Sophocles Ajax 17

Robert Potter (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Card
← Previous Next →
Minerva
I check'd him from the savage joy his heart
Conceived, presenting to his eyes wild forms
Of sick imagination; on the herds
I turn'd him, and the undivided spoils
By herdsmen watch'd; on these he rush'd, and spread
Wide slaughter 'midst the horned droves, around
Whirling his sword; th' Atridæ now he ween'd
Fell by his hand, and now some other Chief,
Each after each; his mind with frenzy seized,
I urged him on, and drove him into toils
Thus wretchedly entangled. When his hand
From this wild slaughter ceased, the herds not slain
And all the flocks he seized, in fetters bound,
And drove them to his tent, deeming them men,
Not horned herds: there now with many a lash
He makes his captives feel his frentic rage...
But I will show thee his distemperature,
55
To all the Grecians that thou may'st report
55
What thou hast seen. Call up thy firmness, stay,
55
Of ill not apprehensive; I will turn
55
His eyes aside to cast no glance on thee.
Ho there! To thee, who on thy captives' hands
Art fixing chains, to thee I call; come forth;

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.) — 1-171 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 1-171 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 17 focus
χαλκοστόμου κώδωνος ὡς Τυρσηνικῆς.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-171 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 17 focus
ATH
I turned him backward from his baleful joy,
And overswayed him with blind phantasies,
To swerve against the flocks and well-watched herd
Not yet divided from the public booty.
There plunging in he hewed the horned throng,
And with him Havoc ranged: while now he thought
To kill the Atreidae with hot hand, now this
Now that commander, as the fancy grew.
I, joining with the tumult of his mind,
Flung the wild victim on the fatal net.
Anon, this toil being overpast, he draws
The living oxen and the panting sheep
With cords to his home, not as a hornèd prey,
But as in triumph marshalling his foes:
Whom now he tortures in their bonds within.
Come, thou shalt see this madness in clear day,
55
And tell to the Argives all I show thee here
55
Only stand firm and shrink not, I will turn
55
His eyes askance, not to distinguish thee,
55
Fear nought—Ho! thou that bindest to thy will
The limbs of those thy captives, come thou forth!
Aias! advance before thy palace gate!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
Zu jeder Stunde treff' ich dich, Laertes' Sohn, 1
1
Wie du, den Feind zu greifen, seine Fährt' erspürst;
Auch nun gewahr' ich, wie du hier am Schiffsgezelt 2
Des Ajas, der des Lagers lezte Reihe hält,
Schon lange schleichst und lauerst und von seinem Tritt
5
Die frischgeprägten Spuren prüfst, um auszuspäh'n,
Ob innen er, ob außen: glücklich führt dich auch
Dein Schritt an's Ziel, scharfwitternd, gleich dem Sparterhund. 3
Denn eben ist er innen, und von Schweiße triest
Das Haupt des Mannes und die mordbewehrte Hand.
10
Und nöthig hast du weiter nicht, am Thore hier
Hineinzulauschen; aber sprich, warum du so
Voll Eifer spähtest, gerne geb' ich dir Bescheid.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 17 focus
Ulysses
74
What wouldst thou do, Minerva ? Do not call
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-170 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-45-1 ἐγώ 1

mvp-comment-45-2 δυσφόρους 2

mvp-comment-46-1 γνώμας 3 λήμας 4

mvp-comment-46-2 Join τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς 5 γνώμας 6

mvp-comment-46-3 Others take the gen. as depending on ἀπείργω 7 βαλοῦσα 8

mvp-comment-47-1 πρός τε ποίμνας 9

mvp-comment-47-2 σύμμικτά τε … φρουρήματα 10 λείας 11 βουκόλων 12

mvp-comment-48-1 ἄδαστα 13 ἄδαστα 14

mvp-comment-49-1 ἔκειρε … φόνον 15

mvp-comment-49-2 πολύκερων φόνον 16

mvp-comment-50-1 ῥαχίζων 17

mvp-comment-50-2 κἀδόκει μὲν 18

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

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.'