990.
mvp-comment-570-1
αὕτη Essay on Language § 22, p. 35.
992.
mvp-comment-571-1
The authority of
the seer is here simply asserted and acknowledged. Cp. 1053. In the Oedipus Tyrannus he appears with still higher claims, as a prince, whose honours are guarded by his lord Apollo.
993-994.
mvp-comment-572-1
οὔκουν .. ἀπεστάτουν .. ναυκληρεῖς]
I have not aforetime departed. ..'You have guided, and still guide.' Cp. Tr. 600, 601. The conjecture ένανκλήρεις is no improvement. The present means,
You have hitherto guided safely, and this is not inconsistent with what follows. Cp. Aesch. Agam. 1, αἰτῶ,
I have been asking.
994.
mvp-comment-573-1
δι᾽ ὀρθῆς Sc. κελεύθου.
On a safe and successful course.
995.
mvp-comment-574-1
I have experienced benefits, and can bear witness of them. Essay on Language §36. p. 66. There is perhaps an allusion here to the sacrifice of Megareus, which was prompted by the prophecy of Teiresias. But cp. 1058 and note.
996.
mvp-comment-575-1
φρόνει, κ.τ.λ. (1)
Beware once more, as thou standest now upon an edge of peril. The participle is not to be construed with the verb, but is in apposition to the subject. For φρονεῖν absolute, cp. O. T. 617, φρονεῖν γὰρ οἱ ταχεῖς οὐκ ἀσφαλεῖς : ib. 649, πιθοῦ θελήσας φρονήσας τ', ἄναξ, λίσσομαι. Otherwise (2) Know that now again thou standest,' etc. Cp. Trach. 289, φρόνει νιν ὡς ἥξοντα: Phil. 810, σαφῶς φρόνει. The expression ἐπὶ ξυροῦ is proverbial: cp. Il. 10. 173: Eur. H. F. 630.
997.
mvp-comment-576-1
ὡς .. στόμα
How I shudder at thy speech. ὡs as in l. 82, ὡς ὑπερδέδοικά σου. στόμα has the association of privileged, prophetic utterance, as in Ο. Τ. 426, τοὐμὸν στόμα.
999.
mvp-comment-577-1
The οἰωνοσκοπεῖον of Teiresias was shown at Thebes in the time of Pausanias: Paus. 9. 16.
999.
mvp-comment-577-2
παλαιόν i. e. consecrated by use from early times.
1000.
mvp-comment-578-1
ἵν'.. λιμήν
Where I had harbourage for every ominous bird. Essay on Language § 58. p. 105.
1002.
mvp-comment-579-1
κλάζοντας Accusative πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, as if ὄρνιθας ἄγνωτα φθεγγομένους had preceded.
1002.
mvp-comment-579-2
βεβαρβαρωμένῳ Rendered unintelligible,'
Confused. 1003. iv, of the instrument. Cp. supra. 1. 961. φοναῖς,
In bloody fray. Dative of manner. Cp. supra,
l. 960
.
1004.
mvp-comment-580-1
πτερῶν.. ἦν
For the whirring of their wings gave no uncertain sound: although their voices did. 1005 ἐγευόμην] By analogy for ἐπειρώμην, I made trial of the divination by burnt sacrifice,' similar to that used in the temple of Ismenus: O. Τ. 21.
1006.
mvp-comment-581-1
βωμοῖσι παμφλέκτοισιν
At the blazing altar. παν in composition is simply intensive, as in El. 1139: and the epithet is generally descriptive. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.
1006.
mvp-comment-581-2
ἐκ δὲ θυμάτων 'But from the sacrifice the Fire-god refused to gleam; and on the ash a dank humour dripped from the thigh-bones, and fumed and sputtered, and the gall was sprinkled abroad in air, and the thighs wasted and lay bared of their enclosing fat.
1007.
mvp-comment-582-1
For σποδός, cp Ο. Τ. 21: Hdt. 4.35, τῶν μηρίων καταγιζομένων ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ τὴν σποδόν.
1009.
mvp-comment-583-1
μετάρσιοι is supplementary predicate. The preposition in ἐξέκειντο is emphatic. Cp. Od. 23. 179, ἔνθα οἱ ἐκθεῖσαι πυκινὸν λέχος: Thuc. 4. 129. § 3. ἔτυχον ἐξεστρατοπεδευμένοι ἔξω τῆς πόλεως.
1010.
mvp-comment-584-1
καταρρυεῖς is explained to mean Flowing down with moisture,' but means rather
Fallen away. Cp. Paus. 10. 2, 6 (L. and S s. ν. καταρρέω 1. 4), νεκροῦ κατερρυηκότος τὰς σάρκας.
1011.
mvp-comment-585-1
The apparently active use of καλυπτῆς comes from καλύπτειν, in the sense of placing as a covering, i. e.
1011.
mvp-comment-585-2
καλύπτειν πιμελὴν μηροῖς. For the meaning, cp. Aesch. Pr. 496, foll., κνισῇ τε κώλα συγκαλυπτά· καὶ μακρὰν | ὀσφὺν πυρώσας, δυστέκμαρτον ἐς τέχνην | ὥδωσα θνητούς· καὶ φλογωπὰ σήματα | ἐξωμμάτωσα, πρόσθεν ὄντ᾽ ἐπάργεμα.
1013.
mvp-comment-586-1
Such failing tokens given by baffling auspices. Lit.
Of victims giving no sign. Cp. Ps. 74. 9.
We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet. φθίνοντα μαντεύματα are not Prophecies of decay,' but
Rites of divination fading away, i. e. losing their virtue. Cp. Ο. Τ. 902, φθίνοντα.. Λαΐου | θέσφατα.
1015.
mvp-comment-587-1
τῆς σῆς ἐκ φρενός
From thy will. Cp. infr. 1063, ὡς μὴ ᾿μπολήσων ἴσθι τὴν ἐμὴν φρένα.
1016.
mvp-comment-588-1
ἐσχάραι τε παντελεῖς
And all the number of our sacred hearths. παντελεῖς is little more than πᾶσαι, but expresses that the word ἐσχάραι added to βωμοί comprises every consecrated spot in the whole city. Cp. El. 982, ἔν θ᾽ ἑορταῖς ἔν τε πανδήμῳ πόλει.
1017.
mvp-comment-589-1
πλήρεις
Infected. Cp. 1052.
1017.
mvp-comment-589-2
πλήρης = ἀνάπλεως. Cp. infr. 1052: Phil. 1087-1088, ὦ πληρέστατον αὔλιον | λύπας τᾶς ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ. For the general notion, cp. Webster, Appius and Virg. p. 165, ed. Dyce,
Come, you birds of death | And fill your greedy cups with human flesh; | Then to the city fly, disgorge it there | Before the senate, and from thence arise | A plague to choke all Rome. Join ὑπὸ .. βορᾶς, not as some edd. πλήρεις.. βορᾶς.
By the act of dogs and birds in feeding, etc. So Ellendt. Cp. infr. 1083.
1021.
mvp-comment-590-1
εὐσήμους
Giving clear augury, opposed to ἄσημος supra 1013.
1021.
mvp-comment-590-2
ἀπορροιβδεῖ
Utters noisily. The word is not strictly applicable to the screaming of birds. But there is the same indefiniteness about words expressing sound as about the names of colours. This word, expressing a confused noise, is probably suggested by l. 1004.
1022.
mvp-comment-591-1
After feeding on the fatness of human carnage.' On the change from singular to plural, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 65.
1025.
mvp-comment-592-1
ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἁμάρτῃ For ἄν omitted, see Essay on. L. § 27. p. 44.
1026.
mvp-comment-593-1
ἄνολβος here and in Aj. 1156 (τοιαῦτ᾽ ἄνολβον ἄνδρ᾽ ἐνουθέτει παρών) is a word of blame- Infatuated.'
