Sophocles Trachiniae 95

ed. Lewis Campbell

τίκτει κατευνάζει τε φλογιζόμενον,
95

Trachiniae. Sophocles. ed. Lewis Campbell. Oxford. 1879.

Current edition Experimental

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 94-140 focus
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 95 focus
MESS
One who was present where he heard thee tell,
How that whole city was subdued and taken,
Not for the bondage to the Lydian girl,
But through the longing passion for this maid.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 94 focus
Denn helle Nacht, wenn sie vom Aether entweicht, 1 2
Gebiert und wiegt in Schlummer, dem flammenden Gott
Helios, Helios ruf' ich, 3
95
Daß er uns verkünde, wo mir, wo mir verweile der Sohn
Alkmene's! Herrscher, leuchtend in strahlender Glut,
Ob auf des Meeres Wogen er, ob durch die zwei Festländer irrt, 4
Sprich: Alles schaut dein göttlich Auge!
Erste Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 95 focus
Deianira
672
Oh ! 'twas wonderful !
For you shall hear it. Know then, the white wool
Wherein 1 wrapped th' anointed vest, untouched
By any hand, dropped self -consumed away,
And down the stone, e'en like a liquid, flowed
Dissolving — but 'tis fit I tell you all —
Whate'er the wounded centaur did enjoin me
Mindful to practise, sacred as the laws
On brazen tablets graved, I have performed :
Far from the fire, and from the sun's warm beams
He bade me keep the charm ; from every eye
In secret hid, till time should call on me
To anoint and use it. This was done : and now,
The fleece m secret plucked, the charm prepared,
Long from the sun within a chest concealed ;
At length I brought it forth, and sent the gift
675
To my Alcides, when behold a wonder,
675
Most strange for tongue to tell, or heart of man
675
E'en to conceive ! Perchance the wool I cast
675
Into the sunshine ; soon as it grew warm
675
It fell to dust, consuming all away
In most strange manner, then from th' earth uprose
In frothy bubbles, e'en as from the grape
In yellow autumn jBlows the purple wine.
I know not what to thinly ; but much I fear
I've done a horrid deed. For, why, my friends,
Why should the dying savage wish to serve
His murderer ? That could never be. Oh no !
He only meant by flattery to destroy
Me, his destroyer. Truth is come too late,
And I alone have slain my dear Alcides ;
I know that by his arrows Chiron fell,
I know whate'er they touched they still were fatal,
That very poison mingled with the blood
Of dying Nessus, will not that too kill
My Hercules? It must : but if he dies,
My resolution is to perish with him ;
Those, who their honour and their virtue prize,
Can never live with infamy and shame.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 95 focus
Attendant
One, who in person heard thee say his arms
Subdued the country for this virgin's sake :
That not his Lydian slavery, but the love
Of her spread devastation o'er her realms.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 94-140 focus

Commentary

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

94-140. mvp-comment-81-1 Parodos. Where in the wide world is Heracles, reposing in what continent, or by what narrow sea? Tell us, bright, all-beholding Sun! For our Deianira, for whose hand he fought, wears out her soul in thinking of him on her lonely couch; so ceaseless are the toils that crowd upon him like stormy billows. But God hath hitherto protected him; wherefore let not hope weary, O my queen. No life is without pain, but, by Divine ordinance, grief succeeds to joy and joy to grief. Remember this and hope the best. Zeus cannot leave his offspring to destruction.' The metre beginning with an iambic rhythm passes quickly into dactylo-trochaic, changing again in the epode to iambo-trochaic (with occasional syncope), then to pure iambics, ending with a bacchius followed by three trochees.

94-95. mvp-comment-82-1 ἐναριζομένα τίκτει] Gives birth to, being despoiled.' The word αἰόλα (like ποικιλείμων in Aesch. Prom. 24) suggests the glories of the starry night. (See Buttmann, Lexil. § 12.) These perish with her as she vanishes, 'Shot through with orient beams.' Cp. ΕΙ. 19, μέλαινά τ᾽ ἄστρων ἐκλέλοιπεν εὐφρόνη: Aesch. Ag. 279, τῆς νῦν τεκούσης φῶς τόδ᾽ εὐφρόνης λέγω. The mention of day succeeding night prepares for the suggestion of hope, infr. 131. κατευνάζει τε φλογιζόμενον] And lays glowing to his rest.' φλογιζόμενον calls up the image of a red sunset.