κεῖνος δὲ: “δὲ” resumes the story after the parenthetic apology (“τοῦ λόγου... φανῇ”): cp. “κεῖνοι δ̓” in 281. Wunder rejects these two verses, (1) because they repeat the substance of vv. 248—250, and (2) because Lichas ought not to pain his mistress by mentioning Omphalè. But (1) these vv. explain ἐν Λυδοῖς, and define χρόνον: (2) the herald's motive for silence concerning Iolè does not apply to the case of Omphalè. Hyllus had already mentioned ‘the Lydian woman’ to his mother (70). πραθεὶς … Ὀμφάλῃ. Hermes, by command of Zeus, took Heracles to Lydia, and sold him in the slave-market to Omphalè: the price was paid to Eurytus, as a “ποινή” for the murder of Iphitus ( Apollod.2. 6. 2). Two tragic poets of the fifth century B.C., Ionof Chios and Achaeus, had written an “Ὀμφάλη σατυρική”. Two poets of the Middle Comedy, Antiphanes (Athen. 112 C) and Cratinus jun. (id. 669 B) wrote an “Ὀμφάλη”, picturing Heracles abandoned to sensuous pleasures. Itis the more noteworthy how Sophocles, in lightly touching on this episode, has guarded his hero's dignity. For he speaks only of servile labours for the Lydian taskmistress (70 It, 356); and marks how the bondsman felt his disgrace (254).
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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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