Euripides, Electra, ed. Gilbert Murray, 1

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Αὐτουργός

ὦ γῆς παλαιὸν ἄργος, Ἰνάχου ῥοαί,
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ὅθεν ποτʼ ἄρας ναυσὶ χιλίαις Ἄρη

ἐς γῆν ἔπλευσε Τρῳάδʼ Ἀγαμέμνων ἄναξ.

κτείνας δὲ τὸν κρατοῦντʼ ἐν Ἰλιάδι χθονὶ

Πρίαμον, ἑλών τε Δαρδάνου κλεινὴν πόλιν,
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ἀφίκετʼ ἐς τόδʼ Ἄργος, ὑψηλῶν δʼ ἐπὶ

ναῶν ἔθηκε σκῦλα πλεῖστα βαρβάρων.

κἀκεῖ μὲν εὐτύχησεν· ἐν δὲ δώμασι

θνῄσκει γυναικὸς πρὸς Κλυταιμήστρας δόλῳ

καὶ τοῦ Θυέστου παιδὸς Αἰγίσθου χερί.
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χὣ μὲν παλαιὰ σκῆπτρα Ταντάλου λιπὼν

ὄλωλεν, Αἴγισθος δὲ βασιλεύει χθονός,

ἄλοχον ἐκείνου Τυνδαρίδα κόρην ἔχων.

οὓς δʼ ἐν δόμοισιν ἔλιφʼ ὅτʼ ἐς Τροίαν ἔπλει,

ἄρσενά τʼ Ὀρέστην θῆλύ τʼ Ἠλέκτρας θάλος,
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τὸν μὲν πατρὸς γεραιὸς ἐκκλέπτει τροφεὺς

μέλλοντʼ Ὀρέστην χερὸς ὑπʼ Αἰγίσθου θανεῖν

Στροφίῳ τʼ ἔδωκε Φωκέων ἐς γῆν τρέφειν·

ἣ δʼ ἐν δόμοις ἔμεινεν Ἠλέκτρα πατρός,

ταύτην ἐπειδὴ θαλερὸς εἶχʼ ἥβης χρόνος,
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μνηστῆρες ᾔτουν Ἑλλάδος πρῶτοι χθονός.

δείσας δὲ μή τῳ παῖδʼ ἀριστέων τέκοι

Ἀγαμέμνονος ποινάτορʼ, εἶχεν ἐν δόμοις

Αἴγισθος οὐδʼ ἥρμοζε νυμφίῳ τινί.

ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτʼ ἦν φόβου πολλοῦ πλέων,
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μή τῳ λαθραίως τέκνα γενναίῳ τέκοι,

κτανεῖν σφε βουλεύσαντος, ὠμόφρων ὅμως

μήτηρ νιν ἐξέσῳσεν Αἰγίσθου χερός.

ἐς μὲν γὰρ ἄνδρα σκῆψιν εἶχʼ ὀλωλότα,

παίδων δʼ ἔδεισε μὴ φθονηθείη φόνῳ.
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ἐκ τῶνδε δὴ τοιόνδʼ ἐμηχανήσατο

Αἴγισθος· ὃς μὲν γῆς ἀπηλλάχθη φυγὰς

Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖς, χρυσὸν εἶφʼ ὃς ἂν κτάνῃ,

ἡμῖν δὲ δὴ δίδωσιν Ἠλέκτραν ἔχειν

δάμαρτα, πατέρων μὲν Μυκηναίων ἄπο
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γεγῶσιν — οὐ δὴ τοῦτό γʼ ἐξελέγχομαι·

λαμπροὶ γὰρ ἐς γένος γε, χρημάτων δὲ δὴ

πένητες, ἔνθεν ηὑγένειʼ ἀπόλλυται —

ὡς ἀσθενεῖ δοὺς ἀσθενῆ λάβοι φόβον.

εἰ γάρ νιν ἔσχεν ἀξίωμʼ ἔχων ἀνήρ,
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εὕδοντʼ ἂν ἐξήγειρε τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονος

φόνον δίκη τʼ ἂν ἦλθεν Αἰγίσθῳ τότε.

ἣν οὔποθʼ ἁνὴρ ὅδε — σύνοιδέ μοι Κύπρις —

ᾔσχυνεν εὐνῇ· παρθένος δʼ ἔτʼ ἐστὶ δή.

αἰσχύνομαι γὰρ ὀλβίων ἀνδρῶν τέκνα
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λαβὼν ὑβρίζειν, οὐ κατάξιος γεγώς.

στένω δὲ τὸν λόγοισι κηδεύοντʼ ἐμοὶ

ἄθλιον Ὀρέστην, εἴ ποτʼ εἰς Ἄργος μολὼν

γάμους ἀδελφῆς δυστυχεῖς ἐσόψεται.

Electra. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ἠλέκτρα (Greek) (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. II. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1921-1962))

Translations (3)

Electra Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 1 focus

On the borders of Argolis .

Peasant

O ancient plain of land, the streams of Inachus, from which king Agamemnon once mounted war on a thousand ships and sailed to the land of Troy . After he had slain Priam, the ruler of Ilium ,
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and captured the famous city of Dardanus, he came here to Argos and set up on the high temples many spoils of the barbarians. And in Troy he was successful; but at home he died by the guile of his wife Clytemnestra
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and the hand of Aegisthus, son of Thyestes. And he left behind the ancient scepter of Tantalus, and is dead; but Aegisthus rules the land, possessing Agamemnon’s wife, the daughter of Tyndareus. Now as for those whom he left in his house when he sailed to Troy ,
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his son Orestes and his young daughter Electra: when Orestes was about to die at the hand of Aegisthus, his father’s old servant stole him away and gave him to Strophius to bring up in the land of the Phocians. Electra stayed in her father’s house,
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and when she came to the blooming season of youth, the foremost suitors of the land of Hellas asked for her in marriage. But Aegisthus feared she might bear to some chieftain a son who would avenge Agamemnon, and so he kept her at home and did not betroth her to any bridegroom.
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When even this filled him with great fear, that she might secretly bear children to some noble lord, Aegisthus planned to kill her, but her mother, although cruel at heart, rescued her from his hand. For she had a pretext for having slain her husband,
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but she feared that she would be despised for the murder of her children. So then, for these reasons, Aegisthus devised such a scheme: he promised gold to anyone who should kill Agamemnon’s son, who had left the country as an exile, while Electra he gave
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in marriage to me. My ancestors were Mycenaeans; in that respect at least I am not to blame. My family was noble in race but poor in money—which is the ruin of good birth. He gave her to a powerless man so that his fear might lose its power.
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For if some man of high position got her, he would have roused the sleeping blood of Agamemnon and judgment would have come at some time to Aegisthus. But I have never (Cypris knows this too) dishonored her in bed; she is still a virgin indeed.
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I am ashamed to have the daughter of a wealthy man and violate her, when I was not born of equal rank. And I groan for the wretched Orestes, called my kinsman, if he shall ever return to Argos and see the unfortunate marriage of his sister.
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Electra (OCR draft) Experimental (Electra. Robert Potter's English verse translation, first published in 1781–1783; text from the 1808 Oxford printing.)

No corresponding passage available

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1852; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 3, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1852. Harvard OCR compared with an independent BSB copy. Native Donner verse citations, Murray reference cards, explicitly located notes and page facsimiles. Unresolved OCR, verse divisions, unlocated notes and printed errata are documented in the source review.) — 1 focus

O graue Burg von Argos, Strom des Inachos,¹²³
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Von wo mit tausend Masten einst in's Troërland,

Dem Schlachtengotte folgend, Agamemnon kam!

Nachdem er Troja's Herrscher dort, den Priamos,

Erschlug und Ilos' stolze Stadt eroberte:⁴
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Da zog er heim in dieses Argosland und hing

Zahlreich an hohen Tempeln auf den Phrygerraub.

Dort war er glucklich; aber hier, am eignen Herd,

Erlag er Klytamnestra's, seines Weibes, Trug,

Erschlug Aegisthos meuchlings ihn, Thyestes' Sohn.
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So ging er unter, so verlor er Tantalos'

Uralten Scepter, und Vegisthos herrscht im Land,

Der Tochter Tyndars, Agamemnons Weib, vermählt.

Doch, die, nach Troja schiffend, er zu Hause ließ,

Orestes und Elektra's holde Blüthe war's
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Orestes, den Aegisthos todten will, entrückt

Des Vaters greiser Pfleger ingeheim und gibt

In Phokis' Land ihn aufzuziehn dem Strophios.

Elektra, die im Vaterhause blieb daheim, -

Nach ihr verlangten, als der Jugend Blüthezeit
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Sie schmuckte, werbend Hellas' erste Junglinge.

Doch fürchtend, Sohne möchten einst aus ihrem Schooß

Erstehn des Vaters Nacher, hielt Aegisthos sie⁵

Zu Haus, und keinen Bräutigam verband er ihr.

Ja, weil ihn auch die Sorge quålt, sie könnte wohl
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Geheim gebåren einem Mann von edler Art,

Beschließt er sie zu tödten: doch da rettet sie

Die Mutter, sonst so grausam, aus Aegisthos' Hand.

Denn einen Vorwand hatte sie beim Gattenmord;⁶

Doch Haß erweck' ihr, sorgte sie, des Kindes Tod.
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Hierauf ersann Aegisthos dieses Andere:

Gold bot er aus zum Lohne, wer Oresten ihm,

Der aus dem Lande fluchtig ward, ermordete;

Elektren aber gibt er mir zum Weibe, mir,

Der aus myken'scher Våter Blut entsprossen ist.
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Wohl achtet dieser wegen mich Niemand gering;

Denn hohen Standes bin ich, zwar an Gutern arm,

Und freilich dadurch schwindet auch des Adels Glanz.

Er dachte, nur vor einem schwachen Feinde sich

Vorsehn zu müssen, gåb' er sie dem schwachen Mann.
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Denn wäre sie des angeseh'nen Mannes Weib,

So weckt' er Agamemnons Blut vom Schlummer auf,

Und seiner Frevel Strafe tråf' Aegisthos' Haupt.

Ich habe niemals (Aphrodita zeuge mir's!)

Berührt die Jungfrau: reines Mädchen ist sie noch.
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Erröthen mußt' ich, wenn ich edler Männer Kind

Mißbrauchen wollte, dessen ich nicht wurdig bin.

Nur ihn beklag' ich, welcher mir verschwågert heißt,

Den Schmerzenssohn Orestes, wenn er, heimgekehrt,

Der Schwester ungluckvollen Bund dereinst erblickt.
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Notes on the current edition

Electra

τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα

Αὐτουργὸς Μυκηναῖος

Ἠλέκτρα

Ὀρέστης

Πυλάδης, κωφόν πρόσωπον

Χορός

Πρέσβυς

Ἄγγελος

Κλυταιμήστρα

Διόσκουροι

Euripides Electra 1

ed. Gilbert Murray

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