Sophocles Ajax 1192

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Prepare some hollow fosse for the remains

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.) — 1197-1394 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 1185-1222 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1192 focus
ὄφελε ὤφελε πρότερον αἰθέρα δῦναι δοῦναι δύναι μέγαν ἢ τὸν πολύκοινον
Ἄιδαν
κεῖνος ἁνήρ ἀνὴρ, ὃς ὁ ὃς στυγερῶν
ἔδειξεν ὅπλων
1195
Ἕλλασιν ἕλλασιν.... κοινὸν Ἄρη.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1185-1222 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1199 focus
No better hope for either can I frame.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1192 focus
Unselige Schmach dem Volk Hellas'!
Erste Gegenstrophe.
Wär' er in Luft verweht,
Wär' er in allbergendes Grabdunkel hinab versunken,
Jener Mann, der Hellas der all-
vertilgenden Wehr furchtbar'n
1150
Brauch lehrte zuerst!
Mühen gebärende Mühen, ach!
Er schuf ja den Menschen Unheil nur.
Zweite Strophe.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1192 focus
Oh had he first been swept away
Through air by wild winds tost;
Or sunk from heav'n's ethereal ray,
To Pluto's dreary coast;
Who train'd the Grecians to the field,
1195
Taught them the sword, the spear to wield,
1195
And steel'd the gentle mind !
Hence toil gives birth to toil again,
Hence carnage stains th' ensanguin'd plain,
For he destroy'd mankind.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1185-1220 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-702-1 κεῖνος ἁνὴρ 1

mvp-comment-702-2 ἔδειξεν 2

mvp-comment-702-3 κοινὸν Ἄρη 3

mvp-comment-703-1 ἰὼ πόνοι πρόγονοι πόνων 4

mvp-comment-704-1 οὔτε στεφάνων 5

mvp-comment-704-2 στεφάνων 6

mvp-comment-705-1 βαθειᾶν 7

mvp-comment-705-2 κυλίκων 8

mvp-comment-706-1 νεῖμεν 9 τέρψιν 10 ὁμιλεῖν 11

mvp-comment-707-1 αὐλῶν 12

mvp-comment-707-2 ὄτοβον 13

mvp-comment-708-1 δύσμορος 14

mvp-comment-708-2 ἐννυχίαν τέρψιν ἰαύειν 15

mvp-comment-708-3 Remark the repetition of τέρψιν 16

mvp-comment-709-1 ἐρώτων δ’, ἐρώτων 17

mvp-comment-710-1 ἀμέριμνος 18

mvp-comment-710-2 οὕτως 19

mvp-comment-711-1 δρόσοις 20

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

1195. mvp-comment-765-1 ὅπλων.. κοινὸν Ἄρη] Either (1), laying the chief stress on ὅπλων, 'The combined warfare that depends upon the use of armour,' i. e. 'the use of armour that made combined warfare possible.' For this descriptive genitive, cp. especially El. 19, ἄστρων . . εὐφρόνη ('Night adorned with stars;' or, 'The stars that adorn the night'). Or (2), with the stress on κοινόν, 'The art of forming hostile confederacies in hateful arms.'

1196. mvp-comment-766-1 A short syllable here answers to the long first syllable of ἄταν in the strophe, unless we read Ἕλλασιν, which is unnecessary.

1197. mvp-comment-767-1 'O toil that was the parent of toil!' i. e. The toil of invention was the first parent of other toils.

1199-1201. mvp-comment-768-1 ἐκεῖνος οὐ... ὁμιλεῖν] 'He has cut me off from the joyous fellowship of chaplets and deep draughts from the cup.' The negatives have a privative force, as in οὐ φάναι, οὐκ ἐᾶν, etc. ὁμιλεῖν, sc. ὥστε ἐμὲ ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς στεφάνοις καὶ ταῖς κύλιξιν. The κύλιξ was a shallow vessel, and the epithet properly applies not to the goblet, but to the draughts of wine from it.

1201. mvp-comment-769-1 τέρψιν is first governed by νεῖμεν, and the same word is then repeated as a cognate accusative with ἰαύειν.

1202-1204. mvp-comment-770-1 οὔτε γλυκὺν .. ἰαύειν] ‘And from the sweet sound of flutes, unhappy me, and from passing nights of pleasant rest.'

1205. mvp-comment-771-1 The repetition of ἐρώτων marks the acme of privation.

1206. mvp-comment-772-1 ἀμέριμνος] Either (1) 'Uncared for;' or (2) 'Careless of myself' ('As one past hope, abandoned, | And by himself given o'er'); or (3) 'With vacant mind,' 'Having no interest in life.' For μέριμνα in a good sense, cp. especially Pind. Pyth. 8. 126-132, ὁ δὲ καλόν τι νέον λαχὼν | ἁβρότατος ἔπι, μεγάλας | ἐξ ἐλπίδος πέταται | ὑποπτέροις ἀνορέαις, ἔχων | κρέσσονα πλούτου | μέριμναν: also O.T. 1124, ἔργον μεριμνῶν ποῖον;

1208-1209. mvp-comment-773-1 Cp. Aesch. Ag. 560-2, κἀπὸ γῆς λειμώνιαι | δρόσοι κατεψέκαζον ... τιθέντες ἔνθηρον τρίχα.