[151]
φάτι
of a god's utterance or oracle )1440(, a poet. equivalent for φήμη: cp. 310 ἀπ᾽ οἰωνῶν φάτιν. Διὸς, because Zeus speaks by the mouth of his son; Aesch. Eum. 19 “Διὸς προφήτης δ᾽ ἐστὶ Λοξίας πατρός.” ἁδυεπὲς, merely a general propitiatory epitnet: the Chorus have not yet heard whether the response is comforting or not. It is presently told to them by Oed. )242(. Cp. Soph. El. 480 “ἁδυπνόων ... ὀνειράτων,” dreams breathing comfort )from the gods(. τίς ποτε ...
ἔβας; What art thou that hast come? i.e. in what spirit hast thou come? bringing us health or despair?
[151] τᾶς πολυχρύσου, “rich in gold,” with allusion to the costly ἀναθήματα dedicated at Delphi, and esp. to the treasury of the temple, in which gold and silver could be deposited, as in a bank, until required for use. Hom. Il. 9.404 “οὐδ᾽ ὅσα ... λαϊνος οὐδὸς ἀφήτορος ἐντὸς ἐέργει ι Φοίβου Ἀπόλλωνος, Πυθοῖ ἐνὶ πετρηέσσῃ.” Thuc. 1.121 “ναυτικόν τε ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης τε οὐσίας ἐξαρτυσόμεθα, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ Ὀλυμπίᾳ χρημάτων.” Athen. 233 F τῷ μὲν οὖν ἐν Δελφοῖς Ἀπόλλωνι τὸν πρότερον ἐν τῇ Λακεδαίμονι χρυσὸν καὶ ἀργυνον [πρότερον = before the time of Lysander] ἱστοροῦσιν ἀνατεθῆναι. Eur. Andr. 1093 “θεοῦ ι χρυσοῦ γέμοντα γύαλα” )recesses(, θησαυροὺς βροτῶν. Eur. Ion 54 “Δελφοί σφ᾽ ἔθεντο” )the young Ion( χρυσοφύλακα τοῦ θεοῦ, ι ταμίαν τε πάντων. Pind. P. 6.8 “ἐν πολυχρύσῳ Ἀπολλωνίᾳ ... νάπᾳ”) i.e. ἐν Πυθοῖ(.
[152] Πυθῶνος from Pytho (Delphi): for the gen. see on 142 βάθρων ι ἵστασθε.
[153] The bold use of ἐκτέταμαι is interpreted by φοβερὰν φρένα, δείματι πάλλων, which is to be taken in close connection with it. ἐκτείνεσθαι is not found elsewhere of mental tension )though Dion. Hal. Comp. Verb. 15 ad fin. has ἡ τῆς διανοίας ἔκτασις καὶ τὸ τοῦ δείματος ἀπροσδόκητον. Cp. Xen. Cyrop. 1.3.11 “ἕως παρατείναιμι τοῦτον, ὥσπερ οὗτος ἐμὲ παρατείνει ἀπὸ σοῦ κωλύων,” —‘rack,’ ‘torture’ him. But παρατείνεσθαι, when used figuratively, usually meant “to be worn out,” “fatigued to death”: e.g. Plat. Lysis 204c “παραταθήσεται ὑπὸ σοῦ ἀκούων θαμὰ λέγοντος,” enecabitur, he will be tired to death of hearing it. So Xen. Mem. 3.13.6 “παρατέταμαι μακρὰν ὁδὸν πορευθείς.” Triclinius explains here, “I am prostrated by dread”(ἐκπέπληγμαι, παρ᾽ ὅσον οἱ ἐκπλαγέντες ἔκτασιν σώματος καὶ ἀκινησίαν πάσχουσιν: cp. Eur. Med. 585 “ἓν γὰρ ἐκτενεῖ σ᾽ ἔπος)”: so Soph. Phil. 858 “ἐκτέταται νύχιος” (of a sleeper). But the context favours the other view.
πάλλων transitive, governing φρένα, making my heart to shake; not intransitive, for παλλόμενος, with φρένα as accus. of the part affected. An intransitive use of πάλλω in this figurative sense is not warranted by such instances as Aristoph. Lys. 1304 “κοῦφα πάλλων,” “lightly leaping in the dance”: Eur. El. 435 “ἔπαλλε δελφίς (”= ἐσκίρτα), “the dolphin leaped”: Eur. El. 477 “ἵπποι ἔπαλλον” “quivered” (in death). Cp. Aesch. PB 881 “κραδία φόβῳ φρένα λακτίζει”: so, when the speaker is identified with the troubled spirit within him, we can say φρένα πάλλω, —where φρένα has a less distinctly physical sense than in Aesch. PB 881, yet has physical associations which help to make the phrase less harsh.[154] Δάλιε The Delphian Apollo is also Delian—having passed, according to the Ionic legend, from his native Delos, through Attica, to Delphi (Aesch. Eum. 9). A Boeotian legend claimed Tegyra as the birthplace of Apollo: Plut. Pelop. 16 ἐνταῦθα μυθολογοῦσι τὸν θεὸν γενέσθαι, καὶ τὸ μὲν πλησίον ὄρος Δῆλος καλεῖται. We can scarcely say, however, with Schneidewin that Δάλιε here “bewrays the Athenian,” when we remember that the Theban Pindar hails the Delphian Apollo as Λύκιε καὶ Δάλου ἀνάσσων Φοῖβε(Pind. P. 1.39).
ἰήιε (again in 1096), invoked with the cry ἰή: cp. Soph. Trach. 221 “ἰὼ ἰὼ Παιάν.” Soph. has the form παιών, παιήων as = “a healer” (not with ref. to Apollo), Soph. Phil. 168, 832.
[155]
ἁζόμενος
(rt. ἁγ, whence ἄγιος) implies a religious fear: cp. Hom. Od. 9.478 “σχέτλι᾽, ἐπεὶ ξείνους οὐχ ἅζεο σῷ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ ι ἐσθέμεναι.” τί μοι ...
χρέος: “what thing thou wilt accomplish for me”: i.e., what expiation thou wilt prescribe, as the price of deliverance from the plague. Will the expiation be of a new kind(νέον)? Or will some ancient mode of atonement be called into use once more(πάλιν)?πάλιν recalls Aesch. Ag. 154 “μίμνει γὰρ φοβερὰ παλίνορτος ι οἰκονόμος δολία μνάμων μῆνις τεκνόποινος.” νέον, adjective with χρέος:
[156] πάλιν, adverb with ἐξανύσεις. τί μοι νέον χρέος ἐξανύσεις; ἢ τί χρέος πάλιν ἐξανύσεις; The doubling of ἤ harshly co-ordinates νέον and πάλιν, as if one said τίνας ἢ μαχομένους ἢ ἀμαχεὶ ἐνίκησαν; χρέος here = χρῆμα, “matter” (implying importance): cp. Aesch. Supp. 374 (of a king) χρέος ι πᾶν ἐπικραίνεις: Eur. Her. 530 “τί καινὸν ἦλθε τοῖσδε δώμασιν χρέος;” Others take it as = “obligation” (cp. Soph. OC 235), but against this is ἐξανύσεις, which could not mean either to “impose” or to “exact” it. Whitelaw renders, “what requirement thou wilt enact (by oracular voice),” finding this use of ἀνύω in Soph. OC 454, Soph. Ant. 1178; but there (as below, 720) it has its normal sense, “fulfil.”
[156] περιτελλομέναις ὥραις an epic phrase which Aristoph. Birds 697 also has. Hom. Od. 14.293 “ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ μῆνές τε καὶ ἡμέραι ἐξετελεῦντο ι ἂψ περιτελλομένου ἔτεος, καὶ ἐπήλυθον ὧραι.”
[157] χρυσέας κ.τ.λ. The answer (not yet known to them) sent by Apollo is personified as Φάμα, a divine Voice, —“the daughter of golden hope,” because—whether favourable or not—it is the issue of that hope with which they had awaited the god's response.
[159] κεκλόμενος is followed in 164 by προφάνητέ μοι instead of εὔχομαι προφανῆναι. Cp. Plat. Laws 686d “ἀποβλέψας γὰρ πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν στόλον οὗ πέρι διαλεγόμεθα ἔδοξέ μοι πάγκαλος ... εἶναι.” Antiph. 3.2.10 “ἀπολυόμενος δὲ ὑπό τε τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν πραχθέντων ὑπό τε τοῦ νόμου καθ᾽ ὃν διώκεται, οὐδὲ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων εἵνεκα δίκαιοι τοιούτων κακῶν ἀξιοῦσθαί ἐσμεν.” Xen. Cyrop. 8.8.10 “ἦν δὲ αὐτοῖς νόμιμον ... νομίζοντες.” The repetition of ἄμβροτ᾽ has provoked some weak and needless conjectures: see on 517.
[160] γαιάοχόν holding or guarding our land; so Aesch. Supp. 816 “γαιάοχε παγκρατὲς Ζεῦ.” In Soph. OC 1072 it is the Homeric epithet of Poseidon, “girdling the earth,” τὸν πόντιον γαιάοχον. Cp. “Παλλὰς πολιοῦχος” Aristoph. Kn. 581(“πολιάοχος” Pind. O. 5.10), “πολισσοῦχοι θεοί” Aesch. Seven 69.
[161] κυκλόεντ᾽ ἀγορᾶς θρόνον = κυκλοέσσης ἀγορᾶς θρόνον: cp. Soph. Ant. 793 “νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον,” Soph. Trach. 993 “ὦ Κηναία κρηπὶς βωμῶν.” “Round throne of the marketplace” means simply (I now think) “throne consisting of the round marketplace.” The sitting statue of Artemis is in the middle of the agora; hence the agora itself is poetically called her throne. The word κύκλος in connection with the Athenian agora, of which it perhaps denoted a special part; schol. Aristoph. Kn. 137 “ὁ δὲ κύκλος Ἀθήνησίν ἐστι καθάπερ μάκελλος, ἐκ τῆς κατασκευῆς” (form) τὴν προσηγορίαν λαβών. ἔνθα δὴ πιπράσκεται χωρὶς κρεῶν τὰ ἄλλα ὤνια, καὶ ἐξαιρέτως δὲ οἱ ἰχθύες. Cp. Eur. Orest. 919 “ὀλιγάκις ἄστυ κἀγορᾶς χραίνων κύκλον,” “the circle of the agora,” i.e. “its bounds”: cp. Thuc. 3.74 “τὰς οἰκίας τὰς ἐν κύκλῳ τῆς ἀγορᾶς,” “all round” the agora. In Hom. Il. 18.504, cited by Casaubon on Theophr. Char. 2.4, ἱερῷ ἐνὶ κύκλῳ refers merely to the γέροντες in council. This is better than (1) “her round seat in the agora”— κυκλόεντα meaning that the pedestal of the statue was circular; (2) “her throne in the agora, round which κύκλιοι χοροί range themselves.” This last is impossible. εὐκλέα, alluding to Artemis Εὔκλεια, the vipgin goddess of Faip Fame, wopshirred esr. by Locpians and Boeotians: Plut. Arist. 20 “βωμὸς γὰρ αὐτῇ καὶ ἄγαλμα παρὰ πᾶσαν ἀγορὰν ἵδρυται, καὶ προθύουσιν αἵ τε γαμούμεναι καὶ οἱ γαμοῦντες”: also at Corinth, Xen. Hell. 4.4.2. Pausanias saw a temple of Ἄρτεμις Εὔκλεια, with a statue by Scopas, near the Προιτίδες πύλαι on the N.E. side of Thebes. Near it were statues of Apollo Boedromios and Hermes Agoraios. The latter suggests that the Agora of the Lower Town (which was deserted when Pausanias visited Thebes) may have been near. In mentioning the ἀγορά, Soph. may have been further influenced by the fact that Artemis was worshipped as Ἀγοραία: thus in the altis at Olympia there was an Ἀρτεμίδος Ἀγοραίας βωμός near that of Ζεὺς Ἀγοραῖος (Paus. 5.15.4).
[165] ἄτας ὕπερ “on account of ruin” (i.e. “to avert it”): cp. Soph. Ant. 932 “κλαύμαθ᾽ ὑπάρξει βραδυτῆτος ὕπερ.” So Aesch. Seven 111 “ἴδετε παρθένων ἱκέσιον λόχον δουλοσύνας ὕπερ,” “to avert slavery.” Cp. 187. ὀρνυμένας πόλει: the dat. (poet.) as after verbs of attacking, e.g. ἐπιέναι, ἐπιτίθεσθαι. Musgrave's conj. ὑπερορνυμένας πόλει (the compound nowhere occurs) has been adopted by some editors.
[166] ἠνύσατ᾽ ἐκτοπίαν made ἐκτοπίαν, = ἐξωρίσατε, a rare use of ἀνύω like ποιεῖν, καθιστάναι, ἀποδεικνύναι: for the ordinary use, cp. 720 ἐκεῖνον ἤνυσεν ι φονέα γενέσθαι, effected that he should become. In Soph. Ant. 1178 “τοὔπος ὡς ἄρ᾽ ὀρθὸν ἤνυσας,” the sense is not ‘made right,’ but ‘brought duly to pass.’ ἔλθετε καὶ νῦν, an echo of προφάνητέ μοι, προτέρας having suggested καὶ νῦν: as in 338 ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ ψέγεις repeats ὀργὴν ἐμέμψω τὴν ἐμήν.
[167] ὧ πόποι is merely a cry like παπαῖ: Soph. Trach. 853 “κέχυται νόσος, ὦ πόποι, οἷον, κ.τ.λ.”
[170] στόλος like στρατός (Pind. P. 2.46, etc.), = λαός.
ἔνι = ἔνεστι, is available. φροντίδος ἔγχος not, a weapon consisting in a device, but a weapon discovered by human wit, ἔγχος ᾧ τις ἀλέξεται being a bold equivalent for μηχανὴ ἀλεξητηρία.[171] This future has the support of the best MSS. in Xen. Anab. 7.7.3 “οὐκ ἐπιτρέψομεν ... ὡς πολεμίους ἀλεξόμεθα”: and of grammarians, Bekk. Anecd. p. 415: the aorist ἀλέξαι, ἀλέξασθαι also occurs. These forms are prob. not from the stem ἀλεξ (whence present ἀλέξω, cp. ἀέξω, ὀδάξω) but from a stem ἀλκ with unconsciously developed ε, making ἀλεκ (cp. ἄλ-αλκον): see Curtius, Verb, 11.258, Eng. tr. 445. Homer has the fut. ἀλεξήσω, and Her. ἀλεξήσομαι. —Cp. 539.
[172] τόκοισιν by births. Women are released from travail, not by the birth of living children, but either by death before delivery, or by still births. See on 26, and cp. Hes. WD 244 “οὐδὲ γυναῖκες τίκτουσιν.” If τόκοισιν= “in child-bed” (and so the schol., ἐν τοῖς τόκοις), the meaning would be simply, “women die in child-bed,” —not necessarily “before child-birth”; but the point here is the blight on the fruits of earth and womb, —not merely the mortality among women.
[175] ἄλλον δ᾽ ... ἄλλῳ “one after another.” The dative here seems to depend mainly on the notion of adding implied by the iteration itself; though it is probable that the neighbourhood of πρός in προσίδοις may have been felt as softening the boldness. That προσορᾶν could be used as = “to see in addition”is inconceivable; nor could such use be justified by that of ἐνορᾶν τινι as = ὁρᾶν ἔν τινι. And no one, I think, would be disposed to plead lyric license for ἄλλῳ πρὸς ἴδοις on the strength of ἀκτὰν πρὸς ἑσπέρου θεοῦ in 177. Clearly there was a tendency (at least in poetry) to use the dative thus, though the verb of the context generally either (a) helps the sense of “adding,” or (b) leaves an alternative. Under (a) I should put Soph. El. 235 “τίκτειν ἄταν ἄταις”: Eur. Hel. 195 “δάκρυα δάκρυσί μοι φέρων.” Under (b), Eur. Orest. 1257 “πήματα πήμασιν ἐξεύρῃ”: Eur. Phoen. 1496 “φόνῳ φόνος ι Οἰδιπόδα δόμον ὤλεσε”: where the datives might be instrumental. On the whole, I forbear to recommend ἄλλον δ᾽ ἂν ἄλλᾳ προσίδοις, though easy and tempting; cp. Thuc. 2.4 “ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλῃ τῆς πόλεως σποράδην ἀπώλλυντο.”
[176] ὄρμενον aor. part. ( Hom. Il. 2.571 “δοῦρα ... ὄρμενα πρόσσω”), “sped,” “hurried,” since the life is quickly gone. κρεῖσσον ... πυρὸς, because the πυρφόρος λοιμός drives all before it.
[177] ἀκτὰν πρὸς for πρὸς ἀκτάν, since the attributive gen. ἑσπέρου θεοῦ is equiv. to an adj. agreeing with ἀκτάν: cp. Soph. OC 84 “ἕδρας ι πρώτων ἐφ᾽ ὑμῶν,” Soph. OC 126 “ἄλσος ἐς ... κορᾶν”: Soph. El. 14 “τοσόνδ᾽ ἐς ἥβης”: so Aesch. PB 653, Aesch. Seven 185: Eur. Orest. 94. ἑσπέρου θεοῦ: as the Homeric Erebos is in the region of sunset and gloom (Hom. Od. 12.81), and Hades is “ἐννυχίων ἄναξ” Soph. OC 1559.
[179] ὧν ... ἀνάριθμος ὧν, masc., referring to ἄλλον ... ἄλλῳ, — “to such (deaths) knowing no limit”: cp. “ἀνάριθμος θρήνων” Soph. El. 232, “μηνῶν ι ἀνήριθμος” Soph. Aj. 602. An adj. formed with α privative, whether from noun or from verb, constantly takes a gen. in poetry: see on 190(ἄχαλκος),885(ἀφόβητος).
[180] γένεθλα (πόλεως), “her sons”: cp. 1424 τὰ θνητῶν γένεθλα, the sons of men. νηλέα, unpitied; ἀνοίκτως, without οἶκτος, lament, made for them: they receive neither ταφή nor θρῆνος. Cp. Thuc. 2.50 “πολλῶν ἀτάφων γιγνομένων” (in the plague, 430 B.C.).
[181] ἐν δ᾽ cp. on 27. ἔπι, adv.: Hdt. 7.65 “τόξα δὲ καλάμινα εἶχον, ... ἐπὶ δέ, σίδηρον”(v. l. -ος) ἦν. But ἔπι = “ἔπεστι,” Hom. Il. 1.515.
[182] ἀκτὰν παρὰ βώμιον “at the steps of the altars”: Aesch. Lib. 722 “ἀκτὴ χώματος,” the edge of the mound: Eur. Her. 984 “ἀμφὶ βωμίαν ι ἔπτηξε κρηπῖδ᾽,” at the base of the altar. ἄλλοθεν ἄλλαν (with ἐπιστενάχουσι), because the sounds are heard from various quarters.
[185] ἱκτῆρες with λυγρῶν πόνων, entreating on account of (for release from) their woes, causal gen.: cp. “ἀλγεῖν τύχης,” Aesch. Ag. 571.
[186] λάμπει 473 ἔλαμψε ... φάμα: Aesch. Seven 104 “κτύπον δέδορκα.” ὅμαυλος, i.e. heard at the same time, though not σύμφωνος with it.
εὐῶπα ἀλκάν cp. “ἀγανὴ σαίνουσ᾽ ι ἐλπίς,” Aesch. Ag. 101 (where Weil “προφανεῖσ᾽), ἱλαρὸν φέγγος” Aristoph. Frogs 455.[190] Ἄρεά τε κ.τ.λ. The acc. and infin. Ἄρεα ... νωτίσαι depend on δός or the like, suggested by the preceding words. Cp. Hom. Il. 7.179 “Ζεῦ πάπερ, ἢ Αἴαντα λαχεῖν ἢ Τυδέος υἱόν” (grant that). Aesch. Seven 253 “θεοὶ πολῖται, μή με δουλείας τυχεῖν.” μαλερόν, raging: cp. “μαλεροῦ πυρός” Hom. Il. 9.242: μαλερῶν ... λεόντων Aesch. Ag. 141. Ares is for Soph. not merely the war-god, but generally βροτολοιγός, the Destroyer: cp. Soph. Aj. 706. Here he is identified with the fiery plague. ἄχαλκος ἀσπίδων (cp. Soph. El. 36 “ἄσκευον ἀσπίδων”: Eur. Phoen. 324 “ἄπεπλος φαρέων”): Ares comes not, indeed, as the god of war (“ὁ χαλκοβόας Ἄρης,” Soph. OC 1046), yet shrieks of the dying surround him with a cry(βοή) as of battle.
[191] περιβόατον could not mean “crying loudly”: the prose use (“famous” or “notorious” Thuc. 6.31) confirms the pass. sense here. ἀντιάζω, attacking: Hdt. 4.80 “ἠντίασάν μιν” (acc.) οἱ Θρήϊκες. Aesch. has the word once only, as = “to meet” (not in a hostile sense), Aesch. Ag. 1557 “πατέρ᾽ ἀντιάσασα”: Eur. always as = “to entreat”; and so Soph. El. 1009. Dindorf reads φλέγει με περιβόατον (the accus. on his own conject.), ἀντιάζω (suggested by Herm.), “I pray that” etc. But the received text gives a more vivid picture.
[192] νωτίσαι to turn the back in flight ( Eur. Andr. 1141 “πρὸς φυγὴν ἐνώτισαν),” a poet. word used by Aesch. with acc. πόντον, to skim (Aesch. Ag. 286), by Eur. Phoen. 651 (Dionysus) κισσὸς ὃν ... ἐνώτισεν as = “to cover the back of.” δράμημα, cognate acc.: πάτρας, gen. after verb of parting from: see on βάθρων, 142.
[194] ἔπουρον = ἐπουριζόμενον (ironical). Lidd. and Scott s. v. refer to Clemens Alexandr. Paed. 130 τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας πνεύματι ἔπουρος ἀρθείς, “lifted on a prospering gale by the spirit of Truth.” So Soph. Trach. 815 “οὖρος ὀφθαλμῶν ἐμῶν ι αὐτῇ γένοιτ᾽ ἄπωθεν ἑρπούσῃ καλῶς”: Soph. Trach. 467 “ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ι ῥείτω κατ᾽ οὖρον.” Active in Soph. Trach. 954 “ἔπουρος ἑστιῶτις αὔρα” (schol. ἄνεμος οὔριος ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας), “wafting,” The v.l. ἄπουρον would go with πάτρας, “away from the borders of my country” —from Ionic οὖρος = ὅρος, like ὅμουρος (Hdt. 1.57), πρόσουρος(Soph. Phil. 691), ξύνουρος (Aesch. Ag. 495), τηλουρός. Pollux 6. 198 gives ἔξορος, ἐξόριος, but we nowhere find an Ionic ἄπουρος: while for Attic writers ὄφορος (from ὅρος) would have been awkward, since ἄφορος “sterile” was in use. μέγαν ι θάλαμον Ἀμφιτρίτας, the Atlantic. θάλαμος Ἀμφιτρίτης alone would be merely “the sea” ( Hom. Od. 3.91 “ἐν πελάγει μετὰ κύμασιν Ἀμφιτρίτης),” but μέγαν helps to localise it, since the Atlantic(“ἡ ἔξω στηλέων θάλασσα ἡ Ἀτλαντὶς καλεομένη,” Hdt. 1.202) was esp. ἡ μεγάλη θάλασσα. Thus Polyb. 3.37 calls the Mediterranean τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς,— the Atlantic, τὴν ἔξω καὶ μεγάλην προσαγορευομένην. In Plat. Phaedo 109b the limits of the known habitable world are described by the phrase, τοὺς μέχρι τῶν Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἀπὸ Φάσιδος (which flows into the Euxine on the E.), Eur. Hipp. 3, ὅσοι τε πόντου (the Euxine) τερμόνων τ᾽ Ἀτλαντικῶν ι ναίουσιν εἴσω: Eur. Her. 234 “ὥστ᾽ Ἀτλαντικῶν πέρα ι φεύγειν ὅρων ἄν.”
[196] ἀπόξενον Aesch. has the word as = “estranged from”(“γῆς,” Aesch. Ag. 1282), cp. ἀποξενοῦσθαι. Here it means “away from strangers” in the sense of “keeping them at a distance.” Such compounds are usu. passive in sense: cp. ἀπόδειπνος (Hesych., = ἄδειπνος), ἀπόθεος, ἀπόμισθος, ἀπόσιτος, ἀπότιμος (215), ἀποχρήματος.
ἀπόξενος ὅρμος, the Euxine: an oxymoron, = ὅρμος ἄνορμος, as in Soph. Phil. 217 “ναὸς ἄξενον ὄρμον.” Strabo 7.298 “ἄπλουν γὰρ εἶναι τότε τὴν θάλατταν ταύτην καὶ καλεῖσθαι Ἄξενον διὰ τὸ δυσχείμερον καὶ τὴν ἀγριότητα τῶν περιοικούντων ἐθνῶν καὶ μάλιστα τῶν Σκυθικῶν, ξενοθυτούντων, κ.τ.λ.” The epithet Θρῄκιον here suggests the savage folk to whom Ares is ἀγχίπτολις on the W. coast of the Euxine (Soph. Ant. 969). Ovid Trist. 4.4.55 Frigida me cohibent Euxini litora Ponti: Dictus ab antiquis Axenus ille fuit.[198] τελεῖν γὰρ ... ἔρχεται Reading τελεῖν, as Herm. suggested, instead of τέλει, I construe thus: —εἴ τι νύξ ἀφῇ, ἦμαρ ἐπέρχεται τελεῖν τοῦτο, “If night omit anything (in the work of destruction), day comes after it to accomplish this.” τελεῖν is the infin. expressing purpose, as often after a verb of going or sending, where the fut. participle might have been used: cp. Hdt. 7.208 “ἔπεμπε ... κατάσκοπον ἱππέα, ἰδέσθαι”[ = ὀψόμενον] ὁκόσοι τέ εἰσι, κ.τ.λ.: Thuc. 6.50 “δέκα δὲ τῶν νεῶν προὔπεμψαν ἐς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα πλεῦσαί τε καὶ κατασκέψασθαι ... καὶ κηρῦξαι.” Here the pres. inf. is right, because the act is not single but repeated. Observe how strongly τελεῖν is supported by the position of the word (“To accomplish, —if night omit aught, —day follows”). No version of τέλει explains this. The most tolerable is: —“In fulness— if night omit aught—day attacks(ἐπέρχεται) this”: but I do not think that such a rendering can stand. See Appendix.
εἰ ... ἀφῇ Cp. 874 εἰ ὑπερπλησθῇ (lyric): Soph. OC 1443 “εἰ στερηθῶ” (dialogue): Soph. Ant. 710 “κεἴ τις ᾖ” (do.). In using εἰ with subjunct., the Attic poets were influenced by the epic usage, on which see Monro, Homeric Grammar sect. 292. The instances in classical prose are usu. doubtful, but in Thuc. 6.21 “εἰ ξυστῶσιν” has good authority.[199] ἐπ᾽ ... ἔρχεται for the adverbial ἐπί separated from ἔρχεται, cp. Soph. OC 1777 “μηδ᾽ ἐπὶ πλείω ι θρῆνον ἐγείρετε.” This is “tmesis” in the larger sense: tmesis proper is when the prep. is essential to the sense of the verb: Hom. Il. 8.108 “οὔς ποτ᾽ ἀπ᾽ Αἰνείαν ἑλόμην” = οὓς ἀφειλόμην Αἰνείαν: cp. Monro H. G. sect. 176.
[200] τόν = ὅν, sc. Ἄρεα (190). Cp. 1379 n.
[203] Λύκειε Apollo, properly the god of light(λυκ), whose image, like that of Artemis, was sometimes placed before houses ( Soph. El. 637 “Φοῖβε προστατήριε,” Aesch. Seven 449 “προστατηρίας ι Ἀρτέμιδος”), so that the face should catch the first rays of the morning sun(δαίμονες ... ἀντήλιοι Aesch. Ag. 519): then, through Λύκειος being explained as λυκοκτόνος (Soph. El. 7), Apollo the Destroyer of foes: Aesch. Seven 145 “Λύκει᾽ ἄναξ, Λύκειος γενοῦ ι στρατῷ δαΐῳ.” Cp. below, 919.
[204] ἀγκυλᾶν ἀγκύλη, a cord brought round on itself, a noose or loop, here = the νευρά of the bent bow. ἀγκύλων, the reading of L and A, was taken by Eustath. 33.3 of the bow (ἄγκυλα τόξα).
[205] ἐνδατεῖσθαι pass., to be distributed, i.e. showered abroad on the hostile forces. The order of words, and the omission of σέ, are against making ἐνδατ. midd., though elsewhere the pass. occurs only in δέδασμαι: Appian, however, has γῆς διαδατουμένης 1.1. It is possible that Soph. may have had in mind Hom. Il. 18.263 “ἐν πεδίῳ, ὅθι περ Τρῶες καὶ Ἀχαιοὶ ι ἐν μέσῳ ἀμφότεροι μένος Ἄρηος δατέονται,” “share the rage of war,” give and take blows. Others understand, “I would fain celebrate,”a sense of ἐνδατεῖσθαι derived from that of distributing words “(λόγους ὀνειδιστῆρας ἐνδατούμενος,” Eur. Her. 218). The bad sense occurs in Soph. Trach. 791 “τὸ δυσπάρευνον λέκτρον ἐνδατούμενος”: the good, only in Aesch. fr. 340 ὁ δ᾽ ἐνδατεῖται τὰς ἑὰς εὐπαιδίας, “celebrates his happy race of children.”
[206] προσταθέντα from προΐστημι, not προστείνω. Cp. Soph. Aj. 803 “πρόστητ᾽ ἀναγκαίας τύχης.” Soph. El. 637 “Φοῖβε προστατήριε.” Soph. OT 881 “θεὸν οὐ λήξω προστάταν ἴσχων.” For 1st aor. pass. part., cp. “κατασταθείς” Lys. 24.9, “συσταθείς” Plat. Laws 685c. The conject. προσταλέντα (as = “launched”) is improbable (1) because it would mean rather “having set out on a journey”; cp. Soph. OC 20: (2) on account of the metaphor in ἀρωγά. προσταθέντα from προστείνω (a verb which does not occur) would scarcely mean “directed against the enemy,” but rather “strained against the bowstring.” προσταχθέντα, found in one MS., would make ἀρωγά prosaic, while προσταθέντα— if not strictly suitable—is at least poetical: the difference is like that between speaking of “auxiliary forces” and of “champions.”
[207] Ἀρτέμιδος αἴγλας the torches with which Artemis was represented, —holding one in each hand ( Aristoph. Frogs 1362 “διπύρους ἀνέχουσα λαμπάδας”, Soph. Trach. 214 “Ἄρτεμιν ἀμφίπυρον”), —in her character of Διϊλύκη, σελασφόρος, φωσφόρος, ἀνθήλιος, —names marking her connection with Selene; cp. Aesch. fr. 164 ἀστερωπὸν ὄμμα Λητῴας κόρης.
[208] Λύκι᾽ ὄρεα διᾴσσει as ἐλαφηβόλος, ἀγροτέρα, huntress: Hom. Od. 6.102 “οἵη δ᾽ Ἄρτεμις εἶσι κατ᾽ οὔρεος ἰοχέαιρα, ι ... τερπομένη κάπροισι καὶ ὠκείῃς ἐλάφοισιν: ι τῇδέ θ᾽ ἅμα νύμφαι.” Λύκια: the Lycian hills are named here in order to associate Artemis more closely with her brother under his like-sounding name of Λύκειος. At Troezen there was even a temple of Ἄρτεμις Λυκεία: Paus. says (2. 31. 4) that he could not learn why she was so called(ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν οὐδὲν εἶχον πυθέσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν), and suggests that this may have been her title among the Amazons—a guess which touches the true point, viz. that the Λυκεία was a feminine counterpart of the Λύκειος.
[209] τὸν χρυσομίτραν μίτρα, a snood: Eur. Ba. 831 “ΔΙ. κόμην μὲν ἐπὶ σῷ κρατὶ ταναὸν ἐκτενῶ. ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ. τὸ δεύτερον δὲ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τί μοι; ΔΙ. πέπλοι ποδήρεις: ἐπὶ κάρᾳ δ᾽ ἔσται μίτρα.”
[210] τᾶσδ᾽ ἐπώνυμον γᾶς As he is Βάκχος, so is Thebes called Βακχεία(Soph. Trach. 510), while he, on the other hand, was Καδμεΐας νύμφας ἄγαλμα (1115). The mutual relation of the names is intended here by ἐπώνυμον. The word usually means called after (τινός). But ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος, ἥρωες ἐπώνυμοι were those who gave names to the year, the tribes: and so Soph. Aj. 574(σάκος) ἐπώνυμον, the shield which gave its name to Eurysaces. Cp. Eur. Ion 1555 where Athena says, ἐπώνυμος δὲ σῆς ἀφικόμην χθονός, giving my name to thy land.
[211] οἰνῶπα ... εὔιον “ruddy”—“to whom Bacchants cry εὐοῖ.” Note how in this passionate ode all bright colours(χρυσέας, εὐῶπα, χρυσοστρόφων, αἴγλας, χρυσομίτραν, οἰνῶπα, ἀγλαῶπι), and glad sounds(ἰήιε Παιάν, εὔιον), are contrasted with the baleful fires of pestilence and the shrieks of the dying.
[212] Μαινάδων ὁμόστολον = στελλόμενον ἅμα ταῖς Μαινάσιν, setting forth, roaming with the Maenads: Apoll. Rhod. 2. 802 ὁμόστολος ὑμὶν ἕπεσθαι. The nymphs attendant on Dionysus, who nursed the infant god in Nysa, and afterwards escorted him in his wanderings, are called Μαινάδες, θυιάδες, Βάκχαι. Hom. Il. 6.132 “μαινομένοιο Διωνύσοιο τιθήνας ι σεῦε κατ᾽ ἠγάθεον Νυσήιον: αἱ δ᾽ ἅμα πᾶσαι ι θύσθλα”(i.e. thyrsi and torches) χαμαὶ κατέχευαν. Aesch. fr. 397 πάτερ θέοινε, Μαινάδων ζευκτήριε, who bringest the Maenads under thy spell. Hom. Il. 22.460 “μεγάροιο διέσσυτο, μαινάδι ἴση, ι παλλομένη κραδίην.” Catull. 63.23 capita Maenades vi iaciunt hederigerae: as Pind. fr. 224 ῥιψαύχενι σὺν κλόνῳ. Lucian may have had our passage in mind, when he mentions the μίτρα and the Maenads together: Lucian Dial. D. 18 “θῆλυς οὕτω, ... μίτρᾳ μὲν ἀναδεδεμένος τὴν κόμην, τὰ πολλὰ δὲ μαινομέναις ταῖς γυναιξὶ συνών.”
[214] ἀγλαῶπι A cretic has been lost. G. Wolff's σύμμαχον is simple and appropriate. Arndt's conjecture, δαΐᾳ (“destroying, consuming,” prob. from rt. δαϝ, to kindle, Curt. Etym. sect. 258), is supported by the possibility of a corruption ΔΑΙΔΙ having been rejected as a gloss on πεύκᾳ. Cp. Hom. Il. 9.347 “δήϊον πῦρ,” Aesch. Seven 222 “πυρὶ δαΐῳ.” But in connection with the “blithe torch” of Dionysus such an epithet is unsuitable.
[215] τὸν ἀπότιμον See on ἀπόξενον196. Ares is “without honour” among the gentler gods: cp. Hom. Il. 5.31 (Apollo speaks), Ἆρες, Ἄρες βροτολοιγέ, μιαιφόνε, τειχεσιπλῆτα: and Hom. Il. 5.890 where Zeus says to Ares, ἔχθιστός τέ μοι ἔσσι θεῶν, κ.τ.λ. So the Erinyes are στύγη θεῶν(Aesch. Eum. 644); and the house of Hades is hateful even to the gods (Hom. Il. 20.65).
θεόν one syll., by synizesis: cp. 1519.