τὸν ἐνδυτῆρα πέπλον. The word “ἐνδυτήρ” (found only here) expresses that the “πέπλος” was not for ordinary use, but was one which Heracles was to assume for the solemn rite. Thus it is equivalent to ‘stately,’ or ‘festal.’ Cp. Eur. Tro.258“ἐνδυτῶν στεφέων ἱεροὺς στολμούς”, ‘the sacred apparel of wreaths with which thou hast been invested’ (because they mark Cassandra's prophetic character).—The “χιτών” belonged to the class of “ἐνδύματα”, garments ‘put on’ (and not merely wrapped round the body); while the Homeric “πέπλος” must be classed with “ἐπιβλήματα” (cp. Il.5. 734 ff.). But we cannot well regard “ἐνδυτήρ” here as a qualifying epithet, meaning that this “πέπλος” was of the “χιτών” class (cp. 602 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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.