Sophocles Ajax 217

Robert Potter (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Card
← Previous Next →
Teucer
No more, my friends, if one of low-born race
Acts basely, shall I marvel, since the great,
Who glory in their high-traced ancestry,
1095
Thus merit censure for dishonest speech.
Didst thou not tune thy proem with these words,
(Speak them again) that thou didst bring this man
To Troy, received as an ally to Greece ?
Did he not plough the deep, and join the war
1100
Lord of himself? Where then thy pow'r o'er him?
What right hast thou as sovereign to command
The warlike troops he led, and was their Chief?
Thou camest the king of Sparta, not our lord.
The law of martial rule gave no command
1105
To thee o'er him, more than to him o'er thee.
Subjection to superior pow'r is here
Thy duty, not to lead th' associate force
Of Greece, that thou o'er Ajax shou'dst bear sway.
Rule thy own vassals, and with high-swoln vaunts
1110
Keep them in awe. Forbid it thou, or he
The other chieftain, him with hallow'd rites
I will entomb, nor fear thy empty threats.
Not for thy wife did Ajax join the war,
His was no mercenary spear; his oath
1115
He held in reverence high, not thee, nor deign'd
To grace the worthless. Take then my resolve,
1120
Bring all thy heralds, bring th' imperial Chief;
Not for thy clamours will I turn aside.
From my intent. I know thee what thou art.
1125

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.) — 215-257 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 214-262 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 217 focus
νύκτερος Αἴας ἀπελωβήθη.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 214-262 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 217 focus
MEN
Hate lived between us; that thou know’st full well.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 221 focus
Ha, welchen Ruf offenbarst du, Frau, von dem grimmigen Mann,
Ha, schrecklich, unentrinnbar!
Ruchtbar gemacht von den Fürsten des Danaerheers,
220
Mehrt ihn die stets wachsende Sage.
Bang ahn' ich, bang, was mir herannaht! Vor den Augen Aller
Erschlägt ihn auch die wahnsinnige Hand, die eben
Mit bluttriefendem Stahle die Heerden mordet' und die Hirten.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 217 focus
Agamemnon
They who excel in wisdom are alone
Invincible. Thou see'st the brawny ox,
How the small whip will drive him through the field :
1260
What if the med'cine be applied to thee
For thy proud boasting and licentious tongue ?
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 214-260 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-635-1 ἄνδρες 1

mvp-comment-636-1 μηδὲν ὢν γοναῖσιν 2

mvp-comment-637-1 τοιαῦθ’ ἁμαρτάνουσιν … ἔπη 3

mvp-comment-638-1 ἄγειν 4 λαβών 5

mvp-comment-639-1 αὐτὸς 6

mvp-comment-640-1 ποῦ 7

mvp-comment-640-2 λεῶν 8

mvp-comment-641-1 ἤγαγ’ 9 ἡγεῖτ’ 10 ὧν 11 ἦγεν 12 ἤγετ’ 13

mvp-comment-642-1 οὐδ’ ἔσθ’ ὅπου 14 τόνδε κοσμῆσαι 15

mvp-comment-642-2 ἀρχῆς … θεσμὸς 16 ἔκειτο 17

mvp-comment-642-3 ἢ καὶ τῷδε σέ 18

mvp-comment-643-1 ὅλων 19 σύμπαντες 20

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

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

mvp-comment-644-1 ὧνπερ ἄρχεις αρχε 21

mvp-comment-644-2 τὰ σέμν’ ἔπη κόλαζ’ ἐκείνους 22

mvp-comment-644-3 εἴτε μὴ σὺ φής, εἴθ’ ἅτερος στρ 23

mvp-comment-644-4 εἰς ταφὰς θήσω 24

mvp-comment-644-5 στόμα 25

mvp-comment-645-1 οἱ πόνου πολλοῦ πλέῳ 26

mvp-comment-645-2 Assuredly

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

mvp-comment-646-1 ὅρκων 27

mvp-comment-647-1 σοῦ δ’ οὐδὲν 28

mvp-comment-647-2 τοὺς μηδένας 29

mvp-comment-648-1 κήρυκας 30

mvp-comment-649-1 ψόφου … στραφείην 31

mvp-comment-649-2 ἕως 32 ὡς 33 ὡς ἂν ᾖς 34

mvp-comment-650-1 οὐδ’ αὖ 35

mvp-comment-650-2 ἐν κακοῖς 36

mvp-comment-651-1 ὁ τοξότης 37

mvp-comment-652-1 βάναυσον 38

mvp-comment-653-1 ἀσπίδ’ 39

mvp-comment-654-1 ψιλὸς … ὡπλισμένῳ 40

mvp-comment-655-1 τρέφει 41

mvp-comment-656-1 ξὺν τῷ δικαίῳ 42

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

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.'