Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone

φυγάδα πρ., proleptic, with κινήσασα, ‘having stirred to flight,’ etc. cp. O. C. 1292 “ἐξελήλαμαι φυγάς.”

πρόδρομον, ‘running forward,’ i.e. ‘in headlong haste’: Aesch. Th. 211“ἐπὶ δαιμόνων πρόδρομος ἦλθον ἀρͅχαῖα βρέτη”. In prose, always of precursors (as heralds, or an advanced guard).

ὀξυτέρῳ...χαλινῷ, ‘in swifter career,’ dat. of manner with “φυγάδα πρόδρομον”. Cp. O. C. 1067 (where the Attic horsemen are described rushing in pursuit of the Thebans), “πᾶς γὰρ ἀστράπτει χαλινός”, ‘the steel of every bridle flashes,’—as they gallop on with slack reins. So here, the “χαλινός”, which glitters as the horse rushes along, is poetically identified with the career itself, and thus is fitly joined with “ὀξύτερος”. The phrase seems happy in this context. The Argives began their retreat in the darkness (16): when the sun rises, the flashing steel of their bridles shows them in headlong flight.

ὀξυτέρῳ does not mean (1) ‘in flight swifter than their former approach’; nor (2) that the reins are shaken ever faster on the horses' necks. “ὀξυτόρῳ” (L) was a mere blunder: it could only mean ‘piercing’ (the horse's mouth), not, ‘giving a sharp sound,’ when the reins are shaken.—Cp. Aesch. Th. 122(describing the Argive besiegers) “διάδετοι δέ τοι γενῦν ἱππιᾶν ι κινύρονται” (“μινύρονται” L. Dind.) “φόνον χαλινοί”. Ib. 152 “ὄτοβον ἁρμάτων ἀμφὶ πόλιν κλύω”. Our passage suggests horsemen rather than drivers of war-chariots: perh. the poet imagined both, as in O. C. 1062 “πώλοισιν ἢ ῥιμφαρμάτοις ι φεύγοντες ἁμίλλαις”.