693-718.
mvp-comment-468-1
The following ode is the clearest instance in Sophocles of the hyporchema, or song accompanied with dancing. In substance it may be compared with Trach. 205-224, Ο. Τ. 1086-1109, Ant. 1115-1154. The metrical scheme of στρ. and ἀντ. is as follows:...
693.
mvp-comment-469-1
'My heart is thrilled with a new hope, and mounts on wings of joy.' For the aorist (of the immediate past), see Essay on L. § 32. p. 55.
ἔρως is here used of a sudden and intense hope.
Cp. Ant. 617,
πολλοῖς δ᾽ ἀπάτα κουφονόων ἐρώτων (sc.
& .. ἐλπίς).
695.
mvp-comment-470-1
Pan is associated both with Marathon and Salamis, where Psyttaleia was his haunt according to Aeschylus: Pers. 448,
ἣν ὁ φιλόχορος | Πὰν ἐμβατεύει. ἁλίπλαγκτε] As in the invocation to Sleep in Phil. 828,
εὐαὲς . . ἔλθοις, the attribute which is part of the prayer is put in the vocative. 'Come, roving over the sea, leaving the snow-smitten ridges of Cyllene.' Cyllene is clearly visible from the Acropolis, and in spring and early summer (1874) is covered with snow. The side it presents to Athens is long and precipitous.
697.
mvp-comment-471-1
θεῶν χοροποί᾽ ἄναξ] (
θεων). 'Thou lord, who of the gods art he that frames the dance.' For this partitive genitive,
cp. O. C. 868, 9,
θεῶν | ὁ πάντα λεύσσων ἥλιος. ὅπως μοι .. ξυνὼν ἰάψεις] «Το fling into... I pray thee, along with me.'
μοι is dativus ethicus, but to be resumed with
ξυνών.
698.
mvp-comment-472-1
Νύσια Κνώσσια] Nysa, whether imagined as in Euboea or elsewhere, and Cnossus in Crete, were associated with the legend of Dionysus.
Cp. the Cnossian dancing ground of Ariadne in Il. 18. 591,
οἷον ποτ᾿ ἐνὶ Κνωσῷ εὐρείῃ | Δαίδαλος ἤσκησεν καλλιπλοκάμῳ ᾿Αριάδνῃ. 'Wilde Tänze fänden zu Ehren Dionys zu Nysa Statt, und an der Theodaisien Anfangs April zu Knossos auf Kreta' (G. Wolff).
αὐτοδαῆ] 'Spontaneous,' said with reference to Pan, 'which no man hath taught thee,'
cp. Aesch. Prom. 301,
αὐτόκτιτ᾽ ἄντρα, 'caves formed by thyself' (said to Oceanus).
700.
mvp-comment-473-1
ἰάπτειν = 'to set in sudden and swift motion.'
703.
mvp-comment-474-1
πελαγέων]
πελαγεῶν. For the Icarian sea,
cp. Hdt. 6. 95, 6.
704.
mvp-comment-475-1
εὔγνωστος] 'Easy to be known;' i. e.
ἐναργής, in his proper, unmistakable form: 'Nunquam humeris positurus arcum, | Qui rore puro Castaliae lavit | Crines solutos, qui Lyciae tenet | Dumeta natalemque silvam, | Delius et Patareus Apollo' (Hor. Carm. 3. 4. 60).
Cp. Trach. 207,
τὸν εὐφαρέτραν.
706.
mvp-comment-476-1
(1) The dangerous condition of Ajax was like a dark veil upon the eyes of the Salaminians, saddening for them even the light of day. ('A web is woven across the sky,' Tennyson, In Memoriam.)
Cp. especially
supr. 139, 140, 200. 'Now the cruel power has withdrawn the dreadful sorrow that oppressed our eyes.' Ares, as in O. T. 189, is the god of destruction, with an association from the violent rage in which Ajax' troubles began. Or (2) the Salaminians, like Tecmessa,
supr. 269, identify themselves with Ajax, from whose eyes (
supr. 51, 447) the distraction caused by his vehement rage is now removed. For the expression in either case,
cp. supr. 674 and note: Il. 13. 444,
ἔνθα δ᾽ ἔπειτ᾿ ἀφίει μένος όβριμος Άρης.
708.
mvp-comment-477-1
(1) 'Now, Zeus, thou shalt bring near bright genial day to our swift sea-going ships.' The meaning is half figurative, half literal. It is still morning (
καὶ ἀέξεται ἱερὸν ἦμαρ), and the Salaminians feel that the return of day-light is in keeping with the return of cheerfulness within them. For the figurative meaning,
cp. especially Aesch. Cho. 961, 972,
πάρα τὸ φῶς ἰδεῖν: Pers. 301. Otherwise, (2)
πελάσαι may be intransitive, 'Light shall come near the ships,' in which case
ὦ Zeῦ is an ejaculation. For this,
cp. Phil. 400,
ἰὼ μάκαιρα, κ.τ.λ.
711-712.
mvp-comment-478-1
The Chorus in their delight at the pious intentions expressed by Ajax,
supr. 655, 6, 666, 7, describe them in exaggerated language, and speak of them as already performed.
714.
mvp-comment-479-1
These words are an echo of Ajax' reflection,
supr. ll. 646, 7. The words
τε καὶ φλέγει, which are added in the MSS., are not improbable in themselves.
Cp. supr. 476 and note. But there is nothing to correspond to them in the strophe, and the metre as it stands in the text is more probable than it would be with the addition of
10-2. The interpolation may be accounted for by supposing a marginal quotation, as in 554
supr.
715.
mvp-comment-480-1
ἐξ ἀέλπτων] 'When we had despaired.'
Cp. supr. 648.
716.
mvp-comment-481-1
μετανεγνώσθη] 'Has been converted.' Ajax,
supr. 651, attributed the change in himself to the persuasion of Tecmessa.
717.
mvp-comment-482-1
θυμῶν] This reading, which occurs in some MSS., is nearer to
θυμόν, the reading of L, than the conj.
θυμοῦ T', which has been commonly adopted. For the poetical plural, 'outbursts of wrath,'
cp. Trach. 882,
τίνες νόσοι; and see Essay on L. § 20. p. 30. The plural of
θυμός occurs in Plat. Phil. 40 E: Legg. 11. 934 Α,
ὁ δὲ .. ἐν φόβοις δειλίας, ἡ τισιν ἐπιθυμίαις ἡ φθόνοις ἢ θυμοῖς δυσιάτοις γιγνόμενος. (
νεικέων.)
