Ajax. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-684-1 κάπετον 1
mvp-comment-684-2 ἰδεῖν 2
mvp-comment-685-1 βροτοῖς τὸν ἀείμνηστον 3
mvp-comment-685-2 εὐρώεντα 4
mvp-comment-685-3
The legendary tomb of Ajax was shown on the coast of the Troad near Cape Rhoeteum; Strabo 13. p. 595
τῷ *(ποιτείῳ συνεχὴς ᾐὼν ἁλιτενής, ἐφ’ ᾗ μνῆμα καὶ ἱερὸν Αἴαντος καὶ ἀνδριάς. Alexander the Great, on landing in the Troad, offered
ἐναγίσματα at the tomb of Ajax as well as at that of Achilles (
Diod. 17. 17
). There were legends of gigantic bones having been found in the tomb (
Paus. 1. 35. 5
).
mvp-comment-686-1 καὶ μὴν 5
mvp-comment-686-2 ἐς αὐτὸν καιρὸν 6 πλησίον 7
mvp-comment-686-3 Tecmessa had left the scene after v. 989, in order to bring the child Eurysaces from the tent, where he had been left when she set forth in search of Ajax (810). The part of Tecmessa is now taken by a mute person, as the deuteragonist has presently to resume the part of Odysseus (1318).
mvp-comment-686-4 τάφον περιστελοῦντε 8 περιστελοῦντι 9
mvp-comment-687-1 ἱκέτης 10
mvp-comment-687-2
While the child knelt as a suppliant by the body, with his hand upon it, the corpse could not be forcibly removed without offence to Zeus
Ἱκέσιος. Teucer is about to go and seek a place for the grave (1184), and he desires to secure that the body shall not be disturbed during his absence.
mvp-comment-687-3 ὅς σ’ ἐγείνατο 11
mvp-comment-688-1 θάκει δὲ προστρόπαιος 12
mvp-comment-688-2 κόμας 13
mvp-comment-688-3 τρίτου 14
mvp-comment-689-1 ἱκτήριον θησαυρόν 15
mvp-comment-690-1 κακὸς κακῶς 16
mvp-comment-690-2 ἄθαπτος ἐκπέσοι χθονός 17
mvp-comment-690-3 ἐκπέσοι 18
mvp-comment-691-1 γένους ἅπαντος 19
mvp-comment-691-2 ῥίζαν ἐξημημένος 20
mvp-comment-692-1 αὔτως 21
mvp-comment-692-2 ὅπωσπερ τόνδ’ ἐγὼ τέμνω πλόκον 22
mvp-comment-693-1 κινησάτω 23 προσπεσὼν 24 ἔχου 25
mvp-comment-694-1 ὑμεῖς τε 26 δὲ 27 τε 28
mvp-comment-694-2 ἀντ’ ἀνδρῶν 29
mvp-comment-695-1 ἔστ’ 30
mvp-comment-695-2 τάφου μεληθεὶς 31
mvp-comment-695-3 κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ 32
mvp-comment-696-1 νέατος 33 νέατος 34
mvp-comment-696-2 πολυπλάγκτων 35
mvp-comment-697-1 τὰν ἄπαυστον 36
mvp-comment-698-1 δορυσσοήτων 37 δορυσσόων 38 δορυσσῶν 39
mvp-comment-699-1 ἀν τὰν εὐρώδεα Τρωΐαν 40 ἀν 41
mvp-comment-700-1 δύστανον ὄνειδος Ἑλλάνων 42
mvp-comment-701-1 ὄφελε 43
mvp-comment-701-2 αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν 44
mvp-comment-701-3 πολύκοινον Ἅιδαν 45
1163-1165. mvp-comment-745-1 The anapaests accompany the exit of Menelaus. The Chorus express their apprehension of what may follow this, viz. the coming of Agamemnon, who, both from his character and position, is more formidable. ἔριδος .. ἀγών] So in Trach. 20, ἀγῶνα μάχης.
1165. mvp-comment-746-1 κοίλην κάπετον] This phrase, belonging to the Epic commonplace, is repeated infr. 1403. τινά, i. e. πού, 'somewhere.' For this adverbial use of the indefinite pronoun, see Essay on L. § 22. p. 36, 4. ἰδεῖν] · 'To look out,' 'provide.' For this use of ὁρᾶν, cp. Od. 8. 443, αὐτὸς νῦν ἴδε πῶμα: Theocr. 15. 2, ὅρη δίφρον, Εὐνόα, αὐτῷ: Phil. 843, τάδε μὲν θεὸς ὄψεται. So, also in Elizabethan English, 'to look' sometimes means 'to look for,' e.g. Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, 4. 2, 79, 'Mistress Page and I will look some linen for your head.'
1166. mvp-comment-747-1 βροτοῖς] 'In the eyes of men.' A dative of remote reference in loose construction with the words which follow, and also to be resumed with ἀείμνηστον. See Essay on L. § 13. p. 19. and cp. especially El. 1066, ὦ χθονία βροτοῖσι φάμα. For the position of the article, cp. Trach. 872, Ἡρακλεῖ τὸ πόμπιμον. τὸν ἀείμνηστον] 'Of unfading renown.' The expression (with the article) is proleptic, and reminds the spectator that the fame of Ajax is eternal.
1167. mvp-comment-748-1 εὐρώεντα] 'Mouldering,' or 'darksome,' an epithet recalling the natural horror of the grave. Whether to Sophocles, as to Oppian and Nonnus afterwards, the word conveyed the association of 'roomy,' 'wide-vaulted,' may be left an open question. See L. and S. s. ν. εὐρώεις.
1170. mvp-comment-749-1 περιστελοῦντε] Το 'care for.' The verb is used much as in Ant. 903, δέμας περιστέλλουσα.
1172. mvp-comment-750-1 The child clinging to his dead father would be as inviolable as a suppliant clinging to an altar. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 106, αἰδουμένη σοι βωμὸν ὡς τύμβον πατρός: ib. 336, 7, τάφος δ᾽ ἱκέτας δέδεκται | φυγάδας θ' ὁμοίως.
1173. mvp-comment-751-1 προστρόπαιος is a more solemn and formal word than ἱκέτης. The formality of the supplication would be marked by the locks of hair cut off in token of mourning for the dead, which Eurysaces is to hold in his hand.
1174. mvp-comment-752-1 Cp. El. 448-50, σὺ δὲ | τεμοῦσα κρατὸς βοστρύχων ἄκρας φόβας | κἀμοῦ ταλαίνης, κ.τ.λ. For τρίτου, cp. O. C. 8, and note.
1175. mvp-comment-753-1 ἱκτήριον θησαυρόν] ‘A suppliant store,' i. e. a sacred deposit having virtue for the purpose of supplication. στρατοῦ] Here and supr. 1044 the rest of the army seems to be opposed to the men of Salamis.
1177. mvp-comment-754-1 κακὸς κακῶς] The tautology belongs to the formal solemnity of the oath. Cp. O. T. 219, 20, and note.
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...
1185. mvp-comment-760-1 'When shall be the end, and what the number of the restless years of exile?' ἐς πότε λήξει is rather an amplification than a parenthesis. The simpler expression would be either τίς νέατος ἔσται ἀριθμός, or, ἐς πότε λήξει ὁ ἀριθμός. But νέατος is already redundant, and this gives rise to the further expansion. πολυπλάγκτων is put by hypallage or condensation for τοῦ ἐμὲ πολλὰ πλαγχθῆναι, sc. ἀπ᾿ οἴκου.
1187. mvp-comment-761-1 The corruption of the word δορυσσοήτων into δορυσσόντων in most MSS. is natural enough, although there is no such participle, and the adjective, which is more expressive as well as more rhythmical, agrees in metre with the antistrophe.
1190. mvp-comment-762-1 ἀν᾿ ἀερώδεα Τρωΐαν, G. Wolff's conjecture, founded on the scholion σκοτεινὴν καὶ ἀερώδη τοῖς Ἕλλησι, at least gives a possible sense and meaning. The contrast between the misty Hellespont and the bright air of Salamis and Athens is a natural topic of complaint. Cp. infr. 1208, 9, ἀεὶ πυκιναῖς δρόσοις | τεγγόμενος κόμας. Although Τρωΐα for Τροία does not occur elsewhere in Sophocles, it is acknowledged as the Pindaric form (Schndw. Pind. Ol. 2. 145). The interpolation ἀνὰ τάν may be partly due to ἄταν preceding. (Hermann thinks εὐρώδη sound, in the sense of εὐρεῖαν, —'wide,' and so 'desolate,'—but admits that either strophe or antistrophe is corrupt. Dind. reads, ἀν᾿ εὐρώδη Τροίαν, altering the antistrophe. Seyffert's conj., ἄνατον εὐρυεδεῖ Τροίᾳ, 'Doing no harm to broad-based Troy,' is very ingenious.)
1191. mvp-comment-763-1 ὄνειδος is either (1) in apposition with the whole sentence; or (2) with Τρωΐαν.
1192. mvp-comment-764-1 πρότερον] Sc. ἢ δεῖξαι .. Ἄρη. αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν] As Linwood observed, the idea of going away into the ether occurs again in Phil. 1092 foll., ἴθ' αἰθέρος ἄνω | πτωκάδες ὀξυτόνου διὰ πνεύματος | ἕλωσί μ'. Cp. also Phil. 814, 15, ἐκεῖσε νῦν μ', ἐκεῖσε. ΝΕ. ποῖ λέγεις; ΦΙ. ἄνω | ΝΕ. τί παραφρονεῖς αὖ; τί τὸν ἄνω λεύσσεις κύκλον; and the inscription over the dead who fell at Potidaea in B.C. 432, αἰθὴρ μὲμ ψυχὰς ὑπεδέξατο, κ.τ.λ.