πράσσειν, pres. inf. with μέλλω, as in eight other places of Sophocles. He has the fut. inf. with it ten times, including O. T. 967, where the MS. “κτανεῖν”, if sound, would be the only instance of the aor. inf. with “μέλλω” in Soph.; but there the fut. “κτενεῖν” is clearly right. Where “μέλλω” means "to delay," the pres. inf. is naturally preferred: cp. 1627: O. T. 678 “τί μέλλεις κομίζειν δόμων τόνδ᾽ ἔσω;” πρόσφορά θ᾽ ὑμῖν, καὶ πρὸς χάριν τῷ κατὰ γῆς: at once for your advantage, and to the gratification of the dead. πρόσφορα, "suitable" for a given purpose, and so "useful,""profitable": so often in Attic prose, as Thuc. 1.125; 2. 46, 65; 7. 62. πρὸς χάριν: cp. O. T. 1152 n. ἔρρει is justified by the sudden and swift removal of Oedipus, as O. T. 560 “ἄφαντος ἔρρει”, he hath been swept from men's sight. In El. 57 “τοὐμὸν ὡς ἔρρει δέμας ι φλογιστὸν ἤδη”, it is little more than “οἴχεται”. More commonly “ἔρρειν” implies either an evil end, or at least some feeling of contempt on the speaker's part, as
. Wecklein regards the words ὃς νέον ἔρρει as a spurious addition (Ars Soph. em. p. 81).“οὓς χρῆν, ἐπειδὰν μηδὲν ὠφελῶσι γῆν,
θανόντας ἔρρειν κἀκποδων εἶναι νέοις
”
