Enjambment & Salience - Ajax 428-429

Ajax 428-429

{ΧΟ.} Οὔτοι σ' ἀπείργειν, οὐδ' ὅπως ἐῶ λέγειν
ἔχω, κακοῖς τοιοῖσδε συμπεπτωκότα.

In the case where a clause or a sentence is too long for a line and the final word spills over into the following line, the line initial position need not be understood as pragmatically marked. Helma Dik[1] cites Ajax 428-429 to illustrate how a line initial word like ἔχω, which is an auxiliary verb with Οὔτοι ... οὐδ'..., need not be read as particularly salient. Enjambment alone does not bestow pragmatic marking on a word.


[1] (Word order in Greek tragic dialogue, Oxford 2007, p204 n60)

TE DH in Ajax 414

Here is a greek syntax question for anyone who happens to drop in. I am curious how we should parse (i.e. build a generative parse tree) lines 412-415 πόροι ... χρόνον. I did a some reading today about TE and TE DH in Smyth and G.Cooper but didn't really find a totally satisfactory answer. Cooper actually addresses this particular passage (2.69.18.5.GG v.4 p.2961) in reference to TE DH but I will withhold his analysis until you have time to think about it.

{ΑΙ.} <Ἰ>ὼ
πόροι ἁλίρροθοι
πάραλά τ' ἄντρα καὶ νέμος ἐπάκτιον,
πολὺν πολύν με δαρόν τε δὴ
κατείχετ' ἀμφὶ Τροίαν χρόνον·
ἀλλ' οὐκέτι μ', οὐκέτ' ἀμπνοὰς
ἔχοντα· τοῦτό τις φρονῶν ἴστω.

p.s. We don't actually need to see a parse tree, just explain the word order and relationships between the constituents with specific reference to the particles/conjunctions. The first two lines should be no problem but when you get to πολὺν πολύν με δαρόν τε δὴ things get a little more interesting.

case and cohesion in Ajax

The first five lines of the chorus in Ajax (Sophocles) that begins on line 221 is made more cohesive by a string of feminine singular accusatives which are all tied to ἀγγελίαν (report). Two adjectives, ἄτλατον and φευκτάν, a participle κλῃζομέναν and an article τὰν functioning as a relative pronoun, all look back to ἀγγελίαν.

{ΧΟ.} Οἵαν ἐδήλωσας
ἀνέρος αἴθονος ἀγγελίαν
ἄτλατον οὐδὲ φευκτάν,
τῶν μεγάλων Δαναῶν ὕπο κλῃζομέναν,
τὰν ὁ μέγας μῦθος ἀέξει.
Ὤιμοι φοβοῦμαι τὸ προσέρπον· περίφαντος ἁνὴρ
θανεῖται, παραπλήκτῳ χερὶ συγκατακτὰς
κελαινοῖς ξίφεσιν βοτὰ καὶ βοτῆρας ἱππονώμας.

Sophocles Trag., Ajax 221-231