κάταγμα properly meant the ball of wool on the distaff, from which the thread is drawn down (“κατάγεται”, deducitur) by the spinner. ( Polit. 282 E: Soph.226B. ) Here it is merely a synonym for “μαλλός” (690). In Ar. Lys.583 ff. “κάταγμα” is the thread itself. προὔχριον, before putting it into the casket (692). Lucian Alex.21“σιάλῳ τὴν σφραγῖδα προχρίσας.—φλόγα” comes first, since heat is the main point; then, to avoid ambiguity, ἀκτῖν᾽ ἐς ἡλιῶτιν is added. Seneca Herc. Oet. 725 translates these words: medios in ignes solis et claram facem. Wunder rashly rejects the verse. Dobree's objection to it seems to have been the repeated ἐς. His words are merely: ‘Suspectus ob constructionem; nisi legas “φλόγα ἀκτῖνος ἡλιῶτιν”’: II. Adv.38. But the prep. is often thus repeated when a second noun stands in apposition with the first, serving to explain it: e.g., Lysias or. 6 § 14 “καὶ ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ, ἐν τῷ σεμνοτάτῳ...δικαστηρίῳ”: Laches 183 C “ἐκ τούτων οἱ ὀνομαστοὶ γίγνονται, ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτηδευσάντων ἕκαστα”: Prot.358B “αἱ ἐπὶ τούτου πράξεις ἅπασαι, ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀλύπως ζῆν”.
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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