στερεόφρων: as in Polit. p. 309 B “τὸ στερεὸν ἦθος” is said of “τὰς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνδρίαν μᾶλλον ξυντεινούσας” (“φύσεις”). ἄῤ: 233 n. Erfurdt's insertion of ὧδ̓ before ἐξανύσειν has been widely accepted: then “ἐξ-” (corresponding with the “α^” of “ἀΰπνους” in 881) takes the place of a short syllable; a license possible in dochmiacs. But L's reading, “στερεόφρων ἄρ᾽ ἐξανύσσειν κακάν”, gives an exact metrical correspondence, without any conjectural addition. No one could hesitate to prefer it, but for a doubt as to whether Tragic lyrics could admit the form “ἐξανύσσειν”. The doubled “ς” occurs in Od. 16. 373“ἀνύσσεσθαι” (fut. midd.): Theog. 954 “ἀνύσσας”: Pind. P. 12. 11“ἄνυσσεν”. Sophocles has “ὀλέσσας” (390), and “πέλασσον” ( Soph. Ph. 1163). Hartung, G. Wolff, and Wecklein read “ἐξανύσσειν”: rightly, I believe. Observe that the close kinship of lyric with epic diction here is significantly marked by οὐλίῳ in 933,—an epic and Pindaric word which is free from just suspicion, yet occurs nowhere else in Tragedy.
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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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