Sophocles Electra 472

Richard Jebb (Translator)

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Electra. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1894.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Electra (English) (Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 6: The Electra. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1894. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 472 focus
εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ ἐγὼ MSS. Dind. corr. παράφρων
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 472 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 472 focus
An erring seer am I,
Of sense and wisdom lorn,
If this prophetic Power of right,
O’ertaking the offender, come not nigh
Ere many an hour be born.
Yon vision of the night,
That lately breathed into my listening ear,
Hath freed me, O my daughter, from all fear.
Sweet was that bodement. He doth not forget,
The Achaean lord that gave thee being, nor yet
The bronzen-griding axe, edged like a spear,
Hungry and keen, though dark with stains of time,
That in the hour of hideous crime
Quelled him with cruel butchery:
That, too, remembers, and shall testify.
From ambush deep and dread
With power of many a hand
And many hastening feet shall spring
The Fury of the adamantine tread,
Visiting Argive land
Swift recompense to bring
For eager dalliance of a blood-stained pair
Unhallowed, foul, forbidden. No omen fair,—
Their impious course hath fixed this in my soul,—
Nought but black portents full of blame shall roll
Before their eyes that wrought or aided there.
Small force of divination would there seem
In prophecy or solemn dream,
Should not this vision of the night
Reach harbour in reality aright.
O chariot-course of Pelops, full of toil!
How wearisome and sore
Hath been thine issue to our native soil!—
Since, from the golden oar
Hurled to the deep afar,
Myrtilus sank and slept,
Cruelly plucked from that fell chariot-floor,
This house unceasingly hath kept
Crime and misfortune mounting evermore.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 472 focus
Wenn weissagender Geist Kunde mir gab,
Wahrhaft, voll weiser Besonnenheit:
465
Naht voraus verkündend
Das Recht, gerechte Strafgewalt in starker Hand;
Es naht heran, Tochter, nicht in ferner Zeit.
Muth hebt den Busen mir,
Weil ich von Träumen eben hörte, die mich hold umweh'n.
470
Der Schmach vergißt dein Vater niemals,
Er, einst Hellas' Fürst,
Und nie das alte Beil von Erze,
Das zweischneidige,
Das frevelnd in arger Wahnsinnsthat den Tod ihm gab.
475
Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 472 focus
Must yield to her requests.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 472 focus
amidst you well the secret guard;
For should my mother know it, much I fear
I should have cause the daring deed to mourn.
If wisdom with one prescient ray
Illumes the darkness of my soul,
The vengeful Fury speeds her way;
Before her, baleful omens scowl;
I hear the flaping of their wings;
The force of justice in her hands she brings.
The dreadful visions of the night I hear:
They breathe sweet music to my ear;
My courage kindles at thinspiring sound.
Thy father rouses in the realms below;"
Ne'er will the king of Greece forget his wound,
Ne'er the old Axe of brass, that struck th' insidious blow..
She comes, with all her hundred hands,
Her hundred feet, the furious pow'r,
No more in dreadful ambush stands;
She comes, she knows her torturing hour;
With feet of brass I hear her tread;
She marks th' unholy, blood-polluted bed:
Vengeful 'gainst those th' accursed attempt who dared,
And those the horrid deed who shared,
She sends these boding signs, nor sends in vain.
If aught of truth terrific dreams disclose,
If aught the oracle's prophetic strain,
This vision of the night our happier state foreshows.
How black with miseries to this land,
O Pelops, was thy fatal course,
When jealous Pisa's dangerous strand...
Saw thy swift car's victorious force!
For since by rage, untaught to spare,
The hapless Myrtilus was slain,
Hurl'd headlong from the golden car,
And plunged into the roaring main,
Strife in this house delights to dwell,
And Murder shrieks with hideous yell.

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-282-1 εἰ μὴ )γὼ 1

mvp-comment-282-2 γνώμας λειπομένα 2

mvp-comment-283-1 ἁ πρόμαντις Δίκα 3

mvp-comment-283-2 δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη 4

mvp-comment-284-1 μέτεισιν 5

mvp-comment-284-2 οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου 6

mvp-comment-285-1 ὕπεστί μοι θράσος 7 κλύουσαν 8

mvp-comment-285-2 ἁδυπνόων … ὀνειράτων 9

mvp-comment-286-1 ἀμναστεῖ γ’ ὁ φύσας ς’ 10

mvp-comment-287-1 χαλκόπλακτος 11

mvp-comment-287-2 γένυς 12

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.

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

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.