τὸν αὐλόν, the instrument associated with religious enthusiasm, and more esp. with the Dionysiac worship. In Attic Tragedy the lyre seems to have been the older instrument (cp. Ar. Ran.1304Ar. Ran., 1285): but after the time of Aeschylus, at least, the “αὐλός” was the regular one. Cp. MA. üller, Gr. Bühnenalt. p. 192 n. 3.— ὦ τύραννε clearly refers to the “αὐλός” (for the change to the voc., cp. 99）—not to Apollo or Dionysus.—The words τᾶς ἐμᾶς φρενός bring out the spiritual sense of “τύραννε”, and express the compelling influence of the flute.
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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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