Sophocles Electra 558

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Turn
← Previous Next →
Then I will speak. You say you slew him. Where
Could there be found confession more depraved,
Even though the cause were righteous? But I’ll prove
No rightful vengeance drew thee to the deed,
But the vile bands of him you dwell with now.
Or ask the huntress Artemis, what sin
She punished, when she tied up all the winds
Round Aulis.—I will tell thee, for her voice
Thou ne’er may’st hear! ’Tis rumoured that my sire,
Sporting within the goddess’ holy ground,
His foot disturbed a dappled hart, whose death
Drew from his lips some rash and boastful word.
Wherefore Latona’s daughter in fell wrath
Stayed the army, that in quittance for the deer
My sire should slay at the altar his own child.
So came her sacrifice. The Achaean fleet
Had else no hope of being launched to Troy
560
Nor to their homes. Wherefore, with much constraint
560
And painful urging of his backward will,
560
Hardly he yielded;—not for his brother’s sake.
560
But grant thy speech were sooth, and all were done
560
In aid of Menelaüs; for this cause
560
Hadst thou the right to slay him? What high law
560
Ordaining? Look to it, in establishing
560
Such precedent thou dost not lay in store
Repentance for thyself. For if by right
One die for one, thou first wilt be destroyed
If Justice find thee.—But again observe
The hollowness of thy pretended plea.
Tell me, I pray, what cause thou dost uphold
In doing now the basest deed of all,
Chambered with the blood-guilty, with whose aid
Thou slewest our father in that day. For him
You now bear children—ousting from their right
The stainless offspring of a holy sire.
How should this plead for pardon? Wilt thou say
Thus thou dost ’venge thy daughter’s injury?
O shameful plea? Where is the thought of honour,
If foes are married for a daughter’s sake?—
Enough. No words can move thee. Thy rash tongue
With checkless clamour cries that we revile
Our mother. Nay, no mother, but the chief
Of tyrants to us! For my life is full
Of weariness and misery from thee
And from thy paramour. While he abroad,
Orestes, our one brother, who escaped
Hardly from thy attempt, unhappy boy!
Wears out his life, victim of cross mischance.
Oft hast thou taunted me with fostering him
To be thy punisher. And this, be sure,
Had I but strength, I had done. Now for this word,
Proclaim me what thou wilt,—evil in soul,
Or loud in cursing, or devoid of shame:
For if I am infected with such guilt,
Methinks my nature is not fallen from thine.

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)) — 558 focus
καὶ δὴ λέγω σοι, πατέρα φὴς κτεῖναι. τίς ἂν
τούτου λόγος γένοιτ' ἂν αἰσχίων ἔτι ἐτ΄...? ἔτ᾽ ἂν L. ἔτι AFL2.,
εἴτ᾿ οὖν δικαίως εἴτε μή; λέξω δέ σοι,
560
ὡς οὐ οὖν L. δίκῃ γ᾽ ἔκτεινας, ἀλλά σ᾽ ἔσπασεν
πειθὼ πιθὼ L Pal. κακοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρός, ᾧ τανῦν ξύνει.
ἐροῦ δὲ τὴν κυναγὸν Ἄρτεμιν, τίνος
ποινὰς ποινῆς A. ποινὰς 13. ποινᾶς Γ Pal. V. τὰ πολλὰ πνεύματ᾽ ἔσχεν gl. ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπέσχεν ἐν τῇ V'. Αὐλίδι ηὐδίωι L. αὐλίδι C.·
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 516-822 focus
Translations (4)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 558 focus
Wohlan, so red' ich. Du bekennst des Vaters Mord.
Wo gibt's ein grauenvoll'res Wort, als dieses ist,
Du möchtest Recht thun oder nicht? Doch sag' ich dir,
Es war ein Unrecht, dieser Mord! Dich hat verlockt,
545
Beschwazt der Frevler, dem du jezt als Weib gehörst.
Frag' Artemis, die Jägerin, um welche Schuld
Sie zürnend aller Winde Macht in Aulis band.
Nein, sag' ich's selbst; denn sie zu fragen ziemt sich nicht.
Mein Vater (also ward mir kund) erging sich einst
550
Im Hain der Göttin und erjagt' in raschem Lauf
Den bunten hochgehörnten Hirsch, und als er ihn
Erlegt, entfiel ihm prahlerisch ein stolzes Wort.
Drob zürnte Leto's Tochter ihm und hielt zurück 1
Das Heer Achäa's, bis der Vater als Ersaz
555
Des Wildes ihr die eigne Tochter opferte.
So wurde sie das Opfer; Nichts vermochte sonst
Heimwärts das Heer zu fördern oder Troja zu.
Hiefür, nach vielem Sträuben und gezwungen, gab
Er sie zum Opfer, aber für Menelaos nicht.
560
Doch wenn er denn nun red' ich auch in deinem Sinn -
Um ihm zu helfen, solches that: verdient' er wohl
Deßhalb den Tod von deiner Hand? Nach welchem Recht?
Bedenke, wenn du dies Gesez den Menschen gibst,
Ob du dir selbst nicht herbes Leid und Reue schaffst.
565
Denn wenn der Mord des Einen büßt des Andern Mord,
Stirbst du zuerst wohl, wenn es nach dem Rechte geht.
Doch siehe nur: welch eitlen Vorwand schaffst du dir!
Denn sage, (wenn es dir gefällt) warum du jezt
Der grauenvollsten Thaten dich erkühnen magst,
570
Du, die des Mörders Lager theilt, mit welchem du
Verbunden meinen Vater mir vordem erschlugst,
Mit dem du Kinder zeugest, und die ächten, einst 2
Aus ächter Eh' entspross'nen, ausgetrieben hast.
Wie könnt' ich dieses loben? Oder wirst du hier
575
Auch sagen, daß du Rache für die Tochter nahmst?
Schmach, es nur zu sagen! Denn nie ziemt es sich,
Der Tochter wegen einem Feind sich anzutrau'n.
Doch dich zurechtzuweisen ist mir nicht vergönnt;
Denn tausendfältig russt du, daß wir ungescheut
580
Die Mutter lästern; freilich dünkt es mich, du seist
Viel mehr die Herrin, als die Mutter, gegen uns:
In solcher Mühsal leb' ich, so durch deine Schuld
Und deines Buhlen duld' ich stets vielfache Noth.
So schleppt Orestes, deinen Händen kaum entfloh'n,
585
Auswärts in Jammer ein verlor'nes Leben hin,
Er, welchen ich dir, wie du mich schon oft gezieh'n,
Als Rachegeist erziehe: traun, vermöcht' ich das,
Ich thät' es, sei versichert! So verrufe mich
Vor aller Welt denn immerhin als arggesinnt,
590
Als zungenfrech, als ledig alles Schamgefühls.
Denn wenn ich dieser Laster wohlerfahren bin,
Gereich' ich deinem Stamme doch zur Schande nicht.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 558 focus
Hast thou not confessed
That thou didst slay my father ? Whether justice
Approve or not, 'twas horrid to confess it :
But justice never could persuade thee — no !
I'll tell thee who it was, it was ^gisthus.
The wretch wdth whom thou liv'st. Go ask the goddess.
The immortal huntress, why the winds were stayed
So long at Aiilis. But thou must not ask
The chaste Diana ! Take it, then, from me.
My father once, as for the chase prepared,
Cai'eless he wandered through her wecret grove,
Forth from its covert roused a spotted hind
Of fairest form, with towering antlers graced,
Pursued and slew her. Of the deity
Something with pride elate he uttered then
Disdainful. Quick resenting the affront,
Latona's daughter stayed the Grecian fleet,
Nor would forgive, till for her slaughtered beast
560
Th' offending father sacrificed his child.
560
Thus Iphigenia fell ; and but for her
560
Greece ne'er had seen or Ilion's lofty towers,
560
Or her own native soil. The father strove
560
In vain to save, and not for Menelaus
560
He gave her up at last, but for his country.
560
Suppose a brother's fondness had prevailed,
560
And she was given for him, would that excuse
560
Thy horrid deed? What laAv required it of thee ?
That law alone by w^hich thyself must fall ;
If blood for blood be due, thy doom is fixed.
Plead not so poorly then, but tell me why
Thou liv'st adultrous thus with a vile ruflian,
Thy base assistant ? Why are those who sprung
From thy first nuptials cast unkindly forth
For his new race ? Was this thy piety ?
Was this, too, to revenge thy daughter's death ?
In pure revenge to wed her deadhest foe
Was noble, was it not ? But I forget :
You are my mother — so it seems you say —
And I must hold my peace. But I deny it ;
I say your are my mistress, not my mother —
A cruel mistress that afliicts my soul,
And makes this weary life a burthen to me.
Orestes too, the hapless fugitive.
Who once escaped thy fatal hand, now drags
A loathsome being. Him, thou sayst, I looked for
To join in my revenge, and so I did ;
T would have been revenged, I tell thee so.
Say, I am base, malicious, impudent,
Abusive, what thou wilt ; for if I am
It speaks my birth, and I resemble thee.
Chob. Kesentment deep hath fired the virgin's
breast ;
Whether with truth and justice on her side
She speak, I know not.
Cly. Can they plead for her ?
What care, what love, or tenderness is due
To an abandoned child, who shameless thus
Keviles a pai-ent ? I*-tttere, iifteF^isT^
A criTQft in nature shajgould blush to act ?
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 558 focus
Then I will speak. My father by thy hand
Was slain: thou freely dost avow the deed.
And can there be a deed of blacker stain,
E'en though he justly died? But I will say
That not with justice didst thou strike the blow.
No: the persuasions of that wicked man,
Thy base compeer in guilt, allured thee. Ask
The huntress queen Diana, why so long
At Aulis vengeful she restrain'd the winds;
Or I will tell thee; her thou may'st not ask!
My father, sporting in her sacred grove,
Once roused a dappled Hart, that bore aloft.
His branching horns; and glorying in the prize
Utter'd some vaunting words: at these incensed
The daughter of Latona in that port
Detain'd the fleet of Greece, that for her Hart,
A recompense my father might present...
His daughter: to the goddess thus she fell
A victim; else the fleet had been detain'd
560
Moor'd in that bay, and not a gale had 'swell'd
560
Their sails for Troy, or to the ports of Greece.
560
For this, reluctant and by sad constraint,
560
He sacrificed his daughter, just to Greece,
560
Not for his brother's sake. But (to allow
560
Thy plea) to grace the Spartan had his wille
560
Been to the deed assenting, for that cause
560
Behoved it thee to slay him? By what fight?
Take heed thou givest not sanction to a law
'Mongst mortals, which with vengeance will recoil
On thine own head. If blood must be repaid
With blood, if justice doth her office, thou: A
The first must die. Take heed, nor urge a plea
Of no avail. But tell me, if thy will
Assents to tell me, why dost thou persist
In actions most disgraceful to thy fame?
Why with a blood-stain'd murderer share thy couch,
Thy vile associate in my father's death?
How canst thou bear him children, and expose .TYD
As outcasts those, who from an hallow'd bed
Sprung hallow'd? How can I approve these things?
Or wilt thou say that for thy daughter's death/
These deeds are done to satiate thy revenge?
Shame on thee if thou say'st so; for to wedi
An hostile ruffian for a daughter's sake, d
Throws a foul stain on honour. But thy soul
Rejects monition: ever on thy tongue
Is this complaint, that we with rudé reproach({
Insult our mother: Am I then thy child?
Rather thy slave, and lead a servile life, fina
Ever beneath the yoke of ills oppress'd TI
By thee and thy compeer. Thy other child,
The poor Orestes, scarce escaped thy handjofT TVD
With misery, exiled from his country, lives
Oft dost thou taunt me that I train the Youth
To vengeance on thee: be thou well assured
This I had done, had I the pow'r. Now go,
Proclaim me to the world as base of soul, O
As insolent of tongue, as lost to shamed wo
If in these arts I am expert, they showlon is
That nor thy nature I disgrace, nor thee.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 516-820 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-46-1 μηδὲν πρόσθεν 1

mvp-comment-46-2 τὰ Λοξίου 2

mvp-comment-46-3 ἀρχηγετεῖν 3

mvp-comment-47-1 πατρὸς 4

mvp-comment-47-2 λουτρά 5

mvp-comment-47-3 φέρει … ἐφ’ ἡμῖν 6

mvp-comment-47-4 νίκην 7 κράτος τῶν δρωμένων 8

mvp-comment-47-5 All three actors now leave the scene. Orestes and Pylades go to Agamemnon's grave,—departing, probably, by the entrance on the spectators' right. The Paedagogus leaves by the entrance on the left,—to await the moment for seeking admission to the house (v. 660).—It might, indeed, be inferred from

πειρώμεθ’
(83) that the old man goes with the youths to their task; but the word need not imply more than his participation in the plan. while verses 73—75 seem clearly to indicate that he separates from his companions. When they have gone, Electra enters from the house.

mvp-comment-48-1 A

θρῆνος ἀπὸ σκηνῆς
, or lyric lament delivered by an actor alone. as dist. from the joint
κομμός
of actor and Chorus (121 n.).

mvp-comment-48-2 Verses 86—102 form a

σύστημα
,=vv. 103—120 (
ἀντισύστημα
). If the text is sound, the correspondence is not exact, since the dimeter in v. 99 answers to a monometer in v. 116. These anapaests are, however, of the type usually known as ‘free’ or ‘melic,’ as having more of a lyric character than the regular anapaests of the marching-songs (like those of the Parodos in the Ajax): see W. Christ, Metrik, 2nd ed., § 288. And in such anapaests the symmetry of ‘systems’ is often not strict (cp. O. C. 117 n.).

mvp-comment-48-3 ὦ φάος ἁγνὸν 9

mvp-comment-48-4 γῆς ἰσόμοιρ’ ἀήρ 10

mvp-comment-48-5 ἰσόμοιῤ 11 ἰσόμοιρος 12

mvp-comment-49-1 πολλὰς μὲν … ᾔσθου 13

mvp-comment-49-2 ἀντήρεις 14

mvp-comment-50-1 πληγὰς 15 πλαγὰς 16

mvp-comment-51-1 ὑπολειφθῇ 17 ᾔσθου 18

mvp-comment-52-1 τὰ … παννυχίδων 19 ξυνίσας’ 20 ὅσα … θρηνῶ 21

mvp-comment-52-2 ἤδη 22

mvp-comment-52-3 The MS. οἴκων 23 λέκτρων 24 μογερῶν 25

mvp-comment-53-1 ὅσα τὸν δύστηνον 26

mvp-comment-54-1 κατὰ μὲν βάρβαρον αἶαν 27 ἐξένισεν 28

mvp-comment-55-1 Ἄρης 29

mvp-comment-55-2 ἐξένισεν 30

mvp-comment-56-1 κοινολεχὴς 31

mvp-comment-57-1 ὅπως δρῦν ὑλοτόμοι 32

mvp-comment-57-2 σχίζουσι 33

mvp-comment-57-3 κάρα 34

mvp-comment-57-4 πέλεκει 35

mvp-comment-58-1 ἄλλης 36

mvp-comment-58-2 φέρεται 37

mvp-comment-58-3 The deletion of the words ἀπ’ ἄλλης 38 ἢ )μοῦ 39

mvp-comment-59-1 ἀλλ’ οὐ μὲν δὴ 40

mvp-comment-60-1 ἄστρων 41

mvp-comment-60-2 Others read,

ἔστ’ ἂν λεύσσω παμφεγγεῖς
|
ῥιπάς, λεύσσω δὲ τόδ’ ἦμαρ
, omitting
ἄστρων
. But
παμφεγγεῖς ῥιπάς
, without
ἄστρων
, would not suffice to denote starlight. If, again, the phrase is taken to denote the sun's rays (as Monk proposes, Mus. Crit. I. p. 67), then
λεύσσω δὲ τόδ’ ἦμαρ
becomes weak. Further, the preceding context, in which she has spoken of her laments at night (92) and at morning, clearly suggests that the sense here is, ‘so long as I look on the stars or on the sun.’

mvp-comment-61-1 μὴ οὐ 42

mvp-comment-61-2 τεκνολέτειῤ 43

mvp-comment-62-1 ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ 44

mvp-comment-62-2 ἠχὼ 45

mvp-comment-63-1 Electra invokes, (1) the house of Hades and his bride Persephone, in which the spirit of Agamemnon now dwells; (2) Hermes, who, as

ψυχοπομπός
, conducted him thither,—and who will also guide the avengers on their way (1395 f.); (3)
Ἀρά
, the imprecation uttered by the victim upon his murderers,—the personified curse, here conceived as a supernatural power (
πότνια
), which calls the Erinyes into action; and (4) the Erinyes themselves.

mvp-comment-63-2 Ἀΐδου 46

mvp-comment-64-1 ὦ χθόνἰ Ἑρμῆ 47

mvp-comment-64-2 Ἀρά 48

mvp-comment-64-3 πότνια 49

mvp-comment-65-1 σεμναὶ 50

mvp-comment-65-2 θεῶν παῖδες 51

mvp-comment-66-1 ὁρᾶθ’ 52

mvp-comment-67-1 αἳ τοὺς εὐνὰς ὑποκλεπτομένους 53

mvp-comment-67-2 These much-impugned words appear genuine. The murder has been prompted by the guilty love:

δόλος ἦν ὁ φράσας, ἔρος ὁ κτείνας
(197). In Electra's thought, they are inseparable. The allusion to the love follows the reference to the murder, because she regards it as the crowning outrage (271
τὴν τελευταίαν ὕβριν
) that Clytaemnestra still lives with Aegisthus. Bloodshed was not the only sin which the Erinyes punished. They were the embodied sanctions of natural law, and every crime against the family came within their cognisance. (See Introd. to Homer, p. 51, § 13.) Indeed, Electra herself speaks of the unhallowed union as a special provocation to those Avengers: 275 f.
ἡ δ’ ὧδε τλήμων ὥστε τῷ μιάστορι
|
ξύνεστ’, Ἐρινὺν οὔτιν’ ἐκφοβουμένη
.

mvp-comment-68-1 τείσασθε 54

mvp-comment-69-1 ἡμετέρου 55 μοι 56

mvp-comment-69-2 καί μοι 57

mvp-comment-70-1 ἄγειν 58

mvp-comment-70-2 σωκῶ 59

mvp-comment-71-1 δυστανοτάτας 60

mvp-comment-72-1 τάκεις … οἰμωγὰν 61

mvp-comment-72-2 ἀκόρεστον 62

mvp-comment-72-3 τὸν πάλαι 63

mvp-comment-72-4 πάλαι 64 ἐκ 65

mvp-comment-72-5 ἀθεώτατα 66

mvp-comment-72-6 κακᾷ … χειρὶ πρόδοτον 67 χειρὶ 68

mvp-comment-72-7 ὡς 69

mvp-comment-72-8 ὁ τάδε πορὼν 70

mvp-comment-72-9 εἴ μοι θέμις 71

mvp-comment-73-1 γενέθλα 72

mvp-comment-73-2 γενναίων 73

mvp-comment-73-3 παραμύθ‐ 74 ιον 75

mvp-comment-74-1 ξυνίημι 76

mvp-comment-74-2 τάδ’ 77

mvp-comment-75-1 φυγγάνει 78

mvp-comment-75-2 οὐδ’ ἐθέλω 79

mvp-comment-76-1 μὴ οὐ 80

mvp-comment-76-2 τὸν ἐμὸν … πατέρ’ ἄθλιον 81

mvp-comment-77-1 παντοίας 82

mvp-comment-77-2 Electra's lyrics contain some Doricisms (129, 146 f., etc.): but it is best to retain

φιλότητος
, with the MSS. The form in
η
was so familiar through Homer that it may have been preferred to
φιλότατος
even in lyrics. Cp. 236 .

mvp-comment-78-1 ἀλύειν 83

mvp-comment-79-1 αἰαῖ, ἱκνοῦμαι 84

mvp-comment-80-1 τόν γ’ ἐξ Ἀΐδα … λίμνας 85

mvp-comment-80-2 παγκοίνου 86

mvp-comment-80-3 ἀνστάσεις 87

mvp-comment-81-1 οὔτε †γόοις οὔτε λιταῖσιν 88 οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ’ εὐχαῖς 89

mvp-comment-82-1 For the repetition of ἀλλά 90

mvp-comment-82-2 ἀπὸ τῶν μετρίων 91

mvp-comment-82-3 ἀμήχανον 92

mvp-comment-82-4 ο=ιόλλυσαι 93

mvp-comment-83-1 ἐν οἷς 94

mvp-comment-83-2 ἀνάλυσις … κακῶν 95

mvp-comment-83-3 τί μοι 96

mvp-comment-84-1 νήπιος 97

mvp-comment-84-2 γονέων 98

mvp-comment-85-1 ἐμέ γ’ … ἄραρεν 99

mvp-comment-85-2 φρένας 100

mvp-comment-86-1 αἰὲν Ἴτυν 101

mvp-comment-87-1 ὄρνις 102

mvp-comment-87-2 ἀτυζομένα 103

mvp-comment-87-3 Διὸς ἄγγελος 104

mvp-comment-88-1 Νιόβα, σὲ δ’ 105 θεόν 106

mvp-comment-88-2 ἅτ’ 107

mvp-comment-88-3 ἐν τάφῳ πετραίῳ 108

mvp-comment-89-1 αἰεὶ 109

mvp-comment-90-1 οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ 110

mvp-comment-91-1 πρὸς ὅ τι 111

mvp-comment-91-2 τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά 112

mvp-comment-92-1 οἷς 113 τῶν ἔνδον 114

mvp-comment-92-2 ὁμόθεν 115 γονᾷ ξύναιμος 116

mvp-comment-93-1 οἵα Χρ. ζώει 117

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

Κύπρια ἔπη
, as the schol. here mentions; a poem of which there is another trace in this play (566 ff.). Sophocles wrote an
Ἰφιγένεια
( Nauck, frag. Soph. 284—292 ); but her name is not mentioned in the reference to her death below (530—594). In Il. 9. 145 Agamemnon has three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodicè, Iphianassa: Homer does not mention Iphigeneia. Lucretius gives the name of Iphianassa to the victim at Aulis ( 1. 85 ).

mvp-comment-93-3 ζώει 118

mvp-comment-93-4 καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα 119

mvp-comment-94-1 ἀχέων 120

mvp-comment-94-2 Hermann, taking ἀχέων 121 κρυπτᾷ 122

mvp-comment-95-1 ὄλβιος, ὃν 123

mvp-comment-95-2 For the simple

ὅς
, instead of
ὅς γε
or
ὅστις
, with causal force, cp. below, 188, 261, 959; O.T. 817.

mvp-comment-96-1 δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν 124

mvp-comment-96-2 Διὸς εὔφρονι 125 βήματι 126

mvp-comment-96-3 γᾶν 127 γᾶ 128

mvp-comment-96-4 Ὀρέσταν 129 ὃν 130

mvp-comment-97-1 ἀκάματα 131

mvp-comment-97-2 ἀνύμφευτος 132 ἄτεκνος 133

mvp-comment-97-3 οἰχνῶ 134

mvp-comment-98-1 δάκρυσι μυδαλέα 135

mvp-comment-98-2 τὸν ἀνήνυτον 136

mvp-comment-98-3 οἶτον ἔχουσα 137

mvp-comment-99-1 ὧν τ’ ἔπαθ’ 138 ὧν τ’ ἐδάη 139

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 140

mvp-comment-99-4 ἀπατώμενον 141 τί … οὐκ 142

mvp-comment-99-5 Herwerden's οὐχί μοι 143 οὐκ ἐμοί 144 ὁ δέ 145

mvp-comment-100-1 ποθεῖ, ποθῶν δ’ 146

mvp-comment-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ 147 ἐν 148

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ 149

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα 150

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο 151 οἷς 152

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός 153 θεός 154

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ 155

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν 156

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 157 βουνόμον 158

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν 159 Κρῖσαν 160

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος 161

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα 162 ἀνάσσων 163 θεὸς 164

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν 165

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος 166

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος 167

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων
. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων 168 ἅτις 169 τοκέων 170

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί 171

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος 172

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους 173

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ 174

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις 175 ἀμφίσταμαι 176

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 177 κοίταις 178 οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ 179

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 180 ἐν 181

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις 182

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ 183 σοι 184 ἀνταία 185

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων 186

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος 187

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς 188 δεινὰν … μορφάν 189

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε 190 βροτῶν 191

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα 192

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ 193

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ 194

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων 195

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη 196 τοῖς 197 θανάτους 198

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν 199 διδύμοιν 200

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον 201

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς 202

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος 203

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα 204

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας 205

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο 206

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω 207

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις 208

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων 209

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ 210

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας 211

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν 212

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω 213

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ 214 οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς 215 πλάθειν 216

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά 217

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν 218

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην 219

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά 220 ἔξοιδ’ 221

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ 222

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς 223

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω 224

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας 225

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα 226

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με 227 σχήσω 228

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια 229 ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος 230 τίνι 231 πρόσφορον 232

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 233

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα 234

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται 235

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ 236

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος 237 θρήνων 238

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν 239 γε 240 εὐνοίᾳ 241

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις 242

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν 243

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις 244

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον 245 κακότατος 246

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε 247

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. 248

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ 249

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις 250

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ 251

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ 252

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος 253

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων 254 ἐκτίμους 255

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα 256

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων 257

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων 258

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ 259

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ 260

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν 261 ὢν 262 εἰ 263

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 264

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας 265

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ 266

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς 267 εὐσέβεια 268

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν 269

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ 270 τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν 271

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα 272

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα 273

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις 274

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ 275

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή 276

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα 277

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην 278

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα 279

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ 280

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα 281 ᾗ 282

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς 283

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν 284

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι 285

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι 286

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας 287 δοκεῖς 288

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω 289 εἰσίδω δ’ 290 ἴδω δὲ 291

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν 292

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα 293

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ 294

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς 295 ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν 296

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 297

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην 298

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην 299 αὐτοφόντην 300

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν 301

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ 302

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε 303

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι 304 Ἐρινὺν 305

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις 306

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ 307 τότε 308

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ 309 τηροῦς’ 310

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι 311

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ 312

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά 313

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις 314

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 315 κατὰ στέγας 316

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα 317

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς 318

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 319 αὑτήν 320

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι 321

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει 322

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία 323

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα 324

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον 325

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα 326

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ 327

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν 328

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει 329

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων 330

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί 331

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ 332

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην 333

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ 334

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις 335

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου 336

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ 337

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ 338

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν 339

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας 340 παρών 341

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα 342

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις 343

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη 344

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ 345

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας 346

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν 347

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι 348

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας 349

mvp-comment-179-3 μου 350 μοι 351

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν 352

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν 353 εὐσεβεῖν 354

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς 355

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη 356 κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά 357

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν 358

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος 359

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα 360

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον 361

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν 362

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι 363

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει 364

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην 365 ἦ τ<*>ν 366 ἦ δἂν 367

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην 368

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν 369 ὥς νυν 370

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον 371 τό 372 τά 373

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον 374

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ 375

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής 376

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος 377 ἢ μέλλοντος 378

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε 379

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ 380

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ 381 γε 382

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ 383

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν 384

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί 385

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν 386

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν 387 νυν 388

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων 389 φέρουσαν 390

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον 391

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν 392

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν 393

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα 394 νομίζεται 395

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις 396 φωνεῖς 397 ἐλθοῦσα 398 αὖ 399

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

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι 400

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα 401

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι 402

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν 403

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ 404

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ 405 πλεῖν 406

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 407

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα 408 ἀλλὰ 409 ἄλλα 410

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον 411

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις 412

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ 413

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν 414

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν 415

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ 416

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα 417

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε 418

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης 419

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν 420

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα 421

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά 422

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς 423

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’ 424

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε 425

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς 426

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 427

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις 428 φρονοῦσα 429 μῖσος 430

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα 431

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης 432

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε 433

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν 434

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι 435

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει 436

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ 437

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ 438

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως 439

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν 440

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις 441

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν 442 ξύνει 443

mvp-comment-213-1 τὰ σὰ … δῶῤ 444

mvp-comment-213-2 ἐφ’ οἶσι 445

mvp-comment-213-3 χλιδᾷς 446

mvp-comment-214-1 ὑπεικάθοιμι 447

mvp-comment-214-2 πλουσία 448

mvp-comment-214-3 περιρρείτω 449

mvp-comment-215-1 τοὐμὲ μὴ λυπεῖν 450

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 451

mvp-comment-217-1 παῖδα 452

mvp-comment-217-2 κεκλῆσθαι 453

mvp-comment-218-1 πλείστοις 454

mvp-comment-219-1 μηδὲν 455 πρὸς ὀργὴν 456

mvp-comment-220-1 ἀμφοῖν 457 τοῖς λόγοις 458

mvp-comment-221-1 τῆσδε … αὕτη 459 πάλιν 460

mvp-comment-222-1 ἐγὼ μὲν 461

mvp-comment-222-2 πως 462

mvp-comment-222-3 μύθων 463

mvp-comment-223-1 οὐδ’ 464 κοὐδ’ 465 ποτέ 466

mvp-comment-224-1 ἰὸν 467

mvp-comment-224-2 σχήσει 468

mvp-comment-225-1 τὸ δεινὸν 469

mvp-comment-225-2 εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι 470 εἰ 471

mvp-comment-226-1 γὰρ 472

mvp-comment-226-2 γόων 473 λόγων 474

mvp-comment-227-1 ἐνταῦθα 475

mvp-comment-227-2 ἔνθα μή ποτε … προσόψει 476

mvp-comment-227-3 ζῶσα 477

mvp-comment-227-4 κατηρεφεῖ 478

mvp-comment-227-5 χθονὸς τῆσδ’ ἐκτὸς 479

mvp-comment-227-6 ὑμνήσεις 480

mvp-comment-228-1 πρὸς ταῦτα 481

mvp-comment-228-2 Nauck reads κοὔ 482 καί 483

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 484 ἦ … δὴ 485 ἦ … γὰρ 486

mvp-comment-229-2 καὶ βεβούλευνται 487

mvp-comment-230-1 ἀλλ’ ἐξίκοιτο 488

mvp-comment-230-2 τοῦδέ γ’ οὕνεκ’ 489

mvp-comment-231-1 τίνα … τόνδ’ 490

mvp-comment-231-2 τάλαινα 491

mvp-comment-232-1 εἴ τι τῶνδε 492

mvp-comment-233-1 ποῦ ποτ’ εἶ φρενῶν 493

mvp-comment-234-1 ὅπως 494 ὑμῶν 495

mvp-comment-234-2 προσώτατ’ 496 προσωτάτω φύγω 497

mvp-comment-235-1 βίου … τοῦ παρόντος 498

mvp-comment-236-1 καλὸς γὰρ 499

mvp-comment-236-2 θαυμάσαι 500

mvp-comment-237-1 τοῖς φίλοις 501

mvp-comment-238-1 εἰκαθεῖν 502

mvp-comment-239-1 ταῦτα 503 οὐκ ἐμοὺς 504

mvp-comment-240-1 γε 505 μέντοι 506

mvp-comment-240-2 μὴ )ξ 507

mvp-comment-240-3 πεσεῖν 508

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 509

mvp-comment-242-1 τἄπη 510

mvp-comment-242-2 πρὸς κακῶν 511

mvp-comment-243-1 μή πω 512

mvp-comment-244-1 οἷπερ … ὁδοῦ 513

mvp-comment-245-1 τῷ φέρεις 514

mvp-comment-245-2 ἔμπυρα 515

mvp-comment-246-1 τυμβεῦσαι χοάς 516

mvp-comment-247-1 βροτῶν 517

mvp-comment-248-1 ὃν ἔκταν’ αὐτή 518 ὅν γ’ 519

mvp-comment-249-1 τῷ τοῦτ’ ἤρεσεν 520

mvp-comment-250-1 δείματος 521

mvp-comment-250-2 δοκεῖν ἐμοί 522

mvp-comment-251-1 θεοὶ πατρῷοι 523

mvp-comment-251-2 συγγένεσθέ γ’ 524

mvp-comment-251-3 ἀλλὰ νῦν 525

mvp-comment-252-1 εἴποιμ’ ἂν τότε 526

mvp-comment-253-1 ἐπὶ σμικρὸν 527 ἐπὶ σμικρῶν 528

mvp-comment-253-2 φράσαι 529

mvp-comment-254-1 σμικροὶ λόγοι 530

mvp-comment-255-1 πατρὸς … δευτέραν ὁμιλίαν 531

mvp-comment-255-2 ἐφέστιον πῆξαι 532

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 533

mvp-comment-256-1 ἔκ τε 534 ἐκ δὲ 535

mvp-comment-256-2 βρύοντα 536

mvp-comment-256-3 ᾧ … γενέσθαι 537

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 538 τοῦ 539 παρόντος 540 του 541

mvp-comment-257-2 Ἡλίῳ δείκνυσι τοὖναρ 542

mvp-comment-258-1 οὐ κάτοιδα, πλὴν 543

mvp-comment-258-2 πέμπει με κείνη 544

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 545

mvp-comment-260-1 ἀβουλίᾳ 546

mvp-comment-260-2 σὺν κακῷ 547

mvp-comment-260-3 μέτει 548

mvp-comment-261-1 ἀλλ’ 549

mvp-comment-261-2 ὦ φίλη 550 τούτων μὲν 551

mvp-comment-262-1 οὐ … θέμις 552 οὐδ’ ὅσιον 553

mvp-comment-262-2 ἐχθρᾶς ἀπὸ γυναικὸς 554

mvp-comment-262-3 κτερίσματ’ 555

mvp-comment-262-4 λουτρὰ 556

mvp-comment-263-1 ἀλλ’ ἢ πνοαῖσιν 557 ῥοαῖσιν 558

mvp-comment-263-2 κρύψον 559

mvp-comment-263-3 νιν 560

mvp-comment-263-4 ἔνθα μή ποτ’ 561 ἔνθεν 562

mvp-comment-263-5 εὐνὴν 563

mvp-comment-264-1 ἀλλ’ ὅταν θάῃν 564

mvp-comment-264-2 The conjecture ἔστ’ ἂν 565 ὅταν 566 σῳζέσθω 567

mvp-comment-264-3 κειμήλἰ 568

mvp-comment-265-1 ἀρχὴν 569 τλημονεστάτη 570

mvp-comment-266-1 ἔβλαστε 571

mvp-comment-267-1 ὅν γ’ … τῷδ’ 572

mvp-comment-267-2 ἐπέστεφε 573

mvp-comment-267-3 442 f. The position of αὐτῇ 574

mvp-comment-267-4 δέξεσθαι 575

mvp-comment-267-5 It seems, then, a reasonable inference that here, where the reference is to future time, he would have written δέξεσθαι 576 δέξασθαι 577

mvp-comment-267-6 444 ff. Join θανὼν ἄτιμος 578

mvp-comment-267-7 ἐμασχαλίσθη 579

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 580

mvp-comment-267-10 ἐξέμαξ ν 581

mvp-comment-267-11 ἆρα μὴ 582

mvp-comment-268-1 οὐκ ἔστιν 583

mvp-comment-268-2 ταῦτα μὲν μέθες· σὺ δὲ 584

mvp-comment-269-1 βοστρύχων ἄκρας φόβας 585

mvp-comment-269-2 κἀμοῦ ταλαίνης 586

mvp-comment-270-1 †ἀλιπαρῆ 587 λιπαρῆ 588

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’ 589 ἀλίπαρον 590

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 591

mvp-comment-271-2 χλιδαῖς 592

mvp-comment-272-1 προσπίτνουσα 593 αὐτὸν 594

mvp-comment-273-1 ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερός 595

mvp-comment-273-2 ζῶντ’ 596

mvp-comment-274-1 ἀφνεωτέραις 597

mvp-comment-274-2 στέφωμεν 598

mvp-comment-274-3 δωρούμεθα 599

mvp-comment-275-1 οἶμαι μὲν οὖν 600

mvp-comment-275-2 If μέλον 601 μέλειν 602 μέλον 603

mvp-comment-276-1 σοί 604

mvp-comment-277-1 βροτῶν 605

mvp-comment-278-1 πρὸς εὐσέβειαν 606

mvp-comment-279-1 δράσω 607

mvp-comment-279-2 τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον 608

mvp-comment-279-3 (1)

τὸ δίκαιον
is an acc. of general reference, and
οὐκ ἔχει λόγον
is impersonal. ‘With regard to what is (clearly) right, it is unreasonable for two persons to dispute; rather both should hasten on the doing (of it).’ With
ἀλλ’ ἐπισπεύδειν
we supply the notion
δεῖ
from the negative
οὐκ ἔχει λόγον
(as from
οὐκ ἔξεστι
in O. C. 1402 ff.; cp. O. T. 817 ff.). For the form of the sentence, cp. H. 7. 3. 7
τοὺς περὶ Ἀρχίαν...οὐ ψῆφον ἀνεμείνατε, ἀλλὰ ὁπότε πρῶτον ἐδυνάσθητε ἐτιμωρήσασθε
. So here the acc.
τὸ δίκαιον
, which represents the object of
δρᾶν
, is separated from it by the parenthesis
οὐκ
ἔχει λόγον δυοῖν ἐρίζειν
. (The first scholium gives substantially this view:
οὐκ ἔχει λόγον φιλονεικεῖν περὶ τοῦ δικαίου, ὥστε περὶ αὐτοῦ δύο ὄντας ἐρίζειν
.)

mvp-comment-279-4 (2) Or

τὸ δίκαιον
might be nom.: ‘that which is clearly right does not afford any ground (
οὐκ ἔχει λόγον
) for two persons to dispute,’ etc. So the second schol.:
ἢ τὸ οὐκ ἔχει λόγον ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐ παρέχει πρόφασιν
. So far as the verb
ἔχει
is concerned, this sense is quite admissible: cp. Thuc. 2. 41
οὔτε τῷ πολεμίῳ ἐπελθόντι ἀγανάκτησιν ἔχει
(
ἡ πόλις
). The objection is that the phrases
ἔχειν λόγον, οὐκ ἔχειν λόγον
, which are very common, regularly mean, ‘to be reasonable,’ ‘to be unreasonable.’ This is so both in the personal and in the impersonal constr.; as Plat. Phaedop. 62 D
τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν...οὐκ ἔχει λόγον
: Dem. or. 36 § 54
πῶς ἔχει λόγον σὲ...δίκην ἀξιοῦν λαμβάνειν
; The supposed sense, ‘not to afford a reason,’ is unexampled.

mvp-comment-279-5 δυοῖν 609

mvp-comment-280-1 παρ’ ὑμῶν 610

mvp-comment-281-1 πικρὰν 611 δοκῶ με … τολμήσειν 612 ἔτι 613

mvp-comment-282-1 εἰ μὴ )γὼ 614

mvp-comment-282-2 γνώμας λειπομένα 615

mvp-comment-283-1 ἁ πρόμαντις Δίκα 616

mvp-comment-283-2 δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη 617

mvp-comment-284-1 μέτεισιν 618

mvp-comment-284-2 οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου 619

mvp-comment-285-1 ὕπεστί μοι θράσος 620 κλύουσαν 621

mvp-comment-285-2 ἁδυπνόων … ὀνειράτων 622

mvp-comment-286-1 ἀμναστεῖ γ’ ὁ φύσας ς’ 623

mvp-comment-287-1 χαλκόπλακτος 624

mvp-comment-287-2 γένυς 625

mvp-comment-287-3 The very axe (

φόνιος πέλεκυς
, 99) with which the blow was dealt is imagined as nourishing a grudge against the murderers who had set it such a task. Such a personification recalls that practice of Athenian law by which inanimate objects which had caused death were brought to a formal trial in the court called
τὸ ἐπὶ Πρυτανείῳ
, and, after sentence, cast beyond the boundaries, in the presence of the Archon Basileus and the sacrificial officers of the tribes (
φυλο‐
βασιλεῖς
). Aeschin. or. 3 § 244
τὰ μὲν ξύλα καὶ τοὺς λίθους καὶ τὸν σίδηρον, τὰ ἄφωνα καὶ ἀγνώμονα, ἐάν τῳ ἐμπεσόντα ἀποκτείνῃ, ὑπερορίζομεν
. (Cp. Dem. or. 23 § 76 .) A like conception was implied in the English law (repealed in 1846) of ‘deodands’ (Deo danda), i.e., personal chattels (whether animals or things) which, having caused the death of a human being, were forfeited to the Crown for pious uses.

mvp-comment-288-1 ἐν αἰκίαις 626

mvp-comment-289-1 καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ 627

mvp-comment-290-1 λόχοις 628

mvp-comment-290-2 χαλκόπους 629

mvp-comment-291-1 ἄλεκτρ’ ἄνυμφα 630

mvp-comment-291-2 γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθ’ 631

mvp-comment-291-3 ἐπέβα 632

mvp-comment-292-1 πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι … συνδρῶσιν 633

mvp-comment-292-2 Verses 495—497 (

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι...τέρας
) answer metrically to vv. 479—481
ὕπεστί μοι...ὀνειράτων
, where the text is certain, save for the doubt whether
θράσος
or
θάρσος
should stand in 479. Here we must first decide two points.

mvp-comment-292-3 (1) Are the words πρὸ τῶνδε 634

mvp-comment-292-4 (2) Could

ἔχει με, μήποτε τέρας πελᾶν
(etc.) mean, ‘ the belief possesses me, that’ etc.? Surely not. No real parallel for so strange a phrase has been produced. It is irrelevant to quote those impersonal verbs which directly express the occurrence of a thought to the mind; as Xen. An. 6. 1. 17
εἰσῄει αὐτοὺς ὅπως ἂν καὶ ἔχοντές τι οἴκαδε ἀφίκοιντο
(‘the thought came to them, how they might,’ etc.): Thuc. 6. 78. § 1
εἰ δέ τῳ ἄρα παρέστηκε, τὸν μὲν Συρακόσιον...πολέμιον εἶναι κ.τ.λ.
Either, then, the subject to
ἔχει
has dropped out, or the words
μ’ ἔχει
conceal a corruption.

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

ὕπεστί μοι θράσος
, we may read here
πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μ’ ἔχει
|
<θάρσος τι>, μήποθ’ ἡμῖν
etc. (It may be remarked that
τι
is in harmony with the tone of
ὕπεστί μοι
in 479.) Another available word is
ξύννοια
(cp. Ant. 279 ). (2) Or, reading in 479
ὕπεστί μοι θάρσος
, we could read here
πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι θάρσος ἴσχει με
. On either view, the
υ
of
ἁδυπνόων
in 480 is long (as several critics have assumed). It should be noted that (1) involves a different constitution of the verses: see p. lxxxii.

mvp-comment-292-6 In those MSS. which have μή ποτε μή ποθ’ ἡμῖν 635

mvp-comment-293-1 ἀψεγές 636 ἀψεφές 637

mvp-comment-293-2 πελᾶν 638

mvp-comment-294-1 τοῖς δρῶσι 639 τοῖς συνδρῶσιν 640

mvp-comment-295-1 μαντεῖαι βροτῶν 641

mvp-comment-296-1 εὖ κατασχήσει 642

mvp-comment-297-1 ἱππεία 643

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

ταῖς χοινίκισι
(=
πλήμναις
, the naves)
τῶν τροχῶν οὐκ ἐμβαλὼν τοὺς ἥλους
. According to another story, he substituted a linch-pin of wax for a real one ( schol. Apoll. Rh. 752
ἐμβαλόντα κήρινον ἔμβολον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀκραξονίου
). So Pelops won the race, and the bride. But Oenomaüs was soon avenged on the traitor; for Myrtilus insulted Hippodameia, and was thrown into the sea by Pelops; upon whose house he invoked a curse, as he sank.

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

ἄξονος ἐν πλήμνῃσι παρακλιδὸν ἀγνυμένοιο
|
πίπτεν
.

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

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

ἔδωκεν δίφρον τε χούσεον πτεροῖσίν τ’ ἀκάμαντας ἵππους
). On the chest (
λάρναξ
) of Cypselus, seen by Pausanias in the Heraeum at Olympia ( Paus. 5. 17. 5 ), Pelops was driving two winged horses.

mvp-comment-298-1 αἰανὴς 644

mvp-comment-298-2 The form

αἰανὴς
has the best authority, and some critics hold that
αἰανὸς
(Hesych.) was a Byzantine invention. But in Aesch. Eum. 416 ,
ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν νυκτὸς αἰανῆς τέκνα
(so L, schol., and Tzetzes on Lycophron 406),
αἰανῆ
is far less suitable.

mvp-comment-299-1 εὖτε 645

mvp-comment-299-2 ὁ ποντισθεὶς Μυρτίλος 646

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

mvp-comment-299-4 ἐκοιμάθη 647

mvp-comment-300-1 παγχρυσέων δίφρων 648

mvp-comment-301-1 πρόρριζος 649

mvp-comment-301-2 ἐκριφθείς 650

mvp-comment-302-1 ἔλειπεν 651 ἔλιπεν 652 οἴκου 653 οἴκους 654 πω 655

mvp-comment-303-1 πολύπονος 656 αἰκία 657

mvp-comment-304-1 ἀνειμένη 658 μέν 659

mvp-comment-304-2 ὡς ἔοικας 660

mvp-comment-304-3 στρέφει 661

mvp-comment-304-4 Clytaemnestra begins in the same strain as Chrysothemis, who likewise emphasised her reproof by the word αὖ 662

mvp-comment-305-1 μή τοι θυραίαν γ’ 663

mvp-comment-305-2 αἰσχύνειν φίλους 664

mvp-comment-306-1 καίτοι 665

mvp-comment-306-2 δὴ 666 πολλούς 667

mvp-comment-306-3 ἐξεῖπάς με … ὡς 668

mvp-comment-306-4 θρασεῖα 669 τραχεῖα 670

mvp-comment-306-5 ἄρχω 671

mvp-comment-307-1 ὕβριν … οὐκ ἔχω 672 κακῶς κλύουσα 673

mvp-comment-308-1 πατὴρ γάρ 674

mvp-comment-308-2 πρόσχημα 675

mvp-comment-309-1 ἡ γὰρ Δίκη 676

mvp-comment-310-1 ᾗ χρῆν σ’ ἀρήγειν 677

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

ἐπεὶ πατὴρ οὗτος σός
, is probably right; the words would then fall from her with a certain deliberate bitterness. Cp. 542 : Ant. 44
ἦ γὰρ νοεῖς θάπτειν σθ’
(n.): Ph. 101
λέγω σ’ ἐγὼ δόλῳ Φιλοκτήτην λαβεῖν
.

mvp-comment-312-1 μοῦνος 678 Ἑλλήνων 679

mvp-comment-312-2 Nauck requires

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

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

οὐκ ἴσον λύπης καμὼν ἐμοί, ὁ σπείρας τῇ τικτούσῃ
. But, having written
ὅτ’ ἔσπειρε
, the poet explains
ἐμοί
by repeating the comparison in a new form,
ὥσπερ ἡ τίκτουσ’ ἐγώ
. (For
ὡς
or
ὥσπερ
after
ἴσος
, cp. Lys. or. 19 § 36
ἡγοῦντο... τὰ ἐκεῖ...εἶναι ἴσα ὥσπερ τὰ ἐνθάδε
.) Those who reject v. 533 omit to notice that, without it, the words
οὐκ ἴσον καμὼν ἐμοί
would be unintelligible. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1417
ἔθυσεν αὑτοῦ παῖδα, φιλτάτην ἐμοὶ
|
ὠδῖν’
.

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

οὐκ ἔστι μήτηρ ἡ κεκλημένου τέκνου
|
τοκεύς, τροφὸς δὲ κύματος νεοσπόρου
. Cp. above, Aesch. Eum. 366 n.

mvp-comment-313-1 τοῦ χάριν, τίνων 680

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

τίνων
as the participle. But there is an insuperable objection to this, which seems to have escaped notice. The words,
τοῦ χάριν τίνων
; could mean only, ‘paying a debt of gratitude for what?’ They could not mean, ‘paying a debt of gratitude to whom?’ The latter would be
τῷ χάριν τίνων
; See ( e.g.) Aesch. P. V. 985
καὶ μὴν ὀφείλων ἂν τίνοιμ’ αὐτῷ χάριν
: Aesch. Ag. 821
τούτων θεοῖσι χρὴ πολύμνηστον χάριν
|
τίνειν
. Hence the question,
τοῦ χάριν τίνων
; could not possibly be answered by
Ἀργείων
. For, evidently, the latter word could not mean, (‘for a benefit conferred by) the Greeks.’ A scholiast in the Baroccian MS. (cr. n. on 545), who explains
τοῦ χάριν τίνων
by
τίνος χάριν ἀποδιδούς
, plainly meant, ‘showing gratitude for what?’—and his paraphrase was correct; only he overlooked the context.

mvp-comment-314-1 ἀλλ’ οὐ μετῆν 681

mvp-comment-315-1 ἀλλ’ ἀντ’ ἀδελφοῦ δῆτα 682 κτανὼν 683

mvp-comment-315-2 ἀντὶ ἀδελφοῦ 684

mvp-comment-315-3 τἄμ’ 685

mvp-comment-316-1 παῖδες … διπλοῖ 686

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

οὓς Ἰφιγενείας εἰκὸς ἦν θνῄσκειν πάρος
.

mvp-comment-317-1 ἢ 687

mvp-comment-317-2 ἢ τῶν ἐμῶν Ἅιδης 688

mvp-comment-318-1 δαίσασθαι 689

mvp-comment-318-2 The conj. λῄσασθαι 690

mvp-comment-319-1 πανώλει 691

mvp-comment-319-2 παρεῖτο 692

mvp-comment-319-3 The sense does not absolutely require us to take Μενέλεω δ’ 693

mvp-comment-320-1 ἀβούλου 694

mvp-comment-320-2 κακοῦ γνώμην 695

mvp-comment-321-1 δοκῶ μέν 696

mvp-comment-321-2 εἰ καὶ 697

mvp-comment-322-1 εἰ φωνὴν λάβοι 698

mvp-comment-323-1 τοῖς πεπραγμένοις 699

mvp-comment-324-1 γνώμην δικαίαν σχοῦσα 700

mvp-comment-325-1 ἐρεῖς μὲν οὐχὶ 701 ἐρεῖς 702 ἐρεῖς … μ’ ὡς 703

mvp-comment-325-2 ἄρξασά τι λυπηρὸν 704

mvp-comment-325-3 τάδ’ ἐξήκους’ 705

mvp-comment-326-1 τοῦ τεθνηκότος θ’ ὕπερ 706

mvp-comment-327-1 καὶ μὴν 707

mvp-comment-327-2 λόγους ἐξῆρχές με 708

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

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

mvp-comment-328-3 καὶ δὴ λέγω σοι 709 πατέρα 710 φὴς 711

mvp-comment-329-1 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε 712

mvp-comment-329-2 λέξω 713 δείξω 714

mvp-comment-330-1 ὡς οὐ δίκῃ γ’ 715 ἔσπασεν 716 πειθὼ 717

mvp-comment-331-1 κυναγὸν 718

mvp-comment-331-2 ποινὰς 719

mvp-comment-331-3 τὰ πολλὰ πνεύματ’ ἔσχ’ 720 τὰ πολλὰ 721 ἔσχε 722

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

ἐπέσχεν αὐτοὺς τοῦ πλοῦ χειμῶνας ἐπιπέμπουσα
. But other authorities speak of a calm. Thus I. A. 9 ff.
οὔκουν φθόγγος γ’ οὔτ’ ὀρνίθων
|
οὔτε θαλάσσης· σιγαὶ δ’ ἀνέμων
|
τόνδε κατ’ Εὔριπον ἔχουσιν
. Schol. Eur. Or. 647
ἐπειράθη τῆς θεοῦ ὀργιζομένης καὶ κατεχούσης τοὺς ἀνέμους
. Tzetzes on Lycophron 183
χολωθεῖσα δ’ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἡ θεὸς τοὺς ἀνέμους κατέσχεν
. Ovid ( Met. 13. 183 ) combines both versions:
exspectata diu, nulla aut contraria classi | Flamina sunt.

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

σκεύη πολεμικά
: and the warriors were also the rowers (cp. Thuc. 1. 10 ). It is intelligible, then, that they should await the aid of wind before attempting the passage of the Aegaean. We must remember, too, the strong and shifting currents in the Euripus (
στονόεντα πορθμόν
, Soph. Ant. 1145 :
παλιρρόχθοις ἐν Αὐλίδος τόποις
, Aesch. Ag. 191 ).

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

ὁ πατήρ
from v. 558. Nor: (2) ‘She directed those tedious winds at Aulis,’—a version which would at least require
ἐπ’ Αὐλίδι
. Cp. Ph. 1119
ἔχε
|
δύσποτμον ἀρὰν ἐπ’ ἄλλοις
.

mvp-comment-331-7 The conjecture πλοῖα 723

mvp-comment-331-8 Αὐλίδι 724

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

77-86. mvp-comment-52-1 As the function of the chorus, see Introduction, is to respond to Electra, who gives the principal interest to the play, their entrance is preceded by a monody from her, which draws the sympathy of the spectators to the chief person, and prepares them to enter more fully into the spirit of the action. And-less to whet the purpose of Orestes, than to show his firmness- he is allowed to hear her wailing from within. It is easy to see how this must excite him. But it does not alter his determination to rely upon himself alone. And thus, although for the moment eager to hear more, he yields at once to the counsel of the old man, that nothing should delay the action for which the moment is come. After l. 85, exeunt Orestes, the Paedagogus, and Pylades, leaving the proscenium vacant.

82-83. mvp-comment-56-1 μηδὲν πρόσθεν] Sc. ποιώμεθα, which is absorbed in πειρώμεθ᾽ ἔρδειν. κἀπὸ τῶνδ᾽ ἀρχηγετεῖν] ‘And with this rite initiate our act.

84-85. mvp-comment-57-1 ταῦτα γὰρ . . δρωμένων] 'For this brings victory within our grasp, and gives us command over our exploit.' φέρει (sc. ἡμῖν) is to be resumed with κράτος, but ἐφ' ἡμῖν is to be joined to νίκην, as a supplementary predicate. See E. on L. $ 19. p. 29. 4, and § 24. p. 40, 2.

85-86. mvp-comment-58-1 They go all together to perform the libation at the tomb, after which the old man will return to the palace, and Orestes and Pylades will go to the place where they have hidden the urn ( supr. 55). Orestes, in supr. 73, 4, spoke as if the old man was at once to begin his part. But the time is not yet come for this, and, by going to join in the solemn rite at the grave of his old master, he leaves the proscenium vacant for the scenes from l. 86 to l. 659. If we are inclined to quarrel with this long delay, our scruple is pacified by the words ὅταν σε καιρὸς εἰσάγῃ in supr. 39.

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.

86-92. mvp-comment-60-1 Electra tells her sorrows to the daylight and to the air of Heaven, as she has told them all night long to her sleepless chamber. The holy light contrasts with the pollutions of the house of Pelops; the illimitable air,- which searches even to earth's remotest corners, and is common to Orestes and herself, both contrasts with the narrowness of her lot, and can alone contain the boundlessness of her grief.

86. mvp-comment-61-1 ὦ φάος ἁγνόν] For the sacred purity of the elements as opposed to the impurity of man, cp. O. T. 1427, 8, τὸ μήτε γῆ μήτ᾿ ὄμβρος ἱρὸς μήτε φῶς προσδέξεται.

87-90. mvp-comment-62-1 ὥς μοι .. αἱμασσομένων] ‘How many tones of my lamenting. how many blows that bruised my bleeding breast, have thrilled you!' στέρνων is objective genitive with πληγάς, but is to be resumed with ἀντήρεις, lit. 'planted firmly against.'

91. mvp-comment-63-1 ὑπολειφθῇ] 'Hath ceased,' lit. 'Has been outrun,' i.e. by the day. Cp. Αj. 672, 3, ἐξίσταται δὲ νυκτὸς αἰανὴς κύκλος | τῇ λευκοπώλῳ φέγγος ἡμέρᾳ φλέγειν.

92-93. mvp-comment-64-1 τὰ δὲ.. οἴκων] ‘And when night comes on, the detested chamber in this weary house knows too well what festive hours I pass.' There is a bitter irony that can hardly be rendered, in using the word παννυχίς, generally a festal celebration, of the sleepless nights of mourning. Cp. Ant. 152, 3, θεῶν δὲ ναοὺς χοροῖς | παννυχίοις πάντας ἐπέλθωμεν, and, for the general sense, cp. Od. 19. 518 foll. ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε Πανδαρέου κούρη, χλωρηΐς ᾿Αηδών, | καλὸν ἀείδῃσιν, ἔαρος νέον ἱσταμένοιο, | δενδρέων ἐν πετάλοισι καθεζομένη πυκινοῖσιν, | ἥ τε θαμὰ τρωπῶσα χέει πολυηχέα φωνήν, | παῖδ᾽ ὀλοφυρομένη Ἴτυλον φίλον, ὅν ποτε χαλκῷ | κτεῖνε δι᾽ ἀφραδίας, κοῦρον Ζήθοιο ἄνακτος· | ὣς καὶ ἐμοὶ δίχα θυμὸς ὀρώρεται ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα. See below, ll. 107, 148, 9. ἤδη contrasts παννυχίδων with what precedes.

95-96. mvp-comment-65-1 Cp. Od. 11. 408-411, where Agamemnon says, οὔτε μ᾿ ἀνάρσιοι ἄνδρες ἐδηλήσαντ᾽ ἐπὶ χέρσου· | ἀλλά μοι Αίγισθος τεύξας θάνατόν τε μόρον τε ἕκτα σὺν οὐλομένῃ ἀλόχῳ, οἰκύνδε καλέσσας, | δειπνίσσας, ὥς τις κατέκτανε βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ. See below, ll. 203, 4. And for ῎Αρης οὐκ ἐξένισεν, ' War did not give hospitable repose,' cp. Aesch. Cho. 351-3, πολύχωστον ἂν εἶχες | τάφον διαποντίου γᾶς | δώμασιν εὐφόρητον: Ag. 455, ἐχθρὰ δ᾽ ἔχοντας ἔκρυψεν : Verg. Aen. 1. 97, 'Mene Iliacis occumbere campis | Non potuisse.'

98. mvp-comment-66-1 Cp. II. 13. 389, ἤριπε δ', ὡς ὅτε τις δρῦς ἤριπεν, ἢ ἀχερωΐς, | ἠὲ πίτυς βλωθρή, την τ' οὔρεσι τέκτονες ἄνδρες ἐξέταμον πελέκεσσι νεήκεσι, νήϊον εἶναι. But the unfeeling act of the woodman is more prominent in the present passage than the grandeur of the tree.

100-101. mvp-comment-67-1 κοὐδεὶς.. φέρεται] ‘And no pity' (or mourning) 'on account of this goes forth from any one but me.' For the genitive, cp. Ο. Τ. 185, λυγρῶν πόνων ἱκτῆρες ἐπιστενάχουσιν. And for the attraction in the gender of οὐκ ἄλλης, cp. infr. 885, 6, ἐγὼ μὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ τε κοὐκ ἄλλης σαφή | σημεῖ᾿ ἰδοῦσα, κ.τ.λ. For φέρεται, of the utterance of feeling, cp. Pind. Pyth. 1. 170, εἴ τι καὶ φλαῦρον παραιθύσσει, μέγα τοι φέρεται | πὰρ σέθεν.

102. mvp-comment-68-1 αἰκῶς] Although the MSS. agree in ἀδίκως, the Scholiast gives ἀεικῶς as a various reading. And ἀδίκως, which is appropriate in infr. 113, is frigid here.

105. mvp-comment-69-1 Hermann's rejection of the first λεύσσω (see v. rr.) is clearly the best emendation of this passage, which in the MSS. has two long syllables too many. παμφεγγεῖς ῥιπάς] 'The bright tremblings of the stars.' On παν in comp. see Essay on L. § 55. p. 101, 6. φέγγος has a special application to the light of the moon and stars as distinguished from daylight :-Plat. Rep. 6. Ρ. 508 C, ὀφθαλμοί, ὅταν μηκέτι ἐπ᾿ ἐκεῖνά τις αὐτοὺς τρέπῃ ὧν ἂν τὰς χρόας τὸ ἡμερινὸν φῶς ἐπέχῃ, ἀλλ᾽ ὧν νυκτερινὰ φέγγη. For ῥιπή, lit. 'beating' or 'pulsation,' as applied to the twinkling of the stars, cp. Tennyson's 'Beat, happy stars, timing with things below.'

107. mvp-comment-70-1 τεκνολέτειρα] 'That has lost' (or 'slain') 'her child,' viz. Itylus, according to the story followed in the Odyssey, 1. c. (19. 518 foll.) As the song of the nightingale is meant, and not the cry of the bird whose nest is robbed, Ant. 423-5 is not really parallel. The idiomatic use of τις does not prevent the identification of the nightingale with the mythical daughter of Pandion. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 55, 6, ἤ τις ᾿Απόλλων, | ἢ Πάν, ἢ Ζεύς.

107-109. mvp-comment-71-1 But like some Philomela for her son destroyed, I will peal for all to hear a note of lamentation in front of these my father's doors.' ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ is an adverbial expression like ἐπὶ ψόγοισι in Ant. 759. See Essay on L. § 19. p. 27. It implies that the noise that echoed round about the palace was sustained by the force of her impetuous crying. Cp. infr. 241-3, γονέων ἐκτίμους ἴσχουσα πτέρυγας | ὀξυτόνων γόων.

111. mvp-comment-72-1 'Hermes of the Shades' is invoked here as in the Choephori, because he had guided the soul of Agamemnon to Hades and might be expected to guide his Avenger. πότνι' ἀρά] Agamemnon was ἀραῖος to Clytemnestra on account of her crime. Cp. Ó. T. 417, 8, καί σ᾽ ἀμφιπλὴξ μητρός τε καὶ τοῦ σοῦ πατρὸς | ἐλᾷ ποτ᾽ ἐκ γῆς τῆσδε δεινόπους ἀρά.

112. mvp-comment-73-1 The Erinyes are here invoked in their most general character, and are not named specifically as daughters of Earth and Night, but vaguely as 'children of gods.'

114. mvp-comment-74-1 They are the avengers not only of murder, but of every great breach of law. Cp. Αj. 836, δρώσας πάντα τὰν βροτοῖς πάθη: Aesch. Eum. 895, ΑΘ. (to the Eumenides) ὡς μή τιν' οἶκον εὐθενεῖν ἄνευ σέθεν : ib. 835. And Aegisthus, who is the great offender in Electra's sight, is guilty on both counts of this indictment. Cp. infr. 271, 2, τὴν τελευταίαν ὕβριν τὸν αὐτοφόντην ἡμὶν ἐν κοίτῃ πατρός.

119-120. mvp-comment-75-1 'My single force no longer countervails the stress of woe.' Lit. 'I no longer have strength alone to lift the weight of grief that presses in the opposite scale.'

121-127. mvp-comment-76-1 Electra's monody, like the soliloquy of Deianeira. Trach. I fol., has indicated the loneliness of her sorrow. But she is not friendless. The women of Argos feel with her and would comfort her if they could. In this long 'commatic parodos,' which at once enlists the sympathies of the spectator, and prepares his mind by contrast for the rapidity of the action which is to follow, there are seven choric strains, to which Electra responds with μέλη ἀπὸ σκηνῆς. If, as seems most probable, a single voice is heard each time, the front row of choreutae would alone take part. Thus, supposing the five dots to represent the πρωτόσταται, i. e. the coryphaeus and those on either side of him, the parts might be assigned as follows:- ἀντ. β'. ἀντ.α΄. στρ.α΄. στρ.β. στρ. γ΄. ἀντ. γ'. ἐπ. The choreutae immediately to right and left of the coryphaeus would address Electra twice, and when the epode was finished, the coryphaeus would make a new beginning with the senarii in ll. 251-3, after which, each of the five would speak once again, ending with the coryphaeus. The metres are as follows:-

121. mvp-comment-77-1 παῖ is first the natural address of an elder person to a younger, and is then repeated in a different sense with the genitive in regimen. 'O child Electra! Child of a most wretched mother!' For the moral association in δυστανοτάτας, cp. Aj. 1290, δύστηνε, ποῖ βλέπων ποτ᾿ αὐτὰ καὶ θροεῖς;

122-123. mvp-comment-78-1 τίν᾿ ἀεὶ .. οἰμωγάν] ‘Why this never-ceasing lament which piningly thou pourest out over thy father?' For this adverbial' use of the interrogative pronoun, cp. Ο. Τ. 2, τίνας ποθ᾽ ἕδρας τάσδε μοι θοάζετε; and see Essay on L. § 42. p. 81. τάκεις οἰμωγάν ἰς literally, Dost cause the cry to melt from thee; i.e. Dost waste thyself with crying. In the sentence which follows, τὸν.. ᾿Αγαμέμνονα is governed by τάκεις .. οἰμωγάν taken as one word = οἰμώζεις. Ε. on L. § 16. p. 23 b. With ἀκόρεστον, Immoderate, contrast ll. 23. 157, γόοιο μὲν ἔστι καὶ ἆσαι : Od. 4. 103, αἰψηρὸς δὲ κύρος κρυεροῖο γόοιο.

124. mvp-comment-79-1 ἀθεώτατα] In heinous defiance of the gods.' Cp. Aesch. Cho. 46, δύσθεος γυνά: Trach. 1036, σὰ μάτηρ ἄθεος.

126. mvp-comment-80-1 κακᾷ τε χειρὶ πρόδοτον] ‘And delivered over to destruction with wicked violence.' Cp. infr. 206, 7, χειροῖν | αἱ τὸν ἐμὸν εἶλον βίον | πρόδοτον, αἱ μ᾿ ἀπώλεσαν. The fear of Aegisthus, who is sovereign de facto, prevents the chorus from mentioning him by name. Cp. Trach. 383, 4, and note.

129. mvp-comment-81-1 γενέθλα] Here, and in infr. 226, Doric for γενέθλη. “Offspring of noble sires.' Two glosses on γενναίων, viz. (1) πατέρων, (2) τοκέων, have found their way into different MSS., while, curiously enough, no MS. has the line uninterpolated.

130. mvp-comment-82-1 παραμύθιον may be in apposition (1) with the subject of ἥκετε or (2) with the verb itself. The latter (2), conveying more exactly the notion of an intention to console, is probably right. But for the former (1), cp. Thuc. 5. 103, ἐλπὶς κινδύνῳ παραμύθιον οὖσα.

131. mvp-comment-83-1 τάδ'] Either (1) Your kind intention, or (2) That my sorrow is importunate.' Cp. infr. 222. The Scholiast prefers (2).

132. mvp-comment-84-1 οὐδ᾽ ἐθέλω προλιπεῖν τόδε] ‘But I will not give this up.' δé is adversative, though it is unnecessary to write οὐ δ' with Hermann.

134. mvp-comment-85-1 (1) 'But, O ye who exchange with me the tender grace of every sort of mutual affection, - ἀμειβόμεναι vocative. Or (2), supposing the participle to agree with the subject of ἐᾶτε, 'But O, in return for all manner of love' (which ye have had from me). Musgrave objects to this that Electra had no power of conferring kindnesses, and that if she had, she would not thus have reminded her friends of them. He ingeniously renders, Exchanging for this (?) service all your varied kindnesses. But his argument is hypercritical. It is the strength of her wish, and not the sense of her merit, that is really emphasized in παντοίας (of which Ellendt rightly says, Nihil nisi multum s. magnum significat.') And φιλότης is simply affection.' Schndw. explains, So conferring on me a kindness equivalent to all manner of friendship:'-Wecklein, Ye who return the grace of all manner of love (for mine).'

137-138. mvp-comment-86-1 τόν γ᾽ ἐξ ᾿Αΐδα λίμνας] i.e. τὸν ἐν . . λίμνᾳ ἐκ . . λίμνας, according to a familiar idiom of condensation. λίμνας] Viz. the 'palus Acherontis,' on the shores of which dwelt the dead.

139. mvp-comment-87-1 Cp. Il. 24.550, 1, οὐ γάρ τι πρήξεις ἀκαχήμενος υἷος ἐῆος, | οὐδέ μιν ἀνστήσεις, πρὶν καὶ κακὸν ἄλλο πάθῃσθα. For the line as it stands, a glyconic with a spondee after the close, cp. Eur. Med. 159, τάκου δυρομένα σὸν εὐνάταν: 183, πένθος γὰρ μεγάλως τόδ᾽ ὀρμᾶται. The short syllable at the end of the previous line, and the iambic base of the glyconic, are avoided by reading *θρήνοις for γόοις.

139. mvp-comment-87-2 Dindorf retains the order of the words, and reads παγκοίνου λίμνας πατέρ᾽ ἀν | στάσεις οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ᾽ *ἄνταις (a double glyconic with spondee at close). ἄνταις is the conjecture of Hermann from Hesychius: ἄντήσει (sic), λιτανείαις, ἀντήσεσι. But is not ἀντήσεσι: λιτανείαις an equally probable emendation of the corrupt reading in Hesychius? For λιταῖσι, cp. supr. 110 foll. Prof. Paley suggests πατέρ᾽ ἀν | στάσεις οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ᾽ εὐχαῖς.

140-141. mvp-comment-88-1 ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ .. διόλλυσαι] ‘But, forsaking moderation, you go to an extreme in your grief, to your own ruin.' To account for the prepositions some idea of motion must be gathered from the verbs, e.g. προϊοῦσα ἐν στοναχαῖς.

142. mvp-comment-89-1 ἐν οἷς .. κακῶν] (1) ‘A course which brings no way of release from woes.' The antecedent to ois is to be inferred from the preceding words: sc. ἐν τοῖς οὐ μετρίοις τούτοις ἀλγήμασιν, The meaning of the chorus, at present rather gently hinted than expressed, is that by continued lamentation Electra only involves herself in fresh trouble and deepens the misery of her situation. Cp. infr. 213-20. Otherwise (2), 'In a case where there is no release.' Badham conj. ἀνάδυσις.

144. mvp-comment-90-1 τί . . ἐφίει] 'Beseech thee, why dost thou set thy heart on troubles?'- i.e. aim at bringing them on thyself.

146. mvp-comment-91-1 ἐμέ γ᾽ ὁ στονόεσσ᾽ ἄραρεν φρένας] That creature of lament is congenial to my soul.' Is the swallow or the nightingale the bird intended here? The nightingale was mentioned above (l. 107), and is spoken of by Sappho, quoted by the Scholiast on this passage, as the messenger of Spring-ἦρος ἄγγελος ἰμερόφωνος ἀηδών. On the other hand, the swallow is more generally represented in this way, and the lines of Horace, Od. 4. 12. 5 foll., Nidum ponit, Ityn flebiliter gemens,' etc., certainly refer to Procne, who was usually thought to have been changed into a swallow. But of the legend of Tereus there seem to have been many conflicting modifications. The word ἀτυζομένα may be fancifully suggestive of the uncertain, 'bewildered' flight of the swallow. But the mention of song, both here and in the passage of Horace, agrees better with the thought of the nightingale. In any case the Scholiast is probably right in explaining Διὸς ἄγγελος of the intimation of Spring and the beginning of the Διὸς μεγάλου ἐνιαυτός. The nightingale or swallow, thus distinguished with Divine favour, is also the most sorrowful of birds.

150. mvp-comment-92-1 σὲ δ᾽ ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν] I count thee Divine,' i.e. blessed, -μακαρίζω σέ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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