Agamemnon 944-957

[C. S. Bartholomew]

944
Ἀγαμέμνων
ἀλλ’ εἰ δοκεῖ σοι ταῦθ’, ὑπαί τις ἀρβύλας
λύοι τάχος, πρόδουλον ἔμβασιν ποδός.
καὶ τοῖσδέ μ’ ἐμβαίνονθ’ ἁλουργέσιν θεῶν
μή τις πρόσωθεν ὄμματος βάλοι φθόνος.
πολλὴ γὰρ αἰδὼς δωματοφθορεῖν ποσὶν
φθείροντα πλοῦτον ἀργυρωνήτους θ’ ὑφάς.

" but if it seems that way to you, someone
quickly unfasten [my] boots ... "

ὑπαί τις ἀρβύλας: I would assume that ἀρβύλας is an acc. pl. not a gen. sg.,
ὑπαί = ὕπο may be functioning as an adverb but clause initial prepositions are
possible. Nesting τις between the prep and its noun is also possible. The translations
I looked at ignored ὑπαί.

[Paul Derouda]

My guess is that this is a piece of Homeric grammar again, and ὑπαί (=ὑπό) is to be taken as preverb with λύοι, i.e. this is actually ὑπολύω in 'tmesis'.

[C. S. Bartholomew]

My guess is that this is a piece of Homeric grammar again, and ὑπαί (=ὑπό) is to be taken as preverb with λύοι, i.e. this is actually ὑπολύω in 'tmesis'.

Good point. I keep forgetting about that. Getting to the age where forgetting is easy.

[C. S. Bartholomew]

A.Ag 956-957
ἐπεὶ δ’ ἀκούειν σοῦ κατέστραμμαι τάδε,
εἶμ’ ἐς δόμων μέλαθρα πορφύρας πατῶν.

Not quite sure why the audience would have been expected to accept Agamemnon's statement that he is compelled to listen to his wife. It presents a plot plausibility problem. What compels him? It is one thing to be fated to do something you know is dangerous and foolish but another thing to say you are turned against your will by verbal means.

I haven't read Eur. Iphigenia recently, don't remember if Agamemnon had much of a struggle over his decision to offer up his daughter. Perhaps Aeschylus' intent is to show a weak, fickle character here. Someone who caves in under a little pressure from his wife.

[Paul Derouda]

This is how I interprete this. Agamemnon's statement that he's obeying his wife is just a manner of speaking. Actually he's doing just the kind of thing he would want to do himself, only he was afraid to do it. This just shows he's willing to accept any half-plausible excuse, even from his not-so-beloved wife, to commit another outrage. I think this accords very well with his weak and fickle character, always jealous of his honour. This exactly the same person who's arguing with Achilles in Iliad I.