Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Trachiniae

164-168

χρόνον προτάξας, having first prescribed the time [for the division of the property],

ὡς (saying) that,

ἡνίκα χώρας ἀπείη βεβώς τρίμ. χρόνον κἀνιαύς., when he should have been absent from the country, after his departure, for fifteen months,

τότε χρείη σφε ἢ θανεῖν τῷδε τῷ χρ., ἢ … ζῆν κ.τ.λ. The words “χρόνον προτάξας” refer to his having expounded the oracle to her before he gave the directions as to his property: ὡς depends on the notion of ‘saying’ contained in “προτάξας”: and the sentence, “ὡς, ἡνίκα...ἀπείη, χρείη”, explains “χρόνον προτάξας”.

I leave the MS. τρίμηνον … κἀνιαύσιος unaltered, because it is conceivable that, while “τρίμηνον” was prompted by the “χρόνον” before it, “κἀνιαύσιος” should have been adapted to “βεβώς”. Cp. the personal constr. with “χρόνιος” ( O. C.441 n.), “χθιζός, παννύχιος”, etc. But I should prefer κἀνιαύσιον.—The repetition χρόνον … χρόνῳ … χρόνου does not warrant a suspicion (cp. O. C.554 n.): it expresses her anxiety to be precise as to the all-important point.

ὑπεκδραμόντα is lit., ‘having run out from beneath,’ having ‘eluded’ the imminent danger: Ant.1086“τῶν σὺ θάλπος οὐχ ὑπεκδραμεῖ”. Her.1. 156“ἢν τὸ παρεὸν ὑπεκδράμωσι”. As the χρόνου τέλος is here a perilous crisis, ὑπεκδρ. is more forcible than the conjecture ὑπερδραμόντα, which would mean simply, ‘having passed.’

The arguments which have been brought against vv. 166—168 are examined in the Appendix.