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Marginalia Scenica. II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Extract

Eur. Hel. 1032 ff. Ελ. Μενέλαε, πρ⋯ς μ⋯ν παρθένου σεσῴσμεθα.

τοὐνθένδε δ⋯ σ⋯ τοÙς λ⋯υς ϕέροντα ϰρ⋯

κοιν⋯ν ζυν⋯πτειν μηϰαν⋯ν ωτηρίας.

If the text as given above is sound (and it may possibly be so), then Helen effaces herself from the discussion which is to follow: σ⋯ is stressed, τοὺς λ⋯ους is roughly equivalent to ‘all that is to be said’, and the simple øέροντα does duty for a compound like εἰσø⋯ροντα. There is evidently a tinge of artificiality about this interpretation, and, if the unbroken usage of the tragedians counts, then τοὺς λ⋯ους ø⋯ρειν should mean ‘to bring the message“, and no more: cf. e.g. Ion 1110 τιε προθυμία | ποδ⋯ν ἔϰει σε, κα⋯ λ⋯ους τίνας ϕ⋯ρεις; El 228 ἤκω ø⋯ρων σοι σο⋯ κασιγν⋯του λ⋯γους, Or. 853 λ⋯γους | ᾃκουσνν, οὓς σοι δυστυϰε῕ς ἣκω ø⋯ρων, Soph. Track. 493 ώς λ⋯γων τ’ ⋯πιολ⋯ς ø⋯ρῃς, and so with ø⋯μας or ø⋯μην Eur. Hel. 1282, ø⋯τιν Soph. O.R. 86, Aesch. Ag. 9, Soph. At. 826, μ⋯θον O.C. 357, and with various periphrases. For other senses a compound is called in (e.g. ἰσø⋯ρειν Bacch. 650, Andr. 757, Ion 1340; προσø⋯ρειν I.A. 97, Ion 1002), or a prepositional phrase is appended (e.g. εἰς ὦτα Soph. Ai. 149, or—what one expects here—εἰς μ⋯σον Eur. Tro. 54). Hence, in this passage, the credibility of the tradition is not exactly enhanced by the fact that the difference between ΔHCε and ΔΗС—or, for that matter, ΔεΙʗ—is, to all intents and purposes, negligible.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1941

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