τοιοίδε..φῶτες … βροτῶν: ‘such men, however, are the unstable of mankind’;—such, namely, as relent like Odysseus. βροτῶν, L's reading, is strongly confirmed by the exactly similar pleonasm in O. C. 280 f., “φυγὴν δέ του ι μήπω γενέσθαι φωτὸς ἀνοσίου βροτῶν”. Cp. also Od. 17. 587“οὐ γάρ πώ τινες ὧδε καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων ι ἀνέρες κ.τ.λ.”: 23. 187 “ἀνδρῶν δ᾽ οὔ κέν τις ζωὸς βροτός”. The v.l. βροτοῖς would be an ethic dat., ‘in men's judgment’ (cp. 1363). It has more point than its rival: but this seems a case in which a tenable reading, with the stronger evidence on its side, should be preferred to a more attractive variant. ἔμπληκτοι (from “ἐμπλήσσω”, to ‘rush’ or ‘dash’ in), ‘impulsive,’ with the notion of ‘inconstant’: Eur. Tro. 1205（“αἱ τύχαι”) “ἔμπληκτος ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἄλλοτ᾽ ἄλλοσε ι πηδῶσι”. Lys. 214 C “μηδέποτε ὁμοίους μηδ᾽ αὐτοὺς αὑτοῖς εἶναι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐμπλήκτους τε καὶ ἀσταθμήτους”. Eumenes 3 “ἔμπληκτον ὄντα καὶ φορᾶς μεστὸν ἀβεβαίου καὶ ὀξείας”.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
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