791.
mvp-comment-372-1
οὔτοι σύ] Sc. ἔχεις καλῶς. 'You are not as I would wish you,'- viz. dead.
792.
mvp-comment-373-1
Either (1) Clytemnestra takes the word Νέμεσι alone, ignoring the qualification, 'Nemesis' (the spirit of just allotment) has heard those whom she ought to hear and has nobly ratified their prayer.' Or (2) she implies a different use of the genitive, as the ἀλάστωρ ᾿Ατρέως in Aesch. Ag. 1501, 2, is the Spirit of Vengeance for the crime of Atreus; so here the Νέμεσις τοῦ θανόντος might be the Spirit which has paid him what was due. But (1) is more probable.
795.
mvp-comment-374-1
Mr. Paley reads οὔκουν with a full stop after τάδε. But the reply of Electra suits better with the ironical question, 'You and Orestes will stop my insolence, will you not?'
797-798.
mvp-comment-375-1
Your coming, stranger, is like to prove most worthy of reward, if you have indeed put an end to her loud outcry.' ἂν ἥκοις = ἥκεις, ὡς
798-803.
mvp-comment-376-1
ἔοικαs, an objective being put for a subjective probability, as in the well. known idiom with μέλλω. Cp. Ο. Τ. 1182, τὰ πάντ᾽ ἂν ἐξήκοι σαφῆ: Aj. 186, ἥκοι γὰρ ἂν θεία νόσος, -and notes, -
infr. 1372, 3. εἰ is here used with the aor. indicative (aor. of immediate past) as elsewhere with the present, to introduce a supposition that is regarded as certain. For el with aor. indicative, of that which is granted or assumed, cp. Aesch. Pers. 217, εἴ τι φλαῦρον εἶδες. (So Ellendt, 'Siquidem effecisti, etc.')
800.
mvp-comment-377-1
ἐπείπερ] Ο. C. 75, 6, ἐπείπερ εἶ | γενναῖος, ὡς ἰδόντι. καταξίως] The use of the optative without av may be defended by supposing a resumption from the preceding line. Paley's ἐπεὶ τὰν .. καταξίως is preferable to Bothe's κατάξι ἄν. Another MS. reading, κατ᾿ ἀξίαν, is also possible.
803.
mvp-comment-378-1
φίλων] Orestes, including perhaps the death of Agamemnon.' Paley. Rather, including the destruction of the remaining hope that Agamemnon might be avenged. At this point Clytemnestra and the Paedagogus enter the house, and Electra is left alone upon the stage.
809.
mvp-comment-379-1
ἀποσπάσας . οἴχει] 'In thy departure thou hast torn away.' For the familiar phrase, cp. O. C. 866, ψιλὸν ὄμμ᾽ ἀποσπάσας . . ἐξοίχει.
811.
mvp-comment-380-1
Orestes was to come to the aid both of his father and sister:-i.e. to avenge his father and reinstate his sister. But the notions are not distinguished, for vengeance is regarded as a kind of aid. Cp.
infr. 1392, ἀρωγός.
812.
mvp-comment-381-1
ποῖ με χρὴ μολεῖν] ‘Whither must I turn?' Cp. Aj. 1006, ποῖ γὰρ μολεῖν μοι δυνατόν, εἰς ποίους βροτούς;
814-816.
mvp-comment-382-1
Cp.
supr. 263 foll.,
infr. 1190 foll.
816.
mvp-comment-383-1
ἀράμοι καλῶς ἔχει] 'Isit well with me, then?' The repetition of the words used above, 1. 790, may be accidental (Essay on L. § 44. p. 82), but may also, as Mr. Paley suggests, refer to
supr. 791. This is rather confirmed by the repetition of ξύνοικος in what follows, echoing
supr. 785; i.e. 'I wonder if they will be contented now I am reduced to this! But at all events I will not trouble them henceforth by dwelling with them.'
817.
mvp-comment-384-1
τοῦ λοιποῦ χρόνου] ‘For any portion of the time to come.' Essay on L. § 10. p. 17, 5.
818.
mvp-comment-385-1
Hermann's suggestion, adopted in the text, affords a probable, though by no means certain, emendation of this line. ξύνοικος must be taken in a slightly pregnant or proleptic sense= ὥστε ξύνοικος εἶναι.
818-819.
mvp-comment-386-1
τῇδε πρὸς πύλῃ βίον] ' I will let myself drop beside the gate and, without a friend, here wither my life away. She sinks into a half-recumbent attitude and remains so until the beginning of the commos. Sappho, Fr. 17, παρ δ᾽ ἱεῖσαι πτερά: Tennyson's Elaine, 'She slipped like water to the floor.' Mr. Paley calls this sensational.' But it is not more so than the death of Ajax, than Heracles (Trach. 1079, 80) unveiling his wounds than Oedipus appearing with eyes still bleeding, etc. The question is whether 11. 820-2, being spoken in this posture, may not be appropriate to this critical moment of darkness before dawn.'
820.
mvp-comment-387-1
εἰ βαρύνεται] Clytemnestra had spoken impatiently of the vexation of having Electra in the house with her,
supr. 784. 5. Electra now says, 'If her lying at the gate is a vexation to any one, let them put her out of the way, and welcome!'
823-869.
mvp-comment-388-1
In this short commos, in which the broken lines are expressive of intense feeling, the several members of the Chorus, with the exception of the Coryphaeus, who, having spoken in 11. 764, 5, remains in silent sympathy with Electra, attempt to rouse her from her utter despair, partly with consolation and partly with expressions of pity. But she is, if possible, more inconsolable than before. The metres are as follows:-
823-826.
mvp-comment-389-1
Orestes being dead and his father unavenged, the Powers of Heaven themselves must interfere. The sun must surely see this iniquity, the lightning must descend to punish it.
826.
mvp-comment-390-1
κρύπτουσιν] Either (1) sc. ἑαυτούς, 'They They hide themselves.' Cp. κεύθω. Or (2) sc. τὸ ἐφορᾶν: i.e. 'If seeing this they make as if they saw not, and remain unmoved.' Cp. Hom. H. 26. 7, where there is a similar doubt.
828-830.
mvp-comment-391-1
The words intended for consolation only wring a cry from Electra, and when asked the reason, she answers with a louder cry: on which the Chorus deprecate this excess of sorrow. μηδέν is adverbial, and μέγα cognate accusative. Cp. Aj. 1066, μηδὲν δεινὸν ἐξάρῃς μένος.
831.
mvp-comment-392-1
ἀπολεῖς] Electra, when asked the reason of her weeping, and told not to cry aloud, can only understand this as a suggestion that Orestes is alive.
834-836.
mvp-comment-393-1
If you will suggest a hope concerning one who is manifestly gone below, you will but press with heavier weight against my pining soul.' For the genitive τῶν.. οἰχομένων, see Essay on L. § 9. p. 13, 3, and ib. p. 12, 2. In ὑποίσεις, ὑπο is used as in ὑπεῖπον, - φέρω as in προφέρω.
836.
mvp-comment-394-1
ἐπεμβάσει contains a metaphor from trampling on the fallen. Cp.
supr. 456: Aj. 1348, οὐ γὰρ θανόντι καὶ προσεμβῆναί σε χρή : and κατά, 'against,' gives additional point to the expression. Essay on L. § 19. p. 27.
837-838.
mvp-comment-395-1
The Chorus adduce another reason for taking comfort even if Orestes be no more. The gods have not forgotten Amphiaraus, and they will not forget Agamemnon. The sudden disappearance of the prophet during the flight of the Argive host from Thebes, would naturally make a strong impression upon the Argive people.
837.
mvp-comment-396-1
ἄνακτ] Cp. Ο. Τ. 284, ἄνακτ᾿ ἄνακτι ταῦθ᾽ ὁρῶντ᾽ ἐπίσταμαι, κ.τ.λ.
838-839.
mvp-comment-397-1
χρυσοδέτοις . . γυναικών] 'Lost to sight through female snares depending on a golden chain.' χρυσοδέτοις ἔρκεσι is a condensed expression (Essay on L. pp. 39, 81) in which ἕρκεσι suggests both the entangling influence of Eriphyle and the necklace given to her by Adrastus. (So Wecklein.) In this case ἕρκεσι denotes that the necklace was indirectly an instrument of Adrastus' cunning. But it may be questioned whether such a complex association is possible. Perhaps ἔρμασι should be read, in the general sense of a woman's ornament. Cp. Od. 18. 297, ἔρματα δ᾽ Εὐρυδάμαντι δύω θεράποντες ἔνεικαν | τρίγληνα μορόεντα· χάρις δ' ἀπελάμπετο πολλή. See L. and S. s. v. ἔρμα ΙΙΙ.
840.
mvp-comment-398-1
Here Electra thinks of both her father and Orestes.
841.
mvp-comment-399-1
πάμψυχος ἀνάσσει] ‘He wields authority with mighty spirit unimpaired.' The prophet Amphiaraus is imagined as, like the prophet Teiresias, retaining all his faculties in the under-world. (So Wecklein: 'Unter der Erde aber lebte er mit vollem Leben und Bewusztsein fort und offenbarte dies durch Orakel und Heilung von Kranken. Cic. de Div. 1. 40.') From this the Chorus argue that the spirit of Agamemnon too will yet make his power to be felt.
843.
mvp-comment-400-1
φεῦ δῆτ᾽.. ὀλοὰ γάρ] The connection is difficult, and Wecklein reads μάν for γάρ. If γάρ is retained, the Chorus must be supposed to give a different turn to the interjection. Electra, thinking of her father, dwells on the sadness of Amphiaraus' death. The Choreutes, who interposes, reflects on the sadness of the whole story, including the death of Eriphyle by the hand of her son Alcmaeon (which Sophocles made the subject of a tragedy). 'Woe, indeed, you may cry! For the wretched (or baneful) woman-' Electra instantly perceives the drift, and quickly interrupts, in a tone of momentary triumph, -' Was overpowered!' Then, recollecting that he who should have done Alcmaeon's part for her is now no more, she relapses into despair.
846.
mvp-comment-401-1
μελέτωρ ἀμφὶ τὸν ἐν πένθει] 'One to care for him who was then mourned for.' ἐν πένθει is here used passively, not as
supr. 290. Cp. ἐν λόγοις.
848.
mvp-comment-402-1
φροῦδος ἀναρπασθείς] Is snatched away from the earth.' See note on Aj. 1192, ὄφελεν αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν, and note.
849.
mvp-comment-403-1
New misery finds thee in thy misery.'
850-852.
mvp-comment-404-1
I know that all too well, taught by a weight of fearful horror, that month by month accumulates.' Time is conceived as drawing in his train an ever-increasing burden of pollution and grief. For δεινῶν . . ἀχέων, which is unmetrical, Hermann proposed δεινῶν στυγνῶν τ᾽ αἰῶνι,-Prof. Lushington has suggested δεινῶν* τε στυγνῶν τ' *ἄχθει, which is adopted in the text. Hermann's reading means, 'In a life which month by month accumulates horror and pollution.'
854-855.
mvp-comment-405-1
μή . . παραγάγῃς] 'Draw me not aside,' as they had done for a moment by reminding her of the fate of Eriphyle.
855.
mvp-comment-406-1
ἵν'] ‘In a state of things wherein- Cp.
supr. 22, ἵν᾿ οὐκέτ᾽ ὀκνεῖν καιρός.
857-858.
mvp-comment-407-1
(οὐ) πάρεισιν .. ἀρωγαί] 'There is no longer within call the aid of hopes that rest on common birth from a most noble sire.' The language is much condensed: i.e. ἀρωγαὶ ἐν ἐλπίδι γιγνόμεναι ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐπατρίδου καὶ κοινοτόκου, sc. Ὀρέστου. See Essay on L. § 43. p. 81.
859.
mvp-comment-408-1
ἔφυ] « Is ordained by Nature.' For φῦναι, of divine appointment, cp. Ο. C. 1443, 4, ταῦτα δ' ἐν τῷ δαίμονι | καὶ τῇδε φῦναι χἀτέρᾳ.
861-863.
mvp-comment-409-1
'Is it likewise decreed by Nature to fall, as my poor brother did, on a sharp dragging-instrument amid swift-racing hoofs? For the lyrical use of the abstract word ὁλκός, cp. Eur. Ion 144, 5, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκπαύσω γὰρ μόχθους | δάφνας ὁλκοῖς. On τμητοῖς see above, note on 747.
864.
mvp-comment-410-1
ἄσκοπος ὁ λώβα] ‘The ruin is beyond thought; ' i.e. either (1) 'greater than can be conceived,' or (2) 'greater than could have been imagined beforehand.' For ἄσκοπος, cp. Aj. 21, and note; and see Essay on L. § 51. p. 96. The Scholiast says ἀπροόρατος ὁ θάνατος, and with this some interpreters are satisfied.
865-870.
mvp-comment-411-1
'Indeed it is unimaginable :- to think that he is hidden from the light of day, without my hands-Cho. Alas!-El. to deck his corpse and bury him, without our voices to lament for him!'
866.
mvp-comment-412-1
ἄτερ ἐμᾶν χερῶν] Cp.
infr. 1141, ἐν ξέναισι χερσὶ κηδευθείς: Ant. 900-3 (Antigone had the consolation which is denied to Electra).
