381.
mvp-comment-268-1
κακοπινέστατον.. ἄλημα στρατοῦ] 'Abominable misleader of the host.' So the Scholiast seems to understand the words,
κακοπινέστατον, 'defiled,' i. e. by continual base practices. Musgrave suggested an allusion to the act of disguising himself as a wandering beggar mentioned in Od. 4. 242 foll., but preferred to derive
ἄλημα (=
παιπάλη) from
ἀλέω. The earlier explanation is here preferable to both these, and in
infr. 390,
ἄλημα may quite well mean, 'cause of error' (
τῶν Ἑλλήνων, gl. Pal.).
Cp. the causative use of
ἄλη in Aesch. Ag. 195,
δύσορμοι | βροτῶν ἄλαι. The error of which Ajax most complains is the misjudgment about the arms of Achilles.
382.
mvp-comment-269-1
ἄγεις] 'Dost prolong.'
383.
mvp-comment-270-1
ξὺν τῷ θεῷ] The article is not added to
θεός elsewhere in Sophocles without special reason, and the conjecture of Schndw.
ξύν τοι θεῷ supplies a article of connexion. But the asyndeton is rather impressive, and
τῷ θεῷ may be explained 'the god who gives the laughter or the tears.' 'Laughter and sorrow are in the hands of God;' i. e. 'we must be patient and the position may be reversed.' The chorus reflect that the Divine power which now favours Odysseus and oppresses Ajax may hereafter work the opposite effect.
Cp. Trach. 131 foll.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πῆμα καὶ χαρὰ | πᾶσι κυκλοῦσιν, οἷον | ἄρκτου στροφάδες κέλευθοι.
384.
mvp-comment-271-1
The syllable which has been probably lost from this line has been variously restored,
μέν, νῦν, μήν, etc., the Triclinian reading is harmless, and is followed in the text, in the absence of better MS. authority. Ajax prays to see his enemy, that, even ruined as he is, he may avenge himself.
Cp. infr. 388-91, Trach. 1107 foll.
ἀλλ᾽ εὖ γέ τοι τύδ᾽ ἴστε, κἂν τὸ μηδὲν ὦ, | κἂν μηδὲν ἔρπω, τὴν γε δράσασαν τάδε | χειρώσομαι κἀκ τῶνδε προσμόλοι μόνον, κ.τ.λ. This is more probable than an aposiopesis of
ὀδυρόμενον.
384.
mvp-comment-271-2
or the like, though this may be suggested by comparing Phil. 1113 foll.
ἰδοίμαν δε νιν, | τὸν τάδε μησάμενον, τὸν ἴσον χρόνον | ἐμὰς λαχόντ᾽ ἀνίας.
387.
mvp-comment-272-1
προγόνων προπάτωρ] Zeus was only the great-grandsire of Ajax, but the feeling of Sophocles and his age required that the Divine source should seem more remote. For similar vagueness in speaking of the past,
cp. Ant. 981, 2, where
σπέρμα. ἀρχαιογόνων | ἄντασ᾿ Ερεχθειδᾶν is said of the grand-daughter of Erechtheus. Also
supr. 190.
390.
mvp-comment-273-1
ὀλέσσας] The
σ is doubled Epicè.
Cp. Aesch. Pers. 864,
ὅσσας δ' είλε πόλεις.
391.
mvp-comment-274-1
τέλος θάνοιμι καὐτός] Ajax desires death, but death would be sweeter if he could first be avenged on his enemies. The feeling here is slightly different from Aesch. Choeph. 438,
ἔπειτ' ἐγὼ νοσφίσας ὀλοίμαν, where the participle has an exclusive emphasis ('if I could only take their lives'), and there is no real desire of death.
