μέλεοι μελέαν πάθαν
Antigone. Sophocles. Berlin. 1806.
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Current edition Experimental
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
Editions (11)
Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 959 focus
γυναῖκας
1
εὔϊόν τε πῦρ,
Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 959 focus
εὐθὺς δὲ δείσας ἐμπύρων ἐγευόμην
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 958 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 959 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 959.mvp-line-949 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 959 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 958 focus
δισσοῖσι Φινείδαις
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 958 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
4
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 959.mvp-line-951 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δει-
Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 958 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 959 focus
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 955 focus
Dryas' zornigen Sohn, Herrn der Edonen,
1
Als er wider den Gott frevelte voll Hohnlust,
935
Band Dionysos,
In felsstarrende Kluft ihn einzwängend.
So verbrauste des wahnwizigen Grimm's arge
Wildaufschäumende Kraft. Sener empfand's, daß er den Gott
Mit Hohnworten in wahnsinnigem Muth anfiel.
940
Denn gottentzückter Frauen Schwarm,
Des Bacchos Flammen wehrt' er keck,
Und reizt' euch, flötenfrohe Musen.
2
Zweite Strophe.
Dryas' zornigen Sohn, Herrn der Edonen,
1
Als er wider den Gott frevelte voll Hohnlust,
935
Band Dionysos,
In felsstarrende Kluft ihn einzwängend.
So verbrauste des wahnwizigen Grimm's arge
Wildaufschäumende Kraft. Sener empfand's, daß er den Gott
Mit Hohnworten in wahnsinnigem Muth anfiel.
940
Denn gottentzückter Frauen Schwarm,
Des Bacchos Flammen wehrt' er keck,
Und reizt' euch, flötenfrohe Musen.
2
English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 944-985 focus
Chorus
So too endured Danae in her beauty to change
the light of the sky for brass-bound walls, and in that chamber, both burial and bridal, she was held in strict confinement. And yet was she of esteemed lineage, my daughter,
945
and guarded a deposit of the seed of Zeus that had fallen in a golden rain. But dreadful is the mysterious power of fate—there is no deliverance from it by wealth or by war, by towered city, or dark, sea-beaten ships.
950
So too endured Danae in her beauty to change
the light of the sky for brass-bound walls, and in that chamber, both burial and bridal, she was held in strict confinement. And yet was she of esteemed lineage, my daughter,
945
and guarded a deposit of the seed of Zeus that had fallen in a golden rain. But dreadful is the mysterious power of fate—there is no deliverance from it by wealth or by war, by towered city, or dark, sea-beaten ships.
950
Chorus
And Dryas’s son, the Edonian king swift to rage, was tamed in recompense for his frenzied insults, when, by the will of Dionysus, he was shut in a rocky prison. There the fierce and swelling force of his madness trickled away.
955
That man came to know the god whom in his frenzy he had provoked with mockeries. For he had sought to quell the god-inspired women and the Bacchanalian fire,
960
and he angered the Muses who love the flute.
965
And Dryas’s son, the Edonian king swift to rage, was tamed in recompense for his frenzied insults, when, by the will of Dionysus, he was shut in a rocky prison. There the fierce and swelling force of his madness trickled away.
955
That man came to know the god whom in his frenzy he had provoked with mockeries. For he had sought to quell the god-inspired women and the Bacchanalian fire,
960
and he angered the Muses who love the flute.
965
Chorus
And by the waters of the Dark Rocks, the waters of the twofold sea, are the shores of
Bosporus
and the Thracian city Salmydessus,
where Ares, neighbor of that city, saw the accursed, blinding wound inflicted on the two sons of Phineus by his savage wife. It was a wound that brought darkness to the hollows, making them crave vengeance
970
for the eyes she crushed with her bloody hands and with her shuttle for a dagger.
975
And by the waters of the Dark Rocks, the waters of the twofold sea, are the shores of
Bosporus
and the Thracian city Salmydessus,
where Ares, neighbor of that city, saw the accursed, blinding wound inflicted on the two sons of Phineus by his savage wife. It was a wound that brought darkness to the hollows, making them crave vengeance
970
for the eyes she crushed with her bloody hands and with her shuttle for a dagger.
975
Chorus
Wasting away in their misery, they bewailed their miserable suffering
and their birth from their mother stripped of her marriage. But she traced her descent from the ancient line of the Erechtheids, and in far-distant caves she was raised amidst her father’s gusts. She was the child of Boreas,
980
running swift as horses over the steep hills, a daughter of gods. Yet she, too, was assailed by the long-lived Fates, my child.
985
Wasting away in their misery, they bewailed their miserable suffering
and their birth from their mother stripped of her marriage. But she traced her descent from the ancient line of the Erechtheids, and in far-distant caves she was raised amidst her father’s gusts. She was the child of Boreas,
980
running swift as horses over the steep hills, a daughter of gods. Yet she, too, was assailed by the long-lived Fates, my child.
985
Commentary
Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))
Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus
944-987. mvp-comment-537-1 The chorus, in the manner of Pindar, moralise on the fate of Antigone through examples drawn from the circle of mythology and legend; and thus suggest the same cold comfort as in their mention of Niobe. The effect of this ode is to repress the excitement and solemnize the thoughts of the spectator. 'Danaë, though of royal lineage, and entrusted with the golden shower, was bound by all-constraining destiny in her brazen cell. 'Bound, too, in a prison of rock, was Lycurgus, who provoked the God. He knew his madness when it was too late. And on the Thracian promontory Phineus sons, blinded by their father's wife (Idothea), bewailed their rejected mother Cleopatra's hapless lot, who, descended from an ancient line, and endowed with swiftness by her divine sire, was notwithstanding overtaken by the long-lived fates.' Danae and Cleopatra were, like Antigone, of royal birth, and, like Antigone, were bound in a living tomb. So also was the son of Dryas, himself a king: and this, in his case, was the penalty of an impetuous and defiant spirit. Sophocles seems to have followed one version of the obscure and variable legend of Phineus, according to which Cleopatra did not die, but was rejected by Phineus for Idothea, and imprisoned in a cave, from which she was afterwards released by Heracles. The sons were blinded by their step-mother. The first strophe and antistrophe are choriambic with an iambic close; the second, logaoedic. The choriambi here were probably chanted slowly, so as to have a weighty, solemn effect. The scheme is as follows: a'. First strophe and antistrophe. IILUCI LUCILー LUCILIITUCICートに IICClluclトー IIICCILUCIトに ICICICI KLCICICI CトートUICIK β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. UCCTCCICCI IICCICCII!یں ILU TUCI くいくいトCICIK Cトートしーーー ―トビトCICIK CÚCCICICICC
958-961. mvp-comment-549-1 So dire is the excess of rage that flows from madness. He learned at length that it was in madness that he provoked the God with biting speech.' The emphatic reivos applies the γνώμη to the case of Lycurgus. There is a stress on μανίαις.
959. mvp-comment-550-1 τᾶς μανίας Genitive of derivation, partly governed by ἀπό in comp.
959. mvp-comment-550-2 ἀποστάζει For the metaphorical use, cp. Aesch. Ag. 178, στάζει ἐν θ᾽ ὕπνῳ πρὸ καρδίας | μνησιπήμων πόνος. Others render, trickles away, i.e. comes to nought. But οὕτω is more naturally joined with the adjectives, whose position shows that they are emphatic, than with the verb.