ἀστένακτος: as Ajax was “ἀψόφητος ὀξέων κωκυμάτων” ( Ai.321). εἱπόμην, not “εἵπετο”, though τόνδ᾽ ἄνδρα precedes: cp. O. C.6 n. The imperf., which was read here by a scholiast of the Ajax (cr. n.), is certainly preferable to ἑσπόμην, though the aor. would also be right, if he was viewing the past as a whole. If “ἑσπόμην” were read, αἰὲν would go with “ἀστένακτος”: though “ἀεί” is not necessarily incompatible with an aor. ( Ph.1140 n.). εἱπόμην κακοῖς: cp. Eur. Phoen.408“πῶς δ᾽ ἦλθες Ἄργος”;... | “οὐκ οἶδ̓: ὁ δαίμων μ᾽ ἐκάλεσεν πρὸς τὴν τύχην”. So “ἀκολουθεῖν τῷ λόγῳ” ( Plat. Phaedo107B), “τοῖς πράγμασιν” ( Dem. or. 4 § 39), i.e., to follow their lead.
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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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