901–1050
κοῖλα] ‘Yielding.' κοῖλος is a favourite epithet.
Essay on L. § 56. p. 103.
The bed is hollowed in the middle where the person lies.
ἄψορρον] Sc. lών, implied in ἀντῴη. 'That he might return and meet his father.' The language is slightly condensed. Hyllus was busied in preparing the litter, that so (viz. having prepared it) he might go and meet his father. Some critics have been influenced by Wunder's objection that Hyllus only meets Heracles at the gate. But this is not proved, and, if it were so, he has been hindered from his intention by what has happened since (927 foll.). The mention of his purpose, even if not fulfilled, is quite natural here.
Deianira avoided the eye of her son.
Several verbs in this narrative are without the augment. Cp. supr. 767, and note.
γένειτ᾽ ἐρήμη] Nauck has changed this to γένοιντ' ἔρημοι, on the ground that ἐρήμη is not properly applied to a widow, and also that, as she meant to die first, her widowhood could not be in question. It is not of widowhood that she complains, but of the loss of all that made her life worth having, - the love of her husband and of her son. Even in the other world these blessings could not be restored to her. This is well expressed by ἐρήμη. κλαῖε, κ.τ.λ.] Wunder needlessly supposes a lacuna here. The tears start to Deianira's eyes at sight of the instruments of her tranquil industry in happier days.
οἰκετῶν is not to be taken in the larger sense that would include her children (whom she would avoid), but, as Schndw. observes, the tender relation subsisting between Deianira and her domestics is made a point in the delineation of her character (cp. supr. 49-63). Euripides as usual dwells more on the details of the situation in Alc. 193 foll, ἡ δὲ δεξιὰν | προὔτειν᾿ ἑκάστῳ, κ.τ.λ.
καὶ τὰς ἄπαιδας ἐς τὸ λοιπὸν οὐσίας] (Cp. Ο. C. 552, τὰς αἱματηρὰς ὀμμάτων διαφθοράς.) This is a strong case of the poetical plural, but the words may be understood to mean to εἶναι αὐτὴν ἄπαιδα ἐς τὸ λοιπόν, not in the absurd sense that she could have no more children, but that her children as well as her husband were lost to her. It is objected that, as she was going to the other world, this topic was not likely to occur to her. But (a) the loss of Hyllus' affection was certainly weighing on her mind, and, as she imagined, would not be repaired after her death, and (b) she is speaking to the servants, who know nothing of her intended death, but are ready to sympathize with her in her desolation. She may be imagined saying to them, 'Behold, I am a childless woman for evermore!'
The house is a large palatial mansion, with passages, etc., unlike the simple house of Homeric times. Cp. supr. 907. ἐξαίφνης] Cp. the sudden movement of Oedipus, O. Τ. 1260 foll., δεινὸν δ᾽ ἀΐσας ὡς ὑφηγητοῦ τινὸς | πύλαις διπλαῖς ἐνήλατ᾽, κ.τ.λ.
λαθραῖον ὄμμ᾽ ἐπεσκιασμένη] With shadowed and unseen gaze,' lit. 'With an eye overshadowed so as to be unobserved.' The accusative ὄμμα is to be repeated as cogn. acc. with Φρούρουν. Cp. Phil. 151, φρουρεῖν ὅμμ᾽ ἐπὶ σῷ μάλιστα καίρῳ.
δεμνίοις = ἐς δέμνια. Cp. supr. 789, and note.
ἐπενθοροῦσ᾽ ἄνω] The language suggests the sudden and violent movements of passionate grief. The words λέχη, νυμφεῖα, εὐνήτριαν, show that (like Jocasta, O. T. 1246) she returns in thought to her early married life. The plural νυμφεῖα adds a pathetic vagueness, including with the bridal chamber all the associations connected. with espousal and marriage.
συντόνῳ χερί] With strong, impulsive hand. The words mean that the hand was in a state of tension, as in the determination of excited action.
ᾧ) Whose clasp of beaten gold lay before her breast.' For ᾧ some would read οὗ, others ᾗ, unnecessarily.
τῆς τεχνωμένης τάδε] These words are needlessly joined by some editors with φράζω. The passages which Mr. Blaydes cites in support of this all differ from it in one important respect, that the genitive does not contain the predicate, as would be the case, for instance, if in infr. 1122, 3, οὔσης.. ἁμαρτούσης were substituted for ἐστί.. ἥμαρτε. The object of φράζειν is, however, to be supplied from τεχνωμένης, ‘I told the son of her who was contriving thus,- that she was so contriving.' The word τεχνωμένης is chosen with reference to Deianira's elaborate preparation for her last act.
The narrative is condensed, ср. О. С. 1647-52. And our eyes told us that in the time of my running thither and our return she had smitten herself with two-edged knife upon the side beneath the diaphragm and liver.' δεύρο, like the present ὁρῶ, is said with reference to the chamber of Deianira, as the chief point of interest which is brought before the mind's eye. πεπληγμένην is middle voice, and directly reflexive. It is somewhat strange that the left side should have been bared for a wound directed at the liver.
ἔγνω γὰρ τάλας] An exception to the law of the cretic ending. Cp. Ο. C. 115, ἐν γὰρ τῷ μαθεῖν.
ὡς ἐφάψειεν] (1) 'That she had set on foot. But κατ᾿ ὀργήν is hardly an appropriate expression for the impulse under which Deianira acted. Better (2) 'That he had caused.' The metaphor implied in this use of ἐφάπτειν is probably, as L. and S. have observed, taken from tying a knot, rather than from kindling a fire. Cp. Ant. 40, λύουσ᾽ ἂν ἡ 'φάπτουσα.
τῶν κατ᾿ οἶκον] (1) Genitive of the agent (assisted by ἐκ?). Or (2) κατὰ σύνεσιν, because ἐκδιδαχθείς = πυθόμενος.
πρὸς τοῦ θηρός] 'Induced by the Centaur.' The construction is κατὰ σύνεσιν, the feeling of the place being, as is implied in ἄκουσα, that Deianira was a passive agent, and that her act was πεπονθὸς μᾶλλον ἢ δεδρακός (Ο. C. 267.)
ὁ παῖς δύστηνος] The position of the adjective is emphatic. Ср. О. Т. 58, ὦ παῖδες οἰκτροί.
Essay on L. § 23. p. 37. B 2.
ἐλείπετ᾽ οὐδέν] 'Showed every sign of grief.' This general statement is particularized in γοώμενος. ἀμφιπίπτων. For the expression, cp. Phil. 375, οὐδὲν ἐνδεὲς ποιούμενος.
πλευρόθεν = ἐκ πλευρᾶς. 'Close by her side.'
ματαίως] 'Falsely.' βάλοι] 'He had smitten her,' as with an arrow. Cp. Αj. 1244, 5, ἀλλ᾽ αἰὲν ἡμᾶς ἡ κακοῖς βαλεῖτέ που | ἢ σὺν δόλῳ κεντήσεθ' οἱ λελειμμένοι.
βίου] It makes little difference whether we read βίῳ with Wakefield or βίου with the MSS. ὠ. βίου is, 'Orphaned in respect of his life;' ὠ. βίον, Having his life orphaned. The latter certainly has the advantage of being free from ambiguity. But the genitive, though not precisely exact, comes naturally after the privative word.
ὥστ᾽ εἴ τις δύο, κ.τ.λ.] δύο .. ἡμέρας = δευτέραν ἡμέραν: ie. to-morrow in addition to to-day. Cp. Ant. 1156 foll.
The simple expression would have been, There is no to-morrow until to-day is past. But this is amplified so as to suggest, Man has no hold upon to-morrow, but should secure his happiness for the day.'
foll. The Nurse goes into the house to lay out the body of Deianira. The Chorus, who, down to l. 862, had been lamenting the imminent fate of Heracles, are doubting whether they should not mourn for Deianira first, when Heracles is brought in, and awakes in agony. The following is the scheme of metres from 947-970...
πότερ' *ἄρα] This reading is as near to the MSS. as the vulgate πότερα. and secures a more exact metrical correspondence with l.950. For the sense, cp Phil. 337, 8, ἀμηχανῶ δὲ πότερον, ὦ τέκνον, τὸ σὸν | πάθημ᾽ ἐλέγχω πρῶτον, ἢ κεῖνον στένω.
τέλεα περαιτέρω] The explanation of the Scholiast, πότερα χαλεπώτερα καὶ περαιτέρω δεινότητος, has suggested various alterations of τέλεα into μέλεα, ὀλοά, etc. But the MS. reading gives an intelligible sense, 'Which sorrow first to groan over, which finally and to the last degree, is hard for me, the hapless one, to determine.'
τάδε μέν, κ.τ.λ.] Deianira is dead in the house. the dying Heracles is momentarily expected. Cp. Ant. 1278-80, ὦ δέσποθ', ὡς ἔχων τε καὶ κεκτημένος, τὰ μὲν πρὸ χειρῶν τάδε φέρων, τὰ δ᾽ ἐν δόμοις | ἔοικας ἥκειν καὶ τάχ᾽ ὄψεσθαι κακά. μελόμενα] Sc. ἐστίν, or ἔχομεν. Εrfurdt and others conjecture μένομεν.
ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίσιν] ‘In hope.' Cp. El. 108, ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ.
κοινά] Sc. ἐστίν, ‘It is all one' (i.e. belongs alike to sorrow) 'whether evil be present or looked for.'
εἴθ᾽ ἀνεμόεσσα αὔρα] (1) Might there but spring up a gale from the hearth, wafting me!' ἑστιῶτις = ἀφ' ἑστίας.
ἐκ τόπων] Cp. ἐκτόπιος, Ο. C. 118. ὅπως, κ.τ.λ.] For the postponement of μή, cp. O. C. 1365, εἰ δ᾽ ἐξέφυσα τάσδε μὴ 'μαυτῷ τροφούς.
μή, κ.τ.λ.] Connect ὅπως μὴ θάνοιμι ταρβαλέα ἄφαρ μοῦνον εἰσιδοῦσα τὸν Ζηνὸς ἄλκιμον γόνον, ‘That I die not suddenly of fear, after only glancing on the valiant son of Zeus.' ἄφαρ, like εὐθύς, etc., adheres to the participle in grammar, but to the verb in meaning.
ἄσπετόν τι θαῦμα] Accusative in apposition with the action of χωρεῖν; i. e. the 'Stupendous marvel' is not the person of Heracles, but the manner of his coming.
προὔκλαιον] I mourned beforehand.' The word suits more exactly with μακράν than with ἀγχοῦ. ὀξύφωνος, κ.τ.λ.] The figure is suggested by the distance to which the notes of the nightingale are carried.
ξένων γὰρ ἐξόμιλος ἥδε τις βάσις] 'For here comes the step of strangers from another people.' βάσις is abstract for concrete, like ἀνδρῶν Φεραίων εὐμενὴς παρουσία (Eur. Alc. 606), and implies that those approaching are heard but not yet seen. Ας έκτοπος = ἔξω τῶνδε τῶν τόπων, and so 'Foreign,' So ἐξόμιλος = ἔξω τῆσδε τῆς ὁμιλίας. In what follows, the abstract word is treated as a collective; hence the singular number in φορεῖ, προκηδομένα.
πᾶ δ᾽ αὖ φορεῖ νιν] Hearing the cautious, uncertain tread of those who are carrying Heracles the Chorus cannot distinguish the direction of their movement till they come in sight. αὖ, if genuine, implies that the question occurs to them on taking second thoughts. Meineke conjectures πᾶ καί.
ὡς φίλου | προκηδομένα] ‘As caring for one who is dear to them, i. e. they move slowly and quietly because they are afraid of hurting him.
βαρεῖαν | ἄψοφον.. βάσιν] ‘With grief-oppressed and noiseless footsteps.' For βαρείαν, cp. Phil. 207, 8, βαρεία τηλόθεν αὐδά : infr. l. 982, βάρος ἄπλετον ἐμμέμονε φρήν.
Heracles, borne by attendants, now comes in sight. Hyllus either meets (supr. 902, note), or enters with them. For the verbal ἀναύδατος, cp. Ο. Τ. 191, περιβόατος. The polyschematism, or displacement of the trisyllabic foot (--) has troubled the critics, some of whom read φθίμενον for θανόντα, and some θάνατον, sc. κατά. But it is by no means certain that this metrical variation is impossible.
τί πάθω] What is to happen to me?' Cp. Ο. C. 216, ὤμοι ἐγώ, τί πάθω, τέκνον ἐμόν;
μὴ κινήσῃς] ‘Lest thou shouldst rouse.'
ὠμόφρονος] 'Wild of mood.' The old man retains a vivid impression of what he has seen at Cenaeum, and on the voyage.
ζῇ γὰρ προπετής] 'For he lives, though at the point of death.᾽ εἰς τὸν θάνατον προνενευκώς. Schol. Cp. supr. l. 701, τοιόνδε κεῖται προπετές, and note. The meaning is, (a) He is not quite dead, (b) He is all but dead. δακών] 'With clenched teeth.' Cp. Aristoph. Nub. 1368, 9, κάνταῦθα πῶς οἴεσθέ μου τὴν καρδίαν ὀρεχθεῖν; ὅμως δὲ τὸν θυμὸν δακὼν ἔφην, κ.τ.λ. Join στόμα both with ἴσχε and δακών.
ἡ ζῇ] ἡ expresses doubtful eagerness. 'Does he really live?'
κἀναστήσεις] The pain is imagined as a wild beast, which for the present is couched in slumber. For ἐκκινήσεις, cp. Εl. 567. 8, ἐξεκίνησεν ποδοῖν | στικτὸν κεράστην ἔλαφον.
φοιτάδα] 'Wild.' If the malady is once awakened, there is no saying whither it may run.
ἐπί μοι, φρήν] ‘My feelings rush upon me with resistless force.' Sophocles probably connects ἄπλετος with ἄπλατος. βάρος ἄπλετον is accusative in apposition with the action of ἐμμέμονε. Cp. Eur. I. T. 655. Heracles now awakes in delirium.
παρὰ τοῖσι] This form of the dative of rís is rare. Cp. Hdt. 1.37, τέοισι ὄμμασι, 2. 81.
ἀλλήκτοις] Epic for ἀλήκτοις.
For the two paroemiacs, cp. infr. 1006-8, El. 88, 9, 105, 6.
ἡ δ᾽ αὐ] The disease is again spoken of as a living thing. Cp. Phil. 758, ἥκει γὰρ αὕτη, κ.τ.λ.
ἐξήδης] Hast thou now learnt?'
σιγῇ κεύθειν] (1) To remain shrouded in silence, κεύθω being used intransitively as in Ο. Τ. 968, κεύθει κάτω δὴ γῆς. This is better than (2) To hide (what you might wish to say).
πῶς ἂν | στέρξαιμι] ‘How to endure,' i. e. so as to keep silence. Valcknaer's conjecture, στέξαιμι, is based on a mistaken reading of O. T. 11, q. v. The division of l. 991 (cp. supr 981) is allowable in the freer sort of anapaestic verse that is used in laments.
ὦ Κηναία κρηπίς βωμῶν] Cenean support of altars; i.e. Rock of Cenaeum, on which the altars are set.
ἱερῶν . . ἠνύσω] ‘What glorious victims did I offer upon thee, and what a return of misery hast thou (for thy part) accomplished for me! In the MS. reading (see v. rr.) ἀντί and θυμάτων are due to glosses. Mr. Paley objects το ἐπί μοι. But cp. Phil. 1139, О. С. 414, and see
Essay on L. § 44. p. 83, g.
ἠνύσω· ὦ Ζεῦ,] According to this punctuation, the words & Ζεῦ are not a passing exclamation, but an address to his Father, to whom he suddenly turns, accusing him as the first cause of all (cp. infr. 1278). So Hermann. For the two accusatives after ἔθου, cp. Eur. Οr. 1038, ὕβρισμα θέμενος τὸν ᾿Αγαμέμνονος γόνον.
foll. ἣν μήποτ᾽ ἐγὼ.. καταδερχθῆναι] Heracles, in his delirium, confuses the effect with the cause, ἣν .. ὅσσοις referring to the sacrificial robe (cp. infr. 1048-52). There would be something feeble in his merely wishing that he had not experienced this trouble. And ὄσσοις would then be inappropriate. Wunder supposes Κηναία κρηπίς to be the antecedent to ἥν; but this is of course inconsistent with our punctuation, and is forced in any case.
τόδε . · καταδερχθῆναι is epexegetic of προσιδεῖν. In what follows ἀκήλητον is taken up and expanded. μανίας ἄνθος] 'Bloom of madness,' i.e. madness in the highest degree. Cp. Ant. 959, 60, οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει | ἀνθηρόν τε μένος.
τίς γὰρ ἀοιδός] 'For what charmer, what master of the healing craft so famous?' etc. Incantations were regarded as a branch of medicine. Cp. Aj. 582, and note. Hermann rightly defends d, which Erfurdt had condemned: 'Incipit poeta, ut si dicturus sit, τίς ἀοιδὸς κατακηλήσει ; tum mutata structura pergit, τίς ὁ χειροτέχνης ἰατορίας, ὃς κατακηλήσει;' Besides giving an antecedent to ὅs, the article asks for one great physician to be named. What charmer, - or who is he, the famed physician?' etc.
χωρίς Ζηνός] 'Save only Ζεύς,' who has power to heal as to destroy.
θαῦμ᾿ ἂν πόρρωθεν ἰδοίμην] Hermann placed a mark of interrogation after this line, understanding it to mean, 'Am I likely to see a miracle coming from afar?" This is hardly satisfactory. It seems better to take θαῦμα as an adverbial accusative. Cp. supr. 982, βάρος ἄπλετον. • Mine eyes would hail him wonderingly from afar.'
foll. ἐ ἔ, κ.τ.λ.] Heracles thus addresses those who approach to lift him from the litter to the bed. Hyllus takes him in his arms and places him there. while he speaks ll. 1007, 8. The outburst that follows, ll. 1009 foll., is made from the bed.
ἀντέτροφας ὅ τι καὶ μύσῃ] ‘ If aught of the evil slumber for a moment, you disturb it again.' Wunder complains of the want of correspondence between protasis and apodosis in respect of mood. But the combination of categorical with hypothetical expression is not uncommon even in prose. Cp. e.g. Plat. Phaedr. 244 Α. οὐκ ἔστ᾿ ἔτυμος λόγος ὃς ἂν φῇ. The subjunctive here suggests the doubt whether there has really been a moment of ease; i.e. 'You wake what sleeps if there be aught that sleeps.' Cp. Aj. 1160, and note. Linwood by substituting μύσαι, the optative for the subjunctive, evades the difficulty. ἀν(α)τέτροφας is perfect of ἀνατρέπω with present meaning.
πόθεν ἔστ'] The Scholiast says, τὴν δὲ ἐκ τόπου σχέσιν εἶπεν ἀντὶ τῆς ἐν τόπῳ, ὡς σχεδόθεν δὲ οἱ ἦλθεν ᾿Αθήνη (Od. 2, 267), ἀντὶ τοῦ σχεδύν. So ἐγγύθεν ἐλθών, Il. 11. 396. As Hermann truly says, there is a reason to be rendered for every such expression, and here the meaning is, From whence do you show yourselves?' because none appeared from any quarter.
πάντων .. ἀνέρες] Either (1) 'Ye most unrighteous of all Greeks:' or, (2) supposing the genitive not to be governed by the superlative, but to be a partitive gen. with ἀδικώτατοι ἄνδρες. 'Ye most unrighteous' (i. e. ungrateful) 'men in every part of Hellas.' See
Essay on L. § 10. p. 17, 6.
He does not expect aid from barbarians, though he has cleansed barbarous countries too. οὓς δή] Hermann suggested ols, but it is better to retain oὕs, the inhabitants being put for the countries, with the additional notion of benefits conferred on them, and to take πολλά adverbially; i. e. ὧν γαῖαν καθαίρων, κ.τ.λ. Cp. infr. 1061.
i.e. πολλὰ μὲν ἐν πόντῳ, πολλὰ δὲ κατὰ δρία πάντα, κτ.λ.
Heracles calls not for healing (cp. supr. 1001 foll.), but for instant death. Cp. Phil. 747-50, 799-801.
For the negatives, see
E. on L. § 29. p. 48, 1.
The interpretation of the Scholiast (οὐδεὶς ἐκείνων, φησί, βούλεται ἐλθὼν τὴν κεφαλήν μου ἀποτεμεῖν, καὶ ἐλευθερῶσαι τοῦ μοχθηροῦ βίου) suggests a slightly different text. Hermann would read λύων for μολών. Another expedient is to read ἀπαράξας κρᾶτα βίου θέλει | λῦσαι τοῦ στυγεροῦ. The Scholiast may have read λῦσαι μολών. Then λῦσαι having been dropped, through similarity to the last syllable of θέλει, ἀπαράξας would be changed to ἀπαράξαι for the sense.
ὦ παῖ τοῦδ᾽ ἀνδρός] 'Son of Heracles here!' It is strange that this expression should have given any trouble, when the much more vague ὦ παῖ κείνου τἀνδρός is so familiar in prose.
σοί τε γάρ. σώζειν] 'For indeed thou hast a fulness of resource beyond what I can do to save him.' The language is obscure, but has not the appearance of being corrupt. The Epic use of re may be compared with the digammated of in l. 650, or ἀποτίβατος, infr. 1030. Ας βλέπειν sometimes = ζῆν, so ὄμμα may be put by synecdoche for keenness of the faculties generally. And the ellipse of μᾶλλον (
E. on L. § 39. p. 73
) may be accounted for by ἔμπλεον suggesting ἔνι πλέον. δι' ἐμοῦ σώζειν = τὸ δι᾽ ἐμοῦ σώζεσθαι αὐτόν, 'The hope of saving him through me.'
λαθίπονον δ᾽ ὀδυνᾶν]
Essay on L. § 40. p. 75, § 55. p. 101.
οὔτ᾽ ἔνδοθεν οὔτε θύραθεν] (1) 'Neither by my own resources nor with help from others.' Or, (2) 'Neither from within nor from without,' distinguishing between the inward pain of Heracles and the cares which press upon him. Cp. Ο.Τ. 1318, κέντρων τε τῶνδ' οἴστρημα καὶ μνήμη κακῶν : Milton, Samson Agonistes, l. 18, Ease to the body some, none to the mind.' For a similar expression, cp. supr. 730, 4 μηδέν ἐστ᾽ *οἶκοι βαρύ.
τοιαῦτα νέμει Ζεύς] 'The Father holds such things in his power.' Cp. Phil. 843, τάδε μὲν θεὸς ὄψεται. Others understand, So fearful is the trouble dispensed by Zeus.'
ποῦ ποτ' εἰ Heracles recognizes the voice of Hyllus, but is too much distracted to perceive him otherwise at first. Cp. Phil. 805, ποῦ ποτ᾿ ὤν, τέκνον, κυρεῖς; Then presently he directs him how to hold and turn him for greater ease.
ἀποτίβατος] 'Unapproachable, i. e. Irresistible or intractable. Cp. Αj. 255, τὸν αἰσ᾽ ἄπλατος ἴσχει,
ἰὼ ἰώ] ἰὼ ἰὼ. *φύσαντ'] The MSS. have τὸν φύσαντ', for which some (Dindorf) would substitute τὸν φύτορ', others τὸν πατέρ'. The spondaic rhythm prevails throughout these five hexameter lines, and the omission of the article may be excused by saying that the participle is not = ὃς ἔφυσα, but = εἰ (or ἐπεὶ) ἔφυσα.
ἀνεπίφθονον] 'Blameless:' i.e. no one could upbraid Hyllus for slaying his father under the circumstances.
παῖσον] For the asyndeton, which is expressive, cp. Phil. 747-9, πρὸς θεῶν, πρόχειρον εἴ τί σοι, τέκνον, πάρα | ξίφος χεροῖν, πάταξον εἰς ἄκρον πόδα· | ἀπάμησον ὡς τάχιστα, μὴ φείσῃ βίου. ἄχος, ᾧ μ᾿ ἐχόλωσεν] The grief wherewith thy mother has enraged me.' Physical pain. however vividly portrayed, is never the chief point of tragic interest in Sophocles. The wrath of the foiled hero, which he is unable to wreak, is the bitterest pang of all.
ἄθεος] 'God abandoned.' Either ος is long in arsi, before the pause, or (as in text) τάν should be read for ἄν.
αὕτως, ὧδ᾽ αὕτως, ὡς μ᾿ ὤλεσεν] 'Even as she destroyed me, in the very way ye see me now.' For γλυκύς in addressing a deity, cp. Ο. C. 106, ἴτ', ὦ γλυκεῖαι παίδες ἀρχαίου Σκότου. The MSS. have ὦ Διὸς αὐθαίμων, ὦ γλυκὺς ῾Αίδας. The transposition, made for metrical reasons, also improves the sense by restoring the climax.
εὔνασον εὔνασόν *μ'] Here also the MSS. are at fault, giving εὔνασόν μ᾿ εὔνασον. The metre is dochmiac. ὠκυπέτᾳ] (1) • Flying,' or (2), 'Descending swiftly,' in the shape of a thunderbolt. Cp. infr. 1086, 7: O. С. 1460, Διὸς πτερωτός .. βροντή.
οἵας οἷος ὤν] Cp. Αj. 923, οἷος ὢν οἵας ἔχεις. The MS. reading olas may be defended as following the case of its antecedent συμφοράς, and also as cognate accusative. Others read oἵais.
ὦ . . ἐγώ, κ.τ.λ.] For this mode of expression, cp. O. C. 337 foll, ὦ πάντ᾽ ἐκείνω . . τροφάς, κ.τ.λ. *κοὐ λόγῳ κακά] Evils that were so not in name only. This is Bothe's emendation of the MS. reading καὶ λόγῳ, which is certainly as old as Cicero's translation (Tusc. Disp. 2. 20), Multa dictu gravia, perpessu aspera.' This may be explained to mean, 'Even in report' (how much more, then, in reality!). Cp. Hdt. 7. 10, § 10, καίτοι καὶ λόγῳ ἀκοῦσαι δεινόν, ἐπ᾿ ἀνδρί γε ἑνὶ πάντα .. γεγενήσθαι. Wunder conjectures καὶ λόγων πέρα, which yields a fair sense, but κοὐ λόγῳ is simpler and more forcible. Cp. Aesch. S. c. Τ. 847, ἦλθε δ᾽ αἰακτὰ πήματ᾽ οὐ λόγῳ.
καὶ νώτοισι] Some have supposed an allusion here to Heracles having relieved Atlas of his burden. But cp. infr. 1090 foll.
κοὔπω] καὶ = καίτοι. Cp. infr. 1072: Phil. 385, κοὐκ αἰτιῶμαι τοῦτον:
Essay on L. § 25. p. 42.
δολῶπις] ‘Of the deceitful eye.' The remembrance of Deianira's beauty returns involuntarily.
τόδ' Ἐρινύων ἀμφίβληστρον] Aesch. Ag. 1115, δίκτυον .. "Αιδου: Cho. 492, μέμνησο δ᾽ ἀμφίβληστρον ὡς ἐκαίνισαν : ib. 999.
Trachiniae. Lewis Campbell. ed. Lewis Campbell. Oxford. 1879.