχρὰ: for the plur., cp. 1395, O. C. 485 n. σοῦ γέ μ̓ is better than σοῦ γ᾽ ἔμ̓: the latter would imply an ungraceful emphasis on the speaker's personal dignity. πρὸς τὸ καίριον: cp. Ai. 38“ἦ...πρὸς καιρὸν πονῶ”; πονεῖν, epexegetic of “ἐνδεέστερον”, ‘in respect of toiling’: cp. O.C. 335 “οἱ δ᾽ αὐθόμαιμοι ποῦ νεανίαι πονεῖν”;