Sophocles Ajax 394

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.) — 425-591 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 430-595 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 394 focus
στρ.γ. ἰὼ
σκότος, ἐμὸν φάος,
ἔρεβος ὦ φαεννότατον φαεννοτον φαεννότατον, ὡς ἐμοί,
395
* ἕλεσθ' ἔλεσθέ μ' ἔλεσθέ μ' ἕλεσθέ μ' ἕλεσθέ μ' οἰκήτορα ἔλεσθ' οὔτε γὰρ οἰκήτορα,
ἕλεσθέ μ· οὔτε γὰρ θεῶν γένος
οὔθ᾽ ἁμερίων ἔτ᾽ ἄξιος
βλέπειν τιν' εἰς ὄνασιν ὄνησιν ἀνθρώπων.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 394 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 394 focus
Even yet—
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 394 focus
weh!
375
Vierte Strophe.
Dunkel, o du mein Licht! 1
Düstere Grabesnacht, leuchtende Sonne mir!
Onehmt, o nehmt mich als Bewohner auf,
Ia, nehmt mich auf! Ich bin nimmer hinfort würdig, zu schaun
Nach schwacher Menschen Hülfe, noch nach eurem Schuz, Götter!
380
Denn die Göttin, Zeus' 2
Grimme Tochter, lud
Tödtliche Qual auf mich.
Nun, wohin entflieh'n?
Wo wird Ruhe mir,
385
Wenn ich eitle Rach', o Freunde, nahm,
Und bei den Opfern blinder Wuth hier liege, wenn,
Zwiefach bewehrt, das Heer zu meinem
Morde die Hand hebt?
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 394 focus
Laertes' prying son, insult me now,
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 394 focus
O darkness, now my light! Ye dreary shades
Of Erebus, to me sole brightness now,
Receive, receive your habitant; receive
A wretch no longer worthy to behold
The race of gods, or mortal men! Me now
395
They nought avail: for me the potent queen,
395
Daughter of Jove, with vengeful hand afflicts
E'en to destruction. Whither can I fly?
Or where remain? My former fame, my friends,
Is lost; and these last deeds have sunk me down
With infamy amidst these foolish spoils;
And all the host takes arms against my life.

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-244-1 σκότος 1 ἔρεβος 2

mvp-comment-244-2 ὡς ἐμοί 3

mvp-comment-245-1 ἕλεσθ’ ἕλεσθέ μ’ 4

mvp-comment-246-1 γένος 5 ὄνασιν 6 εἰς 7

mvp-comment-246-2 ἄξιος 8

mvp-comment-246-3 βλέπειν 9

mvp-comment-247-1 ἁ Διὸς … θεὸς 10

mvp-comment-247-2 ὀλέθριον 11 οὔλιον 12

mvp-comment-248-1 φύγῃ … μενῶ 13

mvp-comment-249-1 εἰ τὰ μὲν φθίνει 14

mvp-comment-249-2 (1) The antistrophic verses, 423—427 (

ἐξερῶ...πρόκειμαι
), appear sound. The changes which have been proposed in them have all been designed to suit some emendation in 405 ff., and would have no probability if verses 423 ff. were considered simply on their own merits.

mvp-comment-249-3 (2) There is only one real discrepancy of metre between the traditional text here and that of the antistrophe; viz., that τοῖσδ’ 15 τινα 16 ὁμοῦ πέλας 17

mvp-comment-249-4 (3) If, then, we assume that the antistrophe is sound, we may conclude that the fault in the strophe lies within the words

εἰ τὰ μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, τοῖσδ’ ὁμοῦ πέλας
. A very slight change will restore the metre, viz. τοιοῖσδ’ 18 τοῖσδ’ 19 τοιοῖσδ’ ὁμοῦ βοτοῖς 20

mvp-comment-249-5 (4) Whatever may have been the original form of the words

εἰ τὰ μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, τοῖσδ’ ὁμοῦ πέλας
, it is at least highly probable that their general sense was, ‘If my old renown is perishing.’ This is suggested by the other passages where we find the same sequence of ideas,— i.e., the thought of his past glory closely followed by that of his present disgrace; see (1) 421—427: (2) 437—456: (3) 612—621.

mvp-comment-249-6 (5) Those who believe that the antistrophic verses 423—427 are corrupt have a freer hand for emendation here; and, as will be seen in the Appendix, some of the proposed restorations have been very bold. But such remedies pass into the region of pure guess-work.

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

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.