962.
mvp-comment-621-1
κεἰ .. μὴ ᾿πόθουν] ‘Though they missed him not.'-after he had withdrawn from fighting.
Cp. Il. 1. 240,
ἢ ποτ' ᾿Αχιλλῆος ποθὴ ἴξεται νίας ᾿Ἀχαιῶν: ib. 9. 9. 197,
ή τι μάλα χρεώ.
963.
mvp-comment-622-1
ἐν χρείᾳ δορός] (1) 'In exigency of war,' rather than (2) 'In sore need of his spear.' For the latter, however, cp. supr. 180,
ξυνοῦ δορός.
965.
mvp-comment-623-1
πρίν τις ἐκβάλῃ] 'Till one have lost it,' or 'thrown it away.' For the transition from the indefinite plural to
τις, cp. Trach. 11. 2, 3,
οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν πρὶν ἂν | θάνῃ τις.
ἐκβαλεῖν is to lose by one's own fault.
Cp. Ant. 648, 9,
μή νυν .. τὰς φρένας .. ἐκβάλῃς. 'Agamemnon has thrown a pearl away | Richer than all his tribe.' (Shak. Oth. 5. 2).
966-967.
mvp-comment-624-1
Either (1) supposing an implied comparative, 'My sorrow in his death is greater than their joy: howbeit, he has pleased himself;' or (2) supposing
δέ to be in apodosi, and
τέθνηκεν to be virtually hypothetical, 'Be his death joy to them or grief to me, to him it brings content.' For (1), see Essay on L. § 39. p. 73 b; and for (2), cp. Ant. 1168, where see note. As there is nothing but the emphasis to suggest comparison, (2) is preferable.
968.
mvp-comment-625-1
περ adds emphasis with reference to the words of Ajax, supr. ll. 473-480, which Tecmessa now recalls.
Cp. O. C. 1704.
ἐξέπραξεν οἷον ἤθελεν.
970.
mvp-comment-626-1
'His death is no concern of theirs, but of the gods alone.' The gods have required this sacrifice, and the will of the Atreidae has had no part in it. For this vague 'dative of the person interested,' cp. El. 1152,
τέθνηκ᾽ ἐγώ σοι: Phil. 1030,
καὶ τέθνηχ᾽ ὑμῖν πάλαι. So, too,
infr. 972,
Αἴας γὰρ αὐτοῖς οὐκέτ᾽ ἐστίν, κ.τ.λ.
971.
mvp-comment-627-1
ἐν κενοῖς] 'In a vain thing': i.e. where his insolence has no occasion, and no object, but is beating the air.
973.
mvp-comment-628-1
Cp. Od. 14. 137, 8,
φίλοισι δὲ κήδε᾽ ὀπίσσω | πᾶσιν, ἐμοὶ δὲ μάλιστα, τετεύχαται: Trach. 41, 2,
πλὴν ἐμοὶ πικρὰς | ὠδῖνας αὐτοῦ προσβαλὼν ἀποίχεται.
973.
mvp-comment-628-2
ἀνίας καὶ γόους] 'Distress and sorrow.' For the strength of meaning given to
ἀνία here, cp.
supr. 496 foll.,
infr. 1005.
976.
mvp-comment-629-1
'Uttering a loud strain that hath regard to this calamity:' i. e. The sudden cry of Teucer shows that his eye has been arrested by the dead body and the group surrounding it. (Schol.
οὐχ ἡμαρτηκὸς τῆς συμφορᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐστοχασμένον). He, like Tecmessa,
supr. 891, 2, is at first dimly seen in the shade.
ἐπίσκοπον is used nearly as in Aesch. Eum. 903,
ὁποῖα νίκης μὴ κακῆς ἐπίσκοπα.
977.
mvp-comment-630-1
ὦ ξύναιμον ὄμμ᾿ ἐμοί] ‘Brother of my love.'
ὄμμα, from meaning 'an object of sight,' comes to mean 'an object of regard'—'one with whom we see eye to eye,' and its addition here gives a tone of affectionateness to the expression. See Essay on L. § 54. P. 99 a; and cp. especially, Phil. 171,
μηδὲ σύντροφον ὄμμ᾽ ἔχων.
978.
mvp-comment-631-1
'Hast thou then done as prevalent Rumour tells?'
ἠμπόληκας, 'Hast managed thine affairs, hast done thy business?' See L. and S. s. v.
ἐμπολάω, ΙΙ. 2. The phrase at first sight seems hardly tragic; and
ἠμπόληκά σ' (Herm.), i. e. 'Have I sold thy life,' by my delay? is at least plausible. But again,
ἐμπολᾶν in the former sense, as an expression of common life, may have lost all figurative associations.
Cp. Aesch. Eum. 631, 2,
ἠμποληκότα | τὰ πλεῖστ᾽ ἀμείνον'. And even retaining
ἠμπόληκας in an absolute sense, as in the beginning of this note, the word implies blame in so far as Teucer refers not only to the death of Ajax, but to his loss of honour.
981-986.
mvp-comment-632-1
The partition of the senarius between two speakers, which does not occur at all in the Antigone, is in the Ajax confined to this passage and
supr. 591-4, where see note.
982.
mvp-comment-633-1
ὦ περισπερχὲς πάθος] «Ο all-too-swift catastrophe!' referring not to the rash deed of Ajax, but to the sudden consummation of destiny.
983-984.
mvp-comment-634-1
τί γάρ. ποῦ]
Cp. supr. 101. The precatory
μοι indicates Teucer's interest in the child.
985.
mvp-comment-635-1
οὐχ ὅσον τάχος, κ.τ.λ.] These words are spoken to Tecmessa, who, in obedience to them, makes her exit here, returning with Eurysaces,
infr. 1168. They cannot be addressed to one of the Chorus, as the exit of a single choreutes is quite inadmissible; nor to one of Teucer's own attendants, to whom such an exhortation as
σύγκαμνε would be superfluous. As addressed to Tecmessa, the words seem harsh and peremptory; but Teucer, who has been absent, does not know the depth of her feelings, and in his eyes she is merely Ajax' captive. Hence the words,
ἴθ', ἐγκόνει, σύγκαμνε, are an example of what is called irony, i. e. they indicate the speaker's unconsciousness.
985.
mvp-comment-635-2
δήτα] Although not an enclitic, the particle coming at the beginning of the line is a strong instance of synaphea, and marks the haste with which Teucer utters his command.
Cp. infr. 1089, 90,
ὅπως | μή.
985.
mvp-comment-635-3
κενῆς] 'Widowed, unprotected,' -
λέοντος εὐγενοῦς ἀπουσίᾳ. Not 'bereft of young,' as the prolepsis would have a frigid effect. Nor by enallage for
κενόν, sc.
μητρός, ‘Separated from the mother.' The point lies in the comparison not of Tecmessa to a lioness, but of Ajax to a lion.
988-989.
mvp-comment-636-1
τοῖς θανοῦσί τοι, κ.τ.λ.] Whence Eurysaces is in the greater danger.
990-991.
mvp-comment-637-1
Supr. 567. 'While still alive, Ajax enjoined that he (Eurysaces) should be thy care, and he is so.' The emphatic
οὖν avoids the appearance of supposing that Teucer needed the injunction.
992.
mvp-comment-638-1
Having done what is immediately necessary, Teucer becomes absorbed in the contemplation of his dead brother.
994.
mvp-comment-639-1
This last heavy-hearted journey dates not from the warning of Calchas,
supr. 750 foll., but from the rumour that quickly followed it. The exceptional rhythm of this line, without caesura, expresses the painfulness of the way.
997.
mvp-comment-640-1
The participles are to be taken closely with
ἔβην; 'Following up and searching out thy doom, when I perceived that it was come':-viz. on hearing the rumour.
998.
mvp-comment-641-1
ὀξεῖα] 'Swift': i.e. not only suddenly arriving, but spreading instantaneously.
998.
mvp-comment-641-2
σου] Objective genitive =
περί σου. Essay on L. § 9. p. 12.
βάξις]· 'Talk, bruit, 'noise.'
βάξις is generally something disagreeable.
ὡς θεοῦ τινος] 'Seeming to come from some god.' Genitive of the agent (Essay on L. § 10. p. 14): sc.
πέμψαντος, or the like. On the source of this rumour, see above, note on l. 826. The messenger returning to the camp after l. 814 would bring word that Ajax was dead.
