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451–600

τήνδε †λιπαρή τρίχα] The adjective here is puzzling, whichever reading we adopt. Hermann thought the MS. reading ἀλιπαρή might bear the sense of 'unmeet for supplication.' But λιπαρεῖν is hardly near enough in meaning to λιτανεύειν to make this possible. The Scholiast and Suidas explain the alternative reading λιπαρή, by ἱκέτιν, ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸν λιπαρήσομεν.

But this is wanting in point. And a confusion of λιπαρής with λιπαρός (i.e. ἀλιπαρῆ = αὐχμηράν) is not to be thought of. Perhaps λιπαρή, in the sense of 'patient,' 'persistent,' may have conveyed some shade of meaning suitable to the passage. Or possibly ΛΙΠΑΡΗ may be a corruption of AYC-ΠΙΝΗ. Ср. О. С. 1597, εἶτ᾿ ἔλυσε δυσπινεῖς στολάς. I cannot think, with Mr. Paley, that this and the following line are an interpolation. The words ἄχω, δὸς αὐτῷ, are too pathetic for this.

οὐ χλιδαῖς ἠσκημένον] 'Not elegantly neat.' The dative of manner in χλιδαῖς has an adverbial force. Essay on L. § 14. p. 20. Electra's girdle had not been beautifully got up' and 'laid in lavender,' like her sister's.

The belief in the real presence of the spirits of the dead on great occasions, which is so powerful in the Oresteia of Aeschylus, still survives in the Sophoclean drama, but is much less vividly and realistically felt. It has become more ideal.

ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερός] • With overpowering might.'

ζῶντ᾽ ἐπεμβῆναι ποδί] Either (1) In the fulness of life (ζῶντα) should trample with his foot' (ποδί expletive); or (2) Should trample with a foot of living power' (ζῶντι.. ποδί). The latter is rendered improbable by the unusual elision, for which, however, cp. Trach. 675, ἀργῆτ᾽ οἰὸς εὐείρῳ πόκῳ, where see note. See also Pind. Ol. 13. 114, καρταίποδ᾽ ἀναρύῃ Γαιαóχῳ. In either case ζῆν is used in the secondary sense of being vigorous. Cp. Ant. 456, 7, ἀεί ποτε | ζῇ ταῦτα: Ο. Τ. 44, 5, and note.

'Indeed, I do believe some care on his part caused the appalling dream to come to her.' For the use of the neuter participle, see Essay on L. § 30. p. 51 α. Although μέλον here has not the article, it should be added to the six examples there given. μὲν οὖν interposes the incidental thought, that even without their prayers Agamemnon was minded to interfere. Then, in 461, the main drift is resumed with ὅμως. 'Still, let us not omit this offering!'

σοί is here equivalent to σαυτῇ, but occurring here as one of several coordinate terms, can hardly be adduced to justify the use of ἐμέ for ἐμαυτήν in supr. 363, which becomes necessary if λυπεῖν is read.

τὸ γὰρ .. δρᾶν] ‘For when a thing is right, people should not quarrel over it, but hasten to do it.' Two points are doubtful in the construction of these words. a. Either (1) τὸ δίκαιον is subject of ἔχει, and ἐρίζειν is epexegetic infinitive, or (2) ἐρίζειν is the subject of ἔχει, and τὸ δίκαιον an accusative loosely governed by the words that follow it. b. τὸ δρᾶν is either (1) the direct object of ἐπισπεύδειν, or (2) epexegetic infinitive after ἐπισπεύδειν (i.e. ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δίκαιον, ὥστε δρᾶν αὐτό). For the article in this case, cp. O. T. 1416, 7, ἐς δέον πάρεσθ᾽ ὅδε | Κρέων τὸ πράσσειν καὶ τὸ βουλεύειν : infr. 1030, μακρὸς τὸ κρῖναι ταῦτα χὼ λοιπὸς χρόνος. The addition of δυοῖν belongs to the same tendency to make numbers explicit, which appears in καὶ τὸ γενναῖον τρίτον (Ο. C. 8) and the like phrases. For the sense, cp. Fr. 76, τοῖς γὰρ δικαίοις ἀντέχειν οὐ ῥάδιον. In the second clause, ἀλλ' ἐπισπεύδειν, κ.τ.λ., a positive notion is understood from the negative. Essay on L. § 36. p. 64, β, 1 а.

These lines are intended to emphasize at once the timidity of Chrysothemis and the harshness of Clytemnestra.

The following short ode, the first stasimon, consisting of a single strophe, antistrophe, and epode, dwells, first, on the renewal of hope which is brought to the upholders of the righteous cause by the announcement of the dream, secondly, on the guilt of those whom Vengeance will now assail, and thirdly, on the long chain of troubles, of which their crime is the continuation. The rhythm, beginning from three short glyconian lines, is chiefly iambic and trochaic, with an increasing number of long syllables toward the close of each movement. The metrical scheme is the following:-

Ср. О. Τ. 1086, εἴπερ ἐγὼ μάντις εἰμὶ καὶ κατὰ γνώμην ἴδρις.

ὁ πρόμαντις Δίκα] 'Presaging Justice,' i.e. the just Power that has warned Clytemnestra through the dream.

δίκαια κράτη] Either (1) 'Bringing with her the victorious strength of righteous action,' or (2) And shall bear away the victory in a righteous deed.' In the latter case (2) the participle is proleptic. The former interpretation (1) is on the whole more probable. For this use of φερομένα, cp. Hdt. 7. 50. § 8, πολλὴν φορβὴν φερόμενοι πορευόμεθα.

These lines echo the language of the dialogue, supr. 412, ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

ἁδυπνόων] · Breathing of gladness,' i.e. auspicious. Cp. O. T. 151, ὦ Διὸς ἀδυεπὲς φάτι.

κλύουσαν] For this accusative, with the dative preceding, as if after θαρρύνει or some such word, see Essay on L. $ 6. p. 23, and cp. Aesch. Cho. 410, 11, πέπαλται δ᾽ αὐτέ μοι φίλον κέαρ τόνδε κλύουσαν οἶκτον.

ὁ φύσας] It must be borne in mind that Electra is present during the chanting of this ode. Cp. supr. 184 and note.

'Nor that oid two-edged axe of sharpened bronze.' χαλκόπλακτος is literally, 'Smiting with bronze,' χαλκέας πληγὰς ἔχων. See Essay on L. $ 53: p. 98. χαλκόπακτος, • Of solid bronze,' is the conjecture of Kvidala. The axe is imagined as giving evidence, much as in early times a weapon might be accused of homicide. For a somewhat similar fancy, attributing feeling to an inanimate instrument, cp. Philoctetes, 1130 foll., ἢ που ἐλεινὸν ὁρᾷς, κ.τ.λ., Hab. 2, 11, The nail shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, Woe unto him,' etc.

αἰσχίσταις ἐν αἰκίαις] These words are an echo of supr. 444-6.

καὶ πολύπους | καὶ πολύχειρ] With exceeding swiftness and might.' Like πᾶς and αὐτός in composition (E. on L. $ 55. p. 101), πολύς has here an intensive force, without having an exactly defined significance. Ср. πολύγλωσσος, infr. 798.

Cp. infr. 1396, 7, δόλον σκότῳ κρύψας πρὸς αὐτὸ τέρμα.

χαλκόπους] 'With adamantine,' i.e. (1) unwearying, 'footsteps.' Cp. χαλκὸς ἀτειρής. Or (2) Irresistible.'

ἐπέβα] «There came on,' as a dangerous event (οἶσιν = τούτων οἷς).

πρὸ τῶνδε .. συνδρῶσιν] ‘In the face of these things I feel assured that the portent which comes near to the doer or the abettor of the deed cannot be other than baneful.' In Sophocles, not as in Aeschylus, Aegisthus is the author, Clytemnestra the accessory, of the murder. In Aesch. Ag. 1609, he claims a greater share than the poet really attributes to him. For μήποτε, see E. on L. § 24. p. 41, y 2, and cp. Aj. 183.

μαντεῖαι βροτῶν] 'Divination, as an art in which mortals are concerned.' Cp. Ο. Τ. 709, βρότειον οὐδὲν μαντικῆς ἔχον τέχνης, and see Essay on L. § 40. p. 75.

οὐδ᾽ ἐν θεσφάτοις] The indication of the dream is as express and clear as any oracle. If the one fail of accomplishment, so must the other.

εὐ κατασχήσει] 'Shall happily reach its destination,' i. e. shall have a fortunate issue. Cp. Trach. 826, 7, καὶ τάδ᾽ ὀρθῶς | ἔμπεδα κατουρίζει.

'O chariot-race of Pelops in the former time, that hast caused many troubles, how pregnant was thine occurrence with sorrow for this land!' Sophocles passes over the quarrels of Atreus and Thyestes, and goes back at once to the homicide of which Pelops, the author of the whole race, was guilty. This made Hermes the father of Myrtilus send the golden ram, which led to the fatal dissension between the brothers. Eur. Or. 988-1012. The act of Orestes in the present drama is destined to put an end to the series of disasters which then began.

On the question between αἰανής and αἰανή, cp. Aj. 672 and note.

*παγχρυσέων] The chariot of the wealthy Pelops on his bridal journey was encrusted with gold. Cp. Pind. Ol. 1.87. παγχρύσεος is the Homeric form, and if a change is necessary, this seems to be the simplest. The metre is the same as in 512. Others read παγχρύσων ἐκ δίφρων. Μ. has πολυχρύσων.

δυστάνοις αἰκίαις] Myrtilus,

although a traitor to Oenomaus, was a benefactor to Pelops. Observe the repetition of the word from supr. 486, also infr. 515.

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς] «Uprooted and flung forth.'

'Never since that day has sad dishonour left the house.' Some editors read ἔλιπεν ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκου, ‘Has failed out of this house,' which is less probable. Wecklein reads οἴκους | πολυπάμονας, which is supported by the scholion on 508, οὐ διέλιπεν αἰκία τοὺς πολυκτήμονας δόμους. But see E. on L. § 44. pp. 83, 4.

The dialectic of the following scene may be compared with Aj. 1047 foll., Ant. 632 foll.

The spectator is a second time informed of Aegisthus' absence, which is so necessary to the plot. Supr. 310 foll.

θυραίαν γ'.. φίλους] ‘To go out of doors and bring disgrace upon your relatives:'-i.e. your appearance and conduct in the house are a sufficient disgrace to them. Cp. supr. 312, 3.

ὡς θρασεῖα] Sc. εἰμί.

σὲ καὶ τὰ σά] • Thee and thine.' Clytemnestra thus acknowledges that Electra's complaints were never for herself alone, but for her father.

πατήρ .. τέθνηκεν] Your father, that is what you are always holding forth, (how that he) died by my act. By a kind of attraction, the main sentence, as it proceeds, becomes subordinated to the parenthesis.

ᾖ] Sc. τῇ Δίκῃ.

μοῦνος Ἑλλήνων] i. e. either (1) he did what no other Greek could have had the heart to do, in sacrificing his child, or (2) while the army consented to the sacrifice, he had the sole responsibility, as commander-in-chief, or (3) when all shrank from the sacrificial act, he himself took the knife to slay his daughter. For (3) cp. Aesch. Ag. 225, ἔτλη δ᾽ οὖν θυτὴρ γενέσθαι θυγατρός, κ.τ.λ., ib. 210, 231 foll.

τοῦ χάριν τίνων] 'On whose account?' lit. Absolving an obligation to whom?' Others read τοῦ χάριν, τίνων; 'Wherefore, on whose account?'

1.ε. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ μετὴν αὐτοῖσι τῆς γ' ἐμῆς, ὥστε τὴν ἐμὴν κτανεῖν.

But if for his brother Menelaus' sake he slew my child, was it to be expected that I should not requite him for this?'

παῖδες.. διπλοῖ] Megapenthes and Hermione, the children of Menelaus and Helen.

Or had Death somehow a greater longing to devour my offspring than Helen's?' δαίσασθαι is epexegetic infinitive, sc. τἀμὰ τέκνα δαίσασθαι.

Or had that accursed father given up all care for his children by me, while preserving his affection for Menelaus' offspring?"

Contrast with this the feeling of Antigone, Ant. 515, οὐ μαρτυρήσει ταῦθ᾽ ὁ κατθανὼν νεκύς.

ἐγὼ. .δύσθυμος] ‘For my part, then, the past causes me no misgiving. She will not confess her alarm before Electra. τοῖς πεπραγμένοις is dative of the reason: Essay on L. § 14. p. 21. Cp. Thuc. 3. 98. § 6, τοῖς πεπραγμένοις φοβούμενος τοὺς ᾿Αθηναίους.

If you must blame others, do so on just grounds,' lit. Having got hold of a just notion of the case.' These words are a challenge to Electra to show cause why Agamemnon should not have been slain, as the mere fact of his death ( supr. 525, 6) was no sufficient reason for her continued abuse. The stress is on the participial clause, or rather on the word δικαίαν.

έρε ἐρεῖς . . λυπηρόν] The death of Iphigenia was a painful subject to Electra.

εἰ δὲ μ᾿ ὧδ' ἀεὶ λόγους | ἐξήρχες] 'If your speeches to me were always tuned in that key.' με is governed κατὰ σύνεσιν by the whole phrase, as equivalent to ὧδε προσηγόρευες, ἐξάρχειν is used as in ἐξάρχειν μέλος. Electra is imagined as sounding the note to which Clytemnestra responds.

δίκῃ] 'As moved thereto by Justice:'-dative of the cause.

τίνος .. Αὐλίδι] ‘In requital for what' either (1) He endured that mighty wind at Aulis?' or (2) That great tempest fell upon Aulis?' or (3) She directed (ἐπέσχεν) that mighty wind at Aulis? It may be objected to (1), that if Agamemnon is the subject of ἔσχε, the words πατὴρ οὐμός in 566 are unnecessary. For (3) requiring ἔσχεν to be equivalent to ἐπέσχεν, see Essay on L. § 55. p. 101, 4, and L. and S., s. v. ἔχω, Α. ii. 7, and cp. Il. 14. 57, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ νηυσὶ θοῇσι μάχην ἀλίαστον ἔχουσιν: 11.271, (εἰλειθυῖαι) πικρὰς ὠδῖνας ἔχουσai.

κείνης.. μαθεῖν] ‘For you may not learn from her;' i. e. Artemis will not hold communication with one so polluted. Clytemnestra notwithstanding appeals to Artemis, infr. 626.

Electra's point is that Agamemnon's fault which provoked Artemis was a light and all but involuntary offence.

ἐξεκίνησεν ποδοῖν] ‘Startled by his tread.' The language is softened so as to convey the impression that Agamemnon put up the stag accidentally.

He chanced to let fall some word of boasting.' There is a stress on the participle ἐκκομπάσας.

Electra does not raise the question whether the will of Artemis was just or not. She is contented with shifting the responsibility from Agamemnon.

The words πολλὰ καὶ ἀντιβάς form a separate clause, unless πολλά be joined to βιασθείς, which is improbable. For which cause, and not for Menelaus'sake, under compulsion, -ay, after many a struggle, he reluctantly sacrificed her.' After making this elaborate statement of the immediate cause, it occurs to Electra that everything connected with the expedition was in one sense done on Menelaus' account. Hence she resumes, with εἰ δ' οὖν, by admitting this, as if for the sake of argument.

ποίῳ νόμῳ] 'On what principle?' Cp. Ant. 908, τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;

οὐκ οὖσαν] 'Unreal;' i.e. οὐκ ἀληθῆ. Cp. Τhuc. 6. 16, προσποίησίν τε ξυγγενείας .. καὶ μὴ οὖσαν.

τοὺς δὲ πρόσθεν] Sc. παΐδας, understood πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον from παιδοποιεῖς. Essay on L. § 36. p. 64.

εὐσεβῶν] i. e. ᾿Αγαμέμνονος. Poetical plural. ἐκβαλοῦσ᾽ ἔχεις] «You have cast out from favour. Electra is virtually an outcast, and Orestes, although not banished by his mother's act, durst not return openly to his home.

πῶς.. ἄν] «Do you expect me to approve of this?'-referring to supr. 550.

ἢ.. λαμβάνεις] « Or will you say that in this, too, you are vindicating your daughter?' τοῦτο, accusative in apposition with τῆς θ. α. λ.

αἰσχρῶς] Sc. ἐρεῖς. οὐ γὰρ καλόν, κ. τ. λ.]. There is little virtue in,' etc. See on Aj. 1132, 1349.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ . . κακοστομοῦμεν 'But then one may not even reason with you, since you reply with all your vehemence that I am reviling my mother.' For ἀλλ᾽ οὐ .. γάρ without apodosis, cp. O. C. 988 foll., ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ οὔτ᾽ ἐν τοῖσδ᾽ ἀκούσομαι κακὸς | γάμοισιν, κ.τ.λ. πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν = πᾶσαν γλῶσσαν ἱεῖσα λέγεις. Cp. Plat. Legg. 10. p. 890 D, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν, τὸ λεγόμενον, φωνὴν ἱέντα τῷ παλαιῷ νόμῳ ἐπίκουρον γίγνεσθαι λόγῳ.

νέμω] ·And truly I account thee rather my mistress than my mother.' καί has a sarcastic tone as in interrogation, and is nearly = καί τοι, - as in Aj. 92 it may be said to have the force of καὶ μήν.

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)) — 464 focus

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

ΧΡ.

δράσω· τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

δυοῖν ἐρίζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δρᾶν.

πειρωμένῃ δὲ τῶνδε τῶν ἔργων ἐμοὶ

σιγὴ παρ᾽ ὑμῶν πρὸς θεῶν ἔστω, φίλαι·

ὡς εἰ τάδ᾽ ἡ τεκοῦσα πεύσεται, πικρὰν
470

δοκῶ με πεῖραν τήνδε τολμήσειν ἔτι.

ΧΟ.
στρ.

εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ ἐγὼ MSS. Dind. corr. παράφρων

μάντις ἔφυν καὶ γνώμας

λειπομένα σοφᾶς,

εἶσιν ὁ πρόμαντις
475

Δίκα, δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη·

μέτεισιν, ὦ τέκνον, οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου.

ὕπεστί μοι θράσος θάρσος C΄ΑΓ Pal. θράσος L2.,

ἁδυπνόων κλύουσαν
480

ἀρτίως ὀνειράτων.

οὐ γάρ ποτ' ἀμναστεῖ ἀμνηστεῖ LF. ἀμναστεῖ AL. γ᾽ ὁ φύσας ῾Ελλάνων ἄναξ,

οὐδ᾽ ὁ παλαιὰ first a by C²? χαλκόπλακτος χαλκόπληκτος LAFL3. χαλκόπλητος Pal. ἀμφάκης ἀμφήκης LF Pal. (c. gl. or γένυς στομά πελέκεως) corr. ex Hesych. γένυς,

ἅ νιν κατέπεφνεν αἰσχίσταις ἐν αἰκίαις.
485

ἀντ.

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους

καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἄλεκτρ᾽ ἄνυμφα γὰρ ἐπέβα μιαιφόνων

γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθ᾽ οἶσιν οὐ θέμις.

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μ' ἔχει

μήποτε add A, om. LILª Pal. μήποθ᾽ ἡμῖν ἡμιν L. ἡμῖν CA. ἡμῖν Pal.
495

ἀψεγὲς πελᾶν τέρας

τοῖς δρῶσι καὶ συνδρῶσιν. ἤ ή LL². ή A. τοι μαντεῖαι βροτῶν

οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν δεινοῖς ὀνείροις οὐδ᾽ ἐν θεσφάτοις,

εἰ μὴ τόδε φάσμα νυκτὸς εὐ κατασχήσει.
500

ἐπ.

ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πολύπονος ἱππεία,

ὡς ἔμολες αἰανὴς αἰανὴσ L, accent by Co. αἰανὴ ΑΓL² Vat. ac VV3 MM². αἰανῆ Pal.

τᾷδε γᾷ.
505

εὔτε γὰρ ὁ ποντισθεὶς

Μυρτίλος μυρτίλοσ L. ἐκοιμάθη,

*παγχρυσέων παγχρύσων L and most MSS. πολυχρύσων M. δίφρων

δυστάνοις δυστάνοις L. αἰκίαις
510

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr.

ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett.

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΝΗΣΤΡΑ.

ἀνειμένη μέν, ὡς ἔοικας, αὖ στρέφει στρέφηι LL3. στρέφῃ AΓ..

οὐ γὰρ πάρεστ᾽ Αἴγισθος, ὅς σ᾽ added AC', om. Pal. ἐπεῖχ᾽ ἀεὶ

μή τοι θυραίαν γ' οὖσαν αἰσχύνειν φίλους·

νῦν δ᾽ ὡς ἄπεστ᾽ ἐκεῖνος, οὐδὲν ἐντρέπει

ἐμοῦ γε· καίτοι πολλὰ πρὸς πολλούς με δὴ
520

ἐξεῖπας ὡς θρασεῖα καὶ πέρα πέραι LL2. δίκης

ἄρχω, καθυβρίζουσα καὶ σὲ καὶ τὰ σά.

ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὕβριν μὲν οὐκ ἔχω, κακῶς δέ σε

λέγω, κακῶς κλύουσα πρὸς σέθεν θαμά.

πατὴρ γάρ, οὐδὲν ἄλλο σοὶ τοὶ L pr. πρόσχημ᾽ ἀεί,
525

ὡς ἐξ ἐμοῦ τέθνηκεν. ἐξ ἐμοῦ· καλῶς

ἔξοιδα, τῶνδ᾽ ἄρνησις οὐκ ἔνεστί μοι.

ἡ γὰρ Δίκη νιν εἶλε κοὐκ μιν εἶλεν κ᾿ οὐκ L pr. Corr. C2. εἶλεν οὐκ A. εἶλε κοὐκ ΓL2 Pal. ἐγὼ μόνη,

ᾗ χρῆν σ᾽ ἀρήγειν, εἰ φρονοῦσ᾽ ἐτύγχανες·

ἐπεὶ πατὴρ οὗτος σός, ὃν θρηνεῖς ἀεί,
530

τὴν σὴν ὅμαιμον μοῦνος ῾Ελλήνων ἔτλη

θῦσαι θεοῖσιν, οὐκ ἴσον καμὼν ἐμοὶ

λύπης, ὅτ᾽ ἔσπειρ᾽, ὥσπερ ἡ τίκτουσ' ἐγώ.

εἶεν, δίδαξον δή δέ LLT Pal. δή CA. με, τοῦ χάριν τίνων τίνων L Pal. L² pr. τίνος CA Vat. ac VVM2.

ἔθυσεν αὐτήν. πότερον Ἀργείων ἐρεῖς;
535

ἀλλ' οὐ μετῆν αὐτοῖσι τήν γ' ἐμὴν ην from ὸν L. κτανεῖν.

ἀλλ᾽ ἀντ᾿ ἀδελφοῦ δῆτα Μενέλεω κτανὼν

τἄμ᾽ οὐκ ἔμελλε ἔμελλεν LL2. τῶνδέ μοι δώσειν δίκην ;

πότερον ἐκείνῳ παῖδες οὐκ ἦσαν διπλοῖ,

οὓς τῆσδε μᾶλλον εἰκὸς ἦν θνήσκειν, πατρὸς
540

καὶ μητρὸς ὄντας, ἧς ὁ πλοῦς ὅδ᾽ ἦν χάριν;

ἢ τῶν ἐμῶν ῞Αιδης τιν' τίν' LLF Pal. ἵμερον τέκνων

ἢ τῶν ἐκείνης ἔσχε δαίσασθαι πλέον πλέων LL2. πλέον AC Γ. πλέω Pal.;

ἢ τῷ πανώλει πατρὶ after τῶν letters erased, L. τῶν μὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ

παίδων πόθος παρεῖτο, Μενέλεω δ᾽ ἐνῆν;
545

οὐ ταῦτ᾽ ἀβούλου καὶ κακοῦ γνώμην πατρός;

δοκῶ μέν, εἰ καὶ σῆς δίχα γνώμης λέγω.

φαίη δ᾽ ἂν ἡ θανοῦσά γ', εἰ φωνὴν λάβοι.

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν οὐκ εἰμὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις after πεπραγμένοις 6 letters erased, L.

δύσθυμος· εἰ δὲ σοὶ δοκῶ φρονεῖν κακῶς,
550

γνώμην δικαίαν σχοῦσα τοὺς πέλας ψέγε.

ΗΛ.

ἐρεῖς μὲν οὐχὶ νῦν γέ μ᾿ ὡς ἄρξασά τι

λυπηρόν, εἶτα σοῦ τάδ' ἐξήκουσ᾽ ὕπο·

ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἣν L. ἐφῇς ἐφῆσ L. ἐφῆς AFL2 Pal. (c. gl. συγχωρήσεις). μοι, τοῦ τεθνηκότος θ᾽ om. LFL². γ' A. ὕπερ

λέξαιμ᾽ ἂν ὀρθῶς τῆς κασιγνήτης θ᾽ ὁμοῦ.
555

ΚΛ.

καὶ μὴν ἐφίημ· εἰ δέ μ᾽ ὧδ᾽ ἀεὶ λόγους λόγοις C'AFL2 Pal.

ἐξῆρχες, οὐκ ἂν ἦσθα λυπηρὰ κλύειν.

ΗΛ.

καὶ δὴ λέγω σοι, πατέρα φὴς κτεῖναι. τίς ἂν

τούτου λόγος γένοιτ' ἂν αἰσχίων ἔτι ἐτ΄...? ἔτ᾽ ἂν L. ἔτι AFL2.,

εἴτ᾿ οὖν δικαίως εἴτε μή; λέξω δέ σοι,
560

ὡς οὐ οὖν L. δίκῃ γ᾽ ἔκτεινας, ἀλλά σ᾽ ἔσπασεν

πειθὼ πιθὼ L Pal. κακοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρός, ᾧ τανῦν ξύνει.

ἐροῦ δὲ τὴν κυναγὸν Ἄρτεμιν, τίνος

ποινὰς ποινῆς A. ποινὰς 13. ποινᾶς Γ Pal. V. τὰ πολλὰ πνεύματ᾽ ἔσχεν gl. ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπέσχεν ἐν τῇ V'. Αὐλίδι ηὐδίωι L. αὐλίδι C.·

ἢ ἐγὼ φράσω· κείνης γὰρ οὐ θέμις μαθεῖν.
565

πατήρ ποθ᾽ οὐμός, ὡς ἐγὼ κλύω, θεᾶς

παίζων κατ᾿ ἄλσος ἐξεκίνησεν ποδοῖν

στικτὸν κεράστην ἔλαφον, οὗ κατὰ σφαγὰς

ἐκκομπάσας ἔπος τι τυγχάνει βαλών.

κἀκ τοῦδε μηνίσασα Λητῴα κόρη
570

κατεῖχ᾽ Ἀχαιούς, ὡς πατὴρ ἀντίσταθμον

τοῦ θηρὸς ἐκθύσειε τὴν αὑτοῦ αὐτοῦ LAFL2. αὑτοῦ Pal. κόρην.

ὧδ᾽ ἣν τὰ κείνης θύματ᾽· οὐ γὰρ ἦν λύσις

ἄλλη στρατῷ πρὸς οἶκον οὐδ᾽ εἰς "Ιλιον.

ἀνθ᾽ ὧν βιασθεὶς πολλὰ κἀντιβὰς μόλις
575

ἔθυσεν αὐτήν, οὐχὶ Μενέλεω χάριν.

εἰ δ᾽ οὖν, ἐρῶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ σόν, κεῖνον θέλων

ἐπωφελῆσai ταῦτ᾽ ἔδρα a from a Coor 7., τούτου θανεῖν

χρῆν αὐτὸν οὔνεκ᾽ ἐκ σέθεν; ποίῳ νόμῳ;

ὅρα τιθεῖσα τόνδε τὸν νόμον βροτοῖς
580

μὴ πῆμα σαυτῇ καὶ μετάγνοιαν τίθης τίθηισ L. τίθης AFL Vat ac V³..

εἰ γὰρ κτενοῦμεν ἄλλον ἀντ᾿ ἄλλου, σύ τοι

πρώτη θάνοις ἄν, εἰ δίκης γε τυγχάνοις τυγχάνεις LAFLª Pal..

ἀλλ᾽ εἰσόρα μὴ σκῆψιν οὐκ οὖσαν τίθης τίθησ L. τίθεις V pr. τίθεις A. τιθῇς E.Γ..

εἰ γὰρ θέλεις, δίδαξον ἀνθ' ὅτου ταχίν
585

αἴσχιστα πάντων ἔργα δρῶσα τυγχάνες,

ἥτις ξυνεύδεις τῷ παλαμναίῳ, μεθ᾽ οὐ

πατέρα τὸν ἀμὸν ἀ from ἐ C6. ἀμὸν A Vat. ac V3. ἐμὸν ΓL' Pal. VM. ἀμὸν Μ'. πρόσθεν ἐξαπώλεσας,

καὶ παιδοποιεῖς, τοὺς δὲ πρόσθεν εἰσεβεῖς

κἀξ εὐσεβῶν βλαστόντας βλαστώντας LIL' Pal. βλαστόντας A. ἐκβαλοῦσ᾽ ἔχεις.
590

πῶς ταῦτ᾽ ἐπαινέσαιμ᾽ ἄν γρ. ἐπαινέσωμεν C².? ἢ καὶ L. καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐρεῖς,

ὡς τῆς θυγατρὸς ἀντίποινα λαμβάνεις λαμβάνεις τυγχάνει L FL², λαμβάνει. (2. λαμβάνεισ A.?

αἰσχρῶς, ἐάν περ καὶ λέγῃς λέγεισ LF Pal. λέγηισ CAL., οὐ γὰρ καλὸν

ἐχθροῖς γαμεῖσθαι τῆς θυγατρὸς οἵνεκα.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ οὐδὲ νουθετεῖν ἔξεστί σε σοι L Pal. σε A.,
595

ἢ πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν ὡς τὴν μητέρα

κακοστομοῦμεν, καί σ᾽ ἔγωγε δεσπότιν

ἡ μητέρ᾽ οὐκ ἔλασσον εἰς ἡμᾶς νέμω,

ἢ ζῶ βίον μοχθηρόν, ἔκ τε σοῦ κακοῖς

πολλοῖς ἀεὶ ξυνοῦσα τοῦ τε συννόμου.
600

ὁ δ᾽ ἄλλος ἔξω, χεῖρα σὴν μόλις φυγών,

τλήμων Ὀρέστης δυστυχῆ τρίβει βίον·

ὃν πολλὰ δή με σοὶ τρέφειν μιάστορα

ἐπῃτιάσω· καὶ τόδ', εἴπερ ἔσθενον,

ἔδρων ἄν, εὖ τοῦτ᾽ ἴσθι. τοῦδέ γ' οἵνεκα
605

κήρυσσέ μ᾽ εἰς ἅπαντας, εἴτε †χρὴ κακὴν

εἴτε στόμαργον εἴτ᾿ ἀναιδείας πλέαν.

εἰ γὰρ πέφυκα τῶνδε τῶν ἔργων ἴδρις,

σχεδόν τι τὴν σὴν οὐ καταισχύνω φύσιν.

ΧΟ.

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 472-515 focus

Χορός

εἰ μὴ ʼγὼ παράφρων μάντις ἔφυν καὶ γνώμας

λειπομένα σοφᾶς,

εἶσιν ἁ πρόμαντις

Δίκα δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη·
475

μέτεισιν, ὦ τέκνον, οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου.

ὕπεστί μοι θάρσος,

ἁδυπνόων κλύουσαν
480

ἀρτίως ὀνειράτων.

οὐ γάρ ποτʼ ἀμναστεῖ γʼ ὁ φύσας σʼ Ἑλλάνων ἄναξ,

οὐδʼ ἁ παλαιὰ χαλκόπλακτος ἀμφάκης γένυς,
485

ἅ νιν κατέπεφνεν αἰσχίσταις ἐν αἰκίαις.

488

Χορός

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους Ἐρινύς.

ἄλεκτρʼ ἄνυμφα γὰρ ἐπέβα μιαιφόνων

γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθʼ οἷσιν οὐ θέμις.

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μʼ ἔχει
495

μή ποτε μή ποθʼ ἡμῖν

ἀψεγὲς πελᾶν τέρας

τοῖς δρῶσι καὶ συνδρῶσιν. ἤ τοι μαντεῖαι βροτῶν
500

οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν δεινοῖς ὀνείροις οὐδʼ ἐν θεσφάτοις,

εἰ μὴ τόδε φάσμα νυκτὸς εὖ κατασχήσει.

504

Χορός

ὦ Πέλοπος ἁ πρόσθεν

πολύπονος ἱππεία,
505

ὡς ἔμολες αἰανὴς

τᾷδε γᾷ.

εὖτε γὰρ ὁ ποντισθεὶς

Μυρτίλος ἐκοιμάθη,

παγχρύσων δίφρων
510

δυστάνοις αἰκίαις

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ τί πω

ἔλειπεν ἐκ τοῦδʼ οἴκου

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἀνειμένη μέν, ὡς ἔοικας, αὖ στρέφει·

οὐ γὰρ πάρεστʼ Αἴγισθος, ὅς σʼ ἐπεῖχʼ ἀεὶ

μή τοι θυραίαν γʼ οὖσαν αἰσχύνειν φίλους·

νῦν δʼ ὡς ἄπεστʼ ἐκεῖνος, οὐδὲν ἐντρέπει

ἐμοῦ γε· καίτοι πολλὰ πρὸς πολλούς με δὴ
520

ἐξεῖπας ὡς θρασεῖα καὶ πέρα δίκης

ἄρχω, καθυβρίζουσα καὶ σὲ καὶ τὰ σά·

ἐγὼ δʼ ὕβριν μὲν οὐκ ἔχω, κακῶς δέ σε

λέγω κακῶς κλύουσα πρὸς σέθεν θαμά.

πατὴρ γάρ, οὐδὲν ἄλλο, σοὶ πρόσχημʼ ἀεὶ
525

ὡς ἐξ ἐμοῦ τέθνηκεν. ἐξ ἐμοῦ· καλῶς

ἔξοιδα· τῶνδʼ ἄρνησις οὐκ ἔνεστί μοι·

ἡ γὰρ Δίκη νιν εἷλεν, οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνη,

ᾗ χρῆν σʼ ἀρήγειν, εἰ φρονοῦσʼ ἐτύγχανες·

ἐπεὶ πατὴρ σὸς οὗτος, ὃν θρηνεῖς ἀεί,
530

τὴν σὴν ὅμαιμον μοῦνος Ἑλλήνων ἔτλη

θῦσαι θεοῖσιν, οὐκ ἴσον καμὼν ἐμοὶ

λύπης, ὅς ἔσπειρʼ, ὥσπερ ἡ τίκτουσʼ ἐγώ.

εἶεν, δίδαξον δή με τοῦ χάριν, τίνων

ἔθυσεν αὐτήν· πότερον Ἀργείων ἐρεῖς;
535

ἀλλʼ οὐ μετῆν αὐτοῖσι τήν γʼ ἐμὴν κτανεῖν.

ἀλλʼ ἀντʼ ἀδελφοῦ δῆτα Μενέλεω κτανὼν

τἄμʼ, οὐκ ἔμελλε τῶνδέ μοι δώσειν δίκην;

πότερον ἐκείνῳ παῖδες οὐκ ἦσαν διπλοῖ,

οὓς τῆσδε μᾶλλον εἰκὸς ἦν θνῄσκειν, πατρὸς
540

καὶ μητρὸς ὄντας, ἧς ὁ πλοῦς ὅδʼ ἦν χάριν;

ἢ τῶν ἐμῶν Ἅιδης τινʼ ἵμερον τέκνων

ἢ τῶν ἐκείνης ἔσχε δαίσασθαι πλέον;

ἢ τῷ πανώλει πατρὶ τῶν μὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ

παίδων πόθος παρεῖτο, Μενέλεω δʼ ἐνῆν;
545

οὐ ταῦτʼ ἀβούλου καὶ κακοῦ γνώμην πατρός;

δοκῶ μέν, εἰ καὶ σῆς δίχα γνώμης λέγω·

φαίη δʼ ἂν ἡ θανοῦσά γʼ, εἰ φωνὴν λάβοι.

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν οὐκ εἰμὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις

δύσθυμος· εἰ δὲ σοὶ δοκῶ φρονεῖν κακῶς,
550

γνώμην δικαίαν σχοῦσα τοὺς πέλας ψέγε.

552

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐρεῖς μὲν οὐχὶ νῦν γέ μʼ ὡς ἄρξασά τι

λυπηρὸν εἶτα σοῦ τάδʼ ἐξήκουσʼ ὕπο·

ἀλλʼ ἢν ἐφῇς μοι, τοῦ τεθνηκότος θʼ ὕπερ

λέξαιμʼ ἂν ὀρθῶς τῆς κασιγνήτης θʼ ὁμοῦ.
555

Κλυταιμνήστρα

καὶ μὴν ἐφίημʼ· εἰ δέ μʼ ὧδʼ ἀεὶ λόγους

ἐξῆρχες, οὐκ ἂν ἦσθα λυπηρὰ κλύειν.

558

Ἠλέκτρα

καὶ δὴ λέγω σοι. πατέρα φὴς κτεῖναι. τίς ἂν

τούτου λόγος γένοιτʼ ἂν αἰσχίων ἔτι,

εἴτʼ οὖν δικαίως εἴτε μή; λέξω δέ σοι
560

ὡς οὐ δίκῃ γʼ ἔκτεινας, ἀλλά σʼ ἔσπασεν

πειθὼ κακοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρός, ᾧ τανῦν ξύνει.

ἐροῦ δὲ τὴν κυναγὸν Ἄρτεμιν, τίνος

ποινὰς τὰ πολλὰ πνεύματʼ ἔσχʼ ἐν Αὐλίδι·

ἢ ʼγὼ φράσω· κείνης γὰρ οὐ θέμις μαθεῖν.
565

πατήρ ποθʼ οὑμός, ὡς ἐγὼ κλύω, θεᾶς

παίζων κατʼ ἄλσος ἐξεκίνησεν ποδοῖν

στικτὸν κεράστην ἔλαφον, οὗ κατὰ σφαγὰς

ἐκκομπάσας ἔπος τι τυγχάνει βαλών.

κἀκ τοῦδε μηνίσασα Λητῴα κόρη
570

κατεῖχʼ Ἀχαιούς, ὡς πατὴρ ἀντίσταθμον

τοῦ θηρὸς ἐκθύσειε τὴν αὑτοῦ κόρην.

ὧδʼ ἦν τὰ κείνης θύματʼ· οὐ γὰρ ἦν λύσις

ἄλλη στρατῷ πρὸς οἶκον οὐδʼ εἰς Ἴλιον.

ἀνθʼ ὧν, βιασθεὶς πολλὰ κἀντιβάς, μόλις
575

ἔθυσεν αὐτήν, οὐχὶ Μενέλεω χάριν.

εἰ δʼ οὖν, ἐρῶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ σόν, κεῖνον θέλων

ἐπωφελῆσαι ταῦτʼ ἔδρα, τούτου θανεῖν

χρῆν αὐτὸν οὕνεκʼ ἐκ σέθεν; ποίῳ νόμῳ;

ὅρα τιθεῖσα τόνδε τὸν νόμον βροτοῖς
580

μὴ πῆμα σαυτῇ καὶ μετάγνοιαν τιθῇς.

εἰ γὰρ κτενοῦμεν ἄλλον ἀντʼ ἄλλου, σύ τοι

πρώτη θάνοις ἄν, εἰ δίκης γε τυγχάνοις.

ἀλλʼ εἰσόρα μὴ σκῆψιν οὐκ οὖσαν τίθης.

εἰ γὰρ θέλεις, δίδαξον ἀνθʼ ὅτου τανῦν
585

αἴσχιστα πάντων ἔργα δρῶσα τυγχάνεις,

ἥτις ξυνεύδεις τῷ παλαμναίῳ, μεθʼ οὗ

πατέρα τὸν ἀμὸν πρόσθεν ἐξαπώλεσας,

καὶ παιδοποιεῖς, τοὺς δὲ πρόσθεν εὐσεβεῖς

κἀξ εὐσεβῶν βλαστόντας ἐκβαλοῦσʼ ἔχεις.
590

πῶς ταῦτʼ ἐπαινέσαιμʼ ἄν; ἢ καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐρεῖς

ὡς τῆς θυγατρὸς ἀντίποινα λαμβάνεις;

αἰσχρῶς δʼ, ἐάν περ καὶ λέγῃς· οὐ γὰρ καλὸν

ἐχθροῖς γαμεῖσθαι τῆς θυγατρὸς οὕνεκα.

ἀλλʼ οὐ γὰρ οὐδὲ νουθετεῖν ἔξεστί σε,
595

ἣ πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν ὡς τὴν μητέρα

κακοστομοῦμεν. καί σʼ ἔγωγε δεσπότιν

ἢ μητέρʼ οὐκ ἔλασσον εἰς ἡμᾶς νέμω,

ἣ ζῶ βίον μοχθηρόν, ἔκ τε σοῦ κακοῖς

πολλοῖς ἀεὶ ξυνοῦσα τοῦ τε συννόμου·
600

ὃ δʼ ἄλλος ἔξω, χεῖρα σὴν μόλις φυγών,

τλήμων Ὀρέστης δυστυχῆ τρίβει βίον·

ὃν πολλὰ δή με σοὶ τρέφειν μιάστορα

ἐπῃτιάσω· καὶ τόδʼ, εἴπερ ἔσθενον,

ἔδρων ἄν, εὖ τοῦτʼ ἴσθι· τοῦδέ γʼ οὕνεκα
605

κήρυσσέ μʼ εἰς ἅπαντας, εἴτε χρῇς κακὴν

εἴτε στόμαργον εἴτʼ ἀναιδείας πλέαν.

εἰ γὰρ πέφυκα τῶνδε τῶν ἔργων ἴδρις,

σχεδόν τι τὴν σὴν οὐ καταισχύνω φύσιν.

610

Χορός

ὁρῶ μένος πνέουσαν· εἰ δὲ σὺν δίκῃ
610

ξύνεστι, τοῦδε φροντίδʼ οὐκέτʼ εἰσορῶ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ποίας δʼ ἐμοὶ δεῖ πρός γε τήνδε φροντίδος,

ἥτις τοιαῦτα τὴν τεκοῦσαν ὕβρισεν,

καὶ ταῦτα τηλικοῦτος; ἆρά σοι δοκεῖ

χωρεῖν ἂν εἰς πᾶν ἔργον αἰσχύνης ἄτερ;
615

Ἠλέκτρα

εὖ νυν ἐπίστω τῶνδέ μʼ αἰσχύνην ἔχειν,

κεἰ μὴ δοκῶ σοι· μανθάνω δʼ ὁθούνεκα

ἔξωρα πράσσω κοὐκ ἐμοὶ προσεικότα.

ἀλλʼ ἡ γὰρ ἐκ σοῦ δυσμένεια καὶ τὰ σὰ

ἔργʼ ἐξαναγκάζει με ταῦτα δρᾶν βίᾳ·
620

αἰσχροῖς γὰρ αἰσχρὰ πράγματʼ ἐκδιδάσκεται.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ὦ θρέμμʼ ἀναιδές, ἦ σʼ ἐγὼ καὶ τἄμʼ ἔπη

καὶ τἄργα τἀμὰ πόλλʼ ἄγαν λέγειν ποεῖ.

Ἠλέκτρα

σύ τοι λέγεις νιν, οὐκ ἐγώ· σὺ γὰρ ποεῖς

τοὔργον· τὰ δʼ ἔργα τοὺς λόγους εὑρίσκεται.
625

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἀλλʼ οὐ μὰ τὴν δέσποιναν Ἄρτεμιν θράσους

τοῦδʼ οὐκ ἀλύξεις, εὖτʼ ἂν Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ὁρᾷς; πρὸς ὀργὴν ἐκφέρει, μεθεῖσά μοι

λέγειν ἃ χρῄζοιμʼ, οὐδʼ ἐπίστασαι κλύειν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔκουν ἐάσεις οὐδʼ ὑπʼ εὐφήμου βοῆς
630

θῦσαί μʼ, ἐπειδὴ σοί γʼ ἐφῆκα πᾶν λέγειν;

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐῶ, κελεύω, θῦε· μηδʼ ἐπαιτιῶ

τοὐμὸν στόμʼ, ὡς οὐκ ἂν πέρα λέξαιμʼ ἔτι.

634

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἔπαιρε δὴ σὺ θύμαθʼ ἡ παροῦσά μοι

πάγκαρπʼ, ἄνακτι τῷδʼ ὅπως λυτηρίους
635

εὐχὰς ἀνάσχω δειμάτων, ἃ νῦν ἔχω.

κλύοις ἂν ἤδη, Φοῖβε προστατήριε,

κεκρυμμένην μου βάξιν· οὐ γὰρ ἐν φίλοις

ὁ μῦθος, οὐδὲ πᾶν ἀναπτύξαι πρέπει

πρὸς φῶς παρούσης τῆσδε πλησίας ἐμοί,
640

μὴ σὺν φθόνῳ τε καὶ πολυγλώσσῳ βοῇ

σπείρῃ ματαίαν βάξιν εἰς πᾶσαν πόλιν.

ἀλλʼ ὧδʼ ἄκουε· τῇδε γὰρ κἀγὼ φράσω.

ἃ γὰρ προσεῖδον νυκτὶ τῇδε φάσματα

δισσῶν ὀνείρων, ταῦτά μοι, Λύκειʼ ἄναξ,
645

εἰ μὲν πέφηνεν ἐσθλά, δὸς τελεσφόρα,

εἰ δʼ ἐχθρά, τοῖς ἐχθροῖσιν ἔμπαλιν μέθες·

καὶ μή με πλούτου τοῦ παρόντος εἴ τινες

δόλοισι βουλεύουσιν ἐκβαλεῖν, ἐφῇς,

ἀλλʼ ὧδέ μʼ αἰεὶ ζῶσαν ἀβλαβεῖ βίῳ
650

δόμους Ἀτρειδῶν σκῆπτρά τʼ ἀμφέπειν τάδε,

φίλοισί τε ξυνοῦσαν οἷς ξύνειμι νῦν

εὐημεροῦσαν καὶ τέκνων ὅσων ἐμοὶ

δύσνοια μὴ πρόσεστιν ἢ λύπη πικρά.

ταῦτʼ, ὦ Λύκειʼ Ἄπολλον, ἵλεως κλύων
655

δὸς πᾶσιν ἡμῖν ὥσπερ ἐξαιτούμεθα.

τὰ δʼ ἄλλα πάντα καὶ σιωπώσης ἐμοῦ

ἐπαξιῶ σε δαίμονʼ ὄντʼ ἐξειδέναι·

τοὺς ἐκ Διὸς γὰρ εἰκός ἐστι πάνθʼ ὁρᾶν.

660

Παιδαγωγός

ξέναι γυναῖκες, πῶς ἂν εἰδείην σαφῶς
660

εἰ τοῦ τυράννου δώματʼ Αἰγίσθου τάδε;

Χορός

τάδʼ ἐστίν, ὦ ξένʼ· αὐτὸς ᾔκασας καλῶς.

Παιδαγωγός

ἦ καὶ δάμαρτα τήνδʼ ἐπεικάζων κυρῶ

κείνου; πρέπει γὰρ ὡς τύραννος εἰσορᾶν.

Χορός

μάλιστα πάντων· ἥδε σοι κείνη πάρα.
665

Παιδαγωγός

ὦ χαῖρʼ, ἄνασσα· σοὶ φέρων ἥκω λόγους

ἡδεῖς φίλου παρʼ ἀνδρὸς Αἰγίσθῳ θʼ ὁμοῦ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἐδεξάμην τὸ ῥηθέν· εἰδέναι δέ σου

πρώτιστα χρῄζω τίς σʼ ἀπέστειλεν βροτῶν.

Παιδαγωγός

Φανοτεὺς ὁ Φωκεύς, πρᾶγμα πορσύνων μέγα.
670

Κλυταιμνήστρα

τὸ ποῖον, ὦ ξένʼ; εἰπέ· παρὰ φίλου γὰρ ὢν

ἀνδρός, σάφʼ οἶδα, προσφιλεῖς λέξεις λόγους.

Παιδαγωγός

τέθνηκʼ Ὀρέστης· ἐν βραχεῖ ξυνθεὶς λέγω.

Ἠλέκτρα

οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινʼ, ὄλωλα τῇδʼ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

τί φής, τί φής, ὦ ξεῖνε; μὴ ταύτης κλύε.
675

Παιδαγωγός

θανόντʼ Ὀρέστην νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι λέγω.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀπωλόμην δύστηνος, οὐδέν εἰμʼ ἔτι.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

σὺ μὲν τὰ σαυτῆς πρᾶσσʼ, ἐμοὶ δὲ σύ, ξένε,

τἀληθὲς εἰπέ, τῷ τρόπῳ διόλλυται;

680

Παιδαγωγός

κἀπεμπόμην πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ τὸ πᾶν φράσω.
680

κεῖνος γὰρ ἐλθὼν εἰς τὸ κλεινὸν Ἑλλάδος

πρόσχημʼ ἀγῶνος Δελφικῶν ἄθλων χάριν,

ὅτʼ ᾔσθετʼ ἀνδρὸς ὀρθίων κηρυγμάτων

δρόμον προκηρύξαντος, οὗ πρώτη κρίσις,

εἰσῆλθε λαμπρός, πᾶσι τοῖς ἐκεῖ σέβας·
685

δρόμου δʼ ἰσώσας τἀφέσει τὰ τέρματα

νίκης ἔχων ἐξῆλθε πάντιμον γέρας.

χὤπως μὲν ἐν πολλοῖσι παῦρά σοι λέγω

οὐκ οἶδα τοιοῦδʼ ἀνδρὸς ἔργα καὶ κράτη·

ἓν δʼ ἴσθʼ· ὅσων γὰρ εἰσεκήρυξαν βραβῆς
690

δρόμων διαύλων πένταθλʼ ἃ νομίζεται,

τούτων ἐνεγκὼν πάντα τἀπινίκια

ὠλβίζετʼ, Ἀργεῖος μὲν ἀνακαλούμενος,

ὄνομα δʼ Ὀρέστης, τοῦ τὸ κλεινὸν Ἑλλάδος

Ἀγαμέμνονος στράτευμʼ ἀγείραντός ποτε.
695

καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τοιαῦθʼ· ὅταν δέ τις θεῶν

βλάπτῃ, δύναιτʼ ἂν οὐδʼ ἂν ἰσχύων φυγεῖν.

κεῖνος γὰρ ἄλλης ἡμέρας, ὅθʼ ἱππικῶν

ἦν ἡλίου τέλλοντος ὠκύπους ἀγών,

εἰσῆλθε πολλῶν ἁρματηλατῶν μέτα.
700

εἷς ἦν Ἀχαιός, εἷς ἀπὸ Σπάρτης, δύο

Λίβυες ζυγωτῶν ἁρμάτων ἐπιστάται·

κἀκεῖνος ἐν τούτοισι, Θεσσαλὰς ἔχων

ἵππους, ὁ πέμπτος· ἕκτος ἐξ Αἰτωλίας

ξανθαῖσι πώλοις· ἕβδομος Μάγνης ἀνήρ·
705

ὁ δʼ ὄγδοος λεύκιππος, Αἰνιὰν γένος·

ἔνατος Ἀθηνῶν τῶν θεοδμήτων ἄπο·

Βοιωτὸς ἄλλος, δέκατον ἐκπληρῶν ὄχον.

στάντες δʼ ἵνʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ τεταγμένοι βραβῆς

κλήροις ἔπηλαν καὶ κατέστησαν δίφρους,
710

χαλκῆς ὑπαὶ σάλπιγγος ᾖξαν· οἱ δʼ ἅμα

ἵπποις ὁμοκλήσαντες ἡνίας χεροῖν

ἔσεισαν· ἐν δὲ πᾶς ἐμεστώθη δρόμος

κτύπου κροτητῶν ἁρμάτων· κόνις δʼ ἄνω

φορεῖθʼ· ὁμοῦ δὲ πάντες ἀναμεμιγμένοι
715

φείδοντο κέντρων οὐδέν, ὡς ὑπερβάλοι

χνόας τις αὐτῶν καὶ φρυάγμαθʼ ἱππικά.

ὁμοῦ γὰρ ἀμφὶ νῶτα καὶ τροχῶν βάσεις

ἤφριζον, εἰσέβαλλον ἱππικαὶ πνοαί.

κεῖνος δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτὴν ἐσχάτην στήλην ἔχων
720

ἔχριμπτʼ ἀεὶ σύριγγα, δεξιὸν δʼ ἀνεὶς

σειραῖον ἵππον εἶργε τὸν προσκείμενον.

καὶ πρὶν μὲν ὀρθοὶ πάντες ἕστασαν δίφροι·

ἔπειτα δʼ Αἰνιᾶνος ἀνδρὸς ἄστομοι

πῶλοι βίᾳ φέρουσιν· ἐκ δʼ ὑποστροφῆς
725

τελοῦντες ἕκτον ἕβδομόν τʼ ἤδη δρόμον

μέτωπα συμπαίουσι Βαρκαίοις ὄχοις·

κἀντεῦθεν ἄλλος ἄλλον ἐξ ἑνὸς κακοῦ

ἔθραυε κἀνέπιπτε, πᾶν δʼ ἐπίμπλατο

ναυαγίων Κρισαῖον ἱππικῶν πέδον.
730

731

Παιδαγωγός

γνοὺς δʼ οὑξ Ἀθηνῶν δεινὸς ἡνιοστρόφος

ἔξω παρασπᾷ κἀνακωχεύει παρεὶς

κλύδωνʼ ἔφιππον ἐν μέσῳ κυκώμενον.

ἤλαυνε δʼ ἔσχατος μέν, ὑστέρας δʼ ἔχων

πώλους Ὀρέστης, τῷ τέλει πίστιν φέρων·
735

ὅπως δʼ ὁρᾷ μόνον νιν ἐλλελειμμένον,

ὀξὺν διʼ ὤτων κέλαδον ἐνσείσας θοαῖς

πώλοις διώκει, κἀξισώσαντε ζυγὰ

ἠλαυνέτην, τότʼ ἄλλος, ἄλλοθʼ ἅτερος

κάρα προβάλλων ἱππικῶν ὀχημάτων.
740

καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους πάντας ἀσφαλεῖς δρόμους

ὡρμᾶθʼ ὁ τλήμων ὀρθὸς ἐξ ὀρθῶν δίφρων·

ἔπειτα λύων ἡνίαν ἀριστερὰν

κάμπτοντος ἵππου λανθάνει στήλην ἄκραν

παίσας· ἔθραυσε δʼ ἄξονος μέσας χνόας
745

κἀξ ἀντύγων ὤλισθεν· ἐν δʼ ἑλίσσεται

τμητοῖς ἱμᾶσι· τοῦ δὲ πίπτοντος πέδῳ

πῶλοι διεσπάρησαν ἐς μέσον δρόμον.

στρατὸς δʼ ὅπως ὁρᾷ νιν ἐκπεπτωκότα

δίφρων, ἀνωλόλυξε τὸν νεανίαν,
750

οἷʼ ἔργα δράσας οἷα λαγχάνει κακά,

φορούμενος πρὸς οὖδας, ἄλλοτʼ οὐρανῷ

σκέλη προφαίνων, ἔς τέ νιν διφρηλάται,

μόλις κατασχεθόντες ἱππικὸν δρόμον,

ἔλυσαν αἱματηρόν, ὥστε μηδένα
755

γνῶναι φίλων ἰδόντʼ ἂν ἄθλιον δέμας.

καί νιν πυρᾷ κέαντες εὐθὺς ἐν βραχεῖ

χαλκῷ μέγιστον σῶμα δειλαίας σποδοῦ

φέρουσιν ἄνδρες Φωκέων τεταγμένοι,

ὅπως πατρῴας τύμβον ἐκλάχῃ χθονός.
760

τοιαῦτά σοι ταῦτʼ ἐστίν, ὡς μὲν ἐν λόγῳ

ἀλγεινά, τοῖς δʼ ἰδοῦσιν, οἵπερ εἴδομεν,

μέγιστα πάντων ὧν ὄπωπʼ ἐγὼ κακῶν.

764

Χορός

φεῦ φεῦ· τὸ πᾶν δὴ δεσπόταισι τοῖς πάλαι

πρόρριζον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔφθαρται γένος.
765

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ὦ Ζεῦ, τί ταῦτα, πότερον εὐτυχῆ λέγω,

ἢ δεινὰ μέν, κέρδη δέ; λυπηρῶς δʼ ἔχει,

εἰ τοῖς ἐμαυτῆς τὸν βίον σῴζω κακοῖς.

Παιδαγωγός

τί δʼ ὧδʼ ἀθυμεῖς, ὦ γύναι, τῷ νῦν λόγῳ;

Κλυταιμνήστρα

δεινὸν τὸ τίκτειν ἐστίν· οὐδὲ γὰρ κακῶς
770

πάσχοντι μῖσος ὧν τέκῃ προσγίγνεται.

Παιδαγωγός

μάτην ἄρʼ ἡμεῖς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἥκομεν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔτοι μάτην γε· πῶς γὰρ ἂν μάτην λέγοις,

εἴ μοι θανόντος πίστʼ ἔχων τεκμήρια

προσῆλθες, ὅστις τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς γεγώς,
775

μαστῶν ἀποστὰς καὶ τροφῆς ἐμῆς, φυγὰς

ἀπεξενοῦτο καί μʼ, ἐπεὶ τῆσδε χθονὸς

ἐξῆλθεν, οὐκέτʼ εἶδεν, ἐγκαλῶν δέ μοι

φόνους πατρῴους δείνʼ ἐπηπείλει τελεῖν;

ὥστʼ οὔτε νυκτὸς ὕπνον οὔτʼ ἐξ ἡμέρας
780

ἐμὲ στεγάζειν ἡδύν, ἀλλʼ ὁ προστατῶν

χρόνος διῆγέ μʼ αἰὲν ὡς θανουμένην.

νῦν δʼ—ἡμέρᾳ γὰρ τῇδʼ ἀπήλλαγμαι φόβου

πρὸς τῆσδʼ ἐκείνου θʼ· ἥδε γὰρ μείζων βλάβη

ξύνοικος ἦν μοι, τοὐμὸν ἐκπίνουσʼ ἀεὶ
785

ψυχῆς ἄκρατον αἷμα—νῦν δʼ ἕκηλά που

τῶν τῆσδʼ ἀπειλῶν οὕνεχʼ ἡμερεύσομεν.

788

Ἠλέκτρα

οἴμοι τάλαινα· νῦν γὰρ οἰμῶξαι πάρα,

Ὀρέστα, τὴν σὴν ξυμφοράν, ὅθʼ ὧδʼ ἔχων

πρὸς τῆσδʼ ὑβρίζει μητρός. ἆρʼ ἔχει καλῶς;
790

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔτοι σύ· κεῖνος δʼ ὡς ἔχει καλῶς ἔχει.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἄκουε, Νέμεσι τοῦ θανόντος ἀρτίως.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἤκουσεν ὧν δεῖ κἀπεκύρωσεν καλῶς.

Ἠλέκτρα

ὕβριζε· νῦν γὰρ εὐτυχοῦσα τυγχάνεις.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔκουν Ὀρέστης καὶ σὺ παύσετον τάδε.
795

Ἠλέκτρα

πεπαύμεθʼ ἡμεῖς, οὐχ ὅπως σὲ παύσομεν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

πολλῶν ἂν ἥκοις, ὦ ξένʼ, ἄξιος τυχεῖν,

εἰ τήνδʼ ἔπαυσας τῆς πολυγλώσσου βοῆς.

Παιδαγωγός

οὐκοῦν ἀποστείχοιμʼ ἄν, εἰ τάδʼ εὖ κυρεῖ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἥκιστʼ· ἐπείπερ οὔτʼ ἐμοῦ κατάξιʼ ἂν
800

πράξειας οὔτε τοῦ πορεύσαντος ξένου.

ἀλλʼ εἴσιθʼ εἴσω· τήνδε δʼ ἔκτοθεν βοᾶν

ἔα τά θʼ αὑτῆς καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων κακά.

804

Ἠλέκτρα

ἆρʼ ὑμὶν ὡς ἀλγοῦσα κὠδυνωμένη

δεινῶς δακρῦσαι κἀπικωκῦσαι δοκεῖ
805

τὸν υἱὸν ἡ δύστηνος ὧδʼ ὀλωλότα;

ἀλλʼ ἐγγελῶσα φροῦδος· ὦ τάλαινʼ ἐγώ.

Ὀρέστα φίλταθʼ, ὥς μʼ ἀπώλεσας θανών.

ἀποσπάσας γὰρ τῆς ἐμῆς οἴχει φρενὸς

αἵ μοι μόναι παρῆσαν ἐλπίδων ἔτι,
810

σὲ πατρὸς ἥξειν ζῶντα τιμωρόν ποτε

κἀμοῦ ταλαίνης. νῦν δὲ ποῖ με χρὴ μολεῖν;

μόνη γάρ εἰμι, σοῦ τʼ ἀπεστερημένη

καὶ πατρός. ἤδη δεῖ με δουλεύειν πάλιν

ἐν τοῖσιν ἐχθίστοισιν ἀνθρώπων ἐμοὶ
815

φονεῦσι πατρός. ἆρά μοι καλῶς ἔχει;

ἀλλʼ οὔ τι μὴν ἔγωγε τοῦ λοιποῦ χρόνου

ξύνοικος, εἴσειμʼ, ἀλλὰ τῇδε πρὸς πύλῃ

παρεῖσʼ ἐμαυτὴν ἄφιλος αὐανῶ βίον.

πρὸς ταῦτα καινέτω τις, εἰ βαρύνεται,
820

τῶν ἔνδον ὄντων· ὡς χάρις μέν, ἢν κτάνῃ,

λύπη δʼ, ἐὰν ζῶ· τοῦ βίου δʼ οὐδεὶς πόθος.

Translations (5)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 464 focus

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid,

If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here.
465

CHR

Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well

Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed.

Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise,

Let me have silence from your lips, I pray;

For should my mother know of it, sharp pain
470

Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS
CHORUS .

An erring seer am I,

Of sense and wisdom lorn,

If this prophetic Power of right,

O’ertaking the offender, come not nigh

Ere many an hour be born.

Yon vision of the night,

That lately breathed into my listening ear,

Hath freed me, O my daughter, from all fear.

Sweet was that bodement. He doth not forget,

The Achaean lord that gave thee being, nor yet

The bronzen-griding axe, edged like a spear,

Hungry and keen, though dark with stains of time,

That in the hour of hideous crime

Quelled him with cruel butchery:

That, too, remembers, and shall testify.

From ambush deep and dread

With power of many a hand

And many hastening feet shall spring

The Fury of the adamantine tread,

Visiting Argive land

Swift recompense to bring

For eager dalliance of a blood-stained pair

Unhallowed, foul, forbidden. No omen fair,—

Their impious course hath fixed this in my soul,—

Nought but black portents full of blame shall roll

Before their eyes that wrought or aided there.

Small force of divination would there seem

In prophecy or solemn dream,

Should not this vision of the night

Reach harbour in reality aright.

O chariot-course of Pelops, full of toil!

How wearisome and sore

Hath been thine issue to our native soil!—

Since, from the golden oar

Hurled to the deep afar,

Myrtilus sank and slept,

Cruelly plucked from that fell chariot-floor,

This house unceasingly hath kept

Crime and misfortune mounting evermore.

CLYTEMNESTRA
Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

Again you are let loose and range at will.

Ay, for Aegisthus is not here, who barred

Your rashness from defaming your own kin

Beyond the gates. But now he’s gone from home,

You heed not me: though you have noised abroad

That I am bold in crime, and domineer

Outrageously, oppressing thee and thine.

I am no oppressor, but I speak thee ill,

For thou art ever speaking ill of me—

Still holding forth thy father’s death, that I

Have done it. So I did: I know it well:

That I deny not; for not I alone

But Justice slew him; and if you had sense,
520

To side with Justice ought to be your part.
520

For who but he of all the Greeks, your sire,
520

For whom you whine and cry, who else but he

Took heart to sacrifice unto the Gods

Thy sister?—having less of pain, I trow,

In getting her, than I, that bore her, knew!

Come, let me question thee! On whose behalf

Slew he my child? Was ’t for the Argive host?

What right had they to traffic in my flesh?—

Menelaüs was his brother. Wilt thou say

He slew my daughter for his brother’s sake?

How then should he escape me? Had not he,

Menelaüs, children twain, begotten of her

Whom to reclaim that army sailed to Troy?
525

Was Death then so enamoured of my seed,
525

That he must feast thereon and let theirs live?
525

Or was the God-abandoned father’s heart

Tender toward them and cruel to my child?

Doth this not argue an insensate sire?

I think so, though your wisdom may demur.

And could my lost one speak, she would confirm it.

For my part, I can dwell on what I have done

Without regret. You, if you think me wrong,

Bring reasons forth and blame me to my face!

EL

Thou canst not say this time that I began

And brought this on me by some taunting word.

But, so you’d suffer me, I would declare

The right both for my sister and my sire.
555

CLY

Thou hast my sufferance. Nor would hearing vex,

If ever thus you tuned your speech to me.

EL

Then I will speak. You say you slew him. Where

Could there be found confession more depraved,

Even though the cause were righteous? But I’ll prove

No rightful vengeance drew thee to the deed,

But the vile bands of him you dwell with now.

Or ask the huntress Artemis, what sin

She punished, when she tied up all the winds

Round Aulis.—I will tell thee, for her voice

Thou ne’er may’st hear! ’Tis rumoured that my sire,

Sporting within the goddess’ holy ground,

His foot disturbed a dappled hart, whose death

Drew from his lips some rash and boastful word.

Wherefore Latona’s daughter in fell wrath

Stayed the army, that in quittance for the deer

My sire should slay at the altar his own child.

So came her sacrifice. The Achaean fleet

Had else no hope of being launched to Troy
560

Nor to their homes. Wherefore, with much constraint
560

And painful urging of his backward will,
560

Hardly he yielded;—not for his brother’s sake.
560

But grant thy speech were sooth, and all were done
560

In aid of Menelaüs; for this cause
560

Hadst thou the right to slay him? What high law
560

Ordaining? Look to it, in establishing
560

Such precedent thou dost not lay in store

Repentance for thyself. For if by right

One die for one, thou first wilt be destroyed

If Justice find thee.—But again observe

The hollowness of thy pretended plea.

Tell me, I pray, what cause thou dost uphold

In doing now the basest deed of all,

Chambered with the blood-guilty, with whose aid

Thou slewest our father in that day. For him

You now bear children—ousting from their right

The stainless offspring of a holy sire.

How should this plead for pardon? Wilt thou say

Thus thou dost ’venge thy daughter’s injury?

O shameful plea? Where is the thought of honour,

If foes are married for a daughter’s sake?—

Enough. No words can move thee. Thy rash tongue

With checkless clamour cries that we revile

Our mother. Nay, no mother, but the chief

Of tyrants to us! For my life is full

Of weariness and misery from thee

And from thy paramour. While he abroad,

Orestes, our one brother, who escaped

Hardly from thy attempt, unhappy boy!

Wears out his life, victim of cross mischance.

Oft hast thou taunted me with fostering him

To be thy punisher. And this, be sure,

Had I but strength, I had done. Now for this word,

Proclaim me what thou wilt,—evil in soul,

Or loud in cursing, or devoid of shame:

For if I am infected with such guilt,

Methinks my nature is not fallen from thine.

CH

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 464 focus

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du

Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Chrysothemis.

Ich will es thun. Das Rechte bietet keinen Grund¹

Für Zwei, zu streiten, sondern rasch an's Werk zu gehn.

Doch wenn ich, theure Frauen, dies versuchen soll,
460

Müßt ihr, um alle Götter, mir verschwiegen sein!

Denn hört davon die Mutter, dann wird sicher noch

Aus diesem Wagniß bittre Frucht für mich erblüh'n.

(Sie schneidet von ihren Haaren ab, empfängt Haar und Gürtel der Elektra, und entfernt sich.) Elektra. Der Chor. Strophe.

Der Chor.

Wenn weissagender Geist Kunde mir gab,

Wahrhaft, voll weiser Besonnenheit:
465

Naht voraus verkündend

Das Recht, gerechte Strafgewalt in starker Hand;

Es naht heran, Tochter, nicht in ferner Zeit.

Muth hebt den Busen mir,

Weil ich von Träumen eben hörte, die mich hold umweh'n.
470

Der Schmach vergißt dein Vater niemals,

Er, einst Hellas' Fürst,

Und nie das alte Beil von Erze,

Das zweischneidige,

Das frevelnd in arger Wahnsinnsthat den Tod ihm gab.
475
Gegenstrophe.

Mit viel Füßen, mit viel Händen erscheint,²

Chernen Fußtrittes, Erinnys, in

Grauser Höhle lauernd.

Denn mordbefleckten Ehebunds unkeusche Lust

Umstrickte sie, sonder Zucht und sonder Scham.
480

Drum hebt Vertrau'n mein Herz,

Nimmer erschein', erschein' uns dieses Zeichen, ohne Fluch

Zu künden Thätern und Genossen.

Die Graunbilder des Traums

Und alle Wort' aus Göttermunde
485

Sind Trug, eitles Nichts,

Wenn dieses Gesicht der Nächte nicht das Heil uns bringt.

Schlußgesang.

Pelops', des Urvaters,³

Fluchvoller Roßwettlauf!

Wie reich an Leid kamst du
490

Diesem Land!

Denn seid im Meergrunde

Myrtilos den Tod schmeckte,

Der aus dem Goldsize

Durch schnöden Trugs Unthat
495

Entſeelt hinabstürzte,

Ruhte nie

Der Frevel, der fluchvoll

Auf diesem Haus lastet.

Die Vorigen.

Klytämnestra.

Du treibst dich, scheint es, wieder los und ledig um.
500

Denn ferne weilt Aegisthos, der dir stets gewehrt,

Die Deinen schmähend vor das Thor herauszugehn.

Nun dieser fortgegangen, kümmerst du dich Nichts

Um mich; und viel doch hast du mich vor Vielen schon

Gescholten, daß ich ohne Recht, voll Uebermuth,
505

Hier schalte, dich verhöhnend und was du beginnst.

Ich aber übe keinen Hohn, ich schmähe nur

Auf dich, nachdem du fort und fort auf mich geschmäht.

Dein Vater einen andern Vorwand hast du nie

Er sei durch mich gestorben. Ja, durch mich: ich weiß
510

Dies wohl, und nicht abläugnen will ich diese That.

Denn Dike hat ihn weggerafft, ich nicht allein;⁴

Ihr hätt'st du helfen sollen, wenn du weise warst,

Denn dieser Mann, dein Vater, den du stets beweinst,

Ließ herzlos deine Schwester, er allein im Heer,
515

Den Göttern opfern, ob er wohl nicht gleichen Schmerz

Sie zeugend fühlte, wie gebärend ich empfand.

Wohlan, so laß mich hören, wem zulieb, warum

Er sie geopfert: war's vielleicht für Argos' Heer?

Mein Kind zu tödten aber stand bei diesen nicht.
520

Doch hätt' er statt des Bruders, statt Menelaos' auch

Mein Kind getödtet: büßt' er da mir nicht gerecht?

Und hatte nicht Menelaos selbst zwei Kinder, die⁵

Zu tödten mehr geziemte, denn das meine, weil

Von Eltern stammend, derenthalb auszog das Heer?
525

Empfand der Hades größre Lust nach meinem Kind,

Zum Mahl es wegzuraffen, als die ihrigen?

Und regt' im Unglücksvater denn sich kein Gefühl

Für meine Kinder, liebt' er mehr Menelaos' Stamm?

Ist solch ein Vater nicht verrückt und schlechtgesinnt?
530

Ich mein' es, red' ich anders auch, als dir's gefällt.

Wohl sagt' es auch die Todte, würd' ihr Sprache noch.

Ich also kann nicht Reue wegen dieser That

Empfinden; wenn dir's aber dünkt, ich irrte mich,

Wo ich gerecht urtheilte, schilt auf Andere!
535

Jezt kannst du doch nicht sagen, daß ich dich zuerst

Gekränkt und solche Reden dann von dir gehört.

Doch wenn du mir's gestattest, sagt' ich gerne wohl

Vom Todten und der Schwester dir ein offnes Wort.

Und wohl gestatt' ich's. Wenn du so mich allezeit
540

Angingst in Worten, hört' ich ohne Groll dich an.

Elektra.

Wohlan, so red' ich. Du bekennst des Vaters Mord.

Wo gibt's ein grauenvoll'res Wort, als dieses ist,

Du möchtest Recht thun oder nicht? Doch sag' ich dir,

Es war ein Unrecht, dieser Mord! Dich hat verlockt,
545

Beschwazt der Frevler, dem du jezt als Weib gehörst.

Frag' Artemis, die Jägerin, um welche Schuld

Sie zürnend aller Winde Macht in Aulis band.

Nein, sag' ich's selbst; denn sie zu fragen ziemt sich nicht.

Mein Vater (also ward mir kund) erging sich einst
550

Im Hain der Göttin und erjagt' in raschem Lauf

Den bunten hochgehörnten Hirsch, und als er ihn

Erlegt, entfiel ihm prahlerisch ein stolzes Wort.

Drob zürnte Leto's Tochter ihm und hielt zurück⁶

Das Heer Achäa's, bis der Vater als Ersaz
555

Des Wildes ihr die eigne Tochter opferte.

So wurde sie das Opfer; Nichts vermochte sonst

Heimwärts das Heer zu fördern oder Troja zu.

Hiefür, nach vielem Sträuben und gezwungen, gab

Er sie zum Opfer, aber für Menelaos nicht.
560

Doch wenn er denn nun red' ich auch in deinem Sinn -

Um ihm zu helfen, solches that: verdient' er wohl

Deßhalb den Tod von deiner Hand? Nach welchem Recht?

Bedenke, wenn du dies Gesez den Menschen gibst,

Ob du dir selbst nicht herbes Leid und Reue schaffst.
565

Denn wenn der Mord des Einen büßt des Andern Mord,

Stirbst du zuerst wohl, wenn es nach dem Rechte geht.

Doch siehe nur: welch eitlen Vorwand schaffst du dir!

Denn sage, (wenn es dir gefällt) warum du jezt

Der grauenvollsten Thaten dich erkühnen magst,
570

Du, die des Mörders Lager theilt, mit welchem du

Verbunden meinen Vater mir vordem erschlugst,

Mit dem du Kinder zeugest, und die ächten, einst⁷

Aus ächter Eh' entspross'nen, ausgetrieben hast.

Wie könnt' ich dieses loben? Oder wirst du hier
575

Auch sagen, daß du Rache für die Tochter nahmst?

Schmach, es nur zu sagen! Denn nie ziemt es sich,

Der Tochter wegen einem Feind sich anzutrau'n.

Doch dich zurechtzuweisen ist mir nicht vergönnt;

Denn tausendfältig russt du, daß wir ungescheut
580

Die Mutter lästern; freilich dünkt es mich, du seist

Viel mehr die Herrin, als die Mutter, gegen uns:

In solcher Mühsal leb' ich, so durch deine Schuld

Und deines Buhlen duld' ich stets vielfache Noth.

So schleppt Orestes, deinen Händen kaum entfloh'n,
585

Auswärts in Jammer ein verlor'nes Leben hin,

Er, welchen ich dir, wie du mich schon oft gezieh'n,

Als Rachegeist erziehe: traun, vermöcht' ich das,

Ich thät' es, sei versichert! So verrufe mich

Vor aller Welt denn immerhin als arggesinnt,
590

Als zungenfrech, als ledig alles Schamgefühls.

Denn wenn ich dieser Laster wohlerfahren bin,

Gereich' ich deinem Stamme doch zur Schande nicht.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 464 focus

Well doth the pious virgin speak, and thou

Must yield to her requests.

Chrysothemis

And so I will.

"Where reason dictates, strife should never come ;

But quick, despatch ! fulfil her just commands.

Yet, O my friends I remember, our attempt

Is full of danger, and let nought escape

That may betray me to my cruel mother ;

For if it reach her ear, this daring act,

I fear me much, shall one day cost us dear.

Or my prophetic mind is now no more

Attentive as of old to wisdom's lore,

Or justice comes, with speedy vengeance fraught ;

Behold ! the goddess armed with power appears-

It must be so, by Clytemnestra's fears.

And the dire dream that on her fancy wrought :

Thy father, not unmindful of his fate.

Shall hither come his wrongs to vindicate ;

And, in his gore imbrued.

The fatal axe with him shall rise,

Shall ask another sacrifice,

And drink with him the cruel tyrant's blood.

Lo ! with unnumbered hands and countless feet,

The fury comes her destined prey to meet ;

Deep in the covert hid she glides unseen,

Hangs o'er the trembUng murderer's head,

Or steals to the adultrous bed,

An awful witness of the guilty scene ;

ELKCTRA.

Doubtless the dream with all its terrors meant

For crimes like these Bome dreadful punishment,
470

I f mortals aught from nightly visions know,
470

If truth from great Apollo's shrine
470

Appears in oracles divine,
470

1 *resagiug bliss to come, or threat'ning future woe.
470

J""'
470

C) Pelops ; to thy countiy and to thco
470

The fatal course brought woe and misery ;

For since the time v/hen, from his chariot thi'own,

For thee the guilty wreath to gain,

The hapless Myrtihis was slain,

Nought has thy wretched race but grief and sorrow

known.

Clytemnestra
\Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

^gisthus absent, who alone could curb

Thy haughty spirit and licentious tongue.

At large, it seems, thou rov'st, and unrestrained,

No deference paid to my authority.

But on thy mother ever pouring forth

Bitter invectives, while the listening crowd
520

Are taught to hold me proud and fierce of soul,

A lawless tyrant slandering thee and thine

I am no slanderer — I abhor the name ;

But oft reviled, of force I must reply,

And send thy foul reproaches back upon thee.
525

I Thou sayst I slew thy father ; that alone

RIs left to plead for all thy insolence.

I I do confess the deed, and glory in it. ,

T slew thy father ; yet not I alone,

I had the hand of justice to assist m(

Thou hast no plea for bitterness like this ;

Thou canst not say that I provoked thee to it.

I have been silent : had I leave to speak

I could defend an injured father's cause,

And tell thee wherefore Iphigenia fell.

Cly. I do permit thee ; and if modest thus

Thou hadst addressed me always thy free speech
555

Had ne'er offended.
555

Electra

Hast thou not confessed

That thou didst slay my father ? Whether justice

Approve or not, 'twas horrid to confess it :

But justice never could persuade thee — no !

I'll tell thee who it was, it was ^gisthus.

The wretch wdth whom thou liv'st. Go ask the goddess.

The immortal huntress, why the winds were stayed

So long at Aiilis. But thou must not ask

The chaste Diana ! Take it, then, from me.

My father once, as for the chase prepared,

Cai'eless he wandered through her wecret grove,

Forth from its covert roused a spotted hind

Of fairest form, with towering antlers graced,

Pursued and slew her. Of the deity

Something with pride elate he uttered then

Disdainful. Quick resenting the affront,

Latona's daughter stayed the Grecian fleet,

Nor would forgive, till for her slaughtered beast
560

Th' offending father sacrificed his child.
560

Thus Iphigenia fell ; and but for her
560

Greece ne'er had seen or Ilion's lofty towers,
560

Or her own native soil. The father strove
560

In vain to save, and not for Menelaus
560

He gave her up at last, but for his country.
560

Suppose a brother's fondness had prevailed,
560

And she was given for him, would that excuse
560

Thy horrid deed? What laAv required it of thee ?

That law alone by w^hich thyself must fall ;

If blood for blood be due, thy doom is fixed.

Plead not so poorly then, but tell me why

Thou liv'st adultrous thus with a vile ruflian,

Thy base assistant ? Why are those who sprung

From thy first nuptials cast unkindly forth

For his new race ? Was this thy piety ?

Was this, too, to revenge thy daughter's death ?

In pure revenge to wed her deadhest foe

Was noble, was it not ? But I forget :

You are my mother — so it seems you say —

And I must hold my peace. But I deny it ;

I say your are my mistress, not my mother —

A cruel mistress that afliicts my soul,

And makes this weary life a burthen to me.

Orestes too, the hapless fugitive.

Who once escaped thy fatal hand, now drags

A loathsome being. Him, thou sayst, I looked for

To join in my revenge, and so I did ;

T would have been revenged, I tell thee so.

Say, I am base, malicious, impudent,

Abusive, what thou wilt ; for if I am

It speaks my birth, and I resemble thee.

Chob. Kesentment deep hath fired the virgin's

breast ;

Whether with truth and justice on her side

She speak, I know not.

Cly. Can they plead for her ?

What care, what love, or tenderness is due

To an abandoned child, who shameless thus

Keviles a pai-ent ? I*-tttere, iifteF^isT^

A criTQft in nature shajgould blush to act ?

Electra

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 464 focus

This from a pious heart the virgin speaks :

Chrysothemis

Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust.

CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids,

Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act.

But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus
STRO: ANTIS.

amidst you well the secret guard;

For should my mother know it, much I fear

I should have cause the daring deed to mourn.

If wisdom with one prescient ray

Illumes the darkness of my soul,

The vengeful Fury speeds her way;

Before her, baleful omens scowl;

I hear the flaping of their wings;

The force of justice in her hands she brings.

The dreadful visions of the night I hear:

They breathe sweet music to my ear;

My courage kindles at thinspiring sound.

Thy father rouses in the realms below;"

Ne'er will the king of Greece forget his wound,

Ne'er the old Axe of brass, that struck th' insidious blow..

She comes, with all her hundred hands,

Her hundred feet, the furious pow'r,

No more in dreadful ambush stands;

She comes, she knows her torturing hour;

With feet of brass I hear her tread;

She marks th' unholy, blood-polluted bed:

Vengeful 'gainst those th' accursed attempt who dared,

And those the horrid deed who shared,

She sends these boding signs, nor sends in vain.

If aught of truth terrific dreams disclose,

If aught the oracle's prophetic strain,

This vision of the night our happier state foreshows.

How black with miseries to this land,

O Pelops, was thy fatal course,

When jealous Pisa's dangerous strand...

Saw thy swift car's victorious force!

For since by rage, untaught to spare,

The hapless Myrtilus was slain,

Hurl'd headlong from the golden car,

And plunged into the roaring main,

Strife in this house delights to dwell,

And Murder shrieks with hideous yell.

Clytemnestra
ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.

At large then thou art ranging, I perceive,

Aegisthus

who within these gates

Always restrain'd thee, that thou might'st not shame

Thy friends: now free from his control, to me

Thou show'st no reverence; but thy froward tongue

Oft speaks of me as haughty, and unjust

In my commands, and insolent to thee,

And thine. My nature knows not insolence:

Nor speak I harshly to thee, but provoked

By thy repeated harshness, and reproach,

That by my hand thy father died. (Thy plea

This only made) By me thy father died;

I know it well, nor shall deny the deed;

For justice struck the blow, nor I alone;

And thee, if wisdom ruled thee, it behoved
520

To aid me: for thy father, thus bewail'd,
520

Alone of all the Grecians steel'd his heart
520

To sacrifice thy sister to the gods:

He never felt, like me, a mother's throes.

I urge not that: but tell me for what cause

Or for whose sake he bade this victim bleed.

Say'st thou for Greece? No right had Greece to slay

My child. Or was it for his brother’s sake?

He slew my daughter: should not I repay/

Such deeds with just revenge? Had he no child?

Had he not two? And these with juster right

Had been devoted, as of parents born

Whose cause avenging Greece embark'd for Troy.

Or had th' infernal god more keen desire

To gorge him with my children, than with hers?
525

Or was this barbarous father's love grown cool
525

To children born of me, but warm to those
525

Born to his brother? Was not this the part

Of an unfeeling father, to all sense 1.

Of goodness lost? I think so, though I speak

What to thy thoughts is adverse; so my child

That died would speak, could she her voice regain.

Hence for this deed no sorrow, no remorse

Hath ever touch'd my heart. To thee perchance

I seem to judge amiss: but weigh things well,

Let justice hold the beam, then blame thy friends.

Electra

Thou wilt not say this harshness was provoked

Now by my harsh reproach. But, grant me leave,

Of my dead father, and my sister's death,

As truth and reason prompt me, I will speak.
555

Clytemnestra

Thou hast my leave: and hadst thou always thus

Address'd me, nothing harsh had been replied.

Electra

Then I will speak. My father by thy hand

Was slain: thou freely dost avow the deed.

And can there be a deed of blacker stain,

E'en though he justly died? But I will say

That not with justice didst thou strike the blow.

No: the persuasions of that wicked man,

Thy base compeer in guilt, allured thee. Ask

The huntress queen Diana, why so long

At Aulis vengeful she restrain'd the winds;

Or I will tell thee; her thou may'st not ask!

My father, sporting in her sacred grove,

Once roused a dappled Hart, that bore aloft.

His branching horns; and glorying in the prize

Utter'd some vaunting words: at these incensed

The daughter of Latona in that port

Detain'd the fleet of Greece, that for her Hart,

A recompense my father might present...

His daughter: to the goddess thus she fell

A victim; else the fleet had been detain'd
560

Moor'd in that bay, and not a gale had 'swell'd
560

Their sails for Troy, or to the ports of Greece.
560

For this, reluctant and by sad constraint,
560

He sacrificed his daughter, just to Greece,
560

Not for his brother's sake. But (to allow
560

Thy plea) to grace the Spartan had his wille
560

Been to the deed assenting, for that cause
560

Behoved it thee to slay him? By what fight?

Take heed thou givest not sanction to a law

'Mongst mortals, which with vengeance will recoil

On thine own head. If blood must be repaid

With blood, if justice doth her office, thou: A

The first must die. Take heed, nor urge a plea

Of no avail. But tell me, if thy will

Assents to tell me, why dost thou persist

In actions most disgraceful to thy fame?

Why with a blood-stain'd murderer share thy couch,

Thy vile associate in my father's death?

How canst thou bear him children, and expose .TYD

As outcasts those, who from an hallow'd bed

Sprung hallow'd? How can I approve these things?

Or wilt thou say that for thy daughter's death/

These deeds are done to satiate thy revenge?

Shame on thee if thou say'st so; for to wedi

An hostile ruffian for a daughter's sake, d

Throws a foul stain on honour. But thy soul

Rejects monition: ever on thy tongue

Is this complaint, that we with rudé reproach({

Insult our mother: Am I then thy child?

Rather thy slave, and lead a servile life, fina

Ever beneath the yoke of ills oppress'd TI

By thee and thy compeer. Thy other child,

The poor Orestes, scarce escaped thy handjofT TVD

With misery, exiled from his country, lives

Oft dost thou taunt me that I train the Youth

To vengeance on thee: be thou well assured

This I had done, had I the pow'r. Now go,

Proclaim me to the world as base of soul, O

As insolent of tongue, as lost to shamed wo

If in these arts I am expert, they showlon is

That nor thy nature I disgrace, nor thee.

Chorus
OFIT

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 472-515 focus

Chorus

If I am not a deranged prophet and one who lacks wise judgments,

Justice, the sender of the omen, will come, winning the just victory of her hands’ might. She will come in pursuit before long, my child. Courage is mine,
475

since I heard just now of this sweet-blowing dream. Never does the lord of the Hellenes, your producer forget,
480

nor does the axe of long ago forget, striking with bronze on its jaws, which in most shameless disgrace annihilated him.
485

488

Chorus

She, too, will come, she of many hands and many feet who lurks in her terrible ambush,

the bronze-shod Erinys. For an unwed, unbetrothed passion for a marriage polluted by murder seized the pair, though divine law forbade it to them.
490

Therefore I am confident that the portent—a wonder which I will never blame—will draw near to the criminals and conspirators. To be sure, mortal prophecy
495

from fearful dreams or divine signs exists no more, if this vision of the night does not find due fulfillment.
500

504

Chorus

O chariot-race of Pelops long ago, source of many a sorrow,

what disaster you have brought upon this land! For ever since Myrtilus sank to rest beneath the waves,
505

hurled to utter destruction from his golden chariot in disgraceful outrage, from that time to this, outrage and its many sorrows
510

were never yet gone from this house.
515

Enter Clytaemnestra, with attendants, from the house.

Clytaemnestra

You run loose again, it seems, since Aegisthus is not here, who used always to keep you at least from coming out to the gates and shaming your family. But now, since he is absent, you pay

me no mind. And yet you have said of me often and to many listeners that I am a rash and unjust tyrant, who violently abuse you and yours. But it is not I who do violence; I only return the insults that I so often hear from you.

520

Your father—this and nothing else is your constant pretext—was slain by me. Yes, by me. I know it well. I make no denial. Justice took hold of him, not I alone—Justice, whom you ought to have supported, if you had been in your right mind.
525

For this father of yours whom you constantly bewail alone of all the Greeks had the heart to sacrifice your own blood, your sister, to the gods—he, who, when sowing his seed, felt none of the pains I did when I gave birth.
Come, tell me now, why, or to please whom,
530

did he sacrifice her? To please the Argives, you will say? No, they had no right to kill my daughter. Or, if indeed it was for the sake of his brother Menelaus that he killed my child, was he not to pay me the penalty for that? Did Menelaus not have two children,
535

who should in fairness have died instead of my daughter, since the father and mother from whom they were sprung had caused that voyage? Did Hades have some greater desire to feast on my offspring than on hers? Or had all love of the children of my womb been
540

abandoned by their accursed father, while love for the children of Menelaus filled him? Were these not the marks of a thoughtless and malicious parent? I think so, even if I differ from your judgment. So, too, would the dead girl speak, if she could find a voice. For myself, then, I view the past without
545

dismay; but if you think my attitude criminal, see that your own judgment is just before you blame your neighbor.
550

552

Electra

This time, at least, you cannot say that I first gave you cause for upset and thereby provoked such words from you. But, if you will permit me,

I would gladly declare the truth, on behalf of my dead father and my sister alike.
555

Clytaemnestra

Certainly I permit you; and if you always addressed me in such a tone, you would not be difficult to listen to.

558

Electra

Then I will speak. You admit that you killed my father. What statement could be more shameful still than that,

whether you did it justly or not? But I will demonstrate to you that you did not justly kill him. No, the persuasion of that wicked man with whom you now sleep dragged you to it.
Ask the huntress Artemis what wrong she punished when she stayed the frequent winds at Aulis;
560

or I will tell you, since we may not learn from her. My father, as I have heard, was once hunting in the grove of the goddess, when his footfall flushed a dappled and antlered stag; he shot it, and chanced to make a certain boast concerning its slaughter.
565

Angered by this, Leto’s daughter detained the Greeks so that in requital for the beast’s life my father should sacrifice his own daughter. So it was that she was sacrificed, since the fleet had no other release, neither homeward nor to Troy .
570

For that reason, under fierce constraint and with much resistance, at last he sacrificed her—but it was not for the sake of Menelaus.
But suppose—for I will make your own plea—suppose that the motive of his deed was to benefit his brother. Should you have killed him because of that? Under what sort of law?
575

See that by laying down such a law for men, you do not lay down trouble and remorse for yourself. For, if we are to take blood for blood, you surely would be the first to die, if you were to meet with justice.
But consider whether this pretext is any excuse at all.
580

For tell me, if you please, what crime it is that you requite by doing the most shameless deeds of all: sharing your bed with that blood-guilty one, with whom you first destroyed my father and now bear his children
585

while you have cast out the earlier born, the pious offspring of a pious marriage? How can I commend these deeds? Or will you claim that this, too, is recompense for your daughter? No, it is a shameful plea, if you so plead, for there is nothing noble in marrying an enemy for a daughter’s sake.

590

But no, I can hardly even admonish you, when your every cry is that I slander my mother. I think, rather, that you are no less a mistress to me than a mother; so lowly is the life that I live,
595

ever beset with miseries come from you and your consort. And your other child, the exile who scarcely escaped your hand, poor Orestes, wastes away his unhappy life. You have often accused me of rearing him to punish your crime,
600

and I would have done so, if I could, you may be sure. As far as he is concerned, you can denounce me to all as disloyal, if you like, or loud-mouthed, or impudent. For if my nature is familiar with such wrongdoings, I hardly bring disgrace upon your nature.
605

610

Chorus

I see her breathing fury; but whether justice is with her, her concern for this I see no longer.
610

Clytaemnestra

And what manner of concern should I use against her, who has abused her mother like this at her mature age? Do you not think

that she would go forward to any deed without shame?
615

Electra

Now be assured that I do feel shame for it, though I seem not to you. I know that my behavior is unsuited to my age and inappropriate. But then the enmity I get from you and your

behavior compel me with harsh necessity to do this; for reprehensible deeds are learned from reprehensible examples.
620

Clytaemnestra

You shameless creature! Truly I and my speech and my deeds give you too much to talk about.

Electra

The words are yours, not mine; for yours

are the deeds, and they find their own expression.
625

Clytaemnestra

Now by our mistress Artemis, you shall not escape the consequences of this audacity once Aegisthus returns.

Electra

You see? You are driven to rage and, even though you grant me free speech, you have no patience to listen.

Clytaemnestra

Will you not allow me to sacrifice without ominous shouting, when I have permitted you to say anything and everything you wished?
630

Electra

I allow it; I exhort you to it: sacrifice! But do not blame my voice, for I would not say another word.

634

Clytaemnestra

Raise then, my attendant, the offerings

of many fruits, so that I may uplift my prayers for release from my present fears to this image of our King. Please, O Phoebus our defender, may you now listen to my prayer, though it is muffled; for I do not make my plea among friends, nor does it suit me to unfold it all
635

to the light while she stands near me, lest by her malice and a cry of her clamorous tongue she sow reckless rumors through the whole city. Nevertheless, hear me thus, since in this way I will speak. That vision which I saw last night
640

in ambiguous dreams—if its appearance was to my good, grant, Lycean king, that it be fulfilled; but if to my harm, then hurl it back upon those who would harm me. And if any are plotting to eject me by treachery from my present prosperity, do not permit them.
645

Rather grant that living forever unharmed as I am I may govern the house of the sons of Atreus and their throne, sharing prosperous days with the friends who share them now, and with those of my children who feel no enmity or bitterness towards me.
650

O Lycean Apollo, hear these prayers with favor, and grant them to us all just as we ask! As for all my other prayers, though I am silent, I judge that you, a god, must know them, since it is appropriate that Zeus’s children see all.
655

660 Enter the Paedagogus from the left.

Paedagogus

Foreign ladies, how might I know for certain if this be the palace of the king Aegisthus?
660

Chorus

This is the palace, stranger; you yourself have guessed correctly.

Paedagogus

And am I on target when I surmise that this lady is his wife? She is indeed regal to look upon.

Chorus

Exactly right; this is she before you.
665

Paedagogus

Greetings, royal lady! I bring happy news to you and to Aegisthus from a friend.

Clytaemnestra

I welcome your greeting; but I would like first to know who may have sent you.

Paedagogus

Phanoteus the Phocian provided me the weighty task.
670

Clytaemnestra

And what is it, sir? Tell me. Coming from a friend you will bring, I know, a kindly message.

Paedagogus

Orestes is dead, to put it briefly.

Electra

Oh, miserable me! My ruin comes today!

Clytaemnestra

What, friend? What did you say? Do not listen to her!
675

Paedagogus

I said, and say again, Orestes is dead.

Electra

This is my wretched end! I am no more!

Clytaemnestra
To Electra.

You, go about your business! But you, sir, tell me exactly in what manner he was destroyed.

680

Paedagogus

I was sent for that purpose, and will tell you all. Having gone to the shrine which is Greece ’s common glory in order to compete for Delphi ’s prizes and having heard the herald’s loud summons to the foot-race, the first contest,
680

he entered the lists, a brilliant form, a wonder in the eyes of all there. When he had finished the race at the point where it began, he went out with the glorious honor of victory. To say the most with the least words, I do not know the man whose deeds and triumphs have matched his.
685

But this one thing you must know: in all the contests that the judges announced, he carried away the prize, and men deemed him happy as often as the herald proclaimed him an Argive , by name Orestes, son of
690

Agamemnon, who once marshalled Greece ’s famous expedition.
So far Orestes fared as I described. But when a god sends harm, not even the strong man can escape. For on another day, when with the rising sun there was held the race of the swift-footed horses,
695

he entered it along with many charioteers. One was an Achaean, one from Sparta ; two masters of yoked cars were Libyans; Orestes, driving Thessalian mares, came fifth among them; the sixth was from Aetolia ,
700

with chestnut colts; a Magnesian was the seventh; the eighth, with white horses, was of Aenian stock; the ninth hailed from Athens , built of gods; there was a Boeotian too, making the tenth chariot. They took their stations where the appointed umpires
705

placed them by lot and ranged the cars. Then at the sound of the bronze trumpet, they started. All shouted to their horses, and shook the reins in their hands; the whole course was filled with the clatter of rattling chariots; and the dust flew upward.
710

All of them in a confused throng kept plying their goads unsparingly, so that one of them might pass the wheel-hubs and the snorting steeds of his rivals; for both at their backs and at their rolling wheels the breath of the horses foamed and smattered.
715

Orestes, driving close to the near edge of the turning-post, almost grazed it with his wheel each time and, giving rein to the trace-horse on the right, he checked the horse on the inner side. To this point, all the chariots still stood upright. But then the Aenian’s
720

hard-mouthed colts carried him out of control as they passed out of the turn from the sixth into the seventh lap and dashed their foreheads against the rig of the Barcaean. Next, as a result of this one mishap, the cars kept smashing and colliding with each other, and the whole
725

race-ground of Crisa swelled with shipwrecked chariots.
730

731

Seeing this, the clever charioteer from Athens drew aside and paused, allowing the equestrian flood to pass in mid-crest. Orestes was driving last, keeping his horses

behind, as his trust was in the race’s end. But when he sees that the Athenian is alone left in, he sends a shrill cry ringing through the ears of his swift colts, and gives chase. Bringing yoke level with yoke the two of them raced, first one man, then the other,
735

showing his head in front of the other’s chariot. Up to now the ill-fated Orestes had driven upright safely through every circuit, upright in his upright car. But then he slackened his left rein while the horse was turning and unwittingly struck the edge of the pillar,
740

breaking the axle-box in two. He spilled forward over the chariot-rail and was caught in the trim reins, and as he fell to the ground, his colts were scattered into the middle of the course.
But when the crowd saw that he had fallen
745

from the chariot, a cry of pity went up for the young man who had done such deeds and was allotted such bad fortune—now dashed against the earth, now tossed with his feet to the sky until the charioteers with difficulty reigned in the gallop of his horses and
750

freed him, so covered with blood that no friend who saw it would have known the pitiful corpse. Immediately they burned him on a pyre, and chosen men of Phocis now bring the sad dust of that mighty form in a small urn of bronze,
755

so that he may find due burial in his fatherland.
Such is my story—it is grievous even to hear, but for us witnesses who looked on, it was the greatest of sorrows that these eyes have seen.
760

764

Chorus

Oh, sorrow! It seems now that all the stock of our ancient masters

has been leveled clean down to the roots.
765

Clytaemnestra

O Zeus, how shall I name this news—fortunate? Or terrible, but beneficial? It is a bitter thing, when by my own misery I preserve my life.

Paedagogus

Why are you so despondent, lady, at my news?

Clytaemnestra

There is a terrible power in motherhood; a mother may be wronged, but she can feel no hate for those whom she bore.
770

Paedagogus

Then it seems that we have come in vain.

Clytaemnestra

No, not in vain; how can you say in vain when you have brought me sure proofs of his death?

He sprang from my own life, yet deserting my breast and my nurture he became a fugitive, completely alien from me. And me, once he left this land, he saw no more; but, charging me with the murder of his father, he made terrible threats,
775

so that neither by night nor by day could sweet sleep cover me, but the imminent moment made me live always as if I were about to die. Now, however, since today I am rid of terror of him and of this girl—that greater plague
780

who shared my home while consuming undiluted my life-blood—now, I think, for all her threats, I shall pass my days in peace.
785

788

Electra

Ah, what misery! Now, indeed, Orestes, I must mourn your misfortune, since even dead as you are

you are abused by this woman, your mother! Is it not just fine?
790

Clytaemnestra

You certainly are not, but he is fine as he is.

Electra

Listen to her, Nemesis of the recently departed!

Clytaemnestra

She has heard who should be heard, and has ordained well.

Electra

Abuse us! Fortune is with you today.

Clytaemnestra

You and Orestes will not stop me, then, will you?
795

Electra

It is we who are stopped; we cannot stop you.

Clytaemnestra

Your coming, sir, deserves large recompense, if you have stopped her clamorous tongue.

Paedagogus

Then I would take my leave, if all is well.

Clytaemnestra

Not so; your welcome would then be unworthy of me, and of my ally who sent you. No, come in. Leave her out here to shout out loud her misfortunes and those of her friends. Clytaemnestra and the Paedagogus enter the house.
800

804

Electra

What do you think? Does it seem to you that she, poor woman, wept and wailed terribly,

like a grieving, anguished woman, over her son thus destroyed? No, she left us with a laugh! Ah, miserable me! Dearest Orestes, how your death has destroyed me! For your passing has torn from my heart
805

the only hopes which still were mine: that you would live to return some day as the avenger of our father, and also of me in my misery. But now, where shall I turn? I am alone, cheated of you, as of my father. Hereafter I must be a slave again
810

among those I most hate, my father’s murderers. Am I not in a fine way? But at least in the time remaining me I will never enter the house to dwell with them. No, lying down at these gates, without a friend, I shall wither away my days.
815

Therefore, if anyone in the house be angry, let him kill me. It is a favor, if I die, but a pain, if I live. I desire life no more.
820

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-270-1 †ἀλιπαρῆ ¹ λιπαρῆ ²

mvp-comment-270-2 We come, therefore, to a dilemma. (1) The words

τήνδ’ ἀλιπαρῆ τρίχα

may conceal some corruption:

τήνδ’

ought possibly to be τήνδε τ’ ³ ἀλίπαρον ⁴

mvp-comment-270-3 (2) Or else, if the text be sound,

ἀλιπαρῆ

may mean

οὐ λιπαράν

. There is no doubt that

λιπ

, ‘fat,’ is the root both of

λι^παρός

, ‘shining,’ and of

λι—παρής

, ‘sticking’; cp. Plat. Crat. 427 B

τὸ λιπαρὸν καὶ τὸ κολλῶδες

( Curt. Etym. § 340 ). Similarly

γλίσχρος

, ‘sticky,’ came to mean ‘importunate.’ It is barely possible that, in coining a new negative compound, the poet may have transferred the sense of

λιπαρός

λιπαρής

: but it seems improbable.

mvp-comment-271-1 ζῶμα ⁵

mvp-comment-271-2 χλιδαῖς ⁶

mvp-comment-272-1 προσπίτνουσα ⁷ αὐτὸν ⁸

mvp-comment-273-1 ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερός ⁹

mvp-comment-273-2 ζῶντ’ ¹⁰

mvp-comment-274-1 ἀφνεωτέραις ¹¹

mvp-comment-274-2 στέφωμεν ¹²

mvp-comment-274-3 δωρούμεθα ¹³

mvp-comment-275-1 οἶμαι μὲν οὖν ¹⁴

mvp-comment-275-2 If μέλον ¹⁵ μέλειν ¹⁶ μέλον ¹⁷

mvp-comment-276-1 σοί ¹⁸

mvp-comment-277-1 βροτῶν ¹⁹

mvp-comment-278-1 πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ²⁰

mvp-comment-279-1 δράσω ²¹

mvp-comment-279-2 τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον ²²

mvp-comment-279-3 (1)

τὸ δίκαιον

is an acc. of general reference, and

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

is impersonal. ‘With regard to what is (clearly) right, it is unreasonable for two persons to dispute; rather both should hasten on the doing (of it).’ With

ἀλλ’ ἐπισπεύδειν

we supply the notion

δεῖ

from the negative

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

(as from

οὐκ ἔξεστι

in O. C. 1402 ff.; cp. O. T. 817 ff.). For the form of the sentence, cp. H. 7. 3. 7

τοὺς περὶ Ἀρχίαν...οὐ ψῆφον ἀνεμείνατε, ἀλλὰ ὁπότε πρῶτον ἐδυνάσθητε ἐτιμωρήσασθε

. So here the acc.

τὸ δίκαιον

, which represents the object of

δρᾶν

, is separated from it by the parenthesis

οὐκ

ἔχει λόγον δυοῖν ἐρίζειν

. (The first scholium gives substantially this view:

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον φιλονεικεῖν περὶ τοῦ δικαίου, ὥστε περὶ αὐτοῦ δύο ὄντας ἐρίζειν

mvp-comment-279-4 (2) Or

τὸ δίκαιον

might be nom.: ‘that which is clearly right does not afford any ground (

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

) for two persons to dispute,’ etc. So the second schol.:

ἢ τὸ οὐκ ἔχει λόγον ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐ παρέχει πρόφασιν

. So far as the verb

ἔχει

is concerned, this sense is quite admissible: cp. Thuc. 2. 41

οὔτε τῷ πολεμίῳ ἐπελθόντι ἀγανάκτησιν ἔχει

(

ἡ πόλις

). The objection is that the phrases

ἔχειν λόγον, οὐκ ἔχειν λόγον

, which are very common, regularly mean, ‘to be reasonable,’ ‘to be unreasonable.’ This is so both in the personal and in the impersonal constr.; as Plat. Phaedop. 62 D

τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν...οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

: Dem. or. 36 § 54

πῶς ἔχει λόγον σὲ...δίκην ἀξιοῦν λαμβάνειν

; The supposed sense, ‘not to afford a reason,’ is unexampled.

mvp-comment-279-5 δυοῖν ²³

mvp-comment-280-1 παρ’ ὑμῶν ²⁴

mvp-comment-281-1 πικρὰν ²⁵ δοκῶ με … τολμήσειν ²⁶ ἔτι ²⁷

mvp-comment-282-1 εἰ μὴ )γὼ ²⁸

mvp-comment-282-2 γνώμας λειπομένα ²⁹

mvp-comment-283-1 ἁ πρόμαντις Δίκα ³⁰

mvp-comment-283-2 δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη ³¹

mvp-comment-284-1 μέτεισιν ³²

mvp-comment-284-2 οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου ³³

mvp-comment-285-1 ὕπεστί μοι θράσος ³⁴ κλύουσαν ³⁵

mvp-comment-285-2 ἁδυπνόων … ὀνειράτων ³⁶

mvp-comment-286-1 ἀμναστεῖ γ’ ὁ φύσας ς’ ³⁷

mvp-comment-287-1 χαλκόπλακτος ³⁸

mvp-comment-287-2 γένυς ³⁹

mvp-comment-287-3 The very axe (

φόνιος πέλεκυς

, 99) with which the blow was dealt is imagined as nourishing a grudge against the murderers who had set it such a task. Such a personification recalls that practice of Athenian law by which inanimate objects which had caused death were brought to a formal trial in the court called

τὸ ἐπὶ Πρυτανείῳ

, and, after sentence, cast beyond the boundaries, in the presence of the Archon Basileus and the sacrificial officers of the tribes (

φυλο‐

βασιλεῖς

). Aeschin. or. 3 § 244

τὰ μὲν ξύλα καὶ τοὺς λίθους καὶ τὸν σίδηρον, τὰ ἄφωνα καὶ ἀγνώμονα, ἐάν τῳ ἐμπεσόντα ἀποκτείνῃ, ὑπερορίζομεν

. (Cp. Dem. or. 23 § 76 .) A like conception was implied in the English law (repealed in 1846) of ‘deodands’ (Deo danda), i.e., personal chattels (whether animals or things) which, having caused the death of a human being, were forfeited to the Crown for pious uses.

mvp-comment-288-1 ἐν αἰκίαις ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-289-1 καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ ⁴¹

mvp-comment-290-1 λόχοις ⁴²

mvp-comment-290-2 χαλκόπους ⁴³

mvp-comment-291-1 ἄλεκτρ’ ἄνυμφα ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-291-2 γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθ’ ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-291-3 ἐπέβα ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-292-1 πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι … συνδρῶσιν ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-292-2 Verses 495—497 (

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι...τέρας

) answer metrically to vv. 479—481

ὕπεστί μοι...ὀνειράτων

, where the text is certain, save for the doubt whether

θράσος

θάρσος

should stand in 479. Here we must first decide two points.

mvp-comment-292-3 (1) Are the words πρὸ τῶνδε ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-292-4 (2) Could

ἔχει με, μήποτε τέρας πελᾶν

(etc.) mean, ‘ the belief possesses me, that’ etc.? Surely not. No real parallel for so strange a phrase has been produced. It is irrelevant to quote those impersonal verbs which directly express the occurrence of a thought to the mind; as Xen. An. 6. 1. 17

εἰσῄει αὐτοὺς ὅπως ἂν καὶ ἔχοντές τι οἴκαδε ἀφίκοιντο

(‘the thought came to them, how they might,’ etc.): Thuc. 6. 78. § 1

εἰ δέ τῳ ἄρα παρέστηκε, τὸν μὲν Συρακόσιον...πολέμιον εἶναι κ.τ.λ.

Either, then, the subject to

ἔχει

has dropped out, or the words

μ’ ἔχει

conceal a corruption.

mvp-comment-292-5 The following remedies are possible: I incline to the first, as involving least change. (1) Reading in 479

ὕπεστί μοι θράσος

, we may read here

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μ’ ἔχει

<θάρσος τι>, μήποθ’ ἡμῖν

etc. (It may be remarked that

τι

is in harmony with the tone of

ὕπεστί μοι

in 479.) Another available word is

ξύννοια

(cp. Ant. 279 ). (2) Or, reading in 479

ὕπεστί μοι θάρσος

, we could read here

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι θάρσος ἴσχει με

. On either view, the

ἁδυπνόων

in 480 is long (as several critics have assumed). It should be noted that (1) involves a different constitution of the verses: see p. lxxxii.

mvp-comment-292-6 In those MSS. which have μή ποτε μή ποθ’ ἡμῖν ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-293-1 ἀψεγές ⁵⁰ ἀψεφές ⁵¹

mvp-comment-293-2 πελᾶν ⁵²

mvp-comment-294-1 τοῖς δρῶσι ⁵³ τοῖς συνδρῶσιν ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-295-1 μαντεῖαι βροτῶν ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-296-1 εὖ κατασχήσει ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-297-1 ἱππεία ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-297-2 Oenomaüs, king of Pisa in Elis, had promised the hand of his daughter Hippodameia to the suitor who should defeat him in a chariot-race; the penalty of failure being death. The young Pelops, son of Tantalus, offered himself as a competitor. Myrtilus, the charioteer of Oenomaüs, was persuaded (either by Hippodameia or by Pelops) to betray his master. He did so by leaving out one or both of the linch-pins by which the naves of the chariot-wheels were secured to the axles. Tzetzes on Lycophron 156

ταῖς χοινίκισι

πλήμναις

, the naves)

τῶν τροχῶν οὐκ ἐμβαλὼν τοὺς ἥλους

. According to another story, he substituted a linch-pin of wax for a real one ( schol. Apoll. Rh. 752

ἐμβαλόντα κήρινον ἔμβολον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀκραξονίου

). So Pelops won the race, and the bride. But Oenomaüs was soon avenged on the traitor; for Myrtilus insulted Hippodameia, and was thrown into the sea by Pelops; upon whose house he invoked a curse, as he sank.

mvp-comment-297-3 Euripides, too, ( Or. 990 ff., Helen. 386 f.) refers to this chariot-race as the event with which the troubles of the Pelopidae began. Apollonius Rhodius briefly describes the critical moment of the race as one of the subjects embroidered on the cloak of Jason (1. 752 ff.); there Oenomaüs was seen, ‘falling sideways, as the axle broke at the naves of the wheels,’—

ἄξονος ἐν πλήμνῃσι παρακλιδὸν ἀγνυμένοιο

πίπτεν

mvp-comment-297-4 The eastern pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia ( circ. 450 B.C.) was adorned with sculptures by Paeonius, representing the preparation for this contest ( Paus. 5. 10. 6 ). The fragments found on the site have sufficed for a reconstruction of the group. Zeus occupied the centre; to the right of him were Pelops and Hippodameia; to the left, Oenomaüs and his wife Steropè. On each side was a chariot drawn by four horses. Myrtilus was sitting in front of his team, with his face turned away from his master.

mvp-comment-297-5 In the older and nobler form of the myth, Pelops won, not by a fraud, but by the grace of Poseidon, who gave him winged horses (Pindar O. 1. 87

ἔδωκεν δίφρον τε χούσεον πτεροῖσίν τ’ ἀκάμαντας ἵππους

). On the chest (

λάρναξ

) of Cypselus, seen by Pausanias in the Heraeum at Olympia ( Paus. 5. 17. 5 ), Pelops was driving two winged horses.

mvp-comment-298-1 αἰανὴς ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-298-2 The form

αἰανὴς

has the best authority, and some critics hold that

αἰανὸς

(Hesych.) was a Byzantine invention. But in Aesch. Eum. 416 ,

ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν νυκτὸς αἰανῆς τέκνα

(so L, schol., and Tzetzes on Lycophron 406),

αἰανῆ

is far less suitable.

mvp-comment-299-1 εὖτε ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-299-2 ὁ ποντισθεὶς Μυρτίλος ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-299-3 A vase found at Capua shows Pelops and Hippodameia in a ship, from which Myrtilus is falling backwards into the water. A winged Erinys hovers in the air above, brandishing a sword over the head of Pelops (Baumeister, Denkmäler p. 1204, referring to Mon. Inst. x. 25).

mvp-comment-299-4 ἐκοιμάθη ⁶¹

mvp-comment-300-1 παγχρυσέων δίφρων ⁶²

mvp-comment-301-1 πρόρριζος ⁶³

mvp-comment-301-2 ἐκριφθείς ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-302-1 ἔλειπεν ⁶⁵ ἔλιπεν ⁶⁶ οἴκου ⁶⁷ οἴκους ⁶⁸ πω ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-303-1 πολύπονος ⁷⁰ αἰκία ⁷¹

mvp-comment-304-1 ἀνειμένη ⁷² μέν ⁷³

mvp-comment-304-2 ὡς ἔοικας ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-304-3 στρέφει ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-304-4 Clytaemnestra begins in the same strain as Chrysothemis, who likewise emphasised her reproof by the word αὖ ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-305-1 μή τοι θυραίαν γ’ ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-305-2 αἰσχύνειν φίλους ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-306-1 καίτοι ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-306-2 δὴ ⁸⁰ πολλούς ⁸¹

mvp-comment-306-3 ἐξεῖπάς με … ὡς ⁸²

mvp-comment-306-4 θρασεῖα ⁸³ τραχεῖα ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-306-5 ἄρχω ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-307-1 ὕβριν … οὐκ ἔχω ⁸⁶ κακῶς κλύουσα ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-308-1 πατὴρ γάρ ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-308-2 πρόσχημα ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-309-1 ἡ γὰρ Δίκη ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-310-1 ᾗ χρῆν σ’ ἀρήγειν ⁹¹

mvp-comment-311-1 The order of words in the MSS.,

ἐπεὶ πατὴρ οὗτος σός

, is probably right; the words would then fall from her with a certain deliberate bitterness. Cp. 542 : Ant. 44

ἦ γὰρ νοεῖς θάπτειν σθ’

(n.): Ph. 101

λέγω σ’ ἐγὼ δόλῳ Φιλοκτήτην λαβεῖν

mvp-comment-312-1 μοῦνος ⁹² Ἑλλήνων ⁹³

mvp-comment-312-2 Nauck requires

τὴν αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ

instead of

τὴν σὴν ὅμαιμον

, because Agamemnon's unique crime was the slaughter of his own child: as if the text did not convey this. Clytaemnestra means, ‘while mourning a father, you forget a sister.’

mvp-comment-312-3 532 f. The regular mode of expression would be,

οὐκ ἴσον λύπης καμὼν ἐμοί, ὁ σπείρας τῇ τικτούσῃ

. But, having written

ὅτ’ ἔσπειρε

, the poet explains

ἐμοί

by repeating the comparison in a new form,

ὥσπερ ἡ τίκτουσ’ ἐγώ

. (For

ὡς

ὥσπερ

after

ἴσος

, cp. Lys. or. 19 § 36

ἡγοῦντο... τὰ ἐκεῖ...εἶναι ἴσα ὥσπερ τὰ ἐνθάδε

.) Those who reject v. 533 omit to notice that, without it, the words

οὐκ ἴσον καμὼν ἐμοί

would be unintelligible. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1417

ἔθυσεν αὑτοῦ παῖδα, φιλτάτην ἐμοὶ

ὠδῖν’

mvp-comment-312-4 This assertion of the mother's superior claim is a counterpart to the doctrine of Athena in Aesch. Eum. 658 f.,

οὐκ ἔστι μήτηρ ἡ κεκλημένου τέκνου

τοκεύς, τροφὸς δὲ κύματος νεοσπόρου

. Cp. above, Aesch. Eum. 366 n.

mvp-comment-313-1 τοῦ χάριν, τίνων ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-313-2 The alternative, which most editors have preferred, is to take

τίνων

as the participle. But there is an insuperable objection to this, which seems to have escaped notice. The words,

τοῦ χάριν τίνων

; could mean only, ‘paying a debt of gratitude for what?’ They could not mean, ‘paying a debt of gratitude to whom?’ The latter would be

τῷ χάριν τίνων

; See ( e.g.) Aesch. P. V. 985

καὶ μὴν ὀφείλων ἂν τίνοιμ’ αὐτῷ χάριν

: Aesch. Ag. 821

τούτων θεοῖσι χρὴ πολύμνηστον χάριν

τίνειν

. Hence the question,

τοῦ χάριν τίνων

; could not possibly be answered by

Ἀργείων

. For, evidently, the latter word could not mean, (‘for a benefit conferred by) the Greeks.’ A scholiast in the Baroccian MS. (cr. n. on 545), who explains

τοῦ χάριν τίνων

τίνος χάριν ἀποδιδούς

, plainly meant, ‘showing gratitude for what?’—and his paraphrase was correct; only he overlooked the context.

mvp-comment-314-1 ἀλλ’ οὐ μετῆν ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-315-1 ἀλλ’ ἀντ’ ἀδελφοῦ δῆτα ⁹⁶ κτανὼν ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-315-2 ἀντὶ ἀδελφοῦ ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-315-3 τἄμ’ ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-316-1 παῖδες … διπλοῖ ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-316-2 540 f. Nauck would prefer a single verse in place of these two, viz.

οὓς Ἰφιγενείας εἰκὸς ἦν θνῄσκειν πάρος

mvp-comment-317-1 ἢ ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-317-2 ἢ τῶν ἐμῶν Ἅιδης ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-318-1 δαίσασθαι ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-318-2 The conj. λῄσασθαι ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-319-1 πανώλει ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-319-2 παρεῖτο ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-319-3 The sense does not absolutely require us to take Μενέλεω δ’ ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-320-1 ἀβούλου ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-320-2 κακοῦ γνώμην ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-321-1 δοκῶ μέν ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-321-2 εἰ καὶ ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-322-1 εἰ φωνὴν λάβοι ¹¹²

mvp-comment-323-1 τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ¹¹³

mvp-comment-324-1 γνώμην δικαίαν σχοῦσα ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-325-1 ἐρεῖς μὲν οὐχὶ ¹¹⁵ ἐρεῖς ¹¹⁶ ἐρεῖς … μ’ ὡς ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-325-2 ἄρξασά τι λυπηρὸν ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-325-3 τάδ’ ἐξήκους’ ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-326-1 τοῦ τεθνηκότος θ’ ὕπερ ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-327-1 καὶ μὴν ¹²¹

mvp-comment-327-2 λόγους ἐξῆρχές με ¹²²

mvp-comment-328-1 Clytaemnestra has argued that she was justified in slaying Agamemnon, because he had slain Iphigeneia. The topics of Electra's reply are as follows.

mvp-comment-328-2 (1) 558—562. The wife who slew her husband would be a criminal, even if the motive had been just retribution; but the real motive was her love for Aegisthus. (2) 563—576. Agamemnon was not a free agent in slaying Iphigeneia; the act was forced upon him by Artemis. (3) 577—583. Suppose, however, that he was a free agent, and wished to please his brother; still she was not justified in taking his life. (4) 584—594. And in any case her plea does not excuse her for living with the man who helped to slay her husband.—The speech then closes in a strain of reproach and defiance (595 —609).

mvp-comment-328-3 καὶ δὴ λέγω σοι ¹²³ πατέρα ¹²⁴ φὴς ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-329-1 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-329-2 λέξω ¹²⁷ δείξω ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-330-1 ὡς οὐ δίκῃ γ’ ¹²⁹ ἔσπασεν ¹³⁰ πειθὼ ¹³¹

mvp-comment-331-1 κυναγὸν ¹³²

mvp-comment-331-2 ποινὰς ¹³³

mvp-comment-331-3 τὰ πολλὰ πνεύματ’ ἔσχ’ ¹³⁴ τὰ πολλὰ ¹³⁵ ἔσχε ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-331-4 Acc. to Aesch. ( Aesch. Ag. 149 f., Aesch. Ag. 192 ), the Greeks were detained by adverse winds, blowing from the N.E. : and this seems to have been the account given in the Cypria ( c. 776 B.C.), Proclus Chrest. p. 455:

ἐπέσχεν αὐτοὺς τοῦ πλοῦ χειμῶνας ἐπιπέμπουσα

. But other authorities speak of a calm. Thus I. A. 9 ff.

οὔκουν φθόγγος γ’ οὔτ’ ὀρνίθων

οὔτε θαλάσσης· σιγαὶ δ’ ἀνέμων

τόνδε κατ’ Εὔριπον ἔχουσιν

. Schol. Eur. Or. 647

ἐπειράθη τῆς θεοῦ ὀργιζομένης καὶ κατεχούσης τοὺς ἀνέμους

. Tzetzes on Lycophron 183

χολωθεῖσα δ’ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἡ θεὸς τοὺς ἀνέμους κατέσχεν

. Ovid ( Met. 13. 183 ) combines both versions:

exspectata diu, nulla aut contraria classi | Flamina sunt.

mvp-comment-331-5 It has been objected that vessels provided with oars need not have been detained by a calm. But the ships of the Greek fleet were not light craft. Each carried from 50 to 120 armed men, besides

σκεύη πολεμικά

: and the warriors were also the rowers (cp. Thuc. 1. 10 ). It is intelligible, then, that they should await the aid of wind before attempting the passage of the Aegaean. We must remember, too, the strong and shifting currents in the Euripus (

στονόεντα πορθμόν

, Soph. Ant. 1145 :

παλιρρόχθοις ἐν Αὐλίδος τόποις

, Aesch. Ag. 191 ).

mvp-comment-331-6 We cannot well render:—(1)‘He suffered those tedious winds,’—supplying

ὁ πατήρ

from v. 558. Nor: (2) ‘She directed those tedious winds at Aulis,’—a version which would at least require

ἐπ’ Αὐλίδι

. Cp. Ph. 1119

ἔχε

δύσποτμον ἀρὰν ἐπ’ ἄλλοις

mvp-comment-331-7 The conjecture πλοῖα ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-331-8 Αὐλίδι ¹³⁸

mvp-comment-332-1 ἢ )γὼ φράσω ¹³⁹ κείνης ¹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-333-1 ὡς ἐγὼ κλύω ¹⁴¹

mvp-comment-333-2 θεᾶς … κατ’ ἄλσος ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-333-3 παίζων ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-333-4 ποδοῖν ¹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-334-1 ἔλαφον ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-334-2 στικτὸν ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-334-3 κεράστην ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-334-4 οὗ κατὰ σφαγὰς ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-335-1 ἐκκομπάσας ἔπος τι τυγχάνει ¹⁴⁹ βαλών ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-335-2 This is the reason against taking

τυγχάνει

with

βαλών

, as=‘he shoots and hits’; cp. Il. 15. 581

θηρητὴρ ἐτύχησε βαλών

: Her. 3. 35

εἰ...τοῦ παιδὸς...βαλὼν τύχοιμι

. The vaunt must then precede the hit.

mvp-comment-335-3 Others take βαλὼν ¹⁵¹ ἔπος ¹⁵²

mvp-comment-335-4 Monk, with Musgrave, took σφαγὰς ¹⁵³

mvp-comment-336-1 ἐκ τοῦδε ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-336-2 μηνίσασα ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-336-3 Λητῴα κόρη ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-337-1 ὡς ¹⁵⁷ ἀντίσταθμον ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-337-2 ἐκθύσειε ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-338-1 ὧδ’ ἦν ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-338-2 τὰ … θύματ’ ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-338-3 λύσις ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-338-4 πρὸς οἶκον ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-339-1 πολλὰ ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-339-2 ἀντιβὰς ¹⁶⁵

mvp-comment-339-3 μόλις ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-340-1 εἰ δ’ οὖν ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-340-2 ἐρῶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ σόν ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-341-1 τούτου … οὕνεκ’ ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-341-2 νόμῳ ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-342-1 ὅρα ¹⁷¹ μὴ … τιθῇς ¹⁷² τίθης ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-342-2 Here, either

τίθης

τιθῇς

would be suitable. (1) With

τίθης

:—‘See that, in making this rule, you are not making woe for yourself.’ This means that to make the rule (as she is doing) is at once (logically) to make the woe. (2) With

τιθῇς

: —‘See lest, in making this rule, you make woe for yourself’: i.e., the rule may have the woe as a consequence. The woe is a future contingency (583

εἰ δίκης γε τυγχάνοις

), against which Electra warns her. On the whole, I now prefer

τιθῇς

. Cp. 1003

ὅρα κακῶς πράσσοντε μὴ μείζω κακὰ

κτησώμεθ’

: fr. 82

ἀλλ’ ὅρα μὴ κρεῖσσον ᾖ

mvp-comment-342-3 τιθεῖσα … νόμον ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-343-1 εἰ γὰρ κτενοῦμεν ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-343-2 πρώτη ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-344-1 εἰσόρα ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-344-2 οὐκ οὖσαν ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-344-3 τίθης ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-344-4 εἰ … θέλεις ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-345-1 τῷ παλαμναίῳ ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-345-2 πρόσθεν ἐξαπώλεσας ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-346-1 παιδοποιεῖς ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-346-2 Erigonè, daughter of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra (Tzetzes on Lyc. 1374 ), was mentioned by the early cyclic poet Cinaethon ( Paus. 2. 18. 6 ), and was the theme of Sophocles in his

Ἠριγόνη

. Hyginus ( Hyg. Fab. 122 ) notices a son of Aegisthus named Aletes, who gives his name to a play by Sophocles, but does not record the mother: see p. xliii note 4.

mvp-comment-346-3 εὐσεβεῖς ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-346-4 κἀξ εὐσεβῶν ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-346-5 By

τοὺς...πρόσθεν εὐσεβεῖς

Electra means Orestes and herself. Both are ‘cast out’ of their just rights. Cp. O.T. 611

φίλον ...ἐσθλὸν ἐκβαλεῖν

. Eur. El. 62

τεκοῦσα δ’ ἄλλους παῖδας Αἰγίσθῳ πάρα

πάρεργ’ Ὀρέστην κἀμὲ ποιεῖται δόμων.

mvp-comment-346-6 βλαστόντας ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-346-7 ἐκβαλοῦσ’ ἔχεις ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-347-1 πῶς ταῦτ’ ἐπαινέσαιμ’ ἄν ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-347-2 ἢ ¹⁸⁹ ἦ ¹⁹⁰ καὶ τοῦτ’ ¹⁹¹ ἄποινα ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-348-1 αἰσχρῶς δ’ ¹⁹³ δ’ ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-348-2 ἐάν περ καὶ λέγῃς ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-348-3 ἐχθροῖς γαμεῖσθαι ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-348-4 These two verses, though not indispensable, seem genuine. Were they omitted, the transition from 592 to 595 would be somewhat abrupt.

mvp-comment-349-1 ἀλλ’ οὐ γὰρ ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-349-2 πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-350-1 κακοστομοῦμεν ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-350-2 καί σ’ ἔγωγε δεσπότιν ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-350-3 εἰς ἡμᾶς ²⁰¹ ἣ ²⁰²

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

451. mvp-comment-199-1 τήνδε †λιπαρή τρίχα] The adjective here is puzzling, whichever reading we adopt. Hermann thought the MS. reading ἀλιπαρή might bear the sense of 'unmeet for supplication.' But λιπαρεῖν is hardly near enough in meaning to λιτανεύειν to make this possible. The Scholiast and Suidas explain the alternative reading λιπαρή, by ἱκέτιν, ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸν λιπαρήσομεν.

451. mvp-comment-199-2 But this is wanting in point. And a confusion of λιπαρής with λιπαρός (i.e. ἀλιπαρῆ = αὐχμηράν) is not to be thought of. Perhaps λιπαρή, in the sense of 'patient,' 'persistent,' may have conveyed some shade of meaning suitable to the passage. Or possibly ΛΙΠΑΡΗ may be a corruption of AYC-ΠΙΝΗ. Ср. О. С. 1597, εἶτ᾿ ἔλυσε δυσπινεῖς στολάς. I cannot think, with Mr. Paley, that this and the following line are an interpolation. The words ἄχω, δὸς αὐτῷ, are too pathetic for this.

452. mvp-comment-200-1 οὐ χλιδαῖς ἠσκημένον] 'Not elegantly neat.' The dative of manner in χλιδαῖς has an adverbial force. Essay on L. § 14. p. 20. Electra's girdle had not been beautifully got up' and 'laid in lavender,' like her sister's.

453-454. mvp-comment-201-1 The belief in the real presence of the spirits of the dead on great occasions, which is so powerful in the Oresteia of Aeschylus, still survives in the Sophoclean drama, but is much less vividly and realistically felt. It has become more ideal.

455. mvp-comment-202-1 ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερός] • With overpowering might.'

456. mvp-comment-203-1 ζῶντ᾽ ἐπεμβῆναι ποδί] Either (1) In the fulness of life (ζῶντα) should trample with his foot' (ποδί expletive); or (2) Should trample with a foot of living power' (ζῶντι.. ποδί). The latter is rendered improbable by the unusual elision, for which, however, cp. Trach. 675, ἀργῆτ᾽ οἰὸς εὐείρῳ πόκῳ, where see note. See also Pind. Ol. 13. 114, καρταίποδ᾽ ἀναρύῃ Γαιαóχῳ. In either case ζῆν is used in the secondary sense of being vigorous. Cp. Ant. 456, 7, ἀεί ποτε | ζῇ ταῦτα: Ο. Τ. 44, 5, and note.

459-460. mvp-comment-204-1 'Indeed, I do believe some care on his part caused the appalling dream to come to her.' For the use of the neuter participle, see Essay on L. § 30. p. 51 α. Although μέλον here has not the article, it should be added to the six examples there given. μὲν οὖν interposes the incidental thought, that even without their prayers Agamemnon was minded to interfere. Then, in 461, the main drift is resumed with ὅμως. 'Still, let us not omit this offering!'

461. mvp-comment-205-1 σοί is here equivalent to σαυτῇ, but occurring here as one of several coordinate terms, can hardly be adduced to justify the use of ἐμέ for ἐμαυτήν in supr. 363, which becomes necessary if λυπεῖν is read.

466-467. mvp-comment-206-1 τὸ γὰρ .. δρᾶν] ‘For when a thing is right, people should not quarrel over it, but hasten to do it.' Two points are doubtful in the construction of these words. a. Either (1) τὸ δίκαιον is subject of ἔχει, and ἐρίζειν is epexegetic infinitive, or (2) ἐρίζειν is the subject of ἔχει, and τὸ δίκαιον an accusative loosely governed by the words that follow it. b. τὸ δρᾶν is either (1) the direct object of ἐπισπεύδειν, or (2) epexegetic infinitive after ἐπισπεύδειν (i.e. ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δίκαιον, ὥστε δρᾶν αὐτό). For the article in this case, cp. O. T. 1416, 7, ἐς δέον πάρεσθ᾽ ὅδε | Κρέων τὸ πράσσειν καὶ τὸ βουλεύειν : infr. 1030, μακρὸς τὸ κρῖναι ταῦτα χὼ λοιπὸς χρόνος. The addition of δυοῖν belongs to the same tendency to make numbers explicit, which appears in καὶ τὸ γενναῖον τρίτον (Ο. C. 8) and the like phrases. For the sense, cp. Fr. 76, τοῖς γὰρ δικαίοις ἀντέχειν οὐ ῥάδιον. In the second clause, ἀλλ' ἐπισπεύδειν, κ.τ.λ., a positive notion is understood from the negative. Essay on L. § 36. p. 64, β, 1 а.

468-471. mvp-comment-207-1 These lines are intended to emphasize at once the timidity of Chrysothemis and the harshness of Clytemnestra.

471-515. mvp-comment-208-1 The following short ode, the first stasimon, consisting of a single strophe, antistrophe, and epode, dwells, first, on the renewal of hope which is brought to the upholders of the righteous cause by the announcement of the dream, secondly, on the guilt of those whom Vengeance will now assail, and thirdly, on the long chain of troubles, of which their crime is the continuation. The rhythm, beginning from three short glyconian lines, is chiefly iambic and trochaic, with an increasing number of long syllables toward the close of each movement. The metrical scheme is the following:-

472-473. mvp-comment-209-1 Ср. О. Τ. 1086, εἴπερ ἐγὼ μάντις εἰμὶ καὶ κατὰ γνώμην ἴδρις.

475. mvp-comment-210-1 ὁ πρόμαντις Δίκα] 'Presaging Justice,' i.e. the just Power that has warned Clytemnestra through the dream.

476. mvp-comment-211-1 δίκαια κράτη] Either (1) 'Bringing with her the victorious strength of righteous action,' or (2) And shall bear away the victory in a righteous deed.' In the latter case (2) the participle is proleptic. The former interpretation (1) is on the whole more probable. For this use of φερομένα, cp. Hdt. 7. 50. § 8, πολλὴν φορβὴν φερόμενοι πορευόμεθα.

479-481. mvp-comment-212-1 These lines echo the language of the dialogue, supr. 412, ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

480. mvp-comment-213-1 ἁδυπνόων] · Breathing of gladness,' i.e. auspicious. Cp. O. T. 151, ὦ Διὸς ἀδυεπὲς φάτι.

480. mvp-comment-213-2 κλύουσαν] For this accusative, with the dative preceding, as if after θαρρύνει or some such word, see Essay on L. $ 6. p. 23, and cp. Aesch. Cho. 410, 11, πέπαλται δ᾽ αὐτέ μοι φίλον κέαρ τόνδε κλύουσαν οἶκτον.

484. mvp-comment-214-1 ὁ φύσας] It must be borne in mind that Electra is present during the chanting of this ode. Cp. supr. 184 and note.

485. mvp-comment-215-1 'Nor that oid two-edged axe of sharpened bronze.' χαλκόπλακτος is literally, 'Smiting with bronze,' χαλκέας πληγὰς ἔχων. See Essay on L. $ 53: p. 98. χαλκόπακτος, • Of solid bronze,' is the conjecture of Kvidala. The axe is imagined as giving evidence, much as in early times a weapon might be accused of homicide. For a somewhat similar fancy, attributing feeling to an inanimate instrument, cp. Philoctetes, 1130 foll., ἢ που ἐλεινὸν ὁρᾷς, κ.τ.λ., Hab. 2, 11, The nail shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, Woe unto him,' etc.

486. mvp-comment-216-1 αἰσχίσταις ἐν αἰκίαις] These words are an echo of supr. 444-6.

488-489. mvp-comment-217-1 καὶ πολύπους | καὶ πολύχειρ] With exceeding swiftness and might.' Like πᾶς and αὐτός in composition (E. on L. $ 55. p. 101), πολύς has here an intensive force, without having an exactly defined significance. Ср. πολύγλωσσος, infr. 798.

490. mvp-comment-218-1 Cp. infr. 1396, 7, δόλον σκότῳ κρύψας πρὸς αὐτὸ τέρμα.

491. mvp-comment-219-1 χαλκόπους] 'With adamantine,' i.e. (1) unwearying, 'footsteps.' Cp. χαλκὸς ἀτειρής. Or (2) Irresistible.'

492. mvp-comment-220-1 ἐπέβα] «There came on,' as a dangerous event (οἶσιν = τούτων οἷς).

495-498. mvp-comment-221-1 πρὸ τῶνδε .. συνδρῶσιν] ‘In the face of these things I feel assured that the portent which comes near to the doer or the abettor of the deed cannot be other than baneful.' In Sophocles, not as in Aeschylus, Aegisthus is the author, Clytemnestra the accessory, of the murder. In Aesch. Ag. 1609, he claims a greater share than the poet really attributes to him. For μήποτε, see E. on L. § 24. p. 41, y 2, and cp. Aj. 183.

499. mvp-comment-222-1 μαντεῖαι βροτῶν] 'Divination, as an art in which mortals are concerned.' Cp. Ο. Τ. 709, βρότειον οὐδὲν μαντικῆς ἔχον τέχνης, and see Essay on L. § 40. p. 75.

500. mvp-comment-223-1 οὐδ᾽ ἐν θεσφάτοις] The indication of the dream is as express and clear as any oracle. If the one fail of accomplishment, so must the other.

501. mvp-comment-224-1 εὐ κατασχήσει] 'Shall happily reach its destination,' i. e. shall have a fortunate issue. Cp. Trach. 826, 7, καὶ τάδ᾽ ὀρθῶς | ἔμπεδα κατουρίζει.

504-505. mvp-comment-225-1 'O chariot-race of Pelops in the former time, that hast caused many troubles, how pregnant was thine occurrence with sorrow for this land!' Sophocles passes over the quarrels of Atreus and Thyestes, and goes back at once to the homicide of which Pelops, the author of the whole race, was guilty. This made Hermes the father of Myrtilus send the golden ram, which led to the fatal dissension between the brothers. Eur. Or. 988-1012. The act of Orestes in the present drama is destined to put an end to the series of disasters which then began.

506. mvp-comment-226-1 On the question between αἰανής and αἰανή, cp. Aj. 672 and note.

510. mvp-comment-227-1 *παγχρυσέων] The chariot of the wealthy Pelops on his bridal journey was encrusted with gold. Cp. Pind. Ol. 1.87. παγχρύσεος is the Homeric form, and if a change is necessary, this seems to be the simplest. The metre is the same as in 512. Others read παγχρύσων ἐκ δίφρων. Μ. has πολυχρύσων.

511. mvp-comment-228-1 δυστάνοις αἰκίαις] Myrtilus,

511-512. mvp-comment-229-1 although a traitor to Oenomaus, was a benefactor to Pelops. Observe the repetition of the word from supr. 486, also infr. 515.

512. mvp-comment-230-1 πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς] «Uprooted and flung forth.'

513-515. mvp-comment-231-1 'Never since that day has sad dishonour left the house.' Some editors read ἔλιπεν ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκου, ‘Has failed out of this house,' which is less probable. Wecklein reads οἴκους | πολυπάμονας, which is supported by the scholion on 508, οὐ διέλιπεν αἰκία τοὺς πολυκτήμονας δόμους. But see E. on L. § 44. pp. 83, 4.

516. mvp-comment-232-1 The dialectic of the following scene may be compared with Aj. 1047 foll., Ant. 632 foll.

517. mvp-comment-233-1 The spectator is a second time informed of Aegisthus' absence, which is so necessary to the plot. Supr. 310 foll.

518. mvp-comment-234-1 θυραίαν γ'.. φίλους] ‘To go out of doors and bring disgrace upon your relatives:'-i.e. your appearance and conduct in the house are a sufficient disgrace to them. Cp. supr. 312, 3.

521. mvp-comment-235-1 ὡς θρασεῖα] Sc. εἰμί.

522. mvp-comment-236-1 σὲ καὶ τὰ σά] • Thee and thine.' Clytemnestra thus acknowledges that Electra's complaints were never for herself alone, but for her father.

525-526. mvp-comment-237-1 πατήρ .. τέθνηκεν] Your father, that is what you are always holding forth, (how that he) died by my act. By a kind of attraction, the main sentence, as it proceeds, becomes subordinated to the parenthesis.

529. mvp-comment-238-1 ᾖ] Sc. τῇ Δίκῃ.

531. mvp-comment-239-1 μοῦνος Ἑλλήνων] i. e. either (1) he did what no other Greek could have had the heart to do, in sacrificing his child, or (2) while the army consented to the sacrifice, he had the sole responsibility, as commander-in-chief, or (3) when all shrank from the sacrificial act, he himself took the knife to slay his daughter. For (3) cp. Aesch. Ag. 225, ἔτλη δ᾽ οὖν θυτὴρ γενέσθαι θυγατρός, κ.τ.λ., ib. 210, 231 foll.

534. mvp-comment-240-1 τοῦ χάριν τίνων] 'On whose account?' lit. Absolving an obligation to whom?' Others read τοῦ χάριν, τίνων; 'Wherefore, on whose account?'

536. mvp-comment-241-1 1.ε. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ μετὴν αὐτοῖσι τῆς γ' ἐμῆς, ὥστε τὴν ἐμὴν κτανεῖν.

537-538. mvp-comment-242-1 But if for his brother Menelaus' sake he slew my child, was it to be expected that I should not requite him for this?'

539. mvp-comment-243-1 παῖδες.. διπλοῖ] Megapenthes and Hermione, the children of Menelaus and Helen.

542-543. mvp-comment-244-1 Or had Death somehow a greater longing to devour my offspring than Helen's?' δαίσασθαι is epexegetic infinitive, sc. τἀμὰ τέκνα δαίσασθαι.

544-545. mvp-comment-245-1 Or had that accursed father given up all care for his children by me, while preserving his affection for Menelaus' offspring?"

548. mvp-comment-246-1 Contrast with this the feeling of Antigone, Ant. 515, οὐ μαρτυρήσει ταῦθ᾽ ὁ κατθανὼν νεκύς.

549-550. mvp-comment-247-1 ἐγὼ. .δύσθυμος] ‘For my part, then, the past causes me no misgiving. She will not confess her alarm before Electra. τοῖς πεπραγμένοις is dative of the reason: Essay on L. § 14. p. 21. Cp. Thuc. 3. 98. § 6, τοῖς πεπραγμένοις φοβούμενος τοὺς ᾿Αθηναίους.

551. mvp-comment-248-1 If you must blame others, do so on just grounds,' lit. Having got hold of a just notion of the case.' These words are a challenge to Electra to show cause why Agamemnon should not have been slain, as the mere fact of his death ( supr. 525, 6) was no sufficient reason for her continued abuse. The stress is on the participial clause, or rather on the word δικαίαν.

552-553. mvp-comment-249-1 έρε ἐρεῖς . . λυπηρόν] The death of Iphigenia was a painful subject to Electra.

556-557. mvp-comment-250-1 εἰ δὲ μ᾿ ὧδ' ἀεὶ λόγους | ἐξήρχες] 'If your speeches to me were always tuned in that key.' με is governed κατὰ σύνεσιν by the whole phrase, as equivalent to ὧδε προσηγόρευες, ἐξάρχειν is used as in ἐξάρχειν μέλος. Electra is imagined as sounding the note to which Clytemnestra responds.

561. mvp-comment-251-1 δίκῃ] 'As moved thereto by Justice:'-dative of the cause.

563-564. mvp-comment-252-1 τίνος .. Αὐλίδι] ‘In requital for what' either (1) He endured that mighty wind at Aulis?' or (2) That great tempest fell upon Aulis?' or (3) She directed (ἐπέσχεν) that mighty wind at Aulis? It may be objected to (1), that if Agamemnon is the subject of ἔσχε, the words πατὴρ οὐμός in 566 are unnecessary. For (3) requiring ἔσχεν to be equivalent to ἐπέσχεν, see Essay on L. § 55. p. 101, 4, and L. and S., s. v. ἔχω, Α. ii. 7, and cp. Il. 14. 57, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ νηυσὶ θοῇσι μάχην ἀλίαστον ἔχουσιν: 11.271, (εἰλειθυῖαι) πικρὰς ὠδῖνας ἔχουσai.

565. mvp-comment-253-1 κείνης.. μαθεῖν] ‘For you may not learn from her;' i. e. Artemis will not hold communication with one so polluted. Clytemnestra notwithstanding appeals to Artemis, infr. 626.

566-569. mvp-comment-254-1 Electra's point is that Agamemnon's fault which provoked Artemis was a light and all but involuntary offence.

567. mvp-comment-255-1 ἐξεκίνησεν ποδοῖν] ‘Startled by his tread.' The language is softened so as to convey the impression that Agamemnon put up the stag accidentally.

569. mvp-comment-256-1 He chanced to let fall some word of boasting.' There is a stress on the participle ἐκκομπάσας.

571-572. mvp-comment-257-1 Electra does not raise the question whether the will of Artemis was just or not. She is contented with shifting the responsibility from Agamemnon.

575. mvp-comment-258-1 The words πολλὰ καὶ ἀντιβάς form a separate clause, unless πολλά be joined to βιασθείς, which is improbable. For which cause, and not for Menelaus'sake, under compulsion, -ay, after many a struggle, he reluctantly sacrificed her.' After making this elaborate statement of the immediate cause, it occurs to Electra that everything connected with the expedition was in one sense done on Menelaus' account. Hence she resumes, with εἰ δ' οὖν, by admitting this, as if for the sake of argument.

579. mvp-comment-259-1 ποίῳ νόμῳ] 'On what principle?' Cp. Ant. 908, τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;

584. mvp-comment-260-1 οὐκ οὖσαν] 'Unreal;' i.e. οὐκ ἀληθῆ. Cp. Τhuc. 6. 16, προσποίησίν τε ξυγγενείας .. καὶ μὴ οὖσαν.

589. mvp-comment-261-1 τοὺς δὲ πρόσθεν] Sc. παΐδας, understood πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον from παιδοποιεῖς. Essay on L. § 36. p. 64.

590. mvp-comment-262-1 εὐσεβῶν] i. e. ᾿Αγαμέμνονος. Poetical plural. ἐκβαλοῦσ᾽ ἔχεις] «You have cast out from favour. Electra is virtually an outcast, and Orestes, although not banished by his mother's act, durst not return openly to his home.

591. mvp-comment-263-1 πῶς.. ἄν] «Do you expect me to approve of this?'-referring to supr. 550.

591-592. mvp-comment-264-1 ἢ.. λαμβάνεις] « Or will you say that in this, too, you are vindicating your daughter?' τοῦτο, accusative in apposition with τῆς θ. α. λ.

593. mvp-comment-265-1 αἰσχρῶς] Sc. ἐρεῖς. οὐ γὰρ καλόν, κ. τ. λ.]. There is little virtue in,' etc. See on Aj. 1132, 1349.

595-597. mvp-comment-266-1 ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ . . κακοστομοῦμεν 'But then one may not even reason with you, since you reply with all your vehemence that I am reviling my mother.' For ἀλλ᾽ οὐ .. γάρ without apodosis, cp. O. C. 988 foll., ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ οὔτ᾽ ἐν τοῖσδ᾽ ἀκούσομαι κακὸς | γάμοισιν, κ.τ.λ. πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν = πᾶσαν γλῶσσαν ἱεῖσα λέγεις. Cp. Plat. Legg. 10. p. 890 D, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν, τὸ λεγόμενον, φωνὴν ἱέντα τῷ παλαιῷ νόμῳ ἐπίκουρον γίγνεσθαι λόγῳ.

597. mvp-comment-267-1 νέμω] ·And truly I account thee rather my mistress than my mother.' καί has a sarcastic tone as in interrogation, and is nearly = καί τοι, - as in Aj. 92 it may be said to have the force of καὶ μήν.

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

ΧΟ. στρ.

εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ ἐγὼ MSS. Dind. corr. παράφρων

ἀντ. ἥξει καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις 490 χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἐπ. ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς, οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr. ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett. πολύπονος αἰκία. 515

ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΝΗΣΤΡΑ.

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν οὐκ εἰμὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις after πεπραγμένοις 6 letters erased, L. δύσθυμος· εἰ δὲ σοὶ δοκῶ φρονεῖν κακῶς, 550 γνώμην δικαίαν σχοῦσα τοὺς πέλας ψέγε.

ΗΛ.

ΚΛ. καὶ μὴν ἐφίημ· εἰ δέ μ᾽ ὧδ᾽ ἀεὶ λόγους λόγοις C'AFL2 Pal. ἐξῆρχες, οὐκ ἂν ἦσθα λυπηρὰ κλύειν.

ΗΛ.

ΧΟ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα καὶ μὴν ἐφίημʼ· εἰ δέ μʼ ὧδʼ ἀεὶ λόγους ἐξῆρχες, οὐκ ἂν ἦσθα λυπηρὰ κλύειν.

Χορός ὁρῶ μένος πνέουσαν· εἰ δὲ σὺν δίκῃ 610 ξύνεστι, τοῦδε φροντίδʼ οὐκέτʼ εἰσορῶ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα ὦ θρέμμʼ ἀναιδές, ἦ σʼ ἐγὼ καὶ τἄμʼ ἔπη καὶ τἄργα τἀμὰ πόλλʼ ἄγαν λέγειν ποεῖ.

Ἠλέκτρα σύ τοι λέγεις νιν, οὐκ ἐγώ· σὺ γὰρ ποεῖς τοὔργον· τὰ δʼ ἔργα τοὺς λόγους εὑρίσκεται. 625

Κλυταιμνήστρα ἀλλʼ οὐ μὰ τὴν δέσποιναν Ἄρτεμιν θράσους τοῦδʼ οὐκ ἀλύξεις, εὖτʼ ἂν Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

Ἠλέκτρα ὁρᾷς; πρὸς ὀργὴν ἐκφέρει, μεθεῖσά μοι λέγειν ἃ χρῄζοιμʼ, οὐδʼ ἐπίστασαι κλύειν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα οὔκουν ἐάσεις οὐδʼ ὑπʼ εὐφήμου βοῆς 630 θῦσαί μʼ, ἐπειδὴ σοί γʼ ἐφῆκα πᾶν λέγειν;

Ἠλέκτρα ἐῶ, κελεύω, θῦε· μηδʼ ἐπαιτιῶ τοὐμὸν στόμʼ, ὡς οὐκ ἂν πέρα λέξαιμʼ ἔτι.

Παιδαγωγός ξέναι γυναῖκες, πῶς ἂν εἰδείην σαφῶς 660 εἰ τοῦ τυράννου δώματʼ Αἰγίσθου τάδε;

Χορός τάδʼ ἐστίν, ὦ ξένʼ· αὐτὸς ᾔκασας καλῶς.

Παιδαγωγός ἦ καὶ δάμαρτα τήνδʼ ἐπεικάζων κυρῶ κείνου; πρέπει γὰρ ὡς τύραννος εἰσορᾶν.

Χορός μάλιστα πάντων· ἥδε σοι κείνη πάρα. 665

Παιδαγωγός ὦ χαῖρʼ, ἄνασσα· σοὶ φέρων ἥκω λόγους ἡδεῖς φίλου παρʼ ἀνδρὸς Αἰγίσθῳ θʼ ὁμοῦ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα ἐδεξάμην τὸ ῥηθέν· εἰδέναι δέ σου πρώτιστα χρῄζω τίς σʼ ἀπέστειλεν βροτῶν.

Παιδαγωγός Φανοτεὺς ὁ Φωκεύς, πρᾶγμα πορσύνων μέγα. 670

Κλυταιμνήστρα τὸ ποῖον, ὦ ξένʼ; εἰπέ· παρὰ φίλου γὰρ ὢν ἀνδρός, σάφʼ οἶδα, προσφιλεῖς λέξεις λόγους.

Παιδαγωγός τέθνηκʼ Ὀρέστης· ἐν βραχεῖ ξυνθεὶς λέγω.

Ἠλέκτρα οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινʼ, ὄλωλα τῇδʼ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα τί φής, τί φής, ὦ ξεῖνε; μὴ ταύτης κλύε. 675

Παιδαγωγός θανόντʼ Ὀρέστην νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι λέγω.

Ἠλέκτρα ἀπωλόμην δύστηνος, οὐδέν εἰμʼ ἔτι.

Κλυταιμνήστρα σὺ μὲν τὰ σαυτῆς πρᾶσσʼ, ἐμοὶ δὲ σύ, ξένε, τἀληθὲς εἰπέ, τῷ τρόπῳ διόλλυται;

Χορός φεῦ φεῦ· τὸ πᾶν δὴ δεσπόταισι τοῖς πάλαι πρόρριζον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔφθαρται γένος. 765

Κλυταιμνήστρα ὦ Ζεῦ, τί ταῦτα, πότερον εὐτυχῆ λέγω, ἢ δεινὰ μέν, κέρδη δέ; λυπηρῶς δʼ ἔχει, εἰ τοῖς ἐμαυτῆς τὸν βίον σῴζω κακοῖς.

Παιδαγωγός τί δʼ ὧδʼ ἀθυμεῖς, ὦ γύναι, τῷ νῦν λόγῳ;

Κλυταιμνήστρα δεινὸν τὸ τίκτειν ἐστίν· οὐδὲ γὰρ κακῶς 770 πάσχοντι μῖσος ὧν τέκῃ προσγίγνεται.

Παιδαγωγός μάτην ἄρʼ ἡμεῖς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἥκομεν.

Ἠλέκτρα οἴμοι τάλαινα· νῦν γὰρ οἰμῶξαι πάρα, Ὀρέστα, τὴν σὴν ξυμφοράν, ὅθʼ ὧδʼ ἔχων πρὸς τῆσδʼ ὑβρίζει μητρός. ἆρʼ ἔχει καλῶς; 790

Κλυταιμνήστρα οὔτοι σύ· κεῖνος δʼ ὡς ἔχει καλῶς ἔχει.

Ἠλέκτρα ἄκουε, Νέμεσι τοῦ θανόντος ἀρτίως.

Κλυταιμνήστρα ἤκουσεν ὧν δεῖ κἀπεκύρωσεν καλῶς.

Ἠλέκτρα ὕβριζε· νῦν γὰρ εὐτυχοῦσα τυγχάνεις.

Κλυταιμνήστρα οὔκουν Ὀρέστης καὶ σὺ παύσετον τάδε. 795

Ἠλέκτρα πεπαύμεθʼ ἡμεῖς, οὐχ ὅπως σὲ παύσομεν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα πολλῶν ἂν ἥκοις, ὦ ξένʼ, ἄξιος τυχεῖν, εἰ τήνδʼ ἔπαυσας τῆς πολυγλώσσου βοῆς.

Παιδαγωγός οὐκοῦν ἀποστείχοιμʼ ἄν, εἰ τάδʼ εὖ κυρεῖ.

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid, If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here. 465

CHR Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed. Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise, Let me have silence from your lips, I pray; For should my mother know of it, sharp pain 470 Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS CHORUS .

CLYTEMNESTRA Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

EL

Thou canst not say this time that I began And brought this on me by some taunting word. But, so you’d suffer me, I would declare The right both for my sister and my sire. 555

CLY Thou hast my sufferance. Nor would hearing vex, If ever thus you tuned your speech to me.

EL

CH

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Der Chor.

Pelops', des Urvaters, 3 Fluchvoller Roßwettlauf! Wie reich an Leid kamst du 490 Diesem Land! Denn seid im Meergrunde Myrtilos den Tod schmeckte, Der aus dem Goldsize Durch schnöden Trugs Unthat 495 Entſeelt hinabstürzte, Ruhte nie Der Frevel, der fluchvoll Auf diesem Haus lastet. Die Vorigen.

Klytämnestra.

Elektra.

Der Chor.

Well doth the pious virgin speak, and thou

Must yield to her requests.

Chrysothemis

Clytemnestra \Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

T slew thy father ; yet not I alone, I had the hand of justice to assist m(

Electra

Electra

This from a pious heart the virgin speaks :

Chrysothemis Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust. CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids, Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act. But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus STRO: ANTIS.

Clytemnestra ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.

At large then thou art ranging, I perceive,

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

ΧΟ.
στρ.

ἀντ.

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους

καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἐπ.

ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr.

ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett.

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν οὐκ εἰμὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις after πεπραγμένοις 6 letters erased, L.

δύσθυμος· εἰ δὲ σοὶ δοκῶ φρονεῖν κακῶς,
550

γνώμην δικαίαν σχοῦσα τοὺς πέλας ψέγε.

ΚΛ.

καὶ μὴν ἐφίημ· εἰ δέ μ᾽ ὧδ᾽ ἀεὶ λόγους λόγοις C'AFL2 Pal.

ἐξῆρχες, οὐκ ἂν ἦσθα λυπηρὰ κλύειν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

καὶ μὴν ἐφίημʼ· εἰ δέ μʼ ὧδʼ ἀεὶ λόγους

ἐξῆρχες, οὐκ ἂν ἦσθα λυπηρὰ κλύειν.

Χορός

ὁρῶ μένος πνέουσαν· εἰ δὲ σὺν δίκῃ
610

ξύνεστι, τοῦδε φροντίδʼ οὐκέτʼ εἰσορῶ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ὦ θρέμμʼ ἀναιδές, ἦ σʼ ἐγὼ καὶ τἄμʼ ἔπη

καὶ τἄργα τἀμὰ πόλλʼ ἄγαν λέγειν ποεῖ.

Ἠλέκτρα

σύ τοι λέγεις νιν, οὐκ ἐγώ· σὺ γὰρ ποεῖς

τοὔργον· τὰ δʼ ἔργα τοὺς λόγους εὑρίσκεται.
625

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἀλλʼ οὐ μὰ τὴν δέσποιναν Ἄρτεμιν θράσους

τοῦδʼ οὐκ ἀλύξεις, εὖτʼ ἂν Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ὁρᾷς; πρὸς ὀργὴν ἐκφέρει, μεθεῖσά μοι

λέγειν ἃ χρῄζοιμʼ, οὐδʼ ἐπίστασαι κλύειν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔκουν ἐάσεις οὐδʼ ὑπʼ εὐφήμου βοῆς
630

θῦσαί μʼ, ἐπειδὴ σοί γʼ ἐφῆκα πᾶν λέγειν;

Ἠλέκτρα

ἐῶ, κελεύω, θῦε· μηδʼ ἐπαιτιῶ

τοὐμὸν στόμʼ, ὡς οὐκ ἂν πέρα λέξαιμʼ ἔτι.

Παιδαγωγός

ξέναι γυναῖκες, πῶς ἂν εἰδείην σαφῶς
660

εἰ τοῦ τυράννου δώματʼ Αἰγίσθου τάδε;

Χορός

τάδʼ ἐστίν, ὦ ξένʼ· αὐτὸς ᾔκασας καλῶς.

Παιδαγωγός

ἦ καὶ δάμαρτα τήνδʼ ἐπεικάζων κυρῶ

κείνου; πρέπει γὰρ ὡς τύραννος εἰσορᾶν.

Χορός

μάλιστα πάντων· ἥδε σοι κείνη πάρα.
665

Παιδαγωγός

ὦ χαῖρʼ, ἄνασσα· σοὶ φέρων ἥκω λόγους

ἡδεῖς φίλου παρʼ ἀνδρὸς Αἰγίσθῳ θʼ ὁμοῦ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἐδεξάμην τὸ ῥηθέν· εἰδέναι δέ σου

πρώτιστα χρῄζω τίς σʼ ἀπέστειλεν βροτῶν.

Παιδαγωγός

Φανοτεὺς ὁ Φωκεύς, πρᾶγμα πορσύνων μέγα.
670

Κλυταιμνήστρα

τὸ ποῖον, ὦ ξένʼ; εἰπέ· παρὰ φίλου γὰρ ὢν

ἀνδρός, σάφʼ οἶδα, προσφιλεῖς λέξεις λόγους.

Παιδαγωγός

τέθνηκʼ Ὀρέστης· ἐν βραχεῖ ξυνθεὶς λέγω.

Ἠλέκτρα

οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινʼ, ὄλωλα τῇδʼ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

τί φής, τί φής, ὦ ξεῖνε; μὴ ταύτης κλύε.
675

Παιδαγωγός

θανόντʼ Ὀρέστην νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι λέγω.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀπωλόμην δύστηνος, οὐδέν εἰμʼ ἔτι.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

σὺ μὲν τὰ σαυτῆς πρᾶσσʼ, ἐμοὶ δὲ σύ, ξένε,

τἀληθὲς εἰπέ, τῷ τρόπῳ διόλλυται;

Χορός

φεῦ φεῦ· τὸ πᾶν δὴ δεσπόταισι τοῖς πάλαι

πρόρριζον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔφθαρται γένος.
765

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ὦ Ζεῦ, τί ταῦτα, πότερον εὐτυχῆ λέγω,

ἢ δεινὰ μέν, κέρδη δέ; λυπηρῶς δʼ ἔχει,

εἰ τοῖς ἐμαυτῆς τὸν βίον σῴζω κακοῖς.

Παιδαγωγός

τί δʼ ὧδʼ ἀθυμεῖς, ὦ γύναι, τῷ νῦν λόγῳ;

Κλυταιμνήστρα

δεινὸν τὸ τίκτειν ἐστίν· οὐδὲ γὰρ κακῶς
770

πάσχοντι μῖσος ὧν τέκῃ προσγίγνεται.

Παιδαγωγός

μάτην ἄρʼ ἡμεῖς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἥκομεν.

Ἠλέκτρα

οἴμοι τάλαινα· νῦν γὰρ οἰμῶξαι πάρα,

Ὀρέστα, τὴν σὴν ξυμφοράν, ὅθʼ ὧδʼ ἔχων

πρὸς τῆσδʼ ὑβρίζει μητρός. ἆρʼ ἔχει καλῶς;
790

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔτοι σύ· κεῖνος δʼ ὡς ἔχει καλῶς ἔχει.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἄκουε, Νέμεσι τοῦ θανόντος ἀρτίως.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

ἤκουσεν ὧν δεῖ κἀπεκύρωσεν καλῶς.

Ἠλέκτρα

ὕβριζε· νῦν γὰρ εὐτυχοῦσα τυγχάνεις.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

οὔκουν Ὀρέστης καὶ σὺ παύσετον τάδε.
795

Ἠλέκτρα

πεπαύμεθʼ ἡμεῖς, οὐχ ὅπως σὲ παύσομεν.

Κλυταιμνήστρα

πολλῶν ἂν ἥκοις, ὦ ξένʼ, ἄξιος τυχεῖν,

εἰ τήνδʼ ἔπαυσας τῆς πολυγλώσσου βοῆς.

Παιδαγωγός

οὐκοῦν ἀποστείχοιμʼ ἄν, εἰ τάδʼ εὖ κυρεῖ.

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid,

If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here.
465

CHR

Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well

Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed.

Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise,

Let me have silence from your lips, I pray;

For should my mother know of it, sharp pain
470

Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS
CHORUS .

CLYTEMNESTRA
Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

Thou canst not say this time that I began

And brought this on me by some taunting word.

But, so you’d suffer me, I would declare

The right both for my sister and my sire.
555

CLY

Thou hast my sufferance. Nor would hearing vex,

If ever thus you tuned your speech to me.

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du

Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Clytemnestra
\Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

T slew thy father ; yet not I alone,

I had the hand of justice to assist m(

Chrysothemis

Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust.

CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids,

Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act.

But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus
STRO: ANTIS.

Clytemnestra
ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.

Thou wilt not say this harshness was provoked

Now by my harsh reproach. But, grant me leave,

Of my dead father, and my sister's death,

As truth and reason prompt me, I will speak.
555

Clytemnestra

Thou hast my leave: and hadst thou always thus

Address'd me, nothing harsh had been replied.

Chorus
OFIT

Electra

This time, at least, you cannot say that I first gave you cause for upset and thereby provoked such words from you. But, if you will permit me,

I would gladly declare the truth, on behalf of my dead father and my sister alike.
555

Clytaemnestra

Certainly I permit you; and if you always addressed me in such a tone, you would not be difficult to listen to.

Chorus

I see her breathing fury; but whether justice is with her, her concern for this I see no longer.
610

Clytaemnestra

And what manner of concern should I use against her, who has abused her mother like this at her mature age? Do you not think

that she would go forward to any deed without shame?
615

Clytaemnestra

You shameless creature! Truly I and my speech and my deeds give you too much to talk about.

Electra

The words are yours, not mine; for yours

are the deeds, and they find their own expression.
625

Clytaemnestra

Now by our mistress Artemis, you shall not escape the consequences of this audacity once Aegisthus returns.

Electra

You see? You are driven to rage and, even though you grant me free speech, you have no patience to listen.

Clytaemnestra

Will you not allow me to sacrifice without ominous shouting, when I have permitted you to say anything and everything you wished?
630

Electra

I allow it; I exhort you to it: sacrifice! But do not blame my voice, for I would not say another word.

Paedagogus

Foreign ladies, how might I know for certain if this be the palace of the king Aegisthus?
660

Chorus

This is the palace, stranger; you yourself have guessed correctly.

Paedagogus

And am I on target when I surmise that this lady is his wife? She is indeed regal to look upon.

Chorus

Exactly right; this is she before you.
665

Paedagogus

Greetings, royal lady! I bring happy news to you and to Aegisthus from a friend.