1.
mvp-comment-1-1
Λόγος μέν ἐστ᾽ ἀρχαῖος ἀνθρώπων φανείς] «Men have indeed declared of old.' ἐστί is the copula connecting λόγος, κ.τ.λ., as subject, with ὡς, κ.τ.λ., as predicate. Cp. Εl. 417, λόγος τις αὐτὴν ἐστιν εἰσιδεῖν, κ.τ.λ. φανείς, Made known,' is added epexegetically (cp. Phil. 3, κρατίστου πατρὸς Ἑλλήνων τραφείς), to strengthen ἀρχαῖος, which thus acquires the force of a supplementary predicate. ἀνθρώπων is possessive genitive with λόγος, not = ἐξ ἀνθρώπων. The chief stress is on λόγος. For this very prevalent γνώμη, cp. amongst other places Fragm. 583. The contradiction of old maxims sometimes gives point to tragic situations, though the confirmation of them is the more usual form. Deianira's trouble is beyond the experience of the wise.
2.
mvp-comment-2-1
αἰῶνα . . βροτῶν] ‘A mortal life, i.e. αἰῶνά τινος βροτῶν. The missing indefinite pronoun is supplied afterwards in tis and τῳ.
3.
mvp-comment-3-1
θάνῃ] θάνοι (indirect speech in past time, cp. 687) is another reading.
4.
mvp-comment-4-1
τὸν ἐμόν is the object primarily of ἔξοιδα, and secondarily of ἔχουσα, which is introduced by a change of construction. δυστυχῆ and βαρύν agree with it in the latter connection. ἔχουσα has a pathetic force, 'The life which I live,' cp. the dative in εἴ τῳ supr.
5.
mvp-comment-5-1
ἔξοιδα] ἐξ, as in ἐκμάθοις = 'fully,' with still stronger emphasis. 'One cannot clearly tell, -but I clearly know.'
6.
mvp-comment-6-1
ἥτις] In dwelling on her misery, Deianira's mind goes back to her first great trouble (cp. 144 foll.), the wooing of Achelous, from which Heracles had delivered her. But this deliverance had been the beginning of her sorrows. μέν opposes the ancient trouble to her subsequent life, 11. 27 foll., where, however, the verbal opposition is lost.
7.
mvp-comment-7-1
ναίουσα] ‘Having my home.' ἐνί] This reading, which has some MS. authority, and involves the least alteration from ev, has the merit of not clogging the sense. And the slight change in the form of the word makes its repetition after ἐν δόμοισι less objectionable. Even Erfurdt's ἔτ' ἐv is unnecessary and weak. ἐví does not occur again in Sophocles as a preposition; but cp. ὑπαί, Ant. 1035: Wund. reads ἔτι Πλευρῶνι, Mr. Paley, ναίουσα δ᾽ ἐν with Par. B.
7-8.
mvp-comment-8-1
νυμφείων.. γυνή] ‘Was afflicted with terror as to my nuptials beyond all my countrywomen.' ὄκνον] ὅτλον is a possible reading, but is probably only an early emendation.
8.
mvp-comment-9-1
Cp. l. 181. 'Shrinking fear in marriage' is more poetical, and more in character with the tender and delicate Deianira, than 'a burdensome wooing.' ὅτλον may have been taken from Aesch. S. c. Τ. 18, ἅπαντα πανδοκοῦσα παιδείας ὅτλον, where it suits the context.
8.
mvp-comment-9-2
ἄλγιστον εἴ τις] Α sort of double superlative.
Essay on L. § 40. 5. p. 75.
Cp. infr. 896, 7, μᾶλλον κάρτ᾽ ἂν ᾤκτισας: Eur. Andr. 6, νῦν δ᾽, εἴ τις ἄλλη, δυστυχεστάτη γυνή.
9.
mvp-comment-10-1
'For a river was my suitor, Achelous I mean.'
10.
mvp-comment-11-1
ἐξήτει] 'Who in three shapes importuned my father for me.' ἐζήτει is a weak reading, probably a mere clerical error.
11.
mvp-comment-12-1
φοιτῶν, ‘Visiting us' is more closely connected with what follows than with the preceding line, to which it is added epexegetically. Cp. l. 1. φανείς. ἐναργὴς ταῦροs) ‘In the unmistakable form of a bull.' ἐναργής either (1) distinguishes the complete from the partial bull-shape (ἀνδρείᾳ κύτει βούπρῳρος), or (2) implies that the bull was the proper and acknowledged symbol of the river-god. Cp. Eur. Iph. Α. 274, 5, κατειδύμαν | πρύμνας σῆμα ταυρόπουν ὁρᾶν | τὸν πάροικον ᾿Αλφεόν. ἄλλοτε is anticipated with ταῦρος. Cp. El. 752, 3, φορούμενος πρὸς οὖδας, ἄλλοτ᾽ οὐρανῷ | σκέλη προφαίνων.
11-12.
mvp-comment-13-1
αἰόλος | δράκων] Cp. infr. 834. The epithet is taken from Homer's αἰόλος ὄφις, Ιl. 12. 208, but with the meaning 'Spotted,' 'Variegated,' rather than 'Glancing' or 'Writhing.' The comparison of a winding river to a snake is obvious, and appears often in Greek as in other literature.
12.
mvp-comment-14-1
ἀνδρείῳ κύτει] • In manly shape.' κύτει, 'Case,' or 'Trunk,' agrees better with the picturesque quaintness of the whole description than τύπῳ, 'General outline.'
13.
mvp-comment-15-1
βούπρωρος] 'With the front of a bull.' βούκρανοs is another reading. Cp. Eur. Or. 1378, ὠκεανὸς .. ταυρόκρανος. The reading τύπῳ βούκρανος, although upheld by the MSS., appears to be a prosaic substitute, perhaps originating in an early gloss, for κύτει βούπρῳρος, which, although supported only by the quotation of Strabo, is decidedly, as Prof. Paley says, the more poetical reading. δασκίου] « Bushy.' Aesch. Pers. 316, πυρσὴν ζαπληθῆ δάσκιον γενειάδα. The ancients seem to have given this word a false association with δασύς.
14.
mvp-comment-16-1
κρουνοὶ . . ποτοῦ] • Gushing rills of fresh spring water were showered abroad.' The well-springs in the neighbourhood of a river were regarded in Greek mythology as the offspring of the river. Thus Callirhoë is the daughter of Scamander, and Achelous too has a daughter Callirhoë.
15.
mvp-comment-17-1
προσδεδεγμένη] This word may mean either, Having received, or, 'In constant expectation of.' Cp. ποτιδέγμενος, and δεδεγμένη, in Homer (where προσδεδεγμένος is excluded by the metre). To the latter meaning it has been objected that Achelöus was already the wooer of Deianira, who therefore could not be said to expect him in that capacity.
15.
mvp-comment-17-2
But having received' is really out of the question. Deianira cannot be said to have received one whom she abhorred. By a slight figure of speech the words τοιόνδε μνηστῆρα may be put either (1) for 'the coming of such a suitor,' or (2) for 'such a future husband.' This meaning, besides expressing more poetically the feeling of the maiden (cp. note on õkvov, supr. 7), harmonizes better with what follows, αἰεὶ ποτε.
17.
mvp-comment-18-1
τῆσδε]
Essay on L. § 22. p. 34:
infr. 1. 20.
18.
mvp-comment-19-1
χρόνῳ] The sentence begins as if with the usual χρόνῳ, 'In course of time;' but as the distinction arises with μέν and δέ, the first member of the antithesis is expanded with a slight difference of meaning. In time, however, -at a later time, and to my joy.'
20.
mvp-comment-20-1
ἀγῶνα] ‘Trial,' being a very general word, is further defined by μάχης, 'Combat.' Cp. Αj. 1163, ἔριδός τις ἀγών.
21.
mvp-comment-21-1
ἐκλύεται] Delivers.' For the historical present in tragic narrative, cp. Ο. Τ. 807, παίω δι᾽ ὀργῆς. The word ἐκλύεται is much more expressive of release from an odious bond than ἐκρύεται, which Blaydes suggests. The middle voice signifies, With his own hand.' Cp. Aesch. Prom. 253, ἐξελυσάμην βροτούς: Ant. 1112, καὶ παρὼν ἐκλύσομαι.
Essay on L. § 31. p. 53 d.
πόνων] ‘The fray.' A general word including the particulars described by the Chorus, infr. 507-522. Cp. Aj. 61, ἐπειδὴ τοῦδ᾽ ἐλώφησεν πόνου (the slaughter of the cattle).
22.
mvp-comment-22-1
οὐκ ἂν διείποιμ] 'I could not distinctly tell.' Cp. O. T. 894, διεῖπε χρῆναι, κ.τ.λ., and note, ib. 354.
23.
mvp-comment-23-1
ἀταρβὴς τῆς θέας] 'Without terror in beholding that sight.' The genitive after the privative adjective is here a genitive of relation. Ср. О. Т. 884, δίκας ἀφόβητος. ὅδε] In support of this reading, in preference to ὁ δέ, Mr. Blaydes and others have rightly compared Ant. 464, ὅστις γὰρ . . ζῇ, πῶς ὅδ᾽ οὐχί, κ.τ.λ
25.
mvp-comment-24-1
This line is condemned as spurious, entirely without reason, by Dobree and others. It is pathetic and well-placed. Deianira soliloquises about the fear she had lest the beauty of her girlhood might become a source of pain to her, as it would, if, after it had called forth two such suitors, the monster had prevailed over the god-like man. Her sympathy with Iole, whose beauty was her ruin (1. 465), is the more touching when this reminiscence precedes.
27.
mvp-comment-25-1
εἰ δὴ καλῶς] Cp. Eur. Or. 17, ὁ κλεινός, εἰ δὴ κλεινός, ᾿Αγαμέμνων.
28.
mvp-comment-26-1
λέχος ξυστᾶσα] • Since being matched with Heracles in the marriage which was adjudged to him.' λέχος] ' In a marriage,' accusative in apposition with the action of the sentence, or cognate acc. Cp. Αj. 491, τὸ σὸν λέχος ξυνῆλθον. Ἡρακλεῖ is primarily (a) dative after κριτόν, and secondarily (b) dative after ξυστᾶσα, 'Having met Heracles in a marriage which was adjudged to Heracles.' For this' ambiguous construction,' see
Essay on L. pp. 66, 7.
γὰρ at once introduces the announcement of the result, indicated in the words τέλος ἔθηκε Ζεύς, and the explanation of the doubt expressed in εἰ δὴ καλῶς. 'For I was married to Heracles, but have lived ever since in fear.' κριτόν] 'Adjudged,' viz. by the issue of the contest, determined by Zeὺς ἀγώνιος, Cp. Αj. 443, κρίνειν ἔμελλε κράτος ἀριστείας τινί: Hdt. 6. 129, τὸν κρίνοι ἐκ πάντων Others render 'Chosen,' because Heracles had fixed his choice on this marriage. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 4. 89, κριτὸν .. γυναικῶν . . γένος. ξυστᾶσα) This word suggests permanence more than ξυνελθοῦσα, and may also imply that a marriage with Heracles was one involving grave issues. Cp. the uses of ξυνίστασθαι in Herodotus, and Aesch. Prom. 806, μηδὲ πλαθείην γαμέτᾳ τινὶ τῶν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. Hermann, who takes the word as simply • συνελθοῦσα, quotes the Homeric phrase ἐμὸν λέχος ἀντιύωσαν. For τρέφω, cp. Aesch. Ag. 669, ἐβουκολοῦμεν φροντίσιν νέον πάθος. Α preceding scholion properly belongs to this line, viz. διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ περὶ Ἡρακλέους ἀγωνιᾶν,
29.
mvp-comment-27-1
προκηραίνουσα] 'Harassed with cares on his behalf.' The compound occurs nowhere else, but is perfectly natural here. Cp. Ant. 83, μή μου προτάρβει.
30.
mvp-comment-28-1
νὺξ γὰρ . . πόνον] 'For if night bring him home, the same night sends him away, renewing the succession of his toil' εἰσάγει, sc. αὐτόν, not πόνον, cp. infr. 34, 5. For the repetition of νύξ meaning one and the same night (which alone suits the context), cp. Aesch. Pers. 560, νᾶες μὲν ἄγαγον . . νᾶες δ' ἀπώλεσαν: Philoct. 1370, 1, διπλῆν μὲν διπλῆν δέ: and see
Essay on L. § 40. p. 76.
The same night that brings him home takes up the thread of his labours which had been dropped. διαδεδεγμένη πόνον = διαδοχὴν ἔχουσα πόνου. Εp. 825, ἀναδοχὰν . . πόνων. Two other explanations of these words are deserving of mention; (1) 'For one night brings sorrow and another pushes out the sorrow, receiving a new sorrow in its room.' ὥστε διαδοχήν μοι πόνου γενέσθαι, Schol. Rom. But εἰσάγει naturally refers to κείνου, and there is frigidity in such an expansion of ex φόβου φόβον τρέφω. (2) 'For one night brings him home, and another night dismisses him, receiving sorrow in his room. But Deianira is dwelling on the life of Heracles, not on her own feelings. And this is implied in the words κείνου προκηραίνουσα, with which γάρ connects what follows. Besides, the personification of night is in this case very confused. For ἀπωθεῖ, in which the feeling of separation is vividly expressed, cp. Tennyson's Love and Duty :- 'Crying, "Who is this? behold thy bride," She pushed me from thee.'
31.
mvp-comment-29-1
κἀφύσαμεν δὴ παῖδας] ‘And so we became the parents of children.' ποτε, 'At some uncertain time.' The vagueness of this has a pathetic force, like Helen's εἴποτ᾽ ἔην γε.
32.
mvp-comment-30-1
The family of Heracles is like a distant field, which the farmer never sees from sowing-time to harvest.
33.
mvp-comment-31-1
προσεῖδε] The thing compared is expressed in terms of the comparison (
Essay on L. § 35. p 60; ср. §42. p. 79
). Cp Shak. As You Like It : -'Adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, | Still wears a precious jewel in his head.' Hence the meaning of ἐξαμῶν is not to be pressed. Heracles after begetting his children only saw them for a moment when they were grown.
35.
mvp-comment-32-1
ἔπεμπε] She has hitherto been speaking generally; she is now going to particularize. The one long service is past (hence the imperfect tense), but her troubles are not yet over.
36.
mvp-comment-33-1
ὑπερτελὴς ἔφυ] He had surmounted these labours,' i. e. His life had passed beyond them. For ἔφυ, cp. Ant. 575, ῞Αιδης . . ἔφυ.
37.
mvp-comment-34-1
'It is just now that he has got beyond these tasks that my chief fear is come.'
38.
mvp-comment-35-1
ἐξ οὗ, κ.τ.λ.] The name of Iphitus is more closely connected with the fable than those of Ceyx (1. 40) and Eurystheus, which are omitted. The removal of Deianira and Hyllus to Trachis took place immediately after the death of Iphitus, more than fifteen months before the opening of the play. Ιφίτου βίαν] An adaptation of such Homeric phrases as βίην Ἡρακληείην.
39.
mvp-comment-36-1
ἡμεῖς] Deianira and her sons.
40.
mvp-comment-37-1
ξένῳ . . ἀνδρί] According to the legend this was Ceyx, the nephew of Amphitryon, whose name, like that of Eurystheus (supr. 35), is of no moment in relation to the plot.
40-41.
mvp-comment-38-1
ὅπου | βέβηκεν] 'Where he is gone.' The perfect of βαίνω has often in Sophocles the meaning of the substantive verb or of rest, but here is rather equivalent to οἴχεται than to ναίει, infr. 99. Cp. infr. 134. ὅποι is not required, because the meaning is equivalent to ποῦ κυρεῖ οἰχόμενος. Cp. Ο. C. 118, ποῦ κυρεῖ ἐκτόπιος συθείς; – In confirmation of this interpretation, which suits best with the emphatic position of βέβηκεν, see esp. infr. 246, 7, ἢ κἀπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πόλει τὸν ἄσκοπον | χρόνον βεβὼς ἦν ἡμερῶν ἀνήριθμον, where βεβώς is clearly equivalent to οἰχόμενος. See also ἀποίχεται, infr. 42, in which the notion of βέβηκεν is resumed.
42.
mvp-comment-39-1
αὐτοῦ has been changed to αὑτοῦ, which, though certainly more grammatical because referring to the main subject, does not improve the sense. For the pronoun is to be connected with the immediately preceding words, implying ἐγὼ πικρὰς ὠδῖνας αὐτοῦ ἔχω. For the genitive of the object, see
Essay on L. § 9. p. 12, 2.
προσβαλὼν ἀποίχεται] ‘He has given me by going away.' The participle has the chief emphasis. Cp. О. С. 894, 5, οἴχεται .. ἀποσπάσας:
Essay on L. § 36. p. 63.
43.
mvp-comment-40-1
σχεδὸν . . ἐπίσταμαι] 'I am all but certain.'
44.
mvp-comment-41-1
βαιόν] Cр. О. С. 397, βαιοῦ, κοὐχὶ μυρίου χρόνου, She had been prepared for fifteen months' absence: infr. 164. But she knew that this must be followed by a crisis in the life of Heracles, And she has heard nothing.
45.
mvp-comment-42-1
ἀκήρυκτος δε οὐδεὶς ἐλθὼν κηρύττει καὶ ἀπαγγελλει, ποῦ ποτ' ἐστί, Schol.
