Ἀτρείδη is propitiatory (cp. 1319). κέρδεσιν τοῖς μὴ καλοῖς. The “κέρδη” meant are unworthy personal triumphs,—assertions of power which violate some higher law. It is in the same sense that Teiresias replies to Creon's taunt against the “μαντικὸν γένος,—τὸ δ᾽ ἐκ τυράννων αἰσχροκέρδειαν φιλεῖ” ( Ant. 1056). Cp. Moschion fr. 7. 1 “τί κέρδος οὐκέτ᾽ ὄντας ὑβρίζειν νεκρούς;”
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.