τῷ παιδὶ φράζω τῆς τεχνωμένης τάδε. while κάν ᾧ τὸ κεῖσε δεῦρό τ ̓ ἐξορμώμεθα, Ledgid ὁρῶμεν αὐτὴν ἀμφιπλῆγι φασγάνῳ 930 πλευρὰν ὑφ ̓ ἧπαρ καὶ φρένας πεπληγμένην. wher Κι αν με άκουσα πρὸς τοῦ θηρὸς ἔρξειεν τάδε. κανταῦθ ̓ ὁ παῖς δύστηνος οὔτ ̓ ὀδυρμάτων ἐλείπετ ̓ οὐδέν, ἀμφί νιν γοώμενος, 935 οὔτ ̓ ἀμφιπίπτων στόμασιν, ἀλλὰ πλευρόθεν 929 τὸ κεῖσε] Cf. τὸ ἐκεῖθεν ἄλσους (Oed. Col. 505). The use of the plural ἐξορμώμεθα suggests the return of the nurse in company with Hyllus. 933 εφάψειεν] There is no change of nominative, ὀργὴν referring to the angry reproaches of Hyllus in vv. 807-812, 'For he knew to his cost that he had excited her to this deed by his anger against her’. A similar use of ἐφάπτειν occurs in Eur. Bacch. 778 ἤδη τόδ ̓ ἐγγύς, ὥστε πῦρ, ἐφάπτεται Ὕβρισμα βακχών, unless indeed the force of the verb in that case is simply 'touches, affects me closely'. Understood thus, the words κаT' ὀργὴν are far more effective than if we refer them to Deianira as the nominative of ἐφάψειεν, that she had done this deed in her passion'. Hermann, however, is in favour of the latter rendering. 936 ὁ παῖς δύστηνος] The phrase is usually regarded as a solecism, to be remedied by the omission of the article, or explained by treating the substantive and adjective as forming a combined idea. On the other hand we may render it as follows: 'thereon the youth-so sad was he', etc. 937 ἐλείπετ ̓ οὐδέν] left no lament unuttered', the accusative ovdèv being directly dependent on the verb. The alternative explanation, by which ὀδυρμάτων is combined with ἐλείπετο on the analogy of the phrases λείπεσθαι τροφῆς, βίου, etc., is, I think, out of keeping with the perfect simplicity of the passage. The force of ἀμφὶ in this and the following line is, of course, local : he threw himself with groans upon the body, and with kisses fell upon her face : then placing his side beside hers he lay there, sighing oft that he had thoughtlessly wounded her by a cruel imputation and weeping for that he would now lead an orphan life, bereft of both his parents, his father and now her'. 938 ἀμφιπίπτων στόμασιν] Cf. Eur. Alc. 404 ὁ σὸς ποτὶ σοῖσι πίτνων στόμασιν νεοσσός. Πλευ ρόθεν, for which we should naturally have expected πλευρᾷ, is equivalent to ἐκ πλευρῶν, ‘in the direction of her side', like πλευρὰν παρεὶς ἔκειτο πόλλ ̓ ἀναστένων, 940 μάταιός ἐστιν· οὐ γὰρ ἔσθ' ή γ' αὔριον, 945 πρότερον ΧΟ. *πότερα, πότερ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐπιστένω; πότερα τέλεση με περαιτέρω; λαιᾶς χειρὸς ' on the left hand, and πρύμνηθεν ἑστῶτας νεώς (Eur. Iph.in Taur. 1349). In the Greek idiom, as Hermann notices, nearness to an object is frequently expressed by the converse, i.e. remoteness from it. 940 αἰτίᾳ βάλοι] i.e. αἰτίᾳ ἐμβάλοι, Hermann, with which compare the phrase ἐν αἰτίᾳ βαλεῖν (Oed. Col.656), and perhaps ὃ καί τιν' ἀελπτίᾳ βαλών (Pind. Pyth. XII. 31). That αἰτίᾳ is the dative of the instrument appears to me a simpler and more natural explanation. See a note on the corresponding phrase αἰσχύνῃ πεσεῖ in v. 597. 942 ὠρφανισμένος βίου] ὠρο φανισμένος βίον, Wakef., which Wunder is perhaps right in adopting, although the use of the genitive in this connexion is capable of defence. I have followed Prof. Campbell in his punctuation of the text, by which the genitives πατρός τ' ἐκείνης τ' are placed in apposition with K δυοῖν. The force of the preposition is doubtful. As in the phrase τυφλὸς ἐκ δεδορκότος it may mean,' after possessing two parents', or, combining it more closely with the participle, we may translate as follows: 'on the part of two parents he was now made an orphan for life'. The poetry of the passage is lost, I think, by Hermann's punctuation, who by removing the stop after ἐκείνης τε obtains the following sense: ' that he would be deprived of the society of his father and herself'. to which, the use of Biov in this connexion is in itself an objection to the rendering. Add 944 πλέους τις] τι πλείους Wund., πλέους τὰς Erfurdt, but the repetition of Tis with the stronger of the two alternatives is altogether in accordance with usage. Thus stand matters in the palace, so that if any one calculates on two, or, it may be, even more days, he is a fool for his pains: for there is no tomorrow till one has well passed through the present day'. 947-983 An ode on the sorrows that have befallen the family. Meantime the litter which bears Heracles is heard approaching. πότερα, πότερ ̓ ἄρ ̓] πότερ' ἄρα πρότερ ̓ ἐπιστένω, Herm. and Prof. Campb., a line so offensive in sound that it is quite impossible to regard it as genuine. The text I have adopted is based on the following reading: πότερα στρ. Εἴθ ̓ ἀνεμόεσσά τις γένοιτ ̓ ἔπουρος ἑστιῶτις αὔρα, ἥτις μ' ἀποικίσειεν ἐκ τόπων, ὅπως μὴ ταρβαλέα θάνοιμι πότερ ̓ ἂν ἐπιστένω, which rests on good authority, though Linwood is probably right in substituting ἄρα for dr, the latter word being, as Hermann remarks, entirely out of place in the passage. Other suggestions are as follows : πότερα πρότερον ἐπιστένω; Dind., Wund, πότερα πρότερ ̓ ἂν ἐπιστένω; Brunck, Erfurdt, πότερα πρότερ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐπιστένω; Paley. τέλεα] So Herm. and Prof. Campb. after the Mss, for which Musgrave proposes μέλεα, which is adopted by Dind., Wund., and Prof. Paley. But the lines which follow (e. g. κοινὰ δ ̓ ἔχειν τε καὶ μέλλειν) are in favour of the reading τέλεα, implying as they do that the present and the future sorrow are equally placed beyond doubt. If τέλεα be retained, it is better to understand it in the ordinary sense of τέλεια ('perfect' 'consummated') than as an equivalent for τελευταῖα in accordance with Hermann's suggestion, who compares Aesch. Agam. 1513 τέλεον νεαροῖς ἐπιθύσας. I prefer too to retain the marks of interrogation after έπιστένω...which give life and animation to the passage. Tr. 'which, ah which of these ca 955 lamities am I now to mourn? which of these calamities is more certainly realised? I cannot in this misery decide'. 950 μένομεν] The Mss give μέλλομεν, for which Hermann, Erfurdt and Prof. Campbell have adopted μελόμενα an object of care', while the reading of the text is preferred by Dindorf, Wunder, Prof. Paley and the late Mr Shilleto. 'The one we see before our eyes in the palace, the other we await in fear; and there is little to choose between present and expected sorrow'. 955 ἀποικίσειεν...θάνοιμι] For these optatives, see note on v. 655. 'O that some freshening gale would breathe upon me at this hearth to waft me from these regions, that I die not for very fear as I catch the first sight of the valiant son of Zeus !' Ἔπουρος, for which ἄπουρος has been proposed in anticipation of ἀποικίσειεν, is retained by Hermann, who at the same time observes that it is no mere equivalent for οὔριος but is to be taken in combination with έστιτις: aura in ipso hoc loco exorta. 86 ΣΟΦΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ μοῦνον εἰσιδοῦσ ̓ ἄφαρ' hand ho εισαγω ἐπεὶ ἐν δυσαπαλλάκτοις οδύναις 960 τα χωρεῖν πρὸ δόμων λέγουσιν ἄσπετόν τι θαῦμα. ἀντ. Αγχου δ' ἄρα του μακρὰν προὔκλαιον, ὀξύφωνος ὡς ἀηδών. ξένων γὰρ ἐξόμιλος ἤδε τις βάσις. λάκις πά δ' αὖ φορεῖ νιν; ὡς φίλου προκηδομένα, βαρείαν ἄψοφον φέρει βάσιν. αγαῖ, ὅδ ̓ ἀναύδατος φέρεται. 962 965 τί χρή, θανόντα νιν, ἡ καθ ̓ ὕπνον ὄντα κρῖναι; 970 ΥΛ. Ὤμοι ἐγὼ σου, ὦ πάτερ, ὤμοι ἐγὼ σοῦ μέλεος. τί πάθω; τί δὲ μήσομαι; οἴμοι. στρ. ΠΡ. σίγα, τέκνον, μὴ κινήσης ἀγρίαν ὀδύνην πατρὸς ὠμόφρονος. ζῇ γὰρ προπετής. ἀλλ ̓ ἴσχε δακών 959 μοῦνον] Hermann alone of all the editors regards this word as an adjective, understanding it as an allusion to the loss of Deianira in the sense of 'solum superstitem'. *Ασπετόν τι θαῦμα, ‘a prodigy of infinite woe'. Cf. 963 προὔκλαιον] Eur. Alc. 526. 'So then he was near at hand and not far off, the while I wept for his coming like a shrill-voiced nightingale. For lo! I hear the unfamiliar tread of stranger feet'. Hermann prefers to understand ouλos in the literal sense of the adjective, 'from a foreign land', comparing the force of the verb ἐξομιλεῖσθαι in Eur. Iph. in Aul. 735, but the former rendering is, I think, the more expressive. 965 ὡς φίλου προκηδομένα] 975 'with what concern for their friend they move with a heavy noiseless tread'. A more poetic but, as I believe, less correct explanation is to regard is as introducing a comparison: 'like one who mourns for the loss of a friend'. The simile reads abruptly, and we should have expected the subject of προκηδομένα to have been more clearly defined. στόμα σόν. ΥΛ. πῶς φής, γέρον; ἦ ζῇ; ή ΠΡ. οὐ μὴ 'ξεγερεῖς τὸν ὕπνῳ κάτοχον εα foot κἀκκινήσεις κἀναστήσεις φοιτάδα, δεινὴν 980 νόσον, ὦ τέκνον. ΥΛ. ἀλλ ̓ ἐπί μοι μελέφα εστιας κ βάρος άπλετον, ἐμμέμονε φρήν. ἀντ. ΗΡ. Ω Ζεύ, ποὺ γὰς ἥκω;, παρὰ τοῖσι βροτῶν albeit in a swoon; so press your lips with your teeth and keep silence'. The above is apparently the meaning of προπετής, which is equivalent to the Latin pronus. Lidd. and Scott however suggest a different rendering: 'he is drooping at the point of death'. For this use of δακών, cf. Aristoph. Νub. 1359. For 978 τὸν ὕπνῳ κάτοχον] ‘on no account arouse him, now that he is overcome by sleep'. the phrase ὕπνῳ κάτοχον, cf. Εur. Hec. 1090, Aesch. Pers. 225. In regard to the constructions of οὐ μὴ in Sophocles, we have in Aj. 75 another example of the ordinary prohibitive future, in Phil. 1o3 the subjunctive aorist, employed, as usual, in strong negation, and, in addition to the above, two remarkable cases in which the distinction between the two constructions is less clearly marked : (i) Oed. Col. 176 οὔ τοι μήποτέ σ ̓ ἐκ τῶνδ ̓ ἑδράνων, Ω γέρον, ἄκοντά τις ἄξει, and (ii) Elec. 1052 οὔ σοι μὴ μεθέψομαί ποτε. [ 989 φοιτάδα] ‘raving. Cf. Aesch. Αgam. 1244, and, by way of illustration, Phil. 808 ὀξεῖα φοιτᾷ καὶ ταχεῖ ̓ ἀπέρχεται. 985 981 ἀλλ ̓ ἐπί μοι μελέω] With the exception of the late Mr Shilleto, who proposed either to omit these words altogether, or, as a less violent remedy, to replace ènì by erɩ, the majority of the commentators are content to abide by the reading of the text. If T be accepted, we shall render the passage thus: 'Still even now in my misery I feel my heart pondering over an infinite weight of woe', while, if no change is made, the sense will be something as follows: 'True, did not my heart rise in conflict against me with an infinite weight of woe'. It has not, I think, been noticed that the words επί μοι μελέῳ are found again only a few lines lower in v. 995. This is to a certain extent an argument in favour of Mr Shilleto's alteration. 984 The waking of Heracles. παρὰ τοῖσι]= παρὰ τέοισι, the Ionic dative of ris which ap pears in Herod. Ι. 37. So again in v. 1119 we have the similar formὅτοις. Cf. Matth. Gk.Gram. 152, obs. I. With ἡ δὲ in v. 987 supply νόσος, or perhaps ὀδύνη from ὀδύναιs in the previous line. ん my |