νόσον γ᾽ ἐπακτὸν ἐξαρούμεθα, lit., ‘take up (the burden of) a trouble which I should bring upon myself,’—viz., the anguish of a vain fight against all-conquering “Ἔρως”. The schol. rightly explains ἐπακτὸν by “αὐθαίρετον”: as does the schol. on Soph. Ph.343“γάμων ἐπακτὸν ἄταν”. This view is confirmed by the presence of γε, meaning, ‘at any rate I shall not add to my own woes.’ For a parallel use of “ἐπάγεσθαι”, cp. Lys. or. 4 § 19 “πολὺ μείζω συμφορὰν ἐμαυτῷ...ἐπαγαγέσθαι”: Dem. or. 19 § 259 “αὐθαίρετον αὑτοῖς ἐπάγονται δουλείαν”. For ἐξαρούμεθα cp. Od.10. 84“ἔνθα κ᾽ ἄϋπνος ἀνὴρ δοιοὺς ἐξήρατο μισθούς” (‘take up,’ i.e., ‘win’). The simple “αἴρομαι” is often so used, with ref. either to ‘winning’ a prize, or ‘taking up’ a burden ( O. T.1225“ἀρεῖσθε πένθος”, Ant.907“ἠρόμην πόνον”). This “αἴρομαι” can be replaced by the rarer “ἐξαίρομαι” just as “φέρομαι”, in a like sense (462 n.), by the rarer “ἐκφέρομαι”: El.60“κἀξενέγκωμαι κλέος”. Others understand:—(1) ‘I shall not heighten the trouble already brought upon me by others’ (viz., the introduction of Iolè into the house, 376). But this sense for ἐξαρούμεθα is strange: and γε is then weak; hence Nauck read νόσημ̓. (2) ‘I shall not try to shift that trouble from myself’: i.e., ‘I shall not try to put away the grief of these tidings by vain complaints against the gods.’ This last version seems impossible. θεοῖσι δυσμαχοῦντες: Ant.1106“ἀνάγκῃ δ᾽ οὐχὶ δυσμαχητέον”. The compound means, ‘to wage an up-hill fight’: cp. “δυστοκεῖν, δυσθανατεῖν”. For the masc. plur., used by a woman with ref. to herself, cp. El.399, Eur. Hec.511.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part V: The Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1902.
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