οὐ σῖγ᾽ ἀνέξει μηδὲ δειλίαν ἀρεῖ; lit., ‘Wilt thou not be patient in silence, and forbear to win the name of coward?’ Cp. Tr. 1183“οὐ θᾶσσον οἴσεις μηδ᾽ ἀπιστήσεις ἐμοί;” ‘Give me thy hand at once —disobey me not!’ O. T. 637“οὐκ εἶ σύ τ᾽ οἴκους σύ τε, Κρέον, κατὰ στέγας”, | “καὶ” “μὴ τὸ μηδὲν ἄλγος εἰς μέγ᾽ οἴσετε;” ‘Come, go thou into the house...and forbear to make much of a petty grief.’ See Appendix. σῖγ᾽ ἀνέξει: cp. fr. 618 “σύγγνωτε κἀνάσχεσθε σιγῶσαι.” δειλίαν ἀρεῖ, ‘win,’ ‘acquire,’ the reputation of cowardice: cp. Ant. 924“τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσ᾽ ἐκτησάμην” (n.): I. T. 676 “καὶ δειλίαν γὰρ καὶ κάκην κεκτήσομαι”. The fut. midd. “ἀροῦμαι” occurs in O. C. 460 “σωτῆρ᾽ ἀρεῖσθε”, and Pind. P. 1. 75“ἀρέομαι.. μισθόν”. The fut. act. ἀρεῖς has better MS. authority here; but is (I am now convinced) wrong. It could mean only, ‘raise thy cowardice,’ in the sense, ‘allow thy coward fears to rise,’—a very forced one. Further, there is no other example of a fut. act. “ἀρῶ” with α^. See note in Appendix on the Future and Aorist forms from “ἀείρω, αἴρω, ἄρνυμαι”.
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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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