Sophocles Ajax 214

mvp-comment-608-1 δοκοῦντ’ ἐμοί ¹

mvp-comment-608-2 δοκοῦντα δ’ ² ὃς κραίνει στρατοῦ ³

mvp-comment-609-1 προθείς ⁴

mvp-comment-610-1 ἐλπίσαντες … ἄγειν ⁵

mvp-comment-611-1 ζητοῦντες ⁶

mvp-comment-611-2 Φρυγῶν ⁷ Τρώων ⁸

mvp-comment-612-1 στρατῷ ξύμπαντι ⁹

mvp-comment-613-1 δορί ¹⁰

mvp-comment-614-1 θεῶν τις ¹¹

mvp-comment-614-2 ἔσβεσεν ¹²

mvp-comment-615-1 τήνδ’ … τύχην ¹³ θανόντες ¹⁴ ἣν ὅδ’ εἴληχεν τύχην ¹⁵ τήνδ’ ¹⁶ λαχόντες ¹⁷

mvp-comment-615-2 προὐκείμεθ’ ¹⁸

mvp-comment-615-3 αἰσχίστῳ ¹⁹ ἐχθίστῳ ²⁰ ἀθλίῳ ²¹

mvp-comment-616-1 ἐνήλλαξεν ²²

mvp-comment-616-2 μῆλα καὶ ποίμνας ²³

mvp-comment-616-3 1062 f. The acc. αὐτὸν ²⁴ σῶμα ²⁵

mvp-comment-616-4 τυμβεῦσαι τάφῳ ²⁶

mvp-comment-617-1 ἀμφὶ … ψάμαθον ²⁷

mvp-comment-617-2 χλωρὰν ²⁸

mvp-comment-617-3 λευρὰν ²⁹

mvp-comment-618-1 ὄρνισι ³⁰

mvp-comment-619-1 πρὸς ταῦτα ³¹

mvp-comment-619-2 ἐξάρῃς ³²

mvp-comment-620-1 εἰ … μὴ )δυνήθημεν ³³

mvp-comment-621-1 χερσὶν παρευθύνοντες ³⁴ χερσὶν ³⁵ ὅπου ³⁶

mvp-comment-622-1 κακοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρὸς ³⁷

mvp-comment-622-2 ἄνδρα ³⁸ ὄντα ³⁹

mvp-comment-623-1 καλῶς φέροιντ’ ἄν ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-623-2 ἔνθα μὴ ⁴¹

mvp-comment-624-1 φόβου πρόβλημα ⁴²

mvp-comment-624-2 αἰδοῦς ⁴³

mvp-comment-625-1 κἂν σῶμα γεννήσῃ μέγα ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-625-2 κἂν ἀπὸ σμ. κακοῦ ⁴⁵ κἂν ⁴⁶ ἀπὸ ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-626-1 πρόσεστιν ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-626-2 αἰσχύνη ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-627-1 ὅπου … παρῇ ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-627-2 βούλεται ⁵¹

mvp-comment-628-1 νόμιζε ⁵² χρόνῳ ποτὲ … πεσεῖν ⁵³ ἐξ οὐρίων δραμοῦσαν ⁵⁴ ποτ’ ἂν ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-628-2 ἐξ οὐρίων ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-629-1 ἑστάτω ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-629-2 μοι ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-629-3 καὶ δέος ⁵⁹ καίριον ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-630-1 ἃν ἡδώμεθα ⁶¹

mvp-comment-630-2 οὐκ ἀντιτείσειν ⁶² ἃν λυπώμεθα ⁶³

mvp-comment-631-1 παραλλὰξ ⁶⁴ αἴθων ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-632-1 ὅπως | μὴ ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-633-1 εἰς ταφὰς πέσῃς ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-634-1 ὑποστήσας ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-634-2 ἐν θανοῦσιν ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-634-3 The dramatic function of a Chorus required that these Salaminian sailors, while loyal to Ajax, should recognise the sound elements in the speech which they have heard. Menelaüs has rightly condemned the

which defies human laws. But his own menaces the laws of the gods.

mvp-comment-635-1 ἄνδρες ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-636-1 μηδὲν ὢν γοναῖσιν ⁷¹

mvp-comment-637-1 τοιαῦθ’ ἁμαρτάνουσιν … ἔπη ⁷²

mvp-comment-638-1 ἄγειν ⁷³ λαβών ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-639-1 αὐτὸς ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-640-1 ποῦ ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-640-2 λεῶν ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-641-1 ἤγαγ’ ⁷⁸ ἡγεῖτ’ ⁷⁹ ὧν ⁸⁰ ἦγεν ⁸¹ ἤγετ’ ⁸²

mvp-comment-642-1 οὐδ’ ἔσθ’ ὅπου ⁸³ τόνδε κοσμῆσαι ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-642-2 ἀρχῆς … θεσμὸς ⁸⁵ ἔκειτο ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-642-3 ἢ καὶ τῷδε σέ ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-643-1 ὅλων ⁸⁸ σύμπαντες ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-643-2 Apart from the difficulty as to

, there is absolutely no ground for rejecting verses 1105 f., as Schneidewin and other critics have done.

mvp-comment-644-1 ὧνπερ ἄρχεις αρχε ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-644-2 τὰ σέμν’ ἔπη κόλαζ’ ἐκείνους ⁹¹

mvp-comment-644-3 εἴτε μὴ σὺ φής, εἴθ’ ἅτερος στρ ⁹²

mvp-comment-644-4 εἰς ταφὰς θήσω ⁹³

mvp-comment-644-5 στόμα ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-645-1 οἱ πόνου πολλοῦ πλέῳ ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-645-2 Assuredly

does not mean ‘busybodies,’ , as some have taken it,—supposing it to be said scornfully of tributary to Menelaüs and eager to display their zeal.

mvp-comment-646-1 ὅρκων ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-647-1 σοῦ δ’ οὐδὲν ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-647-2 τοὺς μηδένας ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-648-1 κήρυκας ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-649-1 ψόφου … στραφείην ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-649-2 ἕως ¹⁰¹ ὡς ¹⁰² ὡς ἂν ᾖς ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-650-1 οὐδ’ αὖ ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-650-2 ἐν κακοῖς ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-651-1 ὁ τοξότης ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-652-1 βάναυσον ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-653-1 ἀσπίδ’ ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-654-1 ψιλὸς … ὡπλισμένῳ ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-655-1 τρέφει ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-656-1 ξὺν τῷ δικαίῳ ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-657-1 δίκαια ¹¹²

mvp-comment-657-2 κτείναντα ¹¹³

1050. mvp-comment-676-1 δοκοῦντα (neut. pl.) is governed by εἶπον, understood from ἀνήλωσας λόγον. The participle gives the reason, i.e. διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν. 'The cause is in my will.' For the ellipse of the antecedent to ὅς, cp. especially Trach. 1233, τίς γάρ ποθ', ἥ μοι, κ.τ.λ.

1051. mvp-comment-677-1 προθείς] Sc. κελεύεις ταῦτα, again 'understood' from the preceding lines. Cp. especially O. T. 1154, 5, οὐχ ὡς τάχος τις τοῦδ᾽ ἀποστρέψει χέρας; ΘΕ. δύστηνος, ἀντὶ τοῦ; τί προσχρήζων μαθεῖν;

1054. mvp-comment-678-1 ζητοῦντες] i.e. ἐξετάζοντες, ‘In the trial.'

1057. mvp-comment-679-1 τήνδε πεῖραν ἔσβεσεν] For this metaphorical use of σβεννύω, cp. Heracl. fr. 103, ed Bywater, ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύειν, μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊήν.

1058. mvp-comment-680-1 τήνδ', ἣν .. τύχην] The governing word λαχόντες is absorbed, leaving τήνδε (τύχην) as an accusative in apposition with the sentence.

1059. mvp-comment-681-1 θανόντες ἂν προὐκείμεθα] 'We should have died and been cast forth.' In order to justify his own violence, Menelaus imagines Ajax (if successful) as usurping the command of the army, and forbidding the burial of the generals whom he had slain.

1061. mvp-comment-682-1 πεσεῖν] An epexegetic infinitive, completing the imperfect construction of πρὸς μῆλα, κ.τ.λ. By a slight inversion the insult ( ὕβριν), instead of the objects of the insult, is put into the accusative after ἐνήλλαξεν. The meaning is that some divine power (which the spectator knows to be Athena's) exchanged one victim of Ajax' fury for another.

1063. mvp-comment-683-1 σῶμα τυμβεῦσαι τάφῳ] Το 'give his corpse the honours of a tomb.' See Essay on L. § 17. p. 25 c; also ibid. § 16. p. 236. Menelaus dwells with mocking iteration upon the privilege which he denies.

1064. mvp-comment-684-1 ἀμφὶ.. ἐκβεβλημένος] 'Cast forth here or there on the humid sand.' The vague ἀμφί implies 'casually here or there, as carried by the waves.' Cp. Aesch. Pers. 576, 7, κναπτόμενοι δ᾽ ἁλὶ δεινὰ | σκύλλονται πρὸς ἀναύδων | παίδων τῆς ἀμιάντου.

1064. mvp-comment-684-2 χλωράν probably here refers not to colour but to moisture, i.e. that part of the sands which the sea has moistened. So in Trach. 849, χλωρὰν . . δακρύων ἄχναν, 'moist dew of tears.'

1066. mvp-comment-685-1 μηδὲν.. μένος] « 'By no means let thy spirit rise threateningly.' μηδέν is adverbial, and δεινόν predicative.

1069. mvp-comment-686-1 παρευθύνοντες] 'Keeping him in order.' Cp. supr. 72, ἀπευθύνοντα, and note. The composition with παρά suggests the image of a slave-driver walking beside a gang of slaves and keeping them in line.

1069-1070. mvp-comment-687-1 i.e. 'I knew him too well in life to suppose that he will listen to reason.' Such appears to be the force of the opposition between χερσίν and λόγων here. This, said of the dead man, of course conveys the acme of brutal scorn. Cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3. 4, “Indeed, this counsellor | Is now most still, most secret, and most grave.” For ὅπου, transferred from place to occasion, cp. infr. 1100.

1071. mvp-comment-688-1 ἄνδρα is almost a pronoun (Essay on L. § 22. p. 37, 5), and hence the repetition is not felt. 'It is vile conduct, for one of the people to disobey.' The γνώμη is first stated as applicable to a city, and then in 1075 applied (with the emphatic γε) to the case of an army.

1073-1076. mvp-comment-689-1 'As in a city the laws cannot have due course if there be no established fear, so neither can a whole army be wisely disciplined without some safeguard of respect and awe.' For καλῶς φέροιντ᾽ ἄν, cp. Thuc. 5. 16, εὖ φερόμενος ἐν στρατηγίαις: ib. 2. 60, καλῶς φερόμενος .. τὸ καθ᾽ ἑαυτόν.

1075. mvp-comment-690-1 ἄρχοιτ' is a late correction in L² for ἄγοιτ'? ἔτι] 'Any longer;' i.e. 'When once respect is lost, good conduct is at an end.'

1077. mvp-comment-691-1 κἂν σῶμα γεννήσῃ μέγα] 'Though he be owner (lit. parent) of a mighty frame.' This is a bold extension of the idiom by which unconscious and mechanical actions are attributed to the subject, and one is said φῦσαι ὀδόντας, ‘To have grown teeth,' etc. See Essay on L. § 30. p. 52 d; and cp. especially O. C. 149, 50, ἀλαῶν ὀμμάτων .. φυτάλμιος, and note. Menelaus insinuates that the bulky frame of Ajax was his chief qualification.

1079. mvp-comment-692-1 Cp. Thuc. 2. 37. § 4, διὰ δέος .. οὐ παρανομοῦμεν: ib. 43. § 1, τολμῶντες καὶ γιγνώσκοντες τὰ δέοντα καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις αἰσχυνόμενοι.

1081-1082. mvp-comment-693-1 ὅπου. ταύτην] For this correlation, cp. supr. 496, 7, εἰ γὰρ θάνῃς ταύτῃ τῇ τόθ᾽ ἡμέρᾳ. ἃ βούλεται] Sc. τις.

1083. mvp-comment-694-1 ἐξ οὐρίων δραμοῦσαν] 'Must lose her fair course and founder in the deep.' The aorist denotes what is certain in the future, as in Aesch. Prom. 667, 8, πυρωπὸν ἐκ Διὸς μολεῖν | κεραυνόν. ἐξ οὐρίων (neut. pl.) = ἐκ τοῦ οὐρίου δρόμου, just as οὔρια θεῖν = ἐς οὔριον δρόμον θεῖν (L. and S. s. ν. οὔριος, Ι. 1). Cp. Aesch. Prom. 883, 4, ἔξω δὲ δρόμου φέρομαι | λύσσης πνεύματι μάργῳ: Pind. Pyth. 11. 60, ἤ μέ τις ἄνεμος ἔξω πλόου | ἔβαλεν, ὡς ὅτ᾽ ἄκατον εἰναλίαν. It is true that, as Lobeck remarks, ἐξ οὐρίων, sc. πνευμάτων, is used by late writers as equivalent to ἐξ οὐρίας, sc. πνοῆς, – 'With a fair wind.' But what meaning can be attached to this phrase here? 'Will run a straight course to the bottom'? or, 'Will have a fair voyage, and then sink'? The former is nonsensical, and in the latter the oxymoron has no such point as in O. Τ. 423, ἄνορμον εἰσέπλευσας, εὐπλοίας τυχών. Or, if it is proposed to render, 'After once having had prosperity, will run on and founder in the depths,' the introduction of the participle is inconsistent with this use of ἐξ, for which, however, cp. Thuc. 1. 120, ἐξ εἰρήνης πολεμεῖν.

1084. mvp-comment-695-1 Lobeck says on this verse, 'Perquam apte hoc Menelaus dicit ex Spartanorum institutis, qui Timoris aedem consecraverunt juxta triclinium Ephororum, τὴν πολιτείαν μάλιστα συνέχεσθαι φόβῳ νομίζοντες, Plutarch. V. Cleom. c. 9. 808 D.' The words of Pericles in Thuc. 2. 37 (quoted on l. 1079, supr.), would rather show that this part of Menelaus' speech reflects the feelings of the 'party of order' at Athens. The coryphaeus ( infr. 1091) approves of the general tenor of the speech. For ἑστάτω, of a fixed sentiment, cp. Thuc. 3. 9, τὸ .. καθεστός.

1085. mvp-comment-696-1 δρῶντες ἂν ἡδώμεθα] Sc. δρῶντες.

1086. mvp-comment-697-1 ἂν λυπώμεθα] Sc. ἀποτίνοντες. For the mood, which is here partly due to the parallelism of ἡδώμεθα, cp. O. C. 190 (according to one reading), ἵν᾽ ἂν εἴπωμεν. It may be explained as an instance of prolepsis, a consequence being treated as a condition. The first person is idiomatic, i.e. 'Let not men think.'

1087. mvp-comment-698-1 ταῦτα] τὸ ἥδεσθαι καὶ τὸ τίνειν, 'These things go by turns.' i. e. pleasure brings pain. In the following lines he returns from general reflections to the case in point.

1091. mvp-comment-699-1 γνώμας ὑποστήσας σοφάς] 'After laying a ground-work of wise maxims.' Cp. Pind. Pyth. 4. 241-3, πραὺν δ' Ἰάσων | μαλθακᾷ φωνᾷ ποτιστάζων ὅαρον | βάλλετο κρηπίδα σοφῶν ἐπέων. This line has no caesura.

1092. mvp-comment-700-1 'Proceed thereupon to be guilty of insolence towards the dead.' For ἐν θανοῦσιν ὑβριστής, cp. infr. 1315, ἐν ἐμοὶ θρασύς.

1096. mvp-comment-701-1 τοιαῦθ᾽ ἁμαρτάνουσιν.. ἔπη] 'Are guilty of such sinful utterance.' ἔπη is a cognate accusative similar to infr. 1107, 8, τὰ σέμν᾽ ἔπη | κόλαζ᾽ ἐκείνους. ἐν λόγοις is pleonastic, and simply means, 'When they speak.'

1097. mvp-comment-702-1 σύ has a strong emphasis: 'Do you profess to have brought Ajax hither as an ally to the Achaeans?' The word ἄγειν in supr. 1053 was offensive to Teucer.

1100-1101. mvp-comment-703-1 ποῦ.. οἴκοθεν] 'Where is your right to command Ajax? or where is your authority to lord it over the troops he led from home?' The adverb of place is transferred to express a logical relation, 'Where do you command?' i. e. 'Show me the ground on which you do so.'

1101. mvp-comment-704-1 The apparent violation of the Porsonic pause in this line may be remedied by reading ἤγαγ᾽ οἴκοθεν with Pal. (see v. rr.) In that case ὧν is genitive by attraction, for τούτων, οὕς. But just as there are lines without caesura, so there are several instances of this exception to the rule of the cretic. And, as Elmsley suggested, the elision, by forbidding a pause, may have made the exception possible.

1102. mvp-comment-705-1 This line, like supr. 861, would find an echo in Athenian national sentiment.

1103. mvp-comment-706-1 οὐδ᾽ ἔσθ' ὅπου] 'Nor is there any ground on which.' Cp. supr. l. 1100 and note.

1104. mvp-comment-707-1 ἀρχῆς ἔκειτο θεσμός] 'Right of command existed.' The past tense refers to the lifetime of Ajax.

1105. mvp-comment-708-1 ἄλλων] i. e. of Agamemnon. ὅλων may be either masculine or neuter, (1) 'Of all the troops,' or (2) 'Of the whole expedition.' Parallels for both are quoted by Lobeck. The first seems the more probable. In this case the plural is equivalent to a collective word, τοῦ στρατοῦ ὅλου, and this may justify the use of ὅλων for πάντων.

1106. mvp-comment-709-1 ὥστ᾽ Αίαντος ἡγεῖσθαί ποτε] This petulant iteration, however natural, is somewhat beneath the level of tragic dignity which is maintained throughout the earlier part of the play. ποτέ, as in supr. 183, οὔ ποτε, gives absoluteness to the denial. 'That could never be!'

1107. mvp-comment-710-1 ὧνπερ ἄρχεις ἄρχε] ‘Exercise command on those over whom you have command.'

1108. mvp-comment-711-1 εἴτε μὴ σὺ φής] i. e. εἴτε σὺ μὴ φής.

1110. mvp-comment-712-1 δικαίως] 'Rightly,' i.e. 'Abating nothing of what is due to him.'

1112. mvp-comment-713-1 ὥσπερ οἱ πόνου πολλοῦ πλέῳ] 'Like those poor men who are consumed with toil;' i. e. the Argive soldiery, who are subject to the behests of the Atreidae. In pitying the men under their command, Teucer conveys his scorn both of the meanness and the tyrannical disposition of the two generals, and also his pride in the independence shown by Ajax and himself. Cp. Il. 9. 348, ἢ μὲν δὴ μάλα πολλὰ πονήσατο νόσφιν ἐμεῖο: supr. 637, πολυπόνων ᾿Αχαιῶν.

1113. mvp-comment-714-1 Ajax served, not because Helen was Menelaus' wife, but because of his oath to her father Tyndareus. Cp. Thuc. 1. 9, τοῖς Τυνδάρεω ὅρκοις κατειλημμένους.

1114. mvp-comment-715-1 σοῦ δ᾽ οὐδέν] This angry repetition (cp. supr. 1106) resumes more explicitly what was implied in σῆς, l. 1111. οὐ γὰρ .. τοὺς μηδένας] For ἀξιοῦν with the accusative only, cp. Eur. Heracl. 918 (lyr.), ὦ Ὑμέναιε, δισσοὺς | παῖδας Διὸς ἠξίωσας. τοὺς μηδένας] Not οὐδένας, because the expression is general, i.e. hypothetical, — εἰ μηδένες εἴησαν.

1115. mvp-comment-716-1 Menelaus came attended by a single herald.

1116. mvp-comment-717-1 τὸν στρατηγόν] 'The generalissimo.' In supr. 1109, to depreciate Agamemnon, Teucer put the two generals on a par: here, to depreciate Menelaus, he makes Agamemnon supreme. τοῦ.. σοῦ ψόφου] 'For any noise of thine.' Cp. Eur. Hipp. 1224-6, οὔτε ναυκλήρου χερὸς | οὔθ' ἱπποδέσμων .. | μεταστρέφουσαι.

1117. mvp-comment-718-1 οὐκ ἂν στραφείην] 'I will not turn this way or that.' ὡς ἂν ἧς—οἷός περ εἰ] 'However you may be just what you are.' The sentence ends, parà prosdokían, after leading the hearer to expect some word like βασιλικός ('However kingly you may be'). Instead of that, Teucer substitutes οἷός περ εἶ, “A man like Menelaus, and nothing more.' Cp. Shak. Ham. 3. 2, 'We shall obey, were she ten times our mother.' For ὡς ἄν, see E. on L. § 28. p. 47, 4 a.

1118. mvp-comment-719-1 οὐδ᾽ αὖ] The Chorus contrast their present speech with supr. 1091, 2.

1119. mvp-comment-720-1 'For hard words irritate, however deserved they may be.'

1121. mvp-comment-721-1 Teucer's craft in archery was not that of an ordinary bowman. Cp. Phil. 1056, 7, ἐπεὶ πάρεστι μὲν | Τεύκρος παρ' ἡμῖν, τηνδ᾽ ἐπιστήμην ἔχων. The feeling which gave importance to the science of archery accorded with the original legend. Cp. Il. 13. 313, 4, Τεῦκρός θ᾽ ὡς ἄριστος᾿ Ἀχαιῶν | τοξοσύνῃ. Here, in speaking of what is ἔξω τοῦ μυθεύματος, contemporary feeling, which held archers cheap, is allowed to have its way.

1123. mvp-comment-722-1 σοί γ᾽ ὡπλισμένῳ] Sc. ὥστε ἀντίπαλος εἶναι.

1124. mvp-comment-723-1 'What courageous anger lives in thy tongue!' τὸν θυμόν, sc. τὸν ἐν τῇ γλώσσῃ ἐνόντα. Cp. Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1181, 'Tongue-doughty Giant.'

1126. mvp-comment-724-1 τόνδ᾽ εὐτυχεῖν κτείναντά με] 'That all should go smoothly with the man here who contrived my death.' The use of the aorist in this conative sense is a rhetorical exaggeration. The continuous tense is so used in O. C. 992, 3, εἴ τις σε τὸν δίκαιον αὐτίκ᾽ ἐνθάδε | κτείνοι παραστάς, κ.τ.λ., where see note.