κρῆναί τε ποταμοί θ᾽ οἵδε: the Scamander (417), the Simois, the springs and fountains “πολυπίδακος Ἴδης”. So Philoctetes, on leaving Lemnos ( Ph. 1461): “νῦν δ̓, ὦ κρῆναι Λύκιόν τε ποτόν”, | “λείπομεν ὑμᾶς.” καὶ τὰ Τρ. πεδία προσαυδῶ: this clause follows the series of vocatives, and precedes their verb, as in the similar passage, Aesch. P. V. 88—92 “ὦ δῖος αἰθὴρ κ.τ.λ.”.. | “καὶ τὸν πανόπτην κύκλον Ἡλίου καλῶ: ι ἴδεσθέ μ᾽ κ.τ.λ.” τροφῆς (cp. 189 “βασιλῆς”): the soil and the streams have sustained his life. Ar. Th. 299“τῇ Κουροτρόφῳ” (i.e. “τῇ Γῇ”), Aesch. Th. 477“τροφεῖα πληρώσει χθονί”. There was a custom that youths on coming of age should offer a ‘nurture-lock’ to rivers ( Aesch. Ch. 6“πλόκαμον Ἰνάχῳ θρεπτήριον”).
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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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