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Though οὐ νοσοῦντος (gen. abs.) is an easy and specious conjecture, yet οὐ νοσοῦντες is better; because (1) it gives a rhetorical antithesis to “ἀτώμεσθα” which suits her point; and (2) it suggests the identity of their interest with that of Ajax. The figurative sense of “νοσεῖν” is often found in juxtaposition with the literal, as in O. T. 60νοσεῖτε πάντες, καὶ νοσοῦντες, ὡς ἐγὼ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑμῶν ὅστις ἐξ ἴσου νοσεῖ”.

ἀτώμεσθα, i.e. we are worse off than before: the word is a forcible one (cp. 384), but occurs elsewhere also where the sense is only comparative: Ant. 17οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη”: cp. ib. 314.


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  • Commentary references from this page (3):
    • Sophocles, Ajax, 384
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 17
    • Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, 60
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