Sophocles, Electra, ed. Lewis Campbell, 385

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ἢ ταῦτα δή με καὶ βεβούλευνται ποιεῖν πο(ι)εῖν ? L. ;
385

ΧΡ.

μάλισθ'· ὅταν περ οἴκαδ᾽ Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

ΗΛ.

ἀλλ᾽ ἐξίκοιτο τοῦδέ γ' οἵνεκ᾽ ἐν τάχει.

ΧΡ.

τίν, ὦ τάλαινα, τόνδ᾽ ἐπηράσω λόγον;

ΗΛ.

ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, εἴ τι τῶνδε δρᾶν νοεῖ.

ΧΡ.

ὅπως πάθῃς τί χρῆμα; ποῦ ποτ᾽ εἶ φρενῶν ;
390

ΗΛ.

ὅπως ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν ὡς προσώτατ᾽ ἐκφύγω.

ΧΡ.

βίου δὲ τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μνείαν ἔχεις;

ΗΛ.

καλὸς γὰρ οὑμὸς βίοτος ὥστε θαυμάσαι.

ΧΡ.

ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἄν, εἰ σύ γ' εὖ φρονεῖν ἠπίστασο.

ΗΛ.

μή μ᾽ ἐκδίδασκε τοῖς φίλοις εἶναι κακήν.
395

ΧΡ.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ διδάσκω· τοῖς κρατοῦσι δ᾽ εἰκαθεῖν εἰκάθειν LA Pal. (gl. ὑποτάσσεσθαι) Elms. corr..

ΗΛ.

σὺ ταῦτα θώπευ· οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις.

ΧΡ.

καλόν γε μέντοι μὴ ἐξ ἀβουλίας πεσεῖν.

ΗΛ.

πεσούμεθ᾽, εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.

ΧΡ.

πατὴρ δὲ τούτων, οἶδα, συγγνώμην ἔχει.
400

ΗΛ.

ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τἄπη πρὸς κακῶν ἐπαινέσαι.

ΧΡ.

σὺ δ᾽ οὐχὶ πείσει καὶ συναινέσεις ἐμοί;

ΗΛ.

οὐ δῆτα, μή πω νοῦ τοσόνδ᾽ εἴην κενή.

ΧΡ.

χωρήσομαί ο from a L. τἄρ᾽ οἶπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ.

ΗΛ.

ποῖ δ᾽ ἐμπορεύει ἐμπορεύηι L (μ from v C¹) A Pal.; τῷ φέρεις τάδ᾽ ἔμπυρα ;
405

ΧΡ.

μήτηρ με πέμπει πατρὶ τυμβεῦσαι χοάς.

ΗΛ.

πῶς εἶπας; ἢ ἡ εἰ L. 7 C5 or 8 A. L2. τῷ δυσμενεστάτῳ βροτῶν;

ΧΡ.

ὃν ἔκταν᾿ αὐτή, τοῦτο γὰρ λέξαι θέλεις.

ΗΛ͵

ἐκ τοῦ φίλων πεισθεῖσα; τῷ τοῦτ᾽ ἤρεσεν ;

ΧΡ.

ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί.
410

ΗΛ.

ὦ θεοὶ πατρῷοι, συγγένεσθέ γ᾽ ἀλλὰ νῦν.

ΧΡ.

ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

ΗΛ.

εἴ μοι λέγοις λέγεις LAΓ. λέγεις Pal. Tricl. corr. τὴν ὄψιν, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν τότε.

ΧΡ.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κάτοιδα πλὴν ἐπὶ σμικρὸν σμικροῦ, ων L pr. v into v and ων C5. σμικρῶι AL2. σμικρὸν Γ. φράσαι.

ΗΛ.

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)) — 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

Translations (5)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 385 focus

And have they so determined on my life?
385

CHR

’Tis certain; when Aegisthus comes again.

EL

If that be all, let him return with speed!

CHR

Unhappy! why this curse upon thyself?

EL

If this be their intent, why, let him come!

CHR

To work such harm on thee! What thought is this!
390

EL

Far from mine eye to banish all your brood.

CHR

Art not more tender of the life thou hast?

EL

Fair, to a marvel, is my life, I trow!

CHR

It would be, couldst thou be advised for good.

EL

Never advise me to forsake my kin.
395

CHR

I do not: only to give place to power.

EL

Thine be such flattery. ’Tis not my way.

CHR

Sure, to be wrecked by rashness is not well.

EL

Let me be wrecked in ’venging my own sire.

CHR

I trust his pardon for my helplessness.
400

EL

Such talk hath commendation from the vile.

CHR

Wilt thou not listen? Wilt thou ne’er be ruled?

EL

No; not by thee! Let me not sink so low.

CHR

Then I will hie me on mine errand straight.

EL

Stay; whither art bound? For whom to spend those gifts?
405

CHR

Sent by my mother to my father’s tomb

To pour libations to him.

EL

How? To him?

Most hostile to her of all souls that are?

CHR

Who perished by her hand—so thou wouldst say.

EL

What friend hath moved her? Who hath cared for this?

CHR

Methinks ’twas some dread vision, seen by night.
410

EL

Gods of my father, O be with me now!

CHR

What? art thou hopeful from the fear I spake of?

EL

Tell me the dream, and I will answer thee.

CHR

I know but little of it.

EL

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 385 focus

So hätten sie beschlossen, das mir anzuthun?

Chrysothemis.

Gewiß, sobald Aegisthos wieder heimgekehrt.

Elektra.

Er komme deßhalb immerhin sogleich zurück!

Chrysothemis.

Unsel'ge, was erflehst du dir mit diesem Wort?
380

Elektra.

Er möge kommen, wenn er so zu thun gedenkt.

Chrysothemis.

Nach welchem Leid verlangt dich? Wo geräthst du hin?

Elektra.

In fernste Fernen wünsch' ich wegzuflieh'n von euch.

Chrysothemis.

Und dieses Leben, das dir blüht, Nichts achtest du's?

Elektra.

Traun, herrlich ist mein Leben, zum Bewundern schön.
385

Chrysothemis.

Wohl wär' es also, kenntest du Besonnenheit.

Elektra.

Mich lehre nicht, den Meinen ungetreu zu sein.

Chrysothemis.

Das lehr' ich nicht; doch vor den Mächtigen beuge dich!

Elektra.

So schmiege du dich; meiner Art ist dieses fremd.

Chrysothemis.

Doch rus' ich: Heil dir, fällst du nicht durch Unbedacht.
390

Elektra.

Den Vater rächend fall' ich, wenn ich fallen muß.

Chrysothemis.

Der Vater, weiß ich, er vergibt mir dieses wohl.

Elektra.

Ein solches Wort zu loben, steht nur Feigen an.

Chrysothemis.

Du willst auf mich nicht hören, ſtimmst nicht ein mit mir?

Elektra.

Nein, wahrlich! Nimmer sei ich so von Sinne leer!
395

Chrysothemis.

So werd' ich gehen, wo ich hingesendet ward.

Elektra.

Wo gehst du hin? Wem bringst du dieses Opfer hier?

Chrysothemis.

Des Vaters Grab zu weihen, schickt die Mutter mich.

Elektra.

Wie sagst du? Solches thäte sie dem ärgsten Feind?

Chrysothemis.

Ihm, den sie selbst erschlagen: denn dies meinst du doch.
400

Elektra.

Durch welches Freundes Nath bestimmt? Wer hieß ihr das?

Chrysothemis.

Ein nächtlich Graunbild ängstet sie, so scheint es mir.

Ihr Ahnengötter, nun gewährt uns Hülfe doch!

Hat diese Furcht der Mutter deinen Muth geweckt?

Elektra.

Erzählst dy, was ihr träumte, dann erklär' ich mich.
405

Chrysothemis.

Doch was ich anzugeben weiß, ist wenig nur.

Elektra.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 385 focus

Tell me this mighty danger ; if aught more
385

T yield me to thy counsels.
385

Chrysothemis

Hear me then :

Know, thou art doomed, unless thou dost refrain

Tiiy clamorous griefs, far from the light of day

And this thy native soil, within a cell

Dismal and dark, to spend the poor remains

Of thy sad life, and tliere lament thy fate.

Electra

Is it decreed ? Must it in truth be so ?

Chrysothemis

Soon as ^Egisthus shall return, it must.

Electra

Quick let him come : I long to see him here.

Chrysothemis

Alas ! what dreadful imprecations these !
390

Electra

Would he were present, if foi' this he comes !

Chrysothemis

What ! to destroy thee ! Is thy mind dis-

turbed i

Electra

That I might fly for ever from thy sight.

Chrysothemis

Wilt thou not think how to preserve thy life ;

Electra

Mine is a blessed hfe indeed to think of.
395

Chrysothemis

It might be blest, if thou wouldst have it so.

Electra

Teach me not basely to betray my friends.

Chrysothemis

I do not ; all I ask thee is to yield

To powers superior.

Electra

Fawn on them thyself ;

Chrysothemis

Sure it better
400

Deserves the name of wisdom to avoid
400

Than hasten thy destruction.
400

Electra

N'o, to die

Were pleasure, could I but avenge my father.

Chrysothemis

Our father, doubt it not, will pardon thee.

Electra

'Tis mean to think so.

Chrysothemis

Wilt thou not consent 1

Electra

Never, oh never, be my soul so weak !
405

Chrysothemis

Then to my errand : fare thee well.

Electra

To whom,

Chrysothemis

and whither dost thou bear

Those sacred ofF'rings ?

Chrysothemis

To our father's tomb.
410

From Clytemnestra.
410

Electra

To the man she hated ?

The man, my sister

Chrysothemis

Thou would have said^,,,—
410

Electra
(^ Chry. Whom she killed, I know,

Why, what shou'd move her to it?

Chrysothemis

If I mistake not, horrors late impressed jl

From a sad vision. '^

Electra

O my country's gods !

Succour me now !

Chrysothemis

- What hopes dost thou conceive

From this ?

Electra

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 385 focus

Think then what grief-embitter'd days I pass,
385

Chrysothemis

When seated on my father's throne I see

Aegisthus

Far distant in the country: were he near,

Think not I thus might walk before the gates.

Chorus

If it be so, more freely may we hold

Discourse, and unrestrain'd inquiry make.

Electra

What thy mind prompts thee, ask, from him secure.

Chorus

First of thy brother then it is my wish
390

To know. Returns he, or delays he still?
390

Electra

Oft hath he promised; nothing he performs.

Chorus

In arduous actions men must oft delay.

Electra

But him without delay I fondly saved.

Chorus

But of his noble nature be assured;

This will impel him to protect his friends.

Electra

Of this my soul hath ever been assured;
395

Else in this state I had not lived so long.!!
395

Chorus

Speak now no more; for from the gates I see

Chrysothemis advance, thy sister sprung

From the same parents: in her hands she bears

Sepulchral offerings, honours to the dead.

CHRY. Why, O my sister, is thy voice thus raised

Before the portal? Will no length of time

Teach thee no more to feed thy feeble rage

With thoughts as vain? I feel these present ills,

And, if I know myself, had I the pow'r,

Would show my thoughts: but while the storm is high,

I deem it prudent to let down my sails,

Nor dream of mighty deeds, while void of force

I cannot hurt. Thus would I thou shou'dst act.

Yet what I say perhaps hath not such strength

Of reason as thy firmer conduct shows;

But, as becomes my birth if I would live,

The potent must in all things be obey'd.

Electra

How shameful this, descended as thou art

From such a father, to forget his worth,

And court thy mother's favour! For by her

All thy monitions to me were enjoin'd,

Her teaching, not the dictates of thy heart.

What should I think? Thy nature must be base;

Or, if not base, no memory of thy friends

Dost thou retain. Thou said'st, hadst thou the pow'r,

Chrysothemis

Thy hate thou soon wou'dst show them: yet with me,

On vengeance for my father always bent,

Thou wilt not act, but rather wish to check

My purpose. Is not this to add to ills

Base cowardice? But tell me, or learn thou

From me, what good should I obtain, my griefs

Should I command to cease? Do I not live?

But ill, I know; yet I am satisfied.

I grieve their hearts in paying to the dead.

Theseus

if the dead have yet a sense

Of honours. Thou dost hate them: but thy hate

Is in words only; thou canst bear to live

Amidst thy father's murderers. But my soul

Would never bend, would never yield to them,

No, should they bring me all those gorgeous gifts

With which thou now art deck'd. To thee be placed

A table richly spread, with dishes piled;

But let my homely fare be only such

As nature loaths not. I have not a wish

To gain thy honours; nor indeed wou'dst thou,

Did reason rule thee. Now thou might'st he call'd

The daughter of a father first in fame;

Be call'd thy mother's: so shalt thou appear,

To all that judge aright, of nature base,

False to thy murder'd father, and his friends.

Chorus

Now, by the gods, let nothing pass in wrath.
400

Much mutual good your reasonings might produce,
400

Wert thou to hers attentive, she to thine.
400

CHRY. I have been long accustom'd to such words
400

From her, my friends; and never had I touch'd
400

This tender point, but that some dreadful ill
400

Advances on her, which will check her griefs.
400

Electra

What dreadful ill is this? If more severe

Than these, thy counsel I no more oppose.

CHRY. Far as I know it I will tell thee all.

They purpose, if thou cease not thy loud griefs,

Chrysothemis

To send thee where no more thou shalt behold

The sun's bright radiance, in some cheerless vault

To live, far distant, there to chant thy woes.

Reflect; nor henceforth blame me when these ills

Fall heavy on thee: this is wisdom's hour.

Electra

Thus will they treat me? Is their purpose fix'd?..

CHRY. Soon as Ægisthus shall return.

And soon

May he for this return.

What dreadful wish

Hast thou thus rashly form'd?

That he may come,

If thus he thinks to act.

That thou may'st feel

Chrysothemis

Their vengeance! What thy meaning?

Far from you

That I may fly.

And hast thou for thy life

No care, no thought?

Mine is a glorious life,

Exciting admiration!

Wou'dst thou take

Calm prudence for thy guide, it might be such.

Electra
CHRY. CHRY. CHRY. CHRY.

Teach me not baseness to my friends.
405

I teach
405

No baseness, but submission to the great,
405

Who hold the sovereign pow'r.
405

Cringe to them thou;
405

I scorn to cringe.
405

Well were it not to fall
405

Through wayward wilfulness.
405

If I must fall,
405

My father's death avenging let me fall.
405

CHRY. Of us our father, well am I assured,
405

Requires not this.
405

Chrysothemis

Such words the base alone

Can e'er applaud.

Will no persuasions move

Thy heart to yield assent?

None: from my heart

Far be such weakness.

Hence then will I go,

And execute my charge.

What charge? To whom

Bear'st thou those offerings?

By my mother sent

She most abhorr'd!

To pour libations at my father's tomb.

Electra
CHRY. CHRY. CHRY. CHRY. CHRY. CHRY.

What say'st thou? Sent to him whom, when he lived,

And with her own hand slew,

So wou'dst thou say.

Persuaded by her friends?

Chrysothemis

Who thus advised her ?

She was moved, I think,

By dreadful visions, terrors of the night.

Electra
CHRY.

Gods of my fathers, give us now your aid !

Chrysothemis

CHRY. What from these terrors animates thy hope ?
410

Electra

Tell me the vision, thou shalt know my hopes.

Chrysothemis

CHRY. I know not all; but little can I speak.

Electra

Tell me that little: oft imperfect words

Sink mortals low, or raise their spirits high.

Chorus

This is the voice of rumour, that she saw

Thine and my father, to the light return'd,

Once more her husband; in the earth he fix'd

The sceptre of his ancestors, which once

He bore, but now Ægisthus; from its top

Sprouted a vigorous branch, and spread its shade

Wide o'er Mycenæ and its ample realms...

This from one present, when she told her dream

To the bright Sun, I heard. No more than this

I know, but that she sent me to the tomb

Struck with this fear. Now by our country's gods

I pray thee, be persuaded; do not rush、

On ruin through perverseness: shou'dst thou now

Reject me, thou wilt seek me in thy ills.

Electra

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

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-97-1 ἀκάματα ¹

mvp-comment-97-2 ἀνύμφευτος ² ἄτεκνος ³

mvp-comment-97-3 οἰχνῶ ⁴

mvp-comment-98-1 δάκρυσι μυδαλέα ⁵

mvp-comment-98-2 τὸν ἀνήνυτον ⁶

mvp-comment-98-3 οἶτον ἔχουσα ⁷

mvp-comment-99-1 ὧν τ’ ἔπαθ’ ⁸ ὧν τ’ ἐδάη ⁹

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 ¹⁰

mvp-comment-99-4 ἀπατώμενον ¹¹ τί … οὐκ ¹²

mvp-comment-99-5 Herwerden's οὐχί μοι ¹³ οὐκ ἐμοί ¹⁴ ὁ δέ ¹⁵

mvp-comment-100-1 ποθεῖ, ποθῶν δ’ ¹⁶

mvp-comment-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ ¹⁷ ἐν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ ¹⁹

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα ²⁰

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο ²¹ οἷς ²²

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός ²³ θεός ²⁴

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ ²⁵

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν ²⁶

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

ζαθέην

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

Κρῖσα

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

Κρίσᾳ

Κρίσας

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

Κρισαίαις ἐνὶ πτυχαῖς

( P. 6. 18).

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

βούνομος ἀκτή

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

ἱερὰ χώρα

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

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

mvp-comment-106-1 βούνομον ²⁷ βουνόμον ²⁸

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν ²⁹ Κρῖσαν ³⁰

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος ³¹

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα ³² ἀνάσσων ³³ θεὸς ³⁴

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν ³⁵

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος ³⁶

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος ³⁷

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων

. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων ³⁸ ἅτις ³⁹ τοκέων ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί ⁴¹

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος ⁴²

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους ⁴³

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις ⁴⁵ ἀμφίσταμαι ⁴⁶

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 ⁴⁷ κοίταις ⁴⁸ οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ ⁴⁹

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 ⁵⁰ ἐν ⁵¹

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις ⁵²

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ ⁵³ σοι ⁵⁴ ἀνταία ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς ⁵⁸ δεινὰν … μορφάν ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε ⁶⁰ βροτῶν ⁶¹

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα ⁶²

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ ⁶³

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη ⁶⁶ τοῖς ⁶⁷ θανάτους ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν ⁶⁹ διδύμοιν ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον ⁷¹

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς ⁷²

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος ⁷³

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας ⁸¹

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν ⁸²

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω ⁸³

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ ⁸⁴ οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ⁸⁵ πλάθειν ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά ⁹⁰ ἔξοιδ’ ⁹¹

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ⁹²

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς ⁹³

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με ⁹⁷ σχήσω ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια ⁹⁹ ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος ¹⁰⁰ τίνι ¹⁰¹ πρόσφορον ¹⁰²

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 ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος ¹⁰⁷ θρήνων ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν ¹⁰⁹ γε ¹¹⁰ εὐνοίᾳ ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις ¹¹²

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν ¹¹³

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον ¹¹⁵ κακότατος ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ ¹²¹

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ ¹²²

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος ¹²³

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων ¹²⁴ ἐκτίμους ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν ¹³¹ ὢν ¹³² εἰ ¹³³

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 ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς ¹³⁷ εὐσέβεια ¹³⁸

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ¹³⁹

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ ¹⁴⁰ τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν ¹⁴¹

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις ¹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα ¹⁵¹ ᾗ ¹⁵²

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς ¹⁵³

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας ¹⁵⁷ δοκεῖς ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω ¹⁵⁹ εἰσίδω δ’ ¹⁶⁰ ἴδω δὲ ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς ¹⁶⁵ ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν ¹⁶⁶

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 ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην ¹⁶⁹ αὐτοφόντην ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ ¹⁷²

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι ¹⁷⁴ Ἐρινὺν ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ ¹⁷⁷ τότε ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ ¹⁷⁹ τηροῦς’ ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις ¹⁸⁴

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 ¹⁸⁵ κατὰ στέγας ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς ¹⁸⁸

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 ¹⁸⁹ αὑτήν ¹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί ²⁰¹

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ ²⁰²

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην ²⁰³

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις ²⁰⁵

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου ²⁰⁶

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ ²⁰⁷

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας ²¹⁰ παρών ²¹¹

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα ²¹²

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις ²¹³

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-179-3 μου ²²⁰ μοι ²²¹

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν ²²²

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν ²²³ εὐσεβεῖν ²²⁴

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς ²²⁵

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη ²²⁶ κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά ²²⁷

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν ²²⁸

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος ²²⁹

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα ²³⁰

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον ²³¹

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν ²³²

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι ²³³

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει ²³⁴

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην ²³⁵ ἦ τ<*>ν ²³⁶ ἦ δἂν ²³⁷

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην ²³⁸

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν ²³⁹ ὥς νυν ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον ²⁴¹ τό ²⁴² τά ²⁴³

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ ²⁴⁵

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος ²⁴⁷ ἢ μέλλοντος ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ ²⁵⁰

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ ²⁵¹ γε ²⁵²

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ ²⁵³

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν ²⁵⁶

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν ²⁵⁷ νυν ²⁵⁸

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων ²⁵⁹ φέρουσαν ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον ²⁶¹

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν ²⁶²

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν ²⁶³

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα ²⁶⁴ νομίζεται ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις ²⁶⁶ φωνεῖς ²⁶⁷ ἐλθοῦσα ²⁶⁸ αὖ ²⁶⁹

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

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι ²⁷⁰

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι ²⁷²

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν ²⁷³

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ ²⁷⁵ πλεῖν ²⁷⁶

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 ²⁷⁷

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα ²⁷⁸ ἀλλὰ ²⁷⁹ ἄλλα ²⁸⁰

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις ²⁸²

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ ²⁸³

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν ²⁸⁴

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν ²⁸⁵

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ ²⁸⁶

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα ²⁸⁷

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε ²⁸⁸

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης ²⁸⁹

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα ²⁹¹

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά ²⁹²

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς ²⁹³

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’ ²⁹⁴

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς ²⁹⁶

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 ²⁹⁷

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις ²⁹⁸ φρονοῦσα ²⁹⁹ μῖσος ³⁰⁰

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα ³⁰¹

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης ³⁰²

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε ³⁰³

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν ³⁰⁴

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι ³⁰⁵

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει ³⁰⁶

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ ³⁰⁷

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ ³⁰⁸

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως ³⁰⁹

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν ³¹⁰

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις ³¹¹

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν ³¹² ξύνει ³¹³

mvp-comment-213-1 τὰ σὰ … δῶῤ ³¹⁴

mvp-comment-213-2 ἐφ’ οἶσι ³¹⁵

mvp-comment-213-3 χλιδᾷς ³¹⁶

mvp-comment-214-1 ὑπεικάθοιμι ³¹⁷

mvp-comment-214-2 πλουσία ³¹⁸

mvp-comment-214-3 περιρρείτω ³¹⁹

mvp-comment-215-1 τοὐμὲ μὴ λυπεῖν ³²⁰

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 ³²¹

mvp-comment-217-1 παῖδα ³²²

mvp-comment-217-2 κεκλῆσθαι ³²³

mvp-comment-218-1 πλείστοις ³²⁴

mvp-comment-219-1 μηδὲν ³²⁵ πρὸς ὀργὴν ³²⁶

mvp-comment-220-1 ἀμφοῖν ³²⁷ τοῖς λόγοις ³²⁸

mvp-comment-221-1 τῆσδε … αὕτη ³²⁹ πάλιν ³³⁰

mvp-comment-222-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ³³¹

mvp-comment-222-2 πως ³³²

mvp-comment-222-3 μύθων ³³³

mvp-comment-223-1 οὐδ’ ³³⁴ κοὐδ’ ³³⁵ ποτέ ³³⁶

mvp-comment-224-1 ἰὸν ³³⁷

mvp-comment-224-2 σχήσει ³³⁸

mvp-comment-225-1 τὸ δεινὸν ³³⁹

mvp-comment-225-2 εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι ³⁴⁰ εἰ ³⁴¹

mvp-comment-226-1 γὰρ ³⁴²

mvp-comment-226-2 γόων ³⁴³ λόγων ³⁴⁴

mvp-comment-227-1 ἐνταῦθα ³⁴⁵

mvp-comment-227-2 ἔνθα μή ποτε … προσόψει ³⁴⁶

mvp-comment-227-3 ζῶσα ³⁴⁷

mvp-comment-227-4 κατηρεφεῖ ³⁴⁸

mvp-comment-227-5 χθονὸς τῆσδ’ ἐκτὸς ³⁴⁹

mvp-comment-227-6 ὑμνήσεις ³⁵⁰

mvp-comment-228-1 πρὸς ταῦτα ³⁵¹

mvp-comment-228-2 Nauck reads κοὔ ³⁵² καί ³⁵³

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 ³⁵⁴ ἦ … δὴ ³⁵⁵ ἦ … γὰρ ³⁵⁶

mvp-comment-229-2 καὶ βεβούλευνται ³⁵⁷

mvp-comment-230-1 ἀλλ’ ἐξίκοιτο ³⁵⁸

mvp-comment-230-2 τοῦδέ γ’ οὕνεκ’ ³⁵⁹

mvp-comment-231-1 τίνα … τόνδ’ ³⁶⁰

mvp-comment-231-2 τάλαινα ³⁶¹

mvp-comment-232-1 εἴ τι τῶνδε ³⁶²

mvp-comment-233-1 ποῦ ποτ’ εἶ φρενῶν ³⁶³

mvp-comment-234-1 ὅπως ³⁶⁴ ὑμῶν ³⁶⁵

mvp-comment-234-2 προσώτατ’ ³⁶⁶ προσωτάτω φύγω ³⁶⁷

mvp-comment-235-1 βίου … τοῦ παρόντος ³⁶⁸

mvp-comment-236-1 καλὸς γὰρ ³⁶⁹

mvp-comment-236-2 θαυμάσαι ³⁷⁰

mvp-comment-237-1 τοῖς φίλοις ³⁷¹

mvp-comment-238-1 εἰκαθεῖν ³⁷²

mvp-comment-239-1 ταῦτα ³⁷³ οὐκ ἐμοὺς ³⁷⁴

mvp-comment-240-1 γε ³⁷⁵ μέντοι ³⁷⁶

mvp-comment-240-2 μὴ )ξ ³⁷⁷

mvp-comment-240-3 πεσεῖν ³⁷⁸

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 ³⁷⁹

mvp-comment-242-1 τἄπη ³⁸⁰

mvp-comment-242-2 πρὸς κακῶν ³⁸¹

mvp-comment-243-1 μή πω ³⁸²

mvp-comment-244-1 οἷπερ … ὁδοῦ ³⁸³

mvp-comment-245-1 τῷ φέρεις ³⁸⁴

mvp-comment-245-2 ἔμπυρα ³⁸⁵

mvp-comment-246-1 τυμβεῦσαι χοάς ³⁸⁶

mvp-comment-247-1 βροτῶν ³⁸⁷

mvp-comment-248-1 ὃν ἔκταν’ αὐτή ³⁸⁸ ὅν γ’ ³⁸⁹

mvp-comment-249-1 τῷ τοῦτ’ ἤρεσεν ³⁹⁰

mvp-comment-250-1 δείματος ³⁹¹

mvp-comment-250-2 δοκεῖν ἐμοί ³⁹²

mvp-comment-251-1 θεοὶ πατρῷοι ³⁹³

mvp-comment-251-2 συγγένεσθέ γ’ ³⁹⁴

mvp-comment-251-3 ἀλλὰ νῦν ³⁹⁵

mvp-comment-252-1 εἴποιμ’ ἂν τότε ³⁹⁶

mvp-comment-253-1 ἐπὶ σμικρὸν ³⁹⁷ ἐπὶ σμικρῶν ³⁹⁸

mvp-comment-253-2 φράσαι ³⁹⁹

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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ἢ ταῦτα δή με καὶ βεβούλευνται ποιεῖν πο(ι)εῖν ? L. ; 385

ΧΡ. μάλισθ'· ὅταν περ οἴκαδ᾽ Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

ΗΛ. ἀλλ᾽ ἐξίκοιτο τοῦδέ γ' οἵνεκ᾽ ἐν τάχει.

ΧΡ. τίν, ὦ τάλαινα, τόνδ᾽ ἐπηράσω λόγον;

ΗΛ. ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, εἴ τι τῶνδε δρᾶν νοεῖ.

ΧΡ. ὅπως πάθῃς τί χρῆμα; ποῦ ποτ᾽ εἶ φρενῶν ; 390

ΗΛ. ὅπως ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν ὡς προσώτατ᾽ ἐκφύγω.

ΧΡ. βίου δὲ τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μνείαν ἔχεις;

ΗΛ. καλὸς γὰρ οὑμὸς βίοτος ὥστε θαυμάσαι.

ΧΡ. ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἄν, εἰ σύ γ' εὖ φρονεῖν ἠπίστασο.

ΗΛ. μή μ᾽ ἐκδίδασκε τοῖς φίλοις εἶναι κακήν. 395

ΧΡ. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ διδάσκω· τοῖς κρατοῦσι δ᾽ εἰκαθεῖν εἰκάθειν LA Pal. (gl. ὑποτάσσεσθαι) Elms. corr..

ΗΛ. σὺ ταῦτα θώπευ· οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις.

ΧΡ. καλόν γε μέντοι μὴ ἐξ ἀβουλίας πεσεῖν.

ΗΛ. πεσούμεθ᾽, εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.

ΧΡ. πατὴρ δὲ τούτων, οἶδα, συγγνώμην ἔχει. 400

ΗΛ. ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τἄπη πρὸς κακῶν ἐπαινέσαι.

ΧΡ. σὺ δ᾽ οὐχὶ πείσει καὶ συναινέσεις ἐμοί;

ΗΛ. οὐ δῆτα, μή πω νοῦ τοσόνδ᾽ εἴην κενή.

ΧΡ. χωρήσομαί ο from a L. τἄρ᾽ οἶπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ.

ΗΛ. ποῖ δ᾽ ἐμπορεύει ἐμπορεύηι L (μ from v C¹) A Pal.; τῷ φέρεις τάδ᾽ ἔμπυρα ; 405

ΧΡ. μήτηρ με πέμπει πατρὶ τυμβεῦσαι χοάς.

ΗΛ. πῶς εἶπας; ἢ ἡ εἰ L. 7 C5 or 8 A. L2. τῷ δυσμενεστάτῳ βροτῶν;

ΧΡ. ὃν ἔκταν᾿ αὐτή, τοῦτο γὰρ λέξαι θέλεις.

ΗΛ͵ ἐκ τοῦ φίλων πεισθεῖσα; τῷ τοῦτ᾽ ἤρεσεν ;

ΧΡ. ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί. 410

ΗΛ. ὦ θεοὶ πατρῷοι, συγγένεσθέ γ᾽ ἀλλὰ νῦν.

ΧΡ. ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

ΗΛ. εἴ μοι λέγοις λέγεις LAΓ. λέγεις Pal. Tricl. corr. τὴν ὄψιν, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν τότε.

ΧΡ. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κάτοιδα πλὴν ἐπὶ σμικρὸν σμικροῦ, ων L pr. v into v and ων C5. σμικρῶι AL2. σμικρὸν Γ. φράσαι.

ΗΛ.

Current edition Experimental

And have they so determined on my life? 385

CHR ’Tis certain; when Aegisthus comes again.

EL If that be all, let him return with speed!

CHR Unhappy! why this curse upon thyself?

EL If this be their intent, why, let him come!

CHR To work such harm on thee! What thought is this! 390

EL Far from mine eye to banish all your brood.

CHR Art not more tender of the life thou hast?

EL Fair, to a marvel, is my life, I trow!

CHR It would be, couldst thou be advised for good.

EL Never advise me to forsake my kin. 395

CHR I do not: only to give place to power.

EL Thine be such flattery. ’Tis not my way.

CHR Sure, to be wrecked by rashness is not well.

EL Let me be wrecked in ’venging my own sire.

CHR I trust his pardon for my helplessness. 400

EL Such talk hath commendation from the vile.

CHR Wilt thou not listen? Wilt thou ne’er be ruled?

EL No; not by thee! Let me not sink so low.

CHR Then I will hie me on mine errand straight.

EL Stay; whither art bound? For whom to spend those gifts? 405

CHR Sent by my mother to my father’s tomb To pour libations to him.

EL How? To him? Most hostile to her of all souls that are?

CHR Who perished by her hand—so thou wouldst say.

EL What friend hath moved her? Who hath cared for this?

CHR Methinks ’twas some dread vision, seen by night. 410

EL Gods of my father, O be with me now!

CHR What? art thou hopeful from the fear I spake of?

EL Tell me the dream, and I will answer thee.

CHR I know but little of it.

EL

So hätten sie beschlossen, das mir anzuthun?

Chrysothemis. Gewiß, sobald Aegisthos wieder heimgekehrt.

Elektra. Er komme deßhalb immerhin sogleich zurück!

Chrysothemis. Unsel'ge, was erflehst du dir mit diesem Wort? 380

Elektra. Er möge kommen, wenn er so zu thun gedenkt.

Chrysothemis. Nach welchem Leid verlangt dich? Wo geräthst du hin?

Elektra. In fernste Fernen wünsch' ich wegzuflieh'n von euch.

Chrysothemis. Und dieses Leben, das dir blüht, Nichts achtest du's?

Elektra. Traun, herrlich ist mein Leben, zum Bewundern schön. 385

Chrysothemis. Wohl wär' es also, kenntest du Besonnenheit.

Elektra. Mich lehre nicht, den Meinen ungetreu zu sein.

Chrysothemis. Das lehr' ich nicht; doch vor den Mächtigen beuge dich!

Elektra. So schmiege du dich; meiner Art ist dieses fremd.

Chrysothemis. Doch rus' ich: Heil dir, fällst du nicht durch Unbedacht. 390

Elektra. Den Vater rächend fall' ich, wenn ich fallen muß.

ἢ ταῦτα δή με καὶ βεβούλευνται ποιεῖν πο(ι)εῖν ? L. ;
385

ΧΡ.

μάλισθ'· ὅταν περ οἴκαδ᾽ Αἴγισθος μόλῃ.

ΗΛ.

ἀλλ᾽ ἐξίκοιτο τοῦδέ γ' οἵνεκ᾽ ἐν τάχει.

ΧΡ.

τίν, ὦ τάλαινα, τόνδ᾽ ἐπηράσω λόγον;

ΗΛ.

ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, εἴ τι τῶνδε δρᾶν νοεῖ.

ΧΡ.

ὅπως πάθῃς τί χρῆμα; ποῦ ποτ᾽ εἶ φρενῶν ;
390

ΗΛ.

ὅπως ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν ὡς προσώτατ᾽ ἐκφύγω.

ΧΡ.

βίου δὲ τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μνείαν ἔχεις;

ΗΛ.

καλὸς γὰρ οὑμὸς βίοτος ὥστε θαυμάσαι.

ΧΡ.

ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἄν, εἰ σύ γ' εὖ φρονεῖν ἠπίστασο.

ΗΛ.

μή μ᾽ ἐκδίδασκε τοῖς φίλοις εἶναι κακήν.
395

ΧΡ.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ διδάσκω· τοῖς κρατοῦσι δ᾽ εἰκαθεῖν εἰκάθειν LA Pal. (gl. ὑποτάσσεσθαι) Elms. corr..

ΗΛ.

σὺ ταῦτα θώπευ· οὐκ ἐμοὺς τρόπους λέγεις.

ΧΡ.

καλόν γε μέντοι μὴ ἐξ ἀβουλίας πεσεῖν.

ΗΛ.

πεσούμεθ᾽, εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι.

ΧΡ.

πατὴρ δὲ τούτων, οἶδα, συγγνώμην ἔχει.
400

ΗΛ.

ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τἄπη πρὸς κακῶν ἐπαινέσαι.

ΧΡ.

σὺ δ᾽ οὐχὶ πείσει καὶ συναινέσεις ἐμοί;

ΗΛ.

οὐ δῆτα, μή πω νοῦ τοσόνδ᾽ εἴην κενή.

ΧΡ.

χωρήσομαί ο from a L. τἄρ᾽ οἶπερ ἐστάλην ὁδοῦ.

ΗΛ.

ποῖ δ᾽ ἐμπορεύει ἐμπορεύηι L (μ from v C¹) A Pal.; τῷ φέρεις τάδ᾽ ἔμπυρα ;
405

ΧΡ.

μήτηρ με πέμπει πατρὶ τυμβεῦσαι χοάς.

ΗΛ.

πῶς εἶπας; ἢ ἡ εἰ L. 7 C5 or 8 A. L2. τῷ δυσμενεστάτῳ βροτῶν;

ΧΡ.

ὃν ἔκταν᾿ αὐτή, τοῦτο γὰρ λέξαι θέλεις.

ΗΛ͵

ἐκ τοῦ φίλων πεισθεῖσα; τῷ τοῦτ᾽ ἤρεσεν ;

ΧΡ.

ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί.
410

ΗΛ.

ὦ θεοὶ πατρῷοι, συγγένεσθέ γ᾽ ἀλλὰ νῦν.

ΧΡ.

ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι;

ΗΛ.

εἴ μοι λέγοις λέγεις LAΓ. λέγεις Pal. Tricl. corr. τὴν ὄψιν, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν τότε.

ΧΡ.

ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κάτοιδα πλὴν ἐπὶ σμικρὸν σμικροῦ, ων L pr. v into v and ων C5. σμικρῶι AL2. σμικρὸν Γ. φράσαι.

And have they so determined on my life?
385

CHR

’Tis certain; when Aegisthus comes again.

EL

If that be all, let him return with speed!

CHR

Unhappy! why this curse upon thyself?

EL

If this be their intent, why, let him come!

CHR

To work such harm on thee! What thought is this!
390

EL

Far from mine eye to banish all your brood.

CHR

Art not more tender of the life thou hast?

EL

Fair, to a marvel, is my life, I trow!

CHR

It would be, couldst thou be advised for good.

EL

Never advise me to forsake my kin.
395

CHR

I do not: only to give place to power.

EL

Thine be such flattery. ’Tis not my way.

CHR

Sure, to be wrecked by rashness is not well.

EL

Let me be wrecked in ’venging my own sire.

CHR

I trust his pardon for my helplessness.
400

EL

Such talk hath commendation from the vile.

CHR

Wilt thou not listen? Wilt thou ne’er be ruled?

EL

No; not by thee! Let me not sink so low.

CHR

Then I will hie me on mine errand straight.

EL

Stay; whither art bound? For whom to spend those gifts?
405

CHR

Sent by my mother to my father’s tomb

To pour libations to him.

EL

How? To him?

Most hostile to her of all souls that are?

CHR

Who perished by her hand—so thou wouldst say.

EL

What friend hath moved her? Who hath cared for this?

CHR

Methinks ’twas some dread vision, seen by night.
410

EL

Gods of my father, O be with me now!

CHR

What? art thou hopeful from the fear I spake of?

EL

Tell me the dream, and I will answer thee.

CHR

I know but little of it.

Chrysothemis.

Gewiß, sobald Aegisthos wieder heimgekehrt.

Elektra.

Er komme deßhalb immerhin sogleich zurück!

Chrysothemis.

Unsel'ge, was erflehst du dir mit diesem Wort?
380

Elektra.

Er möge kommen, wenn er so zu thun gedenkt.

Chrysothemis.

Nach welchem Leid verlangt dich? Wo geräthst du hin?

Elektra.

In fernste Fernen wünsch' ich wegzuflieh'n von euch.

Chrysothemis.

Und dieses Leben, das dir blüht, Nichts achtest du's?

Elektra.

Traun, herrlich ist mein Leben, zum Bewundern schön.
385

Chrysothemis.

Wohl wär' es also, kenntest du Besonnenheit.

Elektra.

Mich lehre nicht, den Meinen ungetreu zu sein.

Chrysothemis.

Das lehr' ich nicht; doch vor den Mächtigen beuge dich!

Elektra.

So schmiege du dich; meiner Art ist dieses fremd.

Chrysothemis.

Doch rus' ich: Heil dir, fällst du nicht durch Unbedacht.
390

Elektra.

Den Vater rächend fall' ich, wenn ich fallen muß.

Chrysothemis.

Der Vater, weiß ich, er vergibt mir dieses wohl.

Elektra.

Ein solches Wort zu loben, steht nur Feigen an.

Chrysothemis.

Du willst auf mich nicht hören, ſtimmst nicht ein mit mir?

Elektra.

Nein, wahrlich! Nimmer sei ich so von Sinne leer!
395

Chrysothemis.

So werd' ich gehen, wo ich hingesendet ward.

Elektra.

Wo gehst du hin? Wem bringst du dieses Opfer hier?