21.
mvp-comment-17-1
ξυνάπτετον λόγοισιν] ‘Join ye in counsel.' For this use of the dative with a transitive verb, cp.
infr. 710, κλήροις ἔπηλαν, and note; and see Riddell's Digest of Idioms, in his edition of the Apology of Plato. For a similar idiom in English, cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1. 2. 112: 'And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son, Do I impart toward you.' ὡς ἐνταῦθ᾽ *ἴμεν] 'Since we are thereabouts,' lit. 'moving there,'-i. е. ἐνταῦθά ἐσμεν τῆς ὁδοῦ: we are arrived at such a point in our enterprise. ἐμέν, for ἐσμέν, which occurs only once in Callimachus, can hardly be retained, and no valid objection has been made to Dawes' emendation, as above explained.
26-27.
mvp-comment-18-1
ἀπώλεσεν.. ἵστησιν] The description passes from the gnomic aorist to the vivid present. For the verb, cp. Hdt. 4. 129, οἱ ἵπποι ἐν θαύματι ἔσκον, ὀρθὰ ἱστάντες τὰ ὦτα.
27.
mvp-comment-19-1
δέ] In apodosi.
29.
mvp-comment-20-1
τὰ . . δόξαντα] Sc. ἐμοί τε καὶ Πυλάδῃ τῷδε. Their plans are already formed.
31.
mvp-comment-21-1
εἰ μή τι καιροῦ τυγχάνω] 'If anywhere I miss the mark,'-εἴ τι ἁμαρτάνω. Ε. on L. § 41. p. 78.
33.
mvp-comment-22-1
πατρί is more expressive than πατρός. Cp.
supr. 14.
34.
mvp-comment-23-1
ἀροίμην is probably aorist (not future) optative, being indirect for (τίνι τρόπῳ) ἄρωμαι;
36.
mvp-comment-24-1
Myself alone, unsupported by armed men.' Cp. Pind. Nem. 3. 59, δε καὶ Ἰωλκὸν εἶλε μόνος ἄνευ στρατιᾶς.
37.
mvp-comment-25-1
By craft to steal the righteous deathblow which my hand should give.' χειρός marks the directly personal nature of the act. Cp. O. T. 811, ἐκ τῆσδε χειρός, and note. For the genitive, cp.
infr. 206, θανάτους αἰκεῖς διδύμαιν χειροῖν.
38.
mvp-comment-26-1
τοιόνδε, like τοιαῦτα in
supr. 35, points to the remarkable nature of the oracle (cp. O. Τ. 95, οἱ ἤκουσα, and note), but with greater vividness. E. on L. § 22. p. 34.
39.
mvp-comment-27-1
καιρός is personified, as
infr. 75.
42-43.
mvp-comment-28-1
(1) For thine age, and the long lapse of time, that has so altered thee, will surely prevent their recognizing or suspecting thee.' Or (2) taking οὐδ᾽ ἠνθισμένον separately, as referring to the Phocian costume, For thine age and the lapse of time will prevent their knowing you, nor will they once suspect you under this disguise.' Or (3) supposing ὧδ' ήνθισμένον to be an afterthought and the causal datives to be resumed with it, 'After so many years in which you have grown old they will not know or suspect you, altered as you are by age.' Cp. Shak. Cymb. 4. 4. 31-4 (Guiderius): 'Pray, sir, to the army: I and my brother are not known; yourself So out of thought, and thereto so o'ergrown, Cannot be questioned.' For the combination of aorist subj. and fut. ind., cp. Ο. C. 450, 1, ἀλλ᾽ οὗ τι μὴ λάχωσι τοῦδε συμμάχου, | οὔτε σφιν ἀρχῆς . . | ὄνησις ἥξει.
45.
mvp-comment-29-1
Phanoteus had quarrelled with his brother Crisus, the father of Strophius and uncle of Pylades, and therefore was likely to send information of a fact which told against them. (Dind.). Whether this be the precise version of the legend as understood by Sophocles or not, some such relation between Strophius and Phanoteus is intended by him. Strophius is, in Sophocles also, the guardian of Orestes, -
infr. 1111.
47.
mvp-comment-30-1
ὅρκῳ προστιθείς] (1) Sc. τὰ ἀγγελλόμενα. With the preface of an oath.' Hermann objects to this: 'At ita res primaria in secundariam converteretur.' But such inversions are not infrequent. Cp. Aristoph. Av. 1004. See E. on L. § 42. p. 80, and Schmidt's Shak. Lex., Grammatical Observations, § 14. p. 1423. The correction ὅρκον προστιθείς (for which cp. Fr. 428, ὅρκου δὲ προστεθέντος ἐπιμελεστέρα | ψυχὴ κατέστη) is therefore unnecessary. Or (2) ὅρκῳ is a dative of manner, 'With an oath,' to which προστιθείς, sc. ὅρκον, is added epexegetically. Cp. Essay on L. § 14. p. 21; ib. § 36. p. 63 (5) a.
48.
mvp-comment-31-1
ἐξ ἀναγκαίας τύχης] 'Through a fatal accident.' ἀναγκαία τύχη is here a misfortune that cannot be avoided. The same phrase is used with slightly different shades of meaning in Aj. 485, 803.
49.
mvp-comment-32-1
ἄθλοισι Πυθικοῖσιν] ‘At the Pythian games.' Dat. of the occasion. E. on L. § 11. p. 18. The Delphic contest is said to have been instituted in the 48th Olympiad, but is here ideally carried back into the heroic age. Cp. Aj. 596 and note.
51.
mvp-comment-33-1
ὡς ἐφίετο] Sc. ὁ Λοξίας (
infr. 82, 3). Cp. Ο. Τ. 110, ἐν τῇδ᾽ ἔφασκε γῇ.
52.
mvp-comment-34-1
καρατόμοις χλιδαῖς] ‘With shorn locks luxuriant.' Cp.
infr. 901, νεώρη βόστρυχον. The word χλιδή perhaps marks the luxuriance of the youthful Orestes' locks. Cp. Plat. Phaedo, 89 B, αὔριον δή, ἔφη, ἴσως, ὦ Φαίδων, τὰς καλὰς ταύτας κόμας ἀποκερεῖ.
54.
mvp-comment-35-1
'Holding uplifted in our hands the shapely urn with sides of brass.' The Scholiast rightly compares the construction of τύπωμα with ᾐρμένοι to such expressions as πώγωνα καθειμένος, – ἀντὶ τοῦ κεχαλασμένον ἔχων. But he does not observe that in both cases the verb is in the middle voice. τύπωμα is literally, A moulded form.' Cp. Ant. 430, ἐκ δ' εὐκροτήτου .. πρόχου, κ.τ.λ. For χαλκόπλευρον, cp. Aesch. Cho. 686, λέβητος χαλκέου πλευρώματα.
55.
mvp-comment-36-1
(1) Which, as I believe (που) you know, is hidden in the brake.' For οἰσθά που, cp.
infr. 948, 9, παρουσίαν μὲν λέγων, | οἶσθα καὶ σὺ που φίλων | ὡς. κ.τ.λ. (2) The v. r. μοι for που is also possible. Which I have, as you know, hidden in the brake.' μοι, if genuine, is not dative of the agent, but of remote reference not I have hidden it, but 'I have it hidden.'
56.
mvp-comment-37-1
λόγῳ κλέπτοντες] 'Stealing our advance through feigned words.' The participle is equally emphatic with the verb.
57.
mvp-comment-38-1
φέρωμεν] The optative cannot be defended here.
59-60.
mvp-comment-39-1
The precise construction would be either λυπεῖ.. ὅτε σώζομαι, or λυπήσει . . ὅταν σωθῶ. But as the sentence proceeds the mind of Orestes dwells more than at first on the futurity of the event.
60.
mvp-comment-40-1
κἀξενέγκωμαι κλέος] ‘And win renown.' Cp. Od. 1. 298, οἷον κλέος ἔλλαβε δῖος Ορέστης.
61.
mvp-comment-41-1
δοκῶ μέν] Cp.
infr. 547: О. С. 995, δοκῶ μέν, εἴπερ ζῆν φιλεῖς, κ.τ.λ.: Fr. 83, δοκῶ μέν, οὐδείς: Plato, Meno, 94 C, δοκῶ μέν, ἐβούλετο, Methinks, no word is inauspicious that is accompanied with gain.' Cp. Eur. Hel. 1050 foll. (quoted by Brunck), ΕΛ. βούλει λέγεσθαι, μὴ θανών, τεθνηκέναι; ΜΕΝ. κακὸς μὲν ὄρνις· εἰ δὲ κερδανῶ λέγων, | ἕτοιμός εἰμι μὴ θανών λόγῳ θανείν.
62-66.
mvp-comment-42-1
Some such story as that of Aristeas of Proconnesus, Hdt. 4. 13-16, is probably in the mind of the poet, who need not however be accused of the anachronism of making Orestes refer to this or any similar story (as of Pythagoras, Epimenides, Solon, Zaleucus, or Zamolxis). Hermann finds here an allusion to some banished Athenian citizen, who (like the late Lord Brougham) may have ambitiously spread the rumour of his own death.
63.
mvp-comment-43-1
μάτην] ‘Without reality. For the pleonasm, see E. on L. § 40. p. 75.
64.
mvp-comment-44-1
ἐκτετίμηνται πλέον] ‘Their name stands higher than before.' For this intensive use of the perfect, cp. ἐσπούδακα, τετεύτακα, and similar words.
65-66.
mvp-comment-45-1
Even so I, having indeed come to life in consequence of this report, shall yet, I trust, flash like a comet on my foes.' δεδορκότα is used intensively for βλέποντα = ζῶντα, but this natural use of language is assisted by the image of the star. (See L. and S. s. ν. δέρκομαι.) The star of Orestes in the ascendant will be of evil omen to his enemies. Cp. Il. 22. 30, λαμπρότατος μὲν ὅδ᾽ ἐστί, κακὸν δὲ τε σῆμα τέτυκται. For ἔτι meaning 'Hereafter, though not now, cp.
infr. 471: Trach. 256, 7, ἢ μὴν τὸν ἀγχιστῆρα τοῦδε τοῦ πάθους | ξὺν παιδὶ καὶ γυναικὶ δουλώσειν ἔτι: Ant. 69: Phil. 1359. Compare with ll. 59-66 the comic words of Falstaff, Shak. I Hen. 4. 5. 4. 120, 'To counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed.'
68.
mvp-comment-46-1
Receive me and let me prosper in this my coming. The participle is proleptic. For ταῖσδε ταῖς ὁδοῖς, cp. Ὁ. C. 553, τανῦν θ᾽ ὁδοῖς | ἐν ταῖσδ᾽ ἀκούων μᾶλλον ἐξεπίσταμαι.
70.
mvp-comment-47-1
δίκῃ καθαρτής] ‘A rightful purifier.' See E. on L. § 14. р. 20. Ср. Shak. J. C. 2. 1. 180, We shall be called purgers, not murderers.'
72.
mvp-comment-48-1
ἀλλ᾽ ἀρχέπλουτον] Sc. καταστήσατε, the positive notion elicited from the negative, -E. on L. § 36. p. 64. (1) But make me the founder of a wealthy line.' This would seem to be the meaning of the compound, according to the analogy of ἀρχέκακος. The word in this sense may possibly be construed with δόμων, 'Beginner of wealth to the house. Others explain it as equal to ἀρχαιόπλουτος, (2) ‘Enjoying ancient wealth. For this, cp. ἀρχεδίκης, Pind. Pyth. 4. 189-195, ἀρχαίαν κομίζων πατρὸς ἐμοῦ βασιλευομέναν | οὐ κατ' αἶσαν .... τιμάν. | πεύθομαι γάρ νιν Πελίαν . . | ἁμετέρων ἀποσυλᾶσαι βιαίως ἀρχεδικᾶν τοκέων.
74.
mvp-comment-49-1
τὸ σὸν .. φρουρῆσαι χρέος] 'Go thy way and watchfully execute thy duty.' Lit. Watch thy service,' i. e. perform thy service which requires watchfulness. τὸ σὸν . . χρέος is cognate acc. after φρουρῆσαι, but also in the first instance the subject of μελέσθω, to which φρουρῆσαι is added as an explanatory infinitive.
75.
mvp-comment-50-1
καιρὸς γάρ] Sc. ἐστί. For the occasion is here. See E. on L. § 39. p. 72, 1 α.
75-76.
mvp-comment-51-1
ὅσπερ, κ.τ.λ.] 'And of all powers that direct men's enterprises, Occasion is chief.'
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.
77.
mvp-comment-53-1
-------. A paroemiac, consisting wholly of long syllables, like
infr. 88, 89, 105, and other lines in the following lament. See the scheme of metres below.
78-79.
mvp-comment-54-1
'Methinks there comes from the doors a sound as of some handmaiden moaning within them.' The harshness of the unusual genitive, θυρῶν ='In the direction of the doorway,' 'e regione ostii,' is softened by the addition of ἔνδον, with which θυρῶν is to be resumed. For the genitive of the place from which an object strikes the sense, cp.
infr. 900, 1, ἐσχάτης ὁρῶ | πυρᾶς νεώρη βόστρυχον τετμημένον.
81.
mvp-comment-55-1
There is no valid objection to the Scholiast's explanation of this as καὶ ἀνακούσωμεν, ‘And let us hear afresh,' or 'hear further.' Hermann prefers καὶ ἐνακούσωμεν. Neither form is found elsewhere, and Nauck conj. κάπακούσωμεν. But, as Prof. Paley observes, this is unnecessary.
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.
