τὰ μὲν αὐτὰ προσέβαλε: the remedial measures were her own; their results, due to Nessus, were not foreseen by her. “προσέβαλε”=‘applied,’ as a remedy to a disease: cp. 580. Others explain, ‘brought upon herself’ (sc. “ἑαυτῇ”): but this would rèquire “αὑτᾷ” in place of “αὐτά”. The MS. reading, “τὰ μὲν οὔ τι προσέβαλε”, is explained to mean, ‘part she did not comprehend’ (schol. “οὐκ ἔγνω, οὐ συνῆκεν”): i.e., she had, indeed, a secret purpose, but she did not know the deadly nature of the unguent. To this there are two objections. (1) The supposed sense of “προσέβαλε” is unexampled: cp. 580 n. (2) The proper antithesis is lost; for “τὰ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλόθρου γνώμας μολόν<*>）” <*>ought to be opposed to her own designs or acts; but those things which she ‘did not comprehend’ were just those which ‘came from the alien will.’ ἀλλόθρου here merely=“ἀλλοτρίας”: cp. Ph.540 n. ὀλεθρίαισι συναλλαγαῖς, causal dat., ‘through her fatal meeting, converse,’ with Nessus at the Evenus (562 ff.).—Others explain: (1) ‘by a fatal reconciliation’; either (a) between Deianeira and Nessus, or (b) between Deianeira and Heracles,—in so far as she resolved to pardon him. (2) ‘By fatal conjunctures, issues’: cp. O. C.410 n. ὀλεθρίαισι is the simplest correction of the unmetrical ὀλεθρίαις: see Analysis.
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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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