᾿θώϋξεν. In O. C. 1624 this word begins a trimeter, the augment being omitted, as often in “ῥήσεις” (see O. T. 1249 n.): here, however, it is better to suppose aphaeresis. Cp. 1337 “᾿κράτησα.” ἐρειπίοις is defined by νεκρῶν, wrecks consisting of corpses; and this phrase, again, by ἀρνείου φόνου, corpsewrecks of slain sheep. Thus both the genitives here serve to define; while in “λείας..βουκόλων φρουρήματα” (54), the first gen. defines, and the second is possessive. Cp. 465, 616 f. The phrase “νεκρῶν ἐρείπια” occurs also in Eur. fr. 266. 2; and “χλανιδίων ἐρειπίοις” (which seems to verge on bathos) in frag. incert. 7 (ed. Nauck). ἐρειφθεὶς: the pres. pass. “ἐρείπεται” (‘crashes down’) occurs in O. C. 1462; this aor., in Arrian Anab. 1. 21. 4(of a tower) “οὐδὲ..χαλεπῶς ἂν ἠρείφθη”. Ol. 2. 47 has “ἐριπέντι”. The old v.l. ἐρεισθεὶς would mean, ‘supported on,’ but is wretchedly weak. The very fact that ἐρειφθεὶς follows ἐρειπίοις—that the slayer is prostrate among the slain—gives the word a singular force and pathos.
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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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