ἀρτίπους, with opportune foot (“ἀρτίως καὶ ἡρμοσμένως τῷ καιρῷ πορεύεται”, schol.). Cp. the similar phrases for a timely arrival; O. T.78“εἰς καλόν”: Ant.386“ἐς δέον περᾷ”: 387 “ποίᾳ ξύμμετρος προὔβην τύχῃ”; Ai.1168“ἐς αὐτὸν καιρόν”: Aesch. Theb.373“εἰς ἀρτίκολλον ἀγγέλου λόγου μαθεῖν”. Elsewhere ἀρτίπους=‘with sound foot’ (“ἅρτιος”, well-compacted), as Il.9. 505.And so some take it here, as if it were meant to suggest his fitness for the mission: but this seems frigid. The poet was perhaps thinking of “ἄρτι” rather than of “ἄρτιος”: and “ἄρτι” certainly occurs in composition, not only with verbs (as “ἀρτιθανής”), but also with nouns, as “ἀρτίδακρυς” ( Eur. Med.903), “ἀρτίπλουτος” ( Aesch. Suppl.742). Still, “ἀρτίπους”, as used here, could be taken from “ἄρτιος”, in the sense of ‘fitted’ to the occasion, “καίριος.—θρῴσκει δόμους”: Soph. O. C.643“δόμους στείχειν ἐμούς”. He is hastening to tell his mother the news which he has just heard (67).
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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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