Ajax. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-44-1 καὶ πῶς 1 ἐπέσχε 2 φόνου 3 μαιμῶσαν 4
mvp-comment-45-1 ἐγώ 5
mvp-comment-45-2 δυσφόρους 6
mvp-comment-46-1 γνώμας 7 λήμας 8
mvp-comment-46-2 Join τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς 9 γνώμας 10
mvp-comment-46-3 Others take the gen. as depending on ἀπείργω 11 βαλοῦσα 12
mvp-comment-47-1 πρός τε ποίμνας 13
mvp-comment-47-2 σύμμικτά τε … φρουρήματα 14 λείας 15 βουκόλων 16
mvp-comment-48-1 ἄδαστα 17 ἄδαστα 18
mvp-comment-49-1 ἔκειρε … φόνον 19
mvp-comment-49-2 πολύκερων φόνον 20
mvp-comment-50-1 ῥαχίζων 21
mvp-comment-50-2 κἀδόκει μὲν 22
mvp-comment-51-1 φοιτῶντ’ 23
mvp-comment-52-1 ὤτρυνον, εἰσέβαλλον 24
mvp-comment-52-2 εἰς ἕρκη κακά 25
mvp-comment-53-1 κἄπειτ’ ἐπειδὴ 26
mvp-comment-53-2 ἐλώφησεν 27
mvp-comment-53-3 πόνου 28
mvp-comment-54-1 αὖ 29
mvp-comment-55-1 ἄνδρας 30
mvp-comment-55-2 εὔκερων 31
mvp-comment-56-1 καὶ σοὶ 32
mvp-comment-56-2 δείξω … περιφανῆ 33
mvp-comment-56-3 θροῇς 34
mvp-comment-57-1 μηδὲ συμφορὰν δέχου τὸν ἄνδρα 35 δέχου 36
mvp-comment-57-2 ἀποστρόφους 37 ἀπείρξω … εἰ<*>ιδεῖν 38
mvp-comment-57-3 These three verses have been rejected (cr. n.), on the ground that, after this promise from Athena, Odysseus had no cause to feel the alarm which he shows in vv. 74 ff., or to ask the question (v. 84) which elicits a renewal of that promise (85). But the poet wished to render the preparation for the hero's entrance as impressive as possible; and chose, therefore, to represent Odysseus—a brave man—as still uneasy, until the assurance given to him had been repeated in a yet more explicit and emphatic form.
mvp-comment-58-1 οὗτος 39
mvp-comment-58-2 σὲ τὸν 40
mvp-comment-58-3 αἰχμαλωτίδας 41
mvp-comment-58-4 ἀπευθύνοντα 42
mvp-comment-58-5
Cp.
Eur.
Andr. 719
ὧδ’, ὦ κάκιστε, τῆσδ’ ἐλυμήνω χέρας; | βοῦν ἢ λέοντ’ ἤλπιζες ἐντείνειν βρόχοις; (‘strain with cords’). Ajax fancies himself to be tying the hands of human prisoners behind them, when he fastens the fore feet of an ox or sheep to its hind feet.
Cp. 299
.
mvp-comment-59-1 τί δρᾷς 43
mvp-comment-59-2 μηδαμῶς σφ’ ἔξω κάλει 44
50. mvp-comment-41-1 Join ἐπέσχε φόνου. μαιμῶσαν is more expressive than the v. τ. διψῶσαν, which is probably meant to be construed with φόνου. For πῶς, 'How came it that-?' cp. O. T. 1177, πῶς δῆτ᾿ ἀφῆκας;
51. mvp-comment-42-1 ἀπείργω] The vivid present (see v. rr.) is preferable to the aorist, as the less obvious reading. Join ἀπείργω with χαρᾶς, which is added in further explanation. δυσφόρους γνώμας] ‘Overpowering fancies.' δύσφορος has been supposed to be here equivalent το παράφορος, 'false,' or 'misleading;' but this, (though a possible association of the word) is unnecessary. The natural meaning of 'grievous,' 'intolerable,' is slightly modified by the association of 'hard to resist,' or 'bear up against.' Ajax could not withstand the fatal illusion.
52. mvp-comment-43-1 τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς] ‘From his fatal pleasure.' The harm once done would have been irrevocable. For χαpâς, cp. infr. 114, ἐπειδὴ τέρψις ἥδε σοι τὸ δρᾶν.
53-54. mvp-comment-44-1 πρός τε ποίμνας.. φρουρήματα] 'I turned him off upon the flocks, and the mixed charge of the herdsmen that was not yet divided from the spoil,' i. e. simply the sheep and oxen. Schndw. distinguishes between the sheep, which he assumes to have been kept in common to be slaughtered as food, and the oxen, which were gradually distributed as booty. That no such exact definition is intended here is proved by supr. 25-7, λείας ἁπάσας .. αὐτοῖς ποιμνίων ἐπιστάταις. The words λείας ἄδαστα are added, to show that the act of Ajax would provoke the whole army to be enraged against him with one consent. Cp. infr. 145-6, 408-9.
55. mvp-comment-45-1 ἔκειρε is imperfect. The syllable κειρ is echoed in πολύκερων. The cognate accusative and hypallage together cannot be literally rendered in English. 'He made bloody havoc with the horned multitude, felling them on all sides of him.'
57. mvp-comment-46-1 ἔχων] ‘Having them in his power.' μέν (l. 56) with δέ in l. 59, contrasts the belief of Ajax with the reality described in 59, 60. Or, possibly (2) μέν points forward to a dé which is lost in l. 58, 1.ε. ἐστὶ μὲν .. ἐστὶ δὲ .. Cp. Ant. 165-7, τοῦτο μὲν .. τοῦτ᾽ αὖθις.
58. mvp-comment-47-1 i.e. ἔσθ' ὅτε ἐδόκει κτείνειν ἄλλους τῶν στρατηλατῶν, ἄλλοτε ἄλλον, ('somebody else, now one and now another,') ἐμπίτνων, sc. τῇ ἀγέλῃ.
59-60. mvp-comment-48-1 (1) And as the man ranged to and fro, I urged him with maddening frenzy, and drave him into the evil net;' or (2), construing μανιάσιν νόσοις with φοιτώντα, ‘As he bounded to and fro in frenzy, I urged and drave him,' etc. In the latter case the expression is proleptic. The Scholion οι ἕρκη, εἰς ἐρινῦν κακήν, perhaps conceals a v. r. eἰς ἄρκυν κακήν. But cp. Od. 21. 238, 384, ἀνδρῶν ἡμετέροισιν ἐν ἕρκεσι.
61. mvp-comment-49-1 'And then, when he had remission of this toil.' πόνου, the more general word, is better than φόνου, which is tautological. πόνου in connection with the preceding words, implies that the vain task was imposed on Ajax by the will of Athena.
63. mvp-comment-50-1 ποίμνας τε πάσας] When the chief of the flock were bound and dragged away, the rest would follow. Cp. infr. 296.
64. mvp-comment-51-1 εὔκερων] This epithet applies to the sheep as well as to the kine.
65. mvp-comment-52-1 συνδέτους is rather 'tied together' than bound hand and foot.'
66. mvp-comment-53-1 (1) 'Come, I will show thee this affliction in full sight.' περιφανή predicative. Or (2), taking the word attributively, 'this signal frenzy.' Cp. infr. 81 and note, infr. 229.
67. mvp-comment-54-1 ὡς .. θροῇς]· That you may noise it abroad.' Cp. infr. 149, εἰς ὦτα φέρει πᾶσιν Ὀδυσσεύς.
68. mvp-comment-55-1 συμφορὰν δέχου τὸν ἄνδρα] 'Look for his coming as a misfortune:' sc. ὡς συμφοράν. Cp. Ο. C. 142, μή μ', ἱκετεύω, προσίδητ᾽ ἄνομον. And see E. on L. § 39. p. 73.
69-70. mvp-comment-56-1 ὀμμάτων .. εἰσιδεῖν] I will divert the effluence of his eyes, and debar them from the sight of you.' ἀποστρόφους is predicative: i.e. ἀποστρέφουσα αὐτάς. On the ancient theory of vision and its effect on language, see E. on L. $ 54. p. 99. μή is omitted after εἴργω, as after κωλύω: i.e. τὸ μὴ εἰσιδεῖν νιν σὴν πρόσοψιν, ‘I will turn away the light of his eyes, so that your form shall be invisible to him.' Cp. Phil. 1407, εἴρξω πελάζειν.
71. mvp-comment-57-1 Athena faces the tent and raises her voice.
72. mvp-comment-58-1 ἀπευθύνοντα has been taken literally, 'to bind straight or fast.' But although the image of a constrained position is suggested by the word, it retains its more general meaning of 'reducing to order or subjection,' as in Eur. Bacch. 884-6, ἀπευθύνει δὲ βροτῶν | τοὺς τ᾿ ἀγνωμοσύναν τιμῶντας καὶ μὴ τὰ θεῶν | αὔξοντας ξὺν μαινομένᾳ δόξα.
74. mvp-comment-59-1 σφ', although omitted by L, is probably genuine.