Sophocles Ajax 1120

mvp-comment-651-1 ὁ τοξότης ¹

mvp-comment-652-1 βάναυσον ²

mvp-comment-653-1 ἀσπίδ’ ³

mvp-comment-654-1 ψιλὸς … ὡπλισμένῳ ⁴

mvp-comment-655-1 τρέφει ⁵

mvp-comment-656-1 ξὺν τῷ δικαίῳ ⁶

mvp-comment-657-1 δίκαια ⁷

mvp-comment-657-2 κτείναντα ⁸

mvp-comment-658-1 δεινόν γ’ εἶπας ⁹

mvp-comment-658-2 εἰ καὶ ζῇς ¹⁰

mvp-comment-659-1 τῷδε δ’ οἴχομαι ¹¹

mvp-comment-660-1 ἀτίμα ¹²

mvp-comment-660-2 θεοὺς ¹³

mvp-comment-660-3 θεοῖς σεσωσμένος ¹⁴

mvp-comment-661-1 ἐγὼ γὰρ ἂν ψέξαιμι ¹⁵ δαιμόνων νόμους ¹⁶

mvp-comment-661-2 εἰ … οὐκ ἐᾷς ¹⁷

mvp-comment-661-3 παρών ¹⁸

mvp-comment-662-1 τούς γ’ αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ ¹⁹ αὐτοῦ ²⁰ οὐ γὰρ καλόν ²¹

mvp-comment-663-1 σοὶ … προὔστη ²²

mvp-comment-664-1 μισοῦντ’ ἐμίσει ²³

mvp-comment-665-1 ψηφοποιὸς ²⁴

mvp-comment-665-2 The gen. αὐτοῦ ²⁵

mvp-comment-666-1 ἐν τοῖς δικασταῖς ²⁶

mvp-comment-667-1 καλῶς ²⁷ κακῶς ²⁸

mvp-comment-667-2 κλέψειας κακά ²⁹

mvp-comment-668-1 εἰς ἀνίαν … ἔρχεται ³⁰ τινί ³¹ ἔρχεται τινί ³²

mvp-comment-669-1 οὐ μᾶλλον ³³

mvp-comment-670-1 τόνδ’ ἐστὶν οὐχὶ θαπτέον ³⁴

mvp-comment-671-1 ἀλλ’ ἀντακούσει τοῦτον ὡς ³⁵ τοῦθ’ ἕν ³⁶

mvp-comment-671-2 τεθάψεται ³⁷

mvp-comment-672-1 ναύτας ἐφορμήσαντα … τὸ | πλεῖν ³⁸ vαύταις ³⁹ ναύτας ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-673-1 ᾧ φθέγμ’ ἂν οὐκ ἂν ηὗρες ⁴¹ ἄν ⁴² ᾧ ⁴³

mvp-comment-673-2 ἐν κακῷ χειμῶνος ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-673-3 εἴχετ’ ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-673-4 ὑφ’ εἵματος ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-673-5 κρυφείς ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-674-1 πατεῖν παρεῖχε ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-675-1 καὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ σὸν … στόμα ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-675-2 λάβρον στόμα ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-675-3 σμικροῦ νέφους … ἐκπνεύσας ⁵¹

mvp-comment-676-1 τὴν … βοήν ⁵²

1121. mvp-comment-721-1 Teucer's craft in archery was not that of an ordinary bowman. Cp. Phil. 1056, 7, ἐπεὶ πάρεστι μὲν | Τεύκρος παρ' ἡμῖν, τηνδ᾽ ἐπιστήμην ἔχων. The feeling which gave importance to the science of archery accorded with the original legend. Cp. Il. 13. 313, 4, Τεῦκρός θ᾽ ὡς ἄριστος᾿ Ἀχαιῶν | τοξοσύνῃ. Here, in speaking of what is ἔξω τοῦ μυθεύματος, contemporary feeling, which held archers cheap, is allowed to have its way.

1123. mvp-comment-722-1 σοί γ᾽ ὡπλισμένῳ] Sc. ὥστε ἀντίπαλος εἶναι.

1124. mvp-comment-723-1 'What courageous anger lives in thy tongue!' τὸν θυμόν, sc. τὸν ἐν τῇ γλώσσῃ ἐνόντα. Cp. Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1181, 'Tongue-doughty Giant.'

1126. mvp-comment-724-1 τόνδ᾽ εὐτυχεῖν κτείναντά με] 'That all should go smoothly with the man here who contrived my death.' The use of the aorist in this conative sense is a rhetorical exaggeration. The continuous tense is so used in O. C. 992, 3, εἴ τις σε τὸν δίκαιον αὐτίκ᾽ ἐνθάδε | κτείνοι παραστάς, κ.τ.λ., where see note.

1128. mvp-comment-725-1 τῷδε δ᾽ οἴχομαι] See above, l. 970, and note.

1130. mvp-comment-726-1 'Am I the man who would quarrel with divine law?'

1131. mvp-comment-727-1 'If you come and prevent the burial of the dead.' οὐκ is permissible, because οὐκ ἐᾷς is one word, and the supposition emphatically points to the fact, 'If, as you do.'

1132. mvp-comment-728-1 The use of αὑτοῦ for ἐμαυτοῦ here is justified by the generality of the expression, — 'In the case of one's enemy,' and prepares the way for the abstract statement, οὐ γὰρ καλόν.

1133. mvp-comment-729-1 Menelaus has sought to justify his action by applying to Ajax the word πολέμιος, which properly applies only to an enemy of the state. But he has not the courage to follow this up by showing that Ajax was a public enemy.

1135. mvp-comment-730-1 'Yes, because you were convicted of having cheated him by manufacturing votes.'

1136. mvp-comment-731-1 'He met with this reverse through the action of the court and not through mine.' τόδε, sc. τὸ σφάλμα. Cp. Pind. Nem. 8. 45, κρυφίαισι γὰρ ἐν ψάφοις Ὀδυσσῆ Δαναοὶ θεράπευσαν.

1137. mvp-comment-732-1 The gloss on καλῶς, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐμπείρως, both supports the reading of L pr., and accounts for the corruption by showing that καλῶς was felt to require explanation. The alliteration of κ, λ, is perhaps suggestive of wily subtlety. For καλῶς.. κακά, cp. O. T. 1396, κάλλος κακῶν ὕπουλον.

1138. mvp-comment-733-1 'That speech tends to some one's hurt.' For τινί, implying σοί, cp. especially Ant. 751, θανοῦσ᾽ ὀλεῖ τινά.

1139. mvp-comment-734-1 οὐ μᾶλλον (ἀνίαν ἕξομεν), ἢ λυπήσομεν (σε). ὡς ἔοικεν] The threat of Menelaus, l. 1138, shows that he is stung.

1141. mvp-comment-735-1 τεθάψεται] The future perfect has a peremptory effect.

1142-1158. mvp-comment-736-1 These two speeches are obviously antiphonal or antistrophic in a general sense, and yet the latter exceeds the former by a line. This may warn us against requiring exact antistrophic correspondence in other iambic passages, where the absence of it has occasioned doubt.

1143. mvp-comment-737-1 τὸ πλεῖν] For the article with the epexegetic infinitive, cp. O. T. 1416, 17, πάρεσθ᾽ ὅδε | Κρέων τὸ πράσσειν καὶ τὸ βουλεύειν.

1144. mvp-comment-738-1 For ἂν reduplicated, see Essay on L. § 27. p. 46 e. In the present instance it adds liveliness to φθέγμα, which is to be taken closely with, i.e. ᾧ φθέγμα γενόμενον ἂν οὐκ ἂν εὗρες. ἐνεῦρες has been conjectured, but this compound is not found elsewhere, and no change is needed.

1146. mvp-comment-739-1 παρέχειν is used absolutely with dative and infinitive, as frequently in Plato. The expression is proverbial: cp. Plato, Theaet. 191 Α, ἐὰν δὲ πάντῃ ἀπορήσωμεν, ταπεινωθέντες, οἶμαι, τῷ λόγῳ παρέξομεν ὡς ναυτιῶντες πατεῖν τε καὶ χρῆσθαι ὅ τι ἂν βούληται.

1147-1149. mvp-comment-740-1 The second accusative, τὴν πολλὴν βοήν, is added as a resumption of καὶ τὸ σὸν λάβρον στόμα, which is a sort of 'pendent' accusative.