ἀπάτορας, since their fathers are supposed to be dead; for, when a city is sacked, “ἄνδρας μὲν κτείνουσι, πόλιν δέ τε πῦρ ἀμαθύνει”, | “τέκνα δέ τ᾽ ἄλλοι ἄγουσι βαθυζώνους τε γυναῖκας” ( Il.9. 593). Cp. O. T.1506“πτωχὰς ἀνάνδρους ἐγγενεῖς ἀλωμένας”. 301 f. For ἴσως in a like conjecture, cp. Ph.180“οὗτος πρωτογόνων ἴσως” | “οἴκων οὐδενὸς ὕστερος.—πρὶν μὲν ἦσαν”, not “εἰσίν”, because ἐξ ἐλευθέρων ἀνδρῶν implies “ἐλεύθεραι”. The word ἀνδρῶν (which some would change to “οἴκων”) has been suggested by ἀπάτορας (300).—Nauck's grounds for rejecting these two vv. are: (1) that “ἴσως” is out of place, since they must have been free-born; but cp. Thuc.8. 28, quoted on v. 257: (2) that “πρὶν μὲν ἦσαν” is wrong, because their origin remains the same.
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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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