Sophocles Ajax 36

Richard Jebb (Translator)

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Ajax. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1893.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Ajax (English) (Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 7: The Ajax. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)
Αἴας μαστιγοφόρος First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Aiax. Lobeck Christian, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1866.) — 1-171 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 1-171 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 36 focus
ἔγνων, Ὀδυσσεῦ, καὶ πάλαι φύλαξ ἔβην
τῇ σῇ πρόθυμος εἰς ὁδὸν κυναγίᾳ.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 36 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 36 focus
I knew thy doubts, Odysseus, and came forth
Zealous to guard thy perilous hunting-path.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 36 focus
Ich weiß, Odysseus, und ich ging dir lange schon,
Ein treuer Schuz, auf deinem Späherpfade nach.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 36 focus
me
Wherefore thou com'st, that so I may inform
Thy doubting mind, and best assist thy purpose.
Do I right,
My much -loved mistress 1
Mix. Doubtless; his foul deed
Doth well deserve it.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 36 focus
Most friendly to me! Well, O queen, I know
Thy voice, though thou not seen; it strikes my sense
Clear as the Tuscan trumpet's brass-tuned notes.
Just is thy knowledge that my circling step
Traces a foe, Ajax, whose arm sustains
The broad circumference of the massy shield;
Him, and none other, long time have I traced.
This night against us he hath done a deed
Which reason starts at, if the deed be his,
For we know nothing certain, but are lost
In doubt: mine therefore is it to sustain
This voluntary toil; for all our herds,
Prize of our arms, the herdsmen too we find
Fresh slaughter'd by some wasting hand; to him
The general voice this odious deed imputes: {
And one, who, as he walk'd the nightly round,
Descried him bounding o'er the fields alone,
The blood fresh dropping from his sword, to me
Disclosed it: instant on his steps I press
Tracing their marks, now certain, now, perplex'd.
But opportune thy coming; for thy hand
Hath been in all my actions pasty irall
Of future enterprise shall be my guide. מה
I know it well; and friendly to thy search
Attended thee a guardian on thy way.

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-31-1 ἔβην … εἰς ὁδόν 1

mvp-comment-31-2 κυναγίᾳ 2

mvp-comment-32-1 ἦ καί 4

mvp-comment-32-2 πρὸς καιρὸν 5

mvp-comment-33-1 ὡς 6 σοι 7

mvp-comment-34-1 πρὸς τί 8

mvp-comment-34-2 ᾖξεν 9

mvp-comment-34-3 δυσλόγιστον 10 δυσλόγιστον 11 τί 12

mvp-comment-35-1 βαρυνθεὶς 13

mvp-comment-35-2 ὅπλων 14 Ἀχιλλείων 15

mvp-comment-36-1 τί δῆτα 16

mvp-comment-36-2 ἐπεμπίπτει 17 τήνδε … βάσιν 18

mvp-comment-37-1 ἐν ὑμῖν 19

mvp-comment-38-1 ἦ καὶ 20

mvp-comment-38-2 ὡς ἐπ’ Ἀργείοις 21

mvp-comment-39-1 κἂν ἐξεπράξατ’ 22

mvp-comment-40-1 ποίαισι 23 ταῖσδε 24 ποίαισι 25

mvp-comment-41-1 νύκτωρ 26

mvp-comment-42-1 ἦ καὶ 27

mvp-comment-42-2 παρέστη 28

mvp-comment-43-1 καὶ δὴ 29 δισσαῖς … στρατηγίσιν πύλαις 30

mvp-comment-44-1 καὶ πῶς 31 ἐπέσχε 32 φόνου 33 μαιμῶσαν 34

mvp-comment-45-1 ἐγώ 35

mvp-comment-45-2 δυσφόρους 36

mvp-comment-46-1 γνώμας 37 λήμας 38

mvp-comment-46-2 Join τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς 39 γνώμας 40

mvp-comment-46-3 Others take the gen. as depending on ἀπείργω 41 βαλοῦσα 42

mvp-comment-47-1 πρός τε ποίμνας 43

mvp-comment-47-2 σύμμικτά τε … φρουρήματα 44 λείας 45 βουκόλων 46

mvp-comment-48-1 ἄδαστα 47 ἄδαστα 48

mvp-comment-49-1 ἔκειρε … φόνον 49

mvp-comment-49-2 πολύκερων φόνον 50

mvp-comment-50-1 ῥαχίζων 51

mvp-comment-50-2 κἀδόκει μὲν 52

mvp-comment-51-1 φοιτῶντ’ 53

mvp-comment-52-1 ὤτρυνον, εἰσέβαλλον 54

mvp-comment-52-2 εἰς ἕρκη κακά 55

mvp-comment-53-1 κἄπειτ’ ἐπειδὴ 56

mvp-comment-53-2 ἐλώφησεν 57

mvp-comment-53-3 πόνου 58

mvp-comment-54-1 αὖ 59

mvp-comment-55-1 ἄνδρας 60

mvp-comment-55-2 εὔκερων 61

mvp-comment-56-1 καὶ σοὶ 62

mvp-comment-56-2 δείξω … περιφανῆ 63

mvp-comment-56-3 θροῇς 64

mvp-comment-57-1 μηδὲ συμφορὰν δέχου τὸν ἄνδρα 65 δέχου 66

mvp-comment-57-2 ἀποστρόφους 67 ἀπείρξω … εἰ<*>ιδεῖν 68

mvp-comment-57-3 These three verses have been rejected (cr. n.), on the ground that, after this promise from Athena, Odysseus had no cause to feel the alarm which he shows in vv. 74 ff., or to ask the question (v. 84) which elicits a renewal of that promise (85). But the poet wished to render the preparation for the hero's entrance as impressive as possible; and chose, therefore, to represent Odysseus—a brave man—as still uneasy, until the assurance given to him had been repeated in a yet more explicit and emphatic form.

mvp-comment-58-1 οὗτος 69

mvp-comment-58-2 σὲ τὸν 70

mvp-comment-58-3 αἰχμαλωτίδας 71

mvp-comment-58-4 ἀπευθύνοντα 72

mvp-comment-58-5 Cp. Eur. Andr. 719

ὧδ’, ὦ κάκιστε, τῆσδ’ ἐλυμήνω χέρας; | βοῦν ἢ λέοντ’ ἤλπιζες ἐντείνειν βρόχοις;
(‘strain with cords’). Ajax fancies himself to be tying the hands of human prisoners behind them, when he fastens the fore feet of an ox or sheep to its hind feet. Cp. 299 .

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

36. mvp-comment-28-1 ἔγνων refers not to 34, 5, but to the preceding lines.

36-37. mvp-comment-29-1 φύλαξ ἔβην, κ.τ.λ.] The order ἰς ἔβην εἰς ὁδὸν πρόθυμος φύλαξ τῇ σῇ κυναγίᾳ, ' I came upon my path as a zealous guardian for thy chase.' E. on L. § 12. p. 19.

38. mvp-comment-30-1 ἡ καί] ‘And is my endeavour really well-directed?' ἡ asks the question with eager interest.

39. mvp-comment-31-1 ὡς ἔστιν ἀνδρός, κ.τ.λ.] Sc. οὕτω νόει. σοι] Cp. Ant. 37, οὕτως ἔχει σοι ταῦτα. Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19 e.

40. mvp-comment-32-1 'With what intent did he break forth in this ill-judged violence?' For the epithet, cp. infr. 230, παραπλήκτῳ χερί. It is unnecessary to suppose that άΐσσω is transitive here. Cp. the construction of 1. 42.

41. mvp-comment-33-1 'Incensed with wrath because of the arms of Achilles.' A word on this subject is enough for Odysseus, to whom the arms had been adjudged. He understands at once that harm had been intended to himself and the generals.

42. mvp-comment-34-1 'But why, then, this raid upon the flock? The construction of ὅπλων, as genitive of the reason after βαρυνθείς, is assisted by the substantive χόλῳ preceding.

44. mvp-comment-35-1 'And was this blow, then, really aimed against the Argives?'

45. mvp-comment-36-1 κἂν ἐξεπράξατ'] 'He would actually have accomplished his design.' The middle voice is preferable as the harder reading, and signifies that the plan and execution would have been alike Ajax' own.

46. mvp-comment-37-1 'What bold attempt inspired by recklessness do your words imply ( ταῖσδε)?'

47. mvp-comment-38-1 δόλιος] i.e. ἐπὶ δόλῳ, 'With crafty intent.' E. on L. §23. p. 39.

48. mvp-comment-39-1 παρέστη] Sc. ἡμῖν.

49. mvp-comment-40-1 καὶ δή] ‘ Actually.’

50. mvp-comment-41-1 Join ἐπέσχε φόνου. μαιμῶσαν is more expressive than the v. τ. διψῶσαν, which is probably meant to be construed with φόνου. For πῶς, 'How came it that-?' cp. O. T. 1177, πῶς δῆτ᾿ ἀφῆκας;

51. mvp-comment-42-1 ἀπείργω] The vivid present (see v. rr.) is preferable to the aorist, as the less obvious reading. Join ἀπείργω with χαρᾶς, which is added in further explanation. δυσφόρους γνώμας] ‘Overpowering fancies.' δύσφορος has been supposed to be here equivalent το παράφορος, 'false,' or 'misleading;' but this, (though a possible association of the word) is unnecessary. The natural meaning of 'grievous,' 'intolerable,' is slightly modified by the association of 'hard to resist,' or 'bear up against.' Ajax could not withstand the fatal illusion.

52. mvp-comment-43-1 τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς] ‘From his fatal pleasure.' The harm once done would have been irrevocable. For χαpâς, cp. infr. 114, ἐπειδὴ τέρψις ἥδε σοι τὸ δρᾶν.

53-54. mvp-comment-44-1 πρός τε ποίμνας.. φρουρήματα] 'I turned him off upon the flocks, and the mixed charge of the herdsmen that was not yet divided from the spoil,' i. e. simply the sheep and oxen. Schndw. distinguishes between the sheep, which he assumes to have been kept in common to be slaughtered as food, and the oxen, which were gradually distributed as booty. That no such exact definition is intended here is proved by supr. 25-7, λείας ἁπάσας .. αὐτοῖς ποιμνίων ἐπιστάταις. The words λείας ἄδαστα are added, to show that the act of Ajax would provoke the whole army to be enraged against him with one consent. Cp. infr. 145-6, 408-9.

55. mvp-comment-45-1 ἔκειρε is imperfect. The syllable κειρ is echoed in πολύκερων. The cognate accusative and hypallage together cannot be literally rendered in English. 'He made bloody havoc with the horned multitude, felling them on all sides of him.'

57. mvp-comment-46-1 ἔχων] ‘Having them in his power.' μέν (l. 56) with δέ in l. 59, contrasts the belief of Ajax with the reality described in 59, 60. Or, possibly (2) μέν points forward to a dé which is lost in l. 58, 1.ε. ἐστὶ μὲν .. ἐστὶ δὲ .. Cp. Ant. 165-7, τοῦτο μὲν .. τοῦτ᾽ αὖθις.

58. mvp-comment-47-1 i.e. ἔσθ' ὅτε ἐδόκει κτείνειν ἄλλους τῶν στρατηλατῶν, ἄλλοτε ἄλλον, ('somebody else, now one and now another,') ἐμπίτνων, sc. τῇ ἀγέλῃ.

59-60. mvp-comment-48-1 (1) And as the man ranged to and fro, I urged him with maddening frenzy, and drave him into the evil net;' or (2), construing μανιάσιν νόσοις with φοιτώντα, ‘As he bounded to and fro in frenzy, I urged and drave him,' etc. In the latter case the expression is proleptic. The Scholion οι ἕρκη, εἰς ἐρινῦν κακήν, perhaps conceals a v. r. eἰς ἄρκυν κακήν. But cp. Od. 21. 238, 384, ἀνδρῶν ἡμετέροισιν ἐν ἕρκεσι.

61. mvp-comment-49-1 'And then, when he had remission of this toil.' πόνου, the more general word, is better than φόνου, which is tautological. πόνου in connection with the preceding words, implies that the vain task was imposed on Ajax by the will of Athena.

63. mvp-comment-50-1 ποίμνας τε πάσας] When the chief of the flock were bound and dragged away, the rest would follow. Cp. infr. 296.

64. mvp-comment-51-1 εὔκερων] This epithet applies to the sheep as well as to the kine.

65. mvp-comment-52-1 συνδέτους is rather 'tied together' than bound hand and foot.'

66. mvp-comment-53-1 (1) 'Come, I will show thee this affliction in full sight.' περιφανή predicative. Or (2), taking the word attributively, 'this signal frenzy.' Cp. infr. 81 and note, infr. 229.

67. mvp-comment-54-1 ὡς .. θροῇς]· That you may noise it abroad.' Cp. infr. 149, εἰς ὦτα φέρει πᾶσιν Ὀδυσσεύς.

68. mvp-comment-55-1 συμφορὰν δέχου τὸν ἄνδρα] 'Look for his coming as a misfortune:' sc. ὡς συμφοράν. Cp. Ο. C. 142, μή μ', ἱκετεύω, προσίδητ᾽ ἄνομον. And see E. on L. § 39. p. 73.

69-70. mvp-comment-56-1 ὀμμάτων .. εἰσιδεῖν] I will divert the effluence of his eyes, and debar them from the sight of you.' ἀποστρόφους is predicative: i.e. ἀποστρέφουσα αὐτάς. On the ancient theory of vision and its effect on language, see E. on L. $ 54. p. 99. μή is omitted after εἴργω, as after κωλύω: i.e. τὸ μὴ εἰσιδεῖν νιν σὴν πρόσοψιν, ‘I will turn away the light of his eyes, so that your form shall be invisible to him.' Cp. Phil. 1407, εἴρξω πελάζειν.

71. mvp-comment-57-1 Athena faces the tent and raises her voice.