ἀσφαδάστῳ, ‘without convulsion.’ “σφαδάζω” is from rt. “σφαδ”, denoting sudden, violent movement: whence “σφεδανός, σφοδρός, σφενδόνη” (a sling): Curt. Etym. § 296. The verb was often used with ref. to a convulsive death- struggle; Eur. fr. 1020 “ὁ δ᾽ ἐσφάδαζεν, οὐκ ἔχων ἀπαλλαγάς”: Anton. 76 “σφαδάζοντος” (cp. “δυσθανατῶν” ib.). Aesch. Ag. 1292“ἐπεύχομαι δὲ καιρίας πληγῆς τυχεῖν”, | “ὡς ἀσφάδαστος, αἱμάτων εὐθνησίμων ι ἀπορρυέντων, ὄμμα συμβάλω τόδε”. The precept to write “σφαδᾴζω” (and therefore, as Nauck does, “ἀσφάδᾳστος”) dates from Herodian (c. 160 A.D. ), but is not confirmed by any such independent evidence as exists in the case of “ματᾴζω” ( Soph. O. T. 891). Ellendt writes “σφαδᾴζω”, yet “ἀσφάδαστος”. πηδήματι, the act of throwing himself upon the sword; Helen. 96 (of Ajax) “οἰκεῖον αὐτὸν ὤλεσ᾽ ἅλμ᾽ επὶξίφος”. This swift act, followed by no “σφαδασμός”, is to be the means (ξὺν) by which Hermes is to lay him to rest.
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.