Sophocles Trachiniae 497

ed. Francis Storr

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Scene
← Previous Next →

Trachiniae. Sophocles. ed. Francis Storr. London. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Τραχίνιαι (Greek) (Sophocles, Volume 2. Storr, Francis, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, 1913.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 497 focus
μέγα τι σθένος ὁ Κύπρις ἐκφέρεται νίκας ἀεί.
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 497 focus
Victorious in her might,
The Queen of soft delight
Still ranges onward with triumphant sway.
What she from Kronos’ son
And strong Poseidon won,
And Pluto, King of Night, I durst not say.
But who, to earn this bride,
Came forth in sinewy pride
To strive, or e’er the nuptial might be known
With fearless heart I tell
What heroes wrestled well,
With showering blows, and dust in clouds upthrown.
One was a river bold,
Horn-crowned, with tramp fourfold,
Bull Achelôüs, Acarnania’s Fear;
And one from Bacchus’ town,
Own son of Zeus, came down,
With brandished mace, bent bow, and barbèd spear.
Who then in battle brunt,
Together, front to front,
Hurled, eager both to win the beauteous prize;
And Cypris ’mid the fray
Alone, that dreadful day,
Sate umpire, holding promise in her eyes.
Then clashed the fist, then clanged the bow;
Then horns gave crashing blow for blow,
Whilst, as they clung,
The twining hip throw both essay
And hurtling foreheads’ fearful play,
And groans from each were wrung.
But the tender fair one far away
Sate watching with an eye of piteous cheer
(A mother’s heart will heed the thing I say,)
Till won by him who freed her from her fear.
Sudden she leaves her mother’s gentle side,
Borne through the waste, our hero’s tender bride.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 497 focus
Aphrodite's erhabene Siegesgewalt strahlt ewig neu.
Schweigen will ich
Von den Göttern, und wie sie berückt den Kroniden, sag' ich nicht, 1
Oder den nächtlichen Hades,
495
Oder auch Poseidon, den Ländererschütt'rer.
Hier um die Sterbliche freiend,
Welche Bewerber erschienen zum Streit? Umhallt 2
Von Schlachtgetos', umwölkt von Staub,
Traten sie vor zum Kampfe.
500
Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 497 focus
She speaks most kindly to thee. Be persuaded.
Hereafter thou shalt find her not ungrateful ;
We too will thank thee.
Lie. O my dearest mistress !
Not vinexperienced thou in human life,
Nor ignorant. And therefore naught from thee
Will I conceal, but tell thee all the truth :
'Tis as he said, and Hercules indeed
Doth love lole. For her sake alone
QCchalia, her unhappy country, fell ;
This — for 'tis fit I tell thee — he confessed,
Nor willed me to conceal it. But I feared
'Twould pierce thy heart to hear th' unwelcome tale,
And therefore own I would have kept it from thee 3
That crime, if such it was, 1 have committed.
But since thou knowst it all, let me entreat thee,
For her sake and thy own, oh ! do not hate
This wretched captive, but remember well,
What thou hast promised faithfully perform.
He, whose victorious arm hath conquered all,
Now yields to her, and is a slave to love.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 497 focus
Sovereign, resistless in her sway
O'er the charm'd heart victorious Venus reigns.
Not her sweet force, which Gods obey,
Which Jove's firm soul subdued, attunes these strains;
Which taught the gloomy Pow'r to bow,
The monarch of the realms below;
And him, who gives his thundering waves to roar,
And furious shake the solid shore.
To other themes these humbler strains belong:...
In arms contending for this bride,
The contest dust, and toil, and wounds decide.
Rising in all his strength the Flood,
In form a Bull terrific to the sight,
Ætolian Achelous stood,
With horns his threat'ning forehead arm'd for fight.
From Thebes the Chief of mighty fame
Fierce to the rough encounter came,
The son of Jove; his massy club he rears,
His bow unbent, his arrows bears.
Inflamed with jealous love and rival rage
In horrid combat they engage;
While Venus with severe delight
Awards the prize, and arbitrates the fight.
Dauntless each the fight provokes,
Loud the thunder of their strokes;
The clanging bow now aims the wound;
With dreadful clash the Bull's strong horns resound.
Now front meets front, the furious blow
With horrid conflict threatens death;
Now in strong grasp each struggling foe
Strains every nerve, and lab'ring pants for breath.
Meanwhile the beauteous Nymph, whose charms
Inflamed the combatants to arms,
Anxious and doubtful of her fate
Conspicuous on the river's margin sate;
(My song records the voice of fame)
All was suspence and awful dread,
Till victor now the hero came,
And from her mother's arms the trembling virgin led.
DBIA. Whilst with these female captives in the house
My guest, on his departure bent with speed,
Holds converse, unobserved to you, my friends,
Hither I come, to tell you what device
These hands have form'd, and for my sufferings raise
Your sympathetic pity; for no more
A virgin deem I that I here received,
But one who shares his bed; as in his bark
The mariner admits a baneful freight.
And now the same embrace in the same couch
We both await: such is the recompense
The good and faithful Hercules, so call'd,
Repays me for my long and anxious care.
Yet my heart knows not anger that he yields
Oft to this weakness; but to live with her
In the same house, with her my nuptial bed
To share, what woman can bear this? I see
Her age, it daily opens to fresh bloom,
While mine is in the sere: the eye of man
Delighted views the vernal glow, and loves
To crop the flow'r; but from the fading leaf
Turns with disgust away: hence rise my fears
Lest Hercules, in vain my husband call'd,
Give to her younger beauties all his love.
Yet not for this doth anger, as I said,
Become a prudent woman. But, my friends,
What I possess of pow'r to heal my griefs
I will inform you. In a brazen vase
A present from the ancient Centuar long
Have I preserv'd; while yet in. youth's fresh bloom
This from the shaggy Nessus I received
When dying from his wound. It was is wont
O'er the deep flood Evenus rolls to bear
For hire, who wish'd to reach the further bank,
In his strong arms; nor dashing oar was his,
Nor barge with-swelling sails. Me thus he bore,
When, unattended with my father's train
I followed Hercules; but when he reach'd
The middle of the stream, his wanton hands
'Gainst modesty transgress'd; I cried aloud:
The son of Jove sprung forward, in his hand
His ready bow, from which a feather'd shaft
Wing'd with impetuous fury pierced his side.
Me then the dying monster thus address'd,
Daughter of aged Œneus, I no more
Shall pass this flood; but since my arms have borne
Thee their last charge, derive thou thence this good,
Observant of my words: Preserve with care
The clodded blood which issues from my wound;
The gore of the Lernæan Hydra tinged:
The blacken'd shaft; this will have pow'r to charm
The heart of Hercules to thee assured;
That never woman shall his eyes behold
Fair and attractive of his love, like thee.
To memory this recalling (for with care
The dying Centaur's gift I have preserved)
With it, my friends, this vestment I have tinged,
Nothing omitted which he gave in charge
While yet he lived. These things are now prepared.
The boldness of ill arts I would not know,
I would not learn; those women I abhor
Who dare attempt them: yet her youthful bloom
Could I by charms o'ercome, and sooth the heart
Of Hercules to love, I would assay
Their potency: but if you deem th' attempt
Unmeet, or void of force, I will forbear.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 497 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-258-1 μέγα τι σθένος … νίκας 1

mvp-comment-258-2 ἐκφέρεται 2

mvp-comment-259-1 θεῶν 3 παρέβαν 4

mvp-comment-259-2 Κρονίδαν 5

mvp-comment-260-1 τὸν ἔννυχον Ἅιδαν 6

mvp-comment-261-1 Ποσειδάωνα 7

mvp-comment-261-2 τινάκτορα γαίας 8

mvp-comment-262-1 ἐπὶ τάνδ’ … ἄκοιτιν 9

mvp-comment-262-2 Other explanations of

ἀμφίγυοι
here are these:—(1) ‘With massive limbs,’—
ἀμφί
being intensive. (2) ‘Dexterous combatants’: cp.
ἀμφιδέξιος
. (3) ‘Of dissimilar forms,’— i.e., man and bull.

mvp-comment-262-3 κατέβαν 10

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

498-530. mvp-comment-373-1 The power of Aphrodite here, as in Ant. 781 foll., is regarded more with awe than with delight. It has been now exemplified in Iole's conquest of Heracles, so cruel to Deianira, and destined to be so calamitous to all concerned (infr. l.872). The maidens in their sympathy with Deianira recall the time when the same power had driven heroes to do battle for her, and when she was carried triumphantly from her mother's side. There is a close correspondence, as elsewhere, between this lyric strain and passages in the preceding senarii. Cp. esp. ll. 4-40, 142-150, 441-3,465-7. The ode consists of a strophe, antistrophe, and epode, in which logaoedic rhythms are varied with anapaestic and iambic metres. The anapaests (cp. O. T. 469, 470, 479, 480) indicate the coming on of the combatants; the interrupted rhythms of the epode help to express the struggle between them, while the happy issue is marked by the trochaics and glyconics at the close.

498. mvp-comment-374-1 (1) 'Aphrodite ever advances unchecked in mighty conquering force' (ἐκφέρεται, passive; cp. the intransitive use of the active in Il. 23. 759, ἔκφερ᾿ Οϊλιάδης : σθένος, adverbial accusative); (2) Aphrodite ever exhibits mighty conquering force' (ἐκφέρεται, subjective middle, σθένος, accusative in regimen); or (3) Aphrodite ever wins great might of victory' (σθένος, accusative in regimen ; ἐκφέρεται, 'dative-like' middle). (2) may be rejected as bad Greek, though it pleased Hermann; (1) is preferable to (3), as more poetical, and in better keeping with the style of the ode, and also because (3) seems to require κράτος (which Mr. Blaydes proposes) instead of σθένος, which denotes rather the act than the result of victory. For a similar doubt, cp. Hdt. 4. 129, ταῦτα μέν νυν ἐπὶ σμικρόν τι ἐφέροντο τοῦ πολέμου.

499. mvp-comment-375-1 τὰ μὲν θεῶν] Supr. 443: Ant. 786, οὔτ᾽ ἀθανάτων φύξιμος οὐδείς.

500. mvp-comment-376-1 παρέβαν] In Greek, a thought or feeling which is made the subject of reflection is often spoken of in the aorist, and not, as in English, in the present tense. Cp. Αj. 693. ἔφριξ᾽ ἔρωτι, κ.τ.λ. This idiom is analogous to the aorist of the immediate past (τί εἶπας, etc.). Essay on L. § 32. p. 55. So in Pindar we have κατέβαν, Οl. 7. 23: ἔμολον, Ο1. 14. 26 : ἐπέβαν, ἔσταν, Nem. 1. 26-9: and μετέσταν in Aesch. Suppl. 538. οὐ λέγω] The words imply a dislike for myths that are lowering to the gods. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 1, and, for the expression, El. 1467, εἰ δ᾽ ἔπεστι Νέμεσις, οὐ λέγω.

502-503. mvp-comment-377-1 The love of Hades for Persephone, of Poseidon for Amymone, Tyro, etc.

504. mvp-comment-378-1 ἐπὶ τάνδ᾽.. ἄκοιτιν] It makes little difference whether ἄκοιτιν is taken as predicate or, better, as a proleptic expression: - To win this bride,' rather than, 'To win this lady as a wife.' Cp. infr. 525.

505. mvp-comment-379-1 * τίνες] This word was added by Hermann, who observes that it may have been lost from the repetition of the letters τιν (άκοιτιν, τίνες). λέγω οι ἐρῶ is understood from οὐ λέγω supr., the positive elicited from the negative.

505. mvp-comment-379-2 κατέβαν] Sc. ἐς μέσον (l. 514). Cp. Hdt. 5. 22, ᾿Αλεξάνδρου . ἀεθλεύειν ἑλομένου, καὶ καταβάντος ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸ τοῦτο.

503. mvp-comment-380-1 Essay on L. § 36. p. 64. This is better than with Schndw. to suppose a transition to direct interrogation, which is too abrupt. *τίνες ἀμφίγυοι] (1) 'What all-accomplished champions.' ἀμφίγυοι has been differently explained. (2) 'Diversely armed,' Herm. (3) 'Both strong of limb,' Schndw., who compares such compounds as δικρατεῖς, δισσάρχας, etc. The more obvious meaning given by Liddell and Scott suits better with the description which follows. Each combatant was able every way, like a spear sharpened at both ends, ready to make and to parry various forms of attack: infr. 516-9. There is an etymological reference to γυῖον, 'Active in every limb.' This interpretation agrees also with πάμπληκτα, which signifies, 'Carried on with blows of every kind.'

506. mvp-comment-381-1 παγκόνιτα] Either (1) Amidst clouds of dust,' the force of παν- in composition being slightly different in this and the preceding word. See E. on L. § 55. p. 101, 6, and § 53. p. 98 , or (2) With various stirrings of the dust,' i.e. With various kinds of contest.' Cp. παγκράτιον. Blaydes reads παγκόνιτ᾽ ἐπεξῆλθον, needlessly substituting a prosaic for a poetical word. For the accusative, cp. supr. 159, πολλοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐξιών, infr. 562, τὸν πατρῷον.. στόλον . . ἑσπόμην. ἄεθλα] This word in the plural is sometimes equivalent to ἆθλος, e.g. Phil. 507, δυσοίστων πόνων ἆθλα, which also illustrates the periphrasis here. See L. and S. s. v. ἆθλον. The addition of a nearly synonymous word in the genitive is a not uncommon way of expanding and so emphasizing an idea. Essay on L. § 10. p. 17, 6.