χειμερίῳ νότῳ with “χωρεῖ”, goes (driven) by it: cp. Od. 14.253 “ἐπλέομεν Βορέῃ ἀνέμῳ”, and ib. 299 (of the ship) “ἡ δ᾽ ἔθεεν Βορέῃ ἀνέμῳ”. The dat. might be merely ‘with’ (dat. of circumstance), but is better taken as instrumental. Cp. 588 “πνοαῖς”. Some make “χειμερίῳ νότῳ” a temporal dat., like “ὥρᾳ χειμῶνος”, which it can hardly be.— Soph. is thinking of the Aegean, where the prevailing winds were from the N. or N.W. in spring and summer, while stormy south winds were associated with winter: Hesiod warns a man with a voyage before him not to await “χειμῶν᾽ ἐπιόντα νότοιό τε δεινὰς ἀήτας, ι ὅς τ᾽ ὤρινε θάλασσαν ὁμαρτήσας Διὸς ὄμβρῳ ι πολλῷ ὀπωρινῷ, χαλεπὸν δέ τε πόντον ἔθηκεν”. The epithet “χειμερίῳ” aptly distinguishes this wintry “νότος” from that gentle south breeze (now called the ‘embates’) which regularly sets in at sunset in the fair season (cp. Curt. Hist. Gr. 1. 14).
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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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