ῥοφεῖ, ‘drains,’ ‘empties’ (of air): his breath is arrested by the spasms: cp. 778 “σπαραγμὸς...πλευμόνων ἀνθήψατο”. Though the grammatical subject is “ἀμφίβληστρον”, the agent is properly the venom itself; ξυνοικοῦν, since this interruption of the breath is frequent. For this use of “ῥοφεῖν”, cp. Ar. Ach.278“ῥοφήσει τρύβλιον” (empty it). Cicero well renders, Urgensque graviter pulmonum haurit spiritus. χλωρὸν, fresh, vigorous; cp. Theocr. 14. 70 “ποιεῖν τι δεῖ, ἇς” (=“ἔως”) “γόνυ χλωρόν” (‘youthful’).—Not ‘discoloured’ (decolorem sanguinem, Cic. ).
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part V: The Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1902.
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