343.
mvp-comment-247-1
λεηλατήσει] Teucer is gone foraging into the Mysian highlands,
infr. 720. Compare Thuc. 1. 11,
φαίνεται .. πρὸς γεωργίαν τῆς · Χερσονήσου τραπόμενοι καὶ λῃστείαν τῆς τροφῆς ἀπορίᾳ. ἐγὼ δ'] · While that I.'
345.
mvp-comment-248-1
κἀπ᾿ ἐμοὶ βλέψας] ‘Even at me, on seeing me.' The abrupt expression,
αἰδῶ λαβεῖν ἐπί τινι, is supplemented by the addition of the participle, i.e.
εἰς ἐμὲ βλέψας. αἰδώς is the feeling which prompts
σωφροσύνη.
346.
mvp-comment-249-1
ἐκκύκλημα. Ajax is disclosed with signs of slaughter about him. He is sitting upright. The slaughtered sheep are the evidence of his situation (
τὰ τοῦδε πράγη): his wild, dishevelled appearance betrays the condition of his mind (
αὐτὸς ὡς ἔχων κυρεῖ).
348.
mvp-comment-250-1
The lyrical numbers of this commos are chiefly dochmiac, mixed with iambic and trochaic rhythms, which increase in the third strophe and antistrophe. The scheme is the following...
348.
mvp-comment-250-2
The arrangement of the latter part of γ' is rendered doubtful by the manifest corruption of ll. 406, 7. Perhaps-
εἰ τἀμὰ μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, πάλαι· μώραις δ᾽ ἄγραισι ταῖσδ᾽ ὁμοῦ προσκείμεθα. And in the antistrophe, 424, 5,
τύδ᾽ ἐξερῶ μέγ᾽ οἷον οὔτινα Τροία στρατοῦ δέρχθη χθονὸς μολόντ' ἀπό. Or, reading
τάδε for
τά, and omitting
τοῖσδ᾽ ὁμοῦ, στρατοῦ, and
ἀπό, -
εἰ τάδε μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, πάλαι· μώραις δ᾽ ἄγραις προσκείμεθα, | πᾶς.
348.
mvp-comment-250-3
and-
ἐξερέω μέγ', οἷον οὔτινα Τροία χθονὸς δέρχθη μολόνθ' | Ἑλ.. See note on 405 foll.
348.
mvp-comment-250-4
Ajax at once perceives the mariners. 'The great rage, you see, is killed in him,' but the ground-swell of his passion is still heard.
349.
mvp-comment-251-1
μόνοι ἐμῶν φίλων] Sc.
παρόντες, or some such word, which is expanded in what follows.
350.
mvp-comment-252-1
ὀρθῷ νόμῳ] Sc.
τῷ τῆς φιλίας.
351.
mvp-comment-253-1
ἴδεσθέ μ᾽ οἷον, κ.τ.λ.]
με is to be taken (1) after
ἴδεσθε, and (2) after
ἀμφίδρομον κυκλεῖται, the latter being a picturesque expansion of
ἀμφικυκλεῖται. φοινίας ὑπὸ ζάλης] 'Lashed by a cruel storm.'
ζάλη is a squall accompanied with rain or hail. The surge surrounding Ajax is the heap of mangled victims, together with the horror which they symbolize. For the boldness of this image,
cp. El. 733,
κλύδων᾿ ἔφιππον ἐν μέσῳ κυκώμενον.
354-355.
mvp-comment-254-1
'Alas! It is clear thou art too true a witness.' The chorus do not immediately respond to Ajax: but, being horror-struck at what they see, express their reflections on the situation to Tecmessa. The description she has given is only too true. The meaning of
μαρτυρεῖν and the coldness of l. 355, as addressed to Ajax, prove this to be the right way of understanding the words.
355.
mvp-comment-255-1
ὡς ἀφροντίστως ἔχει] (1) ‘How far he is from sane,' sc.
ὁ Alas, replying to
supr. 347. Or possibly (2), sc.
τοὔργον, 'How little of sane thought is present in it.' 'Indeed, the fact declares that thought has had no part in what is done.' For the transference of a personal attribute from the agent to the act,
cp. O. C. 240, 977,
τό γ' ἆκον πρᾶγμα: Aesch. Ag. 1377,
ἀγὼν . . οὐκ ἀφροντίστως. · Notandus euphemismus pro
μανικῶς, Herm.
Cp. Shak. King Lear, 4. 6. 81, 'The safer sense will ne'er accommodate | His master thus.'
356.
mvp-comment-256-1
γένος .. τέχνας] Ο brother-band of helpers, who help by shipcraft.'
ναΐας . τέχνας is a descriptive genitive explaining
ἀρωγόν.
357.
mvp-comment-257-1
'Who didst go on board the ship and ply' (
ἑλίσσων proleptic) 'the oar of the sea,' viz. in coming to Troy. A change in the MS. reading is necessary. Some prefer to read
ὃς ἁλίαν .. ἔβας, 'Who camest plying,' etc.
ναῦν, suggested by
πλάταν, is to be supplied with
ἐπέβας.
360.
mvp-comment-258-1
(1) Ajax, although recovering his sanity, is still haunted by the impressions of the night, and the sight of the mariners reminds him of the shepherds, who had failed to defend the flock (
supr. 27,232). Begging for death from them, he bids them do what the shepherds could not. (Shak. Ant. and Cleo. 4. 14, 'Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts | Though enemy, lost aim, and could not?') 'In thee I behold the only shepherd to support the flock; come, lay me dead beside them!' This explanation has the advantage of supposing only one ellipse with both verbs, viz.
τῇ ποίμνῃ. In this case
μόνον ποιμένων is to be explained as an idiomatic expression, in which, as in
μόνος τῶν ἄλλων, the privative word has a negative force: i.e. 'You, and not the shepherds, shall avenge the sheep.'
Cp. Ant. 773,
ἔρημος.. στίβος. (The sense might be made clearer by reading
ποιμνίοις for
ποιμένων.) Others (2) suppose 'shepherds' to be put figuratively for 'comforters,' or (3) take
ποιμένων as gen. obj. = 'to defend thy lord.' Others conjecture
πημονὰν ἐπαρκέσοντ᾽, πημονῶν ἔτ᾿ ἄρκος ὄντ᾽.
363.
mvp-comment-259-1
'Do not (1) aggravate the blow of disaster;' or (2) 'Make the sorrow worse than the calamity.' For the whole sentence,
cp. Thuc. 5. 65,
κακὸν κακῷ ἱᾶσθαι: O. C. 438.
366.
mvp-comment-260-1
'Redoubtable in valour amongst harmless beasts.' For
ev,
cp. infr. 1315,
μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν ἐμοὶ θρασύς. The phrase
ἀφόβοις θηρσί is clearly an oxymoron, but has been diversely explained either as (1) 'harmless' (
τοῖς μὴ φόβον ἐμο ποιοῦσι, Schol.), or (2) 'game that flies not' ('
quibus sanus quisque parcit, non solum quia nihil periculi nobis creant sed etiam quia fidei nostrae confidunt,' Lobeck.) The former is more in point. Ajax had been valiant 'where no fear was.' His prey was even less glorious than the boar or lion, which, though not human, are still formidable.
367.
mvp-comment-261-1
οἷον] Sc.
γέλωτα. 'What insulting mockery has been heaped on me!'
