συντέμνουσι … τοὺς κ., cut them (i.e., their careers) short, ‘cut them off.’ The compressed phrase, though not strictly correct, is natural. ποδώκεις: cp. Il. 9.505 “ἡ δ᾽ Ἄτη σθεναρή τε καὶ ἀρτίπος”: Ai. 837 “Ἐρινῦς τανύποδας” (who are “ταχεῖαι”, ib. 843): O. T. 418 “δεινόπους ἀρά.” βλάβαι, ‘harms,’ ‘mischiefs,’ with ref. to the primary sense of “βλάπτω”, to disable, or stop: Il. 6.39 (horses) “ὄζῳ ἐνί βλαφθέντε μυρικίνῳ”, ‘caught in’ a tamarisk branch: Aesch. Ag. 120 (a hare) “βλαβέντα λοισθίων δρόμων”, ‘stopped’ from running further. The “βλάβαι θεῶν” cannot, however, be properly regarded as personified beings; and therefore we should not write “Βλάβαι”. In Aesch. Eum. 491 “εἰ κρατήσει δίκα τε καὶ βλάβα ι τοῦδε μητροκτόνου”, where some write “Δίκα—Βλάβα”, the sense is, ‘if the cause and the wrong (=the wrongful cause) of Orestes shall prevail.’ κακόφρονας: for the “ο_” before “φρ”, cp. 336 n.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1900.
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