Sophocles, Electra, Robert Potter (Translator), 181

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Electra
1126

Thou sad memorial, now the sole remains

Of what was once Orestes, to my heart

Most dear, with other hopes I sent thee hence,

Not to receive thee thus; for in my hands

I bear thee, nothing now; a splendid Youth,

To glory born, I sent thee from this house.
1130

Oh hadst thou died, ere by these hands preserved,

And, snatch'd from slaughter, to a foreign land

I sent thee! Hadst thou died in that sad day,

Some little portion of thy father's tomb

Thou wou'dst have shared: but thou hast perish'd now
1135

Far from thy house, and from thy country far,

A wandering exile, from thy sister far.

Nor in the cleansing lavers did I bathe

With these fond hands thy corse, nor, as became

A sister, bear from the consuming flames
1140

The mournful burden. By a stranger's hands

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)) — 181 focus

βουνόμον βούνομον L. βουνόμον C2A. βουνόμενον L2. ἔχων ἀκτὰν

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 121-250 focus

Χορός

ὦ παῖ, παῖ δυστανοτάτας

Ἠλέκτρα ματρός, τίνʼ ἀεὶ

τάκεις ὧδʼ ἀκόρεστον οἰμωγὰν

τὸν πάλαι ἐκ δολερᾶς ἀθεώτατα

ματρὸς ἁλόντʼ ἀπάταις Ἀγαμέμνονα
125

κακᾷ τε χειρὶ πρόδοτον; ὡς ὁ τάδε πορὼν

ὄλοιτʼ, εἴ μοι θέμις τάδʼ αὐδᾶν.

Ἠλέκτρα

ὦ γενέθλα γενναίων,

ἥκετʼ ἐμῶν καμάτων παραμύθιον.
130

οἶδά τε καὶ ξυνίημι τάδʼ, οὔ τί με

φυγγάνει, οὐδʼ ἐθέλω προλιπεῖν τόδε,

μὴ οὐ τὸν ἐμὸν στενάχειν πατέρʼ ἄθλιον.

ἀλλʼ ὦ παντοίας φιλότητος ἀμειβόμεναι χάριν,

ἐᾶτέ μʼ ὧδʼ ἀλύειν,
135

αἰαῖ, ἱκνοῦμαι.

137

Χορός

ἀλλʼ οὔτοι τόν γʼ ἐξ Ἀΐδα

παγκοίνου λίμνας πατέρʼ ἀν-

στάσεις οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτʼ εὐχαῖς.

ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τῶν μετρίων ἐπʼ ἀμήχανον
140

ἄλγος ἀεὶ στενάχουσα διόλλυσαι,

ἐν οἷς ἀνάλυσίς ἐστιν οὐδεμία κακῶν.

τί μοι τῶν δυσφόρων ἐφίει;

Ἠλέκτρα

νήπιος ὃς τῶν οἰκτρῶς

οἰχομένων γονέων ἐπιλάθεται.
145

ἀλλʼ ἐμέ γʼ ἁ στονόεσσʼ ἄραρεν φρένας,

ἃ Ἴτυν, αἰὲν Ἴτυν ὀλοφύρεται,

ὄρνις ἀτυζομένα, Διὸς ἄγγελος.

ἰὼ παντλάμων Νιόβα, σὲ δʼ ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν,
150

ἅτʼ ἐν τάφῳ πετραίῳ

αἰεὶ δακρύεις.

154

Χορός

οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ, τέκνον,

ἄχος ἐφάνη βροτῶν,
155

πρὸς ὅ τι σὺ τῶν ἔνδον εἶ περισσά,

οἷς ὁμόθεν εἶ καὶ γονᾷ ξύναιμος,

οἵα Χρυσόθεμις ζώει καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα,

κρυπτᾷ τʼ ἀχέων ἐν ἥβᾳ,

ὄλβιος, ὃν ἁ κλεινὰ
160

γᾶ ποτε Μυκηναίων

δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν, Διὸς εὔφρονι

βήματι μολόντα τάνδε γᾶν Ὀρέσταν.

Ἠλέκτρα

ὅν γʼ ἐγὼ ἀκάματα προσμένουσʼ, ἄτεκνος,

τάλαινʼ, ἀνύμφευτος αἰὲν οἰχνῶ,
165

δάκρυσι μυδαλέα, τὸν ἀνήνυτον

οἶτον ἔχουσα κακῶν· ὁ δὲ λάθεται

ὧν τʼ ἔπαθʼ ὧν τʼ ἐδάη. τί γὰρ οὐκ ἐμοὶ

ἔρχεται ἀγγελίας ἀπατώμενον;
170

ἀεὶ μὲν γὰρ ποθεῖ,

ποθῶν δʼ οὐκ ἀξιοῖ φανῆναι.

174

Χορός

θάρσει μοι, θάρσει, τέκνον.

ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ
175

Ζεύς, ὃς ἐφορᾷ πάντα καὶ κρατύνει·

ᾧ τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ χόλον νέμουσα

μήθʼ οἷς ἐχθαίρεις ὑπεράχθεο μήτʼ ἐπιλάθου·

χρόνος γὰρ εὐμαρὴς θεός.

οὔτε γὰρ ὁ τὰν Κρῖσαν
180

βούνομον ἔχων ἀκτὰν

παῖς Ἀγαμεμνονίδας ἀπερίτροπος

οὔθʼ ὁ παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα θεὸς ἀνάσσων.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀλλʼ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη
185

βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδʼ ἔτʼ ἀρκῶ·

ἅτις ἄνευ τεκέων κατατάκομαι,

ἇς φίλος οὔτις ἀνὴρ ὑπερίσταται,

ἀλλʼ ἁπερεί τις ἔποικος ἀναξία

οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους πατρός, ὧδε μὲν
190

ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ,

κεναῖς δʼ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις.

193

Χορός

οἰκτρὰ μὲν νόστοις αὐδά,

οἰκτρὰ δʼ ἐν κοίταις πατρῴαις

ὅτε οἱ παγχάλκων ἀνταία
195

γενύων ὡρμάθη πλαγά.

δόλος ἦν ὁ φράσας, ἔρος ὁ κτείνας,

δεινὰν δεινῶς προφυτεύσαντες

μορφάν, εἴτʼ οὖν θεὸς εἴτε βροτῶν

ἦν ὁ ταῦτα πράσσων.
200

Ἠλέκτρα

ὦ πασᾶν κείνα πλέον ἁμέρα

ἐλθοῦσʼ ἐχθίστα δή μοι·

ὦ νύξ, ὦ δείπνων ἀρρήτων

ἔκπαγλʼ ἄχθη,

τοὺς ἐμὸς ἴδε πατὴρ
205

θανάτους αἰκεῖς διδύμαιν χειροῖν,

αἳ τὸν ἐμὸν εἷλον βίον πρόδοτον, αἵ μʼ ἀπώλεσαν·

οἷς θεὸς ὁ μέγας Ὀλύμπιος

ποίνιμα πάθεα παθεῖν πόροι,
210

μηδέ ποτʼ ἀγλαΐας ἀποναίατο

τοιάδʼ ἀνύσαντες ἔργα.

213

Χορός

φράζου μὴ πόρσω φωνεῖν.

οὐ γνώμαν ἴσχεις ἐξ οἵων

τὰ παρόντʼ οἰκείας εἰς ἄτας
215

ἐμπίπτεις οὕτως αἰκῶς;

πολὺ γάρ τι κακῶν ὑπερεκτήσω,

σᾷ δυσθύμῳ τίκτουσʼ ἀεὶ

ψυχᾷ πολέμους· τὰ δὲ τοῖς δυνατοῖς

οὐκ ἐριστὰ πλάθειν.
220

Ἠλέκτρα

δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην, δεινοῖς·

ἔξοιδʼ, οὐ λάθει μʼ ὀργά.

ἀλλʼ ἐν γὰρ δεινοῖς οὐ σχήσω

ταύτας ἄτας,

ὄφρα με βίος ἔχῃ.
225

τίνι γάρ ποτʼ ἄν, ὦ φιλία γενέθλα,

πρόσφορον ἀκούσαιμʼ ἔπος, τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια;

ἄνετέ μʼ ἄνετε, παράγοροι·

τάδε γὰρ ἄλυτα κεκλήσεται,

οὐδέ ποτʼ ἐκ καμάτων ἀποπαύσομαι
230

ἀνάριθμος ὧδε θρήνων.

233

Χορός

ἀλλʼ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ γʼ αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σʼ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

Ἠλέκτρα

καὶ τί μέτρον κακότατος ἔφυ; φέρε,

πῶς ἐπὶ τοῖς φθιμένοις ἀμελεῖν καλόν;

ἐν τίνι τοῦτʼ ἔβλαστʼ ἀνθρώπων;

μήτʼ εἴην ἔντιμος τούτοις

μήτʼ, εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ,
240

ξυνναίοιμʼ εὔκηλος, γονέων

ἐκτίμους ἴσχουσα πτέρυγας

ὀξυτόνων γόων.

εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν θανὼν γᾶ τε καὶ οὐδὲν ὢν
245

κείσεται τάλας,

οἱ δὲ μὴ πάλιν

δώσουσʼ ἀντιφόνους δίκας,

ἔρροι τʼ ἂν αἰδὼς

ἁπάντων τʼ εὐσέβεια θνατῶν.
250

Translations (4)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 181 focus

CHR

Long time remains to settle that account.

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 174 focus

Nur muthig, o Kind, nur muthig!

Noch lebt im Himmel Zeus,

Der große, der Alles sieht und ordnet:
170

Dem Gott befiehl deines Grolles Schmerzen,

Nicht der Gehaßten vergessend und nicht zu sehr sie befeindend.

Allwaltend herrscht der Zeitgott,

Und weder auf Krisa's¹

Stierweiden säumt ewig,
175

Nimmer zu kehren, der Sohn Agamemnons,

Noch Hades, der am Acheron gebietet.

Elektra.

Doch mir zerrann schon lange sonder Hoffnung

Mein Leben hülflos, nicht länger trag' ich's:

Eine verlassene Waise, verzehr' ich mich,
180

Nicht von dem liebenden Gatten vertheidiget,

Nein, wie die Fremde, verhöhnt und erniedriget,

Fröhn' ich im Vaterpalast als Schaffnerin

In solch armsel'gem Kleid,

Muß darbend steh'n an leeren Tischen.
185
Dritte Strophe.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 181 focus

Orestes

What you have heard I know not,
1110

But of Orestes came I here to speak

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 121-250 focus

Chorus

Ah, Electra, child of a most wretched mother, why are you always wasting away in this unsated mourning for Agamemnon, who long ago was godlessly

ensnared in your false mother’s wiles and betrayed by her corrupt hand? May the one who did that perish, if I may speak such a curse without breaking the gods’ laws.
125

Electra

Ah, noble-hearted girls,

you have come to relieve me in my troubles. I know and feel it: it does not escape me. Still I cannot leave this task undone, nor abandon this mourning for my poor father. Ah, friends whose love responds to mine in every mood,
130

allow me to rave as I am, oh, please, I beg you!
135

137

Chorus

But never by weeping nor by prayer will you resurrect your father from the pool of Hades which receives all men.

No, by grieving without end and beyond due limits you will find cureless misery and your own ruin; in these actions there is no deliverance from evils. Tell us, why do you pursue such suffering?
140

Electra

Foolish is the child who forgets a parent’s piteous death. No, closer to my heart is the mourner who eternally wails, Itys, Itys, that bird mad with grief, the messenger of Zeus.
145

Ah, all-suffering Niobe, you I count divine, since you weep forever in your rocky tomb!
150

154

Chorus

Not to you alone of mortals, my daughter, has sorrow come,

though you face it with less restraint than those girls inside, Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, whose parents and blood you share. They still live, as he, too, lives, sorrowing in his secluded youth,
155

yet happy in that this famous realm of the Mycenaeans shall one day receive him as a noble lord, if with the blessing of Zeus’s escort he, Orestes, returns to this land.
160

Electra

Yes, I await him with unwearied longing,

as I walk my sad path from day to day childless and unwed, bathed in tears, bearing that endless doom of evils. But he forgets all that he has suffered and learned.
165

What message comes to me that is not proven false? He constantly desires to be with us, but though he desires it, he does not choose to appear.
170

174

Chorus

Courage, my daughter, courage; Zeus in the sky

is still mighty, and he sees and rules all. Leave your oversharp anger to him; be neither excessively hostile to those you hate, nor forgetful of them, since Time is a god who brings ease.
175

Neither the son of Agamemnon, who dwells by Crisa ’s cattle-feeding shore nor the god who reigns beside Acheron is unmindful of you.
180

Electra

But the best part of life has passed away leaving me in hopelessness, and I have no strength left. I waste away without children and have no loving husband to champion me, but like some despised foreign slave,
185

I serve in the halls of my father, wrapped in shabby garments and standing to eat scanty meals.
190

193

Chorus

Mournful was the voice heard at his return, and mournful the voice amidst your father’s reclining banquet

when the straight, swift blow of the bronze-jawed axe was sped against him. Deceit was the plotter, Lust the slayer, two dread parents of a dreadful
195

phantom, whether it was god or mortal that did this deed.
200

Electra

O that hated day, hated beyond all that have come to me; O that night, the terrible grief of that unutterable feast, the shameless death-strokes

my father saw from their twin hands, hands which took my life captive by treachery, which cast me to ruin! May the great god of Olympus
205

create for them sufferings in penalty, and may they never have enjoyment of their splendor since they have committed such crimes!
210

213

Chorus

Be advised to say no more; do you not see by what actions

under the present circumstances you plunge so shamefully into self-made miseries? You have far excelled in achieving misfortune, ever breeding wars in your hardhearted soul. But such strife
215

should not be pushed into a conflict with the powerful.
220

Electra

I have been forced to it, forced by a terrible compulsion. I know my own passion; it does not escape me; but, under such terrible compulsion, I will not restrain these disastrous cries of frenzy,

so long as life is in me. Who indeed, my noble friends, who that keeps what is appropriate in mind, would think any word of comfort right for my ears? Let me be, let me be, my comforters!
225

For these ills will be reckoned with those which have no cure; I will never know a respite from my pains, or the sum of this wailing.
230

233

Chorus

It is nevertheless with goodwill, like a true-hearted mother,

that I dissuade you from begetting misery upon miseries.
235

Electra

But what limit has nature begot for my affliction? Tell me, how can it be right to neglect the dead? Has such a seed been sown in any mortal? May I never have such men’s esteem;

never, when I am close to prosperity, may I dwell in ease, hindering the wings of shrill lamentation so as to deprive my begetter of his honors!
For if the dead is to lie a wretch, merely dust and nothingness,
240

while his slayers do not pay back to him blood for blood in penalty,
245

then shame and reverence will vanish from all humanity.
250

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-636-1 ψυχῆς Ὀρέστου λοιπόν ¹

mvp-comment-636-2 ἀπ’ ἐλπίδων ²

mvp-comment-636-3 Then οὐχ ὧνπερ ³

mvp-comment-636-4 Other possibilities are the following. (1) Keeping both

οὐχ ὧνπερ

and

ἀπ’

, to take

ἀπ’ ἐλπίδων

as=‘ with hopes.’ The prep. would then be used as when it denotes a resource: 1378

ἀφ’ ὧν ἔχοιμι

: Thuc. 1. 91 § 7

ἀπὸ ἀντιπάλου παρασκευῆς

. (Observe that in Soph. Tr. 667

ἀπ’ ἐλπίδος καλῆς

is not really similar; it means, ‘as the outcome of a fair hope.’) The prevailing usage of

ἀπό

condemns this view.

mvp-comment-636-5 (2) Still keeping

οὐχ ὧνπερ

, to change

ἀπ’

, with Schaefer, to

ὑπ’

. Cp. Eur. Hec. 351

ἐθρέφθην ἐλπίδων καλῶν ὕπο

. This is possible; though

ὑπό

, when thus used, commonly denotes an external accompaniment ( Soph. Tr. 419 n.); as, indeed, even in Hec. l. c., the hopes are not merely Polyxena's own, but those of her friends. Further:

ὥς σ’ ἀπ’ ἐλπίδων— ἀπό

meaning ‘contrary to’—strikes the note of despair more forcibly.

mvp-comment-636-6 (3) Keeping

ἀπ’

as=‘contrary to,’ to alter

οὐχ ὧνπερ

either to οὐχ ὅνπερ ⁴ οὐχ ὥσπερ ⁵

mvp-comment-636-7 On the whole, I retain the traditional reading, though not without a suspicion that either

ἀπ’

ὧνπερ

is unsound.

mvp-comment-637-1 νῦν μὲν γὰρ ⁶

mvp-comment-637-2 οὐδὲν ὄντα ⁷

mvp-comment-637-3 βαστάζω ⁸

mvp-comment-637-4 λαμπρὸν ⁹

mvp-comment-638-1 ὡς ὤφελον ¹⁰

mvp-comment-638-2 The v.l. ὤφελες ¹¹ κλέψασα ¹²

mvp-comment-638-3 τοῖνδε ¹³

mvp-comment-638-4 κἀνασώσασθαι ¹⁴

mvp-comment-638-5 φόνου ¹⁵

mvp-comment-639-1 ὅπως … ἔκεισο ¹⁶

mvp-comment-639-2 τύμβου πατρῴου ¹⁷

mvp-comment-640-1 φυγὰς ¹⁸

mvp-comment-641-1 ἐν ¹⁹

mvp-comment-641-2 φίλαισι ²⁰

mvp-comment-642-1 λουτροῖς σ’ ἐκόσμης’ ²¹

mvp-comment-643-1 ἄθλιον βάρος ²²

mvp-comment-644-1 ἐν ξέναισι χερσὶ κηδευθεὶς ²³

mvp-comment-644-2 σμικρὸς … ὄγκος ²⁴

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

1126-1128. mvp-comment-539-1 O sole memorial and relic of the living Orestes, dearest of mankind to me, how far otherwise than I had hoped do I receive thee! with thoughts how different from those with which I sent thee forth!" By a confusion to which double negatives are liable (Essay on L. § 29. p. 49), the negative implied in ἀπό is first expanded in a negative sense, and then ἀπό is resumed with ὧνπερ in a different (positive) sense. For a negative similarly ignored in the relative clause, cp. Ant. 1064-7, κάτισθι, μὴ πολλοὺς .. τελῶν | ἐν οἷσι, κ.τ.λ. Wecklein in l. 1128 reads οὐχ ὅνπερ with an inferior MS. • How contrary to my hopes I receive- not him whom I sent forth.'

1130. mvp-comment-540-1 λαμπρόν] 'Bright,' i.e. full of promise. Cp. supr. 685, εἰσῆλθε λαμπρός. ἐγώ has a pathetic, not a logical emphasis, and reminds the spectator that Electra's action at the critical moment was the saving of her father's house. Cp. supr. 12.

1131. mvp-comment-541-1 The v. r. ὡς ὤφελες (suggested by 1134) is far inferior to ὡς ὤφελον. The struggle of the intervening years now seems worse than yain.

1139-1140. mvp-comment-542-1 οὔτε .. βάρος] ‘Nor took up, as I should have done, from the all-consuming fire, the miserable remains.' See E. on L. § 8. p. 11. For βάρος, cp. Aesch. Ag. 442, βαρὺ ψήγμα, παμφλέκτου suggests that the fire has done its utmost. Cp. Od. 11. 220, 1, ἀλλὰ τὰ μέν τε πυρὸς κρατερὸν μένος αἰθομένοιο | δαμνᾷ, ἐπεί κε πρῶτα λίπῃ λεύκ᾿ ὄστεα θυμός. See Essay on L. $ 53. p. 98.

Sophocles Electra 181

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Χορός

ἀλλʼ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ γʼ αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σʼ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

CHR

Long time remains to settle that account.

Der Chor.

Orestes

What you have heard I know not,
1110

But of Orestes came I here to speak

Electra

Foolish is the child who forgets a parent’s piteous death. No, closer to my heart is the mourner who eternally wails, Itys, Itys, that bird mad with grief, the messenger of Zeus.
145

Ah, all-suffering Niobe, you I count divine, since you weep forever in your rocky tomb!
150

Chorus

It is nevertheless with goodwill, like a true-hearted mother,

that I dissuade you from begetting misery upon miseries.
235

Commentary

Stable identifiers

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Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

Χορός ἀλλʼ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ γʼ αὐδῶ, μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά, μὴ τίκτειν σʼ ἄταν ἄταις. 235

CHR Long time remains to settle that account.

Der Chor.

Orestes What you have heard I know not, 1110 But of Orestes came I here to speak

Electra Foolish is the child who forgets a parent’s piteous death. No, closer to my heart is the mourner who eternally wails, Itys, Itys, that bird mad with grief, the messenger of Zeus. 145 Ah, all-suffering Niobe, you I count divine, since you weep forever in your rocky tomb! 150

Chorus It is nevertheless with goodwill, like a true-hearted mother, that I dissuade you from begetting misery upon miseries. 235

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Χορός

ἀλλʼ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ γʼ αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σʼ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

CHR

Long time remains to settle that account.

Orestes

What you have heard I know not,
1110

But of Orestes came I here to speak

Electra

Foolish is the child who forgets a parent’s piteous death. No, closer to my heart is the mourner who eternally wails, Itys, Itys, that bird mad with grief, the messenger of Zeus.
145

Ah, all-suffering Niobe, you I count divine, since you weep forever in your rocky tomb!
150

Chorus

It is nevertheless with goodwill, like a true-hearted mother,

that I dissuade you from begetting misery upon miseries.
235