596.
mvp-comment-406-1
While Ajax within the tent is silently whetting his sword (
infr. 820), the chorus express their longing for Salamis, his home and theirs, and their sorrow for the condition of their lord. 'What grief the news will cause to Telamon and Eriboea!' In this ode, the first stasimon, iambic, glyconic, and trochaic rhythms are combined...
596.
mvp-comment-406-2
ὦ κλεινά] By an anachronism like that noticed in O. C. 58,
ἔρεισμ' ᾿Αθηνῶν, the glory of Salamis is anticipated.
Cp. also
infr. 861, and note. In Hdt. 7. 143, Themistocles argues from the words
ὦ θείη Σάλαμις, in the Pythian response, that the Athenians were to be victorious there.
596-597.
mvp-comment-407-1
σὺ . . ναίεις] «Thou, I know, remainest.'
που] The indefinite word is pathetically used of what they imagine but may not see.
ἁλίπλακτος] There is little doubt of the propriety of this reading.
Cp. Aesch. Pers. 307,
θαλασσόπληκτον νῆσον Αίαντος. Yet
ἁλίπλαγκτος might possibly mean 'wandered round by the billow.'
599.
mvp-comment-408-1
The inhabitants of Salamis, which lay off Piraeus and in the 'cheer and comfort' of Athenian eyes, might well feel as if they were observed of all observers, and would have a still deeper feeling of pride and patriotism when, from 480 B.C. onwards, their native place became the eye of the world.
περίφαντος may then be taken to imply the renown as well as the conspicuous position of the island.
