Sophocles Ajax 207

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Teucer
{Exit. Scene VI.
Chorus.

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.) — 202-214 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 201-213 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 207 focus
κεῖται χειμῶνι νοσήσας.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 201-213 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 207 focus
MEN
Redoubted is the wrath lives on thy tongue.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 201 focus
Ihr Führer von Ajas' Schiffe, gezeugt
Aus Erechtheus' Stamm, den die Erde gebar! 1
Wohl jammern wir laut, wir, liebend und treu
200
Um Telamons Haus in der Ferne besorgt;
Denn Ajas, der Held, groß, riesiger Kraft,
Liegt niedergebeugt
Von dem Sturm wildwühlenden Wahnsinns.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 207 focus
Teucer
992cont2
Of all the sights, which e'er my eyes beheld,
Most mournful this; 'my feet ne'er trod a path
Which led to grief, that rends the heart, like this,
Through which, O dearest Ajax, of thy death
Soon as inform'd, I follow'd thee, and traced
Thy steps; for quick through all the Grecian camp
The rumour of thy dreadful fate was spread,
As of some god: I heard it with dismay,
And distant then groan'd deep; I see it now,
And sink oppress'd with misery. Go, remove
That robe, that all the ill these eyes may view.
Oh, what a sight of horror! What a deed
Of daring desperation! What a store
Of woes hast thou in death laid up for me!
For whither, to what people can I go,
In thy distress who gave thee not my aid?
Will Telamon, the father of us both,
With gentle looks and well-affection'd mind
Receive me, without thee? Will he do this,
Who never, e'en in prosperous fortune, wore
A pleasing smile? Much rather will he give
His rage full scope, and wound me with reproach,
That from a slave, the captive of his arms,
Base-born, through cowardice and abject fear,
Or with a villain's wiles, I have betray'd
And rich possessions. Thus, to anger prompt
By nature, and through age now more severe,
He to high passions will give way, and urge
A charge against me I have not deserved ::
Thus rated as a slave shall I be driven...
An outcast from my country. This my doom
At Salamis: but on the coast of Troy
I shall find many enemies, but few
To favour me, and all this through thy death.
But how, ah wretched me! how shall I draw
Thy body from this sharp deep-piercing sword?
It vibrates in the ground. Unhappy man,
By whom art thou thus slaughter'd! Did thy thought
Conceive that e'er the fatal time would come
When Hector, though long dead, should work thy death?
Mark, by the gods, the fate of both the Chiefs:
Bound by the radiant belt, which Ajax gave,
Was Hector by the rolling chariot dragg'd
The gift of Hector, falls and lies in blood.
Did not the Furies forge that slaughtering sword,
And hell's dread monarch, ruthless artist, frame
That belt? These things I deem, and all th' events
Befalling mortal man, are by the gods
Always assign'd... Is there whose mind dissents?
Let him enjoy his thoughts: but these are mine.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 201-210 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-691-1 γένους ἅπαντος 1

mvp-comment-691-2 ῥίζαν ἐξημημένος 2

mvp-comment-692-1 αὔτως 3

mvp-comment-692-2 ὅπωσπερ τόνδ’ ἐγὼ τέμνω πλόκον 4

mvp-comment-693-1 κινησάτω 5 προσπεσὼν 6 ἔχου 7

mvp-comment-694-1 ὑμεῖς τε 8 δὲ 9 τε 10

mvp-comment-694-2 ἀντ’ ἀνδρῶν 11

mvp-comment-695-1 ἔστ’ 12

mvp-comment-695-2 τάφου μεληθεὶς 13

mvp-comment-695-3 κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ 14

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

1178. mvp-comment-755-1 γένους . . ἐξημημένος] 'Having cut off from him all issue.' Here, and in Ant. 600, ῥίζα seems to mean the germ of a branch rather than the root of a tree. Teucer's prayer is that his enemy may die childless, and that his body may lie unburied, as it were banished from the 'lap of earth.' Cp. Isaiah 14. 19, 'But thou art cast out of thy grave as an abominable branch: as a carcase trodden under foot.' Or it may also mean 'denied burial in his own land.'

1180. mvp-comment-756-1 αὐτόν] Sc. τὸν νέκρον.

1181. mvp-comment-757-1 ἔχου] Cp. Hdt. 4. 22, καὶ ὁ κύων ἔχεται.

1182-1183. mvp-comment-758-1 ὑμεῖς τε.. ἀρήγετ'] 'And do not ye stand by like women, but defend him like men.'

1183-1184. mvp-comment-759-1 ἔς τ᾽ ἐγὼ μόλω .. τῷδε] 'Until I return after caring for his burial.' The stress on the participle is no objection to this reading; and μολεῖν has often the sense of 'to return.' κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ] 'Though all men forbid me.' For this expression, cp. Phil. 443, 4, ὅπου | μηδεὶς ἐῴη.

1183-1184. mvp-comment-759-2 The rhythm of the following stasimon is largely choriambic, and is expressive of restless impatience. The metrical scheme is the following...