333.
mvp-comment-241-1
The voice of Ajax is heard from within.
334.
mvp-comment-242-1
μᾶλλον] Sc.
δεινά σοι λέξω, or
γνώσεσθε ταῦτα.
335.
mvp-comment-243-1
οἵαν] She judges from the intonation of the cry, which the chorus,
infr. 337, do not know whether to interpret as importing madness or grief.
337.
mvp-comment-244-1
ἢ τοῖς . . παρών] 'Or to grieve at witnessing the effects of past madness which remain with him.'
Cp. supr. 307. The addition of
παρών suggests that Ajax, seeing the carnage in the tent, is the eye-witness of his own madness.
339.
mvp-comment-245-1
Ajax calls upon Teucer.
παῖ is frequently addressed by an elder person to a younger, even by the Corinthian messenger to Oedipus, O. Τ. 1008, and by Electra (under excitement) to the supposed Phocian stranger, El. 1220. The picture in the Iliad, 8. 271, of Teucer retiring behind the shield of Ajax,
παῖς ὡς ὑπὸ μητέρα, suggests that Teucer was the younger brother. And it is natural to suppose Ajax to have been born before Telamon's expedition in which he won Hesione, the mother of Teucer.-According to Pindar in the fifth (or sixth) Isthmian ode, Ajax was given to Telamon in answer to the prayer of Heracles before the expedition. But in such details the legends are not constant. See O. C. 375, and note. Lycophr. 445 and schol. -The need of Teucer's presence is Ajax' first thought on coming to himself. Tecmessa at first thinks of the child, until, in l. 342, Ajax calls Teucer by name. He does not ask to see the child till l.530, after his attention has been vividly drawn that way by Tecmessa.
341.
mvp-comment-246-1
τάλαιν᾽ ἐγώ] Tecmessa is distracted between the fear of crossing Ajax and the fear of harm to the child. The division of the line helps to mark this distraction of the wife and mother.
343.
mvp-comment-247-1
λεηλατήσει] Teucer is gone foraging into the Mysian highlands,
infr. 720. Compare Thuc. 1. 11,
φαίνεται .. πρὸς γεωργίαν τῆς · Χερσονήσου τραπόμενοι καὶ λῃστείαν τῆς τροφῆς ἀπορίᾳ. ἐγὼ δ'] · While that I.'
345.
mvp-comment-248-1
κἀπ᾿ ἐμοὶ βλέψας] ‘Even at me, on seeing me.' The abrupt expression,
αἰδῶ λαβεῖν ἐπί τινι, is supplemented by the addition of the participle, i.e.
εἰς ἐμὲ βλέψας. αἰδώς is the feeling which prompts
σωφροσύνη.
346.
mvp-comment-249-1
ἐκκύκλημα. Ajax is disclosed with signs of slaughter about him. He is sitting upright. The slaughtered sheep are the evidence of his situation (
τὰ τοῦδε πράγη): his wild, dishevelled appearance betrays the condition of his mind (
αὐτὸς ὡς ἔχων κυρεῖ).
348.
mvp-comment-250-1
The lyrical numbers of this commos are chiefly dochmiac, mixed with iambic and trochaic rhythms, which increase in the third strophe and antistrophe. The scheme is the following...
348.
mvp-comment-250-2
The arrangement of the latter part of γ' is rendered doubtful by the manifest corruption of ll. 406, 7. Perhaps-
εἰ τἀμὰ μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, πάλαι· μώραις δ᾽ ἄγραισι ταῖσδ᾽ ὁμοῦ προσκείμεθα. And in the antistrophe, 424, 5,
τύδ᾽ ἐξερῶ μέγ᾽ οἷον οὔτινα Τροία στρατοῦ δέρχθη χθονὸς μολόντ' ἀπό. Or, reading
τάδε for
τά, and omitting
τοῖσδ᾽ ὁμοῦ, στρατοῦ, and
ἀπό, -
εἰ τάδε μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, πάλαι· μώραις δ᾽ ἄγραις προσκείμεθα, | πᾶς.
348.
mvp-comment-250-3
and-
ἐξερέω μέγ', οἷον οὔτινα Τροία χθονὸς δέρχθη μολόνθ' | Ἑλ.. See note on 405 foll.
348.
mvp-comment-250-4
Ajax at once perceives the mariners. 'The great rage, you see, is killed in him,' but the ground-swell of his passion is still heard.
