Sophocles Ajax 879-960

mvp-comment-512-1 τίς ἂν ¹ ἁλιαδᾶν ²

mvp-comment-512-2 ἔχων … ἄγρας ³

mvp-comment-512-3 ἀΰπνους ⁴ ἀμφ’ ⁵

mvp-comment-513-1 ἢ τίς Ὀλυμπιάδων θεᾶν ⁶ θεᾶν ⁷ ποταμῶν ⁸

mvp-comment-513-2 ῥυτῶν ⁹

mvp-comment-513-3 Βοσπορίων ¹⁰ ἴδρις ¹¹ ποταμῶν ¹²

mvp-comment-514-1 εἴ ποθι … λεύσσων ¹³

mvp-comment-514-2 σχέτλια ¹⁴

mvp-comment-514-3 τὸν μακρῶν ἀλάταν πόνων ¹⁵ οὐρίῳ μὴ πελάσαι δρόμῳ ¹⁶

mvp-comment-515-1 ἀμενηνὸν ¹⁷ ὅπου ¹⁸

mvp-comment-516-1 ἰώ μοί μοι ¹⁹

mvp-comment-517-1 τίνος βοὴ ²⁰ πάραυλος ²¹

mvp-comment-518-1 ἰὼ τλήμων ²²

mvp-comment-519-1 δουρίληπτον ²³

mvp-comment-519-2 οἴκτῳ … συγκεκραμένην ²⁴

mvp-comment-520-1 ᾤχωκα ²⁵

mvp-comment-520-2 διαπεπόρθημαι ²⁶

mvp-comment-521-1 τί δ’ ἔστιν ²⁷

mvp-comment-522-1 ἡμῖν ²⁸

mvp-comment-522-2 ἀρτίως νεοσφαγὴς ²⁹

mvp-comment-523-1 κρυφαίῳ ³⁰

mvp-comment-523-2 φας‐ ³¹ γάνῳ περιπτυχής ³²

mvp-comment-524-1 ὤμοι ³³

mvp-comment-525-1 ὤμοι, κατέπεφνες, ἄναξ … τάλας ³⁴ τάλας ³⁵

mvp-comment-526-1 ὦ ταλαίφρων γύναι ³⁶

mvp-comment-527-1 ὡς ὧδε τοῦδ’ ἔχοντος ³⁷

mvp-comment-527-2 αἰάζειν ³⁸

mvp-comment-528-1 τίνος ποτ’ ἆρ’ ἔπραξε ³⁹ ἔπραξε ⁴⁰ ἔρξε ⁴¹

mvp-comment-529-1 αὐτὸς πρὸς αὑτοῦ ⁴²

mvp-comment-529-2 ἐν γάρ οἱ χθονί ⁴³ οἱ … πηκτὸν ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-529-3 κατηγορεῖ ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-529-4 περιπετὲς ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-530-1 οἶος ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-530-2 ἄφρακτος ⁴⁸ φίλων ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-531-1 κωφός ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-532-1 δυστράπελος ⁵¹

mvp-comment-532-2 δυσώνυμος ⁵²

mvp-comment-533-1 περιπτυχεῖ φάρει ⁵³

mvp-comment-533-2 παμπήδην ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-534-1 ὅστις καὶ φίλος ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-535-1 φυσῶντ’ ἄνω πρὸς ῥῖνας ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-535-2 μελανθὲν ⁵⁷ οἰκείας σφαγῆς ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-536-1 βαστάσει ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-537-1 ἀκμαἶ ἂν … μόλοι ⁶⁰ ἀκμαῖος … μόλοι ⁶¹

mvp-comment-537-2 ἀκμαῖος, εἰ βαίη, μόλοι ⁶²

mvp-comment-538-1 συγκαθαρμόσαι ⁶³

mvp-comment-539-1 οἵως ἔχεις ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-540-1 ὡς … ἄξιος ⁶⁵ οἵως ἔχεις ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-540-2 παρ’ ἐχθροῖς ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-540-3 τυχεῖν ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-541-1 ἔμελλες ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-542-1 στερεόφρων ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-542-2 ἄῤ ⁷¹

mvp-comment-542-3 Erfurdt's insertion of ὧδ’ ⁷² ἐξανύσειν ⁷³ οὐλίῳ ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-543-1 τοῖα ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-543-2 πάννυχα καὶ φαέθοντ’ ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-544-1 ὠμόφρων ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-544-2 ἐχθοδόπ’ ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-544-3 οὐλίῳ σὺν πάθει ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-544-4 It is indeed possible to render οὐλίῳ σὺν πάθει ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-545-1 μέγας ⁸¹ ἦν … ἄρχων ⁸²

mvp-comment-546-1 ἦμος ⁸³

mvp-comment-546-2 ἀριστόχειρ ἀγὼν ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-546-3 ὅπλων ⁸⁵ χρυσοδέτων ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-546-4

is the classical pf. pass. of ( being used in a middle sense). Cp. 572 f. .. | (n.).

mvp-comment-547-1 ἧπαρ ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-547-2 γενναία ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-548-1 καὶ δὶς ⁸⁹ οἰμῶξαι ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-549-1 ἀποβλαφθεῖσαν … φίλου ⁹¹

mvp-comment-549-2 ἀρτίως ⁹² ἀρτίου ⁹³

mvp-comment-550-1 δοκεῖν ⁹⁴ φρονεῖν ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-551-1 δουλείας ζυγά ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-551-2 οἷοι ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-551-3 σκοποί ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-552-1 ὤμοι, ἀναλγήτων ⁹⁹ τῷδ’ ἄχει ¹⁰⁰ ἀναλγήτων ¹⁰¹ ἄναυδ’ | ἔργ’ ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-552-2 ἄχει ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-553-1 οὐκ ἂν τάδ’ ἔστη ¹⁰⁴ ἀλλ’ ἀπείργοι θεός ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-553-2 τάδ’ … τῇδε ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-553-3 ἔστη ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-553-4 μὴ θεῶν μέτα ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-554-1 ἄγαν ὑπερβριθὲς ¹⁰⁹ γὰρ ¹¹⁰ γ’ ¹¹¹ ἄγαν ¹¹² ἄχθος ¹¹³

mvp-comment-555-1 μέντοι ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-555-2 Ζηνὸς ἡ δεινὴ θεὸς ¹¹⁵

mvp-comment-556-1 ἦ ῥα ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-556-2 ἐφυβρίζει ¹¹⁷ κελαινώπαν θυμὸν ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-556-3 The form

occurs only here, though Pind. P. 1. 7 has the fem., . In Pind. P. 4. 212 he uses ( ): and Blaydes here gives κελαινῶπ’ ἀν θυμὸν ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-556-4 Schneidewin strangely understands, ‘Odysseus mocks at the frenzy-darkened soul of Ajax.’ Hartung writes κελαινῶπ’ ἔνθυμον ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-557-1 πολύτλας ¹²¹

mvp-comment-558-1 γελᾷ δὲ ¹²² γελᾷ τε ¹²³ γελᾷ ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-558-2 τοῖσδε … ἄχεσιν ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-558-3 μαινομένοις ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-559-1 ξύν τε ¹²⁷

879. mvp-comment-571-1 The correction of δή to δῆτα is necessary for the (dochmiac) metre. τις ἂν = πῶς ἄν τις; Cp. O. C. 1100, τίς ἂν θεῶν . . δοίη;

880. mvp-comment-572-1 ἔχων] 'Employed in.' Cp. supr. 564, δυσμενῶν θήραν ἔχων.

881. mvp-comment-573-1 Ὀλυμπιάδων θεᾶν], 'Nymphs of' (the Mysian) 'Olympus.'

885. mvp-comment-574-1 Βοσπορίων ποταμών] ‘What flowing current of the Hellespont?' Cp. supr. 412, and note. The Hellespont with its various currents might be imagined as tenanted by many river-gods. ἴδρις, which follows these words in most MSS., but not in Mosq. ab., has nothing to correspond to it in the antistrophe, and is unnecessary to the sense.

885. mvp-comment-574-2 τὸν ὠμόθυμον] Cp. supr. 205, and note.

886. mvp-comment-575-1 εἴ ποθι.. λεύσσων] i. e. λεύσσων, εἴ ποθι λεύσσοι. See Essay on L. § 28. p. 47,3; and cp. Thuc. 1. 14. § 4.

887. mvp-comment-576-1 σχέτλια] For the plural use, cp. Ε1. 230, τάδε γὰρ ἄλυτα κεκλήσεται.

888. mvp-comment-577-1 τὸν .. πόνων] 'In this my long-continued wandering toil.'

889. mvp-comment-578-1 'Should not arrive with favourable speed.' πελάσαι, sc. τῷ ζητουμένῳ.

890. mvp-comment-579-1 "But mine eye should fail to find where he is, the vanished one." Although the ordinary sense of ἀμενηνός, ‘without force' ( ἀ-μένος), is sufficient here (cp. especially, Hom. H. Ven. 189-91, μή με ζῶντ᾽ ἀμενηνὸν ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἐάσῃς ναίειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐλέαιρ᾽· ἐπεὶ οὐ βιοθάλμιος ἀνὴρ | γίγνεται, ὅστε, κ.τ.λ.), the context suggests the further association of 'a vanished life,' as if from α, μένω. See Essay on L. § 54. p. 100 c.

891. mvp-comment-580-1 During the strophe, Tecmessa has entered unperceived at the back of the stage, and, still in shadow, raises a sudden cry. The Chorus do not at once see her.

894. mvp-comment-581-1 The word νύμφη is chosen, as less definite than δάμαρ or ἄκοιτις, to denote the position of Tecmessa.

895. mvp-comment-582-1 οἴκτῳ .. συγκεκραμένην] 'Steeped in the sorrow of that cry.' The look of Tecmessa convinces the Chorus that her whole being is fused in the sorrow which the cry conveyed. For the physical image, see Essay on L. § 56. p. 102: and cp. especially Ant. 1311, δειλαίᾳ . . συγκέκραμαι δύᾳ. τῷδε refers to ἰώ μοί μοι.

896. mvp-comment-583-1 οἴχωκ᾽, ὄλωλα] The perfect gives a more absolute sense of completeness than οἴχομαι would give. διαπεπόρθημαι] For this image, which sums up Tecmessa's experience of calamity, cp. Aesch. Cho. 691, κατ' ἄκρας εἶπας ὡς πορθούμεθα.

899. mvp-comment-584-1 'Lies heaped about his hidden sword.' The sword-point ( infr. 1025) lifts the garment of Ajax to an apex from which the folds descend. At 906 she has raised the edge of the garment, and is gazing at the mangled form beneath it. At 915, by a revulsion of feeling, she draws it (or perhaps her own veil) over him so as to cover him more completely than before. The point of the sword is hidden by the garment, the blade in the body, the hilt in the ground. For the language, cp. Pind. Nem. 8. 40, κεῖνος καὶ Τελαμῶνος δάψεν υἱὸν φασγάνῳ ἀμφικυλίσαις.

900. mvp-comment-585-1 The first thought of the Chorus is for themselves.

905. mvp-comment-586-1 As the passage is antistrophic, and the corresponding l. 951 is free from suspicion, ἔπραξε in the MS. text of this line has probably taken the place of an equivalent word. See v. rr. Nothing better than ἔρξε has been suggested.

907-908. mvp-comment-587-1 ἐν γὰρ. κατηγορεῖ] ‘For this sword which he has fixed in the ground, and over which he is fallen, witnesses against him.' Another would not so have slain him. οἱ is to be taken with πηκτόν and περιπετές, and suggests the object ( αὐτοῦ) of κατηγορεῖ. περιπετές is used passively. Essay on L. § 53. p. 99.

910. mvp-comment-588-1 ὤμοι ἐμᾶς ἄτας] 'Woe for me, luckless one!' ἄτη is here a calamity involving blame, as appears from the words ὁ πάντα κωφός, ὁ πάντ᾽ ἄϊδρις in what follows. ἄφρακτος φίλων] 'Without friend to shield thee.' Essay on L. § 10. p. 16 f.

911. mvp-comment-589-1 πάντα is here used adverbially with a merely intensive force, as πᾶν in compounds, Essay on L. § 55. p. 101, 6,

913. mvp-comment-590-1 δυστράπελος] ‘Unmanageable.' Cp. supr. 609, δυσθεράπευτος: 594,5, μωρά μοι δοκεῖς φρονεῖν, | εἰ τοὐμὸν ἦθος ἄρτι παιδεύειν νοεῖς.

914. mvp-comment-591-1 δυσώνυμος] ‘Of ill-omened name.' The Chorus were present when Ajax, supr. 430, 'played nicely with his name.'

915. mvp-comment-592-1 Tecmessa has been gazing beneath the mantle, but, as some of the Chorus draw nearer, she covers the body out of sight. περιπτυχεῖ] ‘Covering.' Observe the repetition of the word used, supr. 899, in a different connection.

916. mvp-comment-593-1 φάρει] Probably the mantle of Ajax; possibly some garment from Tecmessa's own person. See Aesch. Fr. 212. The companions of Achilles, in Il. 18. 352, cover the dead body of Patroclus: ἑανῷ λιτὶ κάλυψαν | ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς· καθύπερθε δὲ φάρεϊ λευκῷ.

917. mvp-comment-594-1 οὐδεὶς . . ὅστις καὶ φίλος] 'No one who loved him.' καί marks the stress on φίλος. An enemy or indifferent person might bear to see him, but a friend could not. So Musgrave, 'Qui saltem amicus fuerit. Libentius quippe talia inimicus, quam amicus aspiceret.' Lobeck and the Scholiast give a different force to καί, as if it meant, 'not even a friend, far less a stranger.' But this is less in accordance with the use of καί in relative clauses. and also with the feeling of antiquity.

918-919. mvp-comment-595-1 ἔκ τε φοινίας πληγῆς] Sc. φυσῶντα, the breath being supposed to issue with the blood from the wound. Cp. infr. 1411, 2. μελανθὲν αἷμα] Cp. infr. 1412, 3, μέλαν | μένος.

919. mvp-comment-596-1 οἰκείας σφαγῆς] ‘His own self-inflicted death-wound. For this use of οἰκεῖος, cp. Εl. 215, οἰκείας εἰς ἄτας, supr. 260, οἰκεῖα πάθη.

920. mvp-comment-597-1 τίς σε βαστάσει φίλων] The huge form of Ajax lying disordered would need a powerful hand to straighten it. Even Teucer needs help, infr. ll. 1409-11. Tecmessa shrinks from asking the Chorus to perform this duty, which, however willing, they would do awkwardly; and for such sacred service a nearer and more equal friend is required.

921. mvp-comment-598-1 ὡς ἀκμαῖος, εἰ βαίη, μόλοι] 'How timely were his coming, if he came.' The optative without ἄν is doubted, but is less harsh coming immediately after another optative; and see Essay on L. § 36. p. 626 (1). Some have supposed a confusion of the expression of a wish with the potential optative. 'Might he but come! How timely!' But this is hardly in the Greek.

922. mvp-comment-599-1 συγκαθαρμόσαι] This compound occurs only here.

925-927. mvp-comment-600-1 Ajax is imagined to have brooded over his injuries for days before his final outbreak. Cp. supr. 194, 5, μακραίωνι .. σχολᾷ. The Chorus now think that the symptoms he then showed ought to have warned them of the possibility of what has followed.

926-927. mvp-comment-601-1 'Thus with iron will to work out an evil doom of boundless woe.' ὧδ' is required for the metre, and adds point to στερεόφρων as a supplementary predicate with ἐξανύσειν. ἄρα, 'As the event has proved.' τοῖα introduces the ground of the preceding inference. Essay on L. § 22. p. 35, 3. μοι is dative of the person interested, 'In my hearing,' or 'To my concern.'

930. mvp-comment-602-1 πάννυχα καὶ φαέθοντ᾽] ‘All night and in bright day.' φαέθοντα is picturesquely substituted for πανημέρια, and the adjectives are cognate or adverbial accusatives with ἀνεστέναζες, of which ἐχθοδοπά, although still cognate, is a more direct object.

931. mvp-comment-603-1 ὠμόφρων] 'With savage thoughts,' a supplementary predicate. The metre is doubtful here, and some MSS. have ὠμόφρον', or ὠμόφρον (vocative sing.).

932. mvp-comment-604-1 οὐλίῳ σὺν πάθει] ‘Under thy calamitous wrong,' i.e. his disappointment in the judgment of the arms, which has had such fatal consequences. For πάθος in this sense, cp. O. C. 1078, δεινὰ δ' εὑροῦσαν πρὸς αὐθαίμων πάθη: and see Phil. 337, 8, πότερον, ὦ τέκνον, τὸ σὸν | πάθημ᾽ ἐλέγχω: O.T. 553, 4, τὸ δὲ | πάθημ᾽ ὁποῖον φὴς παθεῖν, δίδασκέ με.

934-936. mvp-comment-605-1 'Mighty to begin sorrows was the hour when the contest for the [gold-forged] arms was appointed for the hands of the brave.' μέγας ἦν ἄρχων is nearly equivalent to μεγάλως ἦρχεν.

935. mvp-comment-606-1 A choriambus = χρυσοτύπων has been lost before ὅπλων.

937-943. mvp-comment-607-1 After an interval of inarticulate sorrow, in which she only utters brief ejaculations, Tecmessa's feelings take a bitter turn. and her indignation finds vent first against the gods, 950-3, and then against the Atreidae, 961-73. Her pride in Ajax rises above all else.

938. mvp-comment-608-1 'I know, a grief of ample size is piercing to thy soul,' γενναία is not 'genuine' or 'noble,' but 'of great size.' Cp. Shak. Ant. and Cleo. 4. 15. 4, 'Our size of sorrow.'

940. mvp-comment-609-1 'I doubt thee not for wailing more than once,' i.e. I am sure that the feeling equals its expression.

941. mvp-comment-610-1 ἀποβλαφθεῖσαν] ‘Violently bereft.' See L. and S. s. v. βλάπτω, I. 2.

942. mvp-comment-611-1 φρονεῖν] 'To feel and know.' See O. C. 1741; E. on L. § 51. p. 95.

944. mvp-comment-612-1 Tecmessa turns from the Chorus to her child.

945. mvp-comment-613-1 Cp. supr. 497. But for the coming of Teucer and the interposition of Odysseus, Tecmessa's apprehensions would have been verified.

945. mvp-comment-613-2 οἷοι.. σκοποί] 'What eyes are set over our life!' For σκοπός, of one who has a right to call others to account, cp. especially Od. 22. 395, 6, ἤ τε γυναικῶν | δμωάων σκοπός ἐσσι κατὰ μέγαρ᾽ ἡμετεράων. The Atreidae and their underlings are meant. Cp. supr. 512, ὑπ᾿ ὀρφανιστῶν μὴ φίλων.

947. mvp-comment-614-1 ἐθρόησας ἄναυδον ἔργον ᾿Ατρειδᾶν] 'Thou givest utterance to the wordless deed of the Atreidae.' The phrase ἄναυδον ἔργον marks the tacit exercise of absolute power, 'the blow without the word.' For, as Menelaus says afterwards, l. 1160, he has no reason λόγοις κολάζειν, ᾧ βιάζεσθαι παρῇ. ἄναυδον is introduced partly for the sake of the verbal opposition to ἐθρόησας. Cp. Aesch. Eum. 935, σιγῶν.. ὅλεθρος.

949. mvp-comment-615-1 τῷδ' ἄχει] 'In this cry of sorrow.' Cp. O. C. 1722, λήγετε τοῦδ' ἄχους: supr. 895, οἴκτῳ τῷδε.

951. mvp-comment-616-1 'Beyond measure heavy is the burden of the grief they cause.' ἤνυσαν, sc. οἱ θεοί. Aor. of immediate past.

952. mvp-comment-617-1 In identifying herself with Ajax, Tecmessa has learnt to speak scornfully of the gods. 'But the gods are to blame for it all.' His protection has indeed been more apparent in her life than theirs has been. Cp. supr. 490, and note.

954. mvp-comment-618-1 κελαινώπαν θυμόν] ‘In his swart soul.' Accusative of the sphere of movement, lit. 'throughout.' The latter part of the compound is not dwelt upon, but suggests the θυμός as a localized entity, a sort of beast within the man, like Plato's lion (Rep. 9. 588). For κελαινός, of evil passions, cp. Aesch. Eum. 459, ἀλλά.. νιν κελαινόφρων ἐμὴ | μήτηρ κατέκτα. And for the personification of θυμός, Archil. Fr. 68, θυμέ, θύμ᾽ ἀμηχάνοισι κήδεσιν κυκώμενε. ἐφυβρίζειν is not used absolutely elsewhere. It seems here to mean 'to acquire fresh insolence.' Cp. ἐπερρῶσθαι.

954. mvp-comment-618-2 πολύτλας ἀνήρ] 'The unflinching man.' The Homeric epithet is used with a different meaning: viz. 'He who sticks at nothing.' Cp. Phil. 633, 4, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἐκείνῳ πάντα λεκτά, πάντα δὲ | τολμητά.

955. mvp-comment-619-1 τοῖσδε μαινομένοις ἄχεσιν] 'Over this madness-caused woe.' Dative of the cause or occasion, as is shown by sc. τάδε τὰ ἄχεα, in the following clause. Cp. Εl. 1343, χαίρουσιν οὖν τούτοισιν ; ἢ τίνες λόγοι; For the condensed epithet (sc. τοῦ μαινομένου), see Essay on L. § 43. p. 81, § 35. р. 60.

960. mvp-comment-620-1 κλύοντες] Viz. from Odysseus.