ἐπ᾽ ἐξειργασμένοις: “ἐπὶ” denotes the condition: Aesch. Ag. 1379“ἕστηκα δ᾽ ἔνθ᾽ ἔπαισ᾽ ἐπ̓ ἐξειργασμένοις”. (The phrase occurs also in Aesch. Pers. 525.) Cp. Soph. Ant. 556“ἐπ᾽ ἀρρήτοις..τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις” (n.). οὐ γὰρ γένοιτ᾽ ἂν κ.τ.λ. Two modes of expression are here mixed: (1) “οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦτο οὐχ ὧδ᾽ ἔχειν”, it could not come to pass that this should not be thus. (2) “οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο ὅπως τοῦτο οὐχ ὧδ᾽ ἕξει”,—with the same meaning: cp. O. T. 1058f. “οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦθ̓, ὅπως ἐγὼ … ι … οὐ φανῶ τοὐμὸν γένος”. In other words, the constr. would be plain if ὅπως were struck out. The irregular presence of “ὅπως” is due to its association with statements of impossibility in the formula “οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐ” ( O. C. 97, El. 1479): its place is explained by the analogy of such a sentence as O. T. 1058“οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦθ̓, ὅπως κ.τ.λ.”, where “τοῦτο” is subject to “γένοιτο”. The declension of “οὐδεὶσ-ὅστισοὐ”, as an integral equivalent for “πᾶς τις”, similarly illustrates the manner in which the associations of idiom could sometimes generate anomalies in grammar. For the sentiment, cp. Tr. 742“τὸ γὰρ ι φανθὲν τίς ἂν δύναιτ᾽ ἂν ἀγένητον ποεῖν;” (n.).
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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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