Sophocles Ajax 154

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Tecmessa
Ah wretched me, who taught him thus to fear?

Ajax. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.

Current edition Experimental

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)
Αἴας μαστιγοφόρος First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Aiax. Lobeck Christian, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1866.) — 172-201 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 172-200 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 154 focus
τῶν γὰρ μεγάλων ψυχῶν ἱεὶς
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 172-200 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 154 focus
AIAS
The scene changes to a lonely wooded spot. AIAS (discovered alone).
The sacrificer stands prepared,—and when
More keen? Let me take time for thinking, too!
This gift of Hector, whom of stranger men
I hated most with heart and eyes, is set
In hostile Trojan soil, with grinding hone
Fresh-pointed, and here planted by my care
Thus firm, to give me swift and friendly death.
Fine instrument, so much for thee! Then, first,
Thou, for ’tis meet, great Father, lend thine aid.
For no great gift I sue thee. Let some voice
Bear Teucer the ill news, that none but he
May lift my body, newly fallen in death
About my bleeding sword, ere I be spied
By some of those who hate me, and be flung
To dogs and vultures for an outcast prey.
So far I entreat thee, Lord of Heaven. And thou,
Hermes, conductor of the shadowy dead,
Speed me to rest, and when with this sharp steel
I have cleft a sudden passage to my heart,
At one swift bound waft me to painless slumber!
But most be ye my helpers, awful Powers,
Who know no blandishments, but still perceive
All wicked deeds i’ the world—strong, swift, and sure,
Avenging Furies, understand my wrong,
See how my life is ruined, and by whom.
Come, ravin on Achaean flesh—spare none;
Rage through the camp!—Last, thou that driv’st thy course
Up yon steep Heaven, thou Sun, when thou behold’st
My fatherland, checking thy golden rein,
Report my fall, and this my fatal end,
To my old sire, and the poor soul who tends him.
Ah, hapless one! when she shall hear this word,
How she will make the city ring with woe!
’Twere from the business idly to condole.
To work, then, and dispatch. O Death! O Death!
Now come, and welcome! Yet with thee, hereafter,
I shall find close communion where I go.
But unto thee, fresh beam of shining Day,
And thee, thou travelling Sun-god, I may speak
Now, and no more for ever. O fair light!
O sacred fields of Salamis my home!
Thou, firm set natal hearth: Athens renowned,
And ye her people whom I love; O rivers,
Brooks, fountains here—yea, even the Trojan plain
I now invoke!—kind fosterers, farewell!
This one last word from Aias peals to you:
Henceforth my speech will be with souls unseen
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 172 focus
Trieb dich die Tochter des Zeus, die Vertilgerin,
Artemis, schweres Gerücht, Quelle bitt'rer Schande mir!
Auf unsres Volkes Gut, in die weidenden Rinder,
Wohl wegen eines ohne Dank erkämpften Siegs, 1
175
Sei es um Gaben getäuscht
Von stolzer Rüstung oder um Beuten der Sagd?
Wie? Oder zürnt dir Ares im ehernen Kleid,
Hat, weil mit Undank ihm du die Hülfe gelohnt,
Dich gestraft mit nächtlichem Blendwerk?
180
Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 154 focus
Chorus
Doubtless thy fear of future pain
Fi'om the Atridte all are vain,
For never can they mean such ills to thee ;
Unfeeling they of human woe,
Nor love nor piety could know ;
May heaven avert the sad calamity !
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 172-200 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-495-1 Θάνατε 1

mvp-comment-496-1 κἀκεῖ 2

mvp-comment-496-2 The absence of caesura gives a more deliberate weight to

σὲ μὲν κἀκεῖ
: cp. 994 : Ph. 1369
ἔα κακῶς αὐτοὺς ἀπόλλυσθαι κακούς
, and ib. 101: Ant. 44.

mvp-comment-497-1 τὸ νῦν σέλας 3

mvp-comment-497-2 διφρευτὴν 4

mvp-comment-498-1 πανύστατον δὴ 5

mvp-comment-498-2 κοὔποτ’ … ὕστερον 6

mvp-comment-499-1 ἱερὸν 7

mvp-comment-499-2 πατρῷον 8 βάθρον 9

mvp-comment-500-1 κλειναί 10

mvp-comment-500-2 καὶ τὸ σύντροφον γένος 11

mvp-comment-501-1 κρῆναί τε ποταμοί θ’ οἵδε 12

mvp-comment-501-2 καὶ τὰ Τρ. πεδία προσαυδῶ 13

mvp-comment-501-3 τροφῆς 14

mvp-comment-502-1 Αἴας … θροεῖ 15 μυθήσομαι 16

mvp-comment-502-2 Ajax falls upon his sword. (See n. on 815.)—The actor Timotheus of Zacynthus (says the scholiast) was celebrated in this scene:

ἦγε τοὺς θεατὰς καὶ ἐψυχαγώγει, ὡς Σφαγέα αὐτὸν κληθῆναι
.

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

815-865. mvp-comment-530-1 The scene is changed to a wooded place ( infr. 892) not far from the camp ( infr. 874-8), where Ajax is disclosed, somewhat retired, but so that both he and the projecting point of the sword which he has planted in the ground, are visible to the spectators.

856. mvp-comment-555-1 τὸ νῦν] By hypallage for τῆς νῦν, giving a lighter rhythm.

857. mvp-comment-556-1 προσεννέπω is introduced by an expansion similar to that in Aesch. Prom. 91, καὶ τὸν πανόπτην κύκλον ἡλίου καλῶ, and then becomes the governing word.

858. mvp-comment-557-1 κοὔποτ᾽ αὖθις] Sc. προσαυδήσω. Cp. Ant. 808, 9, νέατον δὲ φέγγος λεύσσουσαν ἀελίου | κοὔποτ᾽ αὖθις.

859. mvp-comment-558-1 ὦ φέγγος] He passionately resumes his invocation (856-8), and as his heart goes forth with the universal sunlight, he again (as in 846) fixes his thoughts on home.

860. mvp-comment-559-1 πατρῷον ἑστίας βάθρον] 'Hearth-stone of my sire.' See Essay on L. § 42. p. 80 γ.

861. mvp-comment-560-1 κλειναί] Cp. supr. 596, and note. The glory of Athens, like that of Salamis, is anticipated.

861. mvp-comment-560-2 τὸ σύντροφον γένος] 'And ye, her race, among whom I was brought up.' These words, in which Ajax adopts the Athenians as brethren of the Aeacidae, are well calculated to move the Athenian audience.

862-864. mvp-comment-561-1 After bidding farewell to Salamis and Athens, he is returning to his purpose, when his eye falls on the fresh waters in which he has lately bathed ( supr. 654); and they remind him of his Trojan environment of the last ten years. To this also he bids an affectionate farewell.

864. mvp-comment-562-1 The repetition of his own name by Ajax here is significant. Still conscious of his greatness, he imagines all Nature as moved at his departure.

865-866. mvp-comment-563-1 Ajax having fallen upon his sword at the back of the proscenium, and the orchestra as well as the stage being otherwise vacant, the Chorus re-enter by the two side doors, the first ἡμιχορίον coming in on the spectator's left, as if from the east. Before the opening of the strophe, infr. 879, they have taken up their position in the orchestra.