Sophocles Ajax 243

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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OD
Then hear me in Heaven’s name! Be not so hard
Thus without ruth tombless to cast him forth;
Nor be so vanquished by a vehement will,
That to thy hate even Justice’ self must bow.
1335
I, too, had him for my worst enemy,
Since I gained mastery o’er Pelides’ arms.
But though he used me so, I ne’er will grudge
For his proud scorn to yield him thus much honour,
That, save Achilles’ self, I have not seen
1340
So noble an Argive on the fields of Troy.
Then ’twere not just in thee to slight him now;
Nor would thy treatment wound him, but confound
The laws of Heaven. No hatred should have scope
To offend the noble spirits of the dead.
1345

Ajax. Sophocles. Lewis Campbell (Translator). London, New York and Toronto. 1906.

Current edition Experimental

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)
Αἴας μαστιγοφόρος First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Aiax. Lobeck Christian, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1866.) — 258-342 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 263-347 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 243 focus
κακὰ δεννάζων δ᾽ ἐννάζων δεννάζων ῥήμαθ᾽, ἃ δαίμων
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 263-347 focus
Translations (4)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 245 focus
Nun ist es Zeit, unser Haupt in bergende Hüllen versteckt, 1
Verstohlen fortzuflüchten,
Oder gewandt zu den Rudern, in Eile des meer-
wandelnden Schiffs Bande zu lösen.
240
Mit solchen Drohworten bestürmt uns das Atridenpaar hier,
Die Trozvollen: mir bangt, ach, vom erhobnen Steine
Erreicht, muß ich verderben, wie er, den grauses Leiden fesselt.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 243 focus
Agamemnon
Dost thou desire such friends?
1360
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 243 focus
Teucer
Ah me, how soon the memory of the dead
Fades from the faithless mind, and is effaced,
Thee, Ajax, in his favour, e'en in things
To him of little import, since this man
No longer holds ! Yet oft hast thou exposed
Thy life for him with toil in bloody fields.
1270
But all these things are vanish'd, and have left
No trace behind. Thy tongue abounds with words,
Vain-talker! but is all remembrance lost?
Can'st thou forget, within your works enclosed,
When all was rout, confusion, and dismay,
1275
Alone he came, he saved you? When the flames
Blazed on your lofty decks, when o'er the trench
Hector had leap'd, and on your navy roll'd
The thunder of the war, who check'd his force?
Was not the glorious action his, who ne'er,
Thou say'st, advanced his foot? Did not for you
1280
His valour these heroic deeds achieve?
Nay more, 'gainst Hector shield to shield opposed
He stood in dreadful fight, by choice, not chance ;
No' coward lot into the 'midst he threw,
No clod of moisten'd earth; but with light bound
1285
What from the crested helmet first would leap.
These were his noble deeds: with him I stood,
This slave, from a barbaric mother born.
What was thy view in this unhappy taunt?
1290
Thy father's father, Pelops of old times,
1290
Was a barbarie Phrygian: know'st thou this?
Know'st thou that Atreus was thy sire, of men
Most impious, to his brother at a feast
Who served up his own sons. From Crete her birth
Thy mother drew; and when thy father found:
His bed polluted with adulterous lust,
1295
He cast her to the monsters of the main......
From such art thou descended; and my birth
Darest thou revile, from Telamon derived,
My father, whose illustrious deeds in arms.
Shone with the brightest splendor, and obtain'd
1300
My mother to his bed, of royal blood,
The daughter of Laomedon, the prize.
Of highest honour by Alcides giv'n'?...
Thus noble, and from noble parents sprung,
Should I dishonour those whose blood I share,
Whom thou, thus miserably fall'n, wou'dst cast
1305
Unburied forth? Nor dost thou blush, this threat
Denouncing. But of this be thou assured,
Him if your violence cast forth, us three
Shall it cast forth together with him laid.
To me more glorious 'midst this honest toil
1310
I deem it in a brother's cause to die,
Than for thy wife, or for thy brother's. Go,
Of me regardless, yet regard thyself:
Me if thou wrong, thou shalt have cause to wish
That coward fear had check'd thy daring pride.
1315
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 263-346 focus

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-788-1 τλῇς 1

mvp-comment-788-2 βαλεῖν 2

mvp-comment-789-1 ἡ βία 3 νικησάτω 4

mvp-comment-789-2 πατεῖν 5

mvp-comment-790-1 ἔχθιστος 6

mvp-comment-790-2 )κράτησα 7

mvp-comment-791-1 ἔμπας 8

mvp-comment-791-2 ἀντατιμάσαιμ’ 9 οὔ τἂν ἀτιμάσαιμ’ 10 οὔκουν 11 οὐκ οὖν 12

mvp-comment-792-1 ἕν’ ἄνδρ’ … ἄριστον 13

mvp-comment-793-1 πλὴν Ἀχιλλέως 14

mvp-comment-794-1 τοὺς θεῶν νόμους 15

mvp-comment-795-1 τὸν ἐσθλὸν ἄνδρα 16

mvp-comment-795-2 εἰ θάνοι 17

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

1334. mvp-comment-853-1 ἡ βία] 'The spirit of tyranny.' Cp. infr. 1357. For a similar use of ἀρχή, cp. Thuc. 3. 82. § 16.

1335. mvp-comment-854-1 τοσόνδε μισεῖν] 'To carry hate so far.' The absolute use of the verb is noticeable. Cp. El. 357, σὺ δ' ἡμὶν ἡ μισοῦσα μισεῖς μὲν λόγῳ.

1336. mvp-comment-855-1 καμοί] 'To me also,' as well as to you and Menelaus.

1337. mvp-comment-856-1 Cp. Phil. 1292, πρότεινε χεῖρα, καὶ κράτει τῶν σῶν ὅπλων: Thuc. 3. 47, ἐπειδή τε ὅπλων ἐκράτησεν.

1339. mvp-comment-857-1 οὐκ *ἀντατιμάσαιμ' ἄν] This reading, though found in no MS., is nearer to the first hand of L, and also more pointed, than οὔκουν ἀτ. ἄv, the reading of C and some inferior MSS. ἀντατιμάζω does not occur elsewhere, but is supported by the analogy of ἀνταδικεῖν.

1340. mvp-comment-858-1 ἕν᾿ ἄνδρ᾿ ἰδεῖν ἄριστον ᾿Αργείων] 'That he stood alone, so far as I could see, as the noblest of the Argives.' ἕν᾿ ἄνδρα is here intensive. Cp. Aesch. Pers. 327, εἰς ἀνὴρ πλεῖστον πόνον . . παρασχών.

1341. mvp-comment-859-1 πλὴν ᾿Αχιλλέως] Cp. the lines of the 11th Odyssey quoted above, note on 1319; and Alcaeus, Fr. 48, τὸν ἄριστον πέδ᾽ ᾿Αχίλλεα: Pind. Nem. 7. 40, κράτιστον ᾿Αχιλέος ἄτερ.

1342. mvp-comment-860-1 ἀτιμάζοιτο] The passive, while emphasizing the verb, avoids the 2nd person. (E. on L. § 31. p. 1. 53 a, p. 1. 54 b.)

1344-1345. mvp-comment-861-1 εἰ θάνοι] For the optative in supposing a general case, see Essay on L. § 36. p. 61a (1) . Join ἄνδρα . . τὸν ἐσθλόν.