Sophocles Ajax 1192

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Oh had he first been swept away
Through air by wild winds tost;
Or sunk from heav'n's ethereal ray,
To Pluto's dreary coast;
Who train'd the Grecians to the field,
1195
Taught them the sword, the spear to wield,
1195
And steel'd the gentle mind !
Hence toil gives birth to toil again,
Hence carnage stains th' ensanguin'd plain,
For he destroy'd mankind.

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.) — 1197-1394 focus
Αἴας First1KGreek (Sophocles. Sophoclis Fabulae. Pearson, Alfred Chilton, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.) — 1185-1222 focus
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1192 focus
ὄφελε ὤφελε πρότερον αἰθέρα δῦναι δοῦναι δύναι μέγαν ἢ τὸν πολύκοινον
Ἄιδαν
κεῖνος ἁνήρ ἀνὴρ, ὃς ὁ ὃς στυγερῶν
ἔδειξεν ὅπλων
1195
Ἕλλασιν ἕλλασιν.... κοινὸν Ἄρη.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1185-1222 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1199 focus
No better hope for either can I frame.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1192 focus
Unselige Schmach dem Volk Hellas'!
Erste Gegenstrophe.
Wär' er in Luft verweht,
Wär' er in allbergendes Grabdunkel hinab versunken,
Jener Mann, der Hellas der all-
vertilgenden Wehr furchtbar'n
1150
Brauch lehrte zuerst!
Mühen gebärende Mühen, ach!
Er schuf ja den Menschen Unheil nur.
Zweite Strophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1192 focus
Prepare some hollow fosse for the remains
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1185-1220 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-701-1 ὄφελε 1

mvp-comment-701-2 αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν 2

mvp-comment-701-3 πολύκοινον Ἅιδαν 3

mvp-comment-702-1 κεῖνος ἁνὴρ 4

mvp-comment-702-2 ἔδειξεν 5

mvp-comment-702-3 κοινὸν Ἄρη 6

mvp-comment-703-1 ἰὼ πόνοι πρόγονοι πόνων 7

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

1192. mvp-comment-764-1 πρότερον] Sc. ἢ δεῖξαι .. Ἄρη. αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν] As Linwood observed, the idea of going away into the ether occurs again in Phil. 1092 foll., ἴθ' αἰθέρος ἄνω | πτωκάδες ὀξυτόνου διὰ πνεύματος | ἕλωσί μ'. Cp. also Phil. 814, 15, ἐκεῖσε νῦν μ', ἐκεῖσε. ΝΕ. ποῖ λέγεις; ΦΙ. ἄνω | ΝΕ. τί παραφρονεῖς αὖ; τί τὸν ἄνω λεύσσεις κύκλον; and the inscription over the dead who fell at Potidaea in B.C. 432, αἰθὴρ μὲμ ψυχὰς ὑπεδέξατο, κ.τ.λ.

1195. mvp-comment-765-1 ὅπλων.. κοινὸν Ἄρη] Either (1), laying the chief stress on ὅπλων, 'The combined warfare that depends upon the use of armour,' i. e. 'the use of armour that made combined warfare possible.' For this descriptive genitive, cp. especially El. 19, ἄστρων . . εὐφρόνη ('Night adorned with stars;' or, 'The stars that adorn the night'). Or (2), with the stress on κοινόν, 'The art of forming hostile confederacies in hateful arms.'

1196. mvp-comment-766-1 A short syllable here answers to the long first syllable of ἄταν in the strophe, unless we read Ἕλλασιν, which is unnecessary.

1197. mvp-comment-767-1 'O toil that was the parent of toil!' i. e. The toil of invention was the first parent of other toils.