1163-1165.
mvp-comment-745-1
The anapaests accompany the exit of Menelaus. The Chorus express their apprehension of what may follow this, viz. the coming of Agamemnon, who, both from his character and position, is more formidable.
ἔριδος .. ἀγών] So in Trach. 20,
ἀγῶνα μάχης.
1165.
mvp-comment-746-1
κοίλην κάπετον] This phrase, belonging to the Epic commonplace, is repeated
infr. 1403.
τινά, i. e.
πού, 'somewhere.' For this adverbial use of the indefinite pronoun, see Essay on L. § 22. p. 36, 4.
ἰδεῖν] · 'To look out,' 'provide.' For this use of
ὁρᾶν, cp. Od. 8. 443,
αὐτὸς νῦν ἴδε πῶμα: Theocr. 15. 2,
ὅρη δίφρον, Εὐνόα, αὐτῷ: Phil. 843,
τάδε μὲν θεὸς ὄψεται. So, also in Elizabethan English, 'to look' sometimes means 'to look for,' e.g. Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, 4. 2, 79, 'Mistress Page and I will look some linen for your head.'
1166.
mvp-comment-747-1
βροτοῖς] 'In the eyes of men.' A dative of remote reference in loose construction with the words which follow, and also to be resumed with
ἀείμνηστον. See Essay on L. § 13. p. 19. and cp. especially El. 1066,
ὦ χθονία βροτοῖσι φάμα. For the position of the article, cp. Trach. 872,
Ἡρακλεῖ τὸ πόμπιμον.
τὸν ἀείμνηστον] 'Of unfading renown.' The expression (with the article) is proleptic, and reminds the spectator that the fame of Ajax is eternal.
1167.
mvp-comment-748-1
εὐρώεντα] 'Mouldering,' or 'darksome,' an epithet recalling the natural horror of the grave. Whether to Sophocles, as to Oppian and Nonnus afterwards, the word conveyed the association of 'roomy,' 'wide-vaulted,' may be left an open question. See L. and S. s. ν.
εὐρώεις.
1170.
mvp-comment-749-1
περιστελοῦντε] Το 'care for.' The verb is used much as in Ant. 903,
δέμας περιστέλλουσα.
1172.
mvp-comment-750-1
The child clinging to his dead father would be as inviolable as a suppliant clinging to an altar.
Cp. Aesch. Cho. 106,
αἰδουμένη σοι βωμὸν ὡς τύμβον πατρός: ib. 336, 7,
τάφος δ᾽ ἱκέτας δέδεκται | φυγάδας θ' ὁμοίως.
1173.
mvp-comment-751-1
προστρόπαιος is a more solemn and formal word than
ἱκέτης. The formality of the supplication would be marked by the locks of hair cut off in token of mourning for the dead, which Eurysaces is to hold in his hand.
1174.
mvp-comment-752-1
Cp. El. 448-50,
σὺ δὲ | τεμοῦσα κρατὸς βοστρύχων ἄκρας φόβας | κἀμοῦ ταλαίνης, κ.τ.λ. For
τρίτου, cp. O. C. 8, and note.
1175.
mvp-comment-753-1
ἱκτήριον θησαυρόν] ‘A suppliant store,' i. e. a sacred deposit having virtue for the purpose of supplication.
στρατοῦ] Here and
supr. 1044 the rest of the army seems to be opposed to the men of Salamis.
1177.
mvp-comment-754-1
κακὸς κακῶς] The tautology belongs to the formal solemnity of the oath.
Cp. O. T. 219, 20, and note.
1178.
mvp-comment-755-1
γένους . . ἐξημημένος] 'Having cut off from him all issue.' Here, and in Ant. 600,
ῥίζα seems to mean the germ of a branch rather than the root of a tree. Teucer's prayer is that his enemy may die childless, and that his body may lie unburied, as it were banished from the 'lap of earth.'
Cp. Isaiah 14. 19, 'But thou art cast out of thy grave as an abominable branch: as a carcase trodden under foot.' Or it may also mean 'denied burial in his own land.'
1180.
mvp-comment-756-1
αὐτόν] Sc.
τὸν νέκρον.
1181.
mvp-comment-757-1
ἔχου]
Cp. Hdt. 4. 22,
καὶ ὁ κύων ἔχεται.
1182-1183.
mvp-comment-758-1
ὑμεῖς τε.. ἀρήγετ'] 'And do not ye stand by like women, but defend him like men.'
1183-1184.
mvp-comment-759-1
ἔς τ᾽ ἐγὼ μόλω .. τῷδε] 'Until I return after caring for his burial.' The stress on the participle is no objection to this reading; and
μολεῖν has often the sense of 'to return.'
κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ] 'Though all men forbid me.' For this expression, cp. Phil. 443, 4,
ὅπου | μηδεὶς ἐῴη.
1183-1184.
mvp-comment-759-2
The rhythm of the following stasimon is largely choriambic, and is expressive of restless impatience. The metrical scheme is the following...
1185.
mvp-comment-760-1
'When shall be the end, and what the number of the restless years of exile?'
ἐς πότε λήξει is rather an amplification than a parenthesis. The simpler expression would be either
τίς νέατος ἔσται ἀριθμός, or,
ἐς πότε λήξει ὁ ἀριθμός. But
νέατος is already redundant, and this gives rise to the further expansion.
πολυπλάγκτων is put by hypallage or condensation for
τοῦ ἐμὲ πολλὰ πλαγχθῆναι, sc. ἀπ᾿ οἴκου.
1187.
mvp-comment-761-1
The corruption of the word
δορυσσοήτων into
δορυσσόντων in most MSS. is natural enough, although there is no such participle, and the adjective, which is more expressive as well as more rhythmical, agrees in metre with the antistrophe.
1190.
mvp-comment-762-1
ἀν᾿ ἀερώδεα Τρωΐαν, G. Wolff's conjecture, founded on the scholion
σκοτεινὴν καὶ ἀερώδη τοῖς Ἕλλησι, at least gives a possible sense and meaning. The contrast between the misty Hellespont and the bright air of Salamis and Athens is a natural topic of complaint.
Cp. infr. 1208, 9,
ἀεὶ πυκιναῖς δρόσοις | τεγγόμενος κόμας. Although
Τρωΐα for
Τροία does not occur elsewhere in Sophocles, it is acknowledged as the Pindaric form (Schndw. Pind. Ol. 2. 145). The interpolation
ἀνὰ τάν may be partly due to
ἄταν preceding. (Hermann thinks
εὐρώδη sound, in the sense of
εὐρεῖαν, —'wide,' and so 'desolate,'—but admits that either strophe or antistrophe is corrupt. Dind. reads,
ἀν᾿ εὐρώδη Τροίαν, altering the antistrophe. Seyffert's conj.,
ἄνατον εὐρυεδεῖ Τροίᾳ, 'Doing no harm to broad-based Troy,' is very ingenious.)
1191.
mvp-comment-763-1
ὄνειδος is either (1) in apposition with the whole sentence; or (2) with
Τρωΐαν.
1192.
mvp-comment-764-1
πρότερον] Sc.
ἢ δεῖξαι .. Ἄρη.
αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν] As Linwood observed, the idea of going away into the ether occurs again in Phil. 1092 foll.,
ἴθ' αἰθέρος ἄνω | πτωκάδες ὀξυτόνου διὰ πνεύματος | ἕλωσί μ'.
Cp. also Phil. 814, 15,
ἐκεῖσε νῦν μ', ἐκεῖσε. ΝΕ. ποῖ λέγεις; ΦΙ. ἄνω | ΝΕ. τί παραφρονεῖς αὖ; τί τὸν ἄνω λεύσσεις κύκλον; and the inscription over the dead who fell at Potidaea in B.C. 432,
αἰθὴρ μὲμ ψυχὰς ὑπεδέξατο, κ.τ.λ.
1195.
mvp-comment-765-1
ὅπλων.. κοινὸν Ἄρη] Either (1), laying the chief stress on
ὅπλων, 'The combined warfare that depends upon the use of armour,' i. e. 'the use of armour that made combined warfare possible.' For this descriptive genitive, cp. especially El. 19,
ἄστρων . . εὐφρόνη ('Night adorned with stars;' or, 'The stars that adorn the night'). Or (2), with the stress on
κοινόν, 'The art of forming hostile confederacies in hateful arms.'
1196.
mvp-comment-766-1
A short syllable here answers to the long first syllable of
ἄταν in the strophe, unless we read
Ἕλλασιν, which is unnecessary.
1197.
mvp-comment-767-1
'O toil that was the parent of toil!' i. e. The toil of invention was the first parent of other toils.
1199-1201.
mvp-comment-768-1
ἐκεῖνος οὐ... ὁμιλεῖν] 'He has cut me off from the joyous fellowship of chaplets and deep draughts from the cup.' The negatives have a privative force, as in
οὐ φάναι,
οὐκ ἐᾶν, etc.
ὁμιλεῖν, sc.
ὥστε ἐμὲ ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς στεφάνοις καὶ ταῖς κύλιξιν. The
κύλιξ was a shallow vessel, and the epithet properly applies not to the goblet, but to the draughts of wine from it.
1201.
mvp-comment-769-1
τέρψιν is first governed by
νεῖμεν, and the same word is then repeated as a cognate accusative with
ἰαύειν.
1202-1204.
mvp-comment-770-1
οὔτε γλυκὺν .. ἰαύειν] ‘And from the sweet sound of flutes, unhappy me, and from passing nights of pleasant rest.'
1205.
mvp-comment-771-1
The repetition of
ἐρώτων marks the acme of privation.
1206.
mvp-comment-772-1
ἀμέριμνος] Either (1) 'Uncared for;' or (2) 'Careless of myself' ('As one past hope, abandoned, | And by himself given o'er'); or (3) 'With vacant mind,' 'Having no interest in life.' For
μέριμνα in a good sense, cp. especially Pind. Pyth. 8. 126-132,
ὁ δὲ καλόν τι νέον λαχὼν | ἁβρότατος ἔπι, μεγάλας | ἐξ ἐλπίδος πέταται | ὑποπτέροις ἀνορέαις, ἔχων | κρέσσονα πλούτου | μέριμναν: also O.T. 1124,
ἔργον μεριμνῶν ποῖον;
1208-1209.
mvp-comment-773-1
Cp. Aesch. Ag. 560-2,
κἀπὸ γῆς λειμώνιαι | δρόσοι κατεψέκαζον ... τιθέντες ἔνθηρον τρίχα.
1210.
mvp-comment-774-1
λυγρᾶς μνήματα Τροίας] Lit. 'Reminders of the wretched Troad,' i. e. The raindrops on my head will not let me forget that I am in this miserable country.
μνήματα is accusative in apposition to the sentence.
1211-1213.
mvp-comment-775-1
ἐννυχίου | δείματος.. | καὶ βελέων] 'Against nightly alarm and weapons of war.' For this genitive of the object, cp. O. T. 1200-1,
θανάτων δ᾽ ἐμᾷ | χώρᾳ πύργος ἀνέστα.
1214-1215.
mvp-comment-776-1
νῦν δ᾽ οὗτος .. δαίμονι] 'But now he is no more our bulwark, struck down by a malignant fate.' As in Phil. 1153,
ἀνέδην ὅδε χῶρος ἐρύκεται is said of the absence of defence, so
ἀνεῖται is here said (continuing the metaphor in
προβολά, supra) of the failure or removal of a defence; i.e.
οὐκέτι προτείνεται.
Cp. infr. 1270, Od. 11. 556,
τοῖος γάρ σφιν πύργος ἀπώλεο.
1216.
mvp-comment-777-1
ἐπέσται] Sc.
τῷ βίῳ.
1217.
mvp-comment-778-1
ὑλᾶεν] Od. 9. 191,
ῥίῳ ὑλήεντι.
ἔπεστι] 'Impends,' '
instat,' sc.
τῷ πόντῳ, or
τοῖς πλέουσιν.
Cp. Od. 6. 210,
ὅθ᾽ ἐπὶ σκέπας ἔστ᾽ ἀνέμοιο.
πόντου πρόβλημα] ‘The rock jutting into the deep.'
Cp. Phil. 1455,
κτύπος ἄρσην πόντου προβολῆς.
1219-1220.
mvp-comment-779-1
ἄκραν | ὑπὸ πλάκα Σουνίου] (1) 'Below the top of Sunium.' The ground behind Cape Colonnas rises considerably higher than the promontory itself. Or (2) 'At the point of the tableland of Sunium.'
1221-1222.
mvp-comment-780-1
Athens could not really be seen by mariners until some time after passing Sunium, although the opposite is loosely asserted by Pausanias, 1. 28.
1223.
mvp-comment-781-1
The stage has been vacant during the stasimon. Teucer is now seen returning in haste. Agamemnon enters after him.
1225.
mvp-comment-782-1
'And I see plainly that he will let loose his tongue to evil purpose.' For the combination of verb and adjective with
στόμα, cp. especially Aesch. Ag. 1247,
εὔφημον . . κοίμησον στόμα. Others take
σκαιόν here to mean either 'ill-omened' or 'stupid.'
1226-1227.
mvp-comment-783-1
σὲ δὴ.. ἀγγέλλουσι .. | τλῆναι] ἰ.ε.
σὺ δὴ ἔτλης, ὡς ἀγγέλλουσι.
τὰ δεινὰ ῥήματα] 'Those blustering words' that have been reported to me.
Cp. supr. 312 and note.
1227.
mvp-comment-784-1
ἀνοιμωκτί implies a half-expressed contempt of Menelaus for having let Teucer off so easily.
χανεῖν is contemptuously substituted for
εἰπεῖν, i. e.
εἰπόντα χανεῖν, 'To utter open-mouthed.' So in
supr. 1096,
ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἔπη (sc. λέγοντες). The word has an association of stupid insolence, 'Have dared to open your foolish mouth so wide.'
1230.
mvp-comment-785-1
κἀπ᾿ ἄκρων ὡδοιπόρεις] « 'And have strutted proudly,' lit. on tiptoe,
ἐπ᾿ ἄκρων, sc. ποδῶν or
δακτύλων. Hesych.
ἀκρίζων. ἄκροις ποσὶν ἐπιπορευόμενος. Εὐρ. Οἰνεί.
Cp. Eur. Ion 1166, 7,
ἐν δ᾽ ἄκροισι βὰς ποσὶν | κῆρυξ ἀνεῖπεν.
1231.
mvp-comment-786-1
ἀντέστης] Sc.
ἡμῖν.
1232-1233.
mvp-comment-787-1
Cp. supr. 1097-1102. The word
ναυάρχους recalls
δεῦρ' ἔπλευσας in 1105. Agamemnon of course greatly exaggerates what Teucer had said.
Cp. Il. 1. 288,
πάντων μὲν κρατέειν ἐθέλει, πάντεσσι δ᾽ ἀνάσσειν, κ.τ.λ.
1235.
mvp-comment-788-1
οὐ μεγάλα ἐστὶ ταῦτα κακὰ ἀκούειν (epexegetic infin.)
πρὸς δούλων;
Cp. O. C. 883,
ἆρ᾽ οὐχ ὕβρις τάδε;
1236.
mvp-comment-789-1
ποίου.. ἀνδρός] Sc.
ὑπέρ. The ellipse is possibly softened by the preposition occurring in comp. in
ὑπέρφρονα, although in a different sense.
Cp. O. C. 539-41 and note.
1237.
mvp-comment-790-1
ποῦ βάντος] i. e.
ποῖ. But in such proverbial phrases there is a constant tendency to repeat the same word.
Ср. O. T. 420, 1, and note; Phil. 451. Agamemnon in the Iliad acknowledged the superior prowess of Achilles. He is less generous here. This line prepares the way for Teucer's reproaches,
infr. 1272-8.
1238.
mvp-comment-791-1
ἄνδρες] 'Men,' i.e. 'men deserving the name.'
Cp. supr. 77,
πρόσθεν οὐκ ἀνὴρ ὅδ᾽ ἦν; and note.
1239.
mvp-comment-792-1
πικρούς] 'To our cost.' This is said ironically. 'Teucer's denunciation of us will indeed be a calamitous result of the trial we proclaimed.' Agamemnon carefully limits his responsibility, as Menelaus did above,
supr. 1136,
ἐν τοῖς δικασταῖς, κοὐκ ἐμοί, τόδ᾽ ἐσφάλη, —to the ordainment of the contest, disclaiming all share in the verdict.
1241.
mvp-comment-793-1
πανταχοῦ] ‘In all that we do.'
1243.
mvp-comment-794-1
εἴκειν] Sc.
τούτοις, or
τοῖς δεδογμένοις, or whatever is the antecedent to
ἃ.
1244-1245.
mvp-comment-795-1
'But you (1) that are left' ('or (2) who are distanced') 'will either, I suppose, assail us with guileful woundings' (as Ajax did) 'or pelt us with abuse' (as you have now been doing).
που is to be taken with the whole sentence, but has special reference to the suspicion expressed in
σὺν δόλῳ κεντήσεθ᾽.
οἱ λελειμμένοι (1) marks the correspondence between the supposed action of Ajax' surviving relatives and his own. The implied menace points through Teucer at Eurysaces.
Cp. Shak. Macbeth, 3. 4. 'There the grown serpent lies; the worm, that's fled, | Hath nature that in time will venom breed, | No teeth for the present.' Or (2)
οἱ λελειμμένοι resumes
ἡσσημένοις, “You that are beaten in the race,' adding point to the suggestion of wounding from behind. See also l. 1249.
1250.
mvp-comment-796-1
τάδ'] ‘This,' viz. Ajax' insolent claim to priority in spite of the judgment.
Cp. O. C. 883,
ἆρ᾽ οὐχ ὕβρις τάδ᾽;
1250-1251.
mvp-comment-797-1
οὐ γὰρ .. φῶτες] 'Not the wide-shouldered or broad-backed men.'
πλατύς is more expressive of mere size than
μέγας. For the omission of the article with the second word, see Essay on L. § 21. p. 33 b.
1251.
mvp-comment-798-1
ἀσφαλέστατοι] Either (1) 'Most to be relied upon,' in action and counsel, or (2) 'Most secure from falling.' The latter, (2) makes a more exact antithesis with
κρατοῦσι.
1252.
mvp-comment-799-1
κρατοῦσι πανταχοῦ] ‘Have the best of it on all occasions;' i. e.
μᾶλλον ὀρθοῦνται.
Cp. Plat. Phaedr. 272 Β,
ὁ μὴ πειθόμενος κρατεῖ.
1253.
mvp-comment-800-1
Cp. Pind. Pyth. 4. 417,
βοέους δήσαις ἀνάγκα | ἔντεσιν αὐχένας ἐμβάλλων τ᾽ ἐριπλεύρῳ φυᾷ | κέντρον.
1254.
mvp-comment-801-1
ὀρθὸς .. πορεύεται] 'Goes straight forward.'
ὀρθός is adverbial, =
τὴν εὐθεῖαν. For the
γνώμη, cp. Ant. 477,
σμικρῷ χαλινῷ, κ.τ.λ.
1255.
mvp-comment-802-1
τοῦτ᾽.. τὸ φάρμακον] ‘This remedy,' the lash.
Cp. Pind. Ol. 13. 121,
ἕλὲ Βελλεροφόντας, | φάρμακον πραὺ τείνων ἀμφὶ γένυι, | ἵππον πτερόεντ'.
1257.
mvp-comment-803-1
ἀνδρός] Sc.
ὑπέρ. The unusual construction is softened here by the resumption from
supr. 1236, and by the participle which suggests the genitive absolute.
σκιᾶς] Sc.
ὄντος, as if
οὐδενὸς ὄντος had preceded.
1259.
mvp-comment-804-1
ὃς εἶ] 'What you are.'
Cp. Eur. Alc. 640,
ἔδειξας . . ὃς εἶ.
φύσιν is here at once 'by birth' and 'in nature.'
1262.
mvp-comment-805-1
οὐκέτ'] «No longer,' i. e. 'not then (when you are speaking).' Essay on L. § 24. p. 41, 2.
1263.
mvp-comment-806-1
Hesione was of Trojan, i. e. Phrygian, birth.
