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.
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).'
