N. Wecklein Seven Against Thebes 87.comm-87

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Seven Against Thebes. N. Wecklein. . .

Current edition Experimental

Commentary (N. Wecklein, 1902; German; OCR draft) (German) (Seven Against Thebes, explanatory commentary pp. 15–100. Single-witness OCR; source readings and all reference placements require scan review.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (7)
Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 108-180 focus
Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.) — 109-180 focus
Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ θήβας (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ θήβας. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 78 focus
Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ θήβας (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ θήβας. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 78 focus
ΕΠΤΑ ΕΠΙ θΗΒΑΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΕΠΤΑ ΕΠΙ θΗΒΑΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 78 focus
Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ θήβας (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ θήβας. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 78 focus
Θρέομαι φοβερὰ μεγάλ᾽ ἄχη.
μεθεῖται στρατὸς στρατόπεδον λιπών.
ῥεῖ πολὺς ὅδε λεὼς πρόδρομος ἱππότας.
80
Aeschyli Septem contra Thebas (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Septem contra Thebas. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 78 focus
Translations (9)
Seven Against Thebes Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 109-180 focus
The Seven against Thebes. (OCR draft) Experimental (The Seven against Thebes.. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 78 focus
I wail over our fearful, mighty woes! the army is let loose, having quitted its camp, a mighty mounted host is streaming hitherward in advance
the dust appearing high in the air convinces me, a voiceless, clear, true messenger; the noise of the clatter of their hoofs upon the plain
, reaching even to our couches, approaches my ears, is wafted on, and is rumbling like a resistless torrent lashing the mountain-side. Alas! alas! Oh gods and goddesses, avert the rising horror; the white-bucklered
well-appointed host is rushing on with a shout on the other side our walls, speeding its way to the city. Who then will rescue us, who then of gods and goddesses will aid us? Shall I then prostrate myself before the statues of the divinities? Oh ye blessed beings, seated on your glorious thrones, 'tis high time for us to cling to your statues—why do we deeply sighing delay? Hear ye, or hear ye not, the clash of bucklers? When, if not now, shall we set about the orison of the peplus
and chaplets? I perceive a din, a crash of no single spear. What wilt thou do? wilt thou, O Mars, ancient guardian of our soil, abandon thine own land? God of the golden helm, look upon, look upon the city which once thou didst hold well-beloved.
LES SEPT CONTRE THÈBES (OCR draft) Experimental (LES SEPT CONTRE THÈBES. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 78 focus
parle dans votre intérêt autant que dans le mien, je crois : une ville prospère, seule, honore ses dieux.
The Seven Chiefs against Thebes (OCR draft) Experimental (The Seven Chiefs against Thebes. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 78 focus
Woe, woe, intolerable woe!
Fierce from their camps the hosts advance,
Before their march with thund'ring tread
90
Proud o'er the plain their firey courſers prance,
And hither bend their footsteps dread:
Yon' cloud of dust that choaks the air,
A true tho' tongueleſs messenger,
Marks plain the progress of the foe.
95
And now the horrid clash of arms,
That, like the torrent, whose impetuous tide
Roars down the mountain's craggy side,
Shook the wide fields with fierce alarms,
With nearer terrors strikes our souls,
100
And thro' our chaste recesses rolls:
Hear, all ye pow'rs of Heav'n, propitious hear,
And check the furies of this threat'ning war!
The crouded walls around
Loud clamours rend the sky;
105
Whilſt rang'd in deep array th' embattled pow'rs
Their silver shields i
lift high,
And, level with the ground
To lay their rampir'd heads, assail our tow'rs.
What guardian God shall I implore?
110
Bending at what sacred shrine
Call from their happy seats what pow'rs divine,
And suppliant ev'ry sculptur'd form adore?
The time demands it: why then, why delay?-
The sound of arms swells on my' affrighted ear.-
115
Hold now the pall, the garland k
, as you pray.-
Hark! 'tis the rude clash of no single spear.
Stern God of war,
Dost thou prepare
Thy sacred city to betray?
120
Look down, look down l
;
O save thine own;
Nor leave us to the foe a prey:
If e'er thy soul had pleasure in the brave,
God of the golden helm, hear us, and save!
125
Eschilo, I Sette a Tebe: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, I Sette a Tebe: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 78 focus
Piango alti lagni d'orrore di doglia.
Già già dal campo si sfrena l'esercito :
105
rotola avanti l'esercito fitto
dei cavalieri: l'eterea polvere
si leva a dirmelo, muto palese
veridico araldo.
Orrido grido, fra rombe di zoccoli,
110
dalla pianura mi sgomina e preme,
come torrente che scrosci dal monte.
Contro la rocca si lancia, già leva,
chiuso nell'armi, l'esercito avverso,
gli scudi bianchi, con orride grida.
115
Chi mai dei Numi, chi mai delle Dive
soccorso darà ?
A quali altari di Dèmoni innanzi
debbo io cadere ? Beati Signori,
è questo il punto che stretta io mi tenga
120
ai vostri simulacri.
Nei troppi lagni che indugiasi? Udite
o non udite fragore di scudi?
Quando offrirò, se non ora,
pepli corone e preghiere ?
125
Odi lo strepito? Tale frastuono
sola una lancia non leva.
Che fai?
Marte Signore, l'antica tua terra
cosí tradirai?
130
Deh! queste mura, a te un giomo sí care,
Nume elmo d'oro, proteggi proteggi!
Tutte le fanciulle si aggruppano intorno all'ara.
Aeschylus, Septem ad Thebas: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Septem ad Thebas: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 78 focus
Lugeo terribilia & magna mala.
Dimittitur exercitus caſtra relinquens,
Decurrit huc multus populus precurrens equites,
Aetherius puluis me persuadet uiſus,
85
Mutus maniſeſtus, promptus nuncius,
Excitator conculcatusq; campo
Appropinquat, clamor uolat, fremit
Instar aquæ murmurantis inexpugnabilis.
Heuheu, heu dij
90
Et deæ, præsens malum arcete.
Clamat pro mænibus
Scutum habens album, furgit populus
Structus in urbem irruens.
Quis defendet? quis auxiliabitur
95
Deorum aut dearum?
Vtrum ego accidam statuis
Deorum heu defensores dij,
Tempus est habendi ſtatuas:
quid cunctamur
100
Luctuoſi? auditis, aut non auditis clypeorum
Strepitum ? peplos
& coronas
Circa preces habebimus?
Strepitum audiui, & strepitumq; non unius haſte.
105
Quid facies? deferes ô Mars terrisenex
Tuam terram?
duream qui habes galeam demon,
Reſpice reſpice urbem,
Quam tandem charam poſuisti . dij
110
Seven Against Thebes (OCR draft) Experimental (Seven Against Thebes. Anna Swanwick, 1886.) — 79 focus
CHORUS
ANTISTROPHE II.
Firm is my trust that he
The hateful form who beareth on his shield
Of earth-born deity,
Adverse to Zeus, to men a shape of dread
And to the long-lived gods, prone in the field,
Before our gate shall fling his own proud head.
MESSENGER
Such be the issue! At the northern gates
The fifth is marshalled, near the tomb which holds
Zeus-born Amphion. By his spear he swears,
Which more than God he honours, or his eyes,
To ravage verily, despite of Zeus,
The fort of Cadmos. So the stripling speaks,
Scion fair-faced of mother mountain-reared;
Over his cheek spreadeth the tender down,
Hair thickly sprouting of youth's budding prime.
But he with savage temper, which belies
His maiden name, and with an eye of dread,
Taketh his post;—yet stands he at our gates
Not without vaunt, for on his shield brass-wrought,
His body's rounded bulwark, he doth wield
The raw-devouring Sphinx, our city's shame,
Her form stud-fastened, brilliantly embossed.
Beneath her holds she a Cadmeian man,
A target so for missiles thickly showered.
Hither he comes no peddling fight to wage,
Nor the long route he traversed to disgrace;
Parthenopaios, an Arcadian born,
But denizen of Argos; such a man
Doth Argos' kindly nurture now repay
By threats against our towers, which heaven avert!
ETEOCLES
From the high gods may they the doom obtain
Planned in these godless vaunts; so they themselves
In shameful rout should perish utterly.
'Gainst this Arcadian, him thou tellest of,
The warrior Actor stands; no boaster he,
But with a hand which sees the thing to do;
Brother of him whom I before described.
No fluent, deedless, tongue will he admit
Within our gates to aggravate our ills,
Nor him allow to pass on, hostile shield
Who bears the image of that hateful pest.
'neath our walls, sore-batter'd, she will rail
At him who fain would carry her within.
If heaven so wills, herein I truth shall speak.
CHORUS
STROPHE III.
His word my breast doth rend,
Standeth my hair on end,
Hearing the haughty boast
Of haughty men profane;
Ye Gods, above who reign,
Here, in our land, smite ye their alien host!
MESSENGER
Sixth, let me name a man most sage of heart,
Amphiaraos, prophet, first in arms;
He, marshall'd at the Homoloian gates,
Tydeus with keen reproaches oft assails,
As homicide, disturber of the State,
To Argos prime instructor in these harms,
Erinys' herald, Slaughter's minister,
Adviser to Adrastos of these ills;
And on thy brother Polyneikes' might,
He calls, dissecting his ill-omened name; *
Then in conclusion, twice with emphasis
His name repeating, utters forth these words:
"Pleasing to gods in sooth is such a deed,
Lovely for future years to hear and tell,
The city of thy sires and native gods
To spoil, made captive by an alien host.
Can justice the maternal fountain quench? *
Thy Fatherland, if captur'd through thy zeal,
How can it e'er again be thine ally?
Myself I shall this land enrich, a seer
'Neath hostile earth sepulchred. Fight we now!
For no dishonourable doom I look."
Thus spake the seer, wielding his rounded shield,
All brass, but no device was on its orb;
For just to be, he longs, not just to seem,
Ripe wisdom reaping from his deep-plough'd mind,
Whence honest counsels grow; silence he keeps
Or speaketh words in season. 'Gainst this man
Champions, I charge thee, send skilful and brave,
For terrible is he who fears the gods.
ETEOCLES
Woe for the omen which the righteous makes
Companion of the impious; nought is worse
In any cause than evil fellowship;
Its fruit may not be garner'd; Atè's field
Yields death for harvest; yea, the godly man,
With headstrong sailors bent on villainy,
Mounting the bark, sinks with the heaven-loathed crew;
Or, just himself, but leagued with citizens
Ruthless to strangers, heedless of the gods,
Caught in the self-same snare, he prostrate lies,
Smitten with them by God's impartial scourge.
So too this seer himself, Oïcles' son,
A righteous man, pious, discreet, and brave,—
This mighty soothsayer, with bold-tongued men
Unholy, in despite of reason, joined,
Their march who trail to reach the far-off city, *
He, if Zeus will, with them shall down be dragged.
But he, methinks, our gates will not assail;
Not by faint heart withheld or dastard will,
But knowing 'tis his doom in fight to perish,
If fruit there be in Loxias' oracles;
silence he keeps Or speaketh words in season.
Yet against him stout Lasthenes we'll post,
A stranger-hating warden of the gates;
He, old in mind, yet blooms in youthful prime,
With eye swift-glancing, ‡ and not slow of hand
To snatch from 'neath his shield the naked spear.
But victory is still the gift of God.
CHORUS
ANTISTROPHE III.
Our just entreaties crown,
Ye gods, and bless our town!
On the invading powers
Turn ye war's spear-wrought woe!
Repelled beneath our towers,
May Zeus, with his dread thunder, lay them low!
MESSENGER
Now at the seventh gate the seventh chief,
Thy proper mother's son, I will announce,
What fortune for this city, for himself,
With curses he invoketh:-on the walls
Ascending, heralded as king, to stand,
With pæans for their capture; then with thee
To fight, and either slaying near thee die,
Or thee, who wrong'd him, chasing forth alive,
Requite in kind his proper banishment.
Such words he shouts and calls upon the gods,
Who o'er his race preside and Fatherland,
With gracious eye to look upon his prayers.
A well-wrought buckler, newly forged, he bears,
With two-fold blazon riveted thereon,
For there a woman leads, with sober mien,
A mailed warrior, enchased in gold;—
Justice her style, and thus the legend speaks:
"This man I will restore, and he shall hold
The city and his fathers' palace-homes."
Such the devices of the hostile chiefs.
'Tis for thyself to choose whom thou wilt send;
But never shalt thou blame my herald-words.
To guide the rudder of the State be thine!
ETEOCLES
O heaven-demented race of Edipus,
My race, tear-fraught, detested of the gods.
Alas, our father's curses now bear fruit.
But it beseems not to lament or weep,
Lest lamentations sadder still be born.
For him, too truly Polyneikes named,-
What his device will work we soon shall know;
Whether his braggart words, with madness fraught,
Gold-blazoned on his shield, shall lead him back.
Had Justice, virgin child of Zeus, in sooth
Guided his deeds and thoughts, this might have been;
But neither when he fled the darksome womb,
Or in his childhood, or in youth's fair prime,
Or when the hair thick gathered on his chin,
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers;
Nor in this outrage on his Fatherland,
Deem I she now beside him deigns to stand.
For Justice would in sooth belie her name
Did she with this all-daring man consort.
In these regards confiding will I go,
Myself will meet him. Who with better right?
Brother to brother, chieftain against chief,
Foeman to foe, I'll stand. Quick, bring my spear,
My greaves, and armour, bulwark against stones.
CHORUS
Dearest of mortals, son of Edipus,
Be not in wrath like him of fatal name;
It is enough;
Let Argive warriors with Cadmeians fight •
their blood may be atoned;
But death of brothers, slain by mutual hands,-
Old age to such pollution never comes.
ETEOCLES
If any one bear evil, let it be
Without disgrace, sole profit to the dead;
On base and evil deeds no glory waits.
CHORUS
STROPHE IV.
What art so eager for, my son?
Let not Infatuation's spell,
Spear-frenzied, soul-possessing, bear thee on:
No, the first germ of evil passion quell.
ETEOCLES
Since God himself the matter presses on,
Let all of Laios' race, 'neath Phobos' ban,
Drift with the breeze, Cocytos' wave its goal.
CHORUS
ANTISTROPHE IV.
Thee passion biting to the quick
O'ermasters, and impels thee sore
A bitter-fruited deed to consummate
Of blood to be atoned for never more.
ETEOCLES
E'en so, for my dear father's hostile curse,
Now ripe, broods o'er me with dry tearless eyes,
Telling that later doom hath prior gain. *
English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1908) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.) — 78 focus
I wail in the stress of my terror, and shrill is my cry of despair.
The foemen roll forth from their camp as a billow, and onward they bear!
Their horsemen are swift in the forefront, the dust rises up to the sky,
95
A signal, though speechless, of doom, a herald more clear than a cry!
Hoof-trampled, the land of my love bears onward the din to mine ears.
As a torrent descending a mountain, it thunders and echoes and nears!
The doom is unloosened and cometh! O kings and O queens of high Heaven,
Prevail that it fall not upon us! the sign for their onset is given—
100
They stream to the walls from without, white-shielded and keen for the fray.
They storm to the citadel gates—what god or what goddess can stay
The rush of their feet? to what shrine shall I bow me in terror and pray?
O gods high-thronèd in bliss, we must crouch at the shrines in your home!
Not here must we tarry and wail: shield clashes on shield as they come—
105
And now, even now is the hour for the robes and the chaplets of prayer!
Mine eyes feel the flash of the sword, the clang is instinct with the spear!
Is thy hand set against us, O Ares, in ruin and wrath to o'erwhelm
Thine own immemorial land, O god of the golden helm?
Look down upon us, we beseech thee, on the land that thou lovest of old,
110
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.) — 78 focus
Ich klag' um graunvolles Leid! 1
Heran stürmt das Heer, dort aus den Zelten brach's,
Vorauf zahllos hier wälzt sich ein Reiterstrom:
80
Der Staub, himmelan wölkend, bezeugt es uns,
Ein sprachloser, untrüglicher Bote, laut!

Notes on the current edition

Seven Against Thebes

1. Single-witness OCR: uncollated. Source layout and readings require scan review; automatic flags are not exhaustive.
2. Reference placement provisional: provisional local reference window from running Greek. Verify the printed source numbering and note scope against the scan.

Commentary

Critical apparatus to Seven Against Thebes (OCR draft) (Latin and Greek critical apparatus to Gottfried Hermann's 1852 edition of Seven Against Thebes.) focus

87. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg004-hermann1852-appcrit-lat1-134

ἀλεύσατε:
ἀλεύσετε
, ad penultimam syllabam
a
a recentiore manu adscripto, M.
87

Commentary (N. Wecklein, 1902; German; OCR draft) (Seven Against Thebes, explanatory commentary pp. 15–100. Single-witness OCR; source readings and all reference placements require scan review.) focus

78-164. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg004-wecklein1902-com-ger1-59

1
2
Parodos, welche die Schrecken einer belagerten und dem Sturm entgegensehenden Stadt mit solcher Kraft und sinnlicher Lebendigkeit des Ausdrucks vor die Augen führt, daß wir das kriegerische Treiben vor den Mauern ebenso vor uns sehen, wie im Agamemnon die Kassandraszene uns zu Zuschauern der Vorgänge im Hause macht. Zu der Kraft des Ausdrucks kam bei der Auf- führung noch die Veranschaulichung durch die σχήματα ὀρχήσεως, wie bei Athen. I S. 22 A berichtet wird, ὅτι Τελέστης ὁ Αἰσχύλου ὀρχηστής οὕτως ἦν τεχνίτης ὥστε ἐν τῷ ὀρχεῖσθαι τοὺς Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας φανερὰ ποιῆσαι τὰ πράγματα δι ὀρχήσεως. Von diesem Telestes heist es dort weiter: πολλὰ ἐξεύρηκε σχήματα, ἄκρως ταῖς χερσὶ τὰ λεγόμενα δεικνύς. Auf diese χειρο- νομία weist z. Β. ὅδε 80 hin. Das Ganze zerfällt in 4 Teile: im ersten (78-106) kommen die zwölf Choreuten einzeln zum Vortrag, wie sie der Reihe nach entweder einzeln oder, was wahrscheinlicher ist, in drei Gruppen zu je 4 Personen auf- treten ( σποράδην wie Eum. 244 1.). Der Chor besteht ja aus Jungfrauen, Bürgerstöchtern, welche in ihrer Angst zu den Altären der Götter flüchten, also vorher noch nicht versammelt sind. Im zweiten Teile (107—134) singen, wie die drei gleichen Verse 112, 116, 119 = 126, 130, 133 erkennen lassen, die drei στοίχοι nacheinander die Strophe und ebenso die Antistrophe. Den dritten Teil (135–151) tragen die beiden Halbchöre vor, nur in die Weherufe brechen alle zusammen aus. Den letzten Teil (152-165), ein Gebet, spricht der Gesamtchor. Die Wahl von Jungfrauen er- klärt der Schol. gut: εὐπτόητον ἡ τῶν παρθένων ἡλικία, μάλιστα δὲ πρὸς πολιορκίαν.

78-106. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg004-wecklein1902-com-ger1-60

3
4
erster Teil, welcher das Auftreten des Chors motiviert.

87. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg004-wecklein1902-com-ger1-67

5
6
ὄρμενον (das heranziehende Unheil): die epische synkopierte Form, hier von Enger für ὀρόμενον gesetzt, ist an drei Stellen, unten 110, Ag. 1408, Hik. 428, um der antistrophischen Responsion willen für ὀρόμενος (oder δρώμενος) her- gestellt worden.