Ichneutae

Sophocles

Sophocles. Tracking Satyrs. Mahoney, Anne (Anne Elizabeth), translator.

  1. ---unspeakable --- child --- of a cow [*](Or of a shout?) --- amazed --- prey --- speaking voice --- to make such sounds from a dead animal.
Cyllene
  1. Don’t be so skeptical: for a goddess is speaking trusty words to you.[*](This passage, to line 292, is in iambic tetrameters acatalectic, a very unusual meter for dialogue. The parabasis-speech in an Old Comedy is always in tetrameters, but always catalectic (iambic, trochaic, or anapestic). Trochaic tetrameters catalectic are fairly common in tragedy for excited scenes. There are no other acatalectic iambic tetrameters in extant complete plays, though they appear in at least one other fragmentary satyr play. We don’t know why this scene is in this particular meter.)
Chorus
  1. How should I believe that a dead animal’s voice can roar like that?
Cyllene
  1. Believe it: it speaks now it’s dead, though it had no voice when it was alive.