τὸ κεῖσε δεῦρό τ̓: cp. Soph. Ph.315“ἐκεῖσε καὶ τὸ δεῦρο”. For the art. with the first word only, Soph. O. C.606“τἀμὰ κἀκείνων” (n.). ἐξορμώμεθα might refer to the Nurse only, but rather includes Hyllus (as “ὁρῶμεν” certainly does). It suits “δεῦρο”, therefore, but not “κεῖσε”. The thought is, ‘before I could return with him.’ ὁρῶμεν αὐτὴν … πεπληγμένην, instead of “πέπληκται, ὡς ὁρῶμεν.—ἀμφιπλῆγι φασγάνῳ”: adjecti<*> which are properly only masc. or fem. are sometimes used in oblique cases with neuter nouns: cp. Ph.19“ἀμφιτρῆτος αὐλίου”: Ai.324“βοτοῖς” | “σιδηροκμῆσιν”. ὑφ᾽ ἧπαρ καὶ φρένας, lit., ‘to the liver and midriff.’ But it was her left side that she bared (926), and the fatal blow must have been nearer to the heart than to the liver. The phrase should therefore be understood in a general sense, as a poetical way of saying, ‘home to the very centre of life.’ It may have been suggested by Od.9. 301 “οὐτάμεναι πρὸς στῆθος, ὅθι φρένες ἧπαρ ἔχουσιν”, ‘stab him in the breast, where the midriff holds the liver.’ Cp. Ant.1315“παίσασ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ἧπαρ αὐτόχειρ αὑτήν”.
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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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