ἔργα δείν̓: the ‘deeds’ are the dire results which Deianeira has so frankly presaged (718 “πῶς οὐκ ὀλεῖ καὶ τόνδε”;). Hence “δεινά” is not too strong. ἐλπίδ̓ has properly a neutral sense (cp. 125 n.): ‘we must not decide our foreboding before the issue,’—i.e., assume that the worst will certainly happen: hence we may more freely render, ‘doom our hope.’
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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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