781-800.
mvp-comment-455-1
Haemon's disobedience to his father, against his own interest, is due to the might of love.
781-800.
mvp-comment-455-2
'Never-vanquished love, that layest riches waste, keeping nightly watch in the fair, soft, youthful cheek: love that roamest over seas and findest out the wildest nook! No god, nor any mortal man, escapes thy maddening power.
By love the upright mind is drawn to wrong unto its hurt. By love this present strife is kindled between kinsmen. And clearly triumphant is the influence of desire that cometh from the looks of the fair bride - desire that divides empire with the majestic law: so resistlessly doth goddess Aphrodite mock mankind.
781-800.
mvp-comment-455-3
This little ode consists of a strophe and antistrophe, of which the scansion is as follows:- CCLトしてし CICCICII CCCICII IICIICCIト(CLトー 5-0-0-ICCICI-
781-800.
mvp-comment-455-4
A glyconic quatrain is followed by two choriambic lines, and the strophe ends with a return to the glyconic rhythm. L. 7 admits of being otherwise divided, viz.: CCLCー.
791-792.
mvp-comment-462-1
ἀδίκους.. παρασπᾷς i. e. εἰς ἀδικίαν παρασπᾷς.
Drawest awry to wrong. For this
proleptic use of the adjective, see Essay on Language § 23. P. 39; § 38. p. 71.
792.
mvp-comment-463-1
ἐπὶ λώβᾳ ‘Το their hurt or disgrace.'
794.
mvp-comment-464-1
ξύναιμον is an emphatic epithet added by an afterthought (Essay on Language § 23. p. 38) and by hypallage made to agree with the principal word, although more properly belonging to ἀνδρῶν. (Ibid. § 42. p. 80).
795.
mvp-comment-465-1
νικᾷ δ᾽ ἐναργής i. e. ἐναργής ἐστι νικῶσα.
795.
mvp-comment-465-2
βλεφάρων ἵμερος The modern poet speaks of love as
engendered in the eyes, with gazing fed: the ancients rather spoke of an influence passing from the eye of the beloved (τὸ ἐρωτικὸν ὄμμα, Plat. Phaedr. 253 E) to the soul of the lover. Desire was viewed as an emanation from the object. Hence Plato's account of ἵμερος, Phaedr. 251 Β, C, δεξάμενος γὰρ τοῦ κάλλους τὴν ἀπορροὴν διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων, ἐθερμάνθη ἢ ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις ἄρδεται .. ὅταν μὲν οὖν βλέπουσα πρὸς τὸ κάλλος, ἐκεῖθεν μέρη ἐπιόντα καὶ ῥέοντα, ἃ δὴ διὰ τοῦτο ἵμερος καλεῖται, δεχομένη ἄρδηταί τε καὶ θερμαίνηται, λωφᾷ τε τῆς ὀδύνης καὶ γέγηθεν. This ancient conception, which had a root in language as well as in philosophy, is reflected even in Milton, L'Allegro, 1. 121,
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes | Rain influence, though in this case probably with a further allusion to astrology.
796-799.
mvp-comment-466-1
τῶν .. θεσμῶν
In the counsels of princes holding an equal place with the majesty of law. This seems the best way of taking these words, which have been variously interpreted; e.g.
Equal to the laws in power. 'Assessor in the authority of the laws, etc. There is an allusion to Haemon, who, though a prince, has been led to disobey his father, and to disregard the edict of the king. Cp. Hdt. 4. 165, ἐν βουλῇ παρίζουσα. The resolution of the arsis in πάρεδρος is extremely unusual; see Christ's Metrik, § 178; and Arndt suggested ξύνθρονος ἀρχαῖς, 'Assessor with the rule of majesticlaw. But qy. πάρεδρος *ἀρχαῖς, with "πέφευγεν οὐδείς in 786 ff.? (IILUCCICII).
800.
mvp-comment-467-1
Wecklein finds here an oxymoron, turning on the opposition of μάχη and παιδιά.
She is resistless, though sport is her only weapon. But this is doubtful.
