Sophocles Ajax 1185-1222

ed. Francis Storr

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Ajax. Sophocles. ed. Francis Storr. London. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Αἴας (Greek) (Sophocles, Volume 2. Storr, Francis, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, 1913.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (3)
Αἴας μαστιγοφόρος First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Aiax. Lobeck Christian, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1866.) — 1197-1394 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 1185-1222 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1185 focus
τίς ἄρα νέατος ἐς πότε λήξει πολυπλάγκτων
1185
ἐτέων ἐπέων ἐτέων ἀριθμὸς
τὰν ἄπαυστον αἰὲν ἐμοὶ
δορυσσοήτων δορυσσόντων
μόχθων ἄταν ἐπάγων
ἀν' ἀερώδεα Τρωΐαν ἀν' εὐρώδη Τρωΐαν ἀνὰ τὴν Τρωΐαν ἀνὰ τὰν Τρωΐαν
1190
δύστανον ὄνειδος Ἑλλάνων;
ἀντ. α΄.
ὄφελε ὤφελε πρότερον αἰθέρα δῦναι δοῦναι δύναι μέγαν ἢ τὸν πολύκοινον
Ἄιδαν
κεῖνος ἁνήρ ἀνὴρ, ὃς ὁ ὃς στυγερῶν
ἔδειξεν ὅπλων
1195
Ἕλλασιν ἕλλασιν.... κοινὸν Ἄρη.
ἐκεῖνος οὐ οὔτε στεφάνων
οὔτε βαθειᾶν βαθείαν κυλίκων
1200
νεῖμεν ἐμοὶ τέρψιν ὁμιλεῖν,
οὔτε γλυκὺν αὐλῶν ὄτοβον ὄτοβον ὅττοβον,
δύσμορος, οὔτ᾽ ἐννυχίαν
τέρψιν ἰαύειν.
ἐρώτων δ᾽ ἐρώτων ἀπέπαυσεν, ὤμοι.
1205
κεῖμαι δ᾽ ἀμέριμνος οὕτως,
ἀεὶ πυκιναῖς δρόσοις
τεγγόμενος κόμας,
λυγρᾶς λυγρὰσ λυγρὰσ· μνήματα Τροίας.
1210
ἀντ.β.
καὶ πρὶν μὲν ἐννυχίου
δείματος ἦν μοὶ προβολὰ
καὶ βελέων θούριος Αἴας·
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1199 focus
No better hope for either can I frame.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1185 focus
Endet es nie? I wann
1140
Erste Strophe.
Unselige Schmach dem Volk Hellas'!
Erste Gegenstrophe.
Wär' er in Luft verweht,
Wär' er in allbergendes Grabdunkel hinab versunken,
Jener Mann, der Hellas der all-
vertilgenden Wehr furchtbar'n
1150
Brauch lehrte zuerst!
Mühen gebärende Mühen, ach!
Er schuf ja den Menschen Unheil nur.
Zweite Strophe.
Ja, keinen blühenden Kranz,
Nimmer die Lust voller Pokal' hat er gegönnt uns zu genießen,
1155
Noch lieblicher Festflöten Getön,
(Wehe dem Mann!) noch den Genuß
Nächtlicher Minne:
Die Liebe,
Die Lieb' hat er mir, ach, entführt,
1160
Und ich liege verlassen hier,
Und von reichlichem Thaue stets
Trieft mir das Haar, ein Mal von dir,
Traurige Troja!
Zweite Gegenstrophe.
Wohl wider nächtliches Graun, Wider den Sturm feindlicher Wehr war mir ein Schirm
1165
Ajas, der Held, einst;
Nun hat ihn ein Gott grausam entrafft!
Wo mir, o wo wird mir hinfort
Lächeln die Freude?
könnt' ich
1170
Hin, wo waldig des Berges Haupt,
Von Meerwogen umspült, sich hebt,
Unter Sunions hohen Fels,
Heilige Stadt Athene's, dir
Grüße zu senden!
1175
Teukros (zurückkommend). Agamemnon. Die Vorigen.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1192 focus
Prepare some hollow fosse for the remains
By after-ages ne'er to be forgotten.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1185 focus
When will the last revolving year
1185
Of all this numerous train
1185
Slow wandering in its course appear
'Midst ills I here sustain ?..
Toils rise on toils, and woes on woes,
The wasteful war around us glows,
And misery haunts this place.
The hateful walls of Troy around,,
1190
Unhappy Greece, what hast thou found,
1190
But ruin and disgrace?...
Oh had he first been swept away
Through air by wild winds tost;
Or sunk from heav'n's ethereal ray,
To Pluto's dreary coast;
Who train'd the Grecians to the field,
1195
Taught them the sword, the spear to wield,
1195
And steel'd the gentle mind !
Hence toil gives birth to toil again,
Hence carnage stains th' ensanguin'd plain,
For he destroy'd mankind.
Nor the brow with chaplets bound
Breathing balmy odours round,
1200
Nor the social glow of soul
1200
Kindling o'er the generous bowl,
Nor the dulcet strain that rings
Jocond from the sounding strings,
Nor endearing love's delight
That with rapture fills the night,
Me will he permit to prove;
1205
He, alas! hath murder'd love.
1205
But neglected here I lie
Open to th' inclement sky;
And my rough and matted hair
Drinks the dews of night's moist air,
Memorials sad of Troy!
1210
Yet, till now, when pale affright
Roll'd her hideous form through night,
Great in arms, his shield t' oppose,
Ajax as my rampire rose,
And my terror was no more.
Now the hero I deplore
To the gloomy god consign'd;
1215
Now what joy can touch my mind?
Oh that on the pine-clad brow
Dark'ning o'er the sea below,
Where the cliffs of Sunium rise,
Rocky bulwarks, to the skies,
I were placed; with sweet address
Sacred Athens would I bless,
And feel a social joy!
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1185-1220 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-696-1 νέατος 1 νέατος 2

mvp-comment-696-2 πολυπλάγκτων 3

mvp-comment-697-1 τὰν ἄπαυστον 4

mvp-comment-698-1 δορυσσοήτων 5 δορυσσόων 6 δορυσσῶν 7

mvp-comment-699-1 ἀν τὰν εὐρώδεα Τρωΐαν 8 ἀν 9

mvp-comment-700-1 δύστανον ὄνειδος Ἑλλάνων 10

mvp-comment-701-1 ὄφελε 11

mvp-comment-701-2 αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν 12

mvp-comment-701-3 πολύκοινον Ἅιδαν 13

mvp-comment-702-1 κεῖνος ἁνὴρ 14

mvp-comment-702-2 ἔδειξεν 15

mvp-comment-702-3 κοινὸν Ἄρη 16

mvp-comment-703-1 ἰὼ πόνοι πρόγονοι πόνων 17

mvp-comment-704-1 οὔτε στεφάνων 18

mvp-comment-704-2 στεφάνων 19

mvp-comment-705-1 βαθειᾶν 20

mvp-comment-705-2 κυλίκων 21

mvp-comment-706-1 νεῖμεν 22 τέρψιν 23 ὁμιλεῖν 24

mvp-comment-707-1 αὐλῶν 25

mvp-comment-707-2 ὄτοβον 26

mvp-comment-708-1 δύσμορος 27

mvp-comment-708-2 ἐννυχίαν τέρψιν ἰαύειν 28

mvp-comment-708-3 Remark the repetition of τέρψιν 29

mvp-comment-709-1 ἐρώτων δ’, ἐρώτων 30

mvp-comment-710-1 ἀμέριμνος 31

mvp-comment-710-2 οὕτως 32

mvp-comment-711-1 δρόσοις 33

mvp-comment-712-1 μνήματα 34

mvp-comment-713-1 αἰὲν νυχίου 35 προβολὰ 36

mvp-comment-714-1 ἀνεῖται στυγερῷ δαίμονι 37

mvp-comment-715-1 ἐπέσται 38

mvp-comment-716-1 γενοίμαν 39

mvp-comment-716-2 ὑλᾶεν 40

mvp-comment-716-3 ἔπεστι πόντου | πρόβλημ’ 41 ἔπεστι 42

mvp-comment-717-1 ὑπὸ πλάκα Σουνίου 43

mvp-comment-718-1 τὰς ἱερὰς 44

mvp-comment-718-2 ὅπως … προσείποιμεν 45

mvp-comment-718-3 Pausanias says (1. 28. 2), referring to the colossal Athena Promachos on the Acropolis,

ἡ τοῦ δόρατος αἰχμὴ καὶ ὁ λόφος τοῦ κράνους ἀπὸ Σουνίου προσπλέουσίν ἐστιν ἤδη σύνοπτα
. As Leake observed ( Demi I. p. 631), Cape Zoster, some miles N.W. of Sunium, is the first point on the Attic coast from which a voyager could possibly have caught a glimpse of the spear-point and crest.

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

1185. mvp-comment-760-1 'When shall be the end, and what the number of the restless years of exile?' ἐς πότε λήξει is rather an amplification than a parenthesis. The simpler expression would be either τίς νέατος ἔσται ἀριθμός, or, ἐς πότε λήξει ὁ ἀριθμός. But νέατος is already redundant, and this gives rise to the further expansion. πολυπλάγκτων is put by hypallage or condensation for τοῦ ἐμὲ πολλὰ πλαγχθῆναι, sc. ἀπ᾿ οἴκου.

1187. mvp-comment-761-1 The corruption of the word δορυσσοήτων into δορυσσόντων in most MSS. is natural enough, although there is no such participle, and the adjective, which is more expressive as well as more rhythmical, agrees in metre with the antistrophe.

1190. mvp-comment-762-1 ἀν᾿ ἀερώδεα Τρωΐαν, G. Wolff's conjecture, founded on the scholion σκοτεινὴν καὶ ἀερώδη τοῖς Ἕλλησι, at least gives a possible sense and meaning. The contrast between the misty Hellespont and the bright air of Salamis and Athens is a natural topic of complaint. Cp. infr. 1208, 9, ἀεὶ πυκιναῖς δρόσοις | τεγγόμενος κόμας. Although Τρωΐα for Τροία does not occur elsewhere in Sophocles, it is acknowledged as the Pindaric form (Schndw. Pind. Ol. 2. 145). The interpolation ἀνὰ τάν may be partly due to ἄταν preceding. (Hermann thinks εὐρώδη sound, in the sense of εὐρεῖαν, —'wide,' and so 'desolate,'—but admits that either strophe or antistrophe is corrupt. Dind. reads, ἀν᾿ εὐρώδη Τροίαν, altering the antistrophe. Seyffert's conj., ἄνατον εὐρυεδεῖ Τροίᾳ, 'Doing no harm to broad-based Troy,' is very ingenious.)

1191. mvp-comment-763-1 ὄνειδος is either (1) in apposition with the whole sentence; or (2) with Τρωΐαν.

1192. mvp-comment-764-1 πρότερον] Sc. ἢ δεῖξαι .. Ἄρη. αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν] As Linwood observed, the idea of going away into the ether occurs again in Phil. 1092 foll., ἴθ' αἰθέρος ἄνω | πτωκάδες ὀξυτόνου διὰ πνεύματος | ἕλωσί μ'. Cp. also Phil. 814, 15, ἐκεῖσε νῦν μ', ἐκεῖσε. ΝΕ. ποῖ λέγεις; ΦΙ. ἄνω | ΝΕ. τί παραφρονεῖς αὖ; τί τὸν ἄνω λεύσσεις κύκλον; and the inscription over the dead who fell at Potidaea in B.C. 432, αἰθὴρ μὲμ ψυχὰς ὑπεδέξατο, κ.τ.λ.

1195. mvp-comment-765-1 ὅπλων.. κοινὸν Ἄρη] Either (1), laying the chief stress on ὅπλων, 'The combined warfare that depends upon the use of armour,' i. e. 'the use of armour that made combined warfare possible.' For this descriptive genitive, cp. especially El. 19, ἄστρων . . εὐφρόνη ('Night adorned with stars;' or, 'The stars that adorn the night'). Or (2), with the stress on κοινόν, 'The art of forming hostile confederacies in hateful arms.'

1196. mvp-comment-766-1 A short syllable here answers to the long first syllable of ἄταν in the strophe, unless we read Ἕλλασιν, which is unnecessary.

1197. mvp-comment-767-1 'O toil that was the parent of toil!' i. e. The toil of invention was the first parent of other toils.

1199-1201. mvp-comment-768-1 ἐκεῖνος οὐ... ὁμιλεῖν] 'He has cut me off from the joyous fellowship of chaplets and deep draughts from the cup.' The negatives have a privative force, as in οὐ φάναι, οὐκ ἐᾶν, etc. ὁμιλεῖν, sc. ὥστε ἐμὲ ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς στεφάνοις καὶ ταῖς κύλιξιν. The κύλιξ was a shallow vessel, and the epithet properly applies not to the goblet, but to the draughts of wine from it.

1201. mvp-comment-769-1 τέρψιν is first governed by νεῖμεν, and the same word is then repeated as a cognate accusative with ἰαύειν.

1202-1204. mvp-comment-770-1 οὔτε γλυκὺν .. ἰαύειν] ‘And from the sweet sound of flutes, unhappy me, and from passing nights of pleasant rest.'

1205. mvp-comment-771-1 The repetition of ἐρώτων marks the acme of privation.

1206. mvp-comment-772-1 ἀμέριμνος] Either (1) 'Uncared for;' or (2) 'Careless of myself' ('As one past hope, abandoned, | And by himself given o'er'); or (3) 'With vacant mind,' 'Having no interest in life.' For μέριμνα in a good sense, cp. especially Pind. Pyth. 8. 126-132, ὁ δὲ καλόν τι νέον λαχὼν | ἁβρότατος ἔπι, μεγάλας | ἐξ ἐλπίδος πέταται | ὑποπτέροις ἀνορέαις, ἔχων | κρέσσονα πλούτου | μέριμναν: also O.T. 1124, ἔργον μεριμνῶν ποῖον;

1208-1209. mvp-comment-773-1 Cp. Aesch. Ag. 560-2, κἀπὸ γῆς λειμώνιαι | δρόσοι κατεψέκαζον ... τιθέντες ἔνθηρον τρίχα.

1210. mvp-comment-774-1 λυγρᾶς μνήματα Τροίας] Lit. 'Reminders of the wretched Troad,' i. e. The raindrops on my head will not let me forget that I am in this miserable country. μνήματα is accusative in apposition to the sentence.

1211-1213. mvp-comment-775-1 ἐννυχίου | δείματος.. | καὶ βελέων] 'Against nightly alarm and weapons of war.' For this genitive of the object, cp. O. T. 1200-1, θανάτων δ᾽ ἐμᾷ | χώρᾳ πύργος ἀνέστα.

1214-1215. mvp-comment-776-1 νῦν δ᾽ οὗτος .. δαίμονι] 'But now he is no more our bulwark, struck down by a malignant fate.' As in Phil. 1153, ἀνέδην ὅδε χῶρος ἐρύκεται is said of the absence of defence, so ἀνεῖται is here said (continuing the metaphor in προβολά, supra) of the failure or removal of a defence; i.e. οὐκέτι προτείνεται. Cp. infr. 1270, Od. 11. 556, τοῖος γάρ σφιν πύργος ἀπώλεο.

1216. mvp-comment-777-1 ἐπέσται] Sc. τῷ βίῳ.

1217. mvp-comment-778-1 ὑλᾶεν] Od. 9. 191, ῥίῳ ὑλήεντι. ἔπεστι] 'Impends,' ' instat,' sc. τῷ πόντῳ, or τοῖς πλέουσιν. Cp. Od. 6. 210, ὅθ᾽ ἐπὶ σκέπας ἔστ᾽ ἀνέμοιο. πόντου πρόβλημα] ‘The rock jutting into the deep.' Cp. Phil. 1455, κτύπος ἄρσην πόντου προβολῆς.

1219-1220. mvp-comment-779-1 ἄκραν | ὑπὸ πλάκα Σουνίου] (1) 'Below the top of Sunium.' The ground behind Cape Colonnas rises considerably higher than the promontory itself. Or (2) 'At the point of the tableland of Sunium.'

1221-1222. mvp-comment-780-1 Athens could not really be seen by mariners until some time after passing Sunium, although the opposite is loosely asserted by Pausanias, 1. 28.