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151–300

Cp. Ant. 823-32. The prehistoric colossal figure cut out of the rock on a northward crag of Mount Sipylus, so as to be visible from the plain below Sardes, is supposed by Prof. Sayce, who has examined it, to have originally represented some elemental deity, possibly Cybele, but uncertain whether male or female. It was from an early period identified by the Greek settlers with the Niobe of Theban and Argive legend. The limestone drippings from the over-hanging rock have produced an incrustation about face, chest, and lap (the image is in a sitting posture)-that, quite apart from poetical description, is wonderfully suggestive of a flood of tears. This πετραία βλάστα (Ant. 827) must have been apparent before the time of Sophocles. It is less distinctly suggested by the words in Homer, Il. 24. 617, θεῶν ἐκ κήδεα πέσσει. Prof. Sayce adds that the θεάων · εὐναὶ νυμφάων of Il. 1. c. (in reality prehistoric tombs) are still distinctly recognisable in the crags on either side: also that just below the Niobe was a large lake, which was drained some forty years ago, when the columns of a Greek temple were found at the bottom. This, Mr. Sayce thinks, must have been the site of the city of Sipylus, which was overthrown by an earthquake in the time of Tiberius, and the ruins covered by the waters of a lake. All that now remains of the lake is a small pool at the foot of the crag on which the figure of Niobe is carved, along with a stream. Both stream and pool are fed by a number of springs, some of which are warm and saline; and the pool is called by the modern Greeks the tears of Niobe.'

Thou art not all alone unhappy that thou shouldest thus grieve more than those within, who are of the same lineage and of kindred blood with thee, and shouldst not live the same bright life which they, Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, live.' The indefinite pronoun ὅ, τι is occasioned by the negative preceding. In πρὸς ὅ τι, πρός corresponds to a long syllable, Ζεύς, in the antistrophe. Perhaps, πρός γ᾽ ὅ, τι? εἰ περισσά] Sc. ἐν τῷ λυπεῖσθαι. In distinguishing between Iphigeneia and Iphianassa, Sophocles is said to have followed the Cypria. 'Sophocles here seems to recognize the digamma in Fιφιάνασσα.' Paley.

κρυπτᾷ τ᾿ ἀχέων ἐν ἤβα ὄλβιος] And he whose fortunate youth is hidden out of the way of sorrow.' For the genitive, see Essay on L. § 8. p. 11, 2. Hermann says, Audacior quidem haec structura, sed amat talia Sophocles. Ejusdem modi est, quod statim dicit, Διὸς βήματι pro πομπῇ Διός.' Orestes is 'fortunate,' because his tranquil youth gives promise of final good fortune. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 695, 6, Ορέστης, ἦν γὰρ εὐβόλως ἔχων, | ἔξω κομίζων ὀλεθρίου πηλοῦ πόδα. Others take ἀχέων as a participle. But κρυπτᾷ without the genitive is poor, and the notion of Orestes sorrowing is out of place. The Chorus could not know of it, and if they did they would have suppressed the mention of it as inauspicious.

'Orestes, whom the land of this people, with her glory unimpaired, shall receive as the successor of his father's fame, sped hither by the kind will of Zeus.'

Διὸς εὔφρονι βήματι] ί.ε. Διὸς εὐφρόνως βήσαντος αὐτόν. The verbal has a causative meaning. See Essay on L. § 53 b. p. 98; or else a causal meaning is contained in the genitive. Ibid. § 9. p. 12 a. There is a correlation between κλεινά and εὐπατρίδαν, both being proleptic and denoting the consequence of the return of Orestes.

The mention of her brother gives a new direction to Electra's complaint. Cp. supr. 119, 20.

Cp. Ant. 815, 917-8.

τὸν . . πόνων] Oppressed with my troublous destiny that has no good issue.' The article as in O. T. 1153, τὸν γέροντά μ' αἰκίσῃ, -equivalent to a relative clause, ὅς ἐστιν ἀνήνυτος, ἀνήνυτον, Accomplishing nothing,' i. e. Suffered in vain. Cp. O. C. 1565, 6, πολλῶν γὰρ ἂν καὶ μάταν | πημάτων ἱκνουμένων, κ.τ.λ., and note.

ὧν τ᾽ ἔπαθ', ὧν τ᾽ ἐδάη] 'His wrongs, and the lesson he has been taught,' viz. by the Paedagogus ( supr. 3. 13. 14) and by the messages from Electra.

(1) For what missive that I send doth not return (ἔρχεται) discomfited? Others take the words to mean, (2) What message' (from Orestes) 'comes to me, whose promise does not fail?'

i e. in reply to my messages I always hear of his longing to come but never of his coming.

This line (see v. rr.) seems to have been interpolated so as to supplement the locative dative and the ellipse of ἐστίν. μέγας is the predicate. 'Zeus is still great in heaven.'

'Committing unto him thine exceeding indignation, be neither overburdened with enmity against thy foes, nor yet forget them;' i.e. Let the thought that Zeus will some day avenge thee serve to calm and moderate thy rage. The structure is paratactic (Essay on L. § 36. p. 68), for Without forgetting your enemies. be moderate in assailing them, and trust in the Divine vengeance.'

For Time is a god of easiness,' i.e. a god who makes things easy or possible. The meaning is, not that Time assuages sorrow, but that what at one time seems impossible may prove easily possible in the course of years. Cp. Plat. Rep. 6. 502 B, ὡς μὲν γὰρ χαλεπὸν σωθῆναι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ξυγχωροῦμεν, ὡς δὲ ἐν παντὶ τῷ χρόνῳ . . οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἶς σωθείη, ἔσθ' ὅστις ἀμφισβητήσει; Shak. Cor. 5. 3.61, Murdering impossibility, to make What cannot be slight work. For the personification, cp. Phil. 837, καιρὸς.. πάντων γνώμαν ἴσχων: supr. 76: and esp. Eur. Ion, 337, ἀργὸς ἡ θεός, sc. αἰδώς.

τὰν Κρῖσαν.. ἀκτάν] · Who dwells in Crisa, that pastoral shore-ward land. So Hermann. Others would read Κρίσας, οι Κρίσᾳ. 'Who dwells amid the shoreward-pastures of Crisa.'

He, Agamemnon's heir.. will yet turn unto his own, and so will he that reigns, a God, by Acheron.' ἀπερίτροπος is to be taken in a different sense with παῖς ᾿Αγαμεμνονίδας and with what follows. Or, what comes to the same thing, another verb must be supplied in thought with the second clause. Orestes shall return: Agamemnon shall regard his house and offspring. The derivation from περιτρέπω suggests the idea of a coming revolution, (1) in the action of Orestes, (2) in the awakening from apparent slumber and forgetfulness of the gods below, or of the spirit of Agamemnon.

Nor he who ruleth as a god beside the ghostly river.' Cp. supr. 110. (1) The subject of this line has commonly been supposed to be Hades. Another interpretation has occurred independently to Mr. Blaydes, Prof. Paley, and the present editor, viz. (2) that θεὸς may refer to Agamemnon as a δαίμων. In support of this, cp. supr. 150 Νιόβα, σὲ δ' ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν, infr. 839-41 (of Amphiaraus), νῦν ὑπὸ γαίας . . ἀνάσσει, and note; and the following places of the Choephori:-157, σέβας, ὦ δέσποτ᾽: 356, 7, κατὰ χθονὸς ἐμπρέπων | σεμνότιμος ἀνάκτωρ : 475-8, θεῶν τῶν κατὰ γᾶς ὅδ᾽ ὕμνος. ΧΟ. ἀλλὰ κλύοντες, μάκαρες χθόνιοι, | τήσδε κατευχῆς πέμπετ᾿ ἀρωγὴν | παισὶν προφρόνως ἐπὶ νίκῃ : also Persae, 157, θεοῦ μὲν εὐνάτειρα Περσῶν, θεοῦ δὲ καὶ μήτηρ ἔφυς: 644, Περσᾶν Σουσιγενή θεόν, -although the analogy in these two instances is weakened by the words being put into the mouths of Persians; but see also Ag. 1548, ἐπ᾿ ἀνδρὶ θείῳ. Agamemnon, in Aesch. Ag. 925, says to Clytemnestra, λέγω κατ᾿ ἄνδρα, μὴ θεόν, σέβειν ἐμέ. But that is in his lifetime. And considering the honours that are paid at his tomb, and the tone in which he is spoken of by Electra throughout, the chorus may speak of him to her as θεός by an allowable hyperbole, especially if the word is taken, not with the article as subject of the sentence, but as supplementary predicate with ἀνάσσων. If this hypothesis is not admissible, the god intended is probably not Pluto, but (3) Hermes. Cp. supr. 111.

But my life hath in great part already passed from me and left me hopeless and forlorn.' The life is separable from the person, cp. О. Т. 612, τὸν παρ᾽ αὑτῷ βίοτον. ἀνέλπιστος is proleptic, and in idea belongs, by hypallage, to ἐμέ, -' is passed without bringing me any hope.' The exact sense of ὁ πολύς is not to be pressed. The article is deictic, as in Aj. 1149, τὴν πολλὴν βοήν: infr. 931.

οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ] 'And I am no longer of any avail. Cp. Thuc. 2. 47. § 5, οὔτε γὰρ ἰατροὶ ἤρκουν.

ἄνευ τοκέων] Her father is dead, and her mother is worse than lost to her.

τοκέων occurs in one MS. (Vind. 281) and is adopted by Nauck. Cp. supr. 164, ἄτεκνος. It may be thought more suited to Electra's age to feel the want of children than of parents. But her filial piety is the chief motive of the play.

ἁπερεί τις .. πατρός] ‘Like some despised sojourner, I tend the chambers of my father's house." Cp. Aesch. Cho. 84, δμωαὶ γυναῖκες, δωμάτων εὐθήμονες. For the absolute use of ἀνάξιος, cp. Phil. 439, ἀναξίου.. φωτός, 'A fellow of no esteem.' Hermann joined this word with what follows it ('I am undeservedly made to do menial service'), on the ground that an ἔποικος was ἀναξία as a matter of course. But, on the other hand, the addition of ἀναξία to the bare statement οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους πατρός, certainly weakens the expression, while the pleonasm in ἔποικος ἀναξία is rather emphatic, and is supported, as Ellendt pointed out, by the Homeric expression, ὡσεί τιν᾿ ἀτίμητον μετανάστην, ΙΙ. 9. 648, 16. 59.

ὧδε . . ἀεικεῖ . . στολᾷ] Electra is a woman speaking to women. Cp. Aesch. Pers. 846-8, (῎Ατοσσα.) μάλιστα δ᾽ ἥδε συμφορὰ δάκνει, | ἀτιμίαν γε παιδὸς ἀμφὶ σώματι | ἐσθημάτων κλύουσαν, ἥ νιν ἀμπέχει.

κεναῖς δ᾽ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις] And the table at which I stand is bare.' Hermann had conjectured ἀμφίσταμαι, which restores the metre, before he observed that it was quoted by Eustathius. Cp. Pind. Ol. 1. 80, τραπέζαισι .. ἀμφί, and, for the thought, Od. 20. 259, δίφρον ἀεικέλιον καταθεὶς ὀλίγην τε τράπεζαν : infr. 361, 2, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω καὶ περιρρείτω βίος : Pind. Ο1. 2. 116, κεινὰν παρὰ δίαιταν.

οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά] 'Piteous were thy tones at the time of thy father's return.' In the Agamemnon of Aeschylus, the Watchman and the Chorus, i. e. the household and the people, express a vague misgiving, which is not sufficiently definite to enable them to warn Agamemnon. Sophocles here, as elsewhere, concentrates in an individual what in Aeschylus was general. It is quite consistent with his conception of the character of Electra, that, young as she then was, and totally unable, both from her inexperience ( infr. 1024) and her dependent position, of averting the harm which she may have vaguely foreseen, she had a sufficiently clear perception of the situation to be sad instead of joyful on the occasion of her father's coming home, and her sadness would be aggravated by her helplessness :-ἐπεὶ ἐχθίστη ὀδύνη πολλὰ φρονέοντα μηδενὸς κρατέειν. Her friends, of the same age with her, observed this, and in recollecting it, now understand the cause. ooi is easily supplied, both because the whole of Electra's last speech refers to herself, and because σοί occurs immediately afterwards as an ethical' dative. πατρός is no less easily supplied with νόστοις for a similar reason, both because the word occurs three lines above, and because it is implied in πατρώαις in the following line. νόστοις is dative of the occasion, E. on L. § 11. p. 18. For the sense, cp. Aesch. Pers. 935, 6, πρόσφθογγόν σοι νόστου τὰν | κακοφάτιδα βοάν, κακομέλετον ἰὰν | Μαριανδυνοῦ θρηνητῆρος | πέμψω πολύδακρυν ἰακχάν.

οἰκτρὰ δ'.. πλαγά] 'And piteous was thy crying where thy father lay, when thou hadst seen launched the death-stroke of the solid brazen axe.' If Sophocles (see Introduction) follows the form of the legend known to us from Homer, according to which Agamemnon was slain at a feast given in honour of his return, ἐν κοίταις probably means, (1) 'Where he lay in death.' And this is supported by 203. The poet might, no doubt, have so far modified the legend as to suppose Agamemnon after the feast to have been lured by Clytemnestra to his chamber and there slain. ἐν κοίταις might then belong to the relative clause (ὅτε ἐν κ.), and mean 'in his chamber. But this is inconsistent with 203 and 270. For (1) cp. Aesch. Ag. 1494, 1518, Eur. Med. 437, O. C. 1707. The bath, and the entangling garment, which are so prominent in the Agamemnon and Choephori, are in any case not thought of here. Some (including Wecklein) understand aὐδά in both clauses of the death-shriek of the king. σοι (Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19 f.) marks that Electra was the chief sufferer from all that happened. This explanation is rightly defended by Triclinius. Cp. Tennyson's Elaine, -Through her own side she felt the sharp lance go.' Hermann, understanding aὐδά of the people's voice, rejects σοι and reads οἱ instead. The hiatus, which he defends from Trach. 650, ὁ δὲ οἱ φίλα δάμαρ (cp. supr. 157), is still exceptional, but a stronger objection to the removal of σοί is that the connection between this speech and Electra's is thus destroyed.

Sophocles seems here to have in his mind the passage of the Agamemnon where Clytemnestra impersonates the Alastor of Atreus, Aesch. Agam. 1500-1504: Craft pointed out the way, lust murdered him. Between them they produced a monstrous birth, whether he who did this thing were a god or one of mortal mould.' μορφάν the immediate agent and the act itself, as an embodied horror, seem to be confused. See E. on L. § 48. p. 92.

In supr. 185-92, Electra refused consolation and drew attention to her hopeless misery. The women then call to mind how they had pitied her at the time of her father's death. This opens anew the flood-gates of her sorrow. Cp. Ant. 857 foll., ἔψαυσας ἀλγεινοτάτας ἐμοὶ μερίμνας, κ.τ.λ.

δείπνων] The feast which preceded the murder, according to Od. 4. 535. Agamemnon (see next note) is supposed to have been murdered at table : ὡσεί τε κατέκτανε βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ (Od. 1. c.).

For ἄχθη, the grammatical antecedent, the more definite θάνατοι is substituted and taken into the relative clause. The horror of that feast-I mean the death which followed it.'

διδύμαιν χειροῖν] ‘Effected by joint violence' of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

αΐ.. πρόδοτον] 'That wrought treason on my life and ruined me.'

ois refers to the antecedent implied in χειροῖν, viz. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

'And never may they have any good of their magnificence.' Cp. infr. 267-281: Od. 17. 244, 5, τῷ κέ τοι ἀγλαΐας γε διασκεδάσειεν ἁπάσας, | τὰς νῦν ὑβρίζων φορέεις.

'Seest thou not through what courses thou hast fallen thus cruelly into calamities that come home to thee?' or, with a slightly different shade of meaning, 'which thou hast brought upon thyself.' Cp. Aj. 260: Pind. Nem. 1. 81, τὸ γὰρ οἰκεῖον πιέζει πάνθ᾽ ὁμῶς. ἐξ οἵων is otherwise explained by one Scholiast :-ἐξ οἴων ἀγαθῶν εἰς τί ἀνιαρὸν ἐλήλυθας. Cp. infr. 392. But it is more natural that the Chorus should remind her of the cause of the persecution she is undergoing.

σᾷ . . πολέμους] Ever creating new conflicts for thy burdened soul.'

τὰ δὲ.. πλάθειν] ‘But strife with the powerful is hopeless.' The vague rá is to be supplemented from what precedes and follows,- sc. τὰ πολεμούμενα, οι τὰ ἐρίδος ἐχόμενα. Cp. Plat. Symp. 206 C, ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐν τῷ ἀναρμόστῳ, -sc. κυούμενα καὶ γεννώμενα, - Pind. Nem. 10. 135, χαλεπὰ δ' ἔρις ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλεῖν κρεσσόνων: ΟΙ. 11. 48, νεῖκος δὲ κρεσσόνων ἀποθέσθ᾽ ἄπορον. πλάθειν, sc. τοῖς δυνατοῖς, is epexegetic infinitive.

The Chorus (l. 214) have reminded Electra of the violent words by which she has earned her present misery. She replies that such words were wrung from her by a fearful cause, viz. by the murder of her father and the subsequent conduct of the murderers. Cp. infr. 271 foll.

'I know, I am conscious of my passion, viz. that it is inordinate. Cp. infr. 617, 8, μανθάνω δ᾽ ὁθούνεκα | ἔξωρα πράσσω κοὐκ ἐμοὶ προσεικότα : 1011, κατάσχες ὀργήν.

But amid deeds of horror I will not curb or moderate these my calamitous ways' (as ye call them). She echoes the words of the Chorus (l. 215) in a different sense. They meant by οἰκείας ἄτας, 'self-caused calamities:' -she means by ταύτας άτας, 'this infatuate,' or 'fatal,' course,' of which by implication they have accused her.

Electra relapses into despair. If even these Argive women, who know her so well, cannot give her a word of comfort, whence is it to come? 'At whose mouth, then, kind band of friends, can I hope to hear a word of comfort, prompted by seasonable thought?' For the uncommon dative, see E. on L. § 13. p. 20.

'Press not on me with your consolations,' and cp. Eur. El. 1182, διὰ πυρὸς ἔμολον ἁ τάλαινα ματρὶ τᾷδ᾽.

For ye shall find this sorrow irremoveable.'

Like a true-hearted mother.' For this form of expressing sympathy from one woman to another, cp. Trach. 526, ἐγὼ δὲ μάτηρ μὲν οἷα φράζω.

ἄταν ἄταις] Cp. Αj. 866, πόνῳ πόνον, and note.

καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ;] 'And is not my trouble infinite?' (So the Scholiast, -πρὸς γὰρ ἄμετρον κακὸν καὶ ἀμέτρων δεῖται θρήνων.) Cp. infr. 1249, 50, ἁμέτερον οἷον ἔφυ κακόν. For the meaning, cp. Shak. Ant. and Cleo. 4. 15. 4, But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, Proportioned to our cause, must be as great As that which makes it.'

ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν] To treat the dead with forgetfulness.' E. on L. § 19. p. 27.

ἐν τίνι . . ἀνθρώπων] 'Where amongst men hath such a mind sprung up?'

τούτοις] Sc. ἐν οἷς τοῦτο ἔβλαστε, the indefinite plural taking the place of the indefinite singular. E. on L. § 20. p. 31. 3. Cp. Hdt. 9. 79. § 3. ἐγὼ δ᾽ οὖν τούτου εἵνεκα μήτε Αἰγινήτῃσι ἅδοιμι, μήτε τοῖσι ταῦτα ἀρέσκεται· ἀποχρᾷ δ᾽ ἐμοί, Σπαρτιήτῃσι ἀρεσκόμενον, ὅσια μὲν ποιέειν, ὅσια δὲ καὶ λέγειν.

εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ] · If I have near me any good,' = εἴ τι χρηστὸν πρόσκειταί μοι : Ε. on L. § 42. p. 80 β. Cp. infr. 1040, ᾧ σὺ πρόσκεισαι κακῷ.

γονέων .. γόων] • Holding back the wings of my shrill wailings from doing honour to my sire.' Each fresh utterance of the unabating sorrow is imagined as a bird that is eager to fly. ἐκτίμους is predicative and proleptic, = ὥστε ἔξω εἶναι τοῦ τιμᾶν. See E. on L. $ 54. p. 100 d, § 10. p. 16 f., § 23. p. 38 81, § 38. p. 71.

ya] Prof. Jebb reads ya, i.e. 'buried,' adding, 'it is difficult to believe that yῆ could stand for σποδός.' But the expression is hyperbolical-' mere clay.' Cp. ψήγμα in Aesch. Ag. 442.

καὶ τὸ σὸν.. καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς] 'More in care for thee than for myself. This is really the meaning, although, by the usual Greek litotes, 'as much as' is put for more than.' The most important matter is put first. E. on L. § 41. p. 78.

ἑψόμεσθ'] Cp. infr. 1052.

I am ashamed of seeming to you, as I must seem, to be too impatient in multiplying lamentations.' δοκῶ is indicative.

πατρῷ᾽ ὁρῶσα πήματ'] 'Seeing woful things performed against her sire.' Electra's filial affection for Agamemnon is kept prominently before us as her chief motive; and every insult to his memory, including her own sufferings, is regarded by her as part of the wrong done to him. πατρῷα is at first general, but in the antecedent to a it becomes individual, -' of my father.'

θάλλοντα .. καταφθίνονθ'] “Not lessening but increasing.'

ᾖ.. συμβέβηκεν] 'Since, first of all, I have found in my own mother the deepest cause for hatred.' This (Paley, etc.) is better than my mother is my enemy.'

κἀκ τῶνδ᾽ ἄρχομαι] ‘And I am in subjection to them. Cp. O. C. 67, ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἄστυ βασιλέως τάδ' ἄρχεται.

ἔνθ᾽ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν] Here again Sophocles seems to follow the account that is given in the fourth book of the Odyssey, ll. 529 foll., according to which Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon at or after a banquet. Hence he is said to have destroyed him beside the hearth. Cp. infr. 1495.

Further, when I see their crowning insult, when I see, forsooth, the author of his death reclining on my father's couch, beside my wretched mother, if so I must call this woman, when cohabiting with him!' The clause τὸν αὐτοφόντην κ.τ.λ. is in the same construction with ὕβριν, governed by ἴδω. ἡμίν is ethical dative, and has a sarcastic force; i.e. That is what I am compelled to look upon.' The participle (κείμενον) which should have gone with ἐν κοίτῃ is absorbed and resumed in συγκοιμωμένην.

Electra. Lewis Campbell. ed. Lewis Campbell. Oxford. 1879.

Current edition Experimental

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (English) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 154 focus

ἄχος ἐφάνη βροτῶν,

πρὸς †ὅ τι σὺ τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά,
155

οἷς ὁμόθεν εἶ καὶ γονᾷ ξύναιμος,

οἷα Χρυσόθεμις ζώει καὶ ᾿Ιφιάνασσα,

κρυπτᾷ τ᾿ ἀχέων ἐν ἥβᾳ

ὄλβιος, ὃν ὁ κλεινὰ à in litura of 2 or 3 letters, L. ἀκλεινά A.

γᾶ (α)γαῖ L. ποτὲ Μυκηναίων
160

δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν, Διὸς εὔφρονι

βήματι μολόντα τάνδε γᾶν Ὀρέσταν.

ΗΛ.

ὅν γ' ἐγὼ ὃν ἔγωγ' L. ὃν ἐγὼ Pal. Herm. corr. ἀκάματα προσμένουσ᾽, ἄτεκνος,

τάλαιν' ἀνύμφευτος αἰὲν οἰχνῶ,
165

δάκρυσι μυδαλέα, τὸν ἀνήνυτον

οἶτον ἔχουσα κακῶν· ὁ δὲ λάθεται ὧδ᾽ ἐλάθεται LL2 pr. ὁ δὲ λάθεται A. ὁ δ᾽ ἐλάθετο Γ.

ὧν τ᾽ ἔπαθ᾽ ἔπαθεν L pr. L²T Pal. ἔπαθ' CA. ὧν τ᾽ ἐδάη. τί γὰρ οὐκ ἐμοὶ

ἔρχεται ἀγγελίας ἀπατώμενον ;

ἀεὶ αἰεί MSS. Brunck corr. μὲν γὰρ ποθεῖ,

ποθῶν δ᾽ οὐκ ἀξιοῖ φανῆναι.

ΧΟ.
ἀντ. β΄.

θάρσει μοι, θάρσει, τέκνον.

ἔτι ἔστι CAFL² Pal. μέγας οὐρανῷ ἐν οὐρανῷ MSS. Heath corr.

Ζεύς, ὃς ἐφορᾷ πάντα καὶ κρατύνει·
175

ᾧ τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ χόλον νέμουσα

μήθ᾽ οἷς ἐχθαίρεις ὑπεράχθεο μήτ᾽ ἐπιλάθου.

χρόνος γὰρ εὐμαρὴς θεός.

οὔτε γὰρ ὁ τὰν Κρῖσαν
180

βουνόμον βούνομον L. βουνόμον C2A. βουνόμενον L2. ἔχων ἀκτὰν

παῖς Ἀγαμεμνονίδας ἀγαμεμνίδας L. ἀπερίτροπος,

οὔθ᾽ ὁ παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα θεὸς ἀνάσσων.

ΗΛ,

ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη

βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ·
185

ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ἃς φίλος οὔτις ἀνὴρ ὑπερίσταται,

ἀλλ᾽ ἁπερεί τις ἔποικος ἀναξία

οἰκονομῶ οἰκονομῶ(ν) L. θαλάμους πατρός, ὧδε μὲν
190

ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ συστολαι L. συστολαί C2 or 3.,

κεναῖς δ᾽ ἀμφίσταμαι ἀφίσταμαι L. ἀμφίσταμαι L2 Pal. V M. Eustath. ἐφίσταμαι V3. ἐφίσταμαι Cor7 Ar Vat. ac M². τραπέζαις.

ΧΟ.
στρ. γ΄.

οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά,

οἰκτρὰ δ᾽ ἐν κοίταις πατρώαις

ὅτε σοι παγχάλκων ἀνταία
195

γενύων ὡρμάθη πλαγά.

δόλος ἦν ὁ φράσας, ἔρος ἔρως LFL2 Pal. V. ἔpos A Vat. ac. ὁ κτείνας,

δεινὰν δεινῶς προφυτεύσαντες προφητεύσαντες LF Pal. (gl. προβουλεύσαντες) προφυτεύσαντες C.

μορφάν, εἴτ᾿ οὖν θεὸς εἴτε βροτῶν

ἦν ὁ ταῦτα πράσσων.
200

ΗΛ.

ὦ πασᾶν κείνα πλέον ἁμέρα ἁμερᾶν L. ἁμέρα A.

ἐλθοῦσ᾽ ἐχθίστα δή μοι·

ὦ νύξ, ὦ δείπνων ἀρρήτων

ἔκπαγλ᾽ ἄχθη·

τοὺς ἐμὸς ἴδε εἶδε LAL Pal. οἶδε Γ. Brunck corr. πατὴρ
205

θανάτους αἰκεῖς ἀϊκεῖς L. Herm. corr. αξικεῖσ AFL² Pal. διδύμαιν χειροῖν χεροῖν LA Pal.,

αἳ τὸν ἐμὸν εἶλον βίον

πρόδοτον, αἵ μ᾿ αἴ μ᾿ ἐμὲ? pr. L. Brunck corr. ἀπώλεσαν ἀπώλεσαν L.·

οἷς θεὸς ὁ μέγας Ὀλύμπιος

ποίνιμα πάθεα παθεῖν πόροι,
210

μηδέ ποτ᾿ ἀγλαΐας ἀποναίατο

τοιάδ᾽ ἀνύσαντες ἔργα.

ΧΟ.
ἀντ. γ΄.

φράζου μὴ πόρσω φωνεῖν.

οὐ γνώμαν ἴσχεις ἐξ οἵων

τὰ παρόντ᾽ οἰκείας εἰς ἄτας
215

ἐμπίπτεις οὕτως αἰκῶς ἀεικῶς LA Brunck corr.;

πολὺ γάρ τι κακῶν ὑπερεκτήσω,

σᾷ δυσθύμῳ τίκτουσ᾽ αἰεὶ ἀεὶ LΓ. αἰεὶ A.

ψυχᾷ πολέμους· τὰ δὲ τοῖς δυνατοῖς

οὐκ ἐριστὰ πλάθειν.
220

ΗΛ.

δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην, δεινοῖς ἐνδεινοῖς . . ἐνδεινοῖς MSS. Brunck corr.·

ἔξοιδ', οὐ λάθει μ᾽ ὀργά ὀργᾶι L pr. οὐργὰ Γ..

ἀλλ᾽ ἐν γὰρ δεινοῖς οὐ σχήσω

ταύτας ἄτας ταύτας ἄτας C².,

ὄφρα με βίος ἔχῃ.
225

τίνι γάρ ποτ' ἄν om. LL. ἂν AΓ., ὦ φιλία γενέθλα γένεθλα L Pal. γενέθλα CA.,

πρόσφορον ἀκούσαιμ᾽ ἔπος,

τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια;

ἄνετέ μ', ἄνετε, παράγοροι.

τάδε γὰρ ἄλυτα κεκλήσεται.
230

οὐδέ ποτ᾿ ἐκ καμάτων ἀποπαύσομαι

ἀνάριθμος ὧδε θρήνων.

ΧΟ.
ἐπ.

ἀλλ᾽ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ εὔνοιάν L pr. εὐνοίαι C2A. εὐνοία Pal. γ' αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σ᾽ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

ΗΛ.

καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ; φέρε,

πῶς ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν καλόν;

ἐν τίνι τοῦτ᾽ ἔβλαστ᾽ ἔβλαστεν LFL². ἔβλαστ᾽ A Pal. (gl. ἐνομοθετήθη). ἀνθρώπων ;

μήτ' εἴην ἔντιμος τούτοις,

μήτ', εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ,
240

ξυνναίοιμ' ξυναίοιμι LF. ξυνναίοιμι C2. ξυνναίοιμ' A. ξυνέοιμι gl. συνδιάγω Pal. εὔκηλος, γονέων

ἐκτίμους ἴσχουσα ἴσχυουσα? C. ἴσχουσα C2. πτέρυγας

ὀξυτόνων γόων.

εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν θανὼν γᾶ τε καὶ οὐδὲν ὢν

κείσεται τάλας,
245

οἱ δὲ μὴ πάλιν

δώσουσ᾽ ἀντιφόνους δίκας,

ἔρροι τ᾽ ἂν αἰδὼς

ἁπάντων τ᾽ εὐσέβεια σέβεια, εὐσεβεία L Pal. εὐσεβεία CA. θνατῶν.

ΧΟ.

ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὸ σὸν σπεύδουσ᾽ ἅμα

καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ καλῶς

λέγω, σὺ νίκα· σοὶ γὰρ ἐψόμεσθ᾽ ἅμα.

ΗΛ.

αἰσχύνομαι μέν, ὦ γυναῖκες, εἰ δοκῶ

πολλοῖσι θρήνοις δυσφορεῖν ὑμῖν ἄγαν.
255

ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία γὰρ ταῦτ᾽ ἀναγκάζει με δρᾶν,

σύγγνωτε, πῶς γὰρ ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή,

πατρῷ ὁρῶσα πήματ', οὐ δρῴη τάδ᾽ ἄν,

ἁγὼ κατ᾿ ἡμαρ καὶ κατ᾿ εὐφρόνην ἀεὶ

θάλλοντα μᾶλλον ἢ καταφθíνονθ᾽ ὁρῶ;
260

ᾗ πρῶτα μὲν τὰ om. L add C². μητρός, ἥ μ᾿ ἐγείνατο,

ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν· εἶτα δώμασιν

ἐν τοῖς ἐμαυτῆς τοῖς φονεῦσι τοῦ πατρὸς

ξύνειμι, κἀκ τῶνδ᾽ ἄρχομαι κἀκ τῶνδέ μοι

λαβεῖν β from θ L pr. λαθεῖν Pal. pr. θ' ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ τητᾶσθαι πέλει.
265

ἔπειτα ποίας ἡμέρας δοκεῖς μ' ἄγειν,

ὅταν θρόνοις Αἴγισθον ἐνθακοῦντ᾽ ἴδω

τοῖσιν πατρῴοις, εἰσίδω δ᾽ ἐσθήματα

φοροῦντ᾽ ἐκείνῳ ταὐτά, καὶ παρεστίους

σπένδοντα λοιβὰς ἔνθ᾽ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν,
270

ἴδω δὲ τούτων τὴν τελευταίαν ὕβριν,

τὸν αὐτοφόντην γρ. αὐτοέντην C3. ἡμὶν ἐν κοίτῃ πατρὸς

ξὺν τῇ ταλαίνῃ μητρί, μητέρ' εἰ χρεὼν χρεῶν L. χρεὼν A.

ταύτην προσαυδᾶν τῷδε συγκοιμωμένην·

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 251-471 focus

Χορός

ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὸ σὸν σπεύδουσʼ ἅμα

καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ καλῶς

λέγω, σὺ νίκα· σοὶ γὰρ ἑψόμεσθʼ ἅμα.

Ἠλέκτρα

αἰσχύνομαι μέν, ὦ γυναῖκες, εἰ δοκῶ

πολλοῖσι θρήνοις δυσφορεῖν ὑμῖν ἄγαν.
255

ἀλλʼ ἡ βία γὰρ ταῦτʼ ἀναγκάζει με δρᾶν,

σύγγνωτε· πῶς γὰρ ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή,

πατρῷʼ ὁρῶσα πήματʼ, οὐ δρῴη τάδʼ ἄν;

ἁγὼ κατʼ ἦμαρ καὶ κατʼ εὐφρόνην ἀεὶ

θάλλοντα μᾶλλον ἢ καταφθίνονθʼ ὁρῶ·
260

ᾗ πρῶτα μὲν τὰ μητρός, ἥ μʼ ἐγείνατο,

ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν· εἶτα δώμασιν

ἐν τοῖς ἐμαυτῆς τοῖς φονεῦσι τοῦ πατρὸς

ξύνειμι, κἀκ τῶνδʼ ἄρχομαι κἀκ τῶνδέ μοι

λαβεῖν θʼ ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ τητᾶσθαι πέλει.
265

ἔπειτα ποίας ἡμέρας δοκεῖς μʼ ἄγειν,

ὅταν θρόνοις Αἴγισθον ἐνθακοῦντʼ ἴδω

τοῖσιν πατρῴοις, εἰσίδω δʼ ἐσθήματα

φοροῦντʼ ἐκείνῳ ταὐτὰ καὶ παρεστίους

σπένδοντα λοιβὰς ἔνθʼ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν,
270

ἴδω δὲ τούτων τὴν τελευταίαν ὕβριν,

τὸν αὐτοέντην ἡμὶν ἐν κοίτῃ πατρὸς

ξὺν τῇ ταλαίνῃ μητρί, μητέρʼ εἰ χρεὼν

ταύτην προσαυδᾶν τῷδε συγκοιμωμένην·

ἡ δʼ ὧδε τλήμων ὥστε τῷ μιάστορι
275

ξύνεστʼ, ἐρινὺν οὔτινʼ ἐκφοβουμένη·

ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις,

εὑροῦσʼ ἐκείνην ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ τότε

πατέρα τὸν ἀμὸν ἐκ δόλου κατέκτανεν,

ταύτῃ χοροὺς ἵστησι καὶ μηλοσφαγεῖ
280

θεοῖσιν ἔμμηνʼ ἱερὰ τοῖς σωτηρίοις.

282

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐγὼ δʼ ὁρῶσʼ ἡ δύσμορος κατὰ στέγας

κλαίω, τέτηκα, κἀπικωκύω πατρὸς

τὴν δυστάλαιναν δαῖτʼ ἐπωνομασμένην

αὐτὴ πρὸς αὑτήν. οὐδὲ γὰρ κλαῦσαι πάρα
285

τοσόνδʼ ὅσον μοι θυμὸς ἡδονὴν φέρει.

αὕτη γὰρ ἡ λόγοισι γενναία γυνὴ

φωνοῦσα τοιάδʼ ἐξονειδίζει κακά·

ὦ δύσθεον μίσημα, σοὶ μόνῃ πατὴρ

τέθνηκεν; ἄλλος δʼ οὔτις ἐν πένθει βροτῶν;
290

κακῶς ὄλοιο, μηδέ σʼ ἐκ γόων ποτὲ

τῶν νῦν ἀπαλλάξειαν οἱ κάτω θεοί.

τάδʼ ἐξυβρίζει· πλὴν ὅταν κλύῃ τινὸς

ἥξοντʼ Ὀρέστην· τηνικαῦτα δʼ ἐμμανὴς

βοᾷ παραστᾶσʼ· οὐ σύ μοι τῶνδʼ αἰτία;
295

οὐ σὸν τόδʼ ἐστὶ τοὔργον, ἥτις ἐκ χερῶν

κλέψασʼ Ὀρέστην τῶν ἐμῶν ὑπεξέθου;

ἀλλʼ ἴσθι τοι τίσουσά γʼ ἀξίαν δίκην.

τοιαῦθʼ ὑλακτεῖ, σὺν δʼ ἐποτρύνει πέλας

ὁ κλεινὸς αὐτῇ ταὐτὰ νυμφίος παρών,
300

ὁ πάντʼ ἄναλκις οὗτος, ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη,

ὁ σὺν γυναιξὶ τὰς μάχας ποιούμενος.

ἐγὼ δʼ Ὀρέστην τῶνδε προσμένουσʼ ἀεὶ

παυστῆρʼ ἐφήξειν ἡ τάλαινʼ ἀπόλλυμαι.

μέλλων γὰρ ἀεὶ δρᾶν τι τὰς οὔσας τέ μου
305

καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας ἐλπίδας διέφθορεν.

ἐν οὖν τοιούτοις οὔτε σωφρονεῖν, φίλαι,

οὔτʼ εὐσεβεῖν πάρεστιν· ἀλλʼ ἔν τοι κακοῖς

πολλή ʼστʼ ἀνάγκη κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά.

310

Χορός

φέρʼ εἰπέ, πότερον ὄντος Αἰγίσθου πέλας
310

λέγεις τάδʼ ἡμῖν ἢ βεβῶτος ἐκ δόμων;

Ἠλέκτρα

ἦ κάρτα· μὴ δόκει μʼ ἄν, εἴπερ ἦν πέλας,

θυραῖον οἰχνεῖν· νῦν δʼ ἀγροῖσι τυγχάνει.

Χορός

ἦ κἂν ἐγὼ θαρσοῦσα μᾶλλον ἐς λόγους

τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην, εἴπερ ὧδε ταῦτʼ ἔχει;
315

Ἠλέκτρα

ὡς νῦν ἀπόντος ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον;

Χορός

καὶ δή σʼ ἐρωτῶ· τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής,

ἥξοντος ἢ μέλλοντος; εἰδέναι θέλω.

Ἠλέκτρα

φησίν γε· φάσκων δʼ οὐδὲν ὧν λέγει ποεῖ.

Χορός

φιλεῖ γὰρ ὀκνεῖν πρᾶγμʼ ἀνὴρ πράσσων μέγα.
320

Ἠλέκτρα

καὶ μὴν ἔγωγʼ ἔσωσʼ ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ὄκνῳ.

Χορός

θάρσει· πέφυκεν ἐσθλός, ὥστʼ ἀρκεῖν φίλοις.

Ἠλέκτρα

πέποιθʼ, ἐπεί τἂν οὐ μακρὰν ἔζων ἐγώ.

Χορός

μὴ νῦν ἔτʼ εἴπῃς μηδέν· ὡς δόμων ὁρῶ

τὴν σὴν ὅμαιμον ἐκ πατρὸς ταὐτοῦ φύσιν,
325

Χρυσόθεμιν, ἔκ τε μητρός, ἐντάφια χεροῖν

φέρουσαν, οἷα τοῖς κάτω νομίζεται.

Χρυσόθεμις

τίνʼ αὖ σὺ τήνδε πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις

ἐλθοῦσα φωνεῖς, ὦ κασιγνήτη, φάτιν,

κοὐδʼ ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ διδαχθῆναι θέλεις
330

θυμῷ ματαίῳ μὴ χαρίζεσθαι κενά;

καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γʼ οἶδα κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι

ἀλγῶ ʼπὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν· ὥστʼ ἄν, εἰ σθένος

λάβοιμι, δηλώσαιμʼ ἂν οἷʼ αὐτοῖς φρονῶ.

νῦν δʼ ἐν κακοῖς μοι πλεῖν ὑφειμένῃ δοκεῖ,
335

καὶ μὴ δοκεῖν μὲν δρᾶν τι, πημαίνειν δὲ μή·

τοιαῦτα δʼ ἄλλα καὶ σὲ βούλομαι ποεῖν.

καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον οὐχ ᾗ ʼγὼ λέγω,

ἀλλʼ ᾗ σὺ κρίνεις· εἰ δʼ ἐλευθέραν με δεῖ

ζῆν, τῶν κρατούντων ἐστὶ πάντʼ ἀκουστέα.
340

341

Ἠλέκτρα

δεινόν γέ σʼ οὖσαν πατρὸς οὗ σὺ παῖς ἔφυς,

κείνου λελῆσθαι, τῆς δὲ τικτούσης μέλειν.

ἅπαντα γάρ σοι τἀμὰ νουθετήματα

κείνης διδακτά, κοὐδὲν ἐκ σαυτῆς λέγεις.

ἔπειθʼ ἑλοῦ γε θάτερʼ, ἢ φρονεῖν κακῶς
345

ἢ τῶν φίλων φρονοῦσα μὴ μνήμην ἔχειν·

ἥτις λέγεις μὲν ἀρτίως ὡς, εἰ λάβοις

σθένος, τὸ τούτων μῖσος ἐκδείξειας ἄν,

ἐμοῦ δὲ πατρὶ πάντα τιμωρουμένης

οὔτε ξυνέρδεις τήν τε δρῶσαν ἐκτρέπεις.
350

οὐ ταῦτα πρὸς κακοῖσι δειλίαν ἔχει;

ἐπεὶ δίδαξον, ἢ μάθʼ ἐξ ἐμοῦ, τί μοι

κέρδος γένοιτʼ ἂν τῶνδε ληξάσῃ γόων.

οὐ ζῶ; κακῶς μέν, οἶδʼ, ἐπαρκούντως δʼ ἐμοί.

λυπῶ δὲ τούτους, ὥστε τῷ τεθνηκότι
355

τιμὰς προσάπτειν, εἴ τις ἔστʼ ἐκεῖ χάρις.

σὺ δʼ ἡμὶν ἡ μισοῦσα μισεῖς μὲν λόγῳ,

ἔργῳ δὲ τοῖς φονεῦσι τοῦ πατρὸς ξύνει.

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἄν ποτʼ, οὐδʼ εἴ μοι τὰ σὰ

μέλλοι τις οἴσειν δῶρʼ, ἐφʼ οἷσι νῦν χλιδᾷς,
360

τούτοις ὑπεικάθοιμι· σοὶ δὲ πλουσία

τράπεζα κείσθω καὶ περιρρείτω βίος.

ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἔστω τοὐμὲ μὴ λυπεῖν μόνον

βόσκημα· τῆς σῆς δʼ οὐκ ἐρῶ τιμῆς τυχεῖν,

οὐδʼ ἂν σύ, σώφρων γʼ οὖσα. νῦν δʼ ἐξὸν πατρὸς
365

πάντων ἀρίστου παῖδα κεκλῆσθαι, καλοῦ

τῆς μητρός· οὕτω γὰρ φανεῖ πλείστοις κακή,

θανόντα πατέρα καὶ φίλους προδοῦσα σούς.

369

Χορός

μηδὲν πρὸς ὀργήν, πρὸς θεῶν· ὡς τοῖς λόγοις

ἔνεστιν ἀμφοῖν κέρδος, εἰ σὺ μὲν μάθοις
370

τοῖς τῆσδε χρῆσθαι, τοῖς δὲ σοῖς αὕτη πάλιν.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ γυναῖκες, ἠθάς εἰμί πως

τῶν τῆσδε μύθων· οὐδʼ ἂν ἐμνήσθην ποτέ,

εἰ μὴ κακὸν μέγιστον εἰς αὐτὴν ἰὸν

ἤκουσʼ, ὃ ταύτην τῶν μακρῶν σχήσει γόων.
375

Ἠλέκτρα

φέρʼ εἰπὲ δὴ τὸ δεινόν· εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι

μεῖζόν τι λέξεις, οὐκ ἂν ἀντείποιμʼ ἔτι.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ ἐξερῶ σοι πᾶν ὅσον κάτοιδʼ ἐγώ.

μέλλουσι γάρ σʼ, εἰ τῶνδε μὴ λήξεις γόων,

ἐνταῦθα πέμψειν ἔνθα μή ποθʼ ἡλίου
380

φέγγος προσόψει, ζῶσα δʼ ἐν κατηρεφεῖ

στέγῃ χθονὸς τῆσδʼ ἐκτὸς ὑμνήσεις κακά.

πρὸς ταῦτα φράζου καί με μή ποθʼ ὕστερον

παθοῦσα μέμψῃ· νῦν γὰρ ἐν καλῷ φρονεῖν.

385

Ἠλέκτρα

ἦ ταῦτα δή με καὶ βεβούλευνται ποεῖν;
385

Χρυσόθεμις

μάλισθʼ· ὅταν περ οἴκαδʼ Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀλλʼ ἐξίκοιτο τοῦδέ γʼ οὕνεκʼ ἐν τάχει.

Χρυσόθεμις

τίνʼ, ὦ τάλαινα, τόνδʼ ἐπηράσω λόγον;

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, εἴ τι τῶνδε δρᾶν νοεῖ.

Χρυσόθεμις

ὅπως πάθῃς τί χρῆμα; ποῦ ποτʼ εἶ φρενῶν;
390

Ἠλέκτρα

ὅπως ἀφʼ ὑμῶν ὡς προσωτάτω φύγω.

Χρυσόθεμις

βίου δὲ τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μνείαν ἔχεις;

Ἠλέκτρα

καλὸς γὰρ οὑμὸς βίοτος ὥστε θαυμάσαι.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ ἦν ἄν, εἰ σύ γʼ εὖ φρονεῖν ἠπίστασο.

Ἠλέκτρα

μή μʼ ἐκδίδασκε τοῖς φίλοις εἶναι κακήν.
395

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ οὐ διδάσκω· τοῖς κρατοῦσι δʼ εἰκαθεῖν.

Ἠλέκτρα

σὺ ταῦτα θώπευʼ· οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις.

Χρυσόθεμις

καλόν γε μέντοι μὴ ʼξ ἀβουλίας πεσεῖν.

Ἠλέκτρα

πεσούμεθʼ, εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.

Χρυσόθεμις

πατὴρ δὲ τούτων, οἶδα, συγγνώμην ἔχει.
400

Ἠλέκτρα

ταῦτʼ ἐστὶ τἄπη πρὸς κακῶν ἐπαινέσαι.

Χρυσόθεμις

σὺ δʼ οὐχὶ πείσει καὶ συναινέσεις ἐμοί;

Ἠλέκτρα

οὐ δῆτα· μή πω νοῦ τοσόνδʼ εἴην κενή.

Χρυσόθεμις

χωρήσομαί τἄρʼ οἷπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ποῖ δʼ ἐμπορεύει; τῷ φέρεις τάδʼ ἔμπυρα;
405

Χρυσόθεμις

μήτηρ με πέμπει πατρὶ τυμβεῦσαι χοάς.

Ἠλέκτρα

πῶς εἶπας; ἦ τῷ δυσμενεστάτῳ βροτῶν;

Χρυσόθεμις

ὃν ἔκτανʼ αὐτή· τοῦτο γὰρ λέξαι θέλεις.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐκ τοῦ φίλων πεισθεῖσα; τῷ τοῦτʼ ἤρεσεν;

Χρυσόθεμις

ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί;
410

Ἠλέκτρα

ὦ θεοὶ πατρῷοι, συγγένεσθέ γʼ ἀλλὰ νῦν.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

Ἠλέκτρα

εἴ μοι λέγοις τὴν ὄψιν, εἴποιμʼ ἂν τότε.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ οὐ κάτοιδα πλὴν ἐπὶ σμικρὸν φράσαι.

415

Ἠλέκτρα

λέγʼ ἀλλὰ τοῦτο· πολλά τοι σμικροὶ λόγοι
415

ἔσφηλαν ἤδη καὶ κατώρθωσαν βροτούς.

Χρυσόθεμις

λόγος τις αὐτήν ἐστιν εἰσιδεῖν πατρὸς

τοῦ σοῦ τε κἀμοῦ δευτέραν ὁμιλίαν

ἐλθόντος ἐς φῶς· εἶτα τόνδʼ ἐφέστιον

πῆξαι λαβόντα σκῆπτρον οὑφόρει ποτὲ
420

αὐτός, τανῦν δʼ Αἴγισθος· ἐκ δὲ τοῦδʼ ἄνω

βλαστεῖν βρύοντα θαλλόν, ᾧ κατάσκιον

πᾶσαν γενέσθαι τὴν Μυκηναίων χθόνα.

τοιαῦτά του παρόντος, ἡνίχʼ Ἡλίῳ

δείκνυσι τοὔναρ, ἔκλυον ἐξηγουμένου.
425

πλείω δὲ τούτων οὐ κάτοιδα, πλὴν ὅτι

πέμπει με κείνη τοῦδε τοῦ φόβου χάριν.

πρός νυν θεῶν σε λίσσομαι τῶν ἐγγενῶν

ἐμοὶ πιθέσθαι μηδʼ ἀβουλίᾳ πεσεῖν·

εἰ γάρ μʼ ἀπώσει, σὺν κακῷ μέτει πάλιν.
430

431

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀλλʼ, ὦ φίλη, τούτων μὲν ὧν ἔχεις χεροῖν

τύμβῳ προσάψῃς μηδέν· οὐ γάρ σοι θέμις

οὐδʼ ὅσιον ἐχθρᾶς ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἱστάναι

κτερίσματʼ οὐδὲ λουτρὰ προσφέρειν πατρί·

ἀλλʼ ἢ πνοαῖσιν ἢ βαθυσκαφεῖ κόνει
435

κρύψον νιν, ἔνθα μή ποτʼ εἰς εὐνὴν πατρὸς

τούτων πρόσεισι μηδέν· ἀλλʼ ὅταν θάνῃ

κειμήλιʼ αὐτῇ ταῦτα σῳζέσθω κάτω.

ἀρχὴν δʼ ἄν, εἰ μὴ τλημονεστάτη γυνὴ

πασῶν ἔβλαστε, τάσδε δυσμενεῖς χοὰς
440

οὐκ ἄν ποθʼ ὅν γʼ ἔκτεινε, τῷδʼ ἐπέστεφε.

σκέψαι γὰρ εἴ σοι προσφιλῶς αὐτῇ δοκεῖ

γέρα τάδʼ οὑν τάφοισι δέξεσθαι νέκυς,

ὑφʼ ἧς θανὼν ἄτιμος, ὥστε δυσμενής,

ἐμασχαλίσθη, κἀπὶ λουτροῖσιν κάρᾳ
445

κηλῖδας ἐξέμαξεν. ἆρα μὴ δοκεῖς

λυτήριʼ αὐτῇ ταῦτα τοῦ φόνου φέρειν;

οὐχ ἔστιν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν μέθες· σὺ δὲ

τεμοῦσα κρατὸς βοστρύχων ἄκρας φόβας

κἀμοῦ ταλαίνης, σμικρὰ μὲν τάδʼ, ἀλλʼ ὅμως
450

ἅχω, δὸς αὐτῷ, τήνδʼ ἀλιπαρῆ τρίχα

καὶ ζῶμα τοὐμὸν οὐ χλιδαῖς ἠσκημένον.

αἰτοῦ δὲ προσπίτνουσα γῆθεν εὐμενῆ

ἡμῖν ἀρωγὸν αὐτὸν εἰς ἐχθροὺς μολεῖν,

καὶ παῖδʼ Ὀρέστην ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερὸς
455

ἐχθροῖσιν αὐτοῦ ζῶντʼ ἐπεμβῆναι ποδί,

ὅπως τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτὸν ἀφνεωτέραις

χερσὶν στέφωμεν ἢ τανῦν δωρούμεθα.

οἶμαι μὲν οὖν, οἶμαί τι κἀκείνῳ μέλον

πέμψαι τάδʼ αὐτῇ δυσπρόσοπτʼ ὀνείρατα·
460

ὅμως δʼ, ἀδελφή, σοί θʼ ὑπούργησον τάδε

ἐμοί τʼ ἀρωγὰ τῷ τε φιλτάτῳ βροτῶν

πάντων, ἐν Ἅιδου κειμένῳ κοινῷ πατρί.

464

Χορός

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

Χρυσόθεμις

δράσω· τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον οὐχ ἔχει λόγον

δυοῖν ἐρίζειν, ἀλλʼ ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δρᾶν.

πειρωμένῃ δὲ τῶνδε τῶν ἔργων ἐμοὶ

σιγὴ παρʼ ὑμῶν, πρὸς θεῶν, ἔστω, φίλαι·

ὡς εἰ τάδʼ ἡ τεκοῦσα πεύσεται, πικρὰν
470

δοκῶ με πεῖραν τήνδε τολμήσειν ἔτι.

Translations (5)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 154 focus

Say, is Aegisthus near while thus you speak?

Or hath he left the palace? We would know.

EL

Most surely. Never think, if he were by,

I could stray out of door. He is abroad.

CH

Then with less fear I may converse with thee.

EL

Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

CH

First of thy brother I beseech thee tell,

How deem’st thou? Will he come, or still delay?

EL

His promise comes, but still performance sleeps.

CH

Well may he pause who plans a dreadful deed.

EL

I paused not in his rescue from the sword.

CH

Fear not. He will bestead you. He is true.

EL

But for that faith my life had soon gone by.

CH

No more! I see approaching from the house

Thy sister by both parents of thy blood,

Chrysothemis; in her hand an offering,

Such as old custom yields to those below.

CHRYSOTHEMIS
Enter CHRYSOTHEMIS .

What converse keeps thee now beyond the gates,

Dear sister? why this talk in the open day?

Wilt thou not learn after so long to cease

From vain indulgence of a bootless rage?

I know in my own breast that I am pained

By what thou griev’st at, and if I had power,

My censure of their deeds would soon be known.

But in misfortune I have chosen to sail

With lowered canvas, rather than provoke

With puny strokes invulnerable foes.

I would thou didst the like: though I must own

The right is on thy side, and not on mine.

But if I mean to dwell at liberty,

I must obey in all the stronger will.

EL

’Tis strange and pitiful, thy father’s child

Can leave him in oblivion and subserve

The mother. All thy schooling of me springs

From her suggestion, not of thine own wit.

Sure, either thou art senseless, or thy sense

Deserts thy friends. Treason or dulness then?

Choose!—You declared but now, if you had strength,

You would display your hatred of this pair.

Yet, when I plan full vengeance for my sire,

You aid me not, but turn me from the attempt.

What’s this but adding cowardice to evil?
255

For tell me, or be patient till I show,
255

What should I gain by ceasing this my moan?
255

I live to vex them:—though my life be poor,
255

Yet that suffices, for I honour him,
255

My father,—if affection touch the dead.
255

You say you hate them, but belie your word,
255

Consorting with our father’s murderers.
255

I then, were all the gifts in which you glory
255

Laid at my feet, will never more obey
255

This tyrant power. I leave you your rich board

And life of luxury. Ne’er be it mine to feed

On dainties that would poison my heart’s peace!

I care not for such honour as thou hast.

Nor wouldst thou care if thou wert wise. But now,

Having the noblest of all men for sire,

Be called thy mother’s offspring; so shall most

Discern thine infamy and traitorous mind

To thy dead father and thy dearest kin.

CH

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 154 focus

Nicht dir, o Tochter, allein ward
150

Auf Erden Leid verhängt,

Um das du mehr klagst als jene drinnen,

Die dir verwandt sind durch Blut und Ursprung,

Wie Chrysothemis hier, wie hier lebt Iphianassa,

Und trauernd in stiller Jugend,
155

Doch glücklich, wann einst ihn

Das stolze Land Argos

Feiernd empfängt und mit Huld der Olympier

Zurück in diese Gauen führt, - Orestes.

Elektra.

Ich harre sein, ich Arme, nicht ermattend,
160

Und wandle hin, ohne Kind und Gatten,

Ewig in Thränen mich badend, dem ewigen

Jammer zum Raub; doch Alles vergaß er mir,

Unsere Lieb' und die Kunden von uns. Stets

Täuschend erscholl mir das Wort der Verkündigung;
165

Denn Sehnsucht treibt ihn stets;

Doch sehnsuchtvoll, erscheint er niemals.

Zweite Gegenstrophe.

Der Chor.

Nur muthig, o Kind, nur muthig!

Noch lebt im Himmel Zeus,

Der große, der Alles sieht und ordnet:
170

Dem Gott befiehl deines Grolles Schmerzen,

Nicht der Gehaßten vergessend und nicht zu sehr sie befeindend.

Allwaltend herrscht der Zeitgott,

Und weder auf Krisa's¹

Stierweiden säumt ewig,
175

Nimmer zu kehren, der Sohn Agamemnons,

Noch Hades, der am Acheron gebietet.

Elektra.

Doch mir zerrann schon lange sonder Hoffnung

Mein Leben hülflos, nicht länger trag' ich's:

Eine verlassene Waise, verzehr' ich mich,
180

Nicht von dem liebenden Gatten vertheidiget,

Nein, wie die Fremde, verhöhnt und erniedriget,

Fröhn' ich im Vaterpalast als Schaffnerin

In solch armsel'gem Kleid,

Muß darbend steh'n an leeren Tischen.
185
Dritte Strophe.

Der Chor.

Wehruf scholl, als er zurückkam,

Wehruf scholl, als auf gastlichem Pfühl

Scharfzielend auf ihn einstürmte der Schlag,

Von dem ehernen Beile geschwungen.

Arglist sann's aus, Lust übte den Mord,
190

Und sie zeugten vereint graunvolle Gestalt

Graunvoll an das Licht, ob ein Gott, ob ein Mensch

Solche That verübt hat.

Elektra.

Overhaßtester Tag, der jemals mir

Von feindlichen Tagen erschienen!
195

Weh, Nacht voll Grau'n und des gräßlichen Mahls

Unnennbares Leid,

Wo er den Tod der Schmach,

Mein Vater, geseh'n von den Händen der Zwei,

Die schnöde mein Leben auch
200

Mir Verrath'nen mordeten!

O send' Olympos' großer Gott

Der Nache Fluch auf sie herab!

Nimmer bekränze das Glück und die Freude ſie,

Die solchen Frevel übten!
205
Dritte Gegenstrophe.

Der Chor.

Halt' ein, halt' ein! Nicht weiter!

Sieht nicht dein Herz, daß also nur

Von den Höhen des Glücks in entehrende Schmach

Dein heftiger Sinn dich hinabstürzt?

Denn größeres Leid noch schufest du dir,
210

Weil rastlos dein mißmuthiger Geist

Sich Fehden gebar: mit den Mächtigen, Kind,

Darfst du so nicht hadern.

Elektra.

Mein Unheil zwang, mein Unheil mich:

Das weiß ich, ich kenne den Unmuth.
215

Doch wird in dem Unheil niemals auch

Mein Klaglied ruh'n,

Während ich leb' im Licht.

Wer böte mir denn, ihr Geliebten, ein Wort

Zum Frommen auch, weisen Rath,
220

Wer, begabt mit klugem Sinn?

Schont mein, o Trösterinnen, schont!

Des Grames Bande lös' ich nie;

Nimmer beschwichtiget sich die Bekümmerniß,

Und nie versiegt die Zähre.
225
Schlußgesang.

Der Chor.

Ich red' aus freundlichem Antheil,

Wie die treuvorsorgende Mutter:

Zeug' Unheil nicht aus Unheil!

Elektra.

Hat denn der Sammer ein Maß, der unendliche?

Und zu vergessen der Todten, geziemt es mir?
230

Wer artet in diese Gesinnung aus?

Nie werde mir Ruhm von Solchen zum Lohn!

Nie will ich, erblüht mir irgend ein Glück,

Es in Ruhe genießen, wofern ich, zur Schmach

Den Geschiedenen, je kalt hemme den Flug
235

Jammernden Klagerufs!

Wenn der Geliebte todt unten im Erdenschooß

Ruht, ein vergess'nes Nichts,

Und die Rache nicht

Sie, Mord fordernd um Mord, ereilt;
240

Ist alle Scham hin,

Hin alle Götterfurcht der Menschen.

Der Chor.

Ich bin gekommen, Tochter, um dein Wohl zugleich

Und meins bekümmert. Sprech' ich denn das Rechte nicht,

So möge dein Wort gelten; denn dir folgen wir.
245

Elektra.

Erröthen muß ich, Frauen, schein' ich euch zu sehr

Von meines Jammers Uebermaß bewältiget.

Doch weil Gewaltthat also mich zu handeln zwingt,

Vergebt mir: denn wie möchte wohl ein edles Weib

Des Hauses Unglück sehen und nicht also thun?
250

Und dieses muß ich jeden Tag und jede Nacht

In neuer Fülle mehr erblüh'n als welken sehn.

Mir wird von meiner Mutter, ihr, die mich gebar,

Gelohnt mit bitterm Hasse nur; im eignen Haus

Wohn' ich mit ihnen, die den Vater mordeten,
255

Zusammen, ihnen unterthan, und sie allein

Bestimmen, ob ich darben, ob empfangen soll.

Und welche Tage glaubet ihr, verleb' ich wohl,

Wenn ich Aegisthos sizen seh' auf jenem Thron,

Dem Thron des Vaters, sehe mit Gewanden ihn,
260

Die dieser trug, bekleidet, und am Hausaltar

Trankopfer spenden, wo er ihn ermordete?

Und wenn ich dann der Frevel höchsten sehen muß,

Im Lager meines Vaters ihn, den Mörder selbst,

Mit meiner Unglücksmutter, darf ich Mutter noch
265

Die Freche nennen, die mit ihm das Lager theilt,

Die sonder Scham dem fluchbeladnen Manne sich

Verband, von keiner Rachegöttin Zorn geschreckt,

Nein, wie zum Hohne dessen, was sie frevelte,

Bei jenes Tages Wiederkehr, an welchem einst²
270

Sie meinen Vater tückevoll gemordet hat,

Festreigentänze feiert und den rettenden

Gottheiten Lämmer jeden Mond als Opfer weiht.

Ich Kind des Unglücks, muß ich das im Hause seh'n,

Vergehe, weine, schluchze laut zu diesem Mahl
275

Des Jammers, das sie meines Vaters Mahl benennt,

Allein für mich; denn auch zu weinen ist mir nicht

So viel vergönnt, als meines Herzens Drang genügt.

Denn diese nach dem Namen hochgesinnte Frau³

Rust höhnend dann mir diese bösen Worte zu:
280

Gottloses Scheusal, ist der Vater dir allein

Gestorben? Trauert außer dir kein Mensch um ihn?

Stirb hin in Elend, und von diesem Fammer soll

Dich auch der Todesgötter Macht niemals befrein!⁴

So ruft sie trozend. Aber hört sie dann einmal,
285

Orestes komme, rennt sie flugs auf mich daher,

Und schreit und wüthet: dir allein, dir dank' ich das!

Es war ja dein Werk; hast du doch aus meinem Arm

Entwandt Oresten, und geheim ihn fortgeschafft!

Doch wisse: büßen sollst du mir verdienten Lohn!
290

So bellt sie tobend, und an ihrer Seite reizt

Ihr hochgerühmter Buhle sie noch mehr dazu,

Der überall feigherzig Allverderbliche,

Der im Verein mit Frauen seine Schlachten schlägt.

Ich, ewig harrend, daß Orestes mein Geschick
295

Zu wenden komme, schwinde hin in meinem Gram.

Denn ewig zaudernd hat er meine Hoffnungen,

Die nahen, wie die fernen, mir in Nichts verkehrt.

In solcher Noth, ihr Lieben, wer mag Mäßigung,

Wer fromme Tugend üben? Traun, im Uebel drängt
300

Es uns gewaltsam, auch zu thun, was übel ist.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 154 focus

Sad news indepd the hapless messenger

To Argos brought, that\spoke the wished return

Of thy loved father to his native soil ;

Fatal the night when Agamemnon fell
155

Or by a mortal or immortal hand ;

The w^ork of fraud and lust, a horrid deed !

Whoe'er performed it.

Eleo. O detested feast !

0,jCfe;y, the bitt'rest sure; that ever rose !

With him I perished then. . But may the gods

Repay the murderers ; never may they hear
160

The voice of joy, or taste of comfort more !

Chorus

Cease thy complaints; already hast thou suffered

For thy loud discontents and threatened vengeance.

'Tis folly to contend with power superior.

Electra

Folly indeed, and madness ! But my griefs

Will force their way, and whilst Electra breathes

She must lament ; for who will bring me comfort,

Or soothe my sorrows ? Let me — let me go,

And weep for ever. ^

Chorus

/ 'Tis my love entreats j

Trust me, 1 feel a mother's fondness for thee,

And fain would save thee from redoubled woes.

Electra

And wouldst thou have me then neglect the

dead?

Forget my father ! Can there be such guilt?

When I do so, may infamy pursue me !
185

And if I wed, may all the joys of love
185

Be far removed ! If vengeance doth not fall
185

On crimes like these, for ever farewell, justice —

Shame, honour, truth, and piety, farewell !

Chorus

Pardon me, daughter ; if my warmth oileud,

Glad I submit. We'll follow, and obey thee.

Electra

I am myself to blame, and blush to think

How much unfit I seem to liear the weight

Imposed upon me ; but indeed 'tis great.

Forgive me, friends, a woman born as I am,

Must she not grieve to see each added minute

Fraught with new mis'ries? Thus to be a slave

E'en in my father's house, and from those hands

Which shed his blood to ask the means of life !

Think what my soul must sufter to behold

The cursed Aigisthus seated on the throne

Of Agamemnon, in the very robes

Which once were his — to see the tyrant pour

Libations forth e'en on the fat;d spot

Where the sad deed was done. But, worst of all.

To see the murderer usurp his bed.

Embrace my mother (by that honoured name

If I may call a guilty wretch like her).

Who, pleased, returns his love, and, of her crimes i

I Unconscious, smiles, nor fears th' avenging Furies U

I But ever as the bloody day returns ' 1

Which gave the royal victim to her wiles, j ^

Annual the dance and choral song proclaim

A solemn feast, nor impious sacrifice

Forgets she then to her protecting gods.

Shocked at the cruel banquet I letire,

And in some corner hide my griefs, denied

E'en the sad comfort to indulge my sorrows,

For Clytemnestra in opprobrious terms

lleviles me oft ; *' To thee alone," she cries,

" Is Agamemnon lost, detested maid !

Perdition on thee ! May th' infernal gods

J^efuse thee succour, and protract thy pains ! "

Thus rails she bitter, and if chance she hear

Orestes is approaching, stung with rage

Wild she exclaims, " Thou art th' accursed cause ;

This is thy deed, who stole Orestes from mo.

And hid him from my rage ; but be assured

Ere long my vengeance shall o'ertake thee for it

These threats her noble lord still urges on —

That vile adulterei", that abandoned coward,

Whose fearful soul called in a woman's aid

To execute his bloody purposes.

Her wished avenger ; his unkind delay

Destroys my hopes. Alas ! my gentle friends,

Who can bear this, and keep an equal mind?

To suffer ills like mine, and not to err

From wild distraction, would be strange indeed.

Or may we speak our thoughts unblamed ?

Electra

Thou mayst ;

I had not else beyond the palace dai-ed

To wander hither.

Chorus

I would fain have asked thee

Electra

Ask what thou wilt, ^gisthus is far off.

""Chor. Touching thy brother then, inform me quick

If aught thou knowst that merits firm belief.

Electra

He promises, but comes not.

Chorus

Things of moment

Require deliberation and delay.

Electra

Oh ! but did I delay to save Orestes ?

Chorus

He boasts a noble nature, and will ne'er

Forget his friends : be confident.

Electra

I am,

Were I not so I had not lived till now.

Chorus

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 154 focus

Yet not by thee alone of all that breathe

Is sorrow felt. What share is thine, beyond

Those in this house by blood to thee allied?

Such is the life Chrysothemis endures;

Such Iphianassa's sufferings; such the Youth's,

Who in concealment and in silence mourns.

Electra

Him blest and glorious this illustrious land

Of rich Mycenæ shall again receive,

The nobly-born Orestes, to these realms
165

Returning by the favouring pow'r of Jove.

With ardent expectation his return

I look for, wretched, childless, unespoused,

Restless, for ever bath'd in tears that flow

In anguish for my never-ceasing ills.

Yet all my kindness he mean-time forgets,

All my instructions. How have I been mock'd

With messages? He wishes to return,

But to his wish he deigns not to appear.

Chorus

Sink not, Ah sink not in despair. In heav'n

From his high throne Almighty Jove beholds

And governs all things: to his pow'r resign

Thy flaming indignation; let not hate
175

Too far transport thee; nor forget these wrongs.
175

Time is a lenient god. Nor will the son

Of Agamemnon on the pastured beach...

Of Chrisa linger, never to return,

Nor the dread god that reigns o'er Acheron.

Electra

But of my life how much to me is lost

Already? And, by hope not cheer'd, my ills

No longer can I bear, but waste away;

My parents lost, and by no worthy friend
185

Protected, like a foreign slave I serve,
185

Disgraceful task! within my father's house,

My table scanty, and my vestments mean.

Chorus

Mournful at his return the voice of woe,

Through all the chambers of thy father's house

Mournful the voice, when the relentless axe

In tempest fell. Fraud first devised, Lust struck

The murderous blow, with horrid thought of old

Forming the horrid image, were these deeds

Or by some god, or daring mortals, wrought.

Electra

O day, how hateful to me were thy beams!

O fatal night, and all the hideous woes

Of that nefarious supper! O vile death,

Which closed my father's eyes, how basely slain,

Slain by the hands of two! Those hands destroy'd

My life, betray'd, abandon'd, and undone.

Oh may the mighty god, that holds his seat

On high Olympus, on their heads repay

Avenging sufferings! Never may they taste
205

The sweet delights of joy, who did these things!
205

Chorus

Let prudence teach thee caution: curb thy speech.

Dost thou not see from what a splendid state

Already thou art sunk, disgraced with wrongs
215

Suffer'd by thee alone? And greater wrongs

Still shalt thou suffer, if thy mourning heart

With wars is always pregnant. To contend

With potent sovereigns is unequal strife.

Electra

I am compell'd by miseries: yet I know

My madness; yes, my friends, I know it well;

But, in the anguish of such deep-felt griefs,

I will not check it whilst my life remains.

For who with lenient words can sooth my soul?

What now can sage advice? Forbear, forbear

To comfort me. These griefs shall have no end;

No; from my sorrows I will never cease,

But with eternal wailings mourn my fate.

Chorus

I speak through pure benevolence of heart,

As a fond mother anxious for her child,

Let not thy ills give birth to other ills.
235

Electra

Have then my ills a bound? Say, can the heart

Feel a just sense of virtue, and forget

A murder'd parent? Nature at the thought

Is shock'd. From them no honour would I have;

Nor, were I wedded to some worthy man,

Would I live with him hushing all my griefs

To peace, and checking their shrill-sounding flight,

My father so disgracing. If the dead,

As earth, and nothing more, neglected lies,

And if no vengeance waits their crimes, farewell

To shame, farewell to piety 'mongst men.

Chorus

Our duty, by our zeal for thee enforced,

Induced us hither: if our friendly words

Offend thy sense of honour, we desist;

Thine be the conquest, and to follow, ours,

Electra

I am ashamed, my friends, if deem'd by you

Indulging an excess of grief and tears;
255

But they are wrung from me by bitter force;

Electra

see him in my father's robes

Array'd, and pouring to the household gods

Libations on the spot where his curs'd hand

Shed the king's blood. And (oh that blackest stain !)

I see the murderer in my father's bed

With my abandon'd mother, if the name
255

Of mother be her due, who shares this bed
255

With him, unblushing with this man of blood
255

Cohabits, and no vengeful Fury fears;
255

But, as exulting in her horrid deeds,
255

Oft as the month leads round the welcome day

In which my father by her wiles she slew,

She forms the festal dance, and to the gods,

As guardians of her house, the victims slays.

Chorus

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 251-470 focus

Chorus

I came, my child, mindful of your interests no less than my own. But if what I say is wrong, let your way prevail; for united we will follow you.

Electra

I am ashamed, my friends, if you judge me

too intolerant with my many laments; but, since rough compulsion forces me to act this way, forgive me. How indeed could any woman of noble nature not act, when she sees her father’s sufferings as I see them day and night continually,
255

and flourishing rather than fading? First, everything to do with the mother who bore me has become most hateful towards me; next, in my own home I live with my father’s murderers; they rule over me and from them
260

equally I either have or do without.
And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus sitting on my father’s throne; when I look on him wearing the very robes which my father wore and
265

pouring libations at the hearth where he killed him; and when I see the chief outrage of them all, the murderer in my father’s bed at my wretched mother’s side, if I must call her mother, even though she shares her bed with that man.
270

So hardened is she that she joins with this polluter, fearing no Erinys. No, as if laughing at her deeds, having found the day on which in the past she treacherously killed my father,
275

she celebrates it with dance and song, and in monthly rites she sacrifices sheep to the gods who worked her deliverance.
280

282

But I, as I joylessly witness it, cry out, waste away in the house and bewail the unholy feast named after my father,

in solitary weeping. For I cannot even grieve to the full extent which would please my heart, since this lady, who is in fact no lady, loudly reproaches me with such shameless taunts as these: Wicked and hateful girl, have you alone lost your father,and is no one else in the world grieving? May your death be harsh, and may the gods below never free you from your current mourning. Just so she abuses me, except when she gets word that Orestes is coming. Then, infuriated,
285

she comes up to me and cries;— Have you not brought this upon me? Is this not your doing, since you stole Orestes from my hands and secretly sent him away? Yes—but rest assured that you will be justly punished. Like this she barks, and in agreement
295

her glorious bridegroom by her side urges her on—that total impotent, that utter plague who fights his battles with the help of women. But my heart is broken by my suffering as I constantly wait for Orestes to come and end these troubles.

300

For the perpetual imminence of his actions has eradicated every hope that I could conceive. In such a state of affairs, then, friends, there is no room for self-restraint or for reverence. Rather, in these dire straits there is much need to pursue a dire course.
305

310

Chorus

Tell me, is Aegisthus nearby as you speak these words to us, or has he left the house?
310

Electra

He is gone, to be sure. Do not think that I would have come to the doors, if he were nearby. He happens now to be in the country.

Chorus

Might I converse with you

more boldly, if this is so?
315

Electra

He is not here, so question me. What is it you want?

Chorus

I ask you, then, what report can you give of your brother? Will he come soon, or is he delaying? I wish to know.

Electra

He says he will come, but although he promises he never does what he says.

Chorus

True, a man will hesitate on the verge of a great undertaking.
320

Electra

And yet I saved him with no hesitation.

Chorus

Take heart: he is noble enough to stand by his friends.

Electra

I believe it; otherwise I would not have remained alive so long.

Chorus

Say no more now, since I see your sister

coming from the house, Chrysothemis, offspring of the same father and mother. In her hands are sepulchral offerings, such as are customary for those in the world below.
325

Enter Chrysothemis, from the house.

Chrysothemis

What is this speech of yours, sister, which you have come forth yet again to speak at the public doors?

Will you not learn with any lapse of time to end your vain indulgence in futile anger? Yet this much I know—that I myself am saddened by our present circumstances; indeed so much so that, could I find the strength, I would bare my feelings towards them.
330

But now, in these evil times I think it best to navigate with shortened sail so that I may not seem to be on the attack, when I am unable to cause harm. I wish that your own conduct were the same! Nevertheless, right is on the side which you favor, not on that which I advise. But if I am to live the life of the freeborn,
335

those in power must be obeyed in all things.
340

341

Electra

It is strange, indeed, that you, the daughter of our father from whom you grew, should forget him and instead show concern for your mother! All your admonitions to me have been taught by her; you speak no word of your own.

So now take your choice: be imprudent, or be prudent, but forgetful of your friends. You have just said that if could you find the strength, you would show your hatred of them; yet, when I am doing my utmost to avenge our father,
345

you do not work with me, but seek to deflect your sister from her deed.
Does this not add cowardice to our miseries? Therefore instruct me, or rather learn from me what gain there might be for me if I ended my lamentation. Am I not now alive? Miserably so, I know, but well enough for me.
350

And I hurt them, and thereby affix an honorable tribute to the dead, in case those in that world can enjoy it and feel gratitude. But you, who tell me of your hatred, hate in word alone, while by your behavior you unite with the murderers of our father. I, however, would never yield to them, not even if
355

one of them were to bring to me the gifts in which you now glory. Let yours be the richly-spread table and superabundant lifestyle. As for me, let my sustenance be only that I do not wound my own conscience—I do not covet such privilege as yours and
360

neither would you, if you had self-control. But now, when you could be called the child of the noblest father among men, be called instead your mother’s daughter, for in this way your corruptness will be evident to the greatest number as you betray your dead father and your true friends.
365

369

Chorus

Away with anger, for the gods’ sake! There is

advantage for both of you in what is urged, if you, Electra, would learn to implement her advice, and she, again, yours.
370

Chrysothemis

For my part, friends, I am not at all unaccustomed to her insults, nor would I have mentioned this, if I had not heard that the greatest disaster is now rushing down on her,

one which will restrain her from her long mourning.
375

Electra

Come then, name this terror! If you can tell me of anything worse than my present condition, I would resist no more.

Chrysothemis

I will tell you all that I know. If you will not cease from your mourning, they intend

to send you where you will never look upon the sun’s brilliance, but passing your life in a covered chamber beyond this land’s borders you will make hymns of your calamity. Think on this, and do not blame me later, when you suffer. Now is the time to think wisely.
380

385

Electra

Have they in fact decided to do this to me?
385

Chrysothemis

They certainly have, as soon as Aegisthus comes home.

Electra

Then for this, may he arrive quickly!

Chrysothemis

Troubled girl, what curse are you laying on yourself?

Electra

That he may come, if he plans to do any of what you said.

Chrysothemis

So that you may suffer? In what way? Where are your wits?
390

Electra

So that I may fly as far as possible from you all.

Chrysothemis

Have you no care for the life you lead now?

Electra

oh, yes, my life is so wondrously fine.

Chrysothemis

It would be, if only you learned good sense.

Electra

Do not teach me to betray my friends.
395

Chrysothemis

I do not, but to bend before the strong.

Electra

Keep your flattery to yourself; it is not in my character.

Chrysothemis

Regardless, it brings no honor to fall through senselessness.

Electra

I will fall, if need be, while honoring my father.

Chrysothemis

But our father, I know, pardons me for this.
400

Electra

It is for cowards to commend such sentiments.

Chrysothemis

So you will not be persuaded to agree with me?

Electra

No, indeed; may I not yet be so devoid of intelligence.

Chrysothemis

Then I will move on to where I was sent.

Electra

And where is it that you go? For whom do you take these offerings to be burned?
405

Chrysothemis

Mother sends me with funeral libations for our father.

Electra

What are you saying? For her deadliest enemy?

Chrysothemis

Whom she herself killed, no doubt you wanted to say this as well.

Electra

What friend persuaded her? Whose idea was it?

Chrysothemis

The cause, I think, was fear induced by some vision in the night.
410

Electra

My father’s Gods! Stand with me now at last!

Chrysothemis

Do you find something heartening in this terror?

Electra

If you would tell me the vision, then I could answer.

Chrysothemis

I know no more than a small part of the story.

415

Electra

Tell me that, anyway; a small tale has often before now tripped men up, or set them upright.
415

Chrysothemis

It is said that she saw the father of you and of me restored to the sunlight and to her company once more. Then he took the scepter—

once his own, but now carried by Aegisthus—and planted it at the hearth. From it branched upward a flourishing limb, by which the whole land of the Mycenaeans was overshadowed. Such was the tale that I heard told by one who was present
420

when she revealed her dream to the Sun-god. More than this I do not know, except that she sent me by reason of this fear of hers. Now, I beg you by our ancestral gods, obey me, and do not fall in your senselessness!
425

If you reject me now, it is in misery that you will next seek me out.
430

431

Electra

Dear sister, let none of these offerings in your hands touch the tomb. For neither divine law nor piety allows you to dedicate funeral gifts or bring libations to our father from his hateful wife.

No! To the winds with them! Or cover them in a deep, dusty hole, where not one of them will ever come near our father’s resting place. Rather let these treasures be preserved for her below when she dies. Were she not by nature the most audacious
435

of all women, she would never at all have tried to pour these ill-willed offerings to the man she killed. Consider whether you believe that the dead in his tomb will welcome this tribute with affection towards her, by whose hand he died dishonored and was mutilated
440

like an enemy? She, who, as if to wash herself clean, wiped off the bloodstains on his head? Surely you do not believe that your bringing these things will absolve her of the murder?
It is not possible. No, be rid of them. Give him instead a lock of your hair’s ends, cut from your own head,
445

and from wretched me, too, give these gifts, poor as they are, though all I have. Take this hair, not glossy with unguents, and this girdle, decked with no rich ornament. Then fall down and pray that he himself may come in kindness to us from the world below, a helper against our enemies;
450

and that young Orestes may live to set his foot upon our enemies in superior might, so that hereafter we may crown our father’s tomb with wealthier hands than those with which we honor him now.
I think, yes, I think that he too had some part
455

in sending her these appalling dreams. Still, sister, do yourself this service and help me, and him, too, that most beloved of all men, who rests in Hades’ domain, our shared father.
460

464

Chorus

The girl’s advice is pious; you,

dear friend, will do what she says, if you are wise.
465

Chrysothemis

I will. In regard to a just deed, it is unreasonable for two people to argue, but reasonable to jump to action. But, by the gods, my friends, when I attempt this task, let me have your silence,

since if my mother hears of it, I believe that this attempt which I will dare shall in the end cause me bitterness. Exit Chrysothemis on the spectators’ right.
470

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-89-1 αἰεὶ ¹

mvp-comment-90-1 οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ ²

mvp-comment-91-1 πρὸς ὅ τι ³

mvp-comment-91-2 τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά ⁴

mvp-comment-92-1 οἷς ⁵ τῶν ἔνδον ⁶

mvp-comment-92-2 ὁμόθεν ⁷ γονᾷ ξύναιμος ⁸

mvp-comment-93-1 οἵα Χρ. ζώει ⁹

mvp-comment-93-2 Acc. to the version followed by Sophocles, Agamemnon had four daughters, Iphigeneia, Electra, Chrysothemis, Iphianassa. This was the account given in the cyclic

Κύπρια ἔπη

, as the schol. here mentions; a poem of which there is another trace in this play (566 ff.). Sophocles wrote an

Ἰφιγένεια

( Nauck, frag. Soph. 284—292 ); but her name is not mentioned in the reference to her death below (530—594). In Il. 9. 145 Agamemnon has three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodicè, Iphianassa: Homer does not mention Iphigeneia. Lucretius gives the name of Iphianassa to the victim at Aulis ( 1. 85 ).

mvp-comment-93-3 ζώει ¹⁰

mvp-comment-93-4 καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα ¹¹

mvp-comment-94-1 ἀχέων ¹²

mvp-comment-94-2 Hermann, taking ἀχέων ¹³ κρυπτᾷ ¹⁴

mvp-comment-95-1 ὄλβιος, ὃν ¹⁵

mvp-comment-95-2 For the simple

ὅς

, instead of

ὅς γε

ὅστις

, with causal force, cp. below, 188, 261, 959; O.T. 817.

mvp-comment-96-1 δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν ¹⁶

mvp-comment-96-2 Διὸς εὔφρονι ¹⁷ βήματι ¹⁸

mvp-comment-96-3 γᾶν ¹⁹ γᾶ ²⁰

mvp-comment-96-4 Ὀρέσταν ²¹ ὃν ²²

mvp-comment-97-1 ἀκάματα ²³

mvp-comment-97-2 ἀνύμφευτος ²⁴ ἄτεκνος ²⁵

mvp-comment-97-3 οἰχνῶ ²⁶

mvp-comment-98-1 δάκρυσι μυδαλέα ²⁷

mvp-comment-98-2 τὸν ἀνήνυτον ²⁸

mvp-comment-98-3 οἶτον ἔχουσα ²⁹

mvp-comment-99-1 ὧν τ’ ἔπαθ’ ³⁰ ὧν τ’ ἐδάη ³¹

mvp-comment-99-2 Wecklein, reading

ἐδάην

, explains,— ‘what I have heard from him,’—viz., his promises of coming.

mvp-comment-99-3 τί γὰρ … ἀγγελίας ³²

mvp-comment-99-4 ἀπατώμενον ³³ τί … οὐκ ³⁴

mvp-comment-99-5 Herwerden's οὐχί μοι ³⁵ οὐκ ἐμοί ³⁶ ὁ δέ ³⁷

mvp-comment-100-1 ποθεῖ, ποθῶν δ’ ³⁸

mvp-comment-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ ³⁹ ἐν ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ ⁴¹

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα ⁴²

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο ⁴³ οἷς ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός ⁴⁵ θεός ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-105-3 Crisa stood about two miles W.S.W. of Delphi, on a spur of Parnassus, at the lower outlet of the gorge through which the river Pleistus issues into the plain. The Iliad mentions ‘sacred Crisa’ (

ζαθέην

, 2. 520). But the Homeric Hymn to the Pythian Apollo is the best witness to its ancient power. There, just as here, the name

Κρῖσα

includes the land which stretches southward from the town to its harbour on the ‘wide gulf’ (vv. 253— 261). We need not, then, read

Κρίσᾳ

Κρίσας

. Crisa was the earliest seat of trade on the western sea; Delphi, when first founded, was merely a sanctuary in its territory. Pindar recalls the old prominence of its name when he describes a Pythian victory as won

Κρισαίαις ἐνὶ πτυχαῖς

( P. 6. 18).

mvp-comment-105-4 Cirrha, a town of much later date, was the port of Crisa on the gulf. About 585 B.C., the Delphians, aided by Cleisthenes of Sicyon and his allies, succeeded, after a long struggle, in humbling Crisa and destroying Cirrha. The Crisaean plain was then devoted to Apollo, whose domain was thus extended from his temple to the coast. When Sophocles wrote, that ground was still a

βούνομος ἀκτή

, inviolable by plough or spade. It was not till the middle of the next century that the alleged encroachments of Amphissa on the

ἱερὰ χώρα

gave a pretext for war to the Amphictyons (355 B.C.).

mvp-comment-105-5 Ulrichs ( Reisen in Griechenland) was the first to place the relations of Crisa and Cirrha in a clear light. Strabo correctly describes the site of Cirrha, but erroneously places Crisa to the east of it (9. p. 418).

mvp-comment-106-1 βούνομον ⁴⁹ βουνόμον ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν ⁵¹ Κρῖσαν ⁵²

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος ⁵³

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα ⁵⁴ ἀνάσσων ⁵⁵ θεὸς ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων

. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων ⁶⁰ ἅτις ⁶¹ τοκέων ⁶²

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί ⁶³

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις ⁶⁷ ἀμφίσταμαι ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-113-2 Hartung, reading

κενὰ δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις

, takes the sense to be that she stands ‘hungry’ by the tables at which the others feast. But

κενή

as=

νῆστις

would be neither usual nor elegant.

mvp-comment-114-1 Hitherto the Chorus have offered consolation or counsel. At v. 213 they return to that strain. But here, moved by Electra's misery, they join with her in bewailing its cause.

mvp-comment-114-2 οἰκτρὰ μὲν … πλαγά ⁶⁹ κοίταις ⁷⁰ οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ ⁷¹

mvp-comment-114-3 Sophocles, who follows the Homeric story as to the banquet, could not but remember the

οἰκτροτάτην ὄπα

of the dying Cassandra. And this might naturally suggest to him that other

οἰκτρὰ αὐδή

which she had uttered at an earlier moment, immediately after Agamemnon's return,—her presage of his fate, and her own: Aesch. Ag. 1072 —1314.

mvp-comment-114-4 The sense then is:—‘There was a voice of lamentation at the return from Troy’; alluding especially to Cassandra's laments, but also, perhaps, to forebodings in the mouth of the people at Mycenae. ‘And there was a voice of lamentation

ἐν κοίταις πατρῴαις

, when thy father lay on the couch at the fatal banquet.’ The ‘voice’ at the banquet is, first, that of the dying Agamemnon; but Sophocles may have thought also of Cassandra's death-cry, which was sounding in the king's ears as he fell.—For other interpretations, see Appendix.

mvp-comment-114-5 νόστοις ⁷² ἐν ⁷³

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ ⁷⁵ σοι ⁷⁶ ἀνταία ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς ⁸⁰ δεινὰν … μορφάν ⁸¹

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε ⁸² βροτῶν ⁸³

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη ⁸⁸ τοῖς ⁸⁹ θανάτους ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν ⁹¹ διδύμοιν ⁹²

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον ⁹³

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ ¹⁰⁶ οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ¹⁰⁷ πλάθειν ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά ¹¹² ἔξοιδ’ ¹¹³

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς ¹¹⁵

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με ¹¹⁹ σχήσω ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια ¹²¹ ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος ¹²² τίνι ¹²³ πρόσφορον ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-132-2 Other explanations are:—(1) Taking the dative with

πρόσφορον

:—‘To what person who feels aright would that word be suitable which I should hear (=which would be said of me)?’ That is: Should I not deserve to incur a censure from which every right-minded person would shrink? Should I not deserve to be called

δυσσεβής

? This seems forced; and it does not well suit

ἔπος

. (2) Taking the dative with

ἀκούσαιμι

:—‘At whose mouth (= from whom), that thinks aright, could I hear a suitable word of comfort?’ But such a dative seems impossible. In Il. 16. 515

δύνασαι δὲ σὺ πάντοσ’ ἀκούειν

ἀνέρι κηδομένῳ

, the dat. is one of interest, denoting the person whose prayer is heard (‘ for him’); cp. Il. 5. 115

κλῦθί μοι

: 24. 335

ἔκλυες ᾧ κ’ ἐθέλῃσθα

mvp-comment-133-1 ἄνετε ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος ¹²⁹ θρήνων ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν ¹³¹ γε ¹³² εὐνοίᾳ ¹³³

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον ¹³⁷ κακότατος ¹³⁸

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε ¹³⁹

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. ¹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ ¹⁴¹

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ ¹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων ¹⁴⁶ ἐκτίμους ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ ¹⁵²

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν ¹⁵³ ὢν ¹⁵⁴ εἰ ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-142-4 Electra is contrasting her father, whose earthly life has been cut short, with his murderers, who survive. But she believes that his spirit lives in the world below, and will be active in aiding the vengeance (453 ff.).

mvp-comment-142-5 πάλιν ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς ¹⁵⁹ εὐσέβεια ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ ¹⁶² τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα ¹⁶⁵

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ ¹⁷²

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα ¹⁷³ ᾗ ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας ¹⁷⁹ δοκεῖς ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω ¹⁸¹ εἰσίδω δ’ ¹⁸² ἴδω δὲ ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς ¹⁸⁷ ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-156-4 Acc. to Homer. Hymn. 29. 4 ff., feasts began and ended with libations to Hestia:

οὐ γὰρ ἄτερ σοῦ

εἰλαπίναι θνητοῖσιν, ἵν’ οὐ πρώτῃ πυμάτῃ τε

Ἱστίῃ ἀρχόμενος σπένδει μελιηδέα οἶνον

. Soph. fr. 658

<*> πρῷρα λοιβῆς Ἑστία

. Other divinities, including Zeus

σωτήρ

, were similarly honoured; then the paean was sung, and the

πότος

began ( Plat. Symp.p. 176 A).

mvp-comment-157-1 τούτων ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην ¹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην ¹⁹¹ αὐτοφόντην ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε ¹⁹⁵

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

86-250. mvp-comment-59-1 In this long lament there are two principal movements, each of which admits of subdivision. First, the monody of Electra, consisting of two anapaestic systems, of which one (ll. 86-102) is retrospective, and the other (ll. 103-120) is prospective. Secondly, there is the commatic parodos :-the chorus on their entrance address Electra with lyric strains, to which she responds also in lyric measures. This movement consists of three strophes and antistrophes. In στρ. and ἀντ. α' (ll. 121-152), the chorus gently, but gloomily, expostulate with Electra, who is inconsolable. In στρ. and ἀντ. β΄ (ll. 153-192), they vainly try to cheer her. In στρ. and ἀντ. γ΄ (ll. 193- 232), they remind her of her past and present troubles, and exhort her not to add to them. All this is followed by a ῥῆσις of Electra (ll. 254-309) in reply to the coryphaeus, who, at l. 324, again speaks to call attention to Chrysothemis' approach.

86-250. mvp-comment-59-2 Metres. The anapaests in 86-120, although for the most part regular are in so far of the freer kind which belong to laments as to admit the spondaic paroemiacs near the commencement of each system in ll. 88, 9, 105, 6, which, with the opening half line, have a strange effect of heaviness and of struggle and pain. The two systems so nearly correspond, both in this respect and in the number of the lines, that one is tempted to believe that the half line that would complete the antistrophic effect has been lost somewhere between 113 and 117. But anapaestic systems are seldom exactly antistrophic, and the pause after the (dactylic) invocation in l. 115 may be intentional.

151-152. mvp-comment-93-1 Cp. Ant. 823-32. The prehistoric colossal figure cut out of the rock on a northward crag of Mount Sipylus, so as to be visible from the plain below Sardes, is supposed by Prof. Sayce, who has examined it, to have originally represented some elemental deity, possibly Cybele, but uncertain whether male or female. It was from an early period identified by the Greek settlers with the Niobe of Theban and Argive legend. The limestone drippings from the over-hanging rock have produced an incrustation about face, chest, and lap (the image is in a sitting posture)-that, quite apart from poetical description, is wonderfully suggestive of a flood of tears. This πετραία βλάστα (Ant. 827) must have been apparent before the time of Sophocles. It is less distinctly suggested by the words in Homer, Il. 24. 617, θεῶν ἐκ κήδεα πέσσει. Prof. Sayce adds that the θεάων · εὐναὶ νυμφάων of Il. 1. c. (in reality prehistoric tombs) are still distinctly recognisable in the crags on either side: also that just below the Niobe was a large lake, which was drained some forty years ago, when the columns of a Greek temple were found at the bottom. This, Mr. Sayce thinks, must have been the site of the city of Sipylus, which was overthrown by an earthquake in the time of Tiberius, and the ruins covered by the waters of a lake. All that now remains of the lake is a small pool at the foot of the crag on which the figure of Niobe is carved, along with a stream. Both stream and pool are fed by a number of springs, some of which are warm and saline; and the pool is called by the modern Greeks the tears of Niobe.'

153-157. mvp-comment-94-1 Thou art not all alone unhappy that thou shouldest thus grieve more than those within, who are of the same lineage and of kindred blood with thee, and shouldst not live the same bright life which they, Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, live.' The indefinite pronoun ὅ, τι is occasioned by the negative preceding. In πρὸς ὅ τι, πρός corresponds to a long syllable, Ζεύς, in the antistrophe. Perhaps, πρός γ᾽ ὅ, τι? εἰ περισσά] Sc. ἐν τῷ λυπεῖσθαι. In distinguishing between Iphigeneia and Iphianassa, Sophocles is said to have followed the Cypria. 'Sophocles here seems to recognize the digamma in Fιφιάνασσα.' Paley.

159-160. mvp-comment-95-1 κρυπτᾷ τ᾿ ἀχέων ἐν ἤβα ὄλβιος] And he whose fortunate youth is hidden out of the way of sorrow.' For the genitive, see Essay on L. § 8. p. 11, 2. Hermann says, Audacior quidem haec structura, sed amat talia Sophocles. Ejusdem modi est, quod statim dicit, Διὸς βήματι pro πομπῇ Διός.' Orestes is 'fortunate,' because his tranquil youth gives promise of final good fortune. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 695, 6, Ορέστης, ἦν γὰρ εὐβόλως ἔχων, | ἔξω κομίζων ὀλεθρίου πηλοῦ πόδα. Others take ἀχέων as a participle. But κρυπτᾷ without the genitive is poor, and the notion of Orestes sorrowing is out of place. The Chorus could not know of it, and if they did they would have suppressed the mention of it as inauspicious.

160-163. mvp-comment-96-1 'Orestes, whom the land of this people, with her glory unimpaired, shall receive as the successor of his father's fame, sped hither by the kind will of Zeus.'

162. mvp-comment-97-1 Διὸς εὔφρονι βήματι] ί.ε. Διὸς εὐφρόνως βήσαντος αὐτόν. The verbal has a causative meaning. See Essay on L. § 53 b. p. 98; or else a causal meaning is contained in the genitive. Ibid. § 9. p. 12 a. There is a correlation between κλεινά and εὐπατρίδαν, both being proleptic and denoting the consequence of the return of Orestes.

164-165. mvp-comment-98-1 The mention of her brother gives a new direction to Electra's complaint. Cp. supr. 119, 20.

165. mvp-comment-99-1 Cp. Ant. 815, 917-8.

166-167. mvp-comment-100-1 τὸν . . πόνων] Oppressed with my troublous destiny that has no good issue.' The article as in O. T. 1153, τὸν γέροντά μ' αἰκίσῃ, -equivalent to a relative clause, ὅς ἐστιν ἀνήνυτος, ἀνήνυτον, Accomplishing nothing,' i. e. Suffered in vain. Cp. O. C. 1565, 6, πολλῶν γὰρ ἂν καὶ μάταν | πημάτων ἱκνουμένων, κ.τ.λ., and note.

169. mvp-comment-101-1 ὧν τ᾽ ἔπαθ', ὧν τ᾽ ἐδάη] 'His wrongs, and the lesson he has been taught,' viz. by the Paedagogus ( supr. 3. 13. 14) and by the messages from Electra.

169-170. mvp-comment-102-1 (1) For what missive that I send doth not return (ἔρχεται) discomfited? Others take the words to mean, (2) What message' (from Orestes) 'comes to me, whose promise does not fail?'

171-172. mvp-comment-103-1 i e. in reply to my messages I always hear of his longing to come but never of his coming.

174. mvp-comment-104-1 This line (see v. rr.) seems to have been interpolated so as to supplement the locative dative and the ellipse of ἐστίν. μέγας is the predicate. 'Zeus is still great in heaven.'

176-177. mvp-comment-105-1 'Committing unto him thine exceeding indignation, be neither overburdened with enmity against thy foes, nor yet forget them;' i.e. Let the thought that Zeus will some day avenge thee serve to calm and moderate thy rage. The structure is paratactic (Essay on L. § 36. p. 68), for Without forgetting your enemies. be moderate in assailing them, and trust in the Divine vengeance.'

179. mvp-comment-106-1 For Time is a god of easiness,' i.e. a god who makes things easy or possible. The meaning is, not that Time assuages sorrow, but that what at one time seems impossible may prove easily possible in the course of years. Cp. Plat. Rep. 6. 502 B, ὡς μὲν γὰρ χαλεπὸν σωθῆναι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ξυγχωροῦμεν, ὡς δὲ ἐν παντὶ τῷ χρόνῳ . . οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἶς σωθείη, ἔσθ' ὅστις ἀμφισβητήσει; Shak. Cor. 5. 3.61, Murdering impossibility, to make What cannot be slight work. For the personification, cp. Phil. 837, καιρὸς.. πάντων γνώμαν ἴσχων: supr. 76: and esp. Eur. Ion, 337, ἀργὸς ἡ θεός, sc. αἰδώς.

180-181. mvp-comment-107-1 τὰν Κρῖσαν.. ἀκτάν] · Who dwells in Crisa, that pastoral shore-ward land. So Hermann. Others would read Κρίσας, οι Κρίσᾳ. 'Who dwells amid the shoreward-pastures of Crisa.'

182. mvp-comment-108-1 He, Agamemnon's heir.. will yet turn unto his own, and so will he that reigns, a God, by Acheron.' ἀπερίτροπος is to be taken in a different sense with παῖς ᾿Αγαμεμνονίδας and with what follows. Or, what comes to the same thing, another verb must be supplied in thought with the second clause. Orestes shall return: Agamemnon shall regard his house and offspring. The derivation from περιτρέπω suggests the idea of a coming revolution, (1) in the action of Orestes, (2) in the awakening from apparent slumber and forgetfulness of the gods below, or of the spirit of Agamemnon.

184. mvp-comment-109-1 Nor he who ruleth as a god beside the ghostly river.' Cp. supr. 110. (1) The subject of this line has commonly been supposed to be Hades. Another interpretation has occurred independently to Mr. Blaydes, Prof. Paley, and the present editor, viz. (2) that θεὸς may refer to Agamemnon as a δαίμων. In support of this, cp. supr. 150 Νιόβα, σὲ δ' ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν, infr. 839-41 (of Amphiaraus), νῦν ὑπὸ γαίας . . ἀνάσσει, and note; and the following places of the Choephori:-157, σέβας, ὦ δέσποτ᾽: 356, 7, κατὰ χθονὸς ἐμπρέπων | σεμνότιμος ἀνάκτωρ : 475-8, θεῶν τῶν κατὰ γᾶς ὅδ᾽ ὕμνος. ΧΟ. ἀλλὰ κλύοντες, μάκαρες χθόνιοι, | τήσδε κατευχῆς πέμπετ᾿ ἀρωγὴν | παισὶν προφρόνως ἐπὶ νίκῃ : also Persae, 157, θεοῦ μὲν εὐνάτειρα Περσῶν, θεοῦ δὲ καὶ μήτηρ ἔφυς: 644, Περσᾶν Σουσιγενή θεόν, -although the analogy in these two instances is weakened by the words being put into the mouths of Persians; but see also Ag. 1548, ἐπ᾿ ἀνδρὶ θείῳ. Agamemnon, in Aesch. Ag. 925, says to Clytemnestra, λέγω κατ᾿ ἄνδρα, μὴ θεόν, σέβειν ἐμέ. But that is in his lifetime. And considering the honours that are paid at his tomb, and the tone in which he is spoken of by Electra throughout, the chorus may speak of him to her as θεός by an allowable hyperbole, especially if the word is taken, not with the article as subject of the sentence, but as supplementary predicate with ἀνάσσων. If this hypothesis is not admissible, the god intended is probably not Pluto, but (3) Hermes. Cp. supr. 111.

185-186. mvp-comment-110-1 But my life hath in great part already passed from me and left me hopeless and forlorn.' The life is separable from the person, cp. О. Т. 612, τὸν παρ᾽ αὑτῷ βίοτον. ἀνέλπιστος is proleptic, and in idea belongs, by hypallage, to ἐμέ, -' is passed without bringing me any hope.' The exact sense of ὁ πολύς is not to be pressed. The article is deictic, as in Aj. 1149, τὴν πολλὴν βοήν: infr. 931.

186. mvp-comment-111-1 οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ] 'And I am no longer of any avail. Cp. Thuc. 2. 47. § 5, οὔτε γὰρ ἰατροὶ ἤρκουν.

187. mvp-comment-112-1 ἄνευ τοκέων] Her father is dead, and her mother is worse than lost to her.

187. mvp-comment-112-2 τοκέων occurs in one MS. (Vind. 281) and is adopted by Nauck. Cp. supr. 164, ἄτεκνος. It may be thought more suited to Electra's age to feel the want of children than of parents. But her filial piety is the chief motive of the play.

189-190. mvp-comment-113-1 ἁπερεί τις .. πατρός] ‘Like some despised sojourner, I tend the chambers of my father's house." Cp. Aesch. Cho. 84, δμωαὶ γυναῖκες, δωμάτων εὐθήμονες. For the absolute use of ἀνάξιος, cp. Phil. 439, ἀναξίου.. φωτός, 'A fellow of no esteem.' Hermann joined this word with what follows it ('I am undeservedly made to do menial service'), on the ground that an ἔποικος was ἀναξία as a matter of course. But, on the other hand, the addition of ἀναξία to the bare statement οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους πατρός, certainly weakens the expression, while the pleonasm in ἔποικος ἀναξία is rather emphatic, and is supported, as Ellendt pointed out, by the Homeric expression, ὡσεί τιν᾿ ἀτίμητον μετανάστην, ΙΙ. 9. 648, 16. 59.

190-191. mvp-comment-114-1 ὧδε . . ἀεικεῖ . . στολᾷ] Electra is a woman speaking to women. Cp. Aesch. Pers. 846-8, (῎Ατοσσα.) μάλιστα δ᾽ ἥδε συμφορὰ δάκνει, | ἀτιμίαν γε παιδὸς ἀμφὶ σώματι | ἐσθημάτων κλύουσαν, ἥ νιν ἀμπέχει.

192. mvp-comment-115-1 κεναῖς δ᾽ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις] And the table at which I stand is bare.' Hermann had conjectured ἀμφίσταμαι, which restores the metre, before he observed that it was quoted by Eustathius. Cp. Pind. Ol. 1. 80, τραπέζαισι .. ἀμφί, and, for the thought, Od. 20. 259, δίφρον ἀεικέλιον καταθεὶς ὀλίγην τε τράπεζαν : infr. 361, 2, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω καὶ περιρρείτω βίος : Pind. Ο1. 2. 116, κεινὰν παρὰ δίαιταν.

194. mvp-comment-116-1 οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά] 'Piteous were thy tones at the time of thy father's return.' In the Agamemnon of Aeschylus, the Watchman and the Chorus, i. e. the household and the people, express a vague misgiving, which is not sufficiently definite to enable them to warn Agamemnon. Sophocles here, as elsewhere, concentrates in an individual what in Aeschylus was general. It is quite consistent with his conception of the character of Electra, that, young as she then was, and totally unable, both from her inexperience ( infr. 1024) and her dependent position, of averting the harm which she may have vaguely foreseen, she had a sufficiently clear perception of the situation to be sad instead of joyful on the occasion of her father's coming home, and her sadness would be aggravated by her helplessness :-ἐπεὶ ἐχθίστη ὀδύνη πολλὰ φρονέοντα μηδενὸς κρατέειν. Her friends, of the same age with her, observed this, and in recollecting it, now understand the cause. ooi is easily supplied, both because the whole of Electra's last speech refers to herself, and because σοί occurs immediately afterwards as an ethical' dative. πατρός is no less easily supplied with νόστοις for a similar reason, both because the word occurs three lines above, and because it is implied in πατρώαις in the following line. νόστοις is dative of the occasion, E. on L. § 11. p. 18. For the sense, cp. Aesch. Pers. 935, 6, πρόσφθογγόν σοι νόστου τὰν | κακοφάτιδα βοάν, κακομέλετον ἰὰν | Μαριανδυνοῦ θρηνητῆρος | πέμψω πολύδακρυν ἰακχάν.

195-197. mvp-comment-117-1 οἰκτρὰ δ'.. πλαγά] 'And piteous was thy crying where thy father lay, when thou hadst seen launched the death-stroke of the solid brazen axe.' If Sophocles (see Introduction) follows the form of the legend known to us from Homer, according to which Agamemnon was slain at a feast given in honour of his return, ἐν κοίταις probably means, (1) 'Where he lay in death.' And this is supported by 203. The poet might, no doubt, have so far modified the legend as to suppose Agamemnon after the feast to have been lured by Clytemnestra to his chamber and there slain. ἐν κοίταις might then belong to the relative clause (ὅτε ἐν κ.), and mean 'in his chamber. But this is inconsistent with 203 and 270. For (1) cp. Aesch. Ag. 1494, 1518, Eur. Med. 437, O. C. 1707. The bath, and the entangling garment, which are so prominent in the Agamemnon and Choephori, are in any case not thought of here. Some (including Wecklein) understand aὐδά in both clauses of the death-shriek of the king. σοι (Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19 f.) marks that Electra was the chief sufferer from all that happened. This explanation is rightly defended by Triclinius. Cp. Tennyson's Elaine, -Through her own side she felt the sharp lance go.' Hermann, understanding aὐδά of the people's voice, rejects σοι and reads οἱ instead. The hiatus, which he defends from Trach. 650, ὁ δὲ οἱ φίλα δάμαρ (cp. supr. 157), is still exceptional, but a stronger objection to the removal of σοί is that the connection between this speech and Electra's is thus destroyed.

197-200. mvp-comment-118-1 Sophocles seems here to have in his mind the passage of the Agamemnon where Clytemnestra impersonates the Alastor of Atreus, Aesch. Agam. 1500-1504: Craft pointed out the way, lust murdered him. Between them they produced a monstrous birth, whether he who did this thing were a god or one of mortal mould.' μορφάν the immediate agent and the act itself, as an embodied horror, seem to be confused. See E. on L. § 48. p. 92.

201-212. mvp-comment-119-1 In supr. 185-92, Electra refused consolation and drew attention to her hopeless misery. The women then call to mind how they had pitied her at the time of her father's death. This opens anew the flood-gates of her sorrow. Cp. Ant. 857 foll., ἔψαυσας ἀλγεινοτάτας ἐμοὶ μερίμνας, κ.τ.λ.

203. mvp-comment-120-1 δείπνων] The feast which preceded the murder, according to Od. 4. 535. Agamemnon (see next note) is supposed to have been murdered at table : ὡσεί τε κατέκτανε βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ (Od. 1. c.).

205. mvp-comment-121-1 For ἄχθη, the grammatical antecedent, the more definite θάνατοι is substituted and taken into the relative clause. The horror of that feast-I mean the death which followed it.'

206. mvp-comment-122-1 διδύμαιν χειροῖν] ‘Effected by joint violence' of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

207-208. mvp-comment-123-1 αΐ.. πρόδοτον] 'That wrought treason on my life and ruined me.'

209. mvp-comment-124-1 ois refers to the antecedent implied in χειροῖν, viz. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

211. mvp-comment-125-1 'And never may they have any good of their magnificence.' Cp. infr. 267-281: Od. 17. 244, 5, τῷ κέ τοι ἀγλαΐας γε διασκεδάσειεν ἁπάσας, | τὰς νῦν ὑβρίζων φορέεις.

214-216. mvp-comment-126-1 'Seest thou not through what courses thou hast fallen thus cruelly into calamities that come home to thee?' or, with a slightly different shade of meaning, 'which thou hast brought upon thyself.' Cp. Aj. 260: Pind. Nem. 1. 81, τὸ γὰρ οἰκεῖον πιέζει πάνθ᾽ ὁμῶς. ἐξ οἵων is otherwise explained by one Scholiast :-ἐξ οἴων ἀγαθῶν εἰς τί ἀνιαρὸν ἐλήλυθας. Cp. infr. 392. But it is more natural that the Chorus should remind her of the cause of the persecution she is undergoing.

218-219. mvp-comment-127-1 σᾷ . . πολέμους] Ever creating new conflicts for thy burdened soul.'

219-220. mvp-comment-128-1 τὰ δὲ.. πλάθειν] ‘But strife with the powerful is hopeless.' The vague rá is to be supplemented from what precedes and follows,- sc. τὰ πολεμούμενα, οι τὰ ἐρίδος ἐχόμενα. Cp. Plat. Symp. 206 C, ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐν τῷ ἀναρμόστῳ, -sc. κυούμενα καὶ γεννώμενα, - Pind. Nem. 10. 135, χαλεπὰ δ' ἔρις ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλεῖν κρεσσόνων: ΟΙ. 11. 48, νεῖκος δὲ κρεσσόνων ἀποθέσθ᾽ ἄπορον. πλάθειν, sc. τοῖς δυνατοῖς, is epexegetic infinitive.

221. mvp-comment-129-1 The Chorus (l. 214) have reminded Electra of the violent words by which she has earned her present misery. She replies that such words were wrung from her by a fearful cause, viz. by the murder of her father and the subsequent conduct of the murderers. Cp. infr. 271 foll.

222. mvp-comment-130-1 'I know, I am conscious of my passion, viz. that it is inordinate. Cp. infr. 617, 8, μανθάνω δ᾽ ὁθούνεκα | ἔξωρα πράσσω κοὐκ ἐμοὶ προσεικότα : 1011, κατάσχες ὀργήν.

223-224. mvp-comment-131-1 But amid deeds of horror I will not curb or moderate these my calamitous ways' (as ye call them). She echoes the words of the Chorus (l. 215) in a different sense. They meant by οἰκείας ἄτας, 'self-caused calamities:' -she means by ταύτας άτας, 'this infatuate,' or 'fatal,' course,' of which by implication they have accused her.

226-228. mvp-comment-132-1 Electra relapses into despair. If even these Argive women, who know her so well, cannot give her a word of comfort, whence is it to come? 'At whose mouth, then, kind band of friends, can I hope to hear a word of comfort, prompted by seasonable thought?' For the uncommon dative, see E. on L. § 13. p. 20.

229. mvp-comment-133-1 'Press not on me with your consolations,' and cp. Eur. El. 1182, διὰ πυρὸς ἔμολον ἁ τάλαινα ματρὶ τᾷδ᾽.

230. mvp-comment-134-1 For ye shall find this sorrow irremoveable.'

234. mvp-comment-135-1 Like a true-hearted mother.' For this form of expressing sympathy from one woman to another, cp. Trach. 526, ἐγὼ δὲ μάτηρ μὲν οἷα φράζω.

235. mvp-comment-136-1 ἄταν ἄταις] Cp. Αj. 866, πόνῳ πόνον, and note.

236. mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ;] 'And is not my trouble infinite?' (So the Scholiast, -πρὸς γὰρ ἄμετρον κακὸν καὶ ἀμέτρων δεῖται θρήνων.) Cp. infr. 1249, 50, ἁμέτερον οἷον ἔφυ κακόν. For the meaning, cp. Shak. Ant. and Cleo. 4. 15. 4, But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, Proportioned to our cause, must be as great As that which makes it.'

237. mvp-comment-138-1 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν] To treat the dead with forgetfulness.' E. on L. § 19. p. 27.

238. mvp-comment-139-1 ἐν τίνι . . ἀνθρώπων] 'Where amongst men hath such a mind sprung up?'

239. mvp-comment-140-1 τούτοις] Sc. ἐν οἷς τοῦτο ἔβλαστε, the indefinite plural taking the place of the indefinite singular. E. on L. § 20. p. 31. 3. Cp. Hdt. 9. 79. § 3. ἐγὼ δ᾽ οὖν τούτου εἵνεκα μήτε Αἰγινήτῃσι ἅδοιμι, μήτε τοῖσι ταῦτα ἀρέσκεται· ἀποχρᾷ δ᾽ ἐμοί, Σπαρτιήτῃσι ἀρεσκόμενον, ὅσια μὲν ποιέειν, ὅσια δὲ καὶ λέγειν.

240. mvp-comment-141-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ] · If I have near me any good,' = εἴ τι χρηστὸν πρόσκειταί μοι : Ε. on L. § 42. p. 80 β. Cp. infr. 1040, ᾧ σὺ πρόσκεισαι κακῷ.

241-243. mvp-comment-142-1 γονέων .. γόων] • Holding back the wings of my shrill wailings from doing honour to my sire.' Each fresh utterance of the unabating sorrow is imagined as a bird that is eager to fly. ἐκτίμους is predicative and proleptic, = ὥστε ἔξω εἶναι τοῦ τιμᾶν. See E. on L. $ 54. p. 100 d, § 10. p. 16 f., § 23. p. 38 81, § 38. p. 71.

244. mvp-comment-143-1 ya] Prof. Jebb reads ya, i.e. 'buried,' adding, 'it is difficult to believe that yῆ could stand for σποδός.' But the expression is hyperbolical-' mere clay.' Cp. ψήγμα in Aesch. Ag. 442.

251-252. mvp-comment-144-1 καὶ τὸ σὸν.. καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς] 'More in care for thee than for myself. This is really the meaning, although, by the usual Greek litotes, 'as much as' is put for more than.' The most important matter is put first. E. on L. § 41. p. 78.

253. mvp-comment-145-1 ἑψόμεσθ'] Cp. infr. 1052.

254-255. mvp-comment-146-1 I am ashamed of seeming to you, as I must seem, to be too impatient in multiplying lamentations.' δοκῶ is indicative.

258. mvp-comment-147-1 πατρῷ᾽ ὁρῶσα πήματ'] 'Seeing woful things performed against her sire.' Electra's filial affection for Agamemnon is kept prominently before us as her chief motive; and every insult to his memory, including her own sufferings, is regarded by her as part of the wrong done to him. πατρῷα is at first general, but in the antecedent to a it becomes individual, -' of my father.'

260. mvp-comment-148-1 θάλλοντα .. καταφθίνονθ'] “Not lessening but increasing.'

260-261. mvp-comment-149-1 ᾖ.. συμβέβηκεν] 'Since, first of all, I have found in my own mother the deepest cause for hatred.' This (Paley, etc.) is better than my mother is my enemy.'

264. mvp-comment-150-1 κἀκ τῶνδ᾽ ἄρχομαι] ‘And I am in subjection to them. Cp. O. C. 67, ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἄστυ βασιλέως τάδ' ἄρχεται.

270. mvp-comment-151-1 ἔνθ᾽ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν] Here again Sophocles seems to follow the account that is given in the fourth book of the Odyssey, ll. 529 foll., according to which Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon at or after a banquet. Hence he is said to have destroyed him beside the hearth. Cp. infr. 1495.

271-274. mvp-comment-152-1 Further, when I see their crowning insult, when I see, forsooth, the author of his death reclining on my father's couch, beside my wretched mother, if so I must call this woman, when cohabiting with him!' The clause τὸν αὐτοφόντην κ.τ.λ. is in the same construction with ὕβριν, governed by ἴδω. ἡμίν is ethical dative, and has a sarcastic force; i.e. That is what I am compelled to look upon.' The participle (κείμενον) which should have gone with ἐν κοίτῃ is absorbed and resumed in συγκοιμωμένην.

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βήματι μολόντα τάνδε γᾶν Ὀρέσταν.

ΧΟ. ἀντ. β΄. θάρσει μοι, θάρσει, τέκνον.

ΗΛ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ· 185 ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ΧΟ. στρ. γ΄.

οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά, οἰκτρὰ δ᾽ ἐν κοίταις πατρώαις

ΧΟ. ἀντ. γ΄.

ΗΛ. δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην, δεινοῖς ἐνδεινοῖς . . ἐνδεινοῖς MSS. Brunck corr.·

ΧΟ. ἐπ. ἀλλ᾽ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ εὔνοιάν L pr. εὐνοίαι C2A. εὐνοία Pal. γ' αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά, μὴ τίκτειν σ᾽ ἄταν ἄταις. 235

ΗΛ. καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ; φέρε, πῶς ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν καλόν;

ΧΟ.

ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὸ σὸν σπεύδουσ᾽ ἅμα καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ καλῶς λέγω, σὺ νίκα· σοὶ γὰρ ἐψόμεσθ᾽ ἅμα.

ΗΛ. αἰσχύνομαι μέν, ὦ γυναῖκες, εἰ δοκῶ πολλοῖσι θρήνοις δυσφορεῖν ὑμῖν ἄγαν. 255 ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία γὰρ ταῦτ᾽ ἀναγκάζει με δρᾶν,

Χορός ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὸ σὸν σπεύδουσʼ ἅμα καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ καλῶς λέγω, σὺ νίκα· σοὶ γὰρ ἑψόμεσθʼ ἅμα.

Χορός φέρʼ εἰπέ, πότερον ὄντος Αἰγίσθου πέλας 310 λέγεις τάδʼ ἡμῖν ἢ βεβῶτος ἐκ δόμων;

Ἠλέκτρα ἦ κάρτα· μὴ δόκει μʼ ἄν, εἴπερ ἦν πέλας, θυραῖον οἰχνεῖν· νῦν δʼ ἀγροῖσι τυγχάνει.

Χορός ἦ κἂν ἐγὼ θαρσοῦσα μᾶλλον ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην, εἴπερ ὧδε ταῦτʼ ἔχει; 315

Ἠλέκτρα ὡς νῦν ἀπόντος ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον;

Χορός καὶ δή σʼ ἐρωτῶ· τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής, ἥξοντος ἢ μέλλοντος; εἰδέναι θέλω.

Ἠλέκτρα φησίν γε· φάσκων δʼ οὐδὲν ὧν λέγει ποεῖ.

Χορός φιλεῖ γὰρ ὀκνεῖν πρᾶγμʼ ἀνὴρ πράσσων μέγα. 320

Ἠλέκτρα καὶ μὴν ἔγωγʼ ἔσωσʼ ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ὄκνῳ.

Χορός θάρσει· πέφυκεν ἐσθλός, ὥστʼ ἀρκεῖν φίλοις.

Ἠλέκτρα πέποιθʼ, ἐπεί τἂν οὐ μακρὰν ἔζων ἐγώ.

Χορός μηδὲν πρὸς ὀργήν, πρὸς θεῶν· ὡς τοῖς λόγοις ἔνεστιν ἀμφοῖν κέρδος, εἰ σὺ μὲν μάθοις 370 τοῖς τῆσδε χρῆσθαι, τοῖς δὲ σοῖς αὕτη πάλιν.

Ἠλέκτρα φέρʼ εἰπὲ δὴ τὸ δεινόν· εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι μεῖζόν τι λέξεις, οὐκ ἂν ἀντείποιμʼ ἔτι.

Ἠλέκτρα ἦ ταῦτα δή με καὶ βεβούλευνται ποεῖν; 385

Χρυσόθεμις μάλισθʼ· ὅταν περ οἴκαδʼ Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

Ἠλέκτρα ἀλλʼ ἐξίκοιτο τοῦδέ γʼ οὕνεκʼ ἐν τάχει.

Χρυσόθεμις τίνʼ, ὦ τάλαινα, τόνδʼ ἐπηράσω λόγον;

Ἠλέκτρα ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, εἴ τι τῶνδε δρᾶν νοεῖ.

Χρυσόθεμις ὅπως πάθῃς τί χρῆμα; ποῦ ποτʼ εἶ φρενῶν; 390

Ἠλέκτρα ὅπως ἀφʼ ὑμῶν ὡς προσωτάτω φύγω.

Χρυσόθεμις βίου δὲ τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μνείαν ἔχεις;

Ἠλέκτρα καλὸς γὰρ οὑμὸς βίοτος ὥστε θαυμάσαι.

Χρυσόθεμις ἀλλʼ ἦν ἄν, εἰ σύ γʼ εὖ φρονεῖν ἠπίστασο.

Ἠλέκτρα μή μʼ ἐκδίδασκε τοῖς φίλοις εἶναι κακήν. 395

Χρυσόθεμις ἀλλʼ οὐ διδάσκω· τοῖς κρατοῦσι δʼ εἰκαθεῖν.

Ἠλέκτρα σὺ ταῦτα θώπευʼ· οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις.

Χρυσόθεμις καλόν γε μέντοι μὴ ʼξ ἀβουλίας πεσεῖν.

Ἠλέκτρα πεσούμεθʼ, εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.

Χρυσόθεμις πατὴρ δὲ τούτων, οἶδα, συγγνώμην ἔχει. 400

Ἠλέκτρα ταῦτʼ ἐστὶ τἄπη πρὸς κακῶν ἐπαινέσαι.

Χρυσόθεμις σὺ δʼ οὐχὶ πείσει καὶ συναινέσεις ἐμοί;

Ἠλέκτρα οὐ δῆτα· μή πω νοῦ τοσόνδʼ εἴην κενή.

Χρυσόθεμις χωρήσομαί τἄρʼ οἷπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ.

Ἠλέκτρα ποῖ δʼ ἐμπορεύει; τῷ φέρεις τάδʼ ἔμπυρα; 405

Χρυσόθεμις μήτηρ με πέμπει πατρὶ τυμβεῦσαι χοάς.

Ἠλέκτρα πῶς εἶπας; ἦ τῷ δυσμενεστάτῳ βροτῶν;

Χρυσόθεμις ὃν ἔκτανʼ αὐτή· τοῦτο γὰρ λέξαι θέλεις.

Ἠλέκτρα ἐκ τοῦ φίλων πεισθεῖσα; τῷ τοῦτʼ ἤρεσεν;

Χρυσόθεμις ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί; 410

Ἠλέκτρα ὦ θεοὶ πατρῷοι, συγγένεσθέ γʼ ἀλλὰ νῦν.

Χρυσόθεμις ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

Ἠλέκτρα εἴ μοι λέγοις τὴν ὄψιν, εἴποιμʼ ἂν τότε.

Χρυσόθεμις ἀλλʼ οὐ κάτοιδα πλὴν ἐπὶ σμικρὸν φράσαι.

Ἠλέκτρα λέγʼ ἀλλὰ τοῦτο· πολλά τοι σμικροὶ λόγοι 415 ἔσφηλαν ἤδη καὶ κατώρθωσαν βροτούς.

Χορός πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ, εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε. 465

Say, is Aegisthus near while thus you speak? Or hath he left the palace? We would know.

EL Most surely. Never think, if he were by, I could stray out of door. He is abroad.

CH

Then with less fear I may converse with thee.

EL Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

CH

First of thy brother I beseech thee tell, How deem’st thou? Will he come, or still delay?

EL His promise comes, but still performance sleeps.

CH

Well may he pause who plans a dreadful deed.

EL I paused not in his rescue from the sword.

CH

Fear not. He will bestead you. He is true.

EL But for that faith my life had soon gone by.

CH

No more! I see approaching from the house Thy sister by both parents of thy blood, Chrysothemis; in her hand an offering, Such as old custom yields to those below.

CH

Der Chor.

ΧΟ.
ἀντ. β΄.

θάρσει μοι, θάρσει, τέκνον.

ΗΛ,

ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη

βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ·
185

ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ΧΟ.
στρ. γ΄.

οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά,

οἰκτρὰ δ᾽ ἐν κοίταις πατρώαις

ΧΟ.
ἀντ. γ΄.

ΗΛ.

δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην, δεινοῖς ἐνδεινοῖς . . ἐνδεινοῖς MSS. Brunck corr.·

ΧΟ.
ἐπ.

ἀλλ᾽ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ εὔνοιάν L pr. εὐνοίαι C2A. εὐνοία Pal. γ' αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σ᾽ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

ΗΛ.

καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ; φέρε,

πῶς ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν καλόν;

ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὸ σὸν σπεύδουσ᾽ ἅμα

καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ καλῶς

λέγω, σὺ νίκα· σοὶ γὰρ ἐψόμεσθ᾽ ἅμα.

ΗΛ.

αἰσχύνομαι μέν, ὦ γυναῖκες, εἰ δοκῶ

πολλοῖσι θρήνοις δυσφορεῖν ὑμῖν ἄγαν.
255

ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία γὰρ ταῦτ᾽ ἀναγκάζει με δρᾶν,

Χορός

ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὸ σὸν σπεύδουσʼ ἅμα

καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ καλῶς

λέγω, σὺ νίκα· σοὶ γὰρ ἑψόμεσθʼ ἅμα.

Χορός

φέρʼ εἰπέ, πότερον ὄντος Αἰγίσθου πέλας
310

λέγεις τάδʼ ἡμῖν ἢ βεβῶτος ἐκ δόμων;

Ἠλέκτρα

ἦ κάρτα· μὴ δόκει μʼ ἄν, εἴπερ ἦν πέλας,

θυραῖον οἰχνεῖν· νῦν δʼ ἀγροῖσι τυγχάνει.

Χορός

ἦ κἂν ἐγὼ θαρσοῦσα μᾶλλον ἐς λόγους

τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην, εἴπερ ὧδε ταῦτʼ ἔχει;
315

Ἠλέκτρα

ὡς νῦν ἀπόντος ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον;

Χορός

καὶ δή σʼ ἐρωτῶ· τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής,

ἥξοντος ἢ μέλλοντος; εἰδέναι θέλω.

Ἠλέκτρα

φησίν γε· φάσκων δʼ οὐδὲν ὧν λέγει ποεῖ.

Χορός

φιλεῖ γὰρ ὀκνεῖν πρᾶγμʼ ἀνὴρ πράσσων μέγα.
320

Ἠλέκτρα

καὶ μὴν ἔγωγʼ ἔσωσʼ ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ὄκνῳ.

Χορός

θάρσει· πέφυκεν ἐσθλός, ὥστʼ ἀρκεῖν φίλοις.

Ἠλέκτρα

πέποιθʼ, ἐπεί τἂν οὐ μακρὰν ἔζων ἐγώ.

Χορός

μηδὲν πρὸς ὀργήν, πρὸς θεῶν· ὡς τοῖς λόγοις

ἔνεστιν ἀμφοῖν κέρδος, εἰ σὺ μὲν μάθοις
370

τοῖς τῆσδε χρῆσθαι, τοῖς δὲ σοῖς αὕτη πάλιν.

Ἠλέκτρα

φέρʼ εἰπὲ δὴ τὸ δεινόν· εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι

μεῖζόν τι λέξεις, οὐκ ἂν ἀντείποιμʼ ἔτι.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἦ ταῦτα δή με καὶ βεβούλευνται ποεῖν;
385

Χρυσόθεμις

μάλισθʼ· ὅταν περ οἴκαδʼ Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀλλʼ ἐξίκοιτο τοῦδέ γʼ οὕνεκʼ ἐν τάχει.

Χρυσόθεμις

τίνʼ, ὦ τάλαινα, τόνδʼ ἐπηράσω λόγον;

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, εἴ τι τῶνδε δρᾶν νοεῖ.

Χρυσόθεμις

ὅπως πάθῃς τί χρῆμα; ποῦ ποτʼ εἶ φρενῶν;
390

Ἠλέκτρα

ὅπως ἀφʼ ὑμῶν ὡς προσωτάτω φύγω.

Χρυσόθεμις

βίου δὲ τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μνείαν ἔχεις;

Ἠλέκτρα

καλὸς γὰρ οὑμὸς βίοτος ὥστε θαυμάσαι.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ ἦν ἄν, εἰ σύ γʼ εὖ φρονεῖν ἠπίστασο.

Ἠλέκτρα

μή μʼ ἐκδίδασκε τοῖς φίλοις εἶναι κακήν.
395

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ οὐ διδάσκω· τοῖς κρατοῦσι δʼ εἰκαθεῖν.

Ἠλέκτρα

σὺ ταῦτα θώπευʼ· οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις.

Χρυσόθεμις

καλόν γε μέντοι μὴ ʼξ ἀβουλίας πεσεῖν.

Ἠλέκτρα

πεσούμεθʼ, εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.

Χρυσόθεμις

πατὴρ δὲ τούτων, οἶδα, συγγνώμην ἔχει.
400

Ἠλέκτρα

ταῦτʼ ἐστὶ τἄπη πρὸς κακῶν ἐπαινέσαι.

Χρυσόθεμις

σὺ δʼ οὐχὶ πείσει καὶ συναινέσεις ἐμοί;

Ἠλέκτρα

οὐ δῆτα· μή πω νοῦ τοσόνδʼ εἴην κενή.

Χρυσόθεμις

χωρήσομαί τἄρʼ οἷπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ποῖ δʼ ἐμπορεύει; τῷ φέρεις τάδʼ ἔμπυρα;
405

Χρυσόθεμις

μήτηρ με πέμπει πατρὶ τυμβεῦσαι χοάς.

Ἠλέκτρα

πῶς εἶπας; ἦ τῷ δυσμενεστάτῳ βροτῶν;

Χρυσόθεμις

ὃν ἔκτανʼ αὐτή· τοῦτο γὰρ λέξαι θέλεις.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐκ τοῦ φίλων πεισθεῖσα; τῷ τοῦτʼ ἤρεσεν;

Χρυσόθεμις

ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί;
410

Ἠλέκτρα

ὦ θεοὶ πατρῷοι, συγγένεσθέ γʼ ἀλλὰ νῦν.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

Ἠλέκτρα

εἴ μοι λέγοις τὴν ὄψιν, εἴποιμʼ ἂν τότε.

Χρυσόθεμις

ἀλλʼ οὐ κάτοιδα πλὴν ἐπὶ σμικρὸν φράσαι.

Ἠλέκτρα

λέγʼ ἀλλὰ τοῦτο· πολλά τοι σμικροὶ λόγοι
415

ἔσφηλαν ἤδη καὶ κατώρθωσαν βροτούς.

Χορός

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

Say, is Aegisthus near while thus you speak?

Or hath he left the palace? We would know.

EL

Most surely. Never think, if he were by,

I could stray out of door. He is abroad.

EL

Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

First of thy brother I beseech thee tell,

How deem’st thou? Will he come, or still delay?

EL

His promise comes, but still performance sleeps.

EL

I paused not in his rescue from the sword.

EL

But for that faith my life had soon gone by.

No more! I see approaching from the house

Thy sister by both parents of thy blood,

Chrysothemis; in her hand an offering,

Such as old custom yields to those below.

Ich red' aus freundlichem Antheil,

Wie die treuvorsorgende Mutter:

Zeug' Unheil nicht aus Unheil!

Ich bin gekommen, Tochter, um dein Wohl zugleich

Und meins bekümmert. Sprech' ich denn das Rechte nicht,

So möge dein Wort gelten; denn dir folgen wir.
245

Chorus

Cease thy complaints; already hast thou suffered

For thy loud discontents and threatened vengeance.

'Tis folly to contend with power superior.

Electra

Folly indeed, and madness ! But my griefs

Will force their way, and whilst Electra breathes

She must lament ; for who will bring me comfort,

Or soothe my sorrows ? Let me — let me go,

And weep for ever. ^

/ 'Tis my love entreats j

Trust me, 1 feel a mother's fondness for thee,

And fain would save thee from redoubled woes.

Pardon me, daughter ; if my warmth oileud,

Glad I submit. We'll follow, and obey thee.

Electra

Thou mayst ;

I had not else beyond the palace dai-ed

To wander hither.

Electra

Ask what thou wilt, ^gisthus is far off.

""Chor. Touching thy brother then, inform me quick

If aught thou knowst that merits firm belief.

Electra

He promises, but comes not.

Things of moment

Require deliberation and delay.

Electra

Oh ! but did I delay to save Orestes ?

He boasts a noble nature, and will ne'er

Forget his friends : be confident.

Electra

I am,

Were I not so I had not lived till now.

Yet not by thee alone of all that breathe

Is sorrow felt. What share is thine, beyond

Those in this house by blood to thee allied?

Such is the life Chrysothemis endures;

Such Iphianassa's sufferings; such the Youth's,

Who in concealment and in silence mourns.