τοὔργον … ὡς ἐφάψειεν, that he had ‘fastened,’ ‘bound’ the deed ‘upon her,’ as a burden or doom. Cp. Pind. O.9. 64“μὴ καθέλοι νιν α<*>ν πότμον ἐφάψαις”|“ὀρφανὸν γενεᾶς”, ‘having laid on him the doom of childlessness.’ Il.2. 15“Τρώεσσι δὲ κήδἐ ἐφῆπται”, ‘have been imposed’ on them. Others explain: (1) ‘that he had kindled the deed.’ But “ἐφάπτειν” never has the sense of “ὑφάπτειν”. In Eur. Bacch.778 our only MS. for that part of the play has, indeed, “ἤδη τόδ᾽ ἐγγὺς ὥστε πῦρ ἐφάπτεται” | “ὕβρισμα”: but the true “ὑφάπτεται” is attested by the Christus Patiens 2227. (2) ‘That she had made fast the deed,’—i.e. done the irrevocable deed. But κατ᾽ ὀργὴν must refer to the anger of Hyllus (734 ff.).
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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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