ἀκηδήσοι: fut. opt. in orat. obliqua; the direct form of the threat would be (“κλαύσει”) “εἰ ἀκηδήσεις” (or “ἐὰν ἀκηδήσῃς”). Cp. Ph. 374“ἤρασσον κακοῖς ι τοῖς πᾶσιν... ι εἰ τἀμὰ κεῖνος ὅπλ᾽ ἀφαιρήσοιτό με”: he said (“ὄλοιο”), “εἰ ἀφαιρήσει”. Ai. 312 “δείν᾽ ἐπηπείλησ᾽ ἔπη, ι εἰ μὴ φανοίην” (he said, “εἰ μὴ φανεῖς”). “ἀκηδέω” had been used by Hom. Il. 14.427, 23. 70, Aesch. PV 508, and recurs in later poetry. The MS. ἀφειδήσοι cannot be defended as=‘play the prodigal with,’ i.e. ‘be careless of.’ “ἀφειδεῖν πόνου” could mean only to be unsparing of labour. In Thuc. 4.26 “ἀφειδὴς ὁ κατάπλους καθειστήκει” is explained by the next words, “ἐπώκελλον γὰρ τὰ πλοῖα τετιμημένα χρημάτων”: they were ‘unsparing’ of their boats, since a value had been set on the latter. Bonitz, to whom “ἀκηδήσοι” is due, refers to Apoll. Rhod. 2. 98 “οὐδ᾽ ἄρα Βέβρυκες ἄνδρες ἀφείδησαν βασιλῆος”, where Choeroboscus has preserved the true “ἀκήδησαν”. In the schol. on Ai. 204 “φειδόμενοι” occurs by error for “κηδόμενοι”.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1900.
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