Sophocles, Electra, Robert Potter (Translator), 18

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Chorus
193

Mournful at his return the voice of woe,

Through all the chambers of thy father's house

Mournful the voice, when the relentless axe

In tempest fell. Fraud first devised, Lust struck

The murderous blow, with horrid thought of old

Forming the horrid image, were these deeds

Or by some god, or daring mortals, wrought.

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)) — 18 focus

ἑῷα κινεῖ φθέγματ᾽ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ,

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)) — 18 focus

CH

Take thought to keep thy crying within bound.

Doth not thy sense enlighten thee to see

How recklessly

Even now thou winnest undeservèd woe?

Still art thou found
90

To make thy misery overflow
90

Through self-bred gloomy strife. But not for long

Shall one alone prevail who strives against the strong.

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)) — 18 focus

Electra

I am myself to blame, and blush to think

How much unfit I seem to liear the weight

Imposed upon me ; but indeed 'tis great.

Forgive me, friends, a woman born as I am,

Must she not grieve to see each added minute

Fraught with new mis'ries? Thus to be a slave

E'en in my father's house, and from those hands

Which shed his blood to ask the means of life !

Think what my soul must sufter to behold

The cursed Aigisthus seated on the throne

Of Agamemnon, in the very robes

Which once were his — to see the tyrant pour

Libations forth e'en on the fat;d spot

Where the sad deed was done. But, worst of all.

To see the murderer usurp his bed.

Embrace my mother (by that honoured name

If I may call a guilty wretch like her).

Who, pleased, returns his love, and, of her crimes i

I Unconscious, smiles, nor fears th' avenging Furies U

I But ever as the bloody day returns ' 1

Which gave the royal victim to her wiles, j ^

Annual the dance and choral song proclaim

A solemn feast, nor impious sacrifice

Forgets she then to her protecting gods.

Shocked at the cruel banquet I letire,

And in some corner hide my griefs, denied

E'en the sad comfort to indulge my sorrows,

For Clytemnestra in opprobrious terms

lleviles me oft ; *' To thee alone," she cries,

" Is Agamemnon lost, detested maid !

Perdition on thee ! May th' infernal gods

J^efuse thee succour, and protract thy pains ! "

Thus rails she bitter, and if chance she hear

Orestes is approaching, stung with rage

Wild she exclaims, " Thou art th' accursed cause ;

This is thy deed, who stole Orestes from mo.

And hid him from my rage ; but be assured

Ere long my vengeance shall o'ertake thee for it

These threats her noble lord still urges on —

That vile adulterei", that abandoned coward,

Whose fearful soul called in a woman's aid

To execute his bloody purposes.

Her wished avenger ; his unkind delay

Destroys my hopes. Alas ! my gentle friends,

Who can bear this, and keep an equal mind?

To suffer ills like mine, and not to err

From wild distraction, would be strange indeed.

Or may we speak our thoughts unblamed ?

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-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 ¹ κοίταις ² οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ ³

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 ⁴ ἐν ⁵

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις ⁶

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ ⁷ σοι ⁸ ἀνταία ⁹

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων ¹⁰

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος ¹¹

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς ¹² δεινὰν … μορφάν ¹³

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε ¹⁴ βροτῶν ¹⁵

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα ¹⁶

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ ¹⁷

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ ¹⁸

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων ¹⁹

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη ²⁰ τοῖς ²¹ θανάτους ²²

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν ²³ διδύμοιν ²⁴

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον ²⁵

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς ²⁶

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος ²⁷

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα ²⁸

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας ²⁹

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο ³⁰

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω ³¹

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις ³²

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων ³³

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ ³⁴

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας ³⁵

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν ³⁶

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω ³⁷

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ ³⁸ οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ³⁹ πλάθειν ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά ⁴¹

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν ⁴²

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην ⁴³

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά ⁴⁴ ἔξοιδ’ ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με ⁵¹ σχήσω ⁵²

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια ⁵³ ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος ⁵⁴ τίνι ⁵⁵ πρόσφορον ⁵⁶

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 ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος ⁶¹ θρήνων ⁶²

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν ⁶³ γε ⁶⁴ εὐνοίᾳ ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον ⁶⁹ κακότατος ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε ⁷¹

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. ⁷²

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ ⁷³

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων ⁷⁸ ἐκτίμους ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων ⁸¹

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων ⁸²

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ ⁸³

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν ⁸⁵ ὢν ⁸⁶ εἰ ⁸⁷

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 ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς ⁹¹ εὐσέβεια ⁹²

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ⁹³

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ ⁹⁴ τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα ¹⁰⁵ ᾗ ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας ¹¹¹ δοκεῖς ¹¹²

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω ¹¹³ εἰσίδω δ’ ¹¹⁴ ἴδω δὲ ¹¹⁵

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς ¹¹⁹ ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν ¹²⁰

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 ¹²¹

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην ¹²²

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην ¹²³ αὐτοφόντην ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι ¹²⁸ Ἐρινὺν ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ ¹³¹ τότε ¹³²

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ ¹³³ τηροῦς’ ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις ¹³⁸

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 ¹³⁹ κατὰ στέγας ¹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα ¹⁴¹

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς ¹⁴²

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 ¹⁴³ αὑτήν ¹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν ¹⁵²

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει ¹⁵³

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας ¹⁶⁴ παρών ¹⁶⁵

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι ¹⁷²

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-179-3 μου ¹⁷⁴ μοι ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν ¹⁷⁷ εὐσεβεῖν ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη ¹⁸⁰ κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην ¹⁸⁹ ἦ τ<*>ν ¹⁹⁰ ἦ δἂν ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν ¹⁹³ ὥς νυν ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον ¹⁹⁵ τό ¹⁹⁶ τά ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος ²⁰¹ ἢ μέλλοντος ²⁰²

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε ²⁰³

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ ²⁰⁵ γε ²⁰⁶

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ ²⁰⁷

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν ²¹⁰

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν ²¹¹ νυν ²¹²

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων ²¹³ φέρουσαν ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα ²¹⁸ νομίζεται ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις ²²⁰ φωνεῖς ²²¹ ἐλθοῦσα ²²² αὖ ²²³

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

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι ²²⁴

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα ²²⁵

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι ²²⁶

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν ²²⁷

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ ²²⁸

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ ²²⁹ πλεῖν ²³⁰

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 ²³¹

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα ²³² ἀλλὰ ²³³ ἄλλα ²³⁴

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον ²³⁵

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις ²³⁶

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ ²³⁷

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν ²³⁸

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν ²³⁹

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα ²⁴¹

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε ²⁴²

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης ²⁴³

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα ²⁴⁵

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς ²⁴⁷

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’ ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς ²⁵⁰

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 ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις ²⁵² φρονοῦσα ²⁵³ μῖσος ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης ²⁵⁶

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε ²⁵⁷

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν ²⁵⁸

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι ²⁵⁹

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ ²⁶¹

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ ²⁶²

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως ²⁶³

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν ²⁶⁴

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν ²⁶⁶ ξύνει ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-213-1 τὰ σὰ … δῶῤ ²⁶⁸

mvp-comment-213-2 ἐφ’ οἶσι ²⁶⁹

mvp-comment-213-3 χλιδᾷς ²⁷⁰

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.

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 18

Robert Potter (Translator)

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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

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

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 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

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

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