Sophocles Electra 1442-1510

mvp-comment-796-1 ναυαγίοις ¹

mvp-comment-797-1 σέ τοι ² κρίνω ³

mvp-comment-798-1 συμφορᾶς ⁴

mvp-comment-798-2 Possibly this is the only ambiguity intended. But

might be genitive of , ‘ the most welcome fortune of my kindred,’— i.e., ‘my brother's return.’ Cp. 1273 | . To intend this as an inner meaning would certainly be quite in the manner of Sophocles; cp. O. T. 337 | .—For other views, see Appendix.

mvp-comment-799-1 φίλης γὰρ προξένου κατήνυσαν ⁵

mvp-comment-800-1 ἦ καὶ ⁶

mvp-comment-800-2 ὡς ἐτητύμως ⁷

mvp-comment-801-1 οὔκ, ἀλλὰ κἀπέδειξαν ⁸ οὐ λόγῳ μόνον ⁹ οὔκ ¹⁰

mvp-comment-802-1 πάρεστ’ ¹¹

mvp-comment-802-2 ὥστε ¹²

mvp-comment-802-3 κἀμφανῆ μαθεῖν ¹³

mvp-comment-803-1 πάρεστι δῆτα ¹⁴ δῆτα ¹⁵ καὶ μάλ’ ¹⁶

mvp-comment-804-1 ἦ πολλὰ χαίρειν μ’ εἶπας ¹⁷

mvp-comment-804-2 1457 While τυγχάνοι ¹⁸ τυγχάνει ¹⁹

mvp-comment-805-1 κἀναδεικνύναι πύλας ²⁰

mvp-comment-806-1 Μυκηναίοισιν ²¹ Ἀργείοις ²²

mvp-comment-806-2 πᾶσιν ²³

mvp-comment-807-1 ἐλπίσιν … ἀνδρὸς ²⁴

mvp-comment-808-1 στόμια ²⁵

mvp-comment-808-2 φύσῃ φρένας ²⁶

mvp-comment-809-1 καὶ δὴ ²⁷ τἀπ’ ἐμοῦ ²⁸

mvp-comment-809-2 τελεῖται ²⁹

mvp-comment-809-3 τῷ … χρόνῳ ³⁰

mvp-comment-809-4 συμφέρειν τοῖς κρείσσοσιν ³¹

mvp-comment-809-5 As Electra utters these words, the central doors are opened, and the eccyclema is pushed forward. This was a small and low stage. A corpse is seen upon it, the face and outlines concealed by a covering. Near it stand Orestes and Pylades—the ‘Phocians’ whom Aegisthus seeks. The eccyclema remains displayed to the end, and at v. 1507 Orestes and Pylades go out behind it. So in the Antigone the eccyclema is in view from 1293 to the close, and at 1347 Creon is led off behind it.

mvp-comment-809-6 The corpse here is an effigy, like that of Haemon in Ant. 1261 ff. The deuteragonist, who had played Clytaemnestra, is now playing Orestes.

mvp-comment-810-1 δέδορκα φάσμ’ ³²

mvp-comment-810-2 The invocation, ὦ Ζεῦ ³³ φθόνου ³⁴ φάσμα ³⁵ δέδορκα ³⁶ πεπτωκός ³⁷

mvp-comment-810-3 ἔπεστι ³⁸

mvp-comment-810-4 νέμεσις ³⁹

mvp-comment-810-5 οὐ λέγω ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-810-6 Aegisthus corrects himself with hypocritical piety; it is as if he said, ‘but it is not for me to judge my fellow-mortal.’

mvp-comment-811-1 τὸ συγγενές ⁴¹

mvp-comment-811-2 τοι ⁴²

mvp-comment-811-3 κἀπ’ ἐμοῦ ⁴³

mvp-comment-811-4 θρήνων τύψῃ ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-812-1 βάσταζ’ ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-812-2 οὐκ ἐμὸν ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-812-3 ταῦθ’ ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-812-4 προσηγορεῖν φίλως ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-813-1 σὺ δέ ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-813-2 εἴ που κατ’ οἶκόν μοι ⁵⁰ μοι ⁵¹ κάλει ⁵²

mvp-comment-814-1 μηκέτ’ ἄλλοσε σκόπει ⁵³

mvp-comment-815-1 τίνα φοβεῖ ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-815-2 Campbell remarks: ‘After a glance of horrified recognition at the corpse, Aegisthus looks strangely on Orestes.

= .’ He refers both and , then, to the fear and bewilderment with which Aegisthus looks at Orestes. But the words of Orestes thus lose the grim force which belongs to them as a comment on ;

mvp-comment-816-1 ἀρκυστάτοις ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-816-2 For μέσοις ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-816-3 πέπτωκα ⁵⁷ ἐν ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-817-1 πάλαι ⁵⁹ αἰσθάνει ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-817-2 1478 In ἀνταυδᾷς ⁶¹ ἴσα τοῖς θανοῦσιν ⁶² ζῶντας ⁶³

mvp-comment-817-3 Editors from Brunck onwards have been nearly unanimous in accepting ζῶντας ⁶⁴ ζῶν τοῖς ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-818-1 ξυνῆκα ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-818-2 οὐ γὰρ ἔσθ’ ὅπως … οὐκ ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-819-1 καὶ μάντις ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-820-1 πάρες κἂν σμικρὸν εἰπεῖν ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-821-1 βροτῶν ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-821-2 σὺν κακοῖς μεμιγμένων ⁷¹

mvp-comment-821-3 θνῄσκειν ⁷²

mvp-comment-821-4 τοῦ χρόνου ⁷³

mvp-comment-821-5 Many recent critics follow Dindorf in suspecting or bracketing these two verses. Two things should be clearly recognised at the outset. First, that no suspicion is warranted by the fact that the scribe of L accidentally omitted these verses from the text,—as he also omitted several lines elsewhere which are undoubtedly genuine. Secondly, that in the language of these verses there is nothing to which exception can fairly be taken. If they are rejected, it must be on the ground that the thought which they express is inappropriate. But is it so? Aegisthus has appealed to mercy, asking for a brief respite. Electra fears that her brother may relent. What gain, she asks, would such a respite be, even to the doomed wretch himself? And her own feeling requires his instant death. It should be noted also that such a pair of verses, containing a general sentiment in an interrogative form, is Sophoclean; cp. Ai. 475

| ; also Ant. 463 f.

mvp-comment-822-1 ταφεῦσιν ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-822-2 ἄποπτον ἡμῶν ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-823-1 ἁγών ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-824-1 πρόχειρος … κτανεῖν ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-825-1 μὴ τάσσε ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-825-2 ἔνθαπερ ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-826-1 πᾶσ’ ἀνάγκη ⁸⁰ τά τ’ ὄντα καὶ μέλλοντα ⁸¹

mvp-comment-826-2 Aegisthus means: ‘Must this house witness, not only those sorrows of our family which exist already, but those others which are to come, if I am slain?’ He speaks of his impending doom as if it were due, not to his own crimes, but to the working of the hereditary

, and implies that it will be followed by other deeds of bloodshed. In saying Πελοπιδῶν ⁸²

mvp-comment-827-1 τὰ γοῦν ς’ ⁸³

mvp-comment-827-2 ἄκρος ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-828-1 τὴν τέχνην ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-828-2 1501 Cp. O. C. 1628

.

mvp-comment-828-3 1502 The double change of person within the verse ( Or.—Aeg.— Or.) is rare. As G. Wolff observes, there is no instance of it in Aesch. ; in Soph. the only other examples occur in the two latest plays, Soph. O. C. 832 , Soph. Ph. 810 , Soph. Ph. 814 , Soph. Ph. 816 , at moments of high excitement. A triple change within the verse occurs only once, in Soph. Ph. 753. This is another point which bcars on the date of the Electra: cp. 1160 n.

mvp-comment-828-4 ἕρφ’ ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-829-1 ἦ μὴ φύγω σε ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-829-2 μὲν οὖν ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-829-3 καθ’ ἡδονὴν θάνῃς ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-830-1 The imperf. χρῆν ⁹⁰ εἶναι ⁹¹

mvp-comment-830-2 εὐθὺς ⁹²

mvp-comment-830-3 θέλει ⁹³ θέλοι ⁹⁴ τοῖς πᾶσιν … ὅστις ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-830-4 πράσσειν γε ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-830-5 κτείνειν ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-830-6 τὸ πανοῦργον ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-830-7 Nicephorus Vasilákes (

), a professor of rhetoric at Constantinople in the latter part of the twelfth century, places these three verses of Sophocles at the head of a short piece in his rhetorical ‘Exercises’ ( ), and makes them the text of a discourse evidently prompted by the evils of his own time. The verses remind us, he says, how well Sophocles understood the function of Tragedy as a , or vehicle of moral teaching. After setting forth in action the warning example of Aegisthus, the poet here , i.e., generalises the lesson. From a literary and aesthetic point of view the remark deserves the notice of those who, like Dindorf, think the verses spurious. If the speech of Orestes ended with v. 1504, the effect would manifestly be too abrupt.

mvp-comment-831-1 ὦ σπέρμ’ Ἀτρέως ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-832-1 δἰ ἐλευθερίας … ἐξῆλθες ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-833-1 ὁρμῇ ¹⁰¹ τελεωθέν ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-833-2 This play contains no presage of trouble to come, and fitly ends with the word

. Contrast the closing words of the Choephori (1075 f.):

ποῖ δῆτα κρανεῖ, ποῖ καταλήξει | μετακοιμισθὲν μένος ἄτης;

1398-1441. mvp-comment-660-1 The following passage (1398-1441), although consisting largely of senarii, appears to be antistrophic, nearly corresponding even in the division of the lines. According to this view ll. 1404-1406 are either (1) not to be counted in the strophe, or (2) lines answering to them after l. 1427 must be supposed to have been lost. As the lines in question relate to the sudden cry of Clytemnestra from within, the former supposition is sufficiently probable. Cp. note on O. C. 117 foll., vol. i. p. 298 (Ist column). In the 'strophe,' ll. 1398-1421, Clytemnestra is put to death, -in the 'antistrophe,' ll. 1422-41, the bleeding sword is displayed, and Aegisthus is descried. The young men then retire into the palace, and Electra waits outside.

1440-1441. mvp-comment-680-1 λαθραῖον.. ἀγῶνα] 'That he may rush unawares upon the struggle of doom.' λαθραῖον (with ἀγῶνα) is predicative: i.e. That the struggle may be unforeseen.

1448-1449. mvp-comment-681-1 συμφορᾶς.. φιλτάτης] 'Else I had been a stranger to the fact which most concerns me.' Aegisthus understands, The event which touches Electra's heart most nearly;' to herself she means, 'The event that has filled me with joy.' τῶν ἐμῶν, (1) sc. συμφορῶν, or (2) gen. obj., 'What has happened to my friends.'

1451. mvp-comment-682-1 To Aegisthus Electra means, 'They succeeded in obtaining a kindly welcome'-from Clytemnestra in her gladness, supr. 800. And in this sense κατήνυσαν is construed with the genitive after the analogy of τυγχάνω οι κυρίω. But the word is chosen so as to convey the further meaning-They have made an end of her,' or 'Have accomplished the deed against her.' Cp. Eur. Or. 89.

1453. mvp-comment-683-1 'Nay, more, they showed him to our eyes, it was not a mere tale that came.' Aegisthus does not hear of the urn, but is made to believe that the body of Orestes is there. And so it is,' thinks Electra, 'but in full life.'

1455. mvp-comment-684-1 'There is indeed to be seen a sight I do not envy you.' Aegisthus understands the corpse of Orestes; Electra means that of Clytemnestra.

1457. mvp-comment-685-1 The optative, if right, is to be explained as hinting an uncertainty, 'If so it prove.'

1458. mvp-comment-686-1 σιγᾶν] In accordance with the εὐφημία which Greek sentiment prescribed in the presence of death. Mr. Paley unnecessarily conjectures οἴγειν. κἀναδεικνύναι πύλας] (1) The usual explanation of these words is that given in Wunder's note:- 'Notanda locutio est ἀναδεικνύναι πύλας, significans ἀνεῳγμένων τῶν πυλῶν δεικνύναι τὰ ἐντός, quum vulgo potius δόμον ἀναδεικνύναι dicatur, veluti apud Aristoph. Nub. 304, ἵνα μυστοδόκος δόμος ἐν τελεταῖς ἀναδεικνύται. Nam significat proprie ἀναδεικνύναι tollendo sive patefaciendo aliquid monstrare.' But (2) may not the words mean, by a change of subject, 'and that the gates disclose' what is to be seen within them (sc. ἄνδρα τόνδε νεκρόν)?

1460ff. mvp-comment-687-1 Aegisthus here betrays the fear in which he has been living. There is a reminiscence of Aesch. Ag. 1667, 8.

1461. mvp-comment-688-1 ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε] See Essay on L. § 9. p. 12, d 2.

1462-1463. mvp-comment-689-1 μηδὲ.. φρένας] ‘And may not, by encountering my chastisement, be made wise against his will.' Cp. Aesch. Ag. 180, καὶ παρ᾿ ἄκοντας ἦλθε σωφρονεῖν : Ο. С. 172.

1464. mvp-comment-690-1 καὶ δὴ.. ἐμοῦ] 'My rebellious hopes (τὰ ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ) are already at an end.' Cp. supr. 1344; also 1319-21.

1465. mvp-comment-691-1 ὥστε συμφέρειν τοῖς κρείσσοσιν] Aegisthus understands, 'So as to submit to authority.' To herself she means, 'So as to be on the stronger side'-that of Orestes.

1466-1467. mvp-comment-692-1 By an ἐκκύκλημα, the body of Clytemnestra is brought out, covered, with Orestes standing by. Aegisthus imagines the corpse to be that of Orestes, and Orestes to be the Phocian messenger. What I see here cannot have fallen thus without Divine jealousy, but if to say so provokes Nemesis, I do not say it.' ἔπεστι, sc. τῷ λόγῳ. For οὐ λέγω, cp. Trach. 500. πίπτειν is used in the sense of 'to befall' (L. and S. s. v. V. 2), but also with an allusion to the fall of Orestes. Another way of taking the words has been suggested, What I see cannot have fallen thus without the Envy of the Gods, whether Just Retribution has also been at work, I do not say. But such an opposition between φθόνος and νέμεσις is hardly possible in tragic Greek.

1468. mvp-comment-693-1 'Take off all covering from before my sight, that I too may duly mourn over my kin.'

1470. mvp-comment-694-1 αὐτὸς σὺ βάσταζ'] 'Take it up yourself;' viz. τὸ κάλυμμα, which, like the corpse itself, should be sacred from a stranger's touch. οὐκ ἐμὸν τόδ', ἀλλὰ σόν] Ostensibly, because Aegisthus is nearer of kin to Orestes than the Phocian man. Really, because Aegisthus loves Clytemnestra, whom her son has slain.

1472. mvp-comment-695-1 σὺ δέ] To Electra..

1474. mvp-comment-696-1 Aegisthus is waiting for Clytemnestra before completely withdrawing the covering, which Orestes finally removes with these words.

1475. mvp-comment-697-1 After a glance of horrified recognition at the corpse, Aegisthus looks strangely on Orestes. τίνα = διὰ τί τόνδε; Essay on L. § 22. p. 36, 4. Cp. supr. 122, and note.

1478. mvp-comment-698-1 'Why, dost thou not perceive that all this while thou, a living man, hast been replying to the dead in tones like theirs?' Cp. supr. 1342. τοῖς θανοῦσιν is resumed with ἴσα, i.e. Aegisthus has been answering Orestes, who has been given out as dead, with a tongue that is already doomed to death. Tyrwhitt unnecessarily conjectured ζῶντας θανοῦσιν, which Brunck and subsequent editors have adopted, That you have been addressing (?) living men for dead.' Schol. τοῖς θανοῦσιν] τῷ Ὀρέστῃ.

1481. mvp-comment-699-1 καὶ .. πάλαι] 'Are you so excellent a prophet, who, notwithstanding, have been all this while deceived?' καί (with μάντις) adds a concessive emphasis, as in καί περ. Ep. Pind. Ol. 7.56, παρέπλαγξαν καὶ σοφόν.

1485-1486. mvp-comment-700-1 'For wherein, when mortals are involved in misery, should he who defers his death be profited by the delay?' These lines have been not unnaturally suspected of interpolation, as the γνώμη is not dramatically appropriate. But the lines are Sophoclean, as Mr. Paley has remarked. As in Aj. 554, where see note, they may have been quoted in the margin of some early MS.

1487. mvp-comment-701-1 πρόθες] 'Lay him out for burial.'

1488. mvp-comment-702-1 i.e. κυσὶν ἠδ᾽ οἰωνοῖς. Cp. esp. Od. 3. 256, foll. εἰ ζώοντ' Αἴγισθον ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἔτετμεν | ᾿Ατρείδης Τροίηθεν ἰών, ξανθὸς Μενέλαος | τῷ κέ οἱ οὐδὲ θανόντι χυτὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἔχευαν, | ἀλλ᾿ ἄρα τόν γε κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατέδαψαν, | κείμενον ἐν πεδίῳ ἑκὰς ῎Αργεος.

1489-1490. mvp-comment-703-1 ὡς ἐμοὶ.. λυτήριον] If Aegisthus dies the common death of all men, or if he obtains burial like other men, Electra will feel unsatisfied, to think that her oppressor is at rest. To see his grave beside her father's in the ἀρχαῖος τάφος (893) would be intolerable to her.

1493-1494. mvp-comment-704-1 πῶς.. οὐ πρόχειρος εἶ κτανεῖν] Why not slay me out of hand?' More lit. Why not put forth your hand at once to slay me?' For this use of πρόχειρος, cp. πρόθυμος, πρόφρων, πρόγλωσσος.

1495-1496. mvp-comment-705-1 The retributive justice of slaying Aegisthus by the hearth, where he slew Agamemnon, is made a reason for not despatching him in sight of the spectators. Cp. supr. 195 foll. and notes, 269, 70.

1497-1498. mvp-comment-706-1 These words of Aegisthus, when about to die, are calculated to strike awe into the spectator, who reflects with himself, And is this the final consummation after all, even though it appear so to the Chorus (ll. 1508-10)?' So much is allowed to remain of the impression produced by the Choëphori, 1075, 6, ποῖ δῆτα κρανεῖ, ποῖ καταλήξει μετακοιμισθὲν μένος ἄτης;

1500. mvp-comment-707-1 πατρώαν] See Essay on L. § 23. p. 38, δ 1.

1501. mvp-comment-708-1 ἡ δ᾽ ὁδὸς βραδύνεται] Cp. Ο. C. 1628, πάλαι δὴ τἀπὸ σοῦ βραδύνεται.

1505-1507. mvp-comment-709-1 These lines appear commonplace to modern readers. But so do many other γνῶμαι in Greek tragedy. And Orestes' speech ends too abruptly if they are omitted.

1506. mvp-comment-710-1 γε may be explained as confirmatory of the preceding sentence, 'Ay, -whosoever chooses to transgress the law, to slay him. Although θέλει is quite admissible, θέλοι is preferable with the past tenses ἐχρῆν ἦν, as the more subtle construction.

1508-1510. mvp-comment-711-1 'O seed of Atreus, how, after many woes, thou hast hardly won thy way into the path of freedom, being made perfect by the effort of to-day!' δι᾽ ἐλευθερίας ἐξῆλθες is a pregnant expression, equivalent to ἐξῆλθες ὥστε δι᾿ ἐλευθερίας ἰέναι.