θεοῖς “κ.τ.λ.”: the dat. is one of relation: his death is a matter between the gods and himself,—one in which the Greek chiefs have no part. (‘His death concerns the gods,—not them, not them’: Whitelaw.) See on El. 1152“τέθνηκ᾽ ἐγὼ σοί”. The implied meaning is that his death has been brought about by the gods; but “θεοῖς” should not be taken as a dat. of the agent (539), ‘by the gods’; indeed, that sense would be forced. Tecmessa's phrase is more expressive and more pathetic.
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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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