1290.
mvp-comment-824-1
'Poor man! and what can you be thinking of when you say it?' i. e. 'How can you be so blind?'
αὐτά refers to the general sense of the preceding words, as constantly in Thucydides.
καί is to be taken closely with the interrogative.
1292.
mvp-comment-825-1
'That Pelops was originally a barbarian Phrygian.' The adjective, as suppl. pred., has the force of an adverb, i. e.
ἀρχῆθεν or
τὸ ἀρχαῖον.
Cp. Ant. 593,
ἀρχαῖα τὰ Λαβδακιδᾶν, κ.τ.λ. Perhaps
τἀρχαῖον should be read. For
Φρύγα (a word always used contemptuously, as in Eur. Alc. 675,
πότερα Λυδὸν ἢ Φρύγα, κ.τ.λ.), cp. Hdt. 7. 11,
Πέλοψ ὁ Φρύξ.
1293.
mvp-comment-826-1
ὃς αὖ σ᾽ ἔσπειρε] These words, with
δέ, point the antithesis to
σοῦ πατρὸς μὲν.. πατήρ,
supr. 1291.
δυσσεβέστατον has been joined with
σέ, and by some with
᾿Ατρέα. But for the addition of this epithet to
δεῖπνον οἰκείων τέκνων, to which Hermann objects, cp. O. C. 945, 6,
οὐδ᾽ ὅτῳ γάμοι | ξυνόντες εὑρέθησαν ἀνόσιοι τέκνων, Ant. 514.
1297.
mvp-comment-827-1
'Gave her up to be devoured by dumb fishes.' The ancient Scholiast says:
ἡ ἱστορία ἐν ταῖς Κρήσσαις Εὐριπίδου, ὅτι διαφθαρεῖσαν αὐτὴν λάθρα ὑπὸ θεράποντος, ὁ πατὴρ Ναυπλίῳ παρέδωκεν, ἐντειλάμενος ἀποποντῶσαι· ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐνεγγύησε Πλεισθένει. (It is possible also to suppose
ὁ φ. πατήρ to mean Atreus, and
ἔπακτον ἄνδρα Thyestes.) For the aggravation of the taunt in
ἐλλοῖς ἰχθύσιν, cp. Il. 21. 201-4,
τὸν δὲ κατ᾿ αὐτόθι λεῖπεν, ἐπεὶ φίλον ἦτορ ἀπηύρα, | κείμενον ἐν ψαμάθοισι, δίαινε δέ μιν μέλαν ὕδωρ. | τὸν μὲν ἄρ᾽ ἐγχέλυές τε καὶ ἰχθύες ἀμφεπένοντο, | δημὸν ἐρεπτόμενοι ἐπινεφρίδιον κείροντες.
διαφθοράν is either (1) accusative in apposition with the sentence, expressing the result of the action, or (2) abstract for concrete, in apposition with
αὐτήν understood as the object of
ἐφῆκεν.
Cp. Aesch. Prom. 582 foll.,
πυρί με φλέξον .. ἢ ποντίοις δάκεσι δὸς βοράν.
1298.
mvp-comment-828-1
τοιῷδ'] Herm. preferred
τοιάνδ', which is found in some MSS.
1299.
mvp-comment-829-1
πατρὸς μέν] The
δέ answering to this
μέν (
μητρὸς δὲ βασιλείας, or the like) is lost through the introduction of the relative clause in l. 1300.
1301.
mvp-comment-830-1
ἴσχει] Historical present.
1302.
mvp-comment-831-1
βασίλεια, Λαομέδοντος] 'A princess, daughter of Laomedon.'
1302-1303.
mvp-comment-832-1
ἔκκριτον δέ νιν, κ.τ.λ.] This shows that she was not only the noblest, but the most beautiful.
1304-1305.
mvp-comment-833-1
'Should I, thus nobly born from princes on both sides, reflect disgrace upon my kin?'
Cp. Il. 6. 208-10,
αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν . . μηδὲ γένος πατέρων αἰσχυνέμεν, οἱ μέγ᾽ ἄριστοι | ἔν τ᾽ Ἐφύρῃ ἐγένοντο καὶ ἐν Λυκίῃ εὐρείῃ.
1306.
mvp-comment-834-1
τοιοῖσδ᾽ ἐν πόνοισι κειμένους]
Cp. supr. 924,
ὡς καὶ παρ᾿ ἐχθροῖς ἄξιος θρήνων τυχεῖν.
1307.
mvp-comment-835-1
οὐδ᾽ ἐπαισχύνει λέγων] ‘And are not ashamed to speak of it.'
Cp. Phil. 929 and note.
1308.
mvp-comment-836-1
τοῦτον εἰ βαλεῖτέ που] ‘If ye shall cast him forth, no matter where.'
Cp. infr. 1333,
ἄθαπτον . . βαλεῖν.
1309.
mvp-comment-837-1
'It will not be till ye have laid low us three together with him.' Teucer, Eurysaces, and Tecmessa, will die in defending the corpse. Others, following Triclinius, understand the meaning to be, 'If you attempt to cast him forth, you will lay me and yourself beside him, three laid together.'
1310.
mvp-comment-838-1
ὑπερπονουμένῳ] For the middle voice, cp. El. 399,
πεσούμεθ', εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.
1311.
mvp-comment-839-1
προδήλως] Teucer means by this that it would be more glorious to die in open quarrel for Ajax than to find an obscure grave amongst those whom he spoke of,
supr. 1112, as
οἱ πόνου πολλοῦ πλέῳ.
1312.
mvp-comment-840-1
Erfurdt's correction (see v. rr.) appears necessary. It is barely possible that
ἢ.. τε may =
ἢ καί, but far more probable that
γε was changed to
τε by accident, and
τε to
θε by mistaken correction. And
γε is expressive, 'Ay, or shall I say?' as if replying to a tacit demurrer. Teucer in his anger, like Achilles in Il. 9. 327,
δάρων ἕνεκα σφερεράων, does not choose to discriminate nicely the relation of Helen to the Atreidae.
1313.
mvp-comment-841-1
ὅρα μὴ τοὐμόν]
Cp. supr. 1255, 6,
καὶ σοὶ προσέρπον τοῦτ᾽ ἐγὼ τὸ φάρμακον | ὁρῶ, where Agamemnon professes to warn Teucer for his good.
1315.
mvp-comment-842-1
θρασύς] Sc.
γεγενῆσθαι.
