κατ᾽ ἔργου κτῆσιν. As “νίκη” can be called a “κτῆμα” ( Ph.81), and as “ἔργον” itself often=‘a notable deed’ ( Ant.730 n.), so “κεκτῆσθαι ἔργον” might well mean, ‘to have made an achievement one's own.’ The phrase in the text, then, seems sound, as meaning, ‘the achievement of the deed’ (=‘the deed achieved’). We cannot understand, ‘the acquisition (booty) made by the deed.’ ἄνδρα γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: “γάρ” refers to “κατ᾽ ἔργου κτῆσιν”: the welcome befits the deed, for the deed has prospered. καλῶς πράσσοντ̓ κ.τ.λ.: the sensitive Greek was quick to see his good or bad fortune mirrored in the behaviour of his neighbours: cp. n. on Ph.1353.We must not, then, alter καλῶς to καλά,—a change which Nauck thinks ‘necessary.’
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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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