ἆρ᾽ ἐξῄδη “ὅσον κέρδος ἦν σε τιγῇ κεύθειν”; ‘Did I not well know,’ etc., —referring to 974 “σίγα, τέκνον, κ.τ.λ.” Cp. Ar. Av.1019“ΜΕ. οἴμοι κακοδαίμων. ΠΕ. οὐκ ἔλεγον ἐγὼ πάλαι; κεύθειν” is really trans. in sense, ‘to hide (thy grief),’ though the object is not expressed: cp. Soph. Ant.85“κρυφῇ δὲ κεῦθε” (“τοὔργον”). The rare intrans. “κεύθω”=‘to be hidd n’ ( Soph. O. T.968 n.). ἐξῄδη ς᾿ is Wecklein's correction of the MS. ἐξῄδης, instead of which we must at least write ἐξῄδησθ̓ ( Ant.447). Two explanations of “ἐξῄδησθ̓” have been given. (1) ‘Did you well know’ (as soon as Heracles began to speak Ant., 983),— i.e., ‘have you now learned?’ Such is the schol.'s view: “ἆρα...ὅσον ἦν κέρδος τὸ σιωπᾶν ἔγνως”; He classed the pluperf., then, with those aorists, referring to a moment just past, which we render by a present tense ( Ph.1289“ἀπώμος᾿”, n.). This is possible, but awkward. (2) ‘Did you not well know (beforehand),— i.e., ‘had not I clearly told you?’ (Paley). The tense has then its usual force; but the words lose their special point,— which is that the result must have shown him the value of the neglected advice. κεύθειν — σκεδάσαι: for the pres. inf. (of a continued act), combined with the aor. inf. (of a momentary act), cp. Ph.95 Ph., 1397.
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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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