Campbell City (part 3 of 13)

The love of contrast and antithesis, which is part of the hyperlogical tendency of the Greek of this period, gives rise to minute oppositions and parallelisms of words which sometimes add little to the expression: as for instance in (O. T. 1): (Ib. 248): (Phil. 166): 6v- (Tr. 613): (O. T. 222): (O. C. 14447): (Ant. 1266): (O. T. 1237): (Tr. 619): | (El. 305, 6): (Aj. 467): (EL. 412}: (Phil. 1284).

To a similar fondness for comparisons and distinctions is attributable the use' of in such expressions aS (O. C. 8): 'Be it second or third,' (O. T. 283): and of in -

Hence also the specially Greek figure of Oxymoron. Some wrongness or other strangeness is expressed through a contradiction in terms, in which qualities seemingly opposite are combined. (Hdt. iii. 147.

Prom. 904. y mépiypos - A war not to be warred, plenteous in want of means.' Choeph. 42. kaxay - ''T'o do such unblest grace for the averting of ill'

O. T. 1214. | Condemns thee of long while being at once begetter and begotten in that horror of an unholy marriage.' Fl. 1154. O. C. 1549. Light, of which 1 see noray. Aj. 394, 5. lyr. | El, 402. lyr. For there came, between those who had no lawful right, eager fruition of nuptials unhallowed and unblest' Phil. 534. My houseless habitation.'

[' Oxymora' are frequent in English poetry. Shakspeare, K. John iii. 1. 'When law can do no right, | Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong;' ib. 'All form is formless, order orderless,' &c.; ib. 'The better act of purposes mistook | Is to mistake again; though indirect, | Yet indirection thereby grows direct,' and the whole speech: Ib. iii. 4, 'Thou odoriferous stench, 'sound rottenness, etc. Shelley, Prom. Unbound, i. 1, 'Have its deaf waves not heard my agony ?'| , c. Even. further removed from the simple oxymoron, but still hingeing on the same principle of verbal contrast, are a kind of paradoxical expressions, in which a contradiction is hinted but not prominently brought out. These may be termed quasioxymora, and are often equivalent to a mere negative.

Aj. 176. lyr. return for some victory bringing no return.' Phil. 1149. lyr. | No longer will ye approach me with flight,' i.e. ye will approach me and not fly. El. 630. Bons - ' Not even with your noise silent,' i.e. with silence from your noise. O. C. 1575. To move in a clear space for the stranger,' i.e. to leave the way clear for him: Aj. 640. --- Knows them from' outside, i.e. they are gone from him. (Cp. in Eur. Hippol. and Plato Rep. 6. 499 A.) O.T. 287. O.C. 185. lyr. | OO. 422. Phil. 1153.

The concentrating effort of poetry, and especially of tragic poetry, leads to anticipatory forms of expression, called proleptic by the grammarians, in which things successive are treated as simultaneous, effects are viewed as concomitants, and results as attributes. Hence an adjective has sometimes in grammar the place of an epithet, which, in meaning, is really part of the predicate. Sophocles frequently has recourse to this means of presenting in a single moment what would seem more languid if expanded in the order of time. |

151, 2. | To hide the end of my life with Hades.' Aj. 543. ;

Phil. 394. lyr. Who makest Pactolus to be rich in gold,' (but see above, pp. 38,9). Ant. 1009. | Tr. 27 6. EF. 1420. Drain the blood in an abundant stream.' Tr. 573. | Phil. 720.

These expressions are already proleptic, but, in the previous instances the prolepsis is carried a step further by the adjective. being made an epithet or attribute.

'pregnant' constructions, where an adverbial expression signifying the result of an action, and therefore naturally depending on an active verb, is either construed with a neuter verb or made to take the place of an attribute to a noun,

The remark which has been made with reference to the cases and prepositions (pp. 9, 27) may be applied more generally, viz. that the defect and redundancy in the language of this period arise from the same cause, the vivid realization of the elements of language combined with the incipient growth of reflection.

1. Of substantive verbs and participles. (Cp. Shak., J. C. i. 3. 'Why bird and beast from quality and kind, | Why old men fools, and children calculate).'

1. a. Of the indicative of the rst and 2nd persons are omitted "in certain idioms as well as the third. This happens chiefly with common words such as but occurs also in other cases. O. T. 92. O.C. 208. lyr. Ib. 461. (et), Ib, 1097. Aj. 399. lyr. El. 521. Note also the omission of with some common substantives, e.g. El. 75. «.7.A. O.T. 1050. Also with the emphatic O. C. 721, Phil. 1165. And of the plural verb in - El. 1065. lyr. Such ellipse occurs where an adverb of place is the predicate, no less than with an adjective or substantive. Aj. 33. Ib. 103. Ant. 318. Other tenses and moods, as well as the present indicative, are dropped.

2. The general tendency to omit or absorb the antecedent of a relative clause is extended by Sophocles to some exceptional cases, where the ellipse has the effect of throwing an emotional emphasis of some kind on the relative word. (See p. 33.)

O. 263. | Ib. 865--8. | Let not these goddesses close my lips to this one curse - thou wretch ! who hast torn away the poor defenceless means of sight that was still left me after losing my eyes.' a. The ellipse of (more common in Aeschylus, 6. 5. Ag. 394. is occasioned by the liveliness of poetical conception, which passes at once from resemblance to identity.

O. C. 142. mpocidnr See not a lawless man in me. Aj. 68. | Tr. 1260. mapéxove? - ' With a jewel-pointed bit of steel.' (See above, p. 38.) Phil. 361. is avoided because of immediately following. See above, 67, 11. 19-23.)

and the like words are sometimes omitted before #, but only in cases where the notion of comparison is suggested, although not directly expressed.

Tr. 1020. (Here it may be questioned whether there is not an echo or ' harmonic' of from See above, pp. 61,a,67, 1.21.) Aj. 1357. yap pe (In this instance also the suppressed notion of comparison may be elicited from Ph. 1100. rot A@ovos (The notion of choice, containing that of preference, may be said to imply comparison. Perhaps also there is an echo from the comparative form

Tr. 536. Aj. 334. Phil. 196. lyr. 362. Ant. 1054. Tr. 1278. lyr. 6 1127. Ib. 1128. Phil. go7. ye O. T. 227, 8. The ellipse of one of two correlative words is frequent (cp. Aesch. Ag. 532, Choeph. 294). Tr. 116. 1291. O.T. 517. Phil. 771. =O. C. 1561. * 7. Suppressed or implicit clauses. Some idiomatic phrases are best explained by the theory of a suppressed clause. O. T. 325. Ib. 329. Cp. There are other cases to which the same theory has been applied, in which, although the meaning is not fully expressed, and may be aided by supplying some clause, the difficulty is rather to be explained by an abrupt transition, than by an ellipsis, properly so called. 8. Idiomatic abbreviations. Ant. 577. 722. O.C. 1584, 1701. 1075. (sc. Tr. 80. or Phil. 493. drov. 'Tr. 1214. O.T. 430.

Redundancy is natural to a language that is beginning to reflect upon itself. What was at first implicit seeks to become explicit, and finds reduplicated expression. The consciousness of imperfect utterance gives rise to supplementary words and phrases, not contemplated in the first formation of the sentence, which is expanded as it moves along (see above, pp. 27, 1; 37, @3 46, and the same analytical tendency which occasions the use of the auxiliary verb (see above, p. 56, 8) gives rise to many other periphrases, such as (O. T. 134), (ib. 1032, etc.). Other forms of pleonasm are : -

The antecedent, though sufficiently indicated in the correlative clause, is sometimes further expressed by a pronoun, for the sake of clearness and point. (This is frequent in Plato, e.g. Theaet. 162, E. of

O. C. 1176. ; TI. 488. Phil. 935. GAN Ib, 1247. Aj. 496. .. Ant. 706.

O. C. 233. lyr. Tr. 760. O. O 281. Aj. 1358. Phil. 170. lyr. Ib. 487. El. 499. lyr. Ib. 580. Tr. 984. lyr. El. 1066. lyr. papa - 'O rumour reaching to the dead (of mortals).' Ant. 299. | Ib. 439. répuxe - ' But all this is to me by nature of less importance to obtain.' (The ambiguous supplemented by But see note zz loco.) Tr. 57. tw O. C. 374. Phil. 55.

5. Repetition of the same notion, from fulness of expression and the desire to be explicit. This leads to what has been termed the 'binary construction:' and also to the double comparative and superlative.

O. T. 6, 7. map' | From messengers who are not myself." = Ib. 65. evSovra - ' Taking rest in sleep.' Ib. 74, 5. yap kovtos For beyond reason he is absent longer than the needful time.' Ib. 337, 8. | vaiovoav- - ' 'Thine own passion dwelling in thy breast.' Ib. 553, 4. | What is the nature of the wrong that you have suffered, as you say.' Ib. 724, 5. épevva - 'Whereof he requires the needful use. O.C. 1500. What noise sounds forth from all together?' Tr. 1021. lyr. El. 532, 3. Ant. 182. .. .. - - 'In preference - in the room of his country." Ib. 251, 2. | rpoyoiow - ' Carted over with wheels.' (See above, p. Ib. 1042. Not even so will I, for fear of that pollution.' Ib. . Ib. 1212. | 6dav- - Am I going the most disastrous journey of all that I have gone before?' Tr. 896, 7. | .. dxrucas - ' Much more - you would most surely have pitied' Phil. 537. addov.. Another - besides me.' Ib. 30. .. 631. O. T. 408, 9. | iv' Sometimes the same tendency appears in a merely formal antithesis. Tr. 263, 4. .. [Cp. Hdt. iii, 124. | O. C. 629, Phil. 1370, 1.

(1) The arrangement of the sentence corresponds more nearly than afterwards to the order in which the thoughts are suggested to the mind of the writer.

(2) There is more freedom used in the juxta-position of words for the sake of contrast or comparison or other association : because, the distinction of clauses being still incomplete, a parenthesis or subordinate clause (participial. or otherwise) can be more easily interwoven with the principal clause, by the words of each being placed alternately. This has often the effect of producing a more equable or balanced rhythm; just as when in a single clause the words in agreement are separated. (O. T. 109. Ib. 1245. Aj. 211. 730. Tr. 436.

(3) The exigencies, or, to speak more accurately, the proprieties of metre must be considered. Thus, the most emphatic position in an iambic line is in the first foot, which has the chief arsis: and, generally, the more emphatic word is placed first, although negatives and interrogatives, whose natural place is in the beginning of a sentence, are sometimes made more emphatic through being postponed.

(4) In judging of constructions in Sophocles, and also in determining the text, great weight must be given to the preservation of rhythm and also of a natural emphasis. That a reading has the effect of producing a strained or misplaced emphasis, or of weakening the chief emphasis by the addition of a too emphatic word, is an objection (whether to a reading or interpretation) of the most

The following examples are intended to illustrate : - (a) The alternation of clauses. (8) The prominence of the emphatic word. (y) The postponement of the interrogative or negative for the sake of emphasis. Separation of an emphatic word. (e) Imperfect or borrowed emphasis.

a. Alternation of clauses. (Cp. Eur. Or. 600. Shak, J. C. iii. 1. 'He wished to-day our enterprise might thrive.')

1... 295. ov Ib. 644, 5. | pe Ib. 1244. 1251. And after this she perishes, I know not how.' Ib. 1438. pac' (paca Ib. 1424, 8. ; 1241. lyr. Ant. 682, Ib. 1278, 9. .. i.e. How you seem to have come hither, bringing with you one burden of evils in your arms, while there is another burden, which you seem likely to behold all too quickly within the palace.'(?) Phil. 971, 2. Ib. 618, 19. | Tr. 955--8. lyr. | | Aj. 685, 6. |

This has the effect (2) of postponing the word with which the sentence naturally begins: (4) of inverting the order of sequence

a. O. T. 447. drew Cp. Tr. 1120. In this and other examples the emphatic word has the chief arszs. O.T. 178. lyr. 525. Ib. 795. Ib. 1015. Ib. 1179. O.C. 560, I. tw' | AeEas - 'For terrible indeed were that fortune that should be told by'you - .' Ib. 1119, 20. Aurapes | El. 569. He let fall some word of boasting.' 675. Ant. 726. of Kal Ib. 926. Tr. 770, 1. |

. In the following examples the order of 'natural sequence is inverted for the sake of emphasis. OP: Hat. i. 167. re

Ant. 209, 10. Ib. 281. pov O.C. 936. Ib. 1536. 1P. 308. | 'Ay, may he come, and so be blest to his own city as well as to me, ete.' See note zz loco. EI. 251. |

O. T. 334, 5. Kal | Phil. 984, 5. orare, | 580, | Phil. 598, 9. . . 5 emphasis, i.e. is placed in an emphatic position by reason of an inexact antithesis, or because of the stress laid upon some other word. This, like many other irregularities, may be accounted for

O.T. 435. | (The introductory 15 forgotten, else it would be as Ant. 31, 2. age | Such is the proclamation for you, - - and for me too, I do not hold myself exempt, - which, as they say, the good Creon has set forth.' which is at first unemphatic, as the dative of remote reference, receives an emphasis from the antithesis of which is opposed to it by an afterthought. Ib. 76. 1,6, Aj. 374. | Here the emphasis of is reflected on yepi. The full expression would be Phil. 1395, 6. | Gis : 1. 6. x7. In Tr. 458 is omitted, and seems to be absorbed by preceding.

This arises partly from the love of antithesis, and partly from comparison and reflection. The mind in dwelling on a fact or supposition, reverts to what is opposite or correlative, and is thus led to refine upon the direct and natural mode of expression. (Compare Thucydides, 6. g. i. 84. Hence a. The frequency of negative forms : - | Phil. 348, 9. | Ib. 466, 7. | BaNKoy Aj. 1199. lyr. | | rep - Ant. 613. lyr. | aras - 'Coming to the life of men in all their cities, never without calamity.'(?) Tr. 1083, 4. Phil. 442--. | | There was one Thersites, who would always speak more than once, where every one tried

B. The same reflective fancy leads to curious inversions of object and subject, and of other correlative and reciprocal notions, which were less clearly distinguished than at a later time. A familiar example is

O. T. 1463, 4. atv | rpdweC avdpés - where the words as already noticed, p. 65, d, are an epexegesis from the converse point of view.

A simpler case of the same tendency occurs, where, as frequently happens, the more emphatic of two words is made grammatically subordinate to the less emphatic.

y. Not far removed in principle from such inversions is the figure of Hypallage, by which an attribute properly applicable to the subordinate is attached to the principal word. This may also be viewed as a species of attraction. It has the effect of strengthening the language, by giving an impression of unity. (A good instance from earlier Greek is Aesch. Suppl. 9. gvéavopia.)

Eur. Phoen, 1351. Similarly, the attribute of the agent is applied to the act - Phil, 106. O.C. 9747. The same anomaly appears in the substitution of the demonstrative pronoun (e.g. for the corresponding adverb (e. g.

6. Further, the tendency to indirect expressian leads to the substitution (1) of the cause for the effect; (2) the effect for the cause; and (3) the part for the whole (synecdoche).

El. 1395. (cp. Tennyson, 'The bright death,' in one edition of the 'Dream of fair Women,' for ' The sharp knife,' =veakov| which has been conjectured here.)

It has been already noticed (p. 39) that the attempt is sometimes made to condense a whole phrase into an adjective, and also (p. 74, 8) that Sophocles occasionally uses abbreviations, for which there may have been precedent in the idiom of conversation. It may now be stated more generally that the love of concentration often leads him to hint in a single phrase what could only be made explicit in a complicated sentence. This happens most frequently in the choral odes, where the vivid play of association supersedes conventional uses.

a, A signal instance occurs in Tr. 836. | | Steeped in the Hydra's dreadful form, which blends with the wounds of the monster's crafty speech, tormenting him and breaking forth upon him.' (Cp. in the same ode, 827, 831. | by a doom of fate that is accomplished through guile, he is enwrapt in the deadly cloud that emanated from the Centaur's gore.') - El. 861-3. yarapyois | .. In racings of swift hoofs to fall upon sharp-cut dragging thongs,' i.e. to fall amongst swift trampling hoofs and to be tightly entangled with the sharp reins and dragged. O.C.1044 - -7. | "Apn | pigovow - ' Where soon the foemen wheeling will mingle the clanging war.' And in the same ode, 1055, | | ray' Boa - ' The sisters with the two bands attending them, inviolate and unsubdued, will mingle in the shouting of the battle | that is mighty to deliver them.' (See notes zm loco). El. 140, 1. pees 976. yap For he is living, though at the point of death' Tr.12473.

O. C. 982, 3. pe... cidvia - ' She was my mother, though (at that later time) she knew it not, neither did I? O. T. 922, 3. | veos - i.e. As sailors fear, when they see the steersman afraid. Phil. 493, 4. mada' | Tr. 573, 4. 9 Ib. 693. : i.e. O. (, 105, 338. Tr. 222,3. (Cp. Thuc. v. 36. . . Phil. 57. i.e.

The tendency which may be roughly thus described, is peculiarly significant of a transition phase of language: in which the mind has become conscious of many similarities and contrasts, which, however, are not yet clearly thought out and understood.

On the other hand the same cause sometimes gives rise to apparently needless variations, such as O. 54; 'Tr. 457.

In O. T. 371. Oppar ib. 425. the alliterations of 7 and o seem to be intentionally chosen to give the effect of harshness. Other alliterations are -

6. Slightly different from these last is the intentional play upon syllable, such as not unfrequently occurs in Homer (especially in the Odyssey), e.g. Od. 19. 564. of K ros | turning more upon the sound than upon the meaning.

There is a play on two meanings of the same word, in the 'semicomic' scene with the : - Ant, 323. 7 ye

d. In Aj. 430, 1. A dying man 'plays nicely with his name' (Shak. Rich. 11. 2, 1). | Cp. Fragm. 877. (Od. i. 62). . And, in O. C. 1320-2, a proper name is explained by the derivation. Tapbevoraios . . |

Jf. Mere tautology is very frequent: i.e. the repetition in the same sentence of the same or a cognate word, though not required by the meaning.

word to be used twice, unless for special reasons, in the same passage. This requirement runs counter to a natural proclivity, as all must be aware who have had occasion to correct a hastily written letter. The word that has most recently passed through the mind is most likely to present itself for selection, though it is rejected by the instinct of a modern writer. But in Sophocles this tendency appears unchecked, and, whether from the vividness of the impression which accompanied each word, or from whatever cause, seems to have been unusually strong. A word once used is apt to be repeated in a different connection and even with a different meaning.

The above examples, however, do not all belong to one and the same class. In the lyrical measures, a phrase of the strophe is often echoed in the antistrophe, which, according to a probable theory, may have been chanted by a different part of the chorus. In these cases the repetition is intentional: but in others it is

(2) A further instance of this inclination to repeat the sound, - #rs audureAnra, - appears in the recurrence, at long intervals, and in quite different connections, of the same rare word, or of the same collocation of words, or of the same form of expression. Thus the Epic and lyric occurs three times in the Trachiniae, and nowhere else in Sophocles. So 7 pa, several times in the Ajax and in no other play. The hemistich occurs twice in the O. C. (305, 726), and twice in the Electra (681, 694). So O.T. 12747, and O.C. 1608; Ant. 533, O.C. 532; Tr. I1igt, 1219. Cp. Ib. 418.

several instances (in the last commos) of tmesis of verbs compounded with and also in the frequent repetition of monosyllabic words in excited utterance. The following are examples of the latter tendency : - of this kind, has been doubted. But while it is freely admitted that the scribes may have sometimes repeated a word by mistake, it must be allowed, on the other hand, that the tendency in question is sufficiently evident to be taken into account. The context, with the analogy of other passages, must decide in each case whether the MS. reading is tenable. The repetition of the same word is of itself no objection to any reading.

The examples which would have come under this head have been anticipated. (See esp. pp. 55, 4, 73 72, 1, 74, 8.) They would have been seen to be more numerous if more were known of the vernacular idiom of ancient Hellas.

In the preceding sections many idioms have been included which can be paralleled from other Greek writers, especially the tragedians ; while, on the other hand, no collection of scattered instances can adequately represent the peculiarities of a writer whose strength lies in the 'callida junctura,' and the subordination of parts to the whole. It has been impossible adequately to distinguish (a) between the remains of earlier syntax, and the novelties of the transition age ; (2) between the phenomena of earlier Attic generally and those of the Tragic dialect; and (c) between the individual tendencies of Sophocles and those which he shares with Aeschylus or Euripides. But enough has probably been said to confirm the impression which many readers of Sophocles must have already formed, that the difficulties, inherent in the Greek of this period, which 1 attempted to characterize at the outset, are complicated in his case by a singular union of great subtilty with great simplicity.

3. The overlogical spirit, or of his day shows itself in various inversions, substitutions, and other indirect modes of expression.

4. Also in minute verbal parallelisms, antitheses, and paradoxes, which, if somewhat strained in themselves, are made conducive to the principal effect.

6. From both the last mentioned causes there results a peculiar fulness and redundancy of expression, arising partly from the determination to be explicit, and partly from the combination and grouping of ideas.

+. The singularity of Sophocles consists not in any or all of these characteristics, which are in some degree common to his age, but in his subtle treatment of them, the harmony in which he binds them together, and above all the grace with which he adapts them to the dramatic expression of natural human feeling.

8, The relation of metre to language is not to be lost sight of. The word ' exigency' which is sometimes used in this connexion is inapplicable to a poet's work. But the correlation between speech and rhythm, as they react upon each other, is notwithstanding a reality. The Senarius for example, as compared with the Hexameter, is obviously favourable to compression, to connected periods, to synaphea, to the elaboration of a symmetrical and carefully articulated whole. Even the increase of contracted forms in Attic Greek may have owed something to the theatre as well as to the agora.

9. The interpreter of Sophocles must think more of the sequence of ideas than of the apparent grammatical connexion of the words: and the critic of the text of Sophocles must ask, not, Is such and such a phrase exact in point of syntax? but, (1) Is it natural? (2) Is it poetical and rhythmical? (3) Is it dramatically suitable and expressive?

47. Ir the poet of a transition age in literature is less fettered than his predecessors or successors in the use of grammatical constructions, he enjoys a still more acknowledged liberty in the choice of words. It would seem at first sight as if all the resources of the spoken and written language were at the disposal of his invention. There are, however, limits to this freedom. No one now supposes, with Aristotle, that a great author ever absolutely created a new word; and if there are words in Shakespeare (e. g. ' bloodboltered,' 'scamels') to the origin of which we have no clue, this is set to the account of our ignorance, and not of his caprice. It is true that the existence of inflexions in Greek, or rather the fresher consciousness of the meaning of inflexions, gave scope for a degree of licence which has never been possible in any modern language. But this licence is very sparingly employed, and is more seen in the use of compounds than in the formation of new derivatives from single stems. And even in the selection and adaptation of existing words, the innovatioas of the poet are subject to the following conditions: - (1) They must be founded on the actual state of diction; (2) They must be more or less in accordance with prevailing tendencies; (3) Words taken from the early literature, or from a foreign dialect, must not be too far removed from customary use, and must be such as are already known in some way by those for whom the composition is intended. Much also depends on the kind of composition. Thus, words which are suitable to the style of a lyric ode would be out of place in tragic dialogue, many others are forbidden by proprieties of metre, and many expressions are appropriate in tragedy which an historical writer would reject as too ornamental for his purpose; although it is to be remembered that the distinction between poetry and prose was less absolute in the age of Sophocles than at a later time.

Before entering on the consideration of the special peculiarities of any writer in point of diction, it would be well to have a clear and adequate conception of the vocabulary that lay at his command. To give this in the case of Sophocles, however, would be to produce, not one lexilogus, but several. The diction of the Iliad and still more of the Odyssey, that of the Epic Cycle, whose special peculiarities are unknown to us, that of the lyric poets, including Pindar, of the gnomic poets, including Theognis, Solon, and Simonides, must be presupposed. But Herodotus, who reflects the cultured intelligence of the Ionic cities in the former half of the fifth century B.c., is of more immediate importance for the study of tragic diction than any of these. In comparing him with Sophocles we are led to think that the Attic dialect, on which the Athenian agora and theatre worked many potent changes, must at first have had much more in common with the earlier Ionic than has been commonly imagined'. (Cp. e.g. the use of in Hdt. vii. 891, Soph. Ant. go8, Thuc. v. 105.)

The object of the following remarks, however, is not to treat the subject exhaustively, but to point out some of the respects in which the use of words in Sophocles is affected (1) by the stage of language in the age of Pericles, (2) by the poet's peculiar subtilty.

The most general characteristic of the diction of Attic writers before Plato is an imperfect stage of abstraction. Many words are no longer found in the same simple concrete or metaphorical sense as in Homer: while, as contrasted with Xenophon or Demosthenes, there is in these writers more of sensuous picturesqueness, and a richer colouring of association about single words, existing together with a certain vagueness and indefiniteness of meaning, especially in the use of words like expressing 'mental states or faculties, and such as expressing abstract natures or ideas.

(r) In the endeavour to express abstractions by participles, infinitives, neuter adjectives, and verbal nouns, leading sometimes to the substitution of a verbal noun for an infinitive, or of an infinitive or participle for a noun, and generally to the preference for verbal forms.

These tendencies appear in various modes in all the Attic writers of the fifth century B.c., especially in poetry. In Sophocles they take the peculiar bent of his genius. Not less bold and inventive than Aeschylus in his choice of words, where boldness is suitable, and more original than Euripides, he excels both in the adaptation of his diction to the expression of the finer shades of feeling. Without deserting simplicity, he keeps a rich variety of language in perfect harmony; while, especially in the lyric passages, he avails himself sometimes to an extreme of the suggestive power of many vocables, whose significance was not yet accurately defined. Some association, not perceived to be accidental, some echo of sound, some refinement on the obvious meaning, is made to float before the hearer's mind like the neutral tints which soften and harmonize the colouring of a picture. The same difficulty which attends the determination of construction in Sophocles is present also in the interpretation of single words, arising from the incomplete and fluent state of the language, in which the resolution of ambiguities, the distinction of synonyms, the antithesis of opposites, and the definition of abstract terms, were in an incipient stage, already engaging the activity of reflective thought and fancy, but not yet fixed in use or in theory. To this is added the difficulty, in interpreting a poet for whom treatises had no existence, of discerning the degree of figurativeness in his use of language. Sophocles is ante-rhetorical as well as ante-grammatical.

Most words have been originally metaphors, and metaphors are continually falling into the rank of words. Often, indeed, when a poet has employed a metaphor which strikes the imagination of the reader or hearer with an impression of novelty, he will forthwith depart from it, regarding it as a mere vehicle of expression, and pass on to another, to which he is often drawn by the association of the first. Most instances of mixed metaphor (e. g. 'to take arms against a sea of troubles') are to be explained in this way. Often, too, just as the form of a sentence is altered in process of construction, a poetical image changes in the course of expression: 8. g. Shakespeare, Cymb. iv. 2 : - 'O melancholy! Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find

Here melancholy is first a fathomless ocean, but is presently personified as one sailing over a shoreless sea, The imagination is not satisfied even with this, but goes on to suppose the sluggish barge of melancholy finding rest at last, if she can ever find it, against the oozy bank of some slow stream. The indefiniteness of the image is not a fault of style, but rather adds to the effect. So in the O. T. of Sophocles, 1. 23: - | where the city is first compared to a ship in distress, and the ship in distress is again compared to an animal all but devoured by some cruel monster, the confusion or reduplication of imagery, rendered easier by the frequency of the nautical metaphor (see below, p. 105), enhances the impressiveness of the passage.

The following collection of instances is intended to illustrate (1) The experimental use of abstractions, including the modification in the meaning of words through ethical reflection: (2) The interchange of transitive, intransitive, and causative meanings: (3) Analytical or etymological uses: (4) Peculiarities of compounds and derivatives : (5) Sensuous and suggestive words: (6) Epic and Lyric words and phrases: (7) The use of metaphor.

§ 48. It is sometimes said that poetry abhors abstractions. And this is true in the sense that technical terms, whose meaning has been defined by systematic reasoning, are generally unsuited to the expression of feeling. But if feeling does not choose to borrow from the logical faculty, this is because feeling has her own way of generalizing. And reflective poetry, whether subjective or dramatic, in seeking to idealize feeling, is ever rising into the region of general ideas. (See above, pp. 30, 44.) Hence the partial abstractions which abounded in the time of Sophocles are seized by him as welcome materials for his art. 'They harmonize with its ideal character, while they assist concentration, and give an air of severity, without detracting from the effect of naturalness and pathos.

Occasionally, in the less impassioned places, he reproduces perhaps tco exactly the sophistical spirit. But more frequently he adapts this feature of the language to his purposes with his usual skill.

a. Certain notions, which have a wide range of application, are more completely generalized than in an earlier period, and have also more of a substantial or personal reality than would be attributed to them by a later writer. Such are

In this and some other passages the idea of time, although personified, is quite general. (in El. 179. lyr. yap the personification is complete.) In other cases like is not dissociated from the continuance of a single life (O. C. 7, 8.

, x | Ib. 930. cp. O. T. 1082. of | and in one passage the meaning seems to be similarly limited to the duration of the race of men - for example, occurs nowhere in the philosophical sense of universal nature; but means always some particular nature, constitution, birth, or origin. The place where the word has the highest degree of generality is Aj. 760. | Bracrey - ' Who having sprung in the nature of man.' Other uses of and 'by birth, by constitution, by nature, by disposition,' etc., present various degrees of imperfect abstraction from the meaning of the verbal noun.

in the singular as well as in the plural is sometimes almost equivalent to the abstract 'mankind.' Still, though the meaning is general, a typical individual is presented to the imagination. O. T. 977. & | O.C. 1153. | Cp. in Thuc. i. 140. | y. But the incompleteness and indefiniteness of abstractions is chiefly seen in words denoting mental acts and states, such as ; Or Mental powers, such as Such words are used without the exactness of distinction which was afterwards introduced by reflection and use, the shade of meaning intended being left to be determined by the context : - and they are accompanied with a peculiar feeling of the wonderful nature of man. 'This phase of ethical or psychological language is familiar to the student of Thucydides, and it is immediately obvious how large must be its application to the purposes of the dramatic poet. In Sophocles there are various grades of ethical significance, from the simplest lyrical personification, as in El. 198. Epos to such quasi-scientific discrimination of terms as in Ant. 176. where however the sophistical parade of words is merely a piece of mannerism, and the attempt to distinguish accurately the connotation of the several terms is not only difficult but illusory.

Not, 'Do not cast it in your mind,' (as in Hdt. 1. 84, és Aesch. P. V. 706, | Bar',) but rather, 'Do not take it to heart.' Cp. Ib. 739: yap Ib. 914. In this last instance is not thought or feeling simply, but the mind agitated by feeling; i.e. in the present case by 'doubts and fears.' 'Oedipus lets his mind be lifted into high suspense by all manner of griefs.' Here (cp. Tr. 982, O. C. 11825; O. T. 612; Phil. 1348) is spoken of as a real thing or substance, as if separable from the person himself. is elsewhere the seat or origin of particular emotions, as 'desire,' O. C. 778, 286; 'fear,' O. C. 1466, 'anger,' El. 331, cp. Phil. 324; and 'courageous ardour' or 'confidence, El. 26. : Aj. 1124.

This meaning of as a principle, is not always easy to distinguish from the more special, and in Attic Greek the more common meaning, of a state or condition of anger. Instances in which it has been supposed to mean anger, but where it more probably means an angry or agitated mind, are -

Ant. 493. 6 | And when men are plotting wrong in secret, their distracted mind is oft convicted of concealment before the act.' Ib. 1097. To bring down the blow of calamity on the passionate heart.' Aj. 954. pa O.C. 434. Ib. 438. | where may be rendered, 'My passionate mood.'

The danger suggested by the chorus, however, lies not only in the resentment of Haemon, but in the invention and contrivance which the resentment sets to work. Cp. also El. 912. |

Ant. 1090. Ib. 1228, 9. ; And is specialized, in a good sense, to mean an intelligent mind or wisdom: i.e, (El. 1016. Cp. O. T. 549.

3. is the general word for 'thought' or 'judgment,' with the various special meanings of 'perception, Aj. 52; 'mental penetration, O. T. 398. O. 403; 'opinion,' Ant. 753; 'maxim,' Aj. 'advice, Phil. 1467; 'suggestion,' Tr. 844. ; 'intention,' Aj. 448; 'the general intention or spirit of a line of conduct, O. T. 601; 'right judgment,' Tr. 389; 'deliberate judgment,' O. T. 524. 'the ground of judgment,' O. T. 5247. tim; or 'means of judgment,' Phil. 837. Not that in each of all these meanings the word is used with the distinctness of the English equivalent. But in the absence of such distinction, an attempt is made to give several special applications to one general word.

4. has most frequently the definite meaning of 'hope,' but also sometimes that of 'expectation' generally, O. T. 1432, Aj. 1382; and hence has the epithet Tr. 6675; or Aj. 607, but with an allusion to the more usual meaning. Hence the plural comes to be used for the state of 'expectancy' or 'suspense > as such, O. T. 771. | : Ib. 484.

(as of despair, O. T. 1241. and then specifically 'anger. An extension of the first meaning occurs in Ant. 354. 'a disposition towards ordered life in cities.' variety of special meanings: 'to know' or ' perceive facts' (as in O. T. 316, Tr. 1145; 'to be conscious of the situation ;' see esp. Aj. 942. : 'to be in one's senses,' Ib. 344; 'to be sensible' or 'wise;' 'to consider, Ant. 49; 'to be minded' or 'disposed, Tr. 490; 'to be affected,' El. 334; with ed added, 'to be wise' or ' clear-sighted ;' and, with or 'to be proud' or 'humble.' Some only of these meanings are found in later Greek, where they are used with less consciousness of the general meaning.

50.5. To the same stage of imperfect generalization belong the frequent use of the abstract for the concrete, and the preference for verbal, adjectival, and participial forms of expression.

Neuter verbals, such as are frequently used in addressing persons or speaking of them with strong feeling. Cp. the frequent use of

5. The frequent use of the neuter adjective or participle with the article, which is characteristic of the Greek of this period, affords further illustration of the effort to give expression to the general notions which the mind was forming for herself. Sophoclean instances are -

Ant. 3265. The inventiveness of art.' 'Tr. 398. ----- trustworthiness of truth,' Ib. 196. Phil. 674, 5. | O. C. 210. | Cp. also 459.

It is probable that in Aj. 208, we have a similar use of the feminine adjective, with or some such word, to be supplied. And in Tr. 837. pedayyaira, a masculine adjective seems to be used as a noun.

6. There may also be mentioned, as belonging to this transitional phase of Greek, the confusion of objective and subjective; i.e. of a thing or quality, and the idea or appearance of it. (See above, p. 80, 8.)

a. = Phil. 1420. : = Ant. 924. Phil. 1443.

§ 51. «. The vagueness of abstract notions, and the tendency to form them, together with the absence of definitions, lead to the extension of words from a special to a more general meaning, and also to the specializing of general words, for want of the distinctions that are required for the exact expression of a specific idea. Both uses may be described as vague, and arise from the same uncertainty in the distribution of general terms.

Sophocles makes use of this vagueness of meaning to suggest {1) the sentiment of affection in Ant. 1, where is not merely 'having the same parents,' but 'sharing with me in birth and all things else:' (2) the horror of the confusion of relations in the house of Oedipus: (3) the thought of being 'gathered to is a word of very general signification, meaning literally 'a support for the feet.' It is used to signify 'a step, 'a bench or platform,' 'a pedestal,' 'the solid area of an island,' 'the site of a house,' ' the foundation of a piece of rock." (O. 1591.)

first signifying 'a road,' acquires the general meaning of 'a way.' It is applied in the special meanings of 'an enterprize, El. 1295; 'the trouble of going for something,' O. T. 1478; 'a plan or device' (metaph.), O. T. 67; 'conduct, Ant. 1274; 'the road of death,' Tr. 875.

from 'to cast,' has the diverse meanings of ' the twinkling' (or ' beating') 'of the stars,' 'a blast of wind, and 'a violent impulse.' So Body is 'the casting of a die,' and 'a ray of the sun.' See also (Ant. 135, Tr. 720).

has the following: 'to hold fast,' 'to check, 'to endure,' 'to direct' (as in cp. El. 720); 'to be engaged in' (as an employment or pursuit), Aj. 203. Ib, 320. 'to receive, 'to be possessed by' (anger, etc.), 'to possess, O.C. 1725, 1744, 'to have done so and so,' as a mere auxiliary; 'to be able; 'to know,' Phil. 789.

Also, in the neuter sense, ' to drive,' El. 720; 'to put to land,' ' to check oneself,' O.C. 1169 ; 'to have to do with,' O. T. 709. : and, perhaps, to continue in a place, Phil. 22.

Even words of such general meaning as are Often used by Sophocles, where a specific expression would be required in any modern language. See esp. Aj. 132, 3. where is made the contrary of a more specific word. Sometimes the specific meaning intended is not strictly contained in the generic word employed. See e.g. Tr. 887, where is applied to suicide; and Phil. 207, where is used for extreme difficulty.

The most obvious example of this is in the number of words which are almost equivalent to Which have always some special appropriateness to the context in which they are found, but hardly convey more than the simple meaning of the substantive verb.

meaning properly 'to tell by word of mouth,' is used to signify 'to intimate,' El. 1251, 2. | ppd; or ' suggest,' Ib. lyr.

'to hold up, hence 'to maintain faithfully,' Aj. 212; and 'to remain constant to,' O.C. 6474; 'to report consistently, Ib. 1573. Also from the intransitive meaning 'to rise up out of,' the same word means 'to emerge,' Tr. 204 (of a new circumstance: cp. Hdt. vii. 14. rade and 'to recover from,' O.T. 174.

So the element of water is described under the specific form of O. 1. 1428. In Ant. 951, however, . . the correction for is required by the

§ 53. a. The transitive use of intransitive verbs is rare, except in constructions such as El. 147. (see above, p. 23). For the cognate accusative after neuter verbs, see above, p. 24.

The adjectives and others, are used sometimes in an active as well as in a neuter or passive sense. (In some cases, of course etc.), the accentuation is changed.)

The rare active forms O. C. 134, Aj. 1037 (cp. Hom. Od. 18. 143), are adapted to the places where they occur, in both of which the active voice gives absoluteness to the expression. See above, p. 51.

The chief examples of verbs used causatively are the following - Tr. 1142. ody : (cp. Eur. Bacch. 36.) Phil. 297. pny dos - lit. 'I caused to shine" Aj. 196. O. C. 721. Tb. 1282. having induced some pity.' Cp. the use of the middle v. in Tr. 535. To claim for myself your sympathy and pity.'

In El. 162. lyr. either the verbal noun is causative, 'Zeus propitiously causing him to come,' or the causative meaning is contained in the genitive, 'With propitious coming sped by Zeus.' The former agrees best with

Adjectives commonly active in meaning, used in a neuter or passive sense by Sophocles, are - eyéyyvos, O. C. 284, 'in receipt of a pledge ;' Ib, 487, 'in safety ;' Tr. 872, 'sent.' Also the compounds + Aj. 597 (?); Ib. 143.

§ 54. While usage was comparatively unfixed and reflection was already actively employed on language, there was a natural tendency to make experiments through the analysis of words. Having more of the original meaning than afterwards, words can be used more freely, and thus admit of wider application; while on the other hand they are objects of curiosity, and attention is drawn to their essential significance. One case of this analytical activity has been already noticed (p. 27, 8), where the preposition in composition acquires a, separate force.

a. Through this tendency, combined with that towards verbal expressions (p. 93), nouns originally verbal, which have come simply to designate an object, regain their verbal force.

(from stem is generally 'the eye:' but in Sophocles is also (1) 'a look, Aj. 193, Tr. 914. (2) ' Power of insight,' Ib. 1018. re | dC (3) An object of vision, Aj. 1004. (4) The 'effluence' from the object (see Plato, Men. 76 D), El. 902. (5) 'Appearance, Tr. 379. (6) 'Light,' in a metaphorical sense, as giving joy, Ib. 203. | viv (7) With ethical or pathetic associations, Aj. 140. : Tr. 527, 8. Aj .977. : cp. Phil. 171.

So generally, that ' which is nourished up, 'acreature.' But from the association of 'to clot together' (whence in Tr. 574. is partly the venom nursed in the hydra, partly (cp. supr. 572, the poison clotted about the wound.

Too On.The Language

is properly the prize for beauty or nobleness, but in Aj. 435, is rather the prize of the most beautiful, the most beautiful given as a prize.

as derived from properly means ' out of tune,' but in Aj. 892 seems to mean 'neighbouring,' from with the additional meaning (from of 'sounding near. 50 in O. T. 186. means (1) 'in the same dwelling,' but also (2) 'sounding together, blending.' c. This kind of confusion is more apt to occur in the case of words not in familiar use, such as used in Epic poetry of the dead, from a, 'without strength:' applied by Sophocles to Ajax (Aj. 890), with an association from a, 'having no abiding place.' Ajax escapes their search as the shade of a dead man fleets from the embrace of his friend. (A similar process is observable in modern languages. 'Thus 'shamefast' has been transformed to 'shamefaced,' and words like 'aufheben,' 'beziehung,' receive their second intention in German philosophy.)

is properly 'two-edged,' of a weapon, but in Tr. 504, reverting to the etymology from yviov, 'with active limbs on both sides,' like ' well-trained all round,' as we should say.

commonly means ' equally matched ;' but in Ant. 126. wad .. appears to be used in the more literal meaning of ' struggling against odds.' Cp. Milton's use of ' reluctant.' 'belonging to a contest;' but Aj. 195, at once 'a contentious idleness,' and 'an idleness full of danger :' i.e. (1) 7 (2) 7

. Od. 12. 'yoked four together.' But in Tr. 507, as if from deipo, 'raised on all fours:' i.e. quadruped. Here, however, the latter part of the compound is unemphatic. See below.

tporatos, 'Zeus who turns the battle ;' but in Tr. 303. Zed with a further allusion to all sudden reverses and ---vicissitudes.

55. Ionic Greek as well as Attic poetry delights in compounds, and tragedy retains considerable freedom in their use, although from frequent repetition the less emphatic element in a compound word is often comparatively insignificant. (Cp. the following Hesiodic compounds, and words like in Aeschylus. )

1. There is more freedom than appears afterwards in compounding stems with prepositions, especially and Thus, (cp. Plat. Legg. 757 E), are all new compounds.

2. A complex predicate or attribute is sometimes expressed by a rare compound; e.g.

4. On the other hand, a simple attribute is often expressed by a compound adjective, the inferior part of which repeats some notion which is already implied in the noun or other neighbouring word, This is especially frequent with the compounds of 6.5. Sewdmous apd (threshold of brazen floor), Other combinations are (Tr. 791, 1021, 756), vov (O. T. 846), (O. C. 17, 18). But though frequently redundant, the less prominent part of a compound is hardly ever wholly irrelevant in Sophocles.

4. In some instances the simple word is used for the compound, as for Ant. 1109; for T. 143; for 'to provide,' Phil. 843, Aj. 1165; for Phil. 67.

5. The privative prefix is sometimes used with a limited intention, as when is used for 'Tr. 1060; dydpevtros= El, 1069.

e.g. in : (reciprocal), ('taught by thyself'? Aj. 700; cp. Aesch. Prom. 301). means 'himself perpetrating' or 'perpetrating on himself) 'by his own hand' or 'by a kindred hand,' or simply 'by a violent hand.'

7. The relation between the parts of a compound is not constant ; thus in Ant. 864 means 'from which he himself was born :' in Aj. 143, is 'madly bounded over by horses:' in Ant. 51, is not 'detected in the act,' but 'selfdetected.'

8. New derivatives, following however the analogy of other words in Ionic or Attic, are (cp. (lyr.), (lyr.), to which several others might be added.

§ 56. The diction of Sophocles is abstract and concentrated, but not colourless. A single word of his often calls up a picture, and his 'airiest and most refined conceptions have concrete expression. His language has the picturesqueness of Herodotus, subtly transfused with reflective thought.

It is difficult to treat this subject without trenching on the cognate department of metaphorical language. (See below, p. 105.) But in the following cases the metaphor is suggested rather than expressed.

Ajax 'tears up words from within him,' Aj. 302 ; Myrtilus is hurled from his chariot 'root and branch,' El. 512; Oedipus 'conflicts' with sorrow, O. C. 5143 rage 'distils' from madness, Ant. 959; the dust of death 'sweeps out of sight' the last ray that seemed to promise hope for the withered stem, Ib. 602 (see below, p. 103, 4); the soul 'flies up' with sudden joy or fear, avérrav, Aj. 693, Ant. 1307; the mind of Ulysses has a dark countenance, Aj. 954; Ajax in life was 'ablaze with insolence,' Ib. 1088; the flushed cheek of Ismene is blood-red, péOos, Ant. 528 ; Tecmessa is 'immersed in the lament we hear,' ovy- Aj. 895; the subservient tongue moves within bounds, Ant. 5093; an intermittent, recurring pain is a 'wandering trouble,' 'Tr. 980, cp. Phil. 758. jee.

Tr. 68; the smoke clings tenaciously about Hercules, Ib. 7943 the brain of Lichas is 'rained forth' from within the skull, 781.

3. Favourite words denoting colour and form, such as are often made to suggest more than they express. 'The disparity between the impressions of colour and form, which were rich and deep, and the vagueness and inarticulateness of the language which described them, may have helped this tendency. 'The dark point of the champion spear,' Tr. 856, suggests the stains of many combats ; the ' blue-grey vintage,' Ib. 703, brings before us the bloom on the ripe grape; the ' dark rain,' T. 1278, recals the Homeric as the 'grey sea,' or 'grey shore,' recal ; the 'dark-flushed ivy,' O. C. 674, sacred to ruddy Bacchus, T. 211, reminds us of the dark-red wine.

'grass-green,' is applied (1) to the dew of tears (Tr. 847); (2) to life-blood (Ib. 1055); (3) to the sea-sand (Aj. 1064). The association in the first passage seems to be that of tenderness and softness ; in the second that of freshness and young vigour; the exact meaning of the word in the third case is doubtful. Perhaps the pale 'yellow' sand, perhaps the ' moist,' smooth and glistering sand.

A favourite word denoting form is It is applied as an ornamental epithet to the couch which is to receive the pressure of Heracles, Tr. gor; to the vale of Argos, O. C. 378; to the bowl of Theseus and Pirithous, [b. 1593; to the grave to be prepared for Ajax, Aj. 1403; and to the casket of Deianira, Tr. 692. It is used more suggestively of the cave of Philoctetes, Phil. ro81; of the old pear-tree, O, C. 1596; of the stony receptacle of Antigone, Ant. 1205; and lastly of the doors, which yield and 'hollow in' before the impetuous rush of Oedipus in his fury, O. T. 1262.

In many passages of the choric songs, as in all lyric poetry, the connection of ideas is often guided rather by association than by any regular sequence either of thought or fact. A typical instance of this is supplied by the stasimon of the Trachiniae in which the long chain of causes which have led to the pain of Heracles are crushed together in a few words so that the links can hardly be separated (Tr. 836-40): 'He is steeped in the dreadful apparition of the Hydra,' i.e. his veins are saturated with poison from the wound made by the arrow of Hercules, which he had steeped in the venom of the Hydra, that dreadful monster. 'And mingled therewith the murderous stings of crafty speech from the Centaur burst forth upon him and torment him;' ie. this poison, which breaks out in stinging sores, was applied in consequence of the guileful advice of the Centaur, given with intent to cause his death, and this fact adds to the cruelty of the torment. The attentive consideration of this passage may prepare the way for an interpretation of Antigone 599-603, which might otherwise appear strained : - 'The light of life that still was spread above the last remaining fibre of the stock of Oedipus, is again swept down (see notes 21 loco) by the dust consecrated to the infernal gods, which is (1) bloodstained, (2) cruel (both expressed in and by madness of thought and infatuation of mind;' i.e. By sprinkling dust on Polynices, to which she is prompted by mad reasoning and heaven-sent fury, Antigone is herself overwhelmed by the dust of death, so quenching the last hope of the house of Oedipus. When thus read in the light of association, the words are seen to be more harmonious than if be exchanged for which introduces a grotesque and commonplace image that has nothing to do with the story.

857. That a large element of Tragic Greek is derived from Epic and Lyric poetry is a patent fact. Whether words and phrases which Sophocles has in common with Homer were taken by him from the Iliad and Odyssey, or from some other source, cannot clearly be determined. 'The following are a few typical examples of Epic and Lyric diction.

Words and phrases seeming to be directly borrowed from the Epic diction are Fr. 423; Fr. 468 ; ; (of Odysseus); (from

2, Sometimes an Epic word is used, but with some modification of meaning ; 6. 'a bride swiftly borne ;' 'the lost hero;' ' sounded forth,' of an oracle; (El. 1138).

3. Or an Attic phrase is so turned as to recal the Homeric idiom, as in like like Bin "Hpa- like Ov Cp. With these may be classed such epithets, having an Epic colouring, as dinvewov, Tr. 3273 Phil. 343.

4. Many words are used which are common to Epic and Lyric, but rare in Attic Greek; e.g. ddveds, (middle voice), (= aivds, 'glorious,' 'indestructible.'

§ 58. The language of Sophocles is for the most part not highly ficurative. But some images are so familiar in Attic poetry that they almost cease to be metaphors, and (see above, p. g2) are to be viewed merely as words. The tendency to abstraction, giving the power of fixing the attention on the leading notion of a word, apart from the particular associations, contributed to this.

1. The most familiar of all images to an Athenian audience were those connected with the sea, Such expressions as 'The haven of a cry, 'Sailing into a harbourless marriage, 'The long and rough voyage from Thebes to Athens,' are less figurative in Attic Greek than they would be in other languages. (Cp. Hdt. ili. 155, 3. When we speak of a government being wrecked on a certain measure, our imagination seldom reverts to the figure of a shipwreck, or of a sunken rock, and something of the kind is true of the use of (to right the vessel), and the like words in Sophocles. 'This nautical imagery is a vehicle of expression which is always at hand. Hence, while mixed metaphors are allowable, and the figurative language is often not to be pressed, an occasional hyperbolical boldness is easily accounted for. 'The whole Crissean plain was filled with equestrian shipwrecks.' 'He avoided the boiling surge of horses with their riders' (El. 729-733). The same remark applies in a less degree to other familiar aspects of life, such as war, the public games, wrestling, running, archery, health and disease, fair weather and storm, ploughing, sowing, reaping, etc.

2. Another kind of familiarity belonged to images that had been used in the earlier poetry. Such figures as the 'cloud of grief,' or 'the fire of destruction, 'he grew up like a young plant,' which had been consecrated by Homer, could be handled with ereater freedom than those which were of recent invention, such as 'The unbending oak borne down by the torrent.' (Ant. 714.) They could be extended and modified like grammatical idioms and the uses of words. 'This cause also gives rise to mixtures or transitions of metaphor, ' Guile-woven fate anoints him with the Centaur's gory cloud,' 'My cloud of darkness coming over me, like a ship wafted by too sure a gale,' 'The battle God is burning me with shouts of onset.' (Tr. 831, O. T. 1314, Ib. 191.)

3. There is also a class of words originally metaphorical, which are not felt to be so, because the analogy on which their meaning rests is not sufficiently remote to give the impression of poetical imagery. 'These can hardly be distinguished from the generalized uses mentioned in p. 94. Such expressions as 'to merchandize advantage,' 'to feed on hopes,' 'to bind in a tomb-like chamber,' 'the oared vehicle of a ship,' 'to give the ship her head' (vat although not literal, are hardly figurative.

§ 59. Some such review of the language of Sophocles as that which has been imperfectly attempted in this Essay, appears to be necessary in order to interpret him with an approach to certainty. It may also furnish some criterion of the value of emendations of the text. The minute study of the MSS., the Scholia, and the notices of the grammarians, is of course indispensable to this end. But the most perfect 'apparatus criticus' may be only illusory, and may encourage an opznz0 copiae, which is inéer causas tnopiae, if it is made the basis of conjectural alteration, without a right conception of the original woof and texture of the 'old garment,' which is thus patched.

1. Many places would never have been suspected of corruption, if the unfixed, growing, and transitional nature of the language had been fully recognized. Subtle and cautious scholars like Hermann and Elmsley were more conscious of this than most of their successors. But their fine perceptions of certain nuances of style and idiom, for want of some systematic statement of them, have often passed unregarded, and were not sufficiently carried into application even by themselves. Had they more fully expressed themselves on this subject, they would have produced a critical instrument of finer temper and more effective although more delicate use, than without this can be forged from palaeographical materials, and the expedients which these suggest,

2. This subject has lately received an illustration from the disputes which have arisen about the text of Shelley. If that poet's subtle use of language has given rise to supposed emendations, sometimes on the part of those who had lived with him and knew his mind, and if rational criticism has been brought to set aside most of those changes within half a century of his death, how hazardous must such attempts be in the case of Sophocles, or, still more, in that of Aeschylus, of whose meaning Aristophanes could doubt (Ran. 920 foll.), although in the latter case the attempt is justified by frequent and manifest corruptions. How many conjectural alterations of Shakspeare have been exploded through closer study of Elizabethan English! How few, comparatively speaking, have been established! And yet they were mostly the inventions of ingenious Englishmen, sometimes of poets, whose mother tongue was that of Shakspeare, and who had known Shakspeare all their lives. How much 'farther off,' as Plato would say, the most accomplished foreigner must necessarily appear in such an endeavour, may be roughly measured by comparing two wrong readings, that of ' physician' for ' precisian' in M. W. W. 2, 1, which Dyce adopted, and 'he smote his leaded pole-axe on the ice,' which a good German critic has suggested as an 'emendation' of Ham. 1, 12. Neither of these conjectures is true; but which of them is more like truth no Englishman can fora moment doubt. And there is a difference not less wide between such corrections as Boeckh's for in Ant. 118, or Arndt's for in O. T. 1112, and scores of other conjectures that have been made in either play.

3. There must still always be a degree of uncertainty in defending MS. readings of the tenth century, because our general conception of what is likely (the 'vere semzle' of Lachmann) is based on the whole text which is the subject of dispute. But the close and analytical study of that text may, at least, enable us to reject proposed emendations, which, although not without. plausibility on palaeographical, metrical, grammatical, and other technical grounds, may safely be pronounced alien to Sophocles, either as not poetical, or not idiomatic, or as interfering with the natural emphasis and rhythm, or as out of harmony with the context. Mlistrust is not unreasonable, when such obvious rhetorical effects as the hesitation of Deianira, and the pleading iteration of Philoctetes, are found to be persistently ignored. We are often justified in saying, Sophocles may have written what we find: he cannot have written what is proposed instead. Jt has not the Sophoclean colouring; it is like a raw touch on a picture ill-restored.

One object of this Essay will have been served, if it shoula be found to have contributed anything towards supplying the desideratum which is here indicated.

In the foregoing pages I have not taken account of differences in point of language between the several Plays. Such differences exist, but are scarcely marked enough to be exhibited in a tabular form.

It may be weil, however, to remind the student who desires to pursue this subject, that the order of the Plays, which is followed for convenience in this edition, is not that of their production. The Oedipus Coloneus, if not the last of the seven, is probably much later than either the Antigone or the Oedipus Rex, and has been thought to share with the Philoctetes, and in a measure also with the Trachiniae, some traces of an altered manner, in which the popular influences, which were so powerful with Euripides, were not without their effect.

The language of the Oedipus Rex is the most highly wrought, while that of the Electra is the simplest. The Antigone, rivalling the Oedipus Rex in energy, has far more directness of expression. The Philoctetes is marked by studied ease and vernacular freedom, reminding the English reader of those poems of Shelley - such as Julian and Maddalo - in which, without losing poetical grace and finish, he reflects the tone of actual conversation. The Ajax approaches the most nearly to an Epic manner, and displays a peculiar fulness in the utterance of passionate feeling. The Trachiniae is pervaded by a singular tenderness and delicacy. The difference of style between the dialogue and the lyrical portions is most marked in the Oedipus Coloneus.

Introduction

4 8 5 t 5 , A , An 6a ore TO Arist. Poet. 1452 a.

Tue Tyrannus of Sophocles is the most typical of Greek tragedies, and is accordingly the one most frequently cited by Aristotle in support of his definitions. It may also be said to stand apart from other tragedies and from all other compositions, as a tragedy by itself, 'eine tragoedie seiner eignen Gattung,' as Goethe said. But this very singularity lies in the perfect development of the various elements of Greek tragic art, which in the other plays, even of Sophocles, are nowhere so completely exemplified.

the unwitting criminal from the highest prosperity to the lowest misery, was an essentially tragic subject, and could not fail, even in the barest recital, to arouse feelings of wonder, pity, and fear. Had the crime been voluntary, there would have been horror, but no pathos ;

And if, as in the death of Clytemnestra, the retribution had been the direct consequence of the previous act, the emotion of wonder would have been less powerfully stirred. But in the legend of Oedipus the marvel of the discovery is an essential feature of the story, while the strangeness of the punishment, partly self-inflicted, corresponds to the strangeness of the crime.

In no Greek drama is it so clearly evident that the treatment of the fable, the is the first thing, and that the characters and sentiments are subordinate. The poet has directed all his resources to the one object of enhancing the interest of the plot; or rather of so arranging the incidents as to make the action most impressive. This drama is not the representation of an ideal passion, like the ambition of Macbeth or the jealousy of Medea or Othello, nor of a type of character, as in Hamlet or Lear ; but of a life of impetuous action resulting in error and calamity. The whole is viewed as the work of fate and of an inscrutable Divine purpose and power; but the predestined event is made to appear as the result of a series of minute incidents and of their effect on the temper of the hero.

The impression thus produced is the result of profoundly calculated arrangement; but, in order to judge of this, the poet's intention must be borne in mind. And the chief aim of the tragic poet is not like that of the novel writer, to pique and prolong curiosity; nor, as in a modern melodrama, to make complex preparation for an unexpected denouement; but so to present the critical moments of a great life as to move spectators powerfully by making them feel the emotions of the ideal person on the stage. Hence, while simplicity rather than complexity is the virtue of a tragic plot, the kind of probability required in tragedy is relative to this main purpose and to the conditions of representation. 'The spectator; as he is rapt onward from scene to scene, has small leisure for weighing external probabilities. But, if he is to be deeply moved, the connexion of the incidents immediately presented to him must be natural and credible, and, above all, the expression of feeling must be in perfect accord with the situation. Yet even this is not the main condition. The skill of the poet is chiefly shown in the choice and ordering of the moments to be represented, in the use of gradation and contrast, and in the nameless power of making the whole action live and move. Where this power exists, an essentially incredible story will be felt as credible.

Sophocles is not wholly careless even of external inconsistencies. If a spectator were quick enough to anticipate the objection of Aristotle and Voltaire, - that Oedipus could not remain so long in ignorance of the circumstances of the death of Laius, - he is answered by Oedipus in person, who excuses himself to the people for having so long neglected a problem to the solution of which he had no clue. It is also hinted that the troubles which immediately followed the late king's departure had absorbed the attention of the state. Any momentary feeling of incredulity is thus sufficiently allayed. Still greater care is taken with the direct antecedents of the action. Thus the child, instead of being exposed and found, as in the old legend, is given by the hand of the Theban to the Corinthian herdsman. 'This circumstance appears to have been invented by Sophocles, who thus prepares the way for the two cardinal scenes, in the first of which the Corinthian at once inspires false hopes in Oedipus and reveals the whole truth to Jocasta; while in the second the Theban, by a single word, - not that for which he was brought, - suddenly flashes the whole horror upon the mind of Oedipus.

But it would be a serious error to dwell on the complexity of the plot, however ingenious, as the prime merit of any Sophoclean tragedy. The Oedipus can be more safely praised, as well as better understood, when it is viewed more simply as a representation of pathetic action and natural emotion. And it must be remembered throughout that this particular legend was exceptionally familiar in the time of Sophocles, and the name of Oedipus had long since become synonymous with tragic horror. However much the poet may have been interested in blinding Oedipus, he can have neither hoped nor cared to make any mystery for the spectator. His opportunities for exhibiting the pathetic blindness of his hero are greatly increased by the fact that the outline of the fable was generally known.

1. The apparent position of Oedipus and of the Thebans could not be more vividly displayed than through his intercourse with the suppliants and with the aged priest who speaks for them. His power and fame are seen to be established beyond question. He cares for the people of Cadmus as if they were indeed his own people, and they, in the day of their calamity, turn instinctively to their stranger prince, who saved them when they were threatened with destruction and whom they regard as only lower than the Gods.

The generous, but impulsive and self-confident, character of Oedipus is also clearly marked from the first. He has no hesitation in taking on himself the whole burden of the people. He speaks not of helping merely, but of rescuing them. He has eagerly thought of many plans for their salvation. Nor has action lingered behind thought; for he has already despatched Creon to Delphi. The recital of previous circumstances, which a weaker dramatist would have put into the prologue, is reserved for the time when Oedipus,

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Already in these few lines (1-150) the well-informed spectator has had more than one hint to contrast the present state of Oedipus with his future. He is anxious, forsooth, not for himself, but for the Thebans! Well may the old priest warn him to take good heed! We know that he shall indeed save his people, but through what sacrifice! Little knows he the meaning of his words, when he promises to avenge the murder, as if he were the son of Laius, and so fulfil the purpose of the God!

Preparation has been also made for much that follows. It is Creon who brings the message from Delphi, and on Creon the king's suspicion presently alights. The smoothness and harmony of their relations, indicated in Il. 70, 85, are soon to be disturbed.

On receiving the message, which by his own choice is delivered publicly, Oedipus once for all undertakes the quest, which leads him to his doom. He then retires into the palace, the priests and suppliants withdraw, and the stage is left empty.

The Chorus of Theban elders (ll. 513, 911, 1111, 1223) at their first entrance make no reference to the position of Oedipus, which has now been sufficiently put forward. They have been drawn to the palace gate, not by the king's promise to save Thebes, but by their anxiety to know the tenor of the oracle. 'They invoke, not Oedipus, but, as becomes their dignity, Apollo, Athene, Artemis, Dionysus, the divine protectors of Thebes (Il. 151-215).

But Oedipus is ready to answer for Apollo. His royal proclamation, although founded on the response which he has obtained from Phoebus, is given forth entirely in his own name. The character and apparent position of the chief person are again marked with stronger and broader lines. But the main intention here is to prepare for the catastrophe and to make the ultimate self-conviction of Oedipus appear more terrible, through the form of speech in which he at the outset denounces the offender. Each spectator must have felt, as the grandiloquent lines were slowly uttered, that the king was entangling himself more inextricably at every word in the toils of his own elaborate curse; and this so unconsciously, that with fatal maladroitness he lays a formal and complacent emphasis on the very points which, rightly understood, are the most horrible. He is no longer a foreigner, he says, but a Theban citizen: he has succeeded to the place of Laius in the kingdom, and in the royal bed! Their offspring - had but Laius' offspring lived and prospered - might have claimed one mother! (Il. 216-275).

2. The ground-work has now been laid, and after a brief interval, during which Oedipus confers with the Coryphaeus (ll. 276-296), the action is disturbed and complicated by the coming of Teiresias. He does not, as in the Antigone, arrive unbidden. very step in the revelation, except the visit of the Corinthian shepherd, who comes for another purpose, proceeds from Oedipus' own impetuous action. He has sent for the seer at the suggestion of Creon, who has thus unconsciously planted another seed of suspicion in the mind of the king, and, on his not coming instantly, he has sent for him a second time. Nor is the prophet here, as elsewhere, the immediate harbinger of "the catastrophe. 'That office is reserved for the Theban slave, whose twofold knowledge makes his rustic garb more dreadful than the prophetic mantle. But Teiresias' entrance greatly heightens the interest of the situation and assists the main impression. 'The hush that precedes his coming; the awe-struck mention of his name; his evident reluctance to come; the cloud that lowers on his countenance at the sight of Oedipus; his resolute silence, all point to the impending horror.

As he comes unwillingly into the presence of Oedipus, he for the first time fully realizes the dreadful consequences of the truth which he knows, and while all look eagerly towards him, he refuses to speak. Then Oedipus, with passionate vehemence, but not ignobly, for he is still moved by public zeal, accuses the prophet of complicity in the crime. And Teiresias, who is prince as well as seer, is provoked in turn, and with proud words declares the king himself to be the pollutor of the land.

To Oedipus the words seem nothing but an outburst of impotent rage. He dares Teiresias to repeat them, - and the accusation of incest is added to that of murder. But such charges can have no meaning for Oedipus. He is simply amazed at the insolence of the blind prophet, whom he taunts with being blind inwardly no less, and with being the minion of Creon, against whom the suspicion of the 'tyrant' now blazes forth. 'This raises the wrath of Teiresias to the height, and he utters a parting speech of solemn denunciation, which only enrages Oedipus, but leaves deep disquiet in the minds of the Theban elders and strikes the spectator with the contrast between the clear vision of the blind seer and the fatal blindness of the clearsighted Oedipus (1). 297-462).

The stage is again vacant, and the Chorus give utterance to their distracted thoughts, echoing two notes, which are hereafter to blend in one, the quest for the murderer, whom they imagine as flying far away, and the dreadful suggestions of Teiresias, which they are too loyal to believe (11. 463-512).

3. The action, after being thus far developed and complicated, is now held in suspense. 'To borrow a felicitous image, we have climbed the chief ascent, and are led along a table-land towards the precipice. Or rather we see Oedipus, who has been shaken from his fixed place and lifted from the solid earth by his passionate resentment, borne to and fro by opposite winds, and beating the air. Creon indignantly but not intemperately repels the charge of treachery, which the king reiterates. The contention is becoming very sharp, and the elders are again distracted between their attachment to Oedipus and their care for Thebes, when Jocasta enters ' with timely coming to appease the strife' (Il 513-633).

She endeavours to soothe Oedipus (Il. 707 ff.) by showing him that no account is to be made of prophecy. To prove this she relates how Laius was slain, not, as the oracle had foretold, by the hand of his son - the poor child lived not three days - but through a chance meeting with some wayfarers at a cross-road. The mention of the cross-road, intended by Jocasta to mark the fortuitous nature of the occurrence, recalls vividly to the mind of Oedipus his own half-forgotten deed. All at once he fears, lest he may be the man whom the oracle and his own curses have proscribed; and lest the saying of Teiresias may prove true. He elicits from Jocasta that Laius was elderly, but tall ; she adds, 'in figure not unlike thyself;' and that the place was where the roads to Thebes from Delphi and from Daulia meet. Convinced that he is the outlawed person, the murderer of the man whose kingdom and whose wife he holds (than which he can imagine nothing more horrible), he still contains himself so far as to ask for the eye-witness of the deed; who may confirm or remove the frail hope which Oedipus now finds in the report that this Theban slave, the same of whom he thought so lightly when the Coryphaeus mentioned him before (Il. 118, 9, 293), had spoken of the murderers of Laius in the plural number. He learns that the man had been Jocasta's confidential servant, and that, in requital for peculiar services, she had yielded to his urgent petition to be allowed to return on Oedipus appearing as the successor of the murdered king. When she desires him further to tell his trouble, his whole past history rises to his lips. His recital (ll. 771-833) is not merely intended to inform the spectators, although at this point it is especially needful that they should realize the antecedents of the story. The narrative here has the combined effect of (1) unfolding the affectionate, impulsive, confiding nature of Oedipus when thoroughly moved; (2) of showing his essential innocence through the horror he feels at what is only a small part of the truth; (3) of pathetically marking the unconsciousness of mother and son - (imagine the effect 811, where Oedipus Kolds up his right hand); (4) of keeping the threads of the fable together for the spectator; and (5) of retarding the action when approaching the critical point. The exit of the king and queen again leaves the stage vacant (1. 862).

4. The choral ode (3rd stasimon) which follows this long scene occupies the central place in the economy of the play, and may be compared in this respect with ll. 583-625 of the Antigone, and Il. 668 - 719 of the Oedipus Coloneus. It prepares for the sequel, by impressing on the spectator's mind the glory and sanctity of those eternal laws which Oedipus will be presently found to have unwittingly broken. This strain is immediately suggested by the impiety of Jocasta itr questioning the truth of prophecy (Il. 863-910).

After it is ended, there is a fresh meeting-point between the current of circumstance and that of agitated feeling. Jocasta again appears, not acknowledging her own misgivings, whatever they may be, but describing to the Chorus the troubled condition of the king. She invokes Apollo (whom she worships while gainsaying his ministers) and prays for some release from the anxiety that is distracting Oedipus, and through him troubling Thebes. But before she has made her offering, a messenger from Corinth enters with news of the death of Polybus and the expected succession of Oedipus to the vacant throne. She is filled with exultation and thinks no longer of