547-549
The text of this passage is, I believe, sound, though the diction is bold, and somewhat careless. The
one “
ἥβη” (Iolè's) is growing to the perfect flower, while the other (Deianeira's) is declining. (Cp.
Ar. Lys.596“
τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς σμικρὸς ὁ καιρός”.) In what follows, these points may be noted.
(1)
ὧν, fem., refers to the two phases of “
ἥβη” just mentioned. The gen. is partitive: ‘of (out of) these “
ἧβαι”, the eye delights in the “
ἄνθος”.’ Here “
ἄνθος” is a shorter way of expressing “
τὴν ἀνθοῦσαν”,—the “
ἥβη” which is in its early bloom.
ὧν could not, surely, refer to “
τὴν μὲν ἕρπουσαν πρόσω”
only, as if it meant “
τῶν νέων γυναικῶν” (schol.): it must refer to “
τὴν δὲ φθίνουσαν” also. Nor, again, could “
ὦν” stand for “
ὧν τῆς μέν”.
(2)
τῶν δ᾽ ὑπεκτρέπει πόδα. Here “
τῶν δ̓” ought in strictness to have been “
τῆς δ̓”,
sc. “
τῆς φθινούσης ἥβης”. But, in the poet's thought, “
τῶν δ̓” means, ‘
the other kind,’—
i.e., the women who represent the “
φθίνουσα ἥβη”. The subject to “
ὑπεκτρέπει” is not “
ὀφθαλμός”, but the
man implied by it (“
ὁ ὁρῶν”). The eye, as being here the guide of the choice, might, indeed, be said to ‘turn the foot aside,’ in the sense of
causing that movement; but this would be awkward. For the transition of thought from “
ὀφθαλμός” to the
person, cp.
Eur. Med.1244(quoted by Wecklein), “
ἄγ̓, ὦ τάλαινα χεὶρ ἐμή, λαβὲ ξίφος”, | “
λάβ̓, ἕρπε πρὸς βαλβῖδα λυπηρὰν βίου”.
(3)
ἀφαρπάζειν, said of the eye, means, to
seize eagerly upon the beautiful sight (cp.
Hor. Sat. 2. 5. 53 “
Sic tamen ut limis rapias” etc.). So we can speak of ‘snatching’ a glance, or of the eyes ‘drinking in’ beauty. There is no allusion to the idea expressed by
Aesch. Suppl. 663 “
ἥβας δ᾽ ἄνθος ἄδρεπτον ἔστω”.
(4)
ὀφθαλμὸς: the swift and ardent
glance of the lover is often mentioned in Greek poetry: see esp. fr. 431 “
τοιάνδ᾽ ἐν ὄψει λίγγα θηρατηρίαν” | “
ἔρωτος, ἀστραπήν τιν᾽ ὀμμάτων, ἔχει”.
Aesch. Suppl.1003“
καὶ παρθένων χλιδαῖσιν εὐμόρφοις ἔπι” | “
πᾶς τις παρελθὼν <*>μματος θελκτήριον” | “
τόξευμ᾽ ἔπεμψεν ἱμέρου νικώμενος”.
