1-133
Prologue. Athena confirms the surmise of Odysseus as to the guilt of Ajax; shows her favourite his afflicted foe; and points the moral.
ἀεὶ μέν, followed in 3 by
καὶ νῦν: cp.
Tr. 689-691 “
ἔχρισα μὲν...κἄθηκα” (n.): Lucian
Dialog. marin. 8 “
πάλαι μὲν τὸ τῆς Ἰνοῦς παιδίον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἐκομίσατε..., καὶ νῦν σὺ τὸν κιθαρῳδὸν...ἀναλαβὼν ἐξενήξω”. The passage in
Aesch. Ag. 587—598 (“
ἀνωλόλυξα μὲν πάλαι...καὶ νῦν τὰ μάσσω μὲν τί δεῖ σ᾽ ἐμοὶ λέγειν;”) is scarcely a true parallel,—the interval being so long. Plato has “
ἀεὶ μὲν” followed by “
ἀτὰρ καὶ νῦν” (
Prot. 335 D), “
ἀτὰρ οὖν καὶ τότε” (
Rep. 367 E). Similarly I.
Il. 107 ff. “
αἰεὶ τοι...καὶ νῦν”.
Λαρτίου, as in 380: but “
Λαερτίου” in 101, and “
Λαέρτου” in 1393. “
Λαέρτης” is the only Homeric form (
Ph. 87 n.), but Eur. , like Soph. , uses all three. In Latin,
Laertius or
Lartius is usu. the adj. (
Plaut. Bacch. 4. 9. 22 “
Ulixes Lartius”), but, acc. to Priscian (7. 5, p. 303), could be also the name. The writing “
Λἀρτίου” appears in all the editions from the Aldine to Brunck's; the coronis was first omitted by Schaefer (ed. 1810), on the ground that crasis is not marked within a word.