893.
mvp-comment-424-1
πατρὸς ἀρχαῖον τάφον] 'The ancient sepulchre, where our father is laid.' The word ἀρχαῖος properly applies to the burial place of the kings of Argos, in which Agamemnon was laid. Sophocles seems to conceive of this as a mound with a κρηπίς of stone, of which a certain portion (θήκη) was marked off as containing the body of Agamemnon. The libation was poured high up on the mound, so as to flow down over this portion of the πυρά, or burial-site; the flowers were arranged so as to decorate the θήκη ᾿Αγαμέμνονος; the lock of hair was placed near the edge of the πυρά. But in explaining the details of the description we are left almost entirely to conjecture.
894.
mvp-comment-425-1
κολώνης ἐξ ἄκρας] Either (1) flowing from the summit, or (2) just below the summit, -cp. Ant. 411, ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων.
895.
mvp-comment-426-1
For πηγάς, cp. O. C. 479,- (χέω τάδε;) τρισσάς γε πηγάς.
895-896.
mvp-comment-427-1
περιστεφῆ.. ἀνθέων] Cp.О.Т. 83, πολυστεφὴς.. δάφνης, and note.
898.
mvp-comment-428-1
· ἐγχρίμπτει, which has some authority, is an equally good reading.' Paley. The subjunctive is more expressive of apprehension.
899.
mvp-comment-429-1
ἐν γαλήνῃ] Sc. οὖσαν. Essay on L. § 23. p. 38. For the sense, cp. Hdt. 1. 45. § 4, ἐπεί τε ἡσυχίη τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐγένετο περὶ τὸ σῆμα.
