οὗ σὺ μή, βῆναι ποδί. This excellent emendation (by Madvig) of the obscure οὐδὲ συμβῆναι ποδί is irresistibly commended by those very words of Agamemnon to which Teucer refers (1237), “ποῖ βάντος ἢ ποῦ στάντος, οὗπερ οὐκ ἐγώ;” The origin of the corruption may have been the effacement of the H in MH, giving rise to “ΣΥΜΒΗΝΑΙ”, when “ΟΥ” would be altered into “ΟΥΔΕ” to satisfy the metre. συμβῆναι ποδί has been explained: (1) ‘to come and join thee’ on the field of danger. But, even if “συμβῆναι ποδί” could bear this sense, Agam. could not say that Ajax had never fought on his side at Troy. (2) ‘To meet’ the foe, sc. “τοῖς πολεμίοις”: which is plainly untenable. Agamemnon had asked merely, ‘what has Ajax done that I have not done?’ Teucer has replied by referring to the crisis at the ships; and now drives his point home.
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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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