Sophocles Ajax 85

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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AI
Thou here! Away! begone, and trouble me not!
O! O!

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.) — 1-171 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 1-171 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 85 focus
ἐγὼ σκοτώσω βλέφαρα καὶ δεδορκότα.
85
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-171 focus
Translations (4)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 74 focus
Was thust du, Pallas? Nimmermehr ruf' ihn heraus -
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 85 focus
Chorus
428
I would not have thee thus lament thy woes,
And yet I know not how to chide thee for it.
So hard thy lot.
Would e'er so well have suited my condition !
Oh ! I have reason to lament indeed.
For sure there is not such a wretch as Ajax !
Long since at Troy my valiant father fought.
And to his native land, with glory crowned,
Bore back the meed of his distinguished virtues :
Nor less renowned for gallant deeds was once
His hapless son, though now he perish thus
Inglorious : yet Achilles, well I know,
Were he alive, and to bestow his arms
On him who best deserved the prize, to me.
And me alone, would 'judge, the greo.t reward :
But little deemed the Atridse worth like mine.
And therefore gave them to that vile impostor.
Author of every evil work, Ulysses.
481
Had not my mind been wrought on by some power
Superior, and my eyes averted from them.
They had not lived to give another sentence ;
But Jove's great daughter, the invincible,
The dreadful Pallas, turned my arm aside,
Just raised against them, and inspired me thus
With liorrid rage to dip my murd'rous hand
In blood of guiltless cattle : they meantime
Smile at tlie danger 'scaped, and triumph o'er me.
But, when the gods oppose us, valour bends
To cowai-dico, and strength to weakness yields ;
By Troy detested, and by Greece forsaken ?
Shall I go leave the Atridae here alone
To fight their cause, and seek my native land ?
But how shall I appear before my father.
Spoiled of his honours 1 he who ever crowned
^Vith glory sits ; it must not, cannot be.
What if I rush amid the Trojan host,
And with my single arm oppose them all,
Do something noble, and as nobly perish !
But that would please th' Atridje, therefore never
Shall it be done : no, 1 will do a deed
To show my father that I still deserve
The name of son, and emulate my sire :
When life but teems with unremitted woes,
'Tis poor in man to wish a longer date :
For what can day on day, and year on year,
But put off wished-for death, and lengthen pain ?
Of little worth is he who still depends
On fruitless hope ; for it becomes the brave
To live with honour, or to die with glory.
Ye have my thoughts.
Chor Thoughts not unworthy of thee,
Ajax ; but quit, oh ! quit, thy horrid purpose.
And yield thee to thy friends.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 85 focus
Ajax
Wilt thou not hence, wilt thou not hence retire?
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-170 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-233-1 οὐκ ἐκτός; οὐκ ἄψορρον 1 οὐκ ἐκτὸς ἄψορρον ἐκνεμεῖ πόδα 2

mvp-comment-233-2 For ἐκτὸς 3

mvp-comment-233-3 ἄψορρον 4

mvp-comment-233-4 ἐκνεμεῖ 5 ἐκνεμεῖς 6

mvp-comment-234-1 ὦ πρὸς θεῶν 7

mvp-comment-235-1 ὢ δύσμορος 8

mvp-comment-235-2 ὃς 9

mvp-comment-235-3 χερὶ μὲν μεθῆκα 10 χερὶ 11

mvp-comment-235-4 τοὺς ἀλάστορας 12

mvp-comment-235-5 κλυτοῖς 13

mvp-comment-235-6 αἰπολίοις 14

mvp-comment-235-7 ἐρεμνὸν 15

mvp-comment-235-8 αἷμ’ ἔδευσα 16

mvp-comment-236-1 ἐπ’ ἐξειργασμένοις 17

mvp-comment-236-2 οὐ γὰρ γένοιτ’ ἂν 18 ὅπως 19

mvp-comment-236-3 For the sentiment, cp. Tr. 742

τὸ γὰρ | φανθὲν τίς ἂν δύναιτ’ ἂν ἀγένητον ποεῖν;
(n.).

mvp-comment-237-1 πάνθ’ ὁρῶν 20

mvp-comment-237-2 ἁπάντων τ’ 21 τ’ 22 δ’ 23 δ’ 24

mvp-comment-237-3 κακῶν ὄργανον 25

mvp-comment-238-1 ἄλημα 26

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

369. mvp-comment-262-1 The sight of Tecmessa, whom he must abandon, provokes Ajax to new rage. He first breaks forth on her impatiently, and then laments aloud. In what follows he is regardless both of her and the chorus.

373. mvp-comment-263-1 ὃς χερὶ μέν] For the position of μέν, which belongs properly to the verb, see Essay on L. § 41. pp. 78,9. The instrumental dative is used, with a fore-feeling of the latter part of the sentence, for ἐκ χερός. Mr. Jebb understands Ajax to mean that 'he had let off the Greeks in respect of personal chastisement, and merely damaged them in property.' But this softens the antithesis too much. The difficulty may be avoided by reading (with Schndw.) ὃς χεροῖν, and προγύνων πάτερ in the antistrophe, l. 387.

375. mvp-comment-264-1 The epithets here are echoes of the epic style, but possibly with some variation of meaning. 'Goodly,' which is the meaning of κλυτός in such expressions as κλυτὰ μῆλα (Od. 9. 308), is not sufficiently pointed here, and the Scholiast may be right in saying κλυτὰ λέγει τὰ αἰπόλια διὰ τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς ταραχὰς καὶ φωνάς. 'The horned kine and bleating herds of goats.'

376. mvp-comment-265-1 'I rained forth dark-flowing blood.' ἐρεμνόν is another Homeric epithet, not merely signifying 'dark' (and so recalling μέλαν αἷμα), but ' darkling,' with reference to the gloom of night and other circumstances of horror which surrounded the act.

377. mvp-comment-266-1 ὅπως οὐχ ὧδ᾽ ἔχειν] ὅπως is here simply an indefinite ὡs, and is construed with the infinitive as ὡς might have been.

379. mvp-comment-267-1 The former outburst was towards the Atreidae. He now breaks forth against Odysseus.

379. mvp-comment-267-2 πάνθ᾽ ὁρῶν] Cp. supr. 29, Phil. 1013, 4, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ κακὴ σὴδιὰ μυχῶν βλέπουσ᾽' ἀεὶ | ψυχή, κ.τ.λ.