925-927.
mvp-comment-600-1
Ajax is imagined to have brooded over his injuries for days before his final outbreak.
Cp. supr. 194, 5,
μακραίωνι .. σχολᾷ. The Chorus now think that the symptoms he then showed ought to have warned them of the possibility of what has followed.
926-927.
mvp-comment-601-1
'Thus with iron will to work out an evil doom of boundless woe.'
ὧδ' is required for the metre, and adds point to
στερεόφρων as a supplementary predicate with
ἐξανύσειν.
ἄρα, 'As the event has proved.'
τοῖα introduces the ground of the preceding inference. Essay on L. § 22. p. 35, 3.
μοι is dative of the person interested, 'In my hearing,' or 'To my concern.'
930.
mvp-comment-602-1
πάννυχα καὶ φαέθοντ᾽] ‘All night and in bright day.'
φαέθοντα is picturesquely substituted for
πανημέρια, and the adjectives are cognate or adverbial accusatives with
ἀνεστέναζες, of which
ἐχθοδοπά, although still cognate, is a more direct object.
931.
mvp-comment-603-1
ὠμόφρων] 'With savage thoughts,' a supplementary predicate. The metre is doubtful here, and some MSS. have
ὠμόφρον', or
ὠμόφρον (vocative sing.).
932.
mvp-comment-604-1
οὐλίῳ σὺν πάθει] ‘Under thy calamitous wrong,' i.e. his disappointment in the judgment of the arms, which has had such fatal consequences. For
πάθος in this sense, cp. O. C. 1078,
δεινὰ δ' εὑροῦσαν πρὸς αὐθαίμων πάθη: and see Phil. 337, 8,
πότερον, ὦ τέκνον, τὸ σὸν | πάθημ᾽ ἐλέγχω: O.T. 553, 4,
τὸ δὲ | πάθημ᾽ ὁποῖον φὴς παθεῖν, δίδασκέ με.
934-936.
mvp-comment-605-1
'Mighty to begin sorrows was the hour when the contest for the [gold-forged] arms was appointed for the hands of the brave.'
μέγας ἦν ἄρχων is nearly equivalent to
μεγάλως ἦρχεν.
935.
mvp-comment-606-1
A choriambus =
χρυσοτύπων has been lost before
ὅπλων.
937-943.
mvp-comment-607-1
After an interval of inarticulate sorrow, in which she only utters brief ejaculations, Tecmessa's feelings take a bitter turn. and her indignation finds vent first against the gods, 950-3, and then against the Atreidae, 961-73. Her pride in Ajax rises above all else.
938.
mvp-comment-608-1
'I know, a grief of ample size is piercing to thy soul,'
γενναία is not 'genuine' or 'noble,' but 'of great size.' Cp. Shak. Ant. and Cleo. 4. 15. 4, 'Our size of sorrow.'
