πότερα πρότερον: these words, as Schneidewin remarks, are often found in juxtaposition; e.g., Ar. Eccl.1082“ποτέρας προτέρας...ἀπαλλαγῶ; —δύσκριτά” (“ἐστι”), “πότεραπρότερον ἐπιστένω” (delib. subjunct.), “ποτέρα μέλεα περαιτέρω” (“ἐστί”). For “δύσκριτα”, instead of “δύσκριτον”, cp. 64 n. This is better than to place a note of interrogation after “ἐπιστένω”, and another after “περαιτέρω”. μέλεα: the MS. τέλεα would mean, ‘which woe is the more complete’; but this is less fitting here, since the second calamity is still prospective (951): nor is “τέλεἀ περαιτέρω” a natural phrase. We cannot well take it adverbially (‘which woe I should mourn more completely’).
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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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