καὶ μὴν, marking the entrance of a person: 1223: O. C. 549(n.). ἐς αὐτὸν καιρὸν: so Ant. 386“ἐς δέον περᾷ”: Eur. Hipp. 899“παῖς σὸς ἐς καιρὸν πάρα.— πλησίοι”, as in Eur. El. 640, “παρούσης τῆσδε πλησίας ἐμοί”, Soph. Tr. 896“παροῦσα πλησία”. The v.l. πλησίον is equally correct ( Soph. El. 927“τοῦ πλησίον παρόντος”, etc.). Tecmessa had left the scene after v. 989, in order to bring the child Eurysaces from the tent, where he had been left when she set forth in search of Ajax (810). The part of Tecmessa is now taken by a mute person, as the deuteragonist has presently to resume the part of Odysseus (1318). τάφον περιστελοῦντε, here a general phrase for rendering funeral rites. Among these rites would be the washing and dressing of the corpse ( Ant. 901“ἔλουσα κἀκόσμησα” etc.), in which Tecmessa would naturally bear part, and the pouring of “χοαί”, in which Eurysaces also would share. The dual “περιστελοῦντε” is therefore right: Wakefield's conjecture περιστελοῦντι, which Nauck adopts, implies that the work was to be Teucer's alone. Cp. Od. 24. 292“οὐδέ ἑ μήτηρ ι κλαῦσε περιστείλασα”: Ant. 902“τὸ σὸν ι δέμας περιστέλλουσα”.
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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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