853.
mvp-comment-629-1
κέχυται νόσος] 'A trouble has begun to flow.' νόσος, as elsewhere in Sophocles, is to be taken in the general sense of Trouble,' 'Calamity.' The meaning is the same as that expressed by Heracles himself, infr. ll. 1046-1053. The words are immediately suggested by the 'diffused malady' induced by the poisoned robe, but much more than this is included in the thought.
854-855.
mvp-comment-630-1
ἀναρσίων.. οἰκτίσαι] ‘Greater than any of the famous woes that from enemies of Heracles came erewhile against him so as to move compassion.' ἀναρσίων, genitive of origin: Ἡρακλέα, as object of ἐπέμολε, to be supplied from 'Ηρακλέους: οἰκτίσαι, an active infinitive added epexegetically, like εὐδαιμονίσαι in O. C. 144. In speaking of 'pity' the Chorus are thinking more of the present trouble than of those with which they compare it.
856.
mvp-comment-631-1
κελαινά] 'Dark point of the champion spear.' Cp. Αj. 231, κελαινοῖς ξίφεσι. There is probably an association (as the Scholiast observes) between dark and deadly, the hue of the metal bearing some relation to the nether gloom to which its victims were despatched. But there is also the notion of a weapon which has been dulled and darkened by frequent use in war.
857.
mvp-comment-632-1
προμάχου δορός] (1) 'Spear that fought for men. For this sense of πρόμαχος, cp. Aesch. S. c. T. 419, 482, and, for the general meaning, infr. 1010-2. There was a statue of 'Hρακλῆς Πρόμαχος in the 'Ηράκλειον at Thebes, Paus. 9. 11, 4. (2) Others prefer the meaning 'foremost in fight.'
858.
mvp-comment-633-1
τότε) At the time of the capture of Oechalia, before the sacrifices at Cenaeum. θοάν, 'Swiftly borne away,' = ταχέως φερομένην. The word expresses not only the rapidity of Heracles' movements and of Iole's, who accompanied him, but the sudden change in the life of the young creature which such a marriage must have made. Cp. supr. 144 foll 529, 30, κἀπὸ ματρὸς ἄφαρ βέβακεν ώστε πόρτις ερήμα.
859.
mvp-comment-634-1
αἰχμᾷ. At the point of the spear; ie. Having achieved her in war
860.
mvp-comment-635-1
ἀμφίπολος.. άναυδος" (1) But the silent though manifest minister and agent of all this was the Goddess of Love herself' Cp. supr. 355 foll. 475 foll. Or (2) supposing the words ἀμφίπολος άναυδος to contain an allusion to Iole. But 'tis manifest that the agent in all this has been the Goddess of Love under the guise of a silent hand-maid. The attributes assigned to the goddess are suggested by the circumstances. Iole came as a hand-maiden, and remained obstinately silent supr. ll. 283, 4, 322 foll., 532). But under the deceptive appearance of this mute hand-maid there lurked the terrible destructive power of Aphrodite, who busied herself in silence to work the will of Fate that is now clearly revealed. Such is probably the meaning of this obscure expression which need not, however, be suspected because it is obscure.
