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.'
