377.
mvp-comment-266-1
ὅπως οὐχ ὧδ᾽ ἔχειν]
ὅπως is here simply an indefinite
ὡs, and is construed with the infinitive as
ὡς might have been.
379.
mvp-comment-267-1
The former outburst was towards the Atreidae. He now breaks forth against Odysseus.
379.
mvp-comment-267-2
πάνθ᾽ ὁρῶν]
Cp. supr. 29, Phil. 1013, 4,
ἀλλ᾿ ἡ κακὴ σὴδιὰ μυχῶν βλέπουσ᾽' ἀεὶ | ψυχή, κ.τ.λ.
381.
mvp-comment-268-1
κακοπινέστατον.. ἄλημα στρατοῦ] 'Abominable misleader of the host.' So the Scholiast seems to understand the words,
κακοπινέστατον, 'defiled,' i. e. by continual base practices. Musgrave suggested an allusion to the act of disguising himself as a wandering beggar mentioned in Od. 4. 242 foll., but preferred to derive
ἄλημα (=
παιπάλη) from
ἀλέω. The earlier explanation is here preferable to both these, and in
infr. 390,
ἄλημα may quite well mean, 'cause of error' (
τῶν Ἑλλήνων, gl. Pal.).
Cp. the causative use of
ἄλη in Aesch. Ag. 195,
δύσορμοι | βροτῶν ἄλαι. The error of which Ajax most complains is the misjudgment about the arms of Achilles.
382.
mvp-comment-269-1
ἄγεις] 'Dost prolong.'
383.
mvp-comment-270-1
ξὺν τῷ θεῷ] The article is not added to
θεός elsewhere in Sophocles without special reason, and the conjecture of Schndw.
ξύν τοι θεῷ supplies a article of connexion. But the asyndeton is rather impressive, and
τῷ θεῷ may be explained 'the god who gives the laughter or the tears.' 'Laughter and sorrow are in the hands of God;' i. e. 'we must be patient and the position may be reversed.' The chorus reflect that the Divine power which now favours Odysseus and oppresses Ajax may hereafter work the opposite effect.
Cp. Trach. 131 foll.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πῆμα καὶ χαρὰ | πᾶσι κυκλοῦσιν, οἷον | ἄρκτου στροφάδες κέλευθοι.
384.
mvp-comment-271-1
The syllable which has been probably lost from this line has been variously restored,
μέν, νῦν, μήν, etc., the Triclinian reading is harmless, and is followed in the text, in the absence of better MS. authority. Ajax prays to see his enemy, that, even ruined as he is, he may avenge himself.
Cp. infr. 388-91, Trach. 1107 foll.
ἀλλ᾽ εὖ γέ τοι τύδ᾽ ἴστε, κἂν τὸ μηδὲν ὦ, | κἂν μηδὲν ἔρπω, τὴν γε δράσασαν τάδε | χειρώσομαι κἀκ τῶνδε προσμόλοι μόνον, κ.τ.λ. This is more probable than an aposiopesis of
ὀδυρόμενον.
384.
mvp-comment-271-2
or the like, though this may be suggested by comparing Phil. 1113 foll.
ἰδοίμαν δε νιν, | τὸν τάδε μησάμενον, τὸν ἴσον χρόνον | ἐμὰς λαχόντ᾽ ἀνίας.
387.
mvp-comment-272-1
προγόνων προπάτωρ] Zeus was only the great-grandsire of Ajax, but the feeling of Sophocles and his age required that the Divine source should seem more remote. For similar vagueness in speaking of the past,
cp. Ant. 981, 2, where
σπέρμα. ἀρχαιογόνων | ἄντασ᾿ Ερεχθειδᾶν is said of the grand-daughter of Erechtheus. Also
supr. 190.
390.
mvp-comment-273-1
ὀλέσσας] The
σ is doubled Epicè.
Cp. Aesch. Pers. 864,
ὅσσας δ' είλε πόλεις.
391.
mvp-comment-274-1
τέλος θάνοιμι καὐτός] Ajax desires death, but death would be sweeter if he could first be avenged on his enemies. The feeling here is slightly different from Aesch. Choeph. 438,
ἔπειτ' ἐγὼ νοσφίσας ὀλοίμαν, where the participle has an exclusive emphasis ('if I could only take their lives'), and there is no real desire of death.
394.
mvp-comment-275-1
Ajax, who had once prayed for light, now prays for darkness as his only light.
396.
mvp-comment-276-1
φαεννότατον, ὡς ἐμοί] Most brilliant, in my sight.'
Cp. Ant. 1161,
Κρέων γὰρ ἦν ζηλωτός, ὡς ἐμοί, ποτέ.
397.
mvp-comment-277-1
ἕλεσθ᾽ ἔλεσθέ μ'] In the spirit of polytheism the two names
σκότος and
έρεβος are imagined to denote two beings. Hence the plural. For the middle voice,
cp. Ο. Τ. 887,
κακά νιν ἔλοιτο μοίρα.
399.
mvp-comment-278-1
i. e.
οὐκέτι γὰρ ἄξιός εἰμι βλέπειν οὔτε εἰς θεῶν γένος οὔτε εἰς ὄνασιν τινα ἁμερίων ἀνθρώπων. For the omission of the preposition in the former clause,
cp. Ant. 789, 90,
καί σ' οὔτ᾽ ἀθανάτων φύξιμος οὐδείς, | οὔθ᾽ ἁμερίων ἐπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων : and for
βλέπειν εἰς,
cp. Ant. 922, 3,
τί χρή με τὴν δύστηνον εἰς θεοὺς ἔτι | βλέπειν; Others (see v. rr.) join
τινὰ ἀνθρώπων, making
εἰς ὅνασιν adverbial, and understand
βλέπειν with the accusative to be equivalent to
βλέπειν εἰς.
403.
mvp-comment-279-1
†ὀλέθριον αἰκίζει] The MS. reading is unmetrical, unless on the somewhat forced supposition that
εὔφρονες in the antistrophe may be scanned
ἐύφρονες. Wunder conjectured
οὔλιον, which restores the metre. But
ούλιος is everywhere active, and we can hardly venture to introduce it passively here. All that can be said is that
ὀλέθριον has probably taken the place of some equivalent word (such as
πάμμορον), unless we may be satisfied with
ὀλέθρι', the adverbial plural. Hermann's attempt to scan the two lines thus,
ἀλκίμα θεὸς ὁ λέθριον αἰκίζει, -υ-νου-ου- is unusually violent.
404.
mvp-comment-280-1
ποῖ . μενῶ] 'Whither shall I go and find rest?' The subjunctive in
φύγῃ is excused by the implication of the first person in the third.
405.
mvp-comment-281-1
The Scholion,
διὰ (τὴν κατὰ L) τὴν κρίσιν τῶν ὅπλων, is not inconsistent with the reading in the text, which admits of being construed thus, 'Seeing that things here are perishing together with these victims by my side.' But the language is at once obscure and feeble, and the metre does not agree with the antistrophe. There must be something wrong. The general meaning is, 'I am finally ruined, and at this moment am involved in ridicule and disgrace.' The simplest change is to read
τάδε μέν for
τὰ μὲν (Elmsl.), and
τίσις δ᾽ for
τοῖσδ' (Lobeck), i. e. (405-8)
εἰ τάδε μὲν φθίνει φίλοι, τίσις δ᾽ | ὁμοῦ πέλας: and (423-6)
ἐξερέω μέγ' οἷον οὔτινα Τροία στρατοῦ. But even so, there is too much of repetition for a lyric passage, and it is reasonable to suppose some deeper corruption. For example,
τοῖσδ᾽ ὁμοῦ may have grown out of
πέλας, and this may be a corruption of
πάλαι. Then supposing (with Schndw.) that
στρατοῦ and
ἀπό are excrescences in the antistrophe, we might read (405-8),
εἰ τάδε μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, πάλαι, | μώραις δ' ἄγραις προσκείμεθα, and (423-6),
εξερέω μέγ', οἷον οὔτινα | Τροία χθονὸς δέρχθη μολόνθ' | etc. See note on l. 348. But nothing can be asserted confidently about this passage. For
προσκείμεθα, cp. El. 1040,
ᾧ σὺ πρόσκεισαι κακῷ.
408.
mvp-comment-282-1
Cp. supr. 251.
δίπαλτος] «With spears in both hands' -
δύο δοῦρε παλλόμενοι. On this use of the adjective, see Essay on L. § 5.3. p. 98, also § 42. p. 80y; and
cp. esp. El. 1494,
κού πρόχειρος εἶ κτανεῖν: Aesch. Ag. 1652,
πρόκωπος.. θανεῖν. ἂν.. φονεύοι] The sentence, although introduced with
el, is continued independently of the hypothetical construction.
410.
mvp-comment-283-1
χρήσιμον] 'Serviceable,' here answers to the Epic
βοὴν ἀγαθός, ‘good at need.' The essential value of Ajax' services to the army is emphasized throughout.
Cp. esp.
supr. 119, 20.
413.
mvp-comment-284-1
πόροι ἁλίρροθοι] 'Paths of the surging sea,' i. e. either generally, or with reference to the narrow seas of the Aegean, called
πόντιαι αὐλῶνες in Trach. 100, which separated Ajax from his home; or, possibly, to the Hellespont, which had witnessed his exploits, and is called by Xerxes, in Hdt. 7.35,
ἁλμυρὸς ποταμός. Cp. infr. 884, Aesch. Pers. 367.
414.
mvp-comment-285-1
πάραλά τ᾽ ἄντρα, κ.τ.λ.] These were especially familiar to Ajax from his position at the end of the line towards Rhoeteum.
416.
mvp-comment-286-1
ἀμπνοὰς ἔχοντα] i. e. 'If you keep me here, it will not be in life.'
417.
mvp-comment-287-1
φρονῶν] ‘If he have sense to perceive.'
420.
mvp-comment-288-1
εὔφρονες ᾿Αργείοις] i.e. 'Kind to me no longer, but to my enemies.' In a different mood he afterwards (
infr. 863) bids farewell to the rivers of Troy as his nurses.
424.
mvp-comment-289-1
οἷον, κ.τ.λ.] In Homeric fashion Ajax boasts himself to be the bravest of the Greeks.
Cp. II. 18. 104, 5,
τοῖος ἐὼν οἷος οὔτις᾿ Ἀχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων | ἐν πολέμῳ. That he is the bravest next to Achilles is the Homeric tradition, and he is acknowledged to be so by his enemy Odysseus,
infr. 1341. The arrangement of this part of the antistrophe must be adapted to the change made in the strophe. See note on 405 foll. For
μέγα,
cp. Pind. Nem. 6. 45, 6,
ἔλπομαι μέγα εἰπὼν σκοποῦ ἄντα τυχεῖν.
425.
mvp-comment-290-1
The hiatus after
ἀπό at the end of the (lyric) iambic line is doubtful.
427.
mvp-comment-291-1
The reading
πρόκειται is not wholly impossible.
