ἄγ̓ is said to all the bystanders, rather than to Hyllus alone: cp. 821 “ἴδ̓”, n. ἐγκονεῖτ̓: cp. Ai.811“χωρῶμεν, ἐγκονῶμεν”: ib. 988 “ἴθ᾽ ἐγκόνει, σύγκαμνε”. The derivation of the verb is uncertain: the only part of it used by Homer is “ἐγκονέουσαι.—αἴρεσθε”: this literal sense of the midd. “αἴρομαι” is much rarer than the figurative; see, however, El.54, Il.20. 247, Eur. Cycl.473. αὕτη, instead of “τοῦτο”: cp. O. C.88“ταύτην ἔλεξε παῦλαν” (n.). He does not mean, ‘this is the rest promised by the oracle’ (1170): but merely,—‘this is the true release for me.’ τελευτὴ … ὑστάτη, like “ἔσχατον τέρμα” ( Eur. Andr.1081), extremus finis ( G. 4. 116). He has no presentiment of immortality.
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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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