ὄλοιντο “κ.τ.λ.”: a forcible way of saying, ‘Any kind of misdoing might be pardoned sooner than treachery of the kind which we see here.’ Cp. 468 f., “σοὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ φράζω κακὸν” | “πρὸς ἄλλον εἶναι κ.τ.λ.” The comment is aimed at Lichas in the first instance; but its vague form seems purposed, so that the hearers may extend it, if they please, to Heracles. Deianeira herself is in doubt whether the dissimulation practised by Lichas was prompted by her lord (449): Lichas explains that it was not so (479 f.). The schol.'s paraphrase shows that he wished to punctuate thus: “ὄλοιντο, μή τι πάντες, οἱ κακοί”, etc.: ‘perish, not all men, but the evil; and (especially) he,’ etc. τὰ δὲ: for the place of the art., cp. 92 n.: for δὲ as=“ἀλλά”, Ant.85 n. μὴ (generic) πρέπονθ᾽ αὑτῷ: the treachery is aggravated by the fact of the high trust reposed in those from whom it proceeds. Ph.1227“ἔπραξας ἔργον ποῖον ὧν οὔ σοι πρέπον”;
This text is part of:
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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