596.
mvp-comment-406-1
While Ajax within the tent is silently whetting his sword (
infr. 820), the chorus express their longing for Salamis, his home and theirs, and their sorrow for the condition of their lord. 'What grief the news will cause to Telamon and Eriboea!' In this ode, the first stasimon, iambic, glyconic, and trochaic rhythms are combined...
596.
mvp-comment-406-2
ὦ κλεινά] By an anachronism like that noticed in O. C. 58,
ἔρεισμ' ᾿Αθηνῶν, the glory of Salamis is anticipated.
Cp. also
infr. 861, and note. In Hdt. 7. 143, Themistocles argues from the words
ὦ θείη Σάλαμις, in the Pythian response, that the Athenians were to be victorious there.
596-597.
mvp-comment-407-1
σὺ . . ναίεις] «Thou, I know, remainest.'
που] The indefinite word is pathetically used of what they imagine but may not see.
ἁλίπλακτος] There is little doubt of the propriety of this reading.
Cp. Aesch. Pers. 307,
θαλασσόπληκτον νῆσον Αίαντος. Yet
ἁλίπλαγκτος might possibly mean 'wandered round by the billow.'
599.
mvp-comment-408-1
The inhabitants of Salamis, which lay off Piraeus and in the 'cheer and comfort' of Athenian eyes, might well feel as if they were observed of all observers, and would have a still deeper feeling of pride and patriotism when, from 480 B.C. onwards, their native place became the eye of the world.
περίφαντος may then be taken to imply the renown as well as the conspicuous position of the island.
600.
mvp-comment-409-1
παλαιὸς ἀφ᾽ οὐ χρόνος] « Since many a long day.' This phrase takes the place of an adverb with
εὐνῶμαι, or whatever is the principal verb.
601.
mvp-comment-410-1
†Ἰδαίᾳ μίμνων λειμώνια †ποίᾳ] The manifest corruption in these words seems to be incurable. Neither Hermann's
Ἰδαῖα μίμνω λειμώνι᾽ ἄποινα ('Ι wait for my reward in Trojan meadows'), nor Bergk's
Ἰδῷδι μίμνω χειμῶνι πόᾳ τε ('I abide winter and summer in the Trojan land'), can be admitted as probable. Mr. Paley, adopting
λειμώνι᾽ ἔπαυλα from Seyffert, changes
εὐνύμαι to
ἐνναίων. Without dogmatizing on a point of great uncertainty, I would propose
Ἰδαῖα μίμνων λειμώνι᾿ *ὕπαιθρα, *μηνῶν (Herm.)
ἀνάριθμος αἰὲν *εὐνῶμαι (Bergk), 'Abiding out-door hardships in moist Trojan fields, I make my bed there, months without number.'
ποίᾳ may be due to the association of
λειμώνια, and a further association may have converted
μηνῶν into
μήλων. The metre a' 4. 5 is then the same as in ß' 1, 2. A similar feeling is more fully expressed
infr. 1185-1210.
Cp. especially ll. 1206-10,
κεῖμαι δ' ἀμέριμνος οὕτως, | ἀεὶ πυκιναῖς δρόσοις | τεγγόμενος κόμας, | λυγρᾶς μνήματα Τροίας. In both places the chorus complain at once of irksome exposure and of a life of inaction.
Cp. also Aesch. Agamemnon, ll. 558 foll.,
τὰ δ' αὐτε χέρσῳ καὶ προσῆν πλέον στύγος εὐναὶ γὰρ ἦσαν δαΐων πρὸς τείχεσιν. | ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δὲ κἀπὸ γῆς λειμώνιαι | δρόσοι κατεψέκαζον, ἔμπεδον σίνος | ἐσθημάτων, τιθέντες ἔνθηρον τρίχα. The Trojan meadows are contrasted with the rocky ground of Salamis.
Cp. also Fr. 477, where Menelaus says contemptuously to Agamemnon, who proposes to remain at Troy,
σὺ δ᾽ αὖθι μίμνων που κατ᾿ Ἰδαίαν χθόνα | ποίμνας Ὀλύμπου συναγαγὼν θυηπόλει.
604.
mvp-comment-411-1
†μηλῶν. Τεὐνόμᾳ] 'I make my bed months without number.' For
μηνῶν ἀνήριθμος, cp. El. 232,
ἀνάριθμος ὧδε θρήνων. Hdt. 9. 3,
ἡ δὲ βασιλέος αἵρεσις ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίην. ἐπιστρατηΐην δεκάμηνος ἐγένετο. The Schol. explains
εὐνόμᾳ by
εὐκινήτῳ ('fleeting time'), and the Triclinian MSS. have
εὐνώμᾳ. For
εὐνᾶσθαι, of keeping watch,
cp. O. C. 1568 foll.,
ἀνικάτου | θηρός, ὃν ἐν πύλαισι | φασὶ πολυξέστοις | εὐνᾶσθαι.
605.
mvp-comment-412-1
*πόνῳ for
χρόνῳ (Martin) is a probable conjecture, as
χρόνῳ is weak after
παλαιὸς ἀφ᾽ οὗ χρόνος, and
xp may have come from the
τρ of
τρυχόμενος.
606.
mvp-comment-413-1
κακὰν ἐλπίδ᾽ ἔχων]
ἐλπίς is not here used in the indifferent sense of an expectation; but the phrase is an oxymoron; 'a hope that is a kind of despair.'
607-608.
mvp-comment-414-1
'Some day yet to win my way to Hades, the abhorred and dark.'
ἀΐδηλον] · Unillumined' rather than 'destroying.' Essay on L. §§ 53. pp. 98.9.
609-611.
mvp-comment-415-1
'And I have Ajax on my hands, defying treatment, fixed in the tent, where Heaven-sent madness dwells with him.'
610.
mvp-comment-416-1
ἔφεδρος] 'Fixed at my side.' Ajax had remained sitting throughout the previous scene. He had rejected the solicitations of his friends, and apparently returned to his sullen inaction within the tent. Instead of being their hope and pride, he was now an irremovable burden.
Cp. supr. 194 foll.,
ἀλλ᾽ ἄνα ἐξ ἑδράνων, κ.τ.λ. The interpretation of the ancient Scholiast, 'Ready to assail me when other evils are subdued' (an application of the technical use of
ἔφεδρος with reference to contests), is untenable.
μανίᾳ includes the evidence of Ajax's madness, which is still within the tent.
Supr. 337, 8.
613.
mvp-comment-417-1
φρενός οἰοβώτας] 'Feeding his will apart;' i. e. either (1) referring to the wilful solitary raid described by Tecmessa,
supr. 285 foll.: or (2), as Prof. Jebb explains it, 'One who broods sullenly apart, as did Ajax before the outbreak of his frenzy.' Not 'feeding on his own thoughts' (L. and S.), but 'pasturing his heart on lonely paths.'
615.
mvp-comment-418-1
(1) 'He has proved a mighty sorrow to his friends.'
Cp. Trach. 1075,
θήλυς εὕρημαι τάλας: Aesch. Pers. 743,
νῦν κακῶν ἔοικε πηγὴ πᾶσιν εὑρῆσθαι φίλοις. But
πένθος is not elsewhere used of a person, and it is possible that
εὕρηται may have a middle signification: (2) 'He has procured a mighty sorrow for his friends.' See Veitch, Gr. Irr. V. s. v.
εὑρίσκω.
617.
mvp-comment-419-1
μεγίστας ἀρετᾶς] 'Evincing' (or 'proceeding from') 'supreme valour.'
620-621.
mvp-comment-420-1
'Are fallen to the ground, coldly neglected by the cold, infatuate kings.'
παρά is used as in
παρὰ δικάσταις, etc.; L. and S. s. v.
παρά, Β. ΙΙ. 3. For
πίπτειν, “To come to nought,'
cp. Hdt. 7. 18,
οἷα ἄνθρωπος ἰδὼν ἤδη πολλά τε καὶ μεγάλα πεσόντα πρήγματα ὑπὸ ἡσσόνων.
621.
mvp-comment-421-1
For the reproachful tone in
μελέοις,
cp. infr. 1156,
ἄνολβον: Hdt. 7. 140,
ὦ μέλεοι, τί καθῆσθε, κ.τ.λ.
622-623.
mvp-comment-422-1
παλαιᾷ .. γήρᾳ] 'His mother sunk in years and overtaken by hoary eld.' The opposition with
μέν and
δέ is merely rhetorical. Not
ἔντροφος, but some simpler word, such as
οὖσα, is to be supplied with
γήρᾳ, which is dative of circumstance. Essay on L. § 11. p. 18 c.
λευκὰ δὲ γήρᾳ is a plausible but needless correction.
625-626.
mvp-comment-423-1
νοσοῦντα | φρενομόρως] «Fatally afflicted in his mind.' Although the madness of Ajax is relieved, its ZZZZconsequences remain, and he is to be slain not by his madness, but for it.
625-626.
mvp-comment-423-2
effects are permanent, and his despair is no less a mental affliction than his madness was.
626.
mvp-comment-424-1
αἴλινον αἴλινον] This word is governed by a verb, for which
ἥσει is substituted as the sentence proceeds.
627.
mvp-comment-425-1
οὐδέ] 'But not.' The 'instant burst of clamour' Eriboea would make is contrasted with the sustained melodious wailing of the nightingale, to which such continuous mourning as that of Electra is fitly compared,-El. 107.
628.
mvp-comment-426-1
ὄρνιθος ἀηδοῦς]
Cp. Ant. 423, 4,
πικρᾶς | ὄρνιθος ὀξὺν φθόγγον.
631-634.
mvp-comment-427-1
χερόπληκτοι .. δοῦποι] 'Noise of smiting hands.'
πλήσσειν δοῦπον, «Το make a noise in smiting' would be a legitimate cognate accusative. Hence the passive form. Essay on L. § 53. p. 98.
633.
mvp-comment-428-1
ἐν.. πεσοῦνται] i. e.
ἐμπεσοῦνται.
634.
mvp-comment-429-1
πολιᾶς *ἄμυγμα χαίτας] Sc.
ἐγγενήσεται, or some general notion resumed from the preceding verb.
635.
mvp-comment-430-1
For
῞Αιδα κεύθων, cp. Il. 23. 244,
εἰσόκεν αὐτὸς ἐγὼν ῎Αϊδι κεύθωμαι. Elmsley needlessly corrected
γὰρ Ἅιδᾳ to
παρ' Ἅιδα. ὁ νοσῶν μάταν] (1) - 'One hopelessly afflicted.'
μάταν (as in O. C. 1567,
πολλῶν γὰρ ἂν καὶ μάταν | πημάτων ἱκνουμένων, | πάλιν σε δαίμων δίκαιος αὔξοι) means 'with no good end.' Others take
μάταν here to mean, (2) ‘idly,' i. e. 'with idle or vain imaginations;' comparing Ar. Pax 95,
τί πέτει; τί μάτην οὐχ ὑγιαίνεις; Either is possible.
637-638.
mvp-comment-431-1
ὃς .. ᾿Αχαιών] 'Who, by the family from which he came, was, and proved to be, the noblest of the toilworn Achaeans.'
ἐκ is at once 'because of' and 'in accordance with.'
ἥκων is used in a double sense: 'Come forth from his father's home,' and 'Come forth,' i. e. 'proved, as bravest.' Ср. О. Т. 1519,
ἔχθιστος ἥκω.
ἄριστος was found by Triclinius in an 'old' MS., but may be merely due, as Blaydes remarks, to the words of the Scholiast,
ἄριστα ἥκων· λείπει γὰρ τὸ ἄριστος. Another possible reading is
ἄριστα. πολυπόνων]
Infr. 1186 foll.
639-640.
mvp-comment-432-1
'No longer remains in his habitual frame of mind, but abides outside of it,' i.e. he is no longer in his mind, but out of his mind. For this somewhat strained oxymoron,
cp. Eur. Hipp. 102,
πρόσωθεν αὐτὴν ἁγνὸς ὡν ἀσπάζομαι: Aesch. Pers. 756,
ἔνδον αἰχμάζειν : also Ant. 773,
ἔρημος ἔνθ᾽ ἂν ῇ βροτῶν στίβος, where the privative
ἔρημος is equivalent to a negative.
641.
mvp-comment-433-1
As his mother will utter the shrill cry of maternal agony, so his father will mourn over the dishonour of the race.
644-645.
mvp-comment-434-1
'A calamity such as no life of any son of Aeacus hath ever known, but only he.' Bergk's conj.,
δίων Αἰακιδᾶν, has been widely received. But
αἰών involves only an ordinary use of abstract for concrete, and agrees better with the figurative word
ἔθρεψεν.
