Sophocles Electra 431

ed. Lewis Campbell

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ἀλλ᾽, ὦ φίλη, τούτων μὲν ὧν ἔχεις χεροῖν
τύμβῳ προσάψῃς μηδέν· οὐ γάρ σοι θέμις
οὐδ᾽ ὅσιον ἐχθρᾶς ἀπὸ om. LFL2 add C7 or 6A. γυναικὸς ἱστάναι
κτερίσματ᾽ οὐδὲ λουτρὰ προσφέρειν πατρί·
ἀλλ᾽ ἢ πνοαῖσιν ἢ βαθυσκαφεῖ κόνει
435
κρύψον κρύψο L. κρύψον C². κρύψόν. gl. τὰ ἐνταφιάσματα Pal. νιν, ἔνθα μή ποτ᾽ εἰς εὐνὴν πατρὸς
τούτων πρόσεισι μηδέν· ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν θάνῃ,
κειμήλι αὐτῇ ταῦτα σωζέσθω κάτω.
ἀρχὴν δ᾽ ἄν δ᾽ ἂν L pr. δ' ἂν A. γὰρ Pal., εἰ μὴ τλημονεστάτη γυνὴ
πασῶν ἔβλαστε, τάσδε δυσμενεῖς χοὰς
440
οὐκ ἄν ποθ᾽, ὅν γ᾽ ἔκτεινε, τῷδ᾽ ἐπέστεφε.

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

Current edition Experimental

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 431 focus
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 431 focus
Now, dear Chrysothemis, of what thou bearest
Let nothing touch his tomb. ’Tis impious
And criminal to offer to thy sire
Rites and libations from a hateful wife.
Then cast them to the winds, or deep in dust
Conceal them, where no particle may reach
His resting-place: but lie in store for her
When she goes underground. Sure, were she not
Most hardened of all women that have been,
She ne’er had sent those loveless offerings
To grace the sepulchre of him she slew.
For think how likely is the buried king
To take such present kindly from her hand,
Who slew him like an alien enemy,
Dishonoured even in death, and mangled him,
435
And wiped the death-stain with his flowing locks—
435
Sinful purgation! Think you that you bear
435
In those cold gifts atonement for her guilt?
It is not possible. Wherefore let be.
But take a ringlet from thy comely head,
And this from mine, that lingers on my brow
Longing to shade his tomb. Ah, give it to him,
All I can give, and this my maiden-zone,
Not daintily adorned, as once erewhile.
Then, humbly kneeling, pray that from the ground
He would arise to help us ’gainst his foes,
And grant his son Orestes with high hand
Strongly to trample on his enemies;
That in our time to come from ampler stores
We may endow him, than are ours to-day.
I cannot but imagine that his will
440
Hath part in visiting her sleep with fears.
440
But howsoe’er, I pray thee, sister mine,
440
Do me this service, and thyself, and him,
Dearest of all the world to me and thee,
The father of us both, who rests below.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 431 focus
Von dem, o Traute, was du trägst in deiner Hand,
Laß Nichts das Grab berühren! Unrecht wär' es ja,
Ja, Frevel wär' es, brächtest du vom Feindesweib
425
Trankopfer oder Grabesweih'n dem Vater dar.
Nein, gib's den Winden, oder tief in öden Staub
Vergrab' es, wo kein Theil davon zur Ruhestatt
Des Vaters je gelange; mög' es aufbewahrt
Dort unten bleiben, ihr ein Kleinod, wenn sie stirbt!
430
Ja, wäre sie nicht aller Frauen frechste, traun,
Dann kränzte sie mit diesen haßerfüllten Weih'n
Niemals die Gruft des Mannes, den sie mordete.
Erwäge selbst nur, ob der Todte dort im Grab
Von ihr mit Liebe dies Geschenk aufnehmen kann,
435
Die schmählich ihn gemordet und gleich einem Feind
Graunvoll verstümmelt, die zur Sühn' an seinem Haupt 1
Ihr Schwert vom Blut gereinigt! Wähnst du gar vielleicht,
Daß solche Spende sühnen mag die Mörderin?
Nicht also! Laß dies Opfer sein, und schneide dir
440
Die lezten Spizen von des Hauptes Locken ab
Und mir, der Armen; gib ihm dies, zwar Weniges,
Doch Alles, was ich habe, dies kunstlose Haar
Und meinen Gürtel, nicht geschmückt mit eitlem Prunk,
Und niederfallend fleh' ihn an, vom Grabe her
445
Huldreich ein Retter uns zu nah'n vor Feindesmacht,
Bis dann Orestes lebend und in Siegeskraft
Auf seiner Feinde Nacken tritt mit stolzem Fuß,
Damit wir ihm mit vollern Händen künftig einst
Das Grab bekränzen, als wir jezt ihm Gaben weih'n.
450
Ich glaube, ja ich glaub' es, ihm lag selbst daran,
Zu senden ihr dies grauenvolle Traumgesicht.
Gleichwohl, o Schwester, hilf mit solchem Dienst dir selbst
Und mir und ihm, dem liebsten aller Sterblichen,
Der, uns gemeinsam Vater, ruh in Hades' Haus.
455
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 431 focus
-^ By the gods
Let mo conjure thee, hear me. If thou dost not,
Too late shall thou repent, when for thy guilt
Evil o'ertako thee. O Chr}'sothemis !
Never, I heg theo, to our father's tomb
Bear thou those offerings ; 'twere a horrid deed
From such a woman. Give 'em to the winds ;
And not the smallest grain escape to reach
That hallawcfd place ; let 'em remain for her,
Safe in the earth tiH she shall meet 'fittTthere^
None but this shameless, tins abandoned woman,
Would e'er with impious oft'rings thus adorn
The tomb of him she murdered./^ By the dead
Thinkst thou such gifts can be with joy received ?
Gifts from that hand which from his mangled corse
435
Severed his lifeless limbs, and on the head
435
Of the poor victim wiped her bloody sword ?
435
I (Madness to think that offerings and ablutions
Could purge such crimes, or wash her stains away;
Never, oh never \J But of this no more.
Instant, my sister, thy devoted hair
With these dishevelled locks and this my zone,
Plain as it is and unadorned, shalt thou
Bear to our father. Wretched offerings these !
Bear them, and suppliant on thy knees implore
him
To smile propitious and assist his children ;
Pray for Orestes, too, tlmt soon with power
He may return, and trample on our foes ;
So shall a fairer tribute one day grace
His honoured tomb, than now we can bestow.
Trust me, my sister, we are still his care —
440
I know we are. S^rom him the vision came,
440
The horrid dream that shook her guilty soul :
440
Now then, I beg thee^be a friend to me,
Be to thyself a friend^ a friend to him
Of all mankind the dearest, our dead father.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 431 focus
for my sake, for thine own, for his,
Dearest of all that breath'd this vital air,
Our father, laid in the unsparing tomb.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 431 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-98-1 δάκρυσι μυδαλέα 1

mvp-comment-98-2 τὸν ἀνήνυτον 2

mvp-comment-98-3 οἶτον ἔχουσα 3

mvp-comment-99-1 ὧν τ’ ἔπαθ’ 4 ὧν τ’ ἐδάη 5

mvp-comment-99-2 Wecklein, reading

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

mvp-comment-99-3 τί γὰρ … ἀγγελίας 6

mvp-comment-99-4 ἀπατώμενον 7 τί … οὐκ 8

mvp-comment-99-5 Herwerden's οὐχί μοι 9 οὐκ ἐμοί 10 ὁ δέ 11

mvp-comment-100-1 ποθεῖ, ποθῶν δ’ 12

mvp-comment-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ 13 ἐν 14

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ 15

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα 16

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο 17 οἷς 18

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός 19 θεός 20

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ 21

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν 22

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

ζαθέην
, 2. 520). But the Homeric Hymn to the Pythian Apollo is the best witness to its ancient power. There, just as here, the name
Κρῖσα
includes the land which stretches southward from the town to its harbour on the ‘wide gulf’ (vv. 253— 261). We need not, then, read
Κρίσᾳ
or
Κρίσας
. Crisa was the earliest seat of trade on the western sea; Delphi, when first founded, was merely a sanctuary in its territory. Pindar recalls the old prominence of its name when he describes a Pythian victory as won
Κρισαίαις ἐνὶ πτυχαῖς
( P. 6. 18).

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

βούνομος ἀκτή
, inviolable by plough or spade. It was not till the middle of the next century that the alleged encroachments of Amphissa on the
ἱερὰ χώρα
gave a pretext for war to the Amphictyons (355 B.C.).

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

mvp-comment-106-1 βούνομον 23 βουνόμον 24

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν 25 Κρῖσαν 26

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος 27

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα 28 ἀνάσσων 29 θεὸς 30

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν 31

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος 32

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος 33

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων
. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων 34 ἅτις 35 τοκέων 36

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί 37

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος 38

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους 39

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ 40

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις 41 ἀμφίσταμαι 42

mvp-comment-113-2 Hartung, reading

κενὰ δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις
, takes the sense to be that she stands ‘hungry’ by the tables at which the others feast. But
κενή
as=
νῆστις
would be neither usual nor elegant.

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

mvp-comment-114-2 οἰκτρὰ μὲν … πλαγά 43 κοίταις 44 οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ 45

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

οἰκτροτάτην ὄπα
of the dying Cassandra. And this might naturally suggest to him that other
οἰκτρὰ αὐδή
which she had uttered at an earlier moment, immediately after Agamemnon's return,—her presage of his fate, and her own: Aesch. Ag. 1072 —1314.

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

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

mvp-comment-114-5 νόστοις 46 ἐν 47

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις 48

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ 49 σοι 50 ἀνταία 51

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων 52

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος 53

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς 54 δεινὰν … μορφάν 55

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε 56 βροτῶν 57

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα 58

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ 59

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ 60

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων 61

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη 62 τοῖς 63 θανάτους 64

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν 65 διδύμοιν 66

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον 67

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς 68

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος 69

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα 70

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας 71

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο 72

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω 73

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις 74

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων 75

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ 76

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας 77

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν 78

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω 79

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ 80 οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς 81 πλάθειν 82

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά 83

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν 84

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην 85

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά 86 ἔξοιδ’ 87

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ 88

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς 89

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω 90

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας 91

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα 92

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με 93 σχήσω 94

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια 95 ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος 96 τίνι 97 πρόσφορον 98

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

πρόσφορον
:—‘To what person who feels aright would that word be suitable which I should hear (=which would be said of me)?’ That is: Should I not deserve to incur a censure from which every right-minded person would shrink? Should I not deserve to be called
δυσσεβής
? This seems forced; and it does not well suit
ἔπος
. (2) Taking the dative with
ἀκούσαιμι
:—‘At whose mouth (= from whom), that thinks aright, could I hear a suitable word of comfort?’ But such a dative seems impossible. In Il. 16. 515
δύνασαι δὲ σὺ πάντοσ’ ἀκούειν
|
ἀνέρι κηδομένῳ
, the dat. is one of interest, denoting the person whose prayer is heard (‘ for him’); cp. Il. 5. 115
κλῦθί μοι
: 24. 335
ἔκλυες ᾧ κ’ ἐθέλῃσθα
.

mvp-comment-133-1 ἄνετε 99

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα 100

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται 101

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ 102

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος 103 θρήνων 104

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν 105 γε 106 εὐνοίᾳ 107

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις 108

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν 109

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις 110

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον 111 κακότατος 112

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε 113

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. 114

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ 115

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις 116

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ 117

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ 118

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος 119

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων 120 ἐκτίμους 121

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα 122

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων 123

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων 124

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ 125

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ 126

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν 127 ὢν 128 εἰ 129

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

mvp-comment-142-5 πάλιν 130

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας 131

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ 132

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς 133 εὐσέβεια 134

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν 135

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ 136 τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν 137

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα 138

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα 139

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις 140

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ 141

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή 142

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα 143

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην 144

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα 145

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ 146

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα 147 ᾗ 148

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς 149

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν 150

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι 151

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι 152

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας 153 δοκεῖς 154

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω 155 εἰσίδω δ’ 156 ἴδω δὲ 157

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν 158

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα 159

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ 160

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς 161 ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν 162

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

οὐ γὰρ ἄτερ σοῦ
|
εἰλαπίναι θνητοῖσιν, ἵν’ οὐ πρώτῃ πυμάτῃ τε
|
Ἱστίῃ ἀρχόμενος σπένδει μελιηδέα οἶνον
. Soph. fr. 658
<*> πρῷρα λοιβῆς Ἑστία
. Other divinities, including Zeus
σωτήρ
, were similarly honoured; then the paean was sung, and the
πότος
began ( Plat. Symp.p. 176 A).

mvp-comment-157-1 τούτων 163

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην 164

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην 165 αὐτοφόντην 166

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν 167

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ 168

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε 169

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι 170 Ἐρινὺν 171

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις 172

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ 173 τότε 174

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ 175 τηροῦς’ 176

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι 177

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ 178

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά 179

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις 180

mvp-comment-164-5 Argive tradition placed Agamemnon's death on the 13th of Gamelion (about the end of January). So said ‘the Argive historians’ (

οἱ Ἀργολικοὶ συγγραφεῖς
),— according to an Argive writer named Deinias, who lived about 225 B.C. (Schol. here: Müller, Frag. Hist. vol. III. p. 25.) Possibly, then, the idea of Clytaemnestra's hideous festival may have been suggested to the poet by some actual commemoration of the event in Argolis. There was a cult of Agamemnon in various places,—notably in Laconia. (Cp. Roscher's Lexicon, p. 96.)

mvp-comment-165-1 ἡ δύσμορος 181 κατὰ στέγας 182

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα 183

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς 184

mvp-comment-166-3 The

δαίς
is the feast which, in Homeric fashion ( Il. 1. 467 ), would follow the sacrifice (281). Acc. to Eustathius p. 1507. 61 (on Hom. Od. 4. 524 ff.),
Ἀγαμεμνόνειος δαὶς
(or
τράπεζα
) was a proverb
ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπ’ ὀλέθρῳ εὐωχουμένων
. The poet may mean that Clytaemnestra called the festival
Ἀγαμεμνόνειος δαίς
, in direct allusion to
δεῖπνα ἄρρητα
(203): and this would give a special point to
ἐγγελῶσα
(277). Cp. Eur. Or. 1008
τά τ’ ἐπώνυμα δεῖπνα Θυέστου
. But the words do not necessarily imply more than that she called it
Ἀγαμεμνόνεια
.

mvp-comment-167-1 αὐτὴ πρὸς αὑτήν 185 αὑτήν 186

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι 187

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει 188

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία 189

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα 190

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον 191

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα 192

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ 193

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν 194

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει 195

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων 196

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί 197

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ 198

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην 199

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ 200

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις 201

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου 202

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ 203

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ 204

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν 205

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας 206 παρών 207

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα 208

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις 209

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη 210

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ 211

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας 212

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν 213

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι 214

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας 215

mvp-comment-179-3 μου 216 μοι 217

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν 218

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν 219 εὐσεβεῖν 220

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς 221

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη 222 κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά 223

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν 224

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος 225

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα 226

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον 227

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν 228

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι 229

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει 230

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην 231 ἦ τ<*>ν 232 ἦ δἂν 233

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην 234

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν 235 ὥς νυν 236

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον 237 τό 238 τά 239

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον 240

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ 241

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής 242

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος 243 ἢ μέλλοντος 244

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε 245

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ 246

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ 247 γε 248

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ 249

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν 250

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί 251

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν 252

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν 253 νυν 254

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων 255 φέρουσαν 256

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον 257

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν 258

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν 259

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα 260 νομίζεται 261

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις 262 φωνεῖς 263 ἐλθοῦσα 264 αὖ 265

mvp-comment-193-2 330 For the absence of caesura, cp. Ph. 101 n.

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι 266

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα 267

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι 268

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν 269

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ 270

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ 271 πλεῖν 272

mvp-comment-196-2 For the image, cp. Eur. Med. 524

ἄκροισι λαίφους κρασπέδοις
(with close-reefed sails)
ὑπεκφυγεῖν
|
τὴν σὴν στόμαργον, ὦ γύναι, γλωσσαλγίαν
: Ar. Ran. 997
ἀλλ’ ὅπως, ὦ γεννάδα
, |
μὴ πρὸς ὀργὴν ἀντιλέξεις
, |
ἀλλὰ συστείλας, ἄκροισι
|
χρώμενος τοῖς ἱστίοις κ.τ.λ.
: and conversely Soph. Ant. 715
ναὸς ὅστις ἐγκρατῆ πόδα
|
τείνας ὑπείκει μηδέν
. Ovid Epist. 1. 8. 71
moderatius opta, | Et voti, quaeso, contrahe vela tui.
 Shakesp. Henry VI., pt. iii, act 3 sc. 3. 5
‘Now Margaret | Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve | Where kings command.’

mvp-comment-197-1 καὶ μὴ δοκεῖν 273

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα 274 ἀλλὰ 275 ἄλλα 276

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον 277

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις 278

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ 279

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν 280

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν 281

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ 282

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα 283

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε 284

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης 285

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν 286

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα 287

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά 288

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς 289

mvp-comment-203-1 The text, which has been suspected (cr. n.), is sound; but the train of thought is somewhat obscured by compression.

mvp-comment-203-2 ‘You forget your father, and care only for your mother. All your counsels to me come from her. Then (

ἔπειτα
),—that being so,—give up the attempt at a compromise. Make a choice (
ἑλοῦ γε
). You can be imprudent (
φρονεῖν κακῶς
),—as you say that I am,—and loyal to your dead father. Or you can be prudent (
φρονοῦσα
), and forgetful of him,—as you actually are; you who (
ἥτις
) say, indeed, that you would show your hatred of the murderers if you could; and yet, when I do resist them, you try to turn me from my purpose. You merely add the shame of cowardice to our woes.’

mvp-comment-203-3 ἔπειθ’ 290

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε 291

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς 292

mvp-comment-203-6 Other explanations are:—(1) ‘Choose to be thought either lost to right feeling, or, if you have such feeling, then at least forgetful of your duty.’ (2) ‘Choose to seem either unintelligent (if you are merely the blind instrument of our rulers); or, if you act with clear understanding (

φρονοῦσα
),—thinking to benefit me,—at least forgetful of your father.’ Both these views assume that the question is merely between two interpretations which might be placed on the present conduct of Chrysothemis. But Electra is putting the dilemma between imprudent loyalty and prudent disloyalty.

mvp-comment-204-1 τῶν φίλων 293

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις 294 φρονοῦσα 295 μῖσος 296

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα 297

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης 298

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε 299

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν 300

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι 301

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει 302

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ 303

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ 304

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως 305

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν 306

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις 307

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν 308 ξύνει 309

mvp-comment-213-1 τὰ σὰ … δῶῤ 310

mvp-comment-213-2 ἐφ’ οἶσι 311

mvp-comment-213-3 χλιδᾷς 312

mvp-comment-214-1 ὑπεικάθοιμι 313

mvp-comment-214-2 πλουσία 314

mvp-comment-214-3 περιρρείτω 315

mvp-comment-215-1 τοὐμὲ μὴ λυπεῖν 316

mvp-comment-215-2 Remark the resemblance to the passage where Antigone—summing up her position—compares the moral pain of neglecting her duty with those penalties which she contemns:—

κείνοις ἂν ἤλγουν· τοῖσδε δ’ οὐκ ἀλγύνομαι
( Ant. 468 ). There, too, we have a Sophoclean triad of clauses, the third echoing the first,—as
τῆς σῆς δ’ οὐκ ἐρῶ τιμῆς τυχεῖν
here reiterates the sense of
σοὶ δὲ πλουσία... βίος
(n. on Ant. 465 ff.).

mvp-comment-215-3 One of the scholia recognises the traditional reading, and explains it correctly: —

τοῦτο μόνον ἐμὲ βοσκέτω, τὸ μὴ λυπεῖν ἐμὲ αὐτήν, εἰ
(‘as I should do, if’)
τοῖς φονεῦσι τοῦ πατρὸς πείθεσθαι ἀναγκασθήσομαι
.—The conjectures have been numerous: see Appendix.

mvp-comment-216-1 οὐδ’ ἂν σὺ 317

mvp-comment-217-1 παῖδα 318

mvp-comment-217-2 κεκλῆσθαι 319

mvp-comment-218-1 πλείστοις 320

mvp-comment-219-1 μηδὲν 321 πρὸς ὀργὴν 322

mvp-comment-220-1 ἀμφοῖν 323 τοῖς λόγοις 324

mvp-comment-221-1 τῆσδε … αὕτη 325 πάλιν 326

mvp-comment-222-1 ἐγὼ μὲν 327

mvp-comment-222-2 πως 328

mvp-comment-222-3 μύθων 329

mvp-comment-223-1 οὐδ’ 330 κοὐδ’ 331 ποτέ 332

mvp-comment-224-1 ἰὸν 333

mvp-comment-224-2 σχήσει 334

mvp-comment-225-1 τὸ δεινὸν 335

mvp-comment-225-2 εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι 336 εἰ 337

mvp-comment-226-1 γὰρ 338

mvp-comment-226-2 γόων 339 λόγων 340

mvp-comment-227-1 ἐνταῦθα 341

mvp-comment-227-2 ἔνθα μή ποτε … προσόψει 342

mvp-comment-227-3 ζῶσα 343

mvp-comment-227-4 κατηρεφεῖ 344

mvp-comment-227-5 χθονὸς τῆσδ’ ἐκτὸς 345

mvp-comment-227-6 ὑμνήσεις 346

mvp-comment-228-1 πρὸς ταῦτα 347

mvp-comment-228-2 Nauck reads κοὔ 348 καί 349

mvp-comment-228-3

ἐν καλῷ, εὔκαιρον
schol.: H. 4. 3. 5
νομίσαντες οὐκ ἐν καλῷ εἶναι πρὸς τοὺς ὁπλίτας ἱππομαχεῖν
: so, too, Eur. Heracl. 971 , etc. Cp.
καλόν
(
ἐστι
)=
καίριον
in Soph. Ph. 1155 ; and
εἰς καλόν
=
καιρίως
in O.T. 78.

mvp-comment-229-1 ἦ ταῦτα δὴ 350 ἦ … δὴ 351 ἦ … γὰρ 352

mvp-comment-229-2 καὶ βεβούλευνται 353

mvp-comment-230-1 ἀλλ’ ἐξίκοιτο 354

mvp-comment-230-2 τοῦδέ γ’ οὕνεκ’ 355

mvp-comment-231-1 τίνα … τόνδ’ 356

mvp-comment-231-2 τάλαινα 357

mvp-comment-232-1 εἴ τι τῶνδε 358

mvp-comment-233-1 ποῦ ποτ’ εἶ φρενῶν 359

mvp-comment-234-1 ὅπως 360 ὑμῶν 361

mvp-comment-234-2 προσώτατ’ 362 προσωτάτω φύγω 363

mvp-comment-235-1 βίου … τοῦ παρόντος 364

mvp-comment-236-1 καλὸς γὰρ 365

mvp-comment-236-2 θαυμάσαι 366

mvp-comment-237-1 τοῖς φίλοις 367

mvp-comment-238-1 εἰκαθεῖν 368

mvp-comment-239-1 ταῦτα 369 οὐκ ἐμοὺς 370

mvp-comment-240-1 γε 371 μέντοι 372

mvp-comment-240-2 μὴ )ξ 373

mvp-comment-240-3 πεσεῖν 374

mvp-comment-240-4 399 A woman, speaking of herself in the plur., uses the masc.: Ant. 926

παθόντες ἂν ξυγγνοῖμεν ἡμαρτηκότες
.

mvp-comment-241-1 συγγνώμην 375

mvp-comment-242-1 τἄπη 376

mvp-comment-242-2 πρὸς κακῶν 377

mvp-comment-243-1 μή πω 378

mvp-comment-244-1 οἷπερ … ὁδοῦ 379

mvp-comment-245-1 τῷ φέρεις 380

mvp-comment-245-2 ἔμπυρα 381

mvp-comment-246-1 τυμβεῦσαι χοάς 382

mvp-comment-247-1 βροτῶν 383

mvp-comment-248-1 ὃν ἔκταν’ αὐτή 384 ὅν γ’ 385

mvp-comment-249-1 τῷ τοῦτ’ ἤρεσεν 386

mvp-comment-250-1 δείματος 387

mvp-comment-250-2 δοκεῖν ἐμοί 388

mvp-comment-251-1 θεοὶ πατρῷοι 389

mvp-comment-251-2 συγγένεσθέ γ’ 390

mvp-comment-251-3 ἀλλὰ νῦν 391

mvp-comment-252-1 εἴποιμ’ ἂν τότε 392

mvp-comment-253-1 ἐπὶ σμικρὸν 393 ἐπὶ σμικρῶν 394

mvp-comment-253-2 φράσαι 395

mvp-comment-254-1 σμικροὶ λόγοι 396

mvp-comment-255-1 πατρὸς … δευτέραν ὁμιλίαν 397

mvp-comment-255-2 ἐφέστιον πῆξαι 398

mvp-comment-255-3 This sceptre is described in the Iliad (2. 101 f.) as the work of Hephaestus, who gave it Zeus; Hermes transmitted it to Pelops, from whom it passed to Atreus and Agamemnon. The Homeric sceptre is often called

χρύσεον
( Il. 2. 268 , etc.), prob. as being ornamented with gold foil, or studded with gold nails ( Il. 1. 246
χρυσείοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμένον
). Among the objects found at Mycenae are some supposed remains of such sceptres (Schliem., Myc. 201, etc.).

mvp-comment-255-4 οὑφόρει ποτέ 399

mvp-comment-256-1 ἔκ τε 400 ἐκ δὲ 401

mvp-comment-256-2 βρύοντα 402

mvp-comment-256-3 ᾧ … γενέσθαι 403

mvp-comment-256-4 The vision resembles that of Astyages, who dreamed that a vine sprang from his daughter Mandanè, the wife of Cambyses,

τὴν δὲ ἄμπελον ἐπισχεῖν τὴν Ἀσίην πᾶσαν
. The
ὀνειροπόλοι
explained this to mean that her son (Cyrus) should reign in his grandfather's stead. ( Her. 1. 108. ) The spreading branches figure also in the dream of Xerxes (7. 19):
ἐδόκεε...ἐστεφανῶσθαι ἐλαίης θαλλῷ, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἐλαίης τοὺς κλάδους γῆν πᾶσαν ἐπισχεῖν
.

mvp-comment-256-5 In choosing the sceptre of Agamemnon as the stock from which the wondrous growth is put forth, Sophocles may have had in mind the words of Achilles ( Il. 1. 234 ff.);

ναὶ μὰ τόδε σκῆπτρον· τὸ μὲν οὔποτε φύλλα καὶ ὄζους
|
φύσει, ἐπεὶ δὴ πρῶτα τομὴν ἐν ὄρεσσι λέλοιπεν
, |
οὐδ’ ἀναθηλήσει
.

mvp-comment-257-1 του παρόντος 404 τοῦ 405 παρόντος 406 του 407

mvp-comment-257-2 Ἡλίῳ δείκνυσι τοὖναρ 408

mvp-comment-258-1 οὐ κάτοιδα, πλὴν 409

mvp-comment-258-2 πέμπει με κείνη 410

mvp-comment-259-1 These three verses, which the MSS. give to Electra, and which several recent critics reject (cr. n.), clearly belong to Chrysothemis, and are genuine. Electra's exclamation of joy (411) caused Chrysothemis to ask if her sister had any ground for hope (412). Electra replied that, when she had heard the dream, she would say. This showed her sister that Electra relied merely on the fact that Clytaemnestra had seen some fearful vision. Now, therefore, instead of asking for Electra's interpretation, she merely repeats her counsel (383 f.) before proceeding on her errand. The words

πρός νυν θεῶν κ.τ.λ.
(428 ff.) show the train of her thought. To Chrysothemis, the alarm of Clytaemnestra (427) is more important than the apparition of Agamemnon. The dream is only a new reason why Electra should be cautious,—not why she should hope.

mvp-comment-259-2 The current ascription of the verses to Electra was doubtless prompted by verse 413. It was supposed that the recital of Chrysothemis must be immediately followed by the comments of Electra. But, as Hermann observed, the phrase

ἀβουλίᾳ πεσεῖν
would alone suffice to show that the verses belong to Chrysothemis ( cp. 398 ). Nor could the warning,
σὺν κακῷ μέτει πάλιν
, be fitly uttered by Electra.

mvp-comment-259-3 τῶν ἐγγενῶν 411

mvp-comment-260-1 ἀβουλίᾳ 412

mvp-comment-260-2 σὺν κακῷ 413

mvp-comment-260-3 μέτει 414

mvp-comment-261-1 ἀλλ’ 415

mvp-comment-261-2 ὦ φίλη 416 τούτων μὲν 417

mvp-comment-262-1 οὐ … θέμις 418 οὐδ’ ὅσιον 419

mvp-comment-262-2 ἐχθρᾶς ἀπὸ γυναικὸς 420

mvp-comment-262-3 κτερίσματ’ 421

mvp-comment-262-4 λουτρὰ 422

mvp-comment-263-1 ἀλλ’ ἢ πνοαῖσιν 423 ῥοαῖσιν 424

mvp-comment-263-2 κρύψον 425

mvp-comment-263-3 νιν 426

mvp-comment-263-4 ἔνθα μή ποτ’ 427 ἔνθεν 428

mvp-comment-263-5 εὐνὴν 429

mvp-comment-264-1 ἀλλ’ ὅταν θάῃν 430

mvp-comment-264-2 The conjecture ἔστ’ ἂν 431 ὅταν 432 σῳζέσθω 433

mvp-comment-264-3 κειμήλἰ 434

mvp-comment-265-1 ἀρχὴν 435 τλημονεστάτη 436

mvp-comment-266-1 ἔβλαστε 437

mvp-comment-267-1 ὅν γ’ … τῷδ’ 438

mvp-comment-267-2 ἐπέστεφε 439

mvp-comment-267-3 442 f. The position of αὐτῇ 440

mvp-comment-267-4 δέξεσθαι 441

mvp-comment-267-5 It seems, then, a reasonable inference that here, where the reference is to future time, he would have written δέξεσθαι 442 δέξασθαι 443

mvp-comment-267-6 444 ff. Join θανὼν ἄτιμος 444

mvp-comment-267-7 ἐμασχαλίσθη 445

mvp-comment-267-8 Two different motives are assigned by the Greek commentators; viz.:—(1) the desire to render the dead incapable of wreaking vengeance (

ὥσπερ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκείνων ἀφαιρούμενοι
): (2) the desire to make an atonement (
ἐξιλάσασθαι τὴν δολοφονίαν—ἀφοσιοῦσθαι τὸν φόνον
). There can be little doubt that the first of these motives was the primitive origin of the custom. If the second was afterwards blended with it, the idea may have been that of offering the severed portions to the gods below,—as a victim was devoted to death by cutting off a lock of hair ( Eur. Alc. 75 ). Apollonius Rhodius seems to present the practice in this light (4. 477): Jason, having slain a foe,
ἐξάργματα τάμνε θανόντος
. Cp. Etym. Magn.:
ἀπάργματα λέγεται τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν τραγῳδῶν λεγόμενα μασχαλίσματα
.

mvp-comment-267-9 κἀπὶ λουτροῖσιν 446

mvp-comment-267-10 ἐξέμαξ ν 447

mvp-comment-267-11 ἆρα μὴ 448

mvp-comment-268-1 οὐκ ἔστιν 449

mvp-comment-268-2 ταῦτα μὲν μέθες· σὺ δὲ 450

mvp-comment-269-1 βοστρύχων ἄκρας φόβας 451

mvp-comment-269-2 κἀμοῦ ταλαίνης 452

mvp-comment-270-1 †ἀλιπαρῆ 453 λιπαρῆ 454

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’ 455 ἀλίπαρον 456

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
to
λιπαρής
: but it seems improbable.

mvp-comment-271-1 ζῶμα 457

mvp-comment-271-2 χλιδαῖς 458

mvp-comment-272-1 προσπίτνουσα 459 αὐτὸν 460

mvp-comment-273-1 ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερός 461

mvp-comment-273-2 ζῶντ’ 462

mvp-comment-274-1 ἀφνεωτέραις 463

mvp-comment-274-2 στέφωμεν 464

mvp-comment-274-3 δωρούμεθα 465

mvp-comment-275-1 οἶμαι μὲν οὖν 466

mvp-comment-275-2 If μέλον 467 μέλειν 468 μέλον 469

mvp-comment-276-1 σοί 470

mvp-comment-277-1 βροτῶν 471

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

363-364. mvp-comment-153-1 ἐμοὶ γὰρ . . βόσκημα] (1) ‘For I would have such maintenance alone as will not cause me pain:' i. e. through compliance with my father's enemies. The reading λυποῦν is implied in the first scholion here, which, although giving a wrong explanation, deserves for this reason to be transcribed:-ἐμοί, φησίν, ἔστω τροφή, ἡ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ μόνον ἁρμόζουσα, καὶ τὴν πείνην ἀπελαύνουσα· οὐ δέομαι γὰρ τοιαύτης τροφῆς ἀφ᾿ ἧς ἡδονὴν σχήσω. (2) The MS. reading, which is also acknowledged in the scholia, -τοὐμὲ μὴ λυπεῖν (Schol. τοῦτο μόνον ἐμὲ βοσκέτω, τὸ μὴ λυπεῖν ἐμὲ αὐτήν, εἰ τοῖς φονεῦσι τοῦ πατρὸς πείθεσθαι ἀναγκασθήσομαι) is possibly right, but the use of ἐμέ for ἐμαυτήν is hardly justified, and the expression seems forced. Ср., however, Eur. Cycl. 336-8, ὡς τοὐμπιεῖν γε καὶ φαγεῖν τοὐφ᾽ ἡμέραν, | Ζεὺς οὗτος ἀνθρώποισι τοῖσι σώφροσι, | λυπεῖν δὲ μηδὲν αὐτόν.

364. mvp-comment-154-1 The genitive, after ἐρῶ, is to be resumed with τυχεῖν, which is epexegetic infinitive.

365-367. mvp-comment-155-1 νῦν δ᾽ ἐξὸν .. τῆς μητρός] But now, when you might be called the daughter of the noblest of all sires, be called your mother's child.' Here, and in supr. 341, 2, there is a reminiscence of that depreciation of the maternal relationship, which is more fully expressed in the Eumenides of Aeschylus. For another trace of this, cp. Eur. Fr. 1048, στέργω δὲ τὸν φύσαντα τῶν πάντων βροτῶν | μάλισθ'· ὁρίζω τοῦτο, καὶ σὺ μὴ φθώνει· | κείνου γὰρ ἐξέβλαστον. οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἰς ἀνὴρ | γυναικὸς αὐδήσειεν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πατρός.

369. mvp-comment-156-1 μηδὲν πρὸς ὀργήν] Sc. λέξης. Say nothing in anger,'-lit. 'tending that way. Cp. infr. 464.

373. mvp-comment-157-1 οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐμνήσθην ποτέ) 'And would never have mentioned the subject. This refers to supr. 330, 1.

376. mvp-comment-158-1 Exceptions to the rule of the Porsonic pause are not infrequent where γάρ comes in the first place of the fifth foot: e.g. O. C. 115, ἐν γὰρ τῷ μαθεῖν.

376-377. mvp-comment-159-1 Electra will not admit that any trouble can be greater than what she endures already in seeing the insults that are heaped upon her father.

382. mvp-comment-160-1 χθονὸς τῆσδ᾽ ἐκτός] Beyond the Argive boundary, so as not to bring pollution upon the state. Cp. Ant. 773, ἄγων ἔρημος ἔνθ᾽ ἂν ᾖ βροτῶν στίβος κρύψω πετρώδει ζῶσαν ἐν κατώρυχι : Ο. C. 399, 400, ὥς σ' ἄγχι γῆς στήσωσι Καδμείας, ὅπως | κρατῶσι μέν σου, γῆς δὲ μὴ ᾿μβαίνῃς ὅρων. ὑμνήσεις κακά] 'You shall chant your song of woe.' Cp. infr. 802, 3, τήνδε δ᾽ ἔκτοθεν βοᾶν | ἔα τά θ᾽ αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων κακά.

383-384. mvp-comment-161-1 καί με . μέμψῃ] Being warned, Electra will have no cause to blame Chrysothemis. Cp. infr. 1056, 7, ὅταν γὰρ ἐν κακοῖς | ἤδη βεβήκῃς, τἄμ᾽ ἐπαινέσεις ἔπη.

384. mvp-comment-162-1 νῦν γὰρ .. φρονεῖν] ‘For now you have a good opportunity of adopting the wiser course.' Cp. Plat. Rep. Β. 9. p. 571 Β, τὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν .. οὔ μοι δοκοῦμεν ἱκανῶς διῃρῆσθαι. . οὐκοῦν, ἢ δ᾽ ὅς, ἔτ᾽ ἐν καλῷ;

385. mvp-comment-163-1 And have they really determined to do this to me?' καί adds a sarcastic emphasis.

390. mvp-comment-164-1 ποῦ ποτ᾽ εἰ φρενῶν;] 'What are you thinking of?' Cp. Ant. 42, ποῦ γνώμης ποτ' εἶ; There is the same doubt in both cases, whether el is from εἰμί or εἶμι. For the latter, which gives greater liveliness, cp. Eur. Iph. Α. 479, 80, καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν ἐξαφίσταμαι λόγων, | οὐκ εἰς σὲ δεινός· εἶμι δ᾽ οὗπερ εἶ σὺ νῦν. On the other hand it may be urged that ποῖ would be more natural with the verb of motion. Electra in supra l. 354 has said, οὐ ζῶ; κακῶς μὲν, οἶδ᾽, ἐπαρκούντως δ᾽ ἐμοί. Chrysothemis interprets this as if she had meant that she had something to lose.

395. mvp-comment-165-1 τοῖς φίλοις] Viz. τῷ πατρί.

397. mvp-comment-166-1 ταῦτα is an adverbial accusative. οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις] 'You speak not of my ways; i.e. Your words indicate a line of conduct that can never be mine.

399. mvp-comment-167-1 τιμωρούμενοι] Cp. supr. 349.

400. mvp-comment-168-1 τούτων.. συγγνώμην] For this genitive, see Essay on L. § 9. p. 12, d 2, and cp. esp. Trach. 250, τοῦ λόγου .. φθόνον.

401. mvp-comment-169-1 Such words are for the base to approve.' Although, grammatically speaking, ἔπη is the subject of the sentence, and ἐπαινέσαι is epexegetic infinitive, the real meaning is, πρὸς κακῶν ἐστὶ τὸ ἐπαινέσai ταῦτα τὰ ἔπη. As constantly happens in Greek, an attribute which belongs to the verb is attached to the noun.

403. mvp-comment-170-1 μή πω .. κενή] 'I trust I may not prove so void of understanding!' For this use of πω, in which the temporal meaning has disappeared, cp; Ο. Τ. 105, οὐ γὰρ εἰσεῖδόν γέ πω, and note. The adverbial use of τοσόνδε is an Epic touch; cp. Od. 21. 253, 4, ἀλλ᾽ ἐἰ δὴ τοσσόνδε βίης ἐπιδευέες εἰμὲν | ἀντιθέου Ὀδυσῆος, ὅτ᾽ οὐ δυνάμεσθα, κ.τ.λ.

404. mvp-comment-171-1 οἶπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ] ‘To the place whither I was sent upon my way.' For the idiomatic partitive genitive, cp. supr. 390, ποῦ ποτ' εἶ φρενῶν ; Phil. 899, ἀλλ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ ἤδη τοῦδε τοῦ πάθους κυρῶ.

405. mvp-comment-172-1 τῷ] 'For whom?' i.e. 'To be offered to whom?'

406. mvp-comment-173-1 τυμβεῦσai χοάς] Το pour libation on his tomb;' i.e. ἐπιτυμβίους χέαι χοάς,-the attribute of the noun being attached to the verb. See Essay on L. § 17. p. 25 с.

409. mvp-comment-174-1 τῷ τοῦτ᾽ ἤρεσεν] 'Whose pleasure was this?' Cp. Aj. 1243, & τοῖς πολλοῖσιν ἤρεσκεν κριταῖς.

410. mvp-comment-175-1 ἐκ δείματος] Sc. πεισθεῖσα.

411. mvp-comment-176-1 At the mention of 'nightly fear,' Electra instantly rushes to the conclusion that Clytemnestra has had some Divine warning. Her hope at once revives, and she looks up to heaven. For ἀλλὰ νῦν, 'now, though not heretofore,' cp. Ant. 552, τί δῆτ᾽ ἂν ἀλλὰ νῦν σ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ὠφελοῖμ᾽ ἐγώ. And for the connection, cp. Aesch. Cho. 515, 6, ΟΡ. πόθεν χοὰς ἔπεμψεν, ἐκ τίνος λόγου | μεθύστερον τιμῶσ᾽ ἀνήκεστον πάθος; ib. 523-5, ΧΟ. οἶδ', ὦ τέκνον· παρῆ γάρ. ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνειράτων | καὶ νυκτιπλάγκτων δειμάτων πεπαλμένη | χοὰς ἔπεμψε τάσδε δύσθεος γυνή. In this line and supr. 345 γε belongs in sense to the word that follows it. Or rather, the particle emphasizes the whole sentence as a comment on the preceding words. 'Ay, now, at last, come to our aid!'

413. mvp-comment-177-1 Electra is eager to know the vision, and will not confess her hopes till she has heard it.

414. mvp-comment-178-1 ἐπὶ σμικρόν is to be resumed with φράσai, which is epexegetic infinitive.

415. mvp-comment-179-1 λέγ᾽ ἀλλὰ τοῦτο] 'Tell me but this;'-this little, if nothing more. Cp. Trach. 320, εἴπ', ὦ τάλαιν', ἀλλ᾽ ἡμὶν ἐκ σαυτῆς. πολλά τοι κ.τ.λ.] Cp. Aesch. Cho. 204, σμικροῦ γένοιτ' ἂν σπέρματος μέγας πυθμήν: Ο. Τ. 120, 1, ἓν γὰρ πόλλ᾽ ἂν ἐξεύροι μαθεῖν, | ἀρχὴν βραχεῖαν εἰ λάβοιμεν ἐλπίδος.

417. mvp-comment-180-1 λόγος τις.. ἐστιν] It is said,' viz. by the attendant who heard her tell her vision to the Sun, infr. 424, 5.

417-419. mvp-comment-181-1 πατρὸς ἐς φῶς] Our father again amongst us, revisiting the realm of light; i.e. τὸν πατέρα δεύτερον ὁμιλοῦντα (τοῖς ἐνθάδε), -abstract for concrete.

419. mvp-comment-182-1 εἶτα, κ.τ.λ.] These words depend immediately on λόγος τίς ἐστιν. Chrysothemis proceeds to narrate the vision as a matter of fact.

421. mvp-comment-183-1 τανῦν δ᾽ Αἴγισθος] Sc. φέρει.

424. mvp-comment-184-1 τοῦ παρόντος] 'The one who was present.' As a matter of course Clytemnestra was not wholly unattended in the day-time. Hence the article. Some editors have preferred the indefinite του; but the use of παρόντος = παραγενομένου is less natural in this case, and the double predicate παρόντος, ἐξηγουμένου, is awkward. A female attendant is meant, the masculine form being used, as in Trach. 151, etc. See Essay on L. § 20. p. 30. 2.

428. mvp-comment-185-1 πρὸς . . θεῶν τῶν ἐγγενῶν] · By the gods of our race,' i.e. the gods who are not only the protectors of our race, but also its progenitors, Inachus, etc. Chrysothemis in her solemn adjuration uses τὸν ἐπιχώριον ὅρκον τὸν μέγιστον (Thuc. 5. 18. § 9). Cp. Ant. 938, θεοὶ προγενεῖς, and note.

430. mvp-comment-186-1 σὺν κακῷ μέτει πάλιν] 'You will seek me another day, when the evil has overtaken you.'

431. mvp-comment-187-1 Electra scarcely hears the concluding words of Chrysothemis. Her attention is absorbed by the vision and the hopes which it has aroused in her mind, and she is determined to prevent the offering of the libation, which she represents to her sister as at once an offence to Agamemnon and useless to Clytemnestra. The former is her own feeling, the latter (ll. 446-8) occurs to her as a rhetorical argument. She also takes the opportunity of sending an offering to the tomb, as if to remind her father that the hour of vengeance for him was at hand. ὦ φίλη] 'She tries affectionate persuasion, and no longer reproaches.' Paley. Or rather, her resentment is forgotten in the revival of hope. Cp. supr. 367.

433-434. mvp-comment-188-1 ἱστάναι | κτερίσματα] Το (institute or) perform funereal rights.'

435-438. mvp-comment-189-1 Not κρύψον from l. 436, but some more general word, such as ἀφάνισον, is to be supplied with πνοαίσιν. For the form of sentence, cp. О. Т. 1410-2, ἔξω μέ που | καλύψατ', ἢ φονεύσατ', ἢ θαλάσσιον | ἐκρίψατ᾽, ἔνθα μήποτ᾽ εἰσόψεσθ᾽ ἔτι. βαθυσκαφεῖ κόνει] 'In deeply hollowed dust,' i.e. buried deep in the ground.

437-438. mvp-comment-190-1 ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν θάνῃ . . κάτω] 'But let this be treasured underground for her, against the day when she shall die.' σωζέσθω is passive, and there is an ellipse οἱ εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον or the like words.

441. mvp-comment-191-1 οὐκ ἄν.. ἐπέστεφε] 'She would not have sought to give by way of honour.' Cp. Ant. 431, χοαῖσι τρισπόνδοισι τὸν νέκυν στέφει.

442-443. mvp-comment-192-1 For only think whether you can suppose the dead man in his grave will receive this gift kindly at her hand.' For αὐτῇ as dative of the remote object with προσφιλῶς δέξασθαι, cp. supr. 226, 7, τίνι . . πρόσφορον ἀκούσαιμ᾽ ἔπος; It may also be taken with προσφιλῶς separately, but rather follows both words as combined in one expression.

444. mvp-comment-193-1 'Who slew him dishonourably as a personal foe.' Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1374, ἐχθροῖς ἐχθρὰ πορσύνων: ibid. 1492-4, κεῖσαι . κοίταν τάνδ᾽ ἀνελεύθερον.

445. mvp-comment-194-1 ἐμασχαλίσθη] ‘He was mutilated' (by cutting off the extremities and placing or tieing them under the armpits). Clytemnestra had adopted this barbarous means of disabling the spirit of her enemy. Aesch. Cho. 439, ἐμασχαλίσθη δ᾽ ἔθ᾽, ὡς τόδ᾽ εἰδῇς.

445-446. mvp-comment-195-1 And his head was used to wipe the stains away in washing' (the hearth). This additional circumstance of savagery is known to us only from Sophocles, but is probably not due to his invention. See Introd. to Aj. p. 1. Interpreters have supposed a change of subject, supplying ἡ ς ἡ Κλυταιμνήστρα ας nominative to ἐξέμαξεν. But this is unnecessary if it is borne in mind that verbs active in grammar are often used in Greek to express a passive condition. Essay on L. § 30. p. 52 d. Prof. Jebb understands the construction in the same way, with a slightly different nuance of interpretation: - 'And by way of funeral ablution received the print of the sword-stains on his head.' Mr. Paley translates, And at the washing of the body she wiped off the blood-stains on his head.' But did she wash the body?

446-447. mvp-comment-196-1 Electra tries to influence Chrysothemis, not only with fear of her dead father, but also by pointing out the uselessness of the action for Clytemnestra's purpose, and so quieting her sister's conscience in this respect.

448. mvp-comment-197-1 σὺ δέ] For the introduction of the personal pronoun without real emphasis, in such antitheses, see Essay on L. § 41. p. 79.

449. mvp-comment-198-1 Clipping off a little from thy luxuriant curls.' The words call attention to the abundance of Chrysothemis' hair in comparison with Electra's. Cp- Eur. Or. 128, 9, εἴδετε παρ᾿ ἄκρας ὡς ἀπέθρισεν τρίχας, | σώζουσα κάλλος.

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.