Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Trachiniae

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εἰ πατρὸς νέμοι τιν᾽ ὤραν τοῦ … δοκεῖν: instead of “εἰ νέμοι τιν᾽ ὤραν τοῦ τὸν πατέρα...δοκεῖν”. The gen. πατρὸς, placed at the beginning of the clause, illustrates the normal Greek tendency to announce the subject of the statement at the outset (as in “τοῦτον οἶσθ᾽ εἰ ζῶν κυρεῖ”, Ph.444 n.). The second gen., τοῦ … δοκεῖν, is ‘epexegetic,’ as defining the “ὤραν”. But it is not in apposition with “πατρός” (‘care for his father,—that is, care for his being deemed,’ etc.). Rather the two genitives are linked to “ὤραν” with slightly different shades of meaning;— ‘care, on his father's account, for his being deemed.’ Instead of τοῦ … δοκεῖν, we might have had a relative clause, “ὅπως ἂν...δοκῇ”. But, since “ὤραν” could take a gen., that constr. was preferred as more compact. Cp. Dem. or. 2 § 4 “τούτων οὐχὶ νῦν ὁρῶ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ λέγειν” (the speaking-time for these things). Id. or. 5 § 22 “λαβεῖν ἐβούλετο τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ δοκεῖν δἰ αὑτὸν κρίσιν εἰληφέναι”.

δοκεῖν here=‘be believed to be’: cp. Thuc.6. 17“ἕως...ὁ Νικίας εὐτυχὴς δοκεῖ” “ε<*>ναι”, ‘while he has the reputation of being successful’ (not ‘seems’: he really was so). The meaning is, ‘Hyllus ought to go in search of news, if he cared to dispel our painful anxiety.’ The “τροφός” chooses words which avoid any suggestion of disaster to Heracles, and say only that his welfare has yet to be ascertained.

νέμοι is better attested than νέμει, and also fitter, as implying the deferential “εἰκὸς ἂν εἴη”, not the blunt “εἰκός ἐστιν”. See Appendix.