ὕδρας … φάσματι, monstrous hydra: cp. 508 “φάσμα ταύρου”. προστετακὼς, ‘close-locked’ in the <*>eadly grip of the monster. The word came to the poet's mind through a consciousness of the literal meaning,—viz., that the hero's flesh is ‘glued’ to the robe. Thi<*> very trait, so thoroughly Sophoclean, confirms the soundness of the text. (Cp. Ant.117 n.) The context (μελαγχαίτα δ̓ etc.) further confirms it. As the Chorus picture the turments of Heracles, two dread shapes rise before their thought,—the hydra, who nursed the venom, and the Centaur, through whose blood it works.—For the proposed emendations of φάσματι, see Appendix. μελαγχαίτα (gen.): Scut. 186 “μελαγχαίτην τε Μίμαντα”. Cp. above, 557 n.
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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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