Sophocles Ajax 229

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Ulysses
Shall I be free, and speak
The truth to thee, without reproach or blame ?

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.) — 215-257 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 214-262 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 229 focus
δεσμῶτιν ἄγων ἤλυθε ποίμναν·
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 214-262 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 229 focus
TEU
Re-enter TECMESSA with EURYSAKES . CHORUS.
Lo! where the hero’s housemate and his child,
Hitting the moment’s need, appear at hand,
To tend the burial of the ill fated dead.
Come, child, take thou thy station close beside:
Kneel and embrace the author of thy life,
In solemn suppliant fashion holding forth
This lock of thine own hair, and hers, and mine
With threefold consecration, that if one
Of the army force thee from thy father’s corse,
My curse may banish him from holy ground,
Far from his home, unburied, and cut off
From all his race, even as I cut this curl.
There, hold him, child, and guard him; let no hand
Stir thee, but lean to the calm breast and cling.
() And ye, be not like women in this scene,
Nor let your manhoods falter; stand true men
1180
To this defence, till I return prepared,
1180
Though all cry No, to give him burial.
1180
When shall the tale of wandering years be done?
1180
When shall arise our exile’s latest sun?
1180
Oh, where shall end the incessant woe
1180
Of troublous spear-encounter with the foe,
1180
Through this vast Trojan plain,
1180
Of Grecian arms the lamentable stain?
Would he had gone to inhabit the wide sky,
Or that dark home of death where millions lie,
Who taught our Grecian world the way
To use vile swords and knit the dense array!
His toil gave birth to toil
In endless line. He made mankind his spoil.
His tyrant will hath forced me to forgo
The garland, and the goblet’s bounteous flow:
Yea, and the flute’s dear noise,
And night’s more tranquil joys;
Ay me! nor only these,
The fruits of golden ease,
But Love, but Love—O crowning sorrow!—
Hath ceased for me. I may not borrow
Sweet thoughts from him to smooth my dreary bed,
Where dank night-dews fall ever on my head,
Lest once I might forget the sadness of the morrow.
Even here in Troy, Aias was erst my rock,
From darkling fears and ’mid the battle-shock
To screen me with huge might:
Now he is lost in night
And horror. Where again
Shall gladness heal my pain?
O were I where the waters hoary,
Round Sunium’s pine-clad promontory,
Plash underneath the flowery upland height.
Then holiest Athens soon would come in sight,
And to Athena’s self I might declare my story.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 233 focus
Weh! Dorther, dorther kam er zu uns,
225
Und führte die Heerd' in gefesseltem Zug;
Und die einen erwürgt' er am Boden im Zelt,
Und die anderen hieb er mitten entzwei,
Griff zween weißfüßige Widder sodann,
Mäht' einem das Haupt und die Zunge herab,
230
Und warf sie hinweg;
Und den anderen band er am Pfeiler empor,
Und faßte den Roßzaum doppelt und schwang
Und geißelte, daß hell schwirrte der Schlag,
Schmachworte zugleich ausschüttend, die nur
235
Ein Gott, kein Mensch, ihm gelehrt hat.
Gegenstrophe.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 229 focus
Teucer
'Gainst thee a foe
Did Ajax ever lead?
I hated him,
He hated me: thou know'st this.
In the votes
Thou wast found false and fraudulent.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 214-260 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-788-1 τλῇς 1

mvp-comment-788-2 βαλεῖν 2

mvp-comment-789-1 ἡ βία 3 νικησάτω 4

mvp-comment-789-2 πατεῖν 5

mvp-comment-790-1 ἔχθιστος 6

mvp-comment-790-2 )κράτησα 7

mvp-comment-791-1 ἔμπας 8

mvp-comment-791-2 ἀντατιμάσαιμ’ 9 οὔ τἂν ἀτιμάσαιμ’ 10 οὔκουν 11 οὐκ οὖν 12

mvp-comment-792-1 ἕν’ ἄνδρ’ … ἄριστον 13

mvp-comment-793-1 πλὴν Ἀχιλλέως 14

mvp-comment-794-1 τοὺς θεῶν νόμους 15

mvp-comment-795-1 τὸν ἐσθλὸν ἄνδρα 16

mvp-comment-795-2 εἰ θάνοι 17

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

1334. mvp-comment-853-1 ἡ βία] 'The spirit of tyranny.' Cp. infr. 1357. For a similar use of ἀρχή, cp. Thuc. 3. 82. § 16.

1335. mvp-comment-854-1 τοσόνδε μισεῖν] 'To carry hate so far.' The absolute use of the verb is noticeable. Cp. El. 357, σὺ δ' ἡμὶν ἡ μισοῦσα μισεῖς μὲν λόγῳ.

1336. mvp-comment-855-1 καμοί] 'To me also,' as well as to you and Menelaus.

1337. mvp-comment-856-1 Cp. Phil. 1292, πρότεινε χεῖρα, καὶ κράτει τῶν σῶν ὅπλων: Thuc. 3. 47, ἐπειδή τε ὅπλων ἐκράτησεν.

1339. mvp-comment-857-1 οὐκ *ἀντατιμάσαιμ' ἄν] This reading, though found in no MS., is nearer to the first hand of L, and also more pointed, than οὔκουν ἀτ. ἄv, the reading of C and some inferior MSS. ἀντατιμάζω does not occur elsewhere, but is supported by the analogy of ἀνταδικεῖν.

1340. mvp-comment-858-1 ἕν᾿ ἄνδρ᾿ ἰδεῖν ἄριστον ᾿Αργείων] 'That he stood alone, so far as I could see, as the noblest of the Argives.' ἕν᾿ ἄνδρα is here intensive. Cp. Aesch. Pers. 327, εἰς ἀνὴρ πλεῖστον πόνον . . παρασχών.

1341. mvp-comment-859-1 πλὴν ᾿Αχιλλέως] Cp. the lines of the 11th Odyssey quoted above, note on 1319; and Alcaeus, Fr. 48, τὸν ἄριστον πέδ᾽ ᾿Αχίλλεα: Pind. Nem. 7. 40, κράτιστον ᾿Αχιλέος ἄτερ.

1342. mvp-comment-860-1 ἀτιμάζοιτο] The passive, while emphasizing the verb, avoids the 2nd person. (E. on L. § 31. p. 1. 53 a, p. 1. 54 b.)

1344-1345. mvp-comment-861-1 εἰ θάνοι] For the optative in supposing a general case, see Essay on L. § 36. p. 61a (1) . Join ἄνδρα . . τὸν ἐσθλόν.