Sophocles Trachiniae 94

Richard Jebb (Translator)

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Trachiniae. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1892.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Trachiniae (English) (Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 5: The Trachiniae. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1892. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 94 focus
ὃν αἰόλα νὺξ ἐναριζομένα
τίκτει κατευνάζει τε φλογιζόμενον,
95
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 94 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 94 focus
Hush! For I see approaching one in haste,
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)) — 94 focus
Deianira, Attendant.
On thee we call, great god of day,
To whom the night, with all her staiTy train,
Yields her solitary reign,
To send us some propitious I'ay :
Say thou, whose all-beholding eye
Doth nature's every part descry.
What dangerous ocean, or what land unknown
From Deianira keeps Alcmena's valiant son.
For she nor joy nor comfort knows,
But weeps her absent lord, and vainly tries
To close her ever-streaming eyes.
Or soothe her sorrows to repose :
Like the sad bird of night, alone
She makes her solitary moan ;
Aiid still, as on her widowed bed reclined
She lies, unnumbered fears perplex her anxious mind.
E'en as the troubled billows roar,
When angry Boreas rules th' inclement skies.
And waves on waves tumultuous rise
To lash the Cretan shore :
Thus sorrows still on sorrows prest
Fill the great Alcides' breast ;
95
Unfading yet shall his fair virtues bloom,
95
And some protecting god preserve him from the tomb.
95
"Wherefore, to better thoughts inclined,
95
Let us with hope's fair prospect fill thy breast,
95
Calm thy anxious thoughts to rest,
95
And ease thy troubled mind :
95
No bliss on man, unmixed with woe.
95
Doth Jove, great lord of all, bestow ;
95
But good with ill, and pleasure still with pain,
95
Like heaven's revolving signs, alternate reign.
95
Epode.
95
Not always do the shades of night remain,
95
Nor ever with hard fate is man oppressed ;
95
The wealth that leaves us may return again,
95
Sorrow and joy successive fill the breast ;
95
Fearless then of every ill.
95
Let cheerful hope support thee still :
95
Remember, queen, there is a power above ;
95
And when did the great father, careful Jove,
95
Forget his children dear, and kind paternal love 1
95
TRACIIIMjE,
95
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 94 focus
STRO. 1. O thou, whom saphir-spangled Night
(That vanquish'd flies before thy golden ray)
Calls forth thy orient lustre to display,
And curtains close thy setting light,
To thee, O Sun, I call; declare,
Bright blazing through the lucid air,
Where dwells the hero through this length of time?
Where does Alcmena's son reside?
Rolls he on ocean's billowy tide?
Lies he reposed in some soft eastern clime,
Or where decline thy west'ring rays?
Oh say, for all thy piercing eye surveys !
ANTIS. 1. Desire, and doubt, and anxious fear
Incessant harrow Deianira's breast;
Like the poor bird that wails her widow'd nest,
As from her eye still streams the tear,
Mindful she mourns her lord, each thought
With terrors at his wand'rings fraught,
And at imagined dangers melts away:
As on her lonely couch she lies,
The sleepless night she wastes in sighs,
And sinks to sorrow and despair a prey;
Whilst to her fancy ills unknown
In all their hideous threat'ning shapes are shown.
As when with terror we behold
From South or North the wild winds sweep,
Waves after waves with fury roll'd
Swell the vex'd bosom of the deep;
Such is the Theban Hero's state,
95
Tost in the ceaseless storms of fate.
95
Toils rise on toils, an endless train,
95
As billows on the troubled main;
95
Yet to his virtues just some god
95
Saves him from Pluto's drear abode.
95
Let me then blame thy anxious fear;
95
Far other views if I display,
95
My words bring comfort to thy ear:
95
Thou shou'dst not throw sweet Hope away.
95
The sovereign ruler of our fate
95
Gives mortals no untroubled state;
95
But joy and grief are ever found
95
Revolving their alternate round,
95
As circling in the Arctic skies...
95
The constellations set and rise.
95
Nor Night in sable stole array'd
95
O'er mortals always spreads her solemn shade;
95
Nor always griefs remain,
95
Nor riches; their light wings at once they spread,
95
Away at once are fled;
95
The heart now welcomes joy's bright train,
95
Now sickens at th' approach of pain.
95
Then sink not, Queen, with griefs opprest,
95
But let hope brighten in thy breast;
95
Jove o'er his sons his care extends,
95
And all his glorious race defends.
95

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-52-1 αἰόλα 1 φλογιζόμενον 2 ἐναριζομένα 3 κατευνάζει 4 τίκτει 5

mvp-comment-52-2 The text has been much suspected (see cr. n.), but without reason. The imagery, indeed, does not form a consistent whole: Night is slain, and then overcomes. But this is merely one of many instances in which the poet's language wavers between the figurative and the literal.

mvp-comment-52-3 κατευνάζει τε φλογιζόμενον 6

mvp-comment-53-1 τοῦτο 7 τον Ἀλκμήνας πόθι … ναίει 8 καρῦξαι 9 τοῦτο 10

mvp-comment-54-1 πόθι μοι πόθι παῖς 11 πα<*>ς 12 μοι 13 τὸν Ἀλκμ. 14 παῖς 15

mvp-comment-54-2 Porson is cited by Wunder and other editors as the authority for omitting

παῖς
. But Porson (on Hec.1030 ) said only that it is possible to omit
παῖς
,—adding that it is better to retain it (omitting the second
μοι
):—‘potes ejicere
παῖς
et legere
πόθι μοι πόθι μοι
. Sed alterum melius.’

mvp-comment-55-1 ὦ … φλεγέθων 16

mvp-comment-55-2 στεροπᾷ 17

mvp-comment-56-1 ἢ ποντίας … κλιθείς 18 ποντίας 19 ποντίους 20

mvp-comment-56-2 The constr. is, πόθι 21 που 22 ναίει ἢ ποντίας αὐλῶνας ἢ δισς. ἀπείροις κλιθείς 23 ναίει 24 ἢ 25

mvp-comment-56-3 ἤ 26

mvp-comment-56-4 δισς. ἀπείροις κλιθείς 27

mvp-comment-56-5 This use of δισσαῖσιν 28 πόθι 29

mvp-comment-56-6 ‘The two continents’ (Europe and Asia, Africa being included in the latter) mean, ‘the habitable world.’ Isocr. or. 4 § 179

τῆς γὰρ γῆς ἁπάσης τῆς ὑπὸ τῷ κόσμῳ κειμένης δίχα τετμημένης, καὶ τῆς μὲν Ἀσίας τῆς δ’ Εὐρώπης καλουμένης
. Varro De Ling. Lat. 4
Ut omnis natura in caelum et terram divisa est, sic caelum in regiones, terra in Asiam et Europam.
 (Sallust, however, remarks that the division into three continents had been more usual: Jug. 17. )

mvp-comment-56-7 ποντίας αὐλῶνας 30

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.

96. mvp-comment-83-1 ῞Αλιον αἰτῶ] The accusative or third person instead of the vocative, as in Aesch. Prom. 91, καὶ τὸν πανόπτην κύκλον ἡλίου καλῶ· | ἴδεσθέ μ'.

97. mvp-comment-84-1 πόθι μοι πόθι] The repetition belongs to the later manner of Greek tragedy. The change of construction after πόθι (παῖς not παῖδα) is right. To avoid the hiatus after l. 4 of the antistrophe the second μοι rather than παῖς (see v. rr.) should be omitted. μοι is dative of indirect reference after πόθι ναίει (cp. Ο. C. 137, ποῦ μοί ποτε ναίει), and also supplies the remoter object of καρύξαι.

99. mvp-comment-85-1 ὦ . . φλεγέθων] Cp. Ο. Τ. 163, 4, καὶ Φοῖβον ἑκαβόλον, ἰὼ |.. προφάνητε. στεροπᾷ is used etymologically, like στέροψ in Ant. 1126 = 'Dazzling light.'