Sophocles, Electra, ed. Francis Storr, 464

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Χορός

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

Χρυσόθεμις

δράσω· τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον οὐχ ἔχει λόγον

δυοῖν ἐρίζειν, ἀλλʼ ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δρᾶν.

πειρωμένῃ δὲ τῶνδε τῶν ἔργων ἐμοὶ

σιγὴ παρʼ ὑμῶν, πρὸς θεῶν, ἔστω, φίλαι·

ὡς εἰ τάδʼ ἡ τεκοῦσα πεύσεται, πικρὰν
470

δοκῶ με πεῖραν τήνδε τολμήσειν ἔτι.

Electra. Sophocles. ed. Francis Storr. London. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Ἠλέκτρα (Greek) (Sophocles, Volume 2. Storr, Francis, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, 1913.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 464 focus

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

ΧΡ.

δράσω· τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

δυοῖν ἐρίζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δρᾶν.

πειρωμένῃ δὲ τῶνδε τῶν ἔργων ἐμοὶ

σιγὴ παρ᾽ ὑμῶν πρὸς θεῶν ἔστω, φίλαι·

ὡς εἰ τάδ᾽ ἡ τεκοῦσα πεύσεται, πικρὰν
470

δοκῶ με πεῖραν τήνδε τολμήσειν ἔτι.

ΧΟ.
στρ.

Translations (5)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 464 focus

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid,

If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here.
465

CHR

Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well

Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed.

Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise,

Let me have silence from your lips, I pray;

For should my mother know of it, sharp pain
470

Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS
CHORUS .

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 464 focus

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du

Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Chrysothemis.

Ich will es thun. Das Rechte bietet keinen Grund¹

Für Zwei, zu streiten, sondern rasch an's Werk zu gehn.

Doch wenn ich, theure Frauen, dies versuchen soll,
460

Müßt ihr, um alle Götter, mir verschwiegen sein!

Denn hört davon die Mutter, dann wird sicher noch

Aus diesem Wagniß bittre Frucht für mich erblüh'n.

(Sie schneidet von ihren Haaren ab, empfängt Haar und Gürtel der Elektra, und entfernt sich.) Elektra. Der Chor. Strophe.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 464 focus

Well doth the pious virgin speak, and thou

And so I will.

"Where reason dictates, strife should never come ;

But quick, despatch ! fulfil her just commands.

Yet, O my friends I remember, our attempt

Is full of danger, and let nought escape

That may betray me to my cruel mother ;

For if it reach her ear, this daring act,

I fear me much, shall one day cost us dear.

Or my prophetic mind is now no more

Attentive as of old to wisdom's lore,

Or justice comes, with speedy vengeance fraught ;

Behold ! the goddess armed with power appears-

It must be so, by Clytemnestra's fears.

And the dire dream that on her fancy wrought :

Thy father, not unmindful of his fate.

Shall hither come his wrongs to vindicate ;

And, in his gore imbrued.

The fatal axe with him shall rise,

Shall ask another sacrifice,

And drink with him the cruel tyrant's blood.

Lo ! with unnumbered hands and countless feet,

The fury comes her destined prey to meet ;

Deep in the covert hid she glides unseen,

Hangs o'er the trembUng murderer's head,

Or steals to the adultrous bed,

An awful witness of the guilty scene ;

ELKCTRA.

Doubtless the dream with all its terrors meant

For crimes like these Bome dreadful punishment,
470

I f mortals aught from nightly visions know,
470

If truth from great Apollo's shrine
470

Appears in oracles divine,
470

1 *resagiug bliss to come, or threat'ning future woe.
470

J""'
470

C) Pelops ; to thy countiy and to thco
470

The fatal course brought woe and misery ;

For since the time v/hen, from his chariot thi'own,

For thee the guilty wreath to gain,

The hapless Myrtihis was slain,

Nought has thy wretched race but grief and sorrow

known.

Clytemnestra
\Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 464 focus

This from a pious heart the virgin speaks :

Chrysothemis

Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust.

CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids,

Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act.

But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus
STRO: ANTIS.

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 464 focus

Chorus

The girl’s advice is pious; you,

dear friend, will do what she says, if you are wise.
465

Chrysothemis

I will. In regard to a just deed, it is unreasonable for two people to argue, but reasonable to jump to action. But, by the gods, my friends, when I attempt this task, let me have your silence,

since if my mother hears of it, I believe that this attempt which I will dare shall in the end cause me bitterness. Exit Chrysothemis on the spectators’ right.
470

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-278-1 πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ¹

mvp-comment-279-1 δράσω ²

mvp-comment-279-2 τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον ³

mvp-comment-279-3 (1)

τὸ δίκαιον

is an acc. of general reference, and

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

is impersonal. ‘With regard to what is (clearly) right, it is unreasonable for two persons to dispute; rather both should hasten on the doing (of it).’ With

ἀλλ’ ἐπισπεύδειν

we supply the notion

δεῖ

from the negative

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

(as from

οὐκ ἔξεστι

in O. C. 1402 ff.; cp. O. T. 817 ff.). For the form of the sentence, cp. H. 7. 3. 7

τοὺς περὶ Ἀρχίαν...οὐ ψῆφον ἀνεμείνατε, ἀλλὰ ὁπότε πρῶτον ἐδυνάσθητε ἐτιμωρήσασθε

. So here the acc.

τὸ δίκαιον

, which represents the object of

δρᾶν

, is separated from it by the parenthesis

οὐκ

ἔχει λόγον δυοῖν ἐρίζειν

. (The first scholium gives substantially this view:

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον φιλονεικεῖν περὶ τοῦ δικαίου, ὥστε περὶ αὐτοῦ δύο ὄντας ἐρίζειν

mvp-comment-279-4 (2) Or

τὸ δίκαιον

might be nom.: ‘that which is clearly right does not afford any ground (

οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

) for two persons to dispute,’ etc. So the second schol.:

ἢ τὸ οὐκ ἔχει λόγον ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐ παρέχει πρόφασιν

. So far as the verb

ἔχει

is concerned, this sense is quite admissible: cp. Thuc. 2. 41

οὔτε τῷ πολεμίῳ ἐπελθόντι ἀγανάκτησιν ἔχει

(

ἡ πόλις

). The objection is that the phrases

ἔχειν λόγον, οὐκ ἔχειν λόγον

, which are very common, regularly mean, ‘to be reasonable,’ ‘to be unreasonable.’ This is so both in the personal and in the impersonal constr.; as Plat. Phaedop. 62 D

τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν...οὐκ ἔχει λόγον

: Dem. or. 36 § 54

πῶς ἔχει λόγον σὲ...δίκην ἀξιοῦν λαμβάνειν

; The supposed sense, ‘not to afford a reason,’ is unexampled.

mvp-comment-279-5 δυοῖν ⁴

mvp-comment-280-1 παρ’ ὑμῶν ⁵

mvp-comment-281-1 πικρὰν ⁶ δοκῶ με … τολμήσειν ⁷ ἔτι ⁸

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

466-467. mvp-comment-206-1 τὸ γὰρ .. δρᾶν] ‘For when a thing is right, people should not quarrel over it, but hasten to do it.' Two points are doubtful in the construction of these words. a. Either (1) τὸ δίκαιον is subject of ἔχει, and ἐρίζειν is epexegetic infinitive, or (2) ἐρίζειν is the subject of ἔχει, and τὸ δίκαιον an accusative loosely governed by the words that follow it. b. τὸ δρᾶν is either (1) the direct object of ἐπισπεύδειν, or (2) epexegetic infinitive after ἐπισπεύδειν (i.e. ἐπισπεύδειν τὸ δίκαιον, ὥστε δρᾶν αὐτό). For the article in this case, cp. O. T. 1416, 7, ἐς δέον πάρεσθ᾽ ὅδε | Κρέων τὸ πράσσειν καὶ τὸ βουλεύειν : infr. 1030, μακρὸς τὸ κρῖναι ταῦτα χὼ λοιπὸς χρόνος. The addition of δυοῖν belongs to the same tendency to make numbers explicit, which appears in καὶ τὸ γενναῖον τρίτον (Ο. C. 8) and the like phrases. For the sense, cp. Fr. 76, τοῖς γὰρ δικαίοις ἀντέχειν οὐ ῥάδιον. In the second clause, ἀλλ' ἐπισπεύδειν, κ.τ.λ., a positive notion is understood from the negative. Essay on L. § 36. p. 64, β, 1 а.

468-471. mvp-comment-207-1 These lines are intended to emphasize at once the timidity of Chrysothemis and the harshness of Clytemnestra.

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:-

Sophocles Electra 464

ed. Francis Storr

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Χορός

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

Current edition Experimental

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

ΧΟ.
στρ.

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid,

If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here.
465

CHR

Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well

Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed.

Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise,

Let me have silence from your lips, I pray;

For should my mother know of it, sharp pain
470

Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS
CHORUS .

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du

Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Der Chor.

Well doth the pious virgin speak, and thou

Clytemnestra
\Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

This from a pious heart the virgin speaks :

Chrysothemis

Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust.

CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids,

Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act.

But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus
STRO: ANTIS.

Chorus

The girl’s advice is pious; you,

dear friend, will do what she says, if you are wise.
465

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Χορός πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ, εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε. 465

Current edition Experimental

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ, εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε. 465

ΧΟ. στρ.

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid, If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here. 465

CHR Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed. Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise, Let me have silence from your lips, I pray; For should my mother know of it, sharp pain 470 Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS CHORUS .

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Der Chor.

Well doth the pious virgin speak, and thou

Clytemnestra \Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

This from a pious heart the virgin speaks :

Chrysothemis Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust. CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids, Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act. But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus STRO: ANTIS.

Chorus The girl’s advice is pious; you, dear friend, will do what she says, if you are wise. 465

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Χορός

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἡ κόρη λέγει· σὺ δέ,

εἰ σωφρονήσεις, ὦ φίλη, δράσεις τάδε.
465

ΧΟ.
στρ.

She counsels piously; and thou, dear maid,

If thou art wise, wilt do her bidding here.
465

CHR

Yea, when a thing is right, it is not well

Idly to wrangle, but to act with speed.

Only, dear friends, in this mine enterprise,

Let me have silence from your lips, I pray;

For should my mother know of it, sharp pain
470

Will follow yet my bold adventurous feat.

CHORUS
CHORUS .

Ein frommes Wort wohl, das die Jungfrau sprach, und du

Folgst ihrem Rath, o Liebe, wenn du weise bist.

Clytemnestra
\Exit Ohrysothemis. Scene Y. Antistro'phe. Act II. Scene I.

Chrysothemis

Our love exhorts thee discharge the trust.

CHRY. Yes, I will do it: for when justice bids,

Reason disputes not, but makes haste to act.

But by the gods, my friends, whilst I attempt

Theseus
STRO: ANTIS.

Chorus

The girl’s advice is pious; you,

dear friend, will do what she says, if you are wise.
465