ᾗ γὰρ θάνῃς σὺ “κ.τ.λ.” The reason for preferring Bothe's ᾗ to εἰ is that it brings out her thought with greater force: the last day of his life will be the first of her misery. There is no objection to “εἰ” with the subjunctive, even in trimeters; cp. O. C. 1443“εἴ σου στερηθῶ”, and see O.T. 198 n. Either “εἰ” or “ᾗ” would have been written EI by Sophocles. ἀφῇς, sc. “με”: but it is needless to write “μ᾽ ἀφῇς” with Brunck. For the omission of the pron. in acc., cp. Ph. 801“ἔμπρησον” (‘burn me’): ib. 769 “ἕκηλον εὕδειν” (sc. “αὐτόν”): ib. 1368 “πέμψον” (sc. “με”): O.T. 461 “κἂν λάβῃς ἐψευσμένον”.—For the sense of “ἀφῇς”, cp. Ant. 887“ἄφετε μόνην, ἔρημον”: Her. 8. 70“ἀπέντες τὴν ἑωυτῶν ἀφύλακτον”.
This text is part of:
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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