1211.
mvp-comment-649-1
How foolish to desire long life, which but increases sorrow; while joys depart before the joyless hour of death. Far best for a man is never to be born; but after birth to go with all speed whence he came is next best by far. For when once thoughtless youth is come, [who escapes from grief?] what grief is not there? Blood, faction, strife, war, envy, and, last of ills, hateful, cold, helpless, friendless age, wherein all the greatest evils make their dwelling. So I have found, and so too this unfortunate is buffeted with a sea of troubles, some fresh calamity ever breaking over him, some borne on the sunset breeze, some at the rising of the sun, some coming through the noontide blaze, and some from the winds of night.
1211.
mvp-comment-649-2
The iambic and trochaic metres which are here mingled with the glyconic and logaoedic, are lighter and more resolved than in the previous ode. Strophe and Antistrophe.
The equivalence of the long and short syllables in the 2nd foot of l. 9 is remarkable, and indicates a retardation of the rhythm. Epode. * See note on 1248. The third line, both of strophe and antistrophe, introduces the reasons of the two lines which form the prelude.
1211.
mvp-comment-649-3
The coming of Polynices again mars the peacefulness of the scene. The old age of Oedipus appears to have sorrow upon sorrow. The theme of the chorus is not, as some have thought, the unprofitableness of riches, but the misery of old age and the folly of desiring long life.
1211-1212.
mvp-comment-650-1
He whose desire of life keeps not the mean, but craves the larger share, will be convicted in my judgment of cherishing folly.' ζώειν must be closely connected with the genitives, and is rather to be explained as an accusative of respect than as epexegetic infinitive.
1211-1212.
mvp-comment-650-2
τοῦ μετρίου παρείς (1)
Neglecting the moderate portion, a poetical construction for παρεὶς τὸ μέτριον. Cp. Plat. Legg. 3, 691 C, ἐάν τις μείζονα διδῷ τοῖς ἐλάττοσι δύναμιν παρεὶς τὸ μέτριον. The same construction occurs in Plat. Phaedr. 235 Ε, παρέντα τοῦ . . ἐγκωμιάζειν. Οι (2), supposing an ellipse of the inf., παρέντα τοῦ μετρίου χρήζειν,
Omitting to desire the mean. Thuc 8.41, ἀφεὶς τὸ ἐς τὴν Χίον ἔπλει ἐς τὴν Καῦνον. The article, as elsewhere with words of number and measurement, opposing what is more to what is less. The expression d πλέον μέρος occurs in Cleobulus quoted by Suidas; ἀβουλία τὸ πλέον μέρος ἐν βροτοίσιν. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Gr. Mel. xi.
1212.
mvp-comment-651-1
φυλάσσων An Homeric expression. Il. 16. 30, χόλος ὃν σὺ φυλάσσεις.
1212.
mvp-comment-651-2
ἐν ἐμοί i. e.
So far as the decision rests with me. Cp. O. T. 677, ἐν δὲ τοῖσδ᾽ ἴσος: supr. 422-423, ἐν δ᾽ ἐμοὶ τέλος | αὐτοῖν γένοιτο, κ.τ.λ.
1215-1216.
mvp-comment-652-1
ἐπεὶ ἐγγυτέρω These words have been explained in two ways: (1)
Since length of days brings many things (in life) nearer to grief. (Herm.) (2) Since length of days has in store much that is akin to sorrow.' (Elms.) A third way of taking κατέθεντο seems preferable. (3)
Since length of days contributes much that is akin to sorrow; i.e. κατέθεντο is a subjective middle, like παρέχομαι. Not =
Has laid up in store, which requires the perfect tense, but brings in,' sc. εἰς τὸν βίον. Cp Hesiod. Op. et D. 361. For the use of the adverb, cp. Ant. 933.4, θανάτου τοῦτ᾽ ἐγγυτάτω | τοῦπος ἀφῖκται, And see Essay on Language § 24. p. 40, 2.
1217.
mvp-comment-653-1
οὐκ ἂν ἴδοις ὅπου Cp. Aj. 103, ἢ τοὐπίτρικτον κίναδος ἐξήρου μ' ὅπου; and esp. Aesch. Eum. 301, τὸ χαίρειν μὴ μαθόνθ᾽ ὅπου φρενῶν.
1219-1220.
mvp-comment-654-1
ὅταν . . θέλοντος (1)
τὸ θέλον voluntatem significat... Genitivus vero non regitur a comparativo..sed ut τὸ πολὺ τοῦ θέλοντος, ita etiam τὸ πλέον dictum. Sensus est, si quis in id, quod in cupiendo nimium est, incidit: i. e. Si quis modum in cupiendo excedit.
(Herm.) See Essay on Language § 30. p. 51. But the absence of joys comes not from desiring too much, but from having too much of life. Hence (2) it is better to explain τὸ θέλον, sc. τοῦ βίου, as that portion (of life) which is accompanied with desire to live.
When one outlives the will to live. Musgr. conj.
1219-1220.
mvp-comment-654-2
σθένοντος. For εἰς.. πίπτειν in this connexion, cp. Eur. Ion, 700, πολιὸν ἐσπεσοῦσα γῆρας. It may be worth suggesting that, in Eur. L. Α. 657, τὸ θέλον should be read for τὸ θέλειν.
1220.
mvp-comment-655-1
*ὁ δ᾽ ἐπίκουρος The correction turns simply on the substitution of o for ou and vice versa. The old spelling of either reading would be οδεπικορος. When ὁ 8' had been changed to οὐδ' the other change was natural, as we see from the Schol. The order is ὁ δὲ θάνατός (ἐστιν) ἐπίκουρος ἰσοτέλεστος ἐς τελεύταν,
But death is an impartial ally to finish all at last. Cp. H. h. Merc. 97, ὀρφναίη δ᾽ ἐπίκουρος ἐπαύετο δαιμονίη νύξ. For the use of the article, see Essay on Language § 21. p. 33,5. A slighter change from the MS. reading, οὐδ᾽ ἐπίκουρος, which obtained in edd. before Brunck, may be explained to mean,
and they find no helper, when death, etc., etc., comes. But the clauses are not well balanced, the metre is improbable, and a change, such as το τ' αὖ κατάμεμπτον is required in 1235. The reading οὐδ᾽ ἔπι κόρος is ingeniously adapted to ὅταν . . θέλοντος, in the sense, When one has fallen into an excess of wishing,' viz.
and cannot have enough: but cannot be turned so as to give a satisfactory and consistent meaning to the whole sentence; besides which μηδέ and not οὐδέ would be required. And the reading of Hermann, adopted in the text, metrically corresponds to the antistrophe.
1220.
mvp-comment-655-2
ἰσοτέλεστος seems to be a verbal with an active meaning. For instances of this. see Essay on Language p. 98. 1221-1222. Ἄϊδος ὅτε μοῖρα .. ἀναπέφηνε] 'When Hades hath his hour, attended not by marriage song, nor dance, nor lyre.' For ἀναφαίνεσθαι, of an unlooked for coming, cp. Aesch. Cho. 328, ἀναφαίνεται δ᾽ ὁ βλάπτων. Ἄΐδος μοῖρα, like θανάτου μοῖρα, Aesch. Pers. 917: Eur. Med. 987. "Αΐδος μοῖρα is either (1) the right of Hades in men, or (2) man's share of death, like μοῖρα βιότοιο. Death is imagined as lurking near until the appointed time.
1220.
mvp-comment-655-3
ἄλυρος ἄχορος Cp. Aesch. Suppl.681, ἄχορον ἀκίθαριν δακρυογόνον Ἄρη.
1225.
mvp-comment-656-1
τὸν ἅπαντα νικᾷ λόγον
Stands first on the whole calculation; i. e. Is best of all. The construction is analogous to νικᾶν ἀγῶνα, μάχην, etc. Cp. Fr. 737, τἀληθὲς ἀεὶ πλεῖστον ἰσχύει λόγου. A similar expression of the early Ionic pessimism occurs in Theognis, 425, πάντων μὲν μὴ φῦναι ἐπιχθονίοισιν ἄριστον | μηδ᾽ ἐσιδεῖν αὐγὰς ὀξέος ἠελίου· | φῦντα δ᾽ ὅπως ἄκιστα πύλας Αίδαο περῆσαι. Cp. Hdt. 7. 46, ὁ μὲν θάνατος, μοχθηρῆς ἐούσης τῆς ζύης, καταφυγὴ αἱρετωτάτη τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γέγονε. The words βῆναι κεῖθεν ὅθεν περ ἥκει come near to the language of Job 10. 19,
I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
1225.
mvp-comment-656-2
ἐπεὶ φανῇ] · When one hath seen the light. For the subjunctive without av, see Essay on Language § 27. p. 44; and for a similar omission of ἄν τις, cp. Ant. 1025, ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἁμάρτῃ.
1226.
mvp-comment-657-1
βῆναι κεῖθεν ὅθεν περ ἥκει
To go from whence he came. A curious attraction of the antecedent for κεῖσε ὅθεν περ. Essay on Language § 35. p. 60.
1228.
mvp-comment-658-1
πολὺ δεύτερον
Is next best by far. The phrase is paradoxically adapted from πολὺ πρῶτον. Essay on Language § 37. p. 69.
1228.
mvp-comment-658-2
ὡς τάχιστα. These words assist the connection with what follows. As soon as possible; for, once let youth be there, etc.' See note on 1229.
1229.
mvp-comment-659-1
ὡς εὐτ᾿ ἂν τὸ νέον παρῇ ..
1229.
mvp-comment-659-2
φέρον Bonitz, deriving παρῇ from παρίημι, interprets,
Since when one has passed youth with its light unconsciousness. And this is favoured at first sight by the analogy of such passages as Tr. 144-151, Aj. 552-559. But 1. The plural ἀφροσύνας, and the meaning of φέρον, are both harsh according to this φέρο interpretation. Hence Nauck conj. ἀφροσύνας γέμον. 2.The comparison of Fr. 713, ὕβρις .. ἐν νέοις ἀνθεῖ, and of Il. 3.108, αἰεὶ δ' ὁπλοτέρων ἀνδρῶν φρένες ἠερέθονται, support the more obvious meaning,
When youth is present. 3. The connexion with ὡς τάχιστα, and the dark colouring of the whole ode, are in keeping with the most natural meaning of the words.
For when once youth is there with her thoughtless follies... Greek tragedy is continually reminding us that men are plunged by mere thoughtlessness into the deepest calamities. The interpretation of l. 1231 is doubtful. It is clear, however, that if the words φόνοι, στάσεις, etc., are in any construction, the Scholiast is right in explaining τίς οὐ καμάτων ἔνι to mean οὐδείς ἐστι κάματος, ὃς οὐκ ἔνεστιν. For the genitive, cp. Τr. 146, πνευμάτων οὐδὲν κλονεῖ. On the other hand the subject of τίς πλάγχθη πολύμοχθος ἔξω is generally supposed to be τίς ἀνήρ. (1)
What trouble-vexed mortal wanders out of the way (i. e, the broad way of trouble)?' i. e. Which of all the suffering race is exempt from suffering? The proleptic use of πολύμοχθος, although curious, is not by any means fatal to this interpretation (Essay on Language § 38. p. 70). But the inversion of the subject ('What man escapes? What trouble is not there?' when combined with the ellipse of ἀνήρ, is somewhat harsh. And πλάγχθη ἔξω is a strange expression for ἐξέφυγε. For πλάζεσθαι is generally,
To miss a desired end; or to be driven out of an intended course.
Who misses of being miserable? (τίς ἔξω τοῦ πολύμοχθος εἶναι ἐπλανήθη; 2nd Scholiast) is a paradoxical expression in which the paradoxical form has no force or meaning. And if the paradox had been intended it would have been more pointedly brought out. The interpretation of the 1st Scholiast is on the whole more probable: τοῦτο ἰδίως ἐξήνεγκεν, βούλεται δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτο σημαίνειν· τίς ἂν πλαγχθείη τῶν πολλῶν μόχθων; (2) Which of the many troubles will be turned aside?' i. e. anticipating the notion of καμάτων, τίς πολύμοχθος κάματος πλάγχθη ἔξω, τίς καμάτων οὐκ ἔνι;
What troublous woe misses the life? What woe is not found therein? The retention of the same subject, and the antithesis of ἔξω and ἔνι, are in favour of this. The personification (cp. supra 536, μυρίων ἐπιστροφαὶ κακῶν) is in harmony with the catalogue which fol- ἐπιλέλογχε] ἐπιλέlows, and with ἐπιλέλογχε in l. 1236. Aesch. Prom. 275-276, ταὐτά τοι πλανωμένη | πρὸς ἄλλοτ᾽ ἄλλον πημονὴ προσιζάνει. Ant. 613-614, νόμος ὅδ᾽ οὐδὲν ἕρπων | θνατῶν βιότῳ πάμπολις ἐκτὸς ἄτας. The ellipse (of τοῦ βίου) after ἔξω is not more difficult than the similar ellipse after ἔνι. The collocation of πολύμοχθος κάματος is like πολύπλανοι πλάναι in Aesch. Prom. 585, and even the construction, πολύμοχθος καμάτων, if that is necessary, would be Homeric, like ἆ δειλὲ ξείνων, Od. 14. 361.
1235-1236.
mvp-comment-660-1
ἐπιλέλογχε πύματον Has allotted to him the last place of all.' πύματονis supplementary predicate agreeing with γῆρας, in the same construction as the adjective in πρῶτος λαχεῖν. ἐπι =
Coming in after the rest. πύματος is an Epic word, stronger than ὕστατος.
1238.
mvp-comment-661-1
κακὰ κακών Essay on Language § 40. p. 75, 4. For the thought, cp. Fr. 864, πάντ᾿ ἐμπέφυκε τῷ μακρῷ γήρᾳ κακά, νοῦς φροῦδος, ἔργ᾽ ἀχρεῖα, φροντίδες κεναί. And contrast that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, Macb. 5. 2. re-
1240.
mvp-comment-662-1
πάντοθεν As Hermann marks, this word is to be referred to Oedipus rather than to the promontory to which he is compared.
1241.
mvp-comment-663-1
κλονεῖται This, which is properly the apodosis, has been absorbed, as often happens in comparisons, into the relative clause, and the construction is therefore supplemented by the more explicit application of the simile in ὡς καὶ τόνδε, κ.τ.λ, Essay on Language § 35. p. 60.
1242-1244.
mvp-comment-664-1
ὡς καὶ τόνδε . . ξυνοῦσαι
So he too is buffeted by fearful woes, that break like billows over his head, and never cease from him.
1242-1244.
mvp-comment-664-2
κατάκρας] Cp. Hom. Od. 5.313, ὡς ἄρα μιν εἰπόντ᾽ ἔλασεν μέγα κῦμα κατ᾿ ἄκρης. 1244, foll. The concluding lines are an expansion partly of πάντοθεν, partly of dei, the notions of space and time being confused. Cp. Hdt. 3. 114, Ἀποκλινομένης δὲ μεσαμβρίης, κ.τ.λ. where locality is signified in words expressing the time of day. Some from the region of the sunset, some with the break of day, some through the meridian brightness, some coming with the blasts of night.' The last expression has been variously interpreted. The Scholiast speaks of the Rhipaean mountains, which, he adds, were towards the west, and quotes a line of Alcman, ῥιπὰς ὄρος ἀνθέον ὕλᾳ, νυκτὸς μελαίνας στέρνον. The north rather than the west is the region of midnight. But it is not likely that after speaking so simply of morning, noon, and evening, the poet would have perplexed his reference to night with an obscure allusion to a remote locality. (2) Some modern interpreters compare Ε1. 106, παμφεγγεῖς ἄστρων ῥιπάς, and would render,
From the twinkling fires of night, or, From the glimmerings of night.' Cp. τὰ νυκτερινὰ φέγγη in Plat. Rep. 6. 508 C. But this gives no distinct image, and the antithesis to ἀκτῖν' does not improve the sense. (3) Hermann with more probability says,
De ventis, quos noctu maxime auribus percipimus, intelligenda vox ῥιπᾶν. Cp. Apollonius Rhodius, Apollonius l. 1015, οὐ μὲν ἰούσης | νυκτὸς ἔτι ῥιπὴ μένεν ἔμπεδον ἀλλὰ θύελλαι | ἀντίαι ἁρπάγδην ὀπίσω φέρον: Ib. 4. 1682,.. ἡ δ᾽ ὑπὸ νυκτὶ | ῥιπῇσιν μὲν πρῶτα τινάσσεται, ὕστερον αῦτε, κ.τ.λ.
Perhaps with the image of the winds is associated some idea of ، impulse. The powers or influences of night.
