Greek tragedy - Gilbert Norwood

So with longer passages, where, however, we shall find at times that our voice quite naturally makes a colon-ending in the midst of a grammatical sentence.

Therefore let us also, ‖ seeing we are compassed about ‖ with so great a cloud of witnesses, ‖ lay aside every weight, ‖ and the sin which doth so easily beset us, ‖ and let us run with patience ‖ the race that is set before us ‖ (Hebrews xii. 1, R.V.).

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(Observe how, in the last two cola, first the mounting and then the declining emphasis provide a splendid close.)

Let us now attempt so to catch the rhythm of a passage from Sophocles (Antigone, 582 sqq.) if set out as prose.

εὐδαίμονες οἷσι κακῶν ἄγευστος αἰών. οἷς γὰρ ἂν σεισθῇ θεόθεν δόμος, ἄτας οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει, γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος ἕρπον· ὅμοιον ὥστε ποντίαις οἶδμα δυσπνόοις ὅταν θρῄσσαισιν ἔρεβος ὕφαλον ἐπιδράμῃ πνοαῖς, κυλίνδει βυσσόθεν κελαινὰν θῖνα, καὶ δυσάνεμοι στόνῳ βρέμουσιν ἀντιπλῆγες ἀκταί. ἀρχαῖα τὰ Λαβδακιδᾶν οἴκων ὁρῶμαι πήματα φθιτῶν ἐπὶ πήμασι πίπτοντ’, οὐδ’ ἀπαλλάσσει γενεὰν γένος, ἀλλ’ ἐρείπει θεῶν τις, οὐδ’ ἔχει λύσιν. νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας ὑπὲρ ῥίζας ὃ τέτατο φάος ἐν Οἰδίπου δόμοις, κατ’ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων ἀμᾷ κονίς, λόγου τ’ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐρινύς.

If we first mark the quantities (ignoring, as we must at first, the possibility of ⏗ and ⏘) and go over the whole carefully, we soon find that it falls into two corresponding portions: εὐδαίμονες ... ἀκταί is the strophe, ἀρχαῖα ... Ἐρινύς the antistrophe. Next we look for rhythmical units. On the one hand, there is the great difficulty that, since we must have both periodic and strophic equivalence, certain cola may take in words not belonging to the same sense-groups or grammatical clauses. On the other hand, the fact that we have two great masses which correspond exactly will help us. First, then, we note that εὐδαίμονες ... αἰών looks promising, and observing that this points to ἀρχαῖα ... ὁρῶμαι as a colon also, and that this is in itself likely, we mark off both these groups. Conversely, at the end of the antistrophe, λόγου ... Ἐρινύς attracts us, and this is supported by the naturalness of στόνῳ ... ἀκταί at the end of the strophe. Working backwards, and seeing a pause in the punctuation at precisely the same place in both halves, namely, after πνοαῖς and δόμοις, we assume that κυλίνδει ... δυσάνεμοι and κατ’ αὖ ... κονίς are correspondent masses. But each is too long—sixteen syllables—to be pronounced as a unit. We soon perceive that κυλίνδει ... κελαινάν, θῖνα ... δυσάνεμοι, κατ’ αὖ ... τῶν, νερτέρων ... κονίς, are all separate cola. Going backwards again, we find that ἐπιδράμῃ[883] πνοαῖς and Οἰδίπου δόμοις, ὕφαλον ... πνοαῖς and φάος ... δόμοις, Θρῄσσαισιν ... πνοαῖς and ῥίζας ... δόμοις, and indeed longer masses still, all give a metrical correspondence. Which pair are we to select? οἶδμα ... πνοαῖς (= νῦν ... δόμοις) is too long; ἐπιδράμῃ πνοαῖς (= Οἰδίπου δόμοις) is too short. For we seek the longest unit which is convenient. We therefore mark off οἶδμα ... ὅταν, νῦν ... ὑπέρ, Θρῄσσαισιν ... πνοαῖς, ῥίζας ... δόμοις as cola. The same method will give us ὅμοιον ... ποντίαις and θεῶν ... λύσιν. Then we find ourselves left with οἷς γάρ ... ἕρπον and πήματα ... ἐρείπει, which we divide after ἄτας and πίπτοντ’.

At last we can set out the passage according to its structure. The strophe runs thus:—