N. Wecklein Prometheus Bound 1040-1093.comm-1040-1093

F. D. Allen (Translator)

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Prometheus Bound. N. Wecklein. F. D. Allen (Translator). . .

Current edition Experimental

English commentary on Prometheus Bound (OCR draft) (English) (N. Wecklein, translated by F. D. Allen. Ginn & Company, 1893; compared with the 1891 printing. Printed commentary pages 31–144. Provisional alignment and unresolved OCR are visibly flagged.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (5)
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης (OCR draft) Experimental (Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 1040 focus
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης (OCR draft) Experimental (Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 1040 focus
ΠΡΟΜΗθΕΥΣ ΔΕΣΜΩΤΗΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΠΡΟΜΗθΕΥΣ ΔΕΣΜΩΤΗΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 1040 focus
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης (OCR draft) Experimental (Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 1040 focus
εἰδότι τοί μοι τάσδ᾽ ἀγγελίας
ὅδ᾽ ἐθώυξεν, πάσχειν δὲ κακῶς
ἐχθρὸν ὑπ᾽ ἐχθρῶν οὐδὲν ἀεικές.
πρὸς ταῦτ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἐμοὶ ῥιπτέσθω μὲν
1075
πυρὸς ἀμφήκης βόστρυχος, αἰθὴρ δ᾽
ἐρεθιζέσθω βροντῇ σφακέλῳ τ᾽
ἀγρίων ἀνέμων· χθόνα δ᾽ ἐκ πυθμένων
αὐταῖς ῥίζαις πνεῦμα κραδαίνοι,
κῦμα δὲ πόντου τραχεῖ ῥοθίῳ
1080
συγχώσειεν
τῶν τ᾽ οὐρανίων ἄστρων διόδους,
ἔς τε κελαινὸν Τάρταρον ἄρδην
ῥίψειε δέμας τουμὸν ἀνάγκης
στερραῖς δίναις·
1085
πάντως ἐμέ γ᾽ οὐ θανατώσει.
Aeschyli Prometheus Vinctus (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Prometheus Vinctus. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 1040 focus
Translations (7)
Prometheus Bound. (OCR draft) Experimental (Prometheus Bound.. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 1040 focus
To me already well aware of it hath this fellow urged his message; but for a foe to suffer horribly at the hands of , foes is no indignity. Wherefore let the doubly-pointed wreath of his fire be hurled at me, and aether be torn piecemeal by thunder, and spasm of savage blasts; and let the wind rock earth from her base, roots and all, and with stormy surge mingle in rough tide the billow of the deep and the paths of the stars ;and fling my body into black Tartarus, with a whirl, in the stern eddies of necessity. Yet by no possible means shall he visit me with death.
PROMÉTHÉE ENCHAINÉ (OCR draft) Experimental (PROMÉTHÉE ENCHAINÉ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 1040 focus
Je connaissais le message dont il me vient
harceler. Mais être traité en ennemi par des ennemis n'a rien d'infamant. Allons ! que la tresse de feu à double pointe 1 soit donc lâchée sur moi, l'éther ébranlé par la
foudre et la fureur convulsive des vents sauvages ; que leur souffle, secouant la terre, l'arrache avec ses racines à ses fondements ; que la houle des mers, d'un flux hurlant et
rude, aille effacer au firmament les routes où croisent les astres ; puis que, pour en finir, il me jette donc au ténébreux Tartare 2 , dans les tourbillons d'une impitoyable
Prometheus Chained (OCR draft) Experimental (Prometheus Chained. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 1040 focus
All this I knew e'er he declar'd his meſſage.
That enemy from enemy ſhould ſuffer
1095
Extreme indignity is nothing ſtrange.
Let him then work his horrible pleaſure on me;
Wreath his black curling flames, tempeſt the air
With vollied thunders and wild warring winds,
Rend from its roots the firm earth's ſolid baſe,
1100
Heave from the roaring main its boiſterous waves,
And daſh them to the ſtars; me let him hurl,
Caught in the firey tempeſt, to the gloom
Of deepest Tartarus; not all his pow'r
Can quench th' ætherial breath of life in me.
1105
Eschilo, Prometeo legato: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Prometeo legato: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 1040 focus
I messaggi ch'egli or mi proclama
noti m'erano già: né le offese
da nemico a nemico fan macchia.
Su me dunque dal cielo s'abbatta
1215
la bisulca cesarie di fuoco,
l'etra tutto sconquassino i tuoni,
lo sfacelo di venti selvaggi;
crolli un alito immane la terra
da le basi con l'ime radici,
1220
ed i flutti del mare sparpagli
con aspro frastuono
per gli uranî sentieri degli astri;
e giú scagli nel Tartaro negro,
le mie membra, nel vortice orrendo
1225
del Fato.
Ma invano
cercherebbe di darmi la morte.
Aeschylus, Prometheus vinctus: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Prometheus vinctus: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 1040 focus
Mihi scienti hoc nuncium
Iste vociferatus est. affici malis
Inimicum ab inimicis non est molestum.
Ad hæc mihi proijciatur
Ignis anceps fax, æther
1050
Commoueatur tonitru, inflammationeq;
Sæuorum ventorum, terram verò funditus
Ex ipsis radicibus quatiat ventus,
Fluctus verò maris violenti impetu sepeliat me,
Et in solum cœlestium astrorum,
1055
Aut in nigrum tartarum penitus
Proijciat corpus meum necessitatis
Grauibus turbinibus, omnino me non interficiet.
English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1908) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.) — 1040 focus
All, all I knew, whatever his tongue
In idle arrogance hath flung.
'Tis the world's way, the common lot—
Foe tortures foe and pities not.
1175
Therefore I challenge him to dash
His bolt on me, his zigzag flash
Of piercing, rending flame!
Now be the welkin stirred amain
With thunder-peal and hurricane,
1180
And let the wild winds now displace
From its firm poise and rooted base
The stubborn earthly frame!
The raging sea with stormy surge
Rise up and ravin and submerge
1185
Each high star-trodden way!
Me let him lift and dash to gloom
Of nether hell, in whirls of doom!
Yet—do he what extremes he may—
He cannot crush my life away!
1190
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1854; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylos. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1854. Native Donner line citations, Smyth card correspondence, selected textual readings and metrical facsimiles. Remaining OCR differences and unattributed reading notes are documented in the linked review inventory.) — 1040 focus
Wohl wußt' ich zuvor um die Kunden bereits,
Die dieser enthüllt: doch erduldet der Feind
1035
Unbilden vom Feind, so beschimpft es ihn nicht.
So schmettre herab zweizackig auf mich
Der geschlängelte Bliz, und es zittre die Luft
Von des Donners Getos' und der zuckenden Wuth
Des empörten Orkans, und der Erd' Abgrund
1040
Mit den Wurzeln zugleich durchschütt're der Sturm!
Und das wogende Meer, hoch schlag' es empor
In tobendem Schwall, wo die himmlischen Stern'
Hinwandeln die Bahn; in die finstere Kluft,
In den Tartaros, stürze hinab mein Leib,
1045
Von des Schicksals wirbelndem Strudel entrafft:
Doch mich wird er nimmer vernichten!

Notes on the current edition

Prometheus Bound

1. Two-source OCR draft: unmatched words are bracketed; readings, punctuation, possible marginalia and note boundaries remain unverified. Agreement between OCR sources is not proof of correctness.
2. Reference placement provisional: local window supported by running Greek. Source note 1040-1093; verify numbering and scope.

Commentary

English commentary on Prometheus Bound (OCR draft) (N. Wecklein, translated by F. D. Allen. Ginn & Company, 1893; compared with the 1891 printing. Printed commentary pages 31–144. Provisional alignment and unresolved OCR are visibly flagged.) focus

1040-1093. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-662

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1040-1093. The catastrophe. Five anapaestic systems, of which the pair spoken by Prometheus (14 = 14) and the pair spoken by Her- mes (99) correspond in length, while the system of the Coryphaeus forms the mesode.

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1040. εἰδότι μοι: see on 441.

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1042. ἀεικές: refers to the re- proach in 1039 (αἰσχρόν).

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1043. Ср. 992, Eur. Frg. 910 πρὸς ταῦθ᾽ ὅ τι χρὴ καὶ παλαμάσθω καὶ πᾶν ἐπ᾿ ἐμοὶ τεκταινέσθω· τὸ γὰρ εὖ μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ καὶ τὸ δίκαιον σύμμαχον ἔσται κοὐ μή ποθ᾽ ἁλῶ κακὰ πράσσων.

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1044. πυρὸς ἀμφήκης βόστρυχος: ἡ ἑλικοειδὴς (cp. 1083) τοῦ πυρὸς κατα- φορά, Schol. Cp. Cleanth. Hymn to Zeus 10 ἀμφήκη πυρόεντα ἀεὶ ζώοντα κεραυνόν, Eur. Hipp. 559 βροντᾷ ἀμφι- πύρῳ, Hesych. ἄμφηκες δὲ, ἐξ ἑκατέρου μέρους ἠκονημένον βέλος, ἢ κεραυνὸς ἢ ξίφος. Cp. also Ag. 306 φλογὸς μέγαν πώγωνα, Catull. lxi. 77 viden ut faces splendidas quatiunt comas. ἀμφήκης is an Homeric word.

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1045. σφακέλῳ: σπασμῷ, συντόνῳ κινήσει, Schol. Cp. 878.

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1047. αὐταῖς ῥίζαις: cp. 221 and note.

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1049. συγχώσειεν : συγκαλύψειεν, Schol.

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1051. ῥίψειε : the subject is he (Zeus); so also of θανατώσει below. See on 994.

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1052. Cp. Eur. Hec. 1295 στερρὰ γὰρ ἀνάγκη.

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1053. πάντως οὐ: as in 333. For the thought cp. 933.

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1056 f. τί ἐλλείπει μὴ οὐ παρα- παίειν : what lacks it of wild delusion? ἐλλείπειν contains a negative notion. Cp. 627, Eur. Iph. Α. 41 τῶν ἀπόρων οὐδενὸς ἐνδεῖς μὴ οὐ μαίνεσθαι, Τro. 797 τίνος ἐνδέομεν μὴ οὐ πανσυδίᾳ χωρεῖν ὀλέθρου διὰ παντός, Soph. Ο. Τ. 1232 λείπει μὲν οὐδ᾽ ἃ πρόσθεν ᾔδεμεν τὸ μὴ οὐ βαρύστον᾽ εἶναι. GMT. 815, 2; G. 283, 7 Ν.; H. 1034 b. - For παρα- παίειν cp. 581, and Frg. 320 εἴτ' οὖν σοφιστὴς κᾶλα παραπαίων χέλυν, Ar. Plut. 508 ξυνθιασώτα τοῦ ληρεῖν καὶ παραπαίειν. – εὐχή: the passage 1043- 1052 is meant.

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1059. συγκάμνουσαι: cp. 414.

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1062. ἀτέραμνον: cp. 190.

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1065. παρέσυρας : the proper mean- ing of παρασύρω may be seen from the figure in Ar. Εq. 526 Κρατίνου μεμνη- μένος ὃς πολλῷ ῥεύσας ποτ᾽ ἐπαίνῳ διὰ τῶν ἀφελῶν πεδίων ἔρρει καὶ τῆς στά- σεως παρασύρων ἐφόρει τὰς δρῦς καὶ τὰς πλατάνους καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς προθελύμ- νους. The expression παρασύρειν ἔπος is therefore like αἰάζειν αὐδήν. The verb imparts to ἔπος a strong notion of reproach, "utter an outrageous speech."

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1069 f. Cp. 685. – ἀπέπτυσα: on this use of the aorist see Krüger II. § 53, 6, 2; GMT. 60; H. 842.

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1078 f. δίκτυον ἄτης: cp. Ag. 361 γάγγαμον ἄτης παναλώτου. ἀπέραν- τον: impervious. Cp. Ag. 1382 ἄπειρον ἀμφίβληστρον ὥσπερ ἰχθύων περιστι- χίζω, Εum. 634 ἐν ἀτέρμονι δαιδάλῳ πέπλῳ. – At 1079 Hermes soars aloft and disappears.

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1080. ἔργῳ κοὐκέτι μύθῳ: cр. 336. Stage thunder and lightning the ancients produced by a thunder- machine (βροντεῖον) and a lightning- tower (κεραυνοσκοπεῖον). Skins filled with heavy stones were rolled on copper plates behind the scene, and a revolving contrivance aloft (περίακτος ὑψηλή) emitted flashes of light. The quaking of the earth may have been indicated by the turning of the two περίακτοι. The ancients in such things demanded only hints and sym- bols, not illusions.

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1081. The monometer (see on 97) takes the place of a dimeter; see on 1040.

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1082. βρυχία : Hesych. βρύχιος · ὑποβρύχιος, i.e. under the surface. Cp. Pers. 397 ἔπαισαν ἅλμην βρύχιον. ‘Vo- cabulum βρύχιος eo hic significatu dictum est, quo etiam ὑποβρύχιος in- terdum non id quod in aqua demer- sum est, sed omnino quod est aliqua re obrutum denotat' (Hermann). Ac- cordingly βρυχία ἠχὼ βροντῆς means the same as χθόνια βροντήματα, 994. With the description cp. Hesiod Theog. 705 τόσσος δοῦπος ἔγεντο θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνιόντων· σὺν δ᾽ ἄνεμοί τ᾽ ἔνοσίς τε κονίην ἐσφαράγιζον.

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1083 f. ἕλικες: αἱ ἑλικοειδεῖς (zig- zag) κατὰ τὰ νέφη τῶν ἀστραπῶν κινή- σεις, Schol. Cp. 1044. – ζάπυροι: cp. ζαπληθῆ Pers. 316. – στρόμβοι: He- sych. στρόμβος· δίνος, συστροφὴ ἀνέ- -
μου. – κόνῖν : for the quantity, cp. Suppl. 180 ὁρῶ κόνῖν ἄναυδον, Cho. 928 τόνδ᾽ ὄφῖν ἐθρεψάνην, Suppl. 782 κόνις ἄτερθε, Cho. 544 οὕφῖς ἐμοῖσι.

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1087. ἀντίπνουν: as a rule, only the mediae (β, γ, δ) before λ, μ, ν make position in thesis in dramatic poetry. Lengthenings like this in anapaests are found Ar. Av. 216 ἕδρας, 579 ἆγρῶν. – For the contraction see on 917.

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1090. φανερώς: belongs with Διό- θεν, evidently from Zeus and none other. τεύχουσα φόβον stands in a causal re- lation to it.

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1091. ὦ μητρὸς ἐμῆς: ὦ Γἢ ἡ ὦ Θέμις (read & Γῆ Θέμι, see on 210), Schol. In huiusmodi obtestatione eos appellari deos convenit, quorum vis et potestas universam rerum na- turam complectitur, i.e. caelum et terram, quo quidquid usquam testari insigne facinus possit, uno complexu comprehendatur' (Hermann). Cp. Soph. Εl. 86 & φάος ἁγνὸν καὶ γῆς ἰσό- μοιρ᾿ ἀήρ. – σέβας: cp. Eum. 885 ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μὲν ἁγνόν ἐστί σοι Πειθοῦς σέβας.

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1092. φάος εἱλίσσων : cp. Eur. Phoen. 3 "Ήλιε, θοαῖς ἵπποισιν εἱλίσ- σων φλόγα, Theodect. Frg. 10 (р. 805 Nauck) & καλλιφεγγῆ λαμπάδ᾽ εἰλίσ- σων φλογός, Ηλιε. Here φάος is the proper light of the φαεννὸς αἰθήρ.

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1093. Prometheus sinks into the depths, with the rock on which he hangs (1019).