Sophocles Electra 11

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Theseus
I understand them well; no part
Escapes me; yet I will not cease to grieve;
130
No; I will never cease to mourn, and wail
My murder'd father's fate. But, O my friends,
Dear to my heart by every tender tie
Of mutual love, permit me thus to pour,...
Ah me! I pray you, my unceasing griefs...

Electra. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.

Current edition Experimental

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 11 focus
ὅθεν σε πατρὸς ἐκ φόνων ἐγώ ποτε
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-120 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 11 focus
EL
Senseless were he who lost from thought
A noble father, lamentably slain!
I love thy strain,
Bewildered mourner, bird divinely taught,
For ‘Itys,’ ‘Itys,’ ever heard to pine.
O Niobè, I hold thee all divine,
85
Of sorrows queen,
85
Who with all tearful mien
85
Insepulchred in stone
Aye makest moan.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
O Sohn des Feldherrn, der in Troas einst gebot, 1
1
Des Agamemnon, endlich ist es dir vergönnt,
Zu schaun mit Augen, was zu schaun dich stets verlangt.
Dein graues Argos, deiner Sehnsucht Land, ist hier, 2
Der wuthgeschlagnen Inachid' uralter Hain;
5
Das dort, Orestes, ist der Markt des Lykiers,
Des wolferlegenden Gottes, und zur Liuken hier
Der Hera stolzer Tempel: wo wir hingelangt,
Schaust du Mykenä's Veste, reich an goldnem Schaz,
Und hier der Pelopsenkel unheilschwangres Haus,
10
Wo nach des Vaters grausem Tod ich ehedem
Von deiner Schwester dich empfing und weiter trug
Und rettet' und zu solcher Jugendblüte dich
Aufzog, dereinst zu rächen deines Vaters Mord.
Nun denn, Orestes, und o du, mein Pylades,
15
Der Freunde liebster, was zu thun, berathet schnell:
Denn schon erweckt der Sonne strahlenvoller Glanz
Der Vögel Morgenstimmen uns zu hellem Schall;
Die schwarze Nacht der Sterne schwand in's Dunkel hin.
Drum eh' ein Mann aus dieses Hauses Pforte tritt,
20
Beredet euch zusammen; denn wir stehen da,
Wo's nimmer gilt zu säumen, wo's der That bedarf.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 11 focus
Chorus
But he will.
145
Despair not, daughter ; Jo^ejsj^et^n heaven,
145
ITahe god who sees, and knows, and governs all
145
f \ Patient to him submit, nor let thy rage
Too far transport thee, nor oblivion drown
The just remembrance of thy matchless woes ;
Time is a kind indulgent deity,
And he shall givt* thee succour ; he shall send
The god of Acheron, from Chrysa's shores.
To bring Orestes and avenge thy wrongs.
Elfx'. Oh ! but the while how much of
And I a hapless wretched orphan still,
150
Without a friend to guard or to protect me —
150
Disgraced, dishonoured,' like a stranger clad
In base attire, and fed with homeliest fare.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-120 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-74-1 ξυνίημι 1

mvp-comment-74-2 τάδ’ 2

mvp-comment-75-1 φυγγάνει 3

mvp-comment-75-2 οὐδ’ ἐθέλω 4

mvp-comment-76-1 μὴ οὐ 5

mvp-comment-76-2 τὸν ἐμὸν … πατέρ’ ἄθλιον 6

mvp-comment-77-1 παντοίας 7

mvp-comment-77-2 Electra's lyrics contain some Doricisms (129, 146 f., etc.): but it is best to retain

φιλότητος
, with the MSS. The form in
η
was so familiar through Homer that it may have been preferred to
φιλότατος
even in lyrics. Cp. 236 .

mvp-comment-78-1 ἀλύειν 8

mvp-comment-79-1 αἰαῖ, ἱκνοῦμαι 9

mvp-comment-80-1 τόν γ’ ἐξ Ἀΐδα … λίμνας 10

mvp-comment-80-2 παγκοίνου 11

mvp-comment-80-3 ἀνστάσεις 12

mvp-comment-81-1 οὔτε †γόοις οὔτε λιταῖσιν 13 οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ’ εὐχαῖς 14

mvp-comment-82-1 For the repetition of ἀλλά 15

mvp-comment-82-2 ἀπὸ τῶν μετρίων 16

mvp-comment-82-3 ἀμήχανον 17

mvp-comment-82-4 ο=ιόλλυσαι 18

mvp-comment-83-1 ἐν οἷς 19

mvp-comment-83-2 ἀνάλυσις … κακῶν 20

mvp-comment-83-3 τί μοι 21

mvp-comment-84-1 νήπιος 22

mvp-comment-84-2 γονέων 23

mvp-comment-85-1 ἐμέ γ’ … ἄραρεν 24

mvp-comment-85-2 φρένας 25

mvp-comment-86-1 αἰὲν Ἴτυν 26

mvp-comment-87-1 ὄρνις 27

mvp-comment-87-2 ἀτυζομένα 28

mvp-comment-87-3 Διὸς ἄγγελος 29

mvp-comment-88-1 Νιόβα, σὲ δ’ 30 θεόν 31

mvp-comment-88-2 ἅτ’ 32

mvp-comment-88-3 ἐν τάφῳ πετραίῳ 33

mvp-comment-89-1 αἰεὶ 34

mvp-comment-90-1 οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ 35

mvp-comment-91-1 πρὸς ὅ τι 36

mvp-comment-91-2 τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά 37

mvp-comment-92-1 οἷς 38 τῶν ἔνδον 39

mvp-comment-92-2 ὁμόθεν 40 γονᾷ ξύναιμος 41

mvp-comment-93-1 οἵα Χρ. ζώει 42

mvp-comment-93-2 Acc. to the version followed by Sophocles, Agamemnon had four daughters, Iphigeneia, Electra, Chrysothemis, Iphianassa. This was the account given in the cyclic

Κύπρια ἔπη
, as the schol. here mentions; a poem of which there is another trace in this play (566 ff.). Sophocles wrote an
Ἰφιγένεια
( Nauck, frag. Soph. 284—292 ); but her name is not mentioned in the reference to her death below (530—594). In Il. 9. 145 Agamemnon has three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodicè, Iphianassa: Homer does not mention Iphigeneia. Lucretius gives the name of Iphianassa to the victim at Aulis ( 1. 85 ).

mvp-comment-93-3 ζώει 43

mvp-comment-93-4 καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα 44

mvp-comment-94-1 ἀχέων 45

mvp-comment-94-2 Hermann, taking ἀχέων 46 κρυπτᾷ 47

mvp-comment-95-1 ὄλβιος, ὃν 48

mvp-comment-95-2 For the simple

ὅς
, instead of
ὅς γε
or
ὅστις
, with causal force, cp. below, 188, 261, 959; O.T. 817.

mvp-comment-96-1 δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν 49

mvp-comment-96-2 Διὸς εὔφρονι 50 βήματι 51

mvp-comment-96-3 γᾶν 52 γᾶ 53

mvp-comment-96-4 Ὀρέσταν 54 ὃν 55

mvp-comment-97-1 ἀκάματα 56

mvp-comment-97-2 ἀνύμφευτος 57 ἄτεκνος 58

mvp-comment-97-3 οἰχνῶ 59

mvp-comment-98-1 δάκρυσι μυδαλέα 60

mvp-comment-98-2 τὸν ἀνήνυτον 61

mvp-comment-98-3 οἶτον ἔχουσα 62

mvp-comment-99-1 ὧν τ’ ἔπαθ’ 63 ὧν τ’ ἐδάη 64

mvp-comment-99-2 Wecklein, reading

ἐδάην
, explains,— ‘what I have heard from him,’—viz., his promises of coming.

mvp-comment-99-3 τί γὰρ … ἀγγελίας 65

mvp-comment-99-4 ἀπατώμενον 66 τί … οὐκ 67

mvp-comment-99-5 Herwerden's οὐχί μοι 68 οὐκ ἐμοί 69 ὁ δέ 70

mvp-comment-100-1 ποθεῖ, ποθῶν δ’ 71

mvp-comment-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ 72 ἐν 73

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ 74

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα 75

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο 76 οἷς 77

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός 78 θεός 79

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ 80

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν 81

mvp-comment-105-3 Crisa stood about two miles W.S.W. of Delphi, on a spur of Parnassus, at the lower outlet of the gorge through which the river Pleistus issues into the plain. The Iliad mentions ‘sacred Crisa’ (

ζαθέην
, 2. 520). But the Homeric Hymn to the Pythian Apollo is the best witness to its ancient power. There, just as here, the name
Κρῖσα
includes the land which stretches southward from the town to its harbour on the ‘wide gulf’ (vv. 253— 261). We need not, then, read
Κρίσᾳ
or
Κρίσας
. Crisa was the earliest seat of trade on the western sea; Delphi, when first founded, was merely a sanctuary in its territory. Pindar recalls the old prominence of its name when he describes a Pythian victory as won
Κρισαίαις ἐνὶ πτυχαῖς
( P. 6. 18).

mvp-comment-105-4 Cirrha, a town of much later date, was the port of Crisa on the gulf. About 585 B.C., the Delphians, aided by Cleisthenes of Sicyon and his allies, succeeded, after a long struggle, in humbling Crisa and destroying Cirrha. The Crisaean plain was then devoted to Apollo, whose domain was thus extended from his temple to the coast. When Sophocles wrote, that ground was still a

βούνομος ἀκτή
, inviolable by plough or spade. It was not till the middle of the next century that the alleged encroachments of Amphissa on the
ἱερὰ χώρα
gave a pretext for war to the Amphictyons (355 B.C.).

mvp-comment-105-5 Ulrichs ( Reisen in Griechenland) was the first to place the relations of Crisa and Cirrha in a clear light. Strabo correctly describes the site of Cirrha, but erroneously places Crisa to the east of it (9. p. 418).

mvp-comment-106-1 βούνομον 82 βουνόμον 83

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν 84 Κρῖσαν 85

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος 86

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα 87 ἀνάσσων 88 θεὸς 89

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν 90

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος 91

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος 92

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων
. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων 93 ἅτις 94 τοκέων 95

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί 96

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος 97

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους 98

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ 99

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις 100 ἀμφίσταμαι 101

mvp-comment-113-2 Hartung, reading

κενὰ δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις
, takes the sense to be that she stands ‘hungry’ by the tables at which the others feast. But
κενή
as=
νῆστις
would be neither usual nor elegant.

mvp-comment-114-1 Hitherto the Chorus have offered consolation or counsel. At v. 213 they return to that strain. But here, moved by Electra's misery, they join with her in bewailing its cause.

mvp-comment-114-2 οἰκτρὰ μὲν … πλαγά 102 κοίταις 103 οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ 104

mvp-comment-114-3 Sophocles, who follows the Homeric story as to the banquet, could not but remember the

οἰκτροτάτην ὄπα
of the dying Cassandra. And this might naturally suggest to him that other
οἰκτρὰ αὐδή
which she had uttered at an earlier moment, immediately after Agamemnon's return,—her presage of his fate, and her own: Aesch. Ag. 1072 —1314.

mvp-comment-114-4 The sense then is:—‘There was a voice of lamentation at the return from Troy’; alluding especially to Cassandra's laments, but also, perhaps, to forebodings in the mouth of the people at Mycenae. ‘And there was a voice of lamentation

ἐν κοίταις πατρῴαις
, when thy father lay on the couch at the fatal banquet.’ The ‘voice’ at the banquet is, first, that of the dying Agamemnon; but Sophocles may have thought also of Cassandra's death-cry, which was sounding in the king's ears as he fell.—For other interpretations, see Appendix.

mvp-comment-114-5 νόστοις 105 ἐν 106

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις 107

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ 108 σοι 109 ἀνταία 110

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων 111

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος 112

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς 113 δεινὰν … μορφάν 114

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε 115 βροτῶν 116

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα 117

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ 118

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ 119

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων 120

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη 121 τοῖς 122 θανάτους 123

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν 124 διδύμοιν 125

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον 126

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς 127

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος 128

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα 129

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας 130

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο 131

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω 132

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις 133

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων 134

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ 135

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας 136

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν 137

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω 138

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ 139 οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς 140 πλάθειν 141

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά 142

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν 143

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην 144

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά 145 ἔξοιδ’ 146

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ 147

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς 148

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω 149

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας 150

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα 151

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με 152 σχήσω 153

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια 154 ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος 155 τίνι 156 πρόσφορον 157

mvp-comment-132-2 Other explanations are:—(1) Taking the dative with

πρόσφορον
:—‘To what person who feels aright would that word be suitable which I should hear (=which would be said of me)?’ That is: Should I not deserve to incur a censure from which every right-minded person would shrink? Should I not deserve to be called
δυσσεβής
? This seems forced; and it does not well suit
ἔπος
. (2) Taking the dative with
ἀκούσαιμι
:—‘At whose mouth (= from whom), that thinks aright, could I hear a suitable word of comfort?’ But such a dative seems impossible. In Il. 16. 515
δύνασαι δὲ σὺ πάντοσ’ ἀκούειν
|
ἀνέρι κηδομένῳ
, the dat. is one of interest, denoting the person whose prayer is heard (‘ for him’); cp. Il. 5. 115
κλῦθί μοι
: 24. 335
ἔκλυες ᾧ κ’ ἐθέλῃσθα
.

mvp-comment-133-1 ἄνετε 158

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα 159

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται 160

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ 161

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος 162 θρήνων 163

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν 164 γε 165 εὐνοίᾳ 166

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις 167

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν 168

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις 169

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον 170 κακότατος 171

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε 172

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. 173

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ 174

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις 175

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ 176

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ 177

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος 178

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων 179 ἐκτίμους 180

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα 181

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων 182

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων 183

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ 184

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ 185

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν 186 ὢν 187 εἰ 188

mvp-comment-142-4 Electra is contrasting her father, whose earthly life has been cut short, with his murderers, who survive. But she believes that his spirit lives in the world below, and will be active in aiding the vengeance (453 ff.).

mvp-comment-142-5 πάλιν 189

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας 190

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ 191

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς 192 εὐσέβεια 193

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν 194

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ 195 τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν 196

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα 197

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα 198

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις 199

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ 200

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή 201

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα 202

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην 203

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα 204

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ 205

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα 206 ᾗ 207

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς 208

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν 209

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι 210

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι 211

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας 212 δοκεῖς 213

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω 214 εἰσίδω δ’ 215 ἴδω δὲ 216

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν 217

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα 218

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ 219

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς 220 ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν 221

mvp-comment-156-4 Acc. to Homer. Hymn. 29. 4 ff., feasts began and ended with libations to Hestia:

οὐ γὰρ ἄτερ σοῦ
|
εἰλαπίναι θνητοῖσιν, ἵν’ οὐ πρώτῃ πυμάτῃ τε
|
Ἱστίῃ ἀρχόμενος σπένδει μελιηδέα οἶνον
. Soph. fr. 658
<*> πρῷρα λοιβῆς Ἑστία
. Other divinities, including Zeus
σωτήρ
, were similarly honoured; then the paean was sung, and the
πότος
began ( Plat. Symp.p. 176 A).

mvp-comment-157-1 τούτων 222

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην 223

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην 224 αὐτοφόντην 225

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν 226

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ 227

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε 228

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι 229 Ἐρινὺν 230

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις 231

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ 232 τότε 233

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ 234 τηροῦς’ 235

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι 236

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ 237

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά 238

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις 239

mvp-comment-164-5 Argive tradition placed Agamemnon's death on the 13th of Gamelion (about the end of January). So said ‘the Argive historians’ (

οἱ Ἀργολικοὶ συγγραφεῖς
),— according to an Argive writer named Deinias, who lived about 225 B.C. (Schol. here: Müller, Frag. Hist. vol. III. p. 25.) Possibly, then, the idea of Clytaemnestra's hideous festival may have been suggested to the poet by some actual commemoration of the event in Argolis. There was a cult of Agamemnon in various places,—notably in Laconia. (Cp. Roscher's Lexicon, p. 96.)

mvp-comment-165-1 ἡ δύσμορος 240 κατὰ στέγας 241

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα 242

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς 243

mvp-comment-166-3 The

δαίς
is the feast which, in Homeric fashion ( Il. 1. 467 ), would follow the sacrifice (281). Acc. to Eustathius p. 1507. 61 (on Hom. Od. 4. 524 ff.),
Ἀγαμεμνόνειος δαὶς
(or
τράπεζα
) was a proverb
ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπ’ ὀλέθρῳ εὐωχουμένων
. The poet may mean that Clytaemnestra called the festival
Ἀγαμεμνόνειος δαίς
, in direct allusion to
δεῖπνα ἄρρητα
(203): and this would give a special point to
ἐγγελῶσα
(277). Cp. Eur. Or. 1008
τά τ’ ἐπώνυμα δεῖπνα Θυέστου
. But the words do not necessarily imply more than that she called it
Ἀγαμεμνόνεια
.

mvp-comment-167-1 αὐτὴ πρὸς αὑτήν 244 αὑτήν 245

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι 246

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει 247

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία 248

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα 249

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον 250

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα 251

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ 252

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν 253

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει 254

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων 255

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί 256

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ 257

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην 258

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ 259

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις 260

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου 261

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ 262

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ 263

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν 264

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας 265 παρών 266

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα 267

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις 268

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη 269

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ 270

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας 271

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν 272

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι 273

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας 274

mvp-comment-179-3 μου 275 μοι 276

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν 277

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν 278 εὐσεβεῖν 279

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς 280

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη 281 κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά 282

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν 283

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος 284

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα 285

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον 286

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν 287

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι 288

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει 289

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην 290 ἦ τ<*>ν 291 ἦ δἂν 292

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην 293

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν 294 ὥς νυν 295

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον 296 τό 297 τά 298

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον 299

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ 300

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής 301

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος 302 ἢ μέλλοντος 303

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε 304

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ 305

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ 306 γε 307

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ 308

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν 309

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί 310

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν 311

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν 312 νυν 313

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων 314 φέρουσαν 315

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον 316

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν 317

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν 318

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα 319 νομίζεται 320

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις 321 φωνεῖς 322 ἐλθοῦσα 323 αὖ 324

mvp-comment-193-2 330 For the absence of caesura, cp. Ph. 101 n.

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι 325

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα 326

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι 327

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν 328

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ 329

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ 330 πλεῖν 331

mvp-comment-196-2 For the image, cp. Eur. Med. 524

ἄκροισι λαίφους κρασπέδοις
(with close-reefed sails)
ὑπεκφυγεῖν
|
τὴν σὴν στόμαργον, ὦ γύναι, γλωσσαλγίαν
: Ar. Ran. 997
ἀλλ’ ὅπως, ὦ γεννάδα
, |
μὴ πρὸς ὀργὴν ἀντιλέξεις
, |
ἀλλὰ συστείλας, ἄκροισι
|
χρώμενος τοῖς ἱστίοις κ.τ.λ.
: and conversely Soph. Ant. 715
ναὸς ὅστις ἐγκρατῆ πόδα
|
τείνας ὑπείκει μηδέν
. Ovid Epist. 1. 8. 71
moderatius opta, | Et voti, quaeso, contrahe vela tui.
 Shakesp. Henry VI., pt. iii, act 3 sc. 3. 5
‘Now Margaret | Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve | Where kings command.’

mvp-comment-197-1 καὶ μὴ δοκεῖν 332

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα 333 ἀλλὰ 334 ἄλλα 335

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον 336

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις 337

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ 338

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν 339

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν 340

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ 341

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα 342

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε 343

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης 344

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν 345

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα 346

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά 347

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς 348

mvp-comment-203-1 The text, which has been suspected (cr. n.), is sound; but the train of thought is somewhat obscured by compression.

mvp-comment-203-2 ‘You forget your father, and care only for your mother. All your counsels to me come from her. Then (

ἔπειτα
),—that being so,—give up the attempt at a compromise. Make a choice (
ἑλοῦ γε
). You can be imprudent (
φρονεῖν κακῶς
),—as you say that I am,—and loyal to your dead father. Or you can be prudent (
φρονοῦσα
), and forgetful of him,—as you actually are; you who (
ἥτις
) say, indeed, that you would show your hatred of the murderers if you could; and yet, when I do resist them, you try to turn me from my purpose. You merely add the shame of cowardice to our woes.’

mvp-comment-203-3 ἔπειθ’ 349

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε 350

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς 351

mvp-comment-203-6 Other explanations are:—(1) ‘Choose to be thought either lost to right feeling, or, if you have such feeling, then at least forgetful of your duty.’ (2) ‘Choose to seem either unintelligent (if you are merely the blind instrument of our rulers); or, if you act with clear understanding (

φρονοῦσα
),—thinking to benefit me,—at least forgetful of your father.’ Both these views assume that the question is merely between two interpretations which might be placed on the present conduct of Chrysothemis. But Electra is putting the dilemma between imprudent loyalty and prudent disloyalty.

mvp-comment-204-1 τῶν φίλων 352

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις 353 φρονοῦσα 354 μῖσος 355

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα 356

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης 357

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε 358

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν 359

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι 360

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει 361

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ 362

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ 363

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως 364

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν 365

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις 366

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν 367 ξύνει 368

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

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.

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).'

137-138. mvp-comment-86-1 τόν γ᾽ ἐξ ᾿Αΐδα λίμνας] i.e. τὸν ἐν . . λίμνᾳ ἐκ . . λίμνας, according to a familiar idiom of condensation. λίμνας] Viz. the 'palus Acherontis,' on the shores of which dwelt the dead.

139. mvp-comment-87-1 Cp. Il. 24.550, 1, οὐ γάρ τι πρήξεις ἀκαχήμενος υἷος ἐῆος, | οὐδέ μιν ἀνστήσεις, πρὶν καὶ κακὸν ἄλλο πάθῃσθα. For the line as it stands, a glyconic with a spondee after the close, cp. Eur. Med. 159, τάκου δυρομένα σὸν εὐνάταν: 183, πένθος γὰρ μεγάλως τόδ᾽ ὀρμᾶται. The short syllable at the end of the previous line, and the iambic base of the glyconic, are avoided by reading *θρήνοις for γόοις.

139. mvp-comment-87-2 Dindorf retains the order of the words, and reads παγκοίνου λίμνας πατέρ᾽ ἀν | στάσεις οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ᾽ *ἄνταις (a double glyconic with spondee at close). ἄνταις is the conjecture of Hermann from Hesychius: ἄντήσει (sic), λιτανείαις, ἀντήσεσι. But is not ἀντήσεσι: λιτανείαις an equally probable emendation of the corrupt reading in Hesychius? For λιταῖσι, cp. supr. 110 foll. Prof. Paley suggests πατέρ᾽ ἀν | στάσεις οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ᾽ εὐχαῖς.

140-141. mvp-comment-88-1 ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ .. διόλλυσαι] ‘But, forsaking moderation, you go to an extreme in your grief, to your own ruin.' To account for the prepositions some idea of motion must be gathered from the verbs, e.g. προϊοῦσα ἐν στοναχαῖς.

142. mvp-comment-89-1 ἐν οἷς .. κακῶν] (1) ‘A course which brings no way of release from woes.' The antecedent to ois is to be inferred from the preceding words: sc. ἐν τοῖς οὐ μετρίοις τούτοις ἀλγήμασιν, The meaning of the chorus, at present rather gently hinted than expressed, is that by continued lamentation Electra only involves herself in fresh trouble and deepens the misery of her situation. Cp. infr. 213-20. Otherwise (2), 'In a case where there is no release.' Badham conj. ἀνάδυσις.

144. mvp-comment-90-1 τί . . ἐφίει] 'Beseech thee, why dost thou set thy heart on troubles?'- i.e. aim at bringing them on thyself.

146. mvp-comment-91-1 ἐμέ γ᾽ ὁ στονόεσσ᾽ ἄραρεν φρένας] That creature of lament is congenial to my soul.' Is the swallow or the nightingale the bird intended here? The nightingale was mentioned above (l. 107), and is spoken of by Sappho, quoted by the Scholiast on this passage, as the messenger of Spring-ἦρος ἄγγελος ἰμερόφωνος ἀηδών. On the other hand, the swallow is more generally represented in this way, and the lines of Horace, Od. 4. 12. 5 foll., Nidum ponit, Ityn flebiliter gemens,' etc., certainly refer to Procne, who was usually thought to have been changed into a swallow. But of the legend of Tereus there seem to have been many conflicting modifications. The word ἀτυζομένα may be fancifully suggestive of the uncertain, 'bewildered' flight of the swallow. But the mention of song, both here and in the passage of Horace, agrees better with the thought of the nightingale. In any case the Scholiast is probably right in explaining Διὸς ἄγγελος of the intimation of Spring and the beginning of the Διὸς μεγάλου ἐνιαυτός. The nightingale or swallow, thus distinguished with Divine favour, is also the most sorrowful of birds.

150. mvp-comment-92-1 σὲ δ᾽ ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν] I count thee Divine,' i.e. blessed, -μακαρίζω σέ.

151-152. mvp-comment-93-1 Cp. Ant. 823-32. The prehistoric colossal figure cut out of the rock on a northward crag of Mount Sipylus, so as to be visible from the plain below Sardes, is supposed by Prof. Sayce, who has examined it, to have originally represented some elemental deity, possibly Cybele, but uncertain whether male or female. It was from an early period identified by the Greek settlers with the Niobe of Theban and Argive legend. The limestone drippings from the over-hanging rock have produced an incrustation about face, chest, and lap (the image is in a sitting posture)-that, quite apart from poetical description, is wonderfully suggestive of a flood of tears. This πετραία βλάστα (Ant. 827) must have been apparent before the time of Sophocles. It is less distinctly suggested by the words in Homer, Il. 24. 617, θεῶν ἐκ κήδεα πέσσει. Prof. Sayce adds that the θεάων · εὐναὶ νυμφάων of Il. 1. c. (in reality prehistoric tombs) are still distinctly recognisable in the crags on either side: also that just below the Niobe was a large lake, which was drained some forty years ago, when the columns of a Greek temple were found at the bottom. This, Mr. Sayce thinks, must have been the site of the city of Sipylus, which was overthrown by an earthquake in the time of Tiberius, and the ruins covered by the waters of a lake. All that now remains of the lake is a small pool at the foot of the crag on which the figure of Niobe is carved, along with a stream. Both stream and pool are fed by a number of springs, some of which are warm and saline; and the pool is called by the modern Greeks the tears of Niobe.'

153-157. mvp-comment-94-1 Thou art not all alone unhappy that thou shouldest thus grieve more than those within, who are of the same lineage and of kindred blood with thee, and shouldst not live the same bright life which they, Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, live.' The indefinite pronoun ὅ, τι is occasioned by the negative preceding. In πρὸς ὅ τι, πρός corresponds to a long syllable, Ζεύς, in the antistrophe. Perhaps, πρός γ᾽ ὅ, τι? εἰ περισσά] Sc. ἐν τῷ λυπεῖσθαι. In distinguishing between Iphigeneia and Iphianassa, Sophocles is said to have followed the Cypria. 'Sophocles here seems to recognize the digamma in Fιφιάνασσα.' Paley.

159-160. mvp-comment-95-1 κρυπτᾷ τ᾿ ἀχέων ἐν ἤβα ὄλβιος] And he whose fortunate youth is hidden out of the way of sorrow.' For the genitive, see Essay on L. § 8. p. 11, 2. Hermann says, Audacior quidem haec structura, sed amat talia Sophocles. Ejusdem modi est, quod statim dicit, Διὸς βήματι pro πομπῇ Διός.' Orestes is 'fortunate,' because his tranquil youth gives promise of final good fortune. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 695, 6, Ορέστης, ἦν γὰρ εὐβόλως ἔχων, | ἔξω κομίζων ὀλεθρίου πηλοῦ πόδα. Others take ἀχέων as a participle. But κρυπτᾷ without the genitive is poor, and the notion of Orestes sorrowing is out of place. The Chorus could not know of it, and if they did they would have suppressed the mention of it as inauspicious.

160-163. mvp-comment-96-1 'Orestes, whom the land of this people, with her glory unimpaired, shall receive as the successor of his father's fame, sped hither by the kind will of Zeus.'

162. mvp-comment-97-1 Διὸς εὔφρονι βήματι] ί.ε. Διὸς εὐφρόνως βήσαντος αὐτόν. The verbal has a causative meaning. See Essay on L. § 53 b. p. 98; or else a causal meaning is contained in the genitive. Ibid. § 9. p. 12 a. There is a correlation between κλεινά and εὐπατρίδαν, both being proleptic and denoting the consequence of the return of Orestes.

164-165. mvp-comment-98-1 The mention of her brother gives a new direction to Electra's complaint. Cp. supr. 119, 20.

165. mvp-comment-99-1 Cp. Ant. 815, 917-8.

166-167. mvp-comment-100-1 τὸν . . πόνων] Oppressed with my troublous destiny that has no good issue.' The article as in O. T. 1153, τὸν γέροντά μ' αἰκίσῃ, -equivalent to a relative clause, ὅς ἐστιν ἀνήνυτος, ἀνήνυτον, Accomplishing nothing,' i. e. Suffered in vain. Cp. O. C. 1565, 6, πολλῶν γὰρ ἂν καὶ μάταν | πημάτων ἱκνουμένων, κ.τ.λ., and note.

169. mvp-comment-101-1 ὧν τ᾽ ἔπαθ', ὧν τ᾽ ἐδάη] 'His wrongs, and the lesson he has been taught,' viz. by the Paedagogus ( supr. 3. 13. 14) and by the messages from Electra.

169-170. mvp-comment-102-1 (1) For what missive that I send doth not return (ἔρχεται) discomfited? Others take the words to mean, (2) What message' (from Orestes) 'comes to me, whose promise does not fail?'

171-172. mvp-comment-103-1 i e. in reply to my messages I always hear of his longing to come but never of his coming.

174. mvp-comment-104-1 This line (see v. rr.) seems to have been interpolated so as to supplement the locative dative and the ellipse of ἐστίν. μέγας is the predicate. 'Zeus is still great in heaven.'

176-177. mvp-comment-105-1 'Committing unto him thine exceeding indignation, be neither overburdened with enmity against thy foes, nor yet forget them;' i.e. Let the thought that Zeus will some day avenge thee serve to calm and moderate thy rage. The structure is paratactic (Essay on L. § 36. p. 68), for Without forgetting your enemies. be moderate in assailing them, and trust in the Divine vengeance.'

179. mvp-comment-106-1 For Time is a god of easiness,' i.e. a god who makes things easy or possible. The meaning is, not that Time assuages sorrow, but that what at one time seems impossible may prove easily possible in the course of years. Cp. Plat. Rep. 6. 502 B, ὡς μὲν γὰρ χαλεπὸν σωθῆναι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ξυγχωροῦμεν, ὡς δὲ ἐν παντὶ τῷ χρόνῳ . . οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἶς σωθείη, ἔσθ' ὅστις ἀμφισβητήσει; Shak. Cor. 5. 3.61, Murdering impossibility, to make What cannot be slight work. For the personification, cp. Phil. 837, καιρὸς.. πάντων γνώμαν ἴσχων: supr. 76: and esp. Eur. Ion, 337, ἀργὸς ἡ θεός, sc. αἰδώς.

180-181. mvp-comment-107-1 τὰν Κρῖσαν.. ἀκτάν] · Who dwells in Crisa, that pastoral shore-ward land. So Hermann. Others would read Κρίσας, οι Κρίσᾳ. 'Who dwells amid the shoreward-pastures of Crisa.'

182. mvp-comment-108-1 He, Agamemnon's heir.. will yet turn unto his own, and so will he that reigns, a God, by Acheron.' ἀπερίτροπος is to be taken in a different sense with παῖς ᾿Αγαμεμνονίδας and with what follows. Or, what comes to the same thing, another verb must be supplied in thought with the second clause. Orestes shall return: Agamemnon shall regard his house and offspring. The derivation from περιτρέπω suggests the idea of a coming revolution, (1) in the action of Orestes, (2) in the awakening from apparent slumber and forgetfulness of the gods below, or of the spirit of Agamemnon.

184. mvp-comment-109-1 Nor he who ruleth as a god beside the ghostly river.' Cp. supr. 110. (1) The subject of this line has commonly been supposed to be Hades. Another interpretation has occurred independently to Mr. Blaydes, Prof. Paley, and the present editor, viz. (2) that θεὸς may refer to Agamemnon as a δαίμων. In support of this, cp. supr. 150 Νιόβα, σὲ δ' ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν, infr. 839-41 (of Amphiaraus), νῦν ὑπὸ γαίας . . ἀνάσσει, and note; and the following places of the Choephori:-157, σέβας, ὦ δέσποτ᾽: 356, 7, κατὰ χθονὸς ἐμπρέπων | σεμνότιμος ἀνάκτωρ : 475-8, θεῶν τῶν κατὰ γᾶς ὅδ᾽ ὕμνος. ΧΟ. ἀλλὰ κλύοντες, μάκαρες χθόνιοι, | τήσδε κατευχῆς πέμπετ᾿ ἀρωγὴν | παισὶν προφρόνως ἐπὶ νίκῃ : also Persae, 157, θεοῦ μὲν εὐνάτειρα Περσῶν, θεοῦ δὲ καὶ μήτηρ ἔφυς: 644, Περσᾶν Σουσιγενή θεόν, -although the analogy in these two instances is weakened by the words being put into the mouths of Persians; but see also Ag. 1548, ἐπ᾿ ἀνδρὶ θείῳ. Agamemnon, in Aesch. Ag. 925, says to Clytemnestra, λέγω κατ᾿ ἄνδρα, μὴ θεόν, σέβειν ἐμέ. But that is in his lifetime. And considering the honours that are paid at his tomb, and the tone in which he is spoken of by Electra throughout, the chorus may speak of him to her as θεός by an allowable hyperbole, especially if the word is taken, not with the article as subject of the sentence, but as supplementary predicate with ἀνάσσων. If this hypothesis is not admissible, the god intended is probably not Pluto, but (3) Hermes. Cp. supr. 111.

185-186. mvp-comment-110-1 But my life hath in great part already passed from me and left me hopeless and forlorn.' The life is separable from the person, cp. О. Т. 612, τὸν παρ᾽ αὑτῷ βίοτον. ἀνέλπιστος is proleptic, and in idea belongs, by hypallage, to ἐμέ, -' is passed without bringing me any hope.' The exact sense of ὁ πολύς is not to be pressed. The article is deictic, as in Aj. 1149, τὴν πολλὴν βοήν: infr. 931.

186. mvp-comment-111-1 οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ] 'And I am no longer of any avail. Cp. Thuc. 2. 47. § 5, οὔτε γὰρ ἰατροὶ ἤρκουν.

187. mvp-comment-112-1 ἄνευ τοκέων] Her father is dead, and her mother is worse than lost to her.

187. mvp-comment-112-2 τοκέων occurs in one MS. (Vind. 281) and is adopted by Nauck. Cp. supr. 164, ἄτεκνος. It may be thought more suited to Electra's age to feel the want of children than of parents. But her filial piety is the chief motive of the play.

189-190. mvp-comment-113-1 ἁπερεί τις .. πατρός] ‘Like some despised sojourner, I tend the chambers of my father's house." Cp. Aesch. Cho. 84, δμωαὶ γυναῖκες, δωμάτων εὐθήμονες. For the absolute use of ἀνάξιος, cp. Phil. 439, ἀναξίου.. φωτός, 'A fellow of no esteem.' Hermann joined this word with what follows it ('I am undeservedly made to do menial service'), on the ground that an ἔποικος was ἀναξία as a matter of course. But, on the other hand, the addition of ἀναξία to the bare statement οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους πατρός, certainly weakens the expression, while the pleonasm in ἔποικος ἀναξία is rather emphatic, and is supported, as Ellendt pointed out, by the Homeric expression, ὡσεί τιν᾿ ἀτίμητον μετανάστην, ΙΙ. 9. 648, 16. 59.

190-191. mvp-comment-114-1 ὧδε . . ἀεικεῖ . . στολᾷ] Electra is a woman speaking to women. Cp. Aesch. Pers. 846-8, (῎Ατοσσα.) μάλιστα δ᾽ ἥδε συμφορὰ δάκνει, | ἀτιμίαν γε παιδὸς ἀμφὶ σώματι | ἐσθημάτων κλύουσαν, ἥ νιν ἀμπέχει.

192. mvp-comment-115-1 κεναῖς δ᾽ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις] And the table at which I stand is bare.' Hermann had conjectured ἀμφίσταμαι, which restores the metre, before he observed that it was quoted by Eustathius. Cp. Pind. Ol. 1. 80, τραπέζαισι .. ἀμφί, and, for the thought, Od. 20. 259, δίφρον ἀεικέλιον καταθεὶς ὀλίγην τε τράπεζαν : infr. 361, 2, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω καὶ περιρρείτω βίος : Pind. Ο1. 2. 116, κεινὰν παρὰ δίαιταν.

194. mvp-comment-116-1 οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά] 'Piteous were thy tones at the time of thy father's return.' In the Agamemnon of Aeschylus, the Watchman and the Chorus, i. e. the household and the people, express a vague misgiving, which is not sufficiently definite to enable them to warn Agamemnon. Sophocles here, as elsewhere, concentrates in an individual what in Aeschylus was general. It is quite consistent with his conception of the character of Electra, that, young as she then was, and totally unable, both from her inexperience ( infr. 1024) and her dependent position, of averting the harm which she may have vaguely foreseen, she had a sufficiently clear perception of the situation to be sad instead of joyful on the occasion of her father's coming home, and her sadness would be aggravated by her helplessness :-ἐπεὶ ἐχθίστη ὀδύνη πολλὰ φρονέοντα μηδενὸς κρατέειν. Her friends, of the same age with her, observed this, and in recollecting it, now understand the cause. ooi is easily supplied, both because the whole of Electra's last speech refers to herself, and because σοί occurs immediately afterwards as an ethical' dative. πατρός is no less easily supplied with νόστοις for a similar reason, both because the word occurs three lines above, and because it is implied in πατρώαις in the following line. νόστοις is dative of the occasion, E. on L. § 11. p. 18. For the sense, cp. Aesch. Pers. 935, 6, πρόσφθογγόν σοι νόστου τὰν | κακοφάτιδα βοάν, κακομέλετον ἰὰν | Μαριανδυνοῦ θρηνητῆρος | πέμψω πολύδακρυν ἰακχάν.

195-197. mvp-comment-117-1 οἰκτρὰ δ'.. πλαγά] 'And piteous was thy crying where thy father lay, when thou hadst seen launched the death-stroke of the solid brazen axe.' If Sophocles (see Introduction) follows the form of the legend known to us from Homer, according to which Agamemnon was slain at a feast given in honour of his return, ἐν κοίταις probably means, (1) 'Where he lay in death.' And this is supported by 203. The poet might, no doubt, have so far modified the legend as to suppose Agamemnon after the feast to have been lured by Clytemnestra to his chamber and there slain. ἐν κοίταις might then belong to the relative clause (ὅτε ἐν κ.), and mean 'in his chamber. But this is inconsistent with 203 and 270. For (1) cp. Aesch. Ag. 1494, 1518, Eur. Med. 437, O. C. 1707. The bath, and the entangling garment, which are so prominent in the Agamemnon and Choephori, are in any case not thought of here. Some (including Wecklein) understand aὐδά in both clauses of the death-shriek of the king. σοι (Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19 f.) marks that Electra was the chief sufferer from all that happened. This explanation is rightly defended by Triclinius. Cp. Tennyson's Elaine, -Through her own side she felt the sharp lance go.' Hermann, understanding aὐδά of the people's voice, rejects σοι and reads οἱ instead. The hiatus, which he defends from Trach. 650, ὁ δὲ οἱ φίλα δάμαρ (cp. supr. 157), is still exceptional, but a stronger objection to the removal of σοί is that the connection between this speech and Electra's is thus destroyed.

197-200. mvp-comment-118-1 Sophocles seems here to have in his mind the passage of the Agamemnon where Clytemnestra impersonates the Alastor of Atreus, Aesch. Agam. 1500-1504: Craft pointed out the way, lust murdered him. Between them they produced a monstrous birth, whether he who did this thing were a god or one of mortal mould.' μορφάν the immediate agent and the act itself, as an embodied horror, seem to be confused. See E. on L. § 48. p. 92.

201-212. mvp-comment-119-1 In supr. 185-92, Electra refused consolation and drew attention to her hopeless misery. The women then call to mind how they had pitied her at the time of her father's death. This opens anew the flood-gates of her sorrow. Cp. Ant. 857 foll., ἔψαυσας ἀλγεινοτάτας ἐμοὶ μερίμνας, κ.τ.λ.

203. mvp-comment-120-1 δείπνων] The feast which preceded the murder, according to Od. 4. 535. Agamemnon (see next note) is supposed to have been murdered at table : ὡσεί τε κατέκτανε βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ (Od. 1. c.).

205. mvp-comment-121-1 For ἄχθη, the grammatical antecedent, the more definite θάνατοι is substituted and taken into the relative clause. The horror of that feast-I mean the death which followed it.'

206. mvp-comment-122-1 διδύμαιν χειροῖν] ‘Effected by joint violence' of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

207-208. mvp-comment-123-1 αΐ.. πρόδοτον] 'That wrought treason on my life and ruined me.'

209. mvp-comment-124-1 ois refers to the antecedent implied in χειροῖν, viz. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.

211. mvp-comment-125-1 'And never may they have any good of their magnificence.' Cp. infr. 267-281: Od. 17. 244, 5, τῷ κέ τοι ἀγλαΐας γε διασκεδάσειεν ἁπάσας, | τὰς νῦν ὑβρίζων φορέεις.

214-216. mvp-comment-126-1 'Seest thou not through what courses thou hast fallen thus cruelly into calamities that come home to thee?' or, with a slightly different shade of meaning, 'which thou hast brought upon thyself.' Cp. Aj. 260: Pind. Nem. 1. 81, τὸ γὰρ οἰκεῖον πιέζει πάνθ᾽ ὁμῶς. ἐξ οἵων is otherwise explained by one Scholiast :-ἐξ οἴων ἀγαθῶν εἰς τί ἀνιαρὸν ἐλήλυθας. Cp. infr. 392. But it is more natural that the Chorus should remind her of the cause of the persecution she is undergoing.

218-219. mvp-comment-127-1 σᾷ . . πολέμους] Ever creating new conflicts for thy burdened soul.'

219-220. mvp-comment-128-1 τὰ δὲ.. πλάθειν] ‘But strife with the powerful is hopeless.' The vague rá is to be supplemented from what precedes and follows,- sc. τὰ πολεμούμενα, οι τὰ ἐρίδος ἐχόμενα. Cp. Plat. Symp. 206 C, ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐν τῷ ἀναρμόστῳ, -sc. κυούμενα καὶ γεννώμενα, - Pind. Nem. 10. 135, χαλεπὰ δ' ἔρις ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλεῖν κρεσσόνων: ΟΙ. 11. 48, νεῖκος δὲ κρεσσόνων ἀποθέσθ᾽ ἄπορον. πλάθειν, sc. τοῖς δυνατοῖς, is epexegetic infinitive.

221. mvp-comment-129-1 The Chorus (l. 214) have reminded Electra of the violent words by which she has earned her present misery. She replies that such words were wrung from her by a fearful cause, viz. by the murder of her father and the subsequent conduct of the murderers. Cp. infr. 271 foll.

222. mvp-comment-130-1 'I know, I am conscious of my passion, viz. that it is inordinate. Cp. infr. 617, 8, μανθάνω δ᾽ ὁθούνεκα | ἔξωρα πράσσω κοὐκ ἐμοὶ προσεικότα : 1011, κατάσχες ὀργήν.

223-224. mvp-comment-131-1 But amid deeds of horror I will not curb or moderate these my calamitous ways' (as ye call them). She echoes the words of the Chorus (l. 215) in a different sense. They meant by οἰκείας ἄτας, 'self-caused calamities:' -she means by ταύτας άτας, 'this infatuate,' or 'fatal,' course,' of which by implication they have accused her.

226-228. mvp-comment-132-1 Electra relapses into despair. If even these Argive women, who know her so well, cannot give her a word of comfort, whence is it to come? 'At whose mouth, then, kind band of friends, can I hope to hear a word of comfort, prompted by seasonable thought?' For the uncommon dative, see E. on L. § 13. p. 20.

229. mvp-comment-133-1 'Press not on me with your consolations,' and cp. Eur. El. 1182, διὰ πυρὸς ἔμολον ἁ τάλαινα ματρὶ τᾷδ᾽.

230. mvp-comment-134-1 For ye shall find this sorrow irremoveable.'

234. mvp-comment-135-1 Like a true-hearted mother.' For this form of expressing sympathy from one woman to another, cp. Trach. 526, ἐγὼ δὲ μάτηρ μὲν οἷα φράζω.

235. mvp-comment-136-1 ἄταν ἄταις] Cp. Αj. 866, πόνῳ πόνον, and note.

236. mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ;] 'And is not my trouble infinite?' (So the Scholiast, -πρὸς γὰρ ἄμετρον κακὸν καὶ ἀμέτρων δεῖται θρήνων.) Cp. infr. 1249, 50, ἁμέτερον οἷον ἔφυ κακόν. For the meaning, cp. Shak. Ant. and Cleo. 4. 15. 4, But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, Proportioned to our cause, must be as great As that which makes it.'

237. mvp-comment-138-1 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν] To treat the dead with forgetfulness.' E. on L. § 19. p. 27.

238. mvp-comment-139-1 ἐν τίνι . . ἀνθρώπων] 'Where amongst men hath such a mind sprung up?'

239. mvp-comment-140-1 τούτοις] Sc. ἐν οἷς τοῦτο ἔβλαστε, the indefinite plural taking the place of the indefinite singular. E. on L. § 20. p. 31. 3. Cp. Hdt. 9. 79. § 3. ἐγὼ δ᾽ οὖν τούτου εἵνεκα μήτε Αἰγινήτῃσι ἅδοιμι, μήτε τοῖσι ταῦτα ἀρέσκεται· ἀποχρᾷ δ᾽ ἐμοί, Σπαρτιήτῃσι ἀρεσκόμενον, ὅσια μὲν ποιέειν, ὅσια δὲ καὶ λέγειν.

240. mvp-comment-141-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ] · If I have near me any good,' = εἴ τι χρηστὸν πρόσκειταί μοι : Ε. on L. § 42. p. 80 β. Cp. infr. 1040, ᾧ σὺ πρόσκεισαι κακῷ.

241-243. mvp-comment-142-1 γονέων .. γόων] • Holding back the wings of my shrill wailings from doing honour to my sire.' Each fresh utterance of the unabating sorrow is imagined as a bird that is eager to fly. ἐκτίμους is predicative and proleptic, = ὥστε ἔξω εἶναι τοῦ τιμᾶν. See E. on L. $ 54. p. 100 d, § 10. p. 16 f., § 23. p. 38 81, § 38. p. 71.

244. mvp-comment-143-1 ya] Prof. Jebb reads ya, i.e. 'buried,' adding, 'it is difficult to believe that yῆ could stand for σποδός.' But the expression is hyperbolical-' mere clay.' Cp. ψήγμα in Aesch. Ag. 442.

251-252. mvp-comment-144-1 καὶ τὸ σὸν.. καὶ τοὐμὸν αὐτῆς] 'More in care for thee than for myself. This is really the meaning, although, by the usual Greek litotes, 'as much as' is put for more than.' The most important matter is put first. E. on L. § 41. p. 78.

253. mvp-comment-145-1 ἑψόμεσθ'] Cp. infr. 1052.

254-255. mvp-comment-146-1 I am ashamed of seeming to you, as I must seem, to be too impatient in multiplying lamentations.' δοκῶ is indicative.

258. mvp-comment-147-1 πατρῷ᾽ ὁρῶσα πήματ'] 'Seeing woful things performed against her sire.' Electra's filial affection for Agamemnon is kept prominently before us as her chief motive; and every insult to his memory, including her own sufferings, is regarded by her as part of the wrong done to him. πατρῷα is at first general, but in the antecedent to a it becomes individual, -' of my father.'

260. mvp-comment-148-1 θάλλοντα .. καταφθίνονθ'] “Not lessening but increasing.'

260-261. mvp-comment-149-1 ᾖ.. συμβέβηκεν] 'Since, first of all, I have found in my own mother the deepest cause for hatred.' This (Paley, etc.) is better than my mother is my enemy.'

264. mvp-comment-150-1 κἀκ τῶνδ᾽ ἄρχομαι] ‘And I am in subjection to them. Cp. O. C. 67, ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἄστυ βασιλέως τάδ' ἄρχεται.

270. mvp-comment-151-1 ἔνθ᾽ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν] Here again Sophocles seems to follow the account that is given in the fourth book of the Odyssey, ll. 529 foll., according to which Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon at or after a banquet. Hence he is said to have destroyed him beside the hearth. Cp. infr. 1495.

271-274. mvp-comment-152-1 Further, when I see their crowning insult, when I see, forsooth, the author of his death reclining on my father's couch, beside my wretched mother, if so I must call this woman, when cohabiting with him!' The clause τὸν αὐτοφόντην κ.τ.λ. is in the same construction with ὕβριν, governed by ἴδω. ἡμίν is ethical dative, and has a sarcastic force; i.e. That is what I am compelled to look upon.' The participle (κείμενον) which should have gone with ἐν κοίτῃ is absorbed and resumed in συγκοιμωμένην.