πρῲ, ‘early,’ i.e., ‘too soon<*> ( Aesch. P. V.696“πρῴ γε στενάζεις”). “πρω-ί” is prob. for “προϝ-ι” (Brugman, Stud. IV. 154). μὴ … λέγοις ἂν. After a verb of fearing (whether the tense be primary or secondary) the potential opt. with “ἄν” retains its ordinary sense. As “γένοιτο <*>”=‘it might possibly happen,’ so “δέδοικα μὴ γένοιτο ἄν”=‘I fear that it might possibly happen.’ This is the mildest mode of expressing a fear, as “μή” with the fut. indic. is the most vivid. Hence it suits the misgiving, and the reserve, of Deianeira:—‘I fear that you might happen to be premature in speaking on that subject.’ Cp. Xen. An.6. 1. 28“ἐκεῖνο ἐννοῶ μὴ λίαν ἂν ταχὺ σωφρονισθείην”: id. De Vect. 4. 41 “εἰ δέ τινες αὖ φοβοῦνται μὴ ματαία <*>ν γένοιτο αὕτη ἡ κατασκευή”. In Lys. or. 13 § 51, where the MSS. give “δεδιότες μὴ καταλυθείησαν ὁ δῆμος”, Markland conjectured “καταλυθείη ἂν”: and the mild phrase suits the irony of the passage. (Bekker reads “καταλυθείη” without “ἄν”.) τὸν ἐξ ἐμοῦ: cp. Ant.95“τὴν ἐξ ἐμο<*> δυσβουλίαν” (n.).
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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