ὥστ̓ (‘and so’) has been suspected on account of the second ὥστε: but the latter, going with τοσοῦτον, does not offend the ear, since its sense is different and subordinate; cp. Ant. 735“ὁρᾷς τόδ᾽ ὡς εἴρηκας ὡς ἄγαν νέος”; Tr. 1241“τάχ̓, ὡς ἔοικας, ὡς νοσεῖς φράσεις”. So in Xen. Anab. 2. 2. 17“κραυγὴν.. ἐποίουν,..ὥστε καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἀκούειν: ὥστε οἱ μὲν ἐγγυτάτω..ἔφυγον”: where the first “ὥστε”=‘so that,’ while the second =‘and so.’ κολεῶν … ξίφη. The swords “διεπεραιώθη κολεῶν”, were drawn through (and out of) the scabbards, ἐρυστά, by a sharp, quick pull,—i.e. with angry haste.—Not, ‘swords plucked from the sheaths were crossed’: as if Teucer actually crossed swords with one or more of his assailants. The whole scene has been suggested by that in the first book of the Iliad, as the schol. in L saw:—“ἐκ τῆς Ἀχιλλέως δὲ πρὸς Ἀγαμέμνονα ἀρχῆς” (read “ὀργῆς”) “παραγέγραπται”. There, Achilles was drawing his sword—“ἕλκετο δ᾽ ἐκ κολεοῖο μέγα ξίφος”—when Athena came to him ( I. Il. 194): “ἄψ δ᾽ ἐς κουλεὸν ὦσε μέγα ξίφος” (ib. 220).—Some of the later MSS. here have κουλεῶν, which was a current form in late Greek (Eustathius p. 1604. 58 “τὸ κολεὸν κοινότερον κουλεὸν λέγεται”).
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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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