Sophocles Electra 241

mvp-comment-692-1 A

between Electra and Orestes. Strophe, 1232—1352,=antistr. 1253—1272 (a verse being lost after 1264). Epode, 1273— 1287. For metres see Metrical Analysis.

mvp-comment-693-1 γοναὶ σωμάτων ¹

mvp-comment-694-1 ἀρτίως ²

mvp-comment-694-2 οὓς ³

mvp-comment-694-3 ἐχρήζετε ⁴

mvp-comment-695-1 σῖγ’ ἔχουσα ⁵

mvp-comment-696-1 ἀλλ’ οὐ μὰ ⁶

mvp-comment-696-2 τὴν ἄδμητον ⁷

mvp-comment-696-3 Ἄρτεμιν ⁸

mvp-comment-697-1 τόδε μὲν … ὂν ἀεί ⁹

mvp-comment-697-2 περισσὸν ἄχθος ¹⁰

mvp-comment-697-3 ἔνδον … ὂν ἀεί ¹¹

mvp-comment-698-1 γε μὲν δὴ ¹²

mvp-comment-698-2 Ἄρης ¹³

mvp-comment-698-3 εὖ δ’ ἔξοισθα ¹⁴

mvp-comment-699-1 ἀνέφελον … κακόν ¹⁵

mvp-comment-699-2 The author of the scholium on 1245 read ἐνέβαλες ¹⁶ ἐπέβαλες ¹⁷ ὑπέβαλες ¹⁸

mvp-comment-699-3 καταλύσιμον ¹⁹

mvp-comment-699-4 λησόμενον ²⁰

mvp-comment-699-5 The usual explanation is, ‘that cannot be forgotten’; but

is nowhere passive. There is, indeed, no classical fut. pass. of , for ( ) occurs only in later Greek (LXX. Ps. ix. 19 , etc.). Even =‘will forget,’ Eur. Alc. 198. — could mean, ‘that cannot escape notice’; for, though the act. is more usual in this sense ( Soph. Tr. 455 , Il. 23. 416 ), the midd. is so used by Hippocrates (2. 170), Arist. ( Pr. Anal. 2. 19), Lucian, etc. But here, especially after , such a sense would evidently be too weak.

1232. mvp-comment-588-1 In the following passage Electra in her ecstasy utters lyric (chiefly dochmiac) strains, to which Orestes, who is trying to calm her, replies in senarii. The lyric metres may be arranged (though, as the text stands, not perfectly) in a scheme of strophe, antistrophe, and epode, as follows:—
στρ. (ll. 1232-1252).
- u - - - | - u - -
- u u - u - | - u - -
u - u - u - -
1 Senarius.
1 Senarius.
- u - u - | - u - -
u - u - | u - -
1 Senarius.
1 Senarius.
- u - u - | - u u | - u u | u - -
- u - - | u - - -
u - u - u - | u - u -
- u - -
2 Senarii.

ἀντ. (ll. 1253-1263).
- u - | u - -
u u - u - | u u - u - -
u - - u u -
1 Senarius.
1 Senarius.
u u - u - u u -
u - u - | u - u - u - -
2 Senarii.

ἐπ. (ll. 1273-1287).
u u - u - u - -
- - - u -
u u - | u u - | u u - | u u -
- u - | - u -
1 Senarius.
2 - - u u - -
2 Senarii.
^{1 2}

1232. mvp-comment-588-2 1 The correspondence of στρ. and ἀντ. here is doubtful.

1232. mvp-comment-588-3 2 In the Epode Orestes also for a moment becomes lyrical.

1232-1233. mvp-comment-589-1 γοναὶ .. φιλτάτων] 'Offspring of one most dear to me;' i.e. of Agamemnon. Poetical plural. E. on L. § 20. p. 30.

1234-1235. mvp-comment-590-1 For the aorists, see Essay on L. § 32. p. 55 , and for the feeling in οὓς ἐχρήζετε, cp. O. T. 1274, οὓς δ᾽ ἔχρῃζεν οὐ γνωσοίατο.

1236. mvp-comment-591-1 'We are here. Only abide the event in silence.' In πάρεσμεν Orestes probably includes Pylades, but not necessarily. Cp. the doubt in Trach. 390.

1239. mvp-comment-592-1 This line as in L, which is followed in the text, has an iambic rhythm which in so far corresponds to 1260. In a passage of so much wildness there may have been a special motive for using long syllables in the strophe where in the antistrophe the iambics are 'pure.' Wecklein reads in στρ., μὰ τὰν ᾿Αρτεμιν | τὰν ἀδμῆτ᾽ ἀεί, and in ἀντ., τίς οὖν ἀξίαν | σοῦ γε πεφηνότος?

1240-1242. mvp-comment-593-1 τόδε.. ἀεί] 'Never will I account as worthy of my fear this unprofitable burden of womankind that never stirs abroad.' Electra does not remember that she is a woman. She is one with Orestes, who is come to vindicate the man. She might say with Athena in the Eumenides 738, κάρτα δ᾽ εἰμὶ τοῦ πατρός. Orestes reminds her that Clytemnestra is not an enemy to be despised.

1246-1247. mvp-comment-594-1 Thou hast brought to my remembrance the undisguised horror of our situation, not to be forgotten or undone.' For ἐπέβαλες, cp. Thuc. 8. 108, καὶ ἀλλὰ ἐπιβάλλοντος αὐτοῦ ἁ φέρειν οὐκ ἠδύναντο. The figure seems to be that of laying on (or adding to) a burden. Cp. O. C. 1730, τί τόδ᾽ ἐπέπληξας; λησόμενον is literally, 'That will not forget.' See Essay on L. § 30. p. 51 a.