Sophocles Electra 1

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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OLD MAN
ORESTES and the Old Man — PYLADES is present. 1
Son of the king who led the Achaean host
1
Erewhile beleaguering Troy, ’tis thine to day
1
To see around thee what through many a year
1
Thy forward spirit hath sighed for. Argolis
1
Lies here before us, hallowed as the scene
Of Io’s wildering pain: yonder, the mart
Named from the wolf slaying God, and there, to our left,
Hera’s famed temple. For we reach the bourn
Of far renowned Mycenae, rich in gold
And Pelops’ fatal roofs before us rise,
Haunted with many horrors, whence my hand,
Thy murdered sire then lying in his gore,
Received thee from thy sister, and removed
Where I have kept thee safe and nourished thee
To this bright manhood thou dost bear, to be
5
The avenger of thy father’s bloody death.
5
Wherefore, Orestes, and thou, Pylades,
5
Dearest of friends, though from a foreign soil,
5
Prepare your enterprise with speed. Dark night
Is vanished with her stars, and day’s bright orb
Hath waked the birds of morn into full song.
Now, then, ere foot of man go forth, ye two
Knit counsels. ’Tis no time for shy delay:
The very moment for your act is come.

Electra. Sophocles. Lewis Campbell (Translator). London, New York and Toronto. 1906.

Current edition Experimental

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1 focus
Ὦ τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος γρ. τυραννήσαντος ἐν Τροίᾳ ποτὲ
1
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-120 focus
Translations (4)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
O Sohn des Feldherrn, der in Troas einst gebot, 1
1
Des Agamemnon, endlich ist es dir vergönnt,
Zu schaun mit Augen, was zu schaun dich stets verlangt.
Dein graues Argos, deiner Sehnsucht Land, ist hier, 2
Der wuthgeschlagnen Inachid' uralter Hain;
5
Das dort, Orestes, ist der Markt des Lykiers,
Des wolferlegenden Gottes, und zur Liuken hier
Der Hera stolzer Tempel: wo wir hingelangt,
Schaust du Mykenä's Veste, reich an goldnem Schaz,
Und hier der Pelopsenkel unheilschwangres Haus,
10
Wo nach des Vaters grausem Tod ich ehedem
Von deiner Schwester dich empfing und weiter trug
Und rettet' und zu solcher Jugendblüte dich
Aufzog, dereinst zu rächen deines Vaters Mord.
Nun denn, Orestes, und o du, mein Pylades,
15
Der Freunde liebster, was zu thun, berathet schnell:
Denn schon erweckt der Sonne strahlenvoller Glanz
Der Vögel Morgenstimmen uns zu hellem Schall;
Die schwarze Nacht der Sterne schwand in's Dunkel hin.
Drum eh' ein Mann aus dieses Hauses Pforte tritt,
20
Beredet euch zusammen; denn wir stehen da,
Wo's nimmer gilt zu säumen, wo's der That bedarf.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1 focus
Governor
1
O son of gi^eat Atrides ! he who led
1
Embattled Greece to Troy's devoted walls,
1
At length behold what thy desmng eyes
1
So long have sought. Behold thy native soil,
1
Thy much-loved Argos, and the hallowed grove
Of lo, frantic maid. On this side lies
The Lycian forum, on the left the fane
Of Juno, far renowned. Behold ! we come
To rich Mycense, and the slaughterous house
Of Pelops' hapless race, from whose sad walls
Long since I bore thee, at thy sister's hand
Gladly rocoivod, niul with paternal oiire
To this blest clay have fostered up thy youth,
Till riper years should give thee to return,
And pay with dire revenge thy father's murder.
Now, my Orestes, and thou dear companior
5
Of all our suft'erings, much-loved Pylades,
5
Let deepest counsel sway our just resolves ;
5
/For lo ! resplendent Pha-bus wifh his light
/ Calls up t lie cheerful birds to early song,
VAnd gloomy night hath lost her starry train :
Pours forth her busy throngs, this instant here
JiOt us consult. Believe me, 'tis no time
For dull delay ; 'tis the decisive hour,
And this the very crisis of our fate.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1 focus
Attendant
ORESTES, PYLADES, ATTENDANT. 1
THOU son of Agamemnon, who 'gainst Troy
1
Once led the pow'rs of Greece, now may thine eyes
1
Behold what long hath raised thy ardent wish.
1
This is the ancient Argos; this the grove
Of Iö, stung with frenzy o'er the earth
To wander; the Lycæan forum this
Of the Lycæan Phœbus; on the left
Glorious through Greece that stately temple stands
Sacred to Juno. Now we are advanced
Whence thou may'st see Mycenæ rich in gold;
And this the house of the Pelopidæ
5
With frequent slaughters stain'd: in times long past,
5
Beneath his murderers when thy father fell,
5
I took thee from thy sister's pious hand,
I bore thee hence, I saved thee, to this age
I train'd thee to avenge thy father's blood.
This hour, Orestes, and thou faithful friend,
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-120 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-1-1 ὧν 1 πρόθυμος ἦσθ’ 2

mvp-comment-2-1 Coming from Phocis, the travellers have reached Mycenae by the road from Corinth, and are now standing on the high ground of the Mycenaean citadel, in front of the palace.

mvp-comment-2-2 The old man, looking southward, points out the chief features of the landscape. (1) The Argive plain, which lies spread out before them to the south and west. (2) The agora and temple of Apollo Lyceios in the city of Argos, distant about six miles to the south. This temple was the most conspicuous object in the town ( Paus. 2. 19. 3 ); and it may be supposed that a person standing at Mycenae could see the building, or part of it. (3) The Heraeum, correctly described as being on the speaker's left hand. Its site was S. E. of Mycenae, at a distance of somewhat less than two miles.

mvp-comment-2-3 The poet's aim was merely to group these famous places in one view. Neither he nor his Athenian hearers would care whether the topography was minutely accurate. W. G. Clark, in his Peloponnesus (p. 72), illustrates this presumable indifference by a stage direction in Victor Hugo's Marie Tudor:—‘Palais de Richmond: dans le fond à gauche l'Église de Westminster, à droite la Tour de Londres.’ But, in fact, there is only one error of detail. The Heraeum was not visible from Mycenae (v. 8, n.).

mvp-comment-2-4 Ἄργος 3

mvp-comment-2-5 παλαιὸν 4

mvp-comment-3-1 τῆς οἰστροπλ … Ἰνάχου κόρης 5

mvp-comment-3-2 His daughter Io, the first priestess of Hera, was loved by Zeus, and changed by the jealous goddess into a cow. The hundred-eyed Argus, charged by Hera to watch her, bound her to an olive-tree in the temenos of the Heraeum ( Apollod. 2. 1. 3 ). Hermes slew Argus; and Hera then sent the gad-fly which drove Io forth from Argolis on her wanderings. Cp. Aesch. P. V. 681

οἰστροπλὴξ δ’ ἐγὼ
|
μάστιγι θείᾳ γῆν πρὸ γῆς ἐλαύνομαι
. Io, the horned wanderer, was originally, like Hera herself, a moon-goddess.

mvp-comment-3-3 ἄλσος 6

mvp-comment-4-1 The ἀγορὰ Λύκειος 7

mvp-comment-4-2 Λύκειος 8 λυκοκτόνος 9

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

1. mvp-comment-1-1 στρατήγησαντος] γρ. τυραννήσαντος C2.

3. mvp-comment-2-1 λεύσσειν] λεύσειν ΑΓΕΙ, λεύσσειν Ας.

3. mvp-comment-2-2 ὧν πρόθυμος ἦσθ᾽ ἀεί] Cp. Od. 1. 40, 1, ἐκ γὰρ᾿ Ορέσταο τίσις ἔσσεται... ὁππότ᾽ ἂν ἡβήσῃ τε καὶ ἧς ἱμείρεται αἴης.

4. mvp-comment-3-1 οὑπόθεις] οὗ retouched L. οὗ ἐπόθεις Α.

7. mvp-comment-4-1 οὐξ] δύξ Α.

7. mvp-comment-4-2 ἀγορὰ Λύκειος] The temple of Apollo in the agora seems to have been the most sacred place in Argos. See Thuc. 5. 47, where it is enacted that the terms of the treaty shall be inscribed by the Argives ἐν στήλῃ λιθίνῃ . . ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἐν τοῦ ᾿Απόλλωνος τῷ ἱερῷ.

1-2. mvp-comment-5-1 The old man who has taken charge of Orestes since the time of his father's murder ( infr. 11 foll., cp. 1348 foll.) now does for him what Achilles hoped that Patroclus would have done for Neoptolemus, Il. 19. 328-333, πρὶν μὲν γάρ μοι θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἐώλπειν | οἷον ἐμὲ φθίσεσθαι ἀπ᾿ ᾿Αργεος ἱπποβότοιο | αὐτοῦ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ, σὲ δε τε Φθίηνδε νέεσθαι, | ὡς ἄν μοι τὸν παῖδα θοῇ ἐνὶ νηὶ μελαίνῃ | Σκυρόθεν ἐξαγάγοις, καί οἱ δείξειας ἕκαστα, | κτῆσιν ἐμὴν δμῶάς τε καὶ ὑψερεφὲς μέγα δῶμα. Cp. also Od. 13. 344 foll. where Athena points out the features of Ithaca to Odysseus. ὦ τοῦ.. παῖ] The heroic achievements of his father afford the chief incentive to the mind of Orestes. Cp. infr. 694, 5, ὄνομα δ᾽ Ορέστης, τοῦ τὸ κλεινὸν Ἑλλάδος | ᾿Αγαμέμνονος στράτευμ᾽ ἀγείραντός ποτε.

4-7. mvp-comment-6-1 The description passes from what is general and remote to what is nearest to the eye. 'Argos' here includes the plain of Argos (as even in Thuc. 6. 105, ἐς τὸ ᾿Αργος ἐσέβαλον). Mycenae is the seat of government, and the site of the future city of Argos, supposed at this time to be still inhabited village-wise,' is marked by the ἀγορὰ Λύκειος. It is not necessary to suppose that all the objects mentioned here could really be taken into one view. But the site of Mycenae commands the whole plain. The Heraeum, according to Pausanias, would really be on the left hand of those approaching Mycenae by way of Corinth. See Mr. Paley's note. Apollo Lyceius is here the wolf-slayer, i. e. the protector of the flock, perhaps with reference to Aegisthus, who is called a wolf in Aesch. Ag. 1259. Aeschylus (S. c. T. 145) connects Λύκειος with λύκος in a different way (Λύκει' ἄναξ, Λύκειος γενοῦ στρατῷ δαΐῳ).

5. mvp-comment-7-1 ἄλσος] 'The sacred ground,' i. e. the place consecrated by her first wanderings when her father sent her ἄφετον ἀλᾶσθαι (Aesch. Prom. 666). Cp. Aesch. Suppl. 50, ἐν ποιονόμοις ματρὸς ἀρχαίας τόποις, Ant. 845, Θήβας εὐαρμάτου ἄλσος.