Sophocles Ajax 127

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Tecmessa
[to the Chorus]. Assist me, friends, in this
distressful hour.
To Teucer haste, and bring him to my aid ;
Some to yon western mountain bend your way,
And some to th' east ; find out which path he went,
845
Unhappy wanderer ! Oh ' he has deceived me,
His former love forgotten all and gone !
What must we do, my child ? I must not sit
Inactive here ; no, wheresoe'er I can
I'll go to search him. Let us haste, my friends.
850
Quick ! fly this instant, if we mean to save
CiiOR. Behold us ready, not in v/ord alone, i
But bent with speed to follow thee. Away ! / [Exeunt.

Ajax. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.

Current edition Experimental

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)
Αἴας μαστιγοφόρος First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Aiax. Lobeck Christian, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1866.) — 172-201 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 172-200 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 127 focus
τοιαῦτα τοίνυν εἰσορῶν ὑπέρκοπον ὑπέρκομπον
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 172-200 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 127 focus
TEC
Oh, yet be softened!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 134 focus
Telamonischer Sohn, der Salamis' Höh'n 1
Am ringsumwogten Gestade beherrscht,
135
Ich freue mich, lächelt das Glück dir.
Doch wann Zeus' Groll und ein zorniges Wort
Aus Danaermunde dich feindlich betraf,
Da faßt mich die Angst, ich erbebe vor Furcht,
Wie das Auge des flatternden Täubchens. 2
140
So hat von der jüngst entschwundenen Nacht
Uns mächtiger Schreck und Entsezen erfüllt
Bei dem schmähenden Ruf, du hab'st in der Au,
In der Rosse Gefild' einstürmend, dem Heer
Das erbeutete Vieh,
145
Das übrig allein von dem Raube noch war,
Mit flammendem Eisen gemordet.
Solch höhnende Reden ersinnt uns keck,
Und zischelt Odysseus Allen in's Ohr,
Und sie glauben ihm leicht; denn er meldet von dir,
150
Was gerne man glaubt, und wer es vernimmt,
Der freut sich noch mehr, denn der es erzählt,
Treibt Spott mit deiner Bedrängniß.
Denn send' auf mächtige Geister den Pfeil,
Nie fehlst du das Ziel; wer aber von uns
155
Solch Arges erzählt, dem glauben sie nicht.
Stets kriecht ja der Neid an die Großen heran.
Und dennoch sind, von den Großen getrennt,
Die Geringen der Burg ein betrüglicher Schuz;
Mit dem Großen ja hebt der Geringe sich leicht,
160
Und der Große, gestüzt von dem Kleinen, empor.
Doch ist es unmöglich, der Thoren Geschlecht
Von diesem Gesez zu belehren.
Solch alberner Männer Geschrei stürmt, Herr,
Auf dich, und uns ward nimmer die Kraft,
165
Dawider zu steh'n, so gesondert von dir.
Denn, flohen sie dir aus den Blicken hinweg,
Dann tosen sie laut, wie Vögel im Schwarm;
Doch bebten sie scheu vor dem mächtigen Aar,
Und verkröchen, sobald du plözlich erschienst,
170
Sich alsbald schweigend und lautlos.
Strophe.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 127 focus
Tecmessa
Hear me, O hear me!
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 172-200 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-488-1 κάκιστα καὶ πανωλέθρους 1

mvp-comment-488-2 The last two of these four verses are certainly spurious, as three things show.

mvp-comment-488-3 (1) The poet would not have made the dying Ajax pray that the Atreidae may die ‘at the hands of their offspring,’ unless there had been some legend that they so died. But, according to the current mythology, Agamemnon was slain by his wife and her paramour, while Menelaüs and Helen passed, without dying, to Elysium ( Od. 4. 561 ). It is only in later times that we meet with the story of Menelaüs and Helen having been sacrificed by Iphigeneia in the land of the Tauri ( Ptolemy Heph. 4 , cp. Roscher, Lex. p. 1951 ): a myth which the author of these verses may have had in view. Odysseus, indeed, was slain by Telegonus; but he does not come into account here, unless we make the improbable change of

Ἀτρειδῶν
to
Ἀχαιῶν
in 838. [As to the double sense of
αὐτοσφαγής
, with ref. to one who is slain (1) by himself, (2) by a kinsman, see on Ant. 56
αὐτοκτονοῦντε
.]

mvp-comment-488-4 (2) These two verses confuse the construction, since

ὥσπερ εἰσορῶσ’ ἐμέ
( sc.
ξυναρπασθέντα
) refers to what precedes: while
τὼς
in 841 refers to
ὥσπερ
.

mvp-comment-488-5 (3) The form

φίλιστος
occurs nowhere else, except as a proper name.

mvp-comment-488-6

τώς
is not elsewhere found in Soph. or Eur. : it is, however, used by Aesch. , not only in lyrics ( Aesch. Th. 484 , Suppl. 69, 670, 691), but once, at least, in a trimeter, Th. 637
ἢ ζῶντ’ ἀτιμαστῆρα τὼς ἀνδρηλάτην
. We should not, then, insist on
τώς
as a mark of spuriousness: and
ὀλοίατο
is, of course, free from objection ( O. T. 1274
γνωσοίατο
n.). But the case against 841 f. seems conclusive without them.

mvp-comment-488-7 A more difficult question is whether vv. 839, 840 are also spurious. The schol. in L on v. 841 is as follows:—

τὼς αὐτοσφαγεῖς
:
ταῦτα νοθεύεσθαί φασιν ὑποβληθέντα πρὸς σαφήνειαν τῶν λεγομένων
. As the lemma,
τὼς αὐτοσφαγεῖς
, clearly indicates,
ταῦτα
refers only to the two verses 841 f., and not (as Dindorf and others have assumed) to all the four verses 839—842. The surmise was, says the scholiast, that vv. 841 f. were added ‘to make the meaning clearer’; i.e., to explain the elliptical phrase,
ὥσπερ εἰσορῶσ’ ἐμέ
. Such a surmise itself shows that vv. 839, 840 were believed to be older than 841 f. It is indeed plain that all four verses are not by the same author. The incoherent construction noticed above, under (2), was possible for an interpolator whose attention was fixed on
ὥσπερ εἰσορῶσ’ ἐμέ
, but hardly for one who was forging vv. 839—842 as a whole. If, then, all four verses are condemned, we must assume two independent interpolations.

mvp-comment-488-8 I incline to think that the two verses 839 and 840 are genuine; because, otherwise, the imprecation on the

πάνδημος στρατός
(844) would follow too abruptly on v. 838. The prayer for the destruction of his chief foes, uttered in 839 f., leads up to the more sweeping denunciation of the Greek army.

mvp-comment-489-1 ἴτ’ 2

mvp-comment-489-2 γεύεσθε 3

mvp-comment-489-3 πανδήμου στρατοῦ 4

mvp-comment-490-1 αἰπὺν 5

mvp-comment-490-2 οὐρανὸν διφρηλατῶν 6

mvp-comment-491-1 ἴδῃς 7

mvp-comment-491-2 χρυσόνωτον ἡνίαν 8

mvp-comment-492-1 τροφῷ 9

mvp-comment-493-1 ἦ που 10

mvp-comment-493-2 ἥσει … κωκυτὸν 11

mvp-comment-493-3 ἐν πάσῃ πόλει 12

mvp-comment-494-1 ἔργον 13

mvp-comment-494-2 ἀλλ’ … ἀλλ’ 14

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

815-865. mvp-comment-530-1 The scene is changed to a wooded place ( infr. 892) not far from the camp ( infr. 874-8), where Ajax is disclosed, somewhat retired, but so that both he and the projecting point of the sword which he has planted in the ground, are visible to the spectators.

844. mvp-comment-548-1 'Flesh yourselves unsparingly on all the populous host.' μὴ φείδεσθε is introduced dià mésou. The πάνδημος στρατός of the Achaeans is contrasted with the Argive chiefs.

847. mvp-comment-549-1 ἐπισχὼν .. ἡνίαν] ‘Checking thy rein.' Instead of saying ἐπέχειν ἅρμα, or ἵππους, the means, or more immediate object, is put into the accusative.

847. mvp-comment-549-2 χρυσόνωτον] ‘Gilded,' viz, having the upper surface studded with gold.

848. mvp-comment-550-1 ἄτας.. ἐμόν] 'My troubles and my fate.' This is not a mere pleonasm. The ἅται may include his first provocation of Athena as well as his wild actions since; the word μόρον is specially applicable to his death.

849. mvp-comment-551-1 τῇ τε δυστήνῳ τροφῷ] Either (1) 'and the unhappy one who nursed my infancy;' or (2) 'and the unhappy one who tends on him.' According to (1) Ajax in thinking of his mother with special tenderness, speaks of her as the one who nursed him at her breast ( ἥ μ' ἔτεχ᾽, ἤ μ᾿ ἔθρεψε, Od. 2. 131.) According to (2) he is thinking of the dreary household at Salamis, where she who had been the wife of Telamon's youth was now the nurse of his declining years. Cp. Od. 24. 211, ἐν δὲ γυνὴ Σικελὴ γρηὺς πέλεν, ἤ ῥα γέροντα | ἐνδυκέως κομέεσκεν ἐπ᾿ ἀγροῦ, νόσφι πόληος.

851. mvp-comment-552-1 Cp. Eur. Med. 1176, εἶτ' ἀντίμολπον ἡκεν ὀλολυγῆς μέγαν | κωκυτόν.

852. mvp-comment-553-1 'But I have nought to do with vain laments for this.' οὐδὲν ἔργον, lit. 'It is no part of the business in hand.'

853. mvp-comment-554-1 σὺν τάχει τινί] 'And that with speed.' The addition of the indefinite pronoun, as in ἀνύσας τι ('with something of haste'), has an effect of peremptoriness.