Sophocles Ajax 178

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Menelaus
Because it is my will^ and his who leads
The Grecian host.

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)) — 178 focus
ψευσθεῖσ᾽, *ἀδώροις ψευσθεῖσα δώροις εἴτ' ἐλαφαβολίαις εἴτ᾿ ἐλαφαβολείαις εἴτ᾽ ἐλαφαβολίαις εἴτ᾿ ἐλαφηβολίαις.
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)) — 178 focus
TEUCER
(). Alas, undone!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 182 focus
Nie doch in früherer Zeit, Telamonier,
Hast du dich also verirrt, wider Heerden loszugeh'n;
Dir schlugen wohl die Götter den Geist: doch es halte
Das üble Volksgerede Zeus und Phöbos fern!
Wenn im Geheimen indeß
185
Die Lüg' ersann der mächtigen Könige Groll 1
Und jener arge Sprosse von Sisyphos' Blut:
Nicht länger birg dich, Herr, in den Zelten am Meer,
Nicht den Ruf, den schmähenden, wecke!
Schlußgesang.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 178 focus
Tecmessa
It is a sight of horror: I will wrap
This robe around him, with its ample folds
Covering his corse: for none, that was his friend,
Can bear to see him from his nostrils breathe
The purple gore, and from the blackening wound
By his own hand inflicted. Wretched me,
What can I do? What friend will bear him hence?'
Where now is Teucer? Hither should he bend
His steps, how opportunely would he come
The corse of his fallen brother to compose!
Was thine! What art thou now? Such, that thy foes
Would pity thee, and o'er thee drop a tear.
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-610-1 ἐλπίσαντες … ἄγειν 1

mvp-comment-611-1 ζητοῦντες 2

mvp-comment-611-2 Φρυγῶν 3 Τρώων 4

mvp-comment-612-1 στρατῷ ξύμπαντι 5

mvp-comment-613-1 δορί 6

mvp-comment-614-1 θεῶν τις 7

mvp-comment-614-2 ἔσβεσεν 8

mvp-comment-615-1 τήνδ’ … τύχην 9 θανόντες 10 ἣν ὅδ’ εἴληχεν τύχην 11 τήνδ’ 12 λαχόντες 13

mvp-comment-615-2 προὐκείμεθ’ 14

mvp-comment-615-3 αἰσχίστῳ 15 ἐχθίστῳ 16 ἀθλίῳ 17

mvp-comment-616-1 ἐνήλλαξεν 18

mvp-comment-616-2 μῆλα καὶ ποίμνας 19

mvp-comment-616-3 1062 f. The acc. αὐτὸν 20 σῶμα 21

mvp-comment-616-4 τυμβεῦσαι τάφῳ 22

mvp-comment-617-1 ἀμφὶ … ψάμαθον 23

mvp-comment-617-2 χλωρὰν 24

mvp-comment-617-3 λευρὰν 25

mvp-comment-618-1 ὄρνισι 26

mvp-comment-619-1 πρὸς ταῦτα 27

mvp-comment-619-2 ἐξάρῃς 28

mvp-comment-620-1 εἰ … μὴ )δυνήθημεν 29

mvp-comment-621-1 χερσὶν παρευθύνοντες 30 χερσὶν 31 ὅπου 32

mvp-comment-622-1 κακοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρὸς 33

mvp-comment-622-2 ἄνδρα 34 ὄντα 35

mvp-comment-623-1 καλῶς φέροιντ’ ἄν 36

mvp-comment-623-2 ἔνθα μὴ 37

mvp-comment-624-1 φόβου πρόβλημα 38

mvp-comment-624-2 αἰδοῦς 39

mvp-comment-625-1 κἂν σῶμα γεννήσῃ μέγα 40

mvp-comment-625-2 κἂν ἀπὸ σμ. κακοῦ 41 κἂν 42 ἀπὸ 43

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

1054. mvp-comment-678-1 ζητοῦντες] i.e. ἐξετάζοντες, ‘In the trial.'

1057. mvp-comment-679-1 τήνδε πεῖραν ἔσβεσεν] For this metaphorical use of σβεννύω, cp. Heracl. fr. 103, ed Bywater, ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύειν, μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊήν.

1058. mvp-comment-680-1 τήνδ', ἣν .. τύχην] The governing word λαχόντες is absorbed, leaving τήνδε (τύχην) as an accusative in apposition with the sentence.

1059. mvp-comment-681-1 θανόντες ἂν προὐκείμεθα] 'We should have died and been cast forth.' In order to justify his own violence, Menelaus imagines Ajax (if successful) as usurping the command of the army, and forbidding the burial of the generals whom he had slain.

1061. mvp-comment-682-1 πεσεῖν] An epexegetic infinitive, completing the imperfect construction of πρὸς μῆλα, κ.τ.λ. By a slight inversion the insult ( ὕβριν), instead of the objects of the insult, is put into the accusative after ἐνήλλαξεν. The meaning is that some divine power (which the spectator knows to be Athena's) exchanged one victim of Ajax' fury for another.

1063. mvp-comment-683-1 σῶμα τυμβεῦσαι τάφῳ] Το 'give his corpse the honours of a tomb.' See Essay on L. § 17. p. 25 c; also ibid. § 16. p. 236. Menelaus dwells with mocking iteration upon the privilege which he denies.

1064. mvp-comment-684-1 ἀμφὶ.. ἐκβεβλημένος] 'Cast forth here or there on the humid sand.' The vague ἀμφί implies 'casually here or there, as carried by the waves.' Cp. Aesch. Pers. 576, 7, κναπτόμενοι δ᾽ ἁλὶ δεινὰ | σκύλλονται πρὸς ἀναύδων | παίδων τῆς ἀμιάντου.

1064. mvp-comment-684-2 χλωράν probably here refers not to colour but to moisture, i.e. that part of the sands which the sea has moistened. So in Trach. 849, χλωρὰν . . δακρύων ἄχναν, 'moist dew of tears.'

1066. mvp-comment-685-1 μηδὲν.. μένος] « 'By no means let thy spirit rise threateningly.' μηδέν is adverbial, and δεινόν predicative.

1069. mvp-comment-686-1 παρευθύνοντες] 'Keeping him in order.' Cp. supr. 72, ἀπευθύνοντα, and note. The composition with παρά suggests the image of a slave-driver walking beside a gang of slaves and keeping them in line.

1069-1070. mvp-comment-687-1 i.e. 'I knew him too well in life to suppose that he will listen to reason.' Such appears to be the force of the opposition between χερσίν and λόγων here. This, said of the dead man, of course conveys the acme of brutal scorn. Cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3. 4, “Indeed, this counsellor | Is now most still, most secret, and most grave.” For ὅπου, transferred from place to occasion, cp. infr. 1100.

1071. mvp-comment-688-1 ἄνδρα is almost a pronoun (Essay on L. § 22. p. 37, 5), and hence the repetition is not felt. 'It is vile conduct, for one of the people to disobey.' The γνώμη is first stated as applicable to a city, and then in 1075 applied (with the emphatic γε) to the case of an army.

1073-1076. mvp-comment-689-1 'As in a city the laws cannot have due course if there be no established fear, so neither can a whole army be wisely disciplined without some safeguard of respect and awe.' For καλῶς φέροιντ᾽ ἄν, cp. Thuc. 5. 16, εὖ φερόμενος ἐν στρατηγίαις: ib. 2. 60, καλῶς φερόμενος .. τὸ καθ᾽ ἑαυτόν.

1075. mvp-comment-690-1 ἄρχοιτ' is a late correction in L² for ἄγοιτ'? ἔτι] 'Any longer;' i.e. 'When once respect is lost, good conduct is at an end.'

1077. mvp-comment-691-1 κἂν σῶμα γεννήσῃ μέγα] 'Though he be owner (lit. parent) of a mighty frame.' This is a bold extension of the idiom by which unconscious and mechanical actions are attributed to the subject, and one is said φῦσαι ὀδόντας, ‘To have grown teeth,' etc. See Essay on L. § 30. p. 52 d; and cp. especially O. C. 149, 50, ἀλαῶν ὀμμάτων .. φυτάλμιος, and note. Menelaus insinuates that the bulky frame of Ajax was his chief qualification.