Aeschylus Agamemnon 53

Anna Swanwick (Translator)

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Chorus
Smit with desire for those who longed for you.

Agamemnon. Aeschylus. Anna Swanwick (Translator). London. 1886.

Sponsored by University of Leipzig.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition Experimental

Agamemnon (OCR draft) (English) (Agamemnon. Anna Swanwick, 1886.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (8)
Ἀγαμέμνων First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 104-257 focus
Ἀγαμέμνων Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.) — 104-257 focus
Ἀγαμέμνων (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἀγαμέμνων. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 40 focus
Ἀγαμέμνων (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἀγαμέμνων. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 40 focus
ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 40 focus
Ἀγαμέμνων (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἀγαμέμνων. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 40 focus
δέκατον μὲν ἔτος τόδ᾽ ἐπεὶ Πριάμου
40
μέγας ἀντίδικος,
Μενέλαος ἄναξ ἠδ᾽ ᾿Αγαμέμνων,
διθρόνου Διόθεν καὶ δισκήπτρου
τιμῆς ὀχυρὸν ζεῦγος Ἀτρειδᾶν,
στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην
45
τῆσδ᾽ ἀπὸ χώρας
ἦραν, στρατιῶτιν ἀρωγήν,
μέγαν ἐκ θυμοῦ κλάζοντες Ἄρη,
τρόπον αἰγυπιῶν, οἶτ᾽ ἐκπατίοις
ἄλγεσι παίδων ὕπατοι λεχέων
50
στροφοδινοῦνται,
πτερύγων ἐρετμοῖσιν ἐρεσσόμενοι,
δεμνιοτήρη
πόνον ὀρταλίχων ὀλέσαντες·
ὕπατος δ᾽ ἀίων ἤ τις Ἀπόλλων
55
ἢ Πὰν ἢ Ζεὺς οἰωνόθροον
γόον ὀξυβόαν
τῶνδε μετοίκων ὑστερόποινον
Ἀγαμέμνων (OCR draft) Experimental (Ἀγαμέμνων. Martin L. West, 1990.) — 40 focus
δέκατον μὲν ἔτος τόδ᾽ ἐπεὶ Πριάμωι μέγας ἀντίδικος
40
Μενέλαος ἄναξ ἠδ᾽ Ἀγαμέμνων,
διθρόνου Διόθεν καὶ δισκήπτρου
τιμῆς ὀχυρὸν ζεῦγος Ἀτρειδᾶν,
στόλον Ἀργείων χιλιοναύτην
45
τῆσδ᾽ ἀπὸ χώρας ἦραν, στρατιῶτιν ἀρωγήν,
μέγαν ἐκ θυμοῦ κλάζοντες ἄρη,
τρόπον αἰγυπιῶν οἵτ᾽ ἐκπατίοις ἄλγεσι παίδων
50
†ὕπατοι† λεχέων στροφοδινοῦνται
πτερύγων ἐρετμοῖσιν ἐρεσσόμενοι,
δεμνιοτήρη πόνον ὀρταλίχων ὀλέσαντες·
ὕπατος δ᾽ ἀΐων ἤ τις Ἀπόλλων ἢ Πὰν ἢ Ζεὺς
55
οἰωνόθροον γόον ὀξυβόαν τῶνδε μετοίκων
ὑστερόποινον πέμπει παραβᾶσιν Ἐρινύν.
οὕτω δ᾽ Ἀτρέως παῖδας ὁ κρείσσων
60
ἐπ’ Ἀλεξάνδρωι πέμπει ξένιος
Ζεὺς πολυάνορος ἀμφὶ γυναικός,
πολλὰ παλαίσματα καὶ γυιοβαρῆ
γόνατος κονίασιν ἐρειδομένου
διακναιομένης τ᾽ ἐν προτελείοις
65
κάμακος θήσων Δαναοῖσιν
Τρωσί θ' ὁμοίως. ἔστι δ᾽ ὅπηι νῦν
ἐστι· τελεῖται δ᾽ εἰς τὸ πεπρωμένον·
οὔθ᾽ ὑποκαίων οὔτ᾽ ἐπιλείβων
οὔτε †δακρύων† ἀπύρων ἱερῶν
70
ὀργὰς ἀτενεῖς παραθέλξει.
ἡμεῖς δ᾽ ἀτίται σαρκὶ παλαιᾶι
τῆς τότ᾽ ἀρωγῆς ὑπολειφθέντες
μίμνομεν, ἰσχὺν ἰσόπαιδα νέμοντες ἐπὶ σκήπτροις·
75
ὅ τε γὰρ νεαρὸς μυελὸς στέρνων ἐντὸς ἀνάσσων
ἰσόπρεσβυς, ἄρης δ᾽ οὐκ ἔνι χώραι,
τό θ' ὑπεργήρων, φυλλάδος ἤδη κατακαρφομένης,
80
τρίποδας μὲν ὁδοὺς στείχει, παιδὸς δ’ οὐδὲν ἀρείων
ὄναρ ἠμερόφα ντον ἀλαίνει. ὄναρ ἡμερόφα⟨ν⟩τον ἀλαίνει.
Aeschyli Agamemnon (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Agamemnon. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 40 focus
Translations (9)
Agamemnon Perseus (Aeschylus. The poetical works of Robert Browning, Volume 13. Browning, Robert, translator; Berdoe, Edward, editor. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1889.) — 104-257 focus
The Agamemnon (OCR draft) Experimental (The Agamemnon. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 40 focus
This is now the tenth year since the great adversary of Priam, king Menelaus and Agamemnon the stalwart yoke 1
the Atreidae, by the gift of Jove [possessed] of a twin-throned and twin-sceptred majesty, led from this land their armament of a thousand ships of the Argives, a warrior aid, screaming through passion a great noise of war, like vultures, which, in their sorrows for their young far from the [paths of men 2
,] wheel their flight high above their nests, oaring with the oars of their pinions, having lost the nestling care 3
of their callow young: but some god 4
, either Apollo, or Pan, or Jove, hearing aloft the shrill-voiced wail uttered by the birds on account of these outcasts 5
, sends Erinnys, the late avenger, upon the transgressors; even so mighty Jove the Hospitable sends the sons of Atreus against Paris, about to impose on Greeks and Trojans alike, on account of the wife of many husbands, many limb-wearying struggles, when the knee is strained in the dust, and the spear-staff is shivered in the onset. But things are as they are; and will be brought to the issue doomed. Neither by weeping nor by pouring libations, nor by shedding tears, will he soothe away the intense wrath of fireless rites 1
. But we, with our unhonoured aged frame, remain left behind the armament of that time, propping on staves our childlike strength. For both the marrow of youth shooting up within our breasts is weak as age, and Mars is not in place; and very advanced age likewise, after that its foliage is already withered, totters along its three-footed path, and nought superior to a child, flits like a day-dream.
AGAMEMNON (OCR draft) Experimental (AGAMEMNON. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 40 focus
que Priam a vu un terrible adversaire, les rois Ménélas et Agamemnon, fils d'Atrée, couple puissant, honoré par Zeus d'un double trône et d'un double sceptre, lever de ce pays une flotte
argienne de mille vaisseaux, pour prêter à leur cause le secours des armes.
Terribles, ils criaient la guerre du fond de leur cœur
irrité, semblables aux vautours qui, éperdus du deuil de
Agamemnon (OCR draft) Experimental (Agamemnon. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 40 focus
The tenth ſlow year rolls on, ſince great in arms
The noble ſons of Atreus, each exalted
To majeſty and empire, royal brothers,
Led hence a thouſand ſhips, the Argive fleet,
Big with the fate of Priam and of Troy;
50
A warlike preparation; their bold breaſts
Breathing heroic ardor to high deeds;
Like vultures, which their unplumed offspring loſt d
,
Eschilo, Agamennone: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Agamennone: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 40 focus
L'anno decimo volge, dal giomo
che di Priamo il grande avversario,
Menelao, col sovrano Agamènnone,
salda coppia d'Atridi, cui Giove
50
die' fregio di duplice scettro,
di duplice trono, disciolsero
da questa contrada lo stuolo
dei mille navigli,
belligero, vindice, alzando
55
dall'alma clangore di guerra
altissimo, come avvoltoi
che, perso il travaglio dei figli
dai nidi vegliati, nel cruccio
Aeschylus, Agamemnon: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Agamemnon: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 40 focus
Decimus quidem annus est, quod pro Priamo
Menelaus rex, Agamemnon, (magnus hostis
Duorum thronorum ſceptrorum ex Iove
60
Honoris, forte iugum Atridarum,
Claſſem Argiuorum mille nauium ab hac regione
Collegerunt nauem auxiliatricem,
Magnum ex animo clamantes Martem,
More uulturum, qui magnis
65
Doloribus pedum alti ex lectis circumuertuntur,
Alarum remis remigantes, cubilia obſeruantem
Laborem pullorum perdentes.
Supremus audiens, ut Apollo,
Aut Pan, aut Iupiter
70
Luctum acutum
Horum habitatorum poſteram pæna mittit furiam
Sic uerò Atrei filios melior (traducentibus ipfos,
Contrà Alexandrum mittit hofpitalis
Iupiter: pro muliere multis uiris nupta
75
Multa certamina, grauia,
Genu puluere firmato,
Pugnis tedio afficientis
Haſte faciens Danais,
Troianisq; fimiliter. est quo nunc uerò,
80
Est, perfectum est fatum:
Neq; celebrans, neq; libans,
Neq; excipiens igne carentia facrificia,
Iras auſteras demulcebit.
Nos uerò extenuati antiqua carne,
85
Hoc auxilium tunc derelicti expectamus, fortitudi-
Iuuenilem colentes cum fceptris.
(nem
Quado enim iuuenis medulla pectoris intus regës,
Aequaliter fenex Isopresbys, Mars nõ inest regioni,
90
Tunc fenectutis ſtrue iam
Siccatæ, tripodas per uias quidem
It: puero uerò nihil melior,
Somnus lucem mitigans uagatur.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon: German translation (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Agamemnon: German translation. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1919–1923.) — 40 focus
verständlich, den nicht Wissenden ein Rätsel ist.
40
English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1889, second edition) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Agamemnon — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.) — 40 focus
Ten livelong years have rolled away,
50
Since the twin lords of sceptred sway,
By Zeus endowed with pride of place,
The doughty chiefs of Atreus' race,
Went forth of yore,
To plead with Priam, face to face,
55
Before the judgment-seat of War!
A thousand ships from Argive land
Put forth to bear the martial band,
That with a spirit stern and strong
Went out to right the kingdom's wrong—
60
Pealed, as they went, the battle-song,
Wild as the vultures' cry;
When o'er the eyrie, soaring high,
In wild bereaved agony,
Around, around, in airy rings,
65
They wheel with oarage of their wings,
But not the eyas-brood behold,
That called them to the nest of old;
But let Apollo from the sky,
Or Pan, or Zeus, but hear the cry,
70
The exile cry, the wail forlorn,
Of birds from whom their home is torn—
On those who wrought the rapine fell,
Heaven sends the vengeful fiends of hell.
Even so doth Zeus, the jealous lord
75
And guardian of the hearth and board,
Speed Atreus' sons, in vengeful ire,
'Gainst Paris—sends them forth on fire,
Her to buy back, in war and blood,
Whom one did wed but many woo'd!
80
And many, many, by his will,
The last embrace of foes shall feel,
And many a knee in dust be bowed,
And splintered spears on shields ring loud,
Of Trojan and of Greek, before
85
That iron bridal-feast be o'er!
But as he willed 'tis ordered all,
And woes, by heaven ordained, must fall—
Unsoothed by tears or spilth of wine
Poured forth too late, the wrath divine
90
Glares vengeance on the flameless shrine. 1
And we in gray dishonoured eld,
Feeble of frame, unfit were held
To join the warrior array,
That then went forth unto the fray:
95
And here at home we tarry, fain
Our feeble footsteps to sustain,
Each on his staff—so strength doth wane,
And turns to childishness again.
For while the sap of youth is green,
100
And, yet unripened, leaps within,
The young are weakly as the old,
And each alike unmeet to hold
The vantage post of war!
And ah ! when flower and fruit are o'er,
105
And on life's tree the leaves are sere,
Age wendeth propped its journey drear,
As forceless as a child, as light
And fleeting as a dream of night
Lost in the garish day!
110
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1854; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylos, Band I, Agamemnon. Independent Donner line citations, Smyth card correspondence, twelve located textual notes and opening metrical facsimiles. Unfinished OCR proofreading and note attribution are documented in the review inventory.) — 40 focus
Zehn Sommer entfloh'n, seit Priamos' Feind, 1
Recht fordernd mit Macht,
40
Menelaos der Fürst, Agamemnon mit ihm,
Das gewaltige Paar der Atriden, von Zeus
Durch Scepter und Thron zwiefältig geehrt,
Mit den tausend Masten Achäa's Heer,
Die Genossen des Kampfs,
45
Von den heimischen Fluren entführten.
Laut schnoben sie Mord aus zorniger Brust,
Wie der Weihen Geschlecht,
Die, der Jungen beraubt, in unendlichem Schmerz
Hoch über dem Horst hin kreisend und her,
50
Mit der Fittige Schlag durchrudern die Luft,
Die verlorenen Müh'n
Um der Kindlein Pflege betrauernd.
Doch ein Gott in den Höh'n, ob Apollon, ob Pan,
Ob Zeus, er vernimmt der Beraubten Geschrei,
55
Das mit klagendem Ruf die Gebirge durchhallt,
Und die Frevler ereilt
Der vergeltende Fluch der Erinnys.
So sandte des Atreus Söhne der Gott,
Der des Gastrechts wahrt, der gewaltige Zeus,
60
Auf Paris heran für der Buhlerin Raub,
Vielfältige Müh'n, abmattenden Kampf,
Da gestemmt in den Staub arbeitet das Knie,
Da die Lanze zerschellt in den vordersten Reih'n,
Dem achäischen Volke zu wecken,
65
Und den Troern zugleich. Nun geht es einmal,
Wie's geht; es erfüllt sich der Spruch des Geschicks;
Nicht Weinen und nicht Trankspende versöhnt,
Kein Jammern den unauslöschbaren Groll
Um die fehlende Flamme des Opfers.
70
Uns Greisen indeß, die das Alter gebeugt,
Uns ward kein Theil an der Ehre des Zugs;
Wir blieben zurück,
Gleich Kindern am Stab aufstüßend die Kraft.
Denn das jüngere Mark, das jugendlichſtolz
75
Im Busen sich hebt,
Flieht, schwach wie der Greis, vor dem Kampfe zurück:
Der Gealterte schleicht, wann herbstlich bereits
Sich entlaubte der Stamm, dreifüßig dahin;
Unmächtig, dem Kind gleich, wankt er einher,
80
Ein Traumbild, irrend am Tage.
(Während dieser Worte ist aus den Pforten des königlichen Palastes ein Zug von Dienerinnen mit Schalen und Krügen um die Altäre getreten, um zu opfern; zu gleicher Zeit erscheint Klytämnestra mit Gefolge, und läßt das Opfer beginnen.)

Commentary

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

53-54. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg005-hermann1852-appcrit-lat1-32

δεμνιοτήρη πόνον ὀρταλίχων Inutilis est Musgravii coniectura
γόνον
. Hesychius
δεμνιοτήρη πόνον. Αἰσχύλος Ἀγαμέμνονι. καθόσον οἱ νεοσσοὶ ἔτι τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν ὡς τὰ δέμνια τηρεῖν καὶ κατέχειν, μηδέπω πέτεσθαι δυνάμενοι. πόνον δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν τροφὴν αὐτῶν
. Non satis accurate. Δεμνιοτήρης πόνος ὀρταλίχων est cubiliprema cura pullorum, sive labor quem parentes pullis incubando sustinuerunt.

Wecklein’s commentary on Agamemnon (1888; German; OCR draft) (Explanatory commentary, pp. 30–140; Iowa and Harvard OCR collated conservatively. Unresolved OCR and provisional reference mappings are explicitly marked.) focus

40-269. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg005-wecklein1888-com-ger1-26

Parodos, bestehend (wie die Parodos der Perser und der Hiketides) aus drei Teilen, dem Recitativ des Chorführers in Anapästen 40-103, dem Gesang des Chorführers mit ἐπιφθέγματα (124) des Gesamtchores 104-169, dem Chorgesang 170-269. Der erste Teil beginnt mit der Schuld und Sühne der Trojaner, legt die äufseren Verhältnisse dar und giebt mit dem Verlangen zu erfahren, was die überall auf den Altären der Stadt angezündeten Opferfeuer zu bedeuten haben (83-87) die Motivierung für das Auftreten des Chors. Der zweite Teil berichtet eine Weissagung des Kalchas, welche ängstliche Besorgnis in betreff des Heerführers weckt. Der dritte begründet diese Besorgnis mit sittlichen Grundsätzen und erklärt das Leiden, das den siegreichen Agamemnon erwartet, als Sühne für eine Schuld, für die unerhörte Opferung der eigenen Tochter.

53-54. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg005-wecklein1888-com-ger1-37

1
„die nesthütende Arbeit mit den Jungen" d. h.,,die Frucht der Mühen, welche die Pflege der Jungen im Neste verursacht hatte". Anders Hesych. unter δεμνιοτήρη πόνον: καθόσον οἱ νεοσσοὶ ἔτι τοιοὔτοί εἰσιν ὡς τὰ δέμνια τηρεῖν καὶ κατέχειν, μηδέπω πέτεσθαι δυνάμενοι, πόνον δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν τροφὴν αὐτῶν. Vgl. 1450, Eur. Herc. 1039 ὃ δ᾽ ὥς τις ὄρνις ἄπτερον και ταστένων ὠδῖνα τέκνων, Suppl. 1135 ἰὼ ἰώ· ποῦ δὲ πόνος ἐμῶν τέκνων, Phoen. 30 τὸν ἐμὸν ὠδίνων πόνον.