Sophocles, Electra, Robert Potter (Translator), 14

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Chorus
154

Yet not by thee alone of all that breathe

Is sorrow felt. What share is thine, beyond

Those in this house by blood to thee allied?

Such is the life Chrysothemis endures;

Such Iphianassa's sufferings; such the Youth's,

Who in concealment and in silence mourns.

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)) — 14 focus

τοσόνδ᾽ ἐς ἥβης, πατρὶ τιμωρὸν φόνου τιμωρῶν φθόνου L. corr. p.m. or C³..

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-120 focus

Παιδαγωγός

ὦ τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος ἐν Τροίᾳ ποτὲ
1

Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖ, νῦν ἐκεῖνʼ ἔξεστί σοι

παρόντι λεύσσειν, ὧν πρόθυμος ἦσθʼ ἀεί.

τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν Ἄργος οὑπόθεις τόδε,

τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ἰνάχου κόρης·
5

αὕτη δʼ, Ὀρέστα, τοῦ λυκοκτόνου θεοῦ

ἀγορὰ Λύκειος· οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς δʼ ὅδε

Ἥρας ὁ κλεινὸς ναός· οἷ δʼ ἱκάνομεν,

φάσκειν Μυκήνας τὰς πολυχρύσους ὁρᾶν

πολύφθορόν τε δῶμα Πελοπιδῶν τόδε,
10

ὅθεν σε πατρὸς ἐκ φονῶν ἐγώ ποτε

πρὸς σῆς ὁμαίμου καὶ κασιγνήτης λαβὼν

ἤνεγκα κἀξέσωσα κἀξεθρεψάμην

τοσόνδʼ ἐς ἥβης, πατρὶ τιμωρὸν φόνου.

νῦν οὖν, Ὀρέστα καὶ σὺ φίλτατε ξένων
15

Πυλάδη, τί χρὴ δρᾶν ἐν τάχει βουλευτέον·

ὡς ἡμὶν ἤδη λαμπρὸν ἡλίου σέλας

ἑῷα κινεῖ φθέγματʼ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ

μέλαινά τʼ ἄστρων ἐκλέλοιπεν εὐφρόνη.

πρὶν οὖν τινʼ ἀνδρῶν ἐξοδοιπορεῖν στέγης,
20

ξυνάπτετον λόγοισιν· ὡς ἐνταῦθʼ ἐμέν,

ἵνʼ οὐκέτʼ ὀκνεῖν καιρός, ἀλλʼ ἔργων ἀκμή.

Ὀρέστης

ὦ φίλτατʼ ἀνδρῶν προσπόλων, ὥς μοι σαφῆ

σημεῖα φαίνεις ἐσθλὸς εἰς ἡμᾶς γεγώς.

ὥσπερ γὰρ ἵππος εὐγενής, κἂν ᾖ γέρων,
25

ἐν τοῖσι δεινοῖς θυμὸν οὐκ ἀπώλεσεν,

ἀλλʼ ὀρθὸν οὖς ἵστησιν, ὡσαύτως δὲ σὺ

ἡμᾶς τʼ ὀτρύνεις καὐτὸς ἐν πρώτοις ἕπει.

τοιγὰρ τὰ μὲν δόξαντα δηλώσω, σὺ δὲ

ὀξεῖαν ἀκοὴν τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις διδούς,
30

εἰ μή τι καιροῦ τυγχάνω, μεθάρμοσον.

ἐγὼ γὰρ ἡνίχʼ ἱκόμην τὸ Πυθικὸν

μαντεῖον, ὡς μάθοιμʼ ὅτῳ τρόπῳ πατρὶ

δίκας ἀροίμην τῶν φονευσάντων πάρα,

χρῇ μοι τοιαῦθʼ ὁ Φοῖβος ὧν πεύσει τάχα·
35

ἄσκευον αὐτὸν ἀσπίδων τε καὶ στρατοῦ

δόλοισι κλέψαι χειρὸς ἐνδίκους σφαγάς.

ὅτʼ οὖν τοιόνδε χρησμὸν εἰσηκούσαμεν,

σὺ μὲν μολών, ὅταν σε καιρὸς εἰσάγῃ,

δόμων ἔσω τῶνδʼ, ἴσθι πᾶν τὸ δρώμενον,
40

ὅπως ἂν εἰδὼς ἡμὶν ἀγγείλῃς σαφῆ.

οὐ γάρ σε μὴ γήρᾳ τε καὶ χρόνῳ μακρῷ

γνῶσʼ, οὐδʼ ὑποπτεύσουσιν ὧδʼ ἠνθισμένον.

λόγῳ δὲ χρῶ τοιῷδʼ, ὅτι ξένος μὲν εἶ

Φωκέως παρʼ ἀνδρὸς Φανοτέως ἥκων· ὃ γὰρ
45

μέγιστος αὐτοῖς τυγχάνει δορυξένων.

ἄγγελλε δʼ ὅρκον προστιθεὶς ὁθούνεκα

τέθνηκʼ Ὀρέστης ἐξ ἀναγκαίας τύχης,

ἄθλοισι Πυθικοῖσιν ἐκ τροχηλάτων

δίφρων κυλισθείς· ὧδʼ ὁ μῦθος ἑστάτω.
50

Ὀρέστης

ἡμεῖς δὲ πατρὸς τύμβον, ὡς ἐφίετο,

λοιβαῖσι πρῶτον καὶ καρατόμοις χλιδαῖς

στέψαντες εἶτʼ ἄψορρον ἥξομεν πάλιν,

τύπωμα χαλκόπλευρον ἠρμένοι χεροῖν,

ὃ καὶ σὺ θάμνοις οἶσθά που κεκρυμμένον,
55

ὅπως λόγῳ κλέπτοντες ἡδεῖαν φάτιν

φέρωμεν αὐτοῖς, τοὐμὸν ὡς ἔρρει δέμας

φλογιστὸν ἤδη καὶ κατηνθρακωμένον.

τί γάρ με λυπεῖ τοῦθʼ, ὅταν λόγῳ θανὼν

ἔργοισι σωθῶ κἀξενέγκωμαι κλέος;
60

δοκῶ μέν, οὐδὲν ῥῆμα σὺν κέρδει κακόν.

ἤδη γὰρ εἶδον πολλάκις καὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς

λόγῳ μάτην θνῄσκοντας· εἶθʼ, ὅταν δόμους

ἔλθωσιν αὖθις, ἐκτετίμηνται πλέον·

ὡς κἄμʼ ἐπαυχῶ τῆσδε τῆς φήμης ἄπο
65

δεδορκότʼ ἐχθροῖς ἄστρον ὣς λάμψειν ἔτι.

ἀλλʼ, ὦ πατρῴα γῆ θεοί τʼ ἐγχώριοι,

δέξασθέ μʼ εὐτυχοῦντα ταῖσδε ταῖς ὁδοῖς,

σύ τʼ, ὦ πατρῷον δῶμα· σοῦ γὰρ ἔρχομαι

δίκῃ καθαρτὴς πρὸς θεῶν ὡρμημένος·
70

καὶ μή μʼ ἄτιμον τῆσδʼ ἀποστείλητε γῆς,

ἀλλʼ ἀρχέπλουτον καὶ καταστάτην δόμων.

εἴρηκα μέν νυν ταῦτα· σοὶ δʼ ἤδη, γέρον,

τὸ σὸν μελέσθω βάντι φρουρῆσαι χρέος.

νὼ δʼ ἔξιμεν· καιρὸς γάρ, ὅσπερ ἀνδράσιν
75

μέγιστος ἔργου παντός ἐστʼ ἐπιστάτης.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός

καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς

ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης

ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις
80

μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

Παιδαγωγός

ἥκιστα· μηδὲν πρόσθεν ἢ τὰ Λοξίου

πειρώμεθʼ ἔρδειν κἀπὸ τῶνδʼ ἀρχηγετεῖν,

πατρὸς χέοντες λουτρά· ταῦτα γὰρ φέρει

νίκην τʼ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν καὶ κράτος τῶν δρωμένων.
85

Ἠλέκτρα

ὦ φάος ἁγνὸν

καὶ γῆς ἰσόμοιρʼ ἀήρ, ὥς μοι

πολλὰς μὲν θρήνων ᾠδάς,

πολλὰς δʼ ἀντήρεις ᾔσθου

στέρνων πληγὰς αἱμασσομένων,
90

ὁπόταν δνοφερὰ νὺξ ὑπολειφθῇ·

τὰ δὲ παννυχίδων ἤδη στυγεραὶ

ξυνίσασʼ εὐναὶ μογερῶν οἴκων,

ὅσα τὸν δύστηνον ἐμὸν θρηνῶ

πατέρʼ, ὃν κατὰ μὲν βάρβαρον αἶαν
95

φοίνιος Ἄρης οὐκ ἐξένισεν,

μήτηρ δʼ ἡμὴ χὠ κοινολεχὴς

Αἴγισθος ὅπως δρῦν ὑλοτόμοι

σχίζουσι κάρα φονίῳ πελέκει,

κοὐδεὶς τούτων οἶκτος ἀπʼ ἄλλης
100

ἢ ʼμοῦ φέρεται, σοῦ, πάτερ, οὕτως

αἰκῶς οἰκτρῶς τε θανόντος.

103

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀλλʼ οὐ μὲν δὴ

λήξω θρήνων στυγερῶν τε γόων,

ἔστʼ ἂν παμφεγγεῖς ἄστρων
105

ῥιπάς, λεύσσω δὲ τόδʼ ἦμαρ,

μὴ οὐ τεκνολέτειρʼ ὥς τις ἀηδὼν

ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ τῶνδε πατρῴων

πρὸ θυρῶν ἠχὼ πᾶσι προφωνεῖν.

ὦ δῶμʼ Ἀΐδου καὶ Περσεφόνης,
110

ὦ χθόνιʼ Ἑρμῆ καὶ πότνιʼ Ἀρὰ

σεμναί τε θεῶν παῖδες Ἐρινύες,

αἳ τοὺς ἀδίκως θνῄσκοντας ὁρᾶθʼ,

αἳ τοὺς εὐνὰς ὑποκλεπτομένους,

ἔλθετʼ, ἀρήξατε, τίσασθε πατρὸς
115

φόνον ἡμετέρου,

καί μοι τὸν ἐμὸν πέμψατʼ ἀδελφόν·

μούνη γὰρ ἄγειν οὐκέτι σωκῶ

λύπης ἀντίρροπον ἄχθος.
120

Translations (4)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 14 focus

CH

Take heart, dear child! still mighty in the sky

Is Zeus who ruleth all things and surveys.

Commit to him thy grief that surgeth high,

And walk in safer ways,

Let not hate vex thee sore,

Nor yet ignore

The cause of hate and sorrow in thy breast.

Time bringeth rest:
90

All is made easy through his power divine.
90

The heir of Agamemnon’s line
90

Who dwells by Crisa’s pastoral strand

Shall yet return unto his native land;

And he shall yet regard his own

Who reigns beneath upon his Stygian throne.

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 23 focus

bester Diener, liebster Mann, wie legst du mir

Der Treue Zeichen gegen uns so deutlich dar!

Denn wie das Noß aus edler Art, obschon betagt,
25

In keiner Schreckniß und Gefahr den Muth verliert,

Nein, stolz das Ohr aufrichtet: also du, der uns

Zum Kampfe treibt und selbst der Ersten Einer folgt.

Drum will ich offenbaren, was ich ausgedacht;

Doch du vergönne meinem Wort ein scharfes Ohr,
30

Und traf ich nicht das Rechte, gib mir andern Rath.

Nachdem ich angekommen war bei'm pythischen

Orakel, dort zu fragen, wie des Vaters Tod

Ich rächen mög' an jenen, die ihn mordeten,

Gebot mir Phöbos also, wie du gleich vernimmst:
35

Den Streich gerechter Rache mit geheimer List

Allein zu führen, nicht bewehrt mit Schild und Heer.

Nun, da mir solcher Gottesspruch verkündet ward,

Tritt du, sobald die Stunde dich gelegen führt,

Zu diesem Haus ein, auszuspäh'n, was hier geschieht,
40

Auf daß du klar uns meldest, was du wohl erforscht.

Unkenntlich schuf dich Alter und die lange Zeit,

Und vor Verdacht bewahrt dich dieser Blumenschmuck.¹

Doch also sprich zu jenen, daß ein Fremdling du,

Ein Phoker seiest, abgesandt von Phanoteus;²
45

Denn dieser Mann ist ihres Hauses bester Freund.

Mit Eid betheuernd, melde dann, Orestes sei

Dahingeschieden durch ein unerbittlich Loos,

Bei Kämpfen Pytho's aus dem raschhinrollenden³

Rennwagen stürzend. Also sei der Rede Sinn.
50

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 14 focus

Electra

Folly indeed, and madness ! But my griefs

Will force their way, and whilst Electra breathes

She must lament ; for who will bring me comfort,

Or soothe my sorrows ? Let me — let me go,

And weep for ever. ^

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-120 focus

Paedagogus

Son of him who once commanded our forces at Troy , son of Agamemnon!—now you may survey all that your heart has desired for so long. There is the ancient Argos of your yearning,
1

that consecrated land from which the gad-fly drove the daughter of Inachus; there, Orestes, is the Lycean market place, named from the wolf-slaying god; there on the left is Hera’s famous temple; and in this place to which we have come, know that you see Mycenae , the rich in gold,
5

and here the house of Pelops’ heirs, so often stained with bloodshed. Long ago from here, away from the murder of your father, I carried you for her whose blood is yours, your sister, and saved you and reared you up to manhood to be the avenger of your murdered father.

10

Now, therefore, Orestes, and you, best of allies, Pylades, our plan of action must be quickly laid; for look, already the sun’s bright ray is stirring the birds’ songs into clarity, and the kindly darkness of the stars is spent.
15

Before, then, anyone comes out from the house, we must make our plans, since we are at the point where it is no longer opportune to hesitate, but it is the moment for action.
20

Orestes

True friend and follower, how well you prove your loyalty to our house!

Just as a thoroughbred mount, even if advanced in years, does not lose courage in danger, but pricks up his ears, so you speed us forward and follow in the first ranks. I will tell you, then, what I have determined.
25

Listen closely to my words and correct me, if I miss the mark in any way.
When I went to the Pythian oracle to learn how I might avenge my father on his murderers,
30

Phoebus gave me the commandment which you will now hear: that alone, and by stealth, without the aid of arms or large numbers, I should carry off my right hand’s just slaughters. Accordingly, since I received this divine declaration, you must go into that house there
35

when opportunity gives you entrance, and learn all that is happening, so that you may report to us out of sure knowledge. Your age and the lapse of time will prevent them from recognizing you; they will never suspect who you are with that silvered hair. Let your story be that you are a Phocian stranger
40

sent by Phanoteus, since he is the greatest of their allies. Tell them, and affirm it with your oath, that Orestes has perished by a fatal chance, hurled at the Pythian games
45

from his speeding chariot. Let that be the substance of your message. Meanwhile, we will first crown my father’s tomb as the god ordered with libations and the luxuriant tribute of a severed lock; then we will return here, bearing in our hands an urn of hammered bronze
50

—now hidden, as you no doubt know, in the brushwood—so that we may gladden them with the false tidings that this body of mine exists no more, but has been consumed with fire and reduced to ashes. How does it hurt me, when by feigned death
55

I find true life and win renown? No word is ill-omened, I trust, if it yields gain. For often before now I have seen clever men die in false report; then, when they return home, they are held in greater honor.
60

And so for myself I trust that as a result of this rumor I, too, shall live, shining down like a star upon my enemies.
But you, O my fatherland and native gods of my soil, receive me with good fortune in this journey, and you also, house of my ancestors,
65

since I come by divine mandate to cleanse you as justice demands. Do not dismiss me from this land in dishonor, but grant that I may rule over my possessions and restore my house!
I have said enough. Go now, old one, and take care to watch over your task.
70

The two of us will depart; for so opportunity bids, chief ruler of every enterprise for men.
75

77 Within.

Electra

ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus

Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes

Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries?
80

Paedagogus

No, no; before all else, let us strive to obey the commands of Loxias and from them make a fair beginning by pouring libations to your father. For such actions bring

victory within our grasp and give us mastery in all our doings. Exeunt Paedagogus on the spectators left, Orestes and Pylades on the right.
85

86 Enter Electra, from the house.

Electra

O you pure sunlight, and you air, light’s equal partner over earth, how often have you heard the chords of my laments

and the thudding blows against this bloodied breast at the time of gloomy night’s leaving off! My accursed bed in that house of suffering there knows well already how I observe my night-long rites—how often I bewail my miserable
90

father, whom bloody Ares did not welcome with deadly gifts in a foreign land, but my mother and her bedfellow Aegisthus split his head with murderous axe, just as woodmen chop an oak.
95

And for this crime no pitying cry bursts from any lips but mine, when you, Father, have died a death so cruel and so deserving of pity!
100

103

But never will I end from cries and bitter lamentation,

while I look on the stars’ glistening flashes or on this light of day. No, like the nightingale, slayer of her offspring, I will wail without ceasing, and cry aloud to all here at the doors of my father.

105

O House of Hades and Persephone! O Hermes of the shades! O potent Curse, and you fearsome daughters of the gods, the Erinyes, who take note when a life is unjustly taken, when a marriage-bed is thievishly dishonored,
110

come, help me, bring vengeance for the murder of my father and send me my brother. I no longer have the strength to hold up alone against
115

the load of grief that crushes me.
120

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-90-1 οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ ¹

mvp-comment-91-1 πρὸς ὅ τι ²

mvp-comment-91-2 τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά ³

mvp-comment-92-1 οἷς ⁴ τῶν ἔνδον ⁵

mvp-comment-92-2 ὁμόθεν ⁶ γονᾷ ξύναιμος ⁷

mvp-comment-93-1 οἵα Χρ. ζώει ⁸

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 ⁹

mvp-comment-93-4 καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα ¹⁰

mvp-comment-94-1 ἀχέων ¹¹

mvp-comment-94-2 Hermann, taking ἀχέων ¹² κρυπτᾷ ¹³

mvp-comment-95-1 ὄλβιος, ὃν ¹⁴

mvp-comment-95-2 For the simple

ὅς

, instead of

ὅς γε

ὅστις

, with causal force, cp. below, 188, 261, 959; O.T. 817.

mvp-comment-96-1 δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν ¹⁵

mvp-comment-96-2 Διὸς εὔφρονι ¹⁶ βήματι ¹⁷

mvp-comment-96-3 γᾶν ¹⁸ γᾶ ¹⁹

mvp-comment-96-4 Ὀρέσταν ²⁰ ὃν ²¹

mvp-comment-97-1 ἀκάματα ²²

mvp-comment-97-2 ἀνύμφευτος ²³ ἄτεκνος ²⁴

mvp-comment-97-3 οἰχνῶ ²⁵

mvp-comment-98-1 δάκρυσι μυδαλέα ²⁶

mvp-comment-98-2 τὸν ἀνήνυτον ²⁷

mvp-comment-98-3 οἶτον ἔχουσα ²⁸

mvp-comment-99-1 ὧν τ’ ἔπαθ’ ²⁹ ὧν τ’ ἐδάη ³⁰

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 ³¹

mvp-comment-99-4 ἀπατώμενον ³² τί … οὐκ ³³

mvp-comment-99-5 Herwerden's οὐχί μοι ³⁴ οὐκ ἐμοί ³⁵ ὁ δέ ³⁶

mvp-comment-100-1 ποθεῖ, ποθῶν δ’ ³⁷

mvp-comment-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ ³⁸ ἐν ³⁹

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα ⁴¹

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο ⁴² οἷς ⁴³

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός ⁴⁴ θεός ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν ⁴⁷

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

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 ⁴⁸ βουνόμον ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν ⁵⁰ Κρῖσαν ⁵¹

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος ⁵²

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα ⁵³ ἀνάσσων ⁵⁴ θεὸς ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων

. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων ⁵⁹ ἅτις ⁶⁰ τοκέων ⁶¹

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί ⁶²

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος ⁶³

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις ⁶⁶ ἀμφίσταμαι ⁶⁷

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 ⁶⁸ κοίταις ⁶⁹ οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ ⁷⁰

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 ⁷¹ ἐν ⁷²

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις ⁷³

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ ⁷⁴ σοι ⁷⁵ ἀνταία ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς ⁷⁹ δεινὰν … μορφάν ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε ⁸¹ βροτῶν ⁸²

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα ⁸³

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη ⁸⁷ τοῖς ⁸⁸ θανάτους ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν ⁹⁰ διδύμοιν ⁹¹

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον ⁹²

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς ⁹³

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ ¹⁰⁵ οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ¹⁰⁶ πλάθειν ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά ¹¹¹ ἔξοιδ’ ¹¹²

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ¹¹³

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω ¹¹⁵

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με ¹¹⁸ σχήσω ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια ¹²⁰ ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος ¹²¹ τίνι ¹²² πρόσφορον ¹²³

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 ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος ¹²⁸ θρήνων ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν ¹³⁰ γε ¹³¹ εὐνοίᾳ ¹³²

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις ¹³³

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον ¹³⁶ κακότατος ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε ¹³⁸

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. ¹³⁹

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ ¹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις ¹⁴¹

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος ¹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων ¹⁴⁵ ἐκτίμους ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν ¹⁵² ὢν ¹⁵³ εἰ ¹⁵⁴

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 ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς ¹⁵⁸ εὐσέβεια ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ ¹⁶¹ τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις ¹⁶⁵

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα ¹⁷² ᾗ ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας ¹⁷⁸ δοκεῖς ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω ¹⁸⁰ εἰσίδω δ’ ¹⁸¹ ἴδω δὲ ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς ¹⁸⁶ ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν ¹⁸⁷

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 ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην ¹⁹⁰ αὐτοφόντην ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι ¹⁹⁵ Ἐρινὺν ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ ¹⁹⁸ τότε ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ ²⁰⁰ τηροῦς’ ²⁰¹

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι ²⁰²

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ ²⁰³

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις ²⁰⁵

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 ²⁰⁶ κατὰ στέγας ²⁰⁷

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς ²⁰⁹

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 ²¹⁰ αὑτήν ²¹¹

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι ²¹²

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει ²¹³

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει ²²⁰

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων ²²¹

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί ²²²

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ ²²³

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην ²²⁴

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ ²²⁵

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις ²²⁶

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου ²²⁷

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ ²²⁸

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ ²²⁹

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν ²³⁰

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας ²³¹ παρών ²³²

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα ²³³

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις ²³⁴

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη ²³⁵

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ ²³⁶

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας ²³⁷

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν ²³⁸

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι ²³⁹

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-179-3 μου ²⁴¹ μοι ²⁴²

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν ²⁴³

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν ²⁴⁴ εὐσεβεῖν ²⁴⁵

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη ²⁴⁷ κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος ²⁵⁰

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον ²⁵²

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν ²⁵³

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην ²⁵⁶ ἦ τ<*>ν ²⁵⁷ ἦ δἂν ²⁵⁸

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην ²⁵⁹

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν ²⁶⁰ ὥς νυν ²⁶¹

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον ²⁶² τό ²⁶³ τά ²⁶⁴

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ ²⁶⁶

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος ²⁶⁸ ἢ μέλλοντος ²⁶⁹

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε ²⁷⁰

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ ²⁷² γε ²⁷³

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν ²⁷⁵

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί ²⁷⁶

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν ²⁷⁷

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν ²⁷⁸ νυν ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων ²⁸⁰ φέρουσαν ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον ²⁸²

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν ²⁸³

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν ²⁸⁴

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα ²⁸⁵ νομίζεται ²⁸⁶

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις ²⁸⁷ φωνεῖς ²⁸⁸ ἐλθοῦσα ²⁸⁹ αὖ ²⁹⁰

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

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι ²⁹¹

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα ²⁹²

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι ²⁹³

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν ²⁹⁴

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ ²⁹⁶ πλεῖν ²⁹⁷

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 ²⁹⁸

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα ²⁹⁹ ἀλλὰ ³⁰⁰ ἄλλα ³⁰¹

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον ³⁰²

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις ³⁰³

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ ³⁰⁴

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν ³⁰⁵

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν ³⁰⁶

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ ³⁰⁷

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα ³⁰⁸

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε ³⁰⁹

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης ³¹⁰

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν ³¹¹

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα ³¹²

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά ³¹³

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς ³¹⁴

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’ ³¹⁵

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε ³¹⁶

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς ³¹⁷

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 ³¹⁸

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις ³¹⁹ φρονοῦσα ³²⁰ μῖσος ³²¹

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα ³²²

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης ³²³

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε ³²⁴

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν ³²⁵

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι ³²⁶

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει ³²⁷

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ ³²⁸

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ ³²⁹

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως ³³⁰

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν ³³¹

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις ³³²

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν ³³³ ξύνει ³³⁴

mvp-comment-213-1 τὰ σὰ … δῶῤ ³³⁵

mvp-comment-213-2 ἐφ’ οἶσι ³³⁶

mvp-comment-213-3 χλιδᾷς ³³⁷

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.

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.

Sophocles Electra 14

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Chorus
154

Yet not by thee alone of all that breathe

Is sorrow felt. What share is thine, beyond

Those in this house by blood to thee allied?

Such is the life Chrysothemis endures;

Such Iphianassa's sufferings; such the Youth's,

Who in concealment and in silence mourns.

Current edition Experimental

Ἠλέκτρα

ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός

καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς

ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης

ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις
80

μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

Electra

Folly indeed, and madness ! But my griefs

Will force their way, and whilst Electra breathes

She must lament ; for who will bring me comfort,

Or soothe my sorrows ? Let me — let me go,

And weep for ever. ^

Electra

ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus

Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes

Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries?
80

Commentary

Stable identifiers

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Chorus 154 Yet not by thee alone of all that breathe Is sorrow felt. What share is thine, beyond Those in this house by blood to thee allied? Such is the life Chrysothemis endures; Such Iphianassa's sufferings; such the Youth's, Who in concealment and in silence mourns.

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Ἠλέκτρα ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις 80 μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

Electra Folly indeed, and madness ! But my griefs Will force their way, and whilst Electra breathes She must lament ; for who will bring me comfort, Or soothe my sorrows ? Let me — let me go, And weep for ever. ^

Electra ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries? 80

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Chorus
154

Yet not by thee alone of all that breathe

Is sorrow felt. What share is thine, beyond

Those in this house by blood to thee allied?

Such is the life Chrysothemis endures;

Such Iphianassa's sufferings; such the Youth's,

Who in concealment and in silence mourns.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός

καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς

ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης

ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις
80

μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

Electra

Folly indeed, and madness ! But my griefs

Will force their way, and whilst Electra breathes

She must lament ; for who will bring me comfort,

Or soothe my sorrows ? Let me — let me go,

And weep for ever. ^

Electra

ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus

Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes

Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries?
80