Sophocles, Electra, Robert Potter (Translator), 174

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Sink not, Ah sink not in despair. In heav'n

From his high throne Almighty Jove beholds

And governs all things: to his pow'r resign

Thy flaming indignation; let not hate
175

Too far transport thee; nor forget these wrongs.
175

Time is a lenient god. Nor will the son

Of Agamemnon on the pastured beach...

Of Chrisa linger, never to return,

Nor the dread god that reigns o'er Acheron.

Electra

But of my life how much to me is lost

Already? And, by hope not cheer'd, my ills

No longer can I bear, but waste away;

My parents lost, and by no worthy friend
185

Protected, like a foreign slave I serve,
185

Disgraceful task! within my father's house,

My table scanty, and my vestments mean.

Chorus

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)) — 174 focus

ἔτι ἔστι CAFL² Pal. μέγας οὐρανῷ ἐν οὐρανῷ MSS. Heath corr.

Ζεύς, ὃς ἐφορᾷ πάντα καὶ κρατύνει·
175

ᾧ τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ χόλον νέμουσα

μήθ᾽ οἷς ἐχθαίρεις ὑπεράχθεο μήτ᾽ ἐπιλάθου.

χρόνος γὰρ εὐμαρὴς θεός.

οὔτε γὰρ ὁ τὰν Κρῖσαν
180

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

παῖς Ἀγαμεμνονίδας ἀγαμεμνίδας L. ἀπερίτροπος,

οὔθ᾽ ὁ παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα θεὸς ἀνάσσων.

ΗΛ,

ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη

βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ·
185

ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ἃς φίλος οὔτις ἀνὴρ ὑπερίσταται,

ἀλλ᾽ ἁπερεί τις ἔποικος ἀναξία

οἰκονομῶ οἰκονομῶ(ν) L. θαλάμους πατρός, ὧδε μὲν
190

ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ συστολαι L. συστολαί C2 or 3.,

κεναῖς δ᾽ ἀμφίσταμαι ἀφίσταμαι L. ἀμφίσταμαι L2 Pal. V M. Eustath. ἐφίσταμαι V3. ἐφίσταμαι Cor7 Ar Vat. ac M². τραπέζαις.

ΧΟ.
στρ. γ΄.

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)) — 174 focus

Then with less fear I may converse with thee.

EL

Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

CH

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)) — 174 focus

/ 'Tis my love entreats j

Trust me, 1 feel a mother's fondness for thee,

And fain would save thee from redoubled woes.

Electra

And wouldst thou have me then neglect the

dead?

Forget my father ! Can there be such guilt?

When I do so, may infamy pursue me !
185

And if I wed, may all the joys of love
185

Be far removed ! If vengeance doth not fall
185

On crimes like these, for ever farewell, justice —

Shame, honour, truth, and piety, farewell !

Chorus

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-101-1 ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ ¹ ἐν ²

mvp-comment-102-1 τὸν ὑπεραλγῆ ³

mvp-comment-102-2 νέμουσα ⁴

mvp-comment-103-1 μήτε ὑπεράχθεο ⁵ οἷς ⁶

mvp-comment-104-1 εὐμαρὴς θεός ⁷ θεός ⁸

mvp-comment-105-1 οὔτε γὰρ ⁹

mvp-comment-105-2 Κρῖσαν ¹⁰

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 ¹¹ βουνόμον ¹²

mvp-comment-106-2 βούνομον ἀκτὰν ¹³ Κρῖσαν ¹⁴

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀπερίτροπος ¹⁵

mvp-comment-108-1 παρὰ τὸν Ἀχέροντα ¹⁶ ἀνάσσων ¹⁷ θεὸς ¹⁸

mvp-comment-109-1 μὲν ¹⁹

mvp-comment-109-2 ὁ πολὺς … βίοτος ²⁰

mvp-comment-109-3 ἀνέλπιστος ²¹

mvp-comment-109-4 187 *

τεκέων

. I am now satisfied that this is a true correction of τοκέων ²² ἅτις ²³ τοκέων ²⁴

mvp-comment-110-1 ἁπερεί ²⁵

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔποικος ²⁶

mvp-comment-111-1 οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους ²⁷

mvp-comment-112-1 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ ²⁸

mvp-comment-113-1 κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις ²⁹ ἀμφίσταμαι ³⁰

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 ³¹ κοίταις ³² οἰκτρὰ … αὐδὰ ³³

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 ³⁴ ἐν ³⁵

mvp-comment-114-6 κοίταις ³⁶

mvp-comment-114-7 ὅτε οἱ ³⁷ σοι ³⁸ ἀνταία ³⁹

mvp-comment-114-8 γενύων ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-115-1 δόλος … ἔρος ⁴¹

mvp-comment-116-1 δεινὰν δεινῶς ⁴² δεινὰν … μορφάν ⁴³

mvp-comment-116-2 εἴτ’ οὖν … εἴτε ⁴⁴ βροτῶν ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-117-1 πλέον … ἐχθίστα ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-117-2 δὴ ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-118-1 νὺξ ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-118-2 δείπνων ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-119-1 ἄχθη ⁵⁰ τοῖς ⁵¹ θανάτους ⁵²

mvp-comment-119-2 διδύμαιν χειροῖν ⁵³ διδύμοιν ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-120-1 εἷλον … πρόδοτον ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-121-1 οἷς ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-121-2 Ὀλύμπιος ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-122-1 ποίνιμα ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-123-1 ἀγλαΐας ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-123-2 ἀποναίατο ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-124-1 πόρσω ⁶¹

mvp-comment-125-1 γνώμαν ἴσχεις ⁶²

mvp-comment-125-2 ἐξ οἵων ⁶³

mvp-comment-125-3 τὰ παρόντ’ ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-125-4 οἰκείας ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-126-1 πολύ … τι κακῶν ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-126-2 ὑπερεκτήσω ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-127-1 τὰ δὲ ⁶⁸ οὐκ ἐριστὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ⁶⁹ πλάθειν ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-127-2 ἐριστά ⁷¹

mvp-comment-127-3 πλάθειν ⁷²

mvp-comment-128-1 δεινοῖς ἠναγκάσθην ⁷³

mvp-comment-129-1 ὀργά ⁷⁴ ἔξοιδ’ ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-130-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-130-2 ἐν … δεινοῖς ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-130-3 σχήσω ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-130-4 ταύτας ἄτας ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-131-1 ὄφρα ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-131-2 βίος ἔχῃ με ⁸¹ σχήσω ⁸²

mvp-comment-132-1 τίνι γάρ … τίνι φρονοῦντι καίρια ⁸³ ἀκούσαιμ’ ἂν πρόσφορον ἔπος ⁸⁴ τίνι ⁸⁵ πρόσφορον ⁸⁶

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 ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-133-2 ἄλυτα ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-133-3 κεκλήσεται ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-133-4 231 f. For ἐκ ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-133-5 ἀνάριθμος ⁹¹ θρήνων ⁹²

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν ⁹³ γε ⁹⁴ εὐνοίᾳ ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-135-1 μάτηρ ὡσεί τις ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-136-1 μὴ τίκτειν ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-136-2 ἄταν ἄταις ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-137-1 καὶ τί μέτρον ⁹⁹ κακότατος ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-137-2 φέρε ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-137-3 ἐπὶ τοῖς φθ. ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-138-1 ἔβλαστ’ ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-139-1 τούτοις ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-140-1 εἴ τῳ πρόσκειμαι χρηστῷ ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-141-1 ξυνναίοιμ’ ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-141-2 εὔκηλος ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-141-3 γονέων ¹⁰⁸ ἐκτίμους ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-141-4 ἐκτίμους ἵσχουσα ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-141-5 πτέρυγας … γόων ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-141-6 ὀξυτόνων ¹¹²

mvp-comment-142-1 εἰ γὰρ ¹¹³

mvp-comment-142-2 γᾶ ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-142-3 οὐδὲν ¹¹⁵ ὢν ¹¹⁶ εἰ ¹¹⁷

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 ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-142-6 ἀντιφόνους δίκας ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-143-1 ἔρροι τ’ ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-143-2 αἰδὼς ¹²¹ εὐσέβεια ¹²²

mvp-comment-144-1 ἐγὼ μὲν ¹²³

mvp-comment-144-2 καὶ ¹²⁴ τὸ σὸν … καὶ τοὐμὸν ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-145-1 νίκα ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-145-2 ἅμα ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-146-1 πολλοῖσι θρήνοις ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-147-1 ἀλλὰ … γὰρ ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-148-1 ἥτις εὐγενὴς γυνή ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-149-1 πατρῷα … πήματα ¹³¹

mvp-comment-150-1 κατ’ εὐφρόνην ¹³²

mvp-comment-150-2 θάλλοντα ¹³³

mvp-comment-151-1 ᾗ ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-151-2 πρῶτα μὲν … εἶτα … ἔπειτα ¹³⁵ ᾗ ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-151-3 τὰ μητρὸς ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-151-4 ἔχθιστα συμβέβηκεν ¹³⁸

mvp-comment-152-1 κἀκ τῶνδ’ ἄρχομαι ¹³⁹

mvp-comment-153-1 λαβεῖν … τὸ τητᾶσθαι ¹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-154-1 ποίας ¹⁴¹ δοκεῖς ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-155-1 ἴδω ¹⁴³ εἰσίδω δ’ ¹⁴⁴ ἴδω δὲ ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-155-2 μὲν ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-156-1 ἐσθήματα ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-156-2 ἐκείνῳ ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-156-3 παρεστίους … λοιβάς ¹⁴⁹ ἔνθ’ ἐκεῖνον ὤλεσεν ¹⁵⁰

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 ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-158-1 αὐτοέντην ¹⁵²

mvp-comment-158-2 Brunck first adopted αὐτοέντην ¹⁵³ αὐτοφόντην ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-158-3 ἡμὶν ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-159-1 ταλαίνῃ ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-160-1 ταύτην … τῷδε ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-161-1 μιάστορι ¹⁵⁸ Ἐρινὺν ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐγγελῶσα τοῖς ποιουμένοις ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-163-1 εὑροῦς’ ¹⁶¹ τότε ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-163-2 The conjecture φρουροῦς’ ¹⁶³ τηροῦς’ ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-164-1 χοροὺς ἵστησι ¹⁶⁵

mvp-comment-164-2 μηλοσφαγεῖ … ἱερὰ ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-164-3 ἔμμην’ ἱερά ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-164-4 τοῖς σωτηρίοις ¹⁶⁸

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 ¹⁶⁹ κατὰ στέγας ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-166-1 τέτηκα ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-166-2 πατρὸς ¹⁷²

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 ¹⁷³ αὑτήν ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-167-2 κλαῦσαι ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-167-3 ἡδονὴν φέρει ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-168-1 ἡ λόγοισι γενναία ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-169-1 φωνοῦσα ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-170-1 δύσθεον ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-170-2 μίσημα ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-170-3 σοὶ μόνῃ ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-170-4 τέθνηκεν ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-170-5 ἐν πένθει ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-171-1 ἐκ γόων ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-171-2 οἱ κάτω θεοί ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-172-1 τάδ’ ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-172-2 ἥξοντ’ Ὀρέστην ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-173-1 παραστᾶς’ ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-174-1 ἥτις ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-174-2 ὑπεξέθου ¹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-175-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι τείσουσά γ’ ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-176-1 ὑλακτεῖ ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-176-2 σὺν ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-176-3 πέλας ¹⁹⁴ παρών ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-176-4 301 The adv. πάντα ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-176-5 ἄναλκις ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-176-6 ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-177-1 σὺν γυναιξὶ ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-177-2 τὰς μάχας ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-178-1 ἐφήξειν ²⁰¹

mvp-comment-179-1 μέλλων … δρᾶν τι ²⁰²

mvp-comment-179-2 τὰς οὔσας τε … καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας ²⁰³

mvp-comment-179-3 μου ²⁰⁴ μοι ²⁰⁵

mvp-comment-179-4 διέφθορεν ²⁰⁶

mvp-comment-180-1 σωφρονεῖν ²⁰⁷ εὐσεβεῖν ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-180-2 ἔν τοι κακοῖς ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-180-3 πολλή )στ’ ἀνάγκη ²¹⁰ κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά ²¹¹

mvp-comment-180-4 I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν ²¹²

mvp-comment-181-1 ὄντος … βεβῶτος ²¹³

mvp-comment-182-1 ἦ κάρτα ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-182-2 θυραῖον ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-182-3 οἰχνεῖν ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-182-4 ἀγροῖσι ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-182-5 τυγχάνει ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-183-1 ἦ κἂν … ἱκοίμην ²¹⁹ ἦ τ<*>ν ²²⁰ ἦ δἂν ²²¹

mvp-comment-183-2 ἐς λόγους τοὺς σοὺς ἱκοίμην ²²²

mvp-comment-184-1 ὡς νῦν ²²³ ὥς νυν ²²⁴

mvp-comment-184-2 ἱστόρει· τί σοι φίλον ²²⁵ τό ²²⁶ τά ²²⁷

mvp-comment-184-3 With the other punctuation, ἱστόρει τί σοι φίλον ²²⁸

mvp-comment-185-1 καὶ δὴ ²²⁹

mvp-comment-185-2 τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής ²³⁰

mvp-comment-185-3 ἥξοντος ²³¹ ἢ μέλλοντος ²³²

mvp-comment-186-1 φησίν γε ²³³

mvp-comment-186-2 ποεῖ ²³⁴

mvp-comment-187-1 καὶ μὴν ἔγωγ’ ²³⁵ γε ²³⁶

mvp-comment-187-2 οὐκ ὄκνῳ ²³⁷

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀρκεῖν ²³⁸

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐπεί ²³⁹

mvp-comment-189-2 μακρὰν ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-189-3 324 Here, as in 316, νῦν ²⁴¹ νυν ²⁴²

mvp-comment-189-4 δόμων ²⁴³ φέρουσαν ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-190-1 ὅμαιμον ²⁴⁵

mvp-comment-190-2 φύσιν ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-191-1 Χρυσόθεμιν ²⁴⁷

mvp-comment-192-1 οἷα ²⁴⁸ νομίζεται ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-193-1 πρὸς θυρῶνος ἐξόδοις ²⁵⁰ φωνεῖς ²⁵¹ ἐλθοῦσα ²⁵² αὖ ²⁵³

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

mvp-comment-194-1 θυμῷ … χαρίζεσθαι ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-195-1 καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ’ οἶδα ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-195-2 κἀμαυτήν, ὅτι ²⁵⁶

mvp-comment-195-3 333 f. For the repeated ἄν ²⁵⁷

mvp-comment-195-4 οἶ) αὐτοῖς φρονῶ ²⁵⁸

mvp-comment-196-1 ὑφειμένῃ ²⁵⁹ πλεῖν ²⁶⁰

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 ²⁶¹

mvp-comment-198-1 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἄλλα ²⁶² ἀλλὰ ²⁶³ ἄλλα ²⁶⁴

mvp-comment-199-1 καίτοι τὸ μὲν δίκαιον ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-199-2 κρίνεις ²⁶⁶

mvp-comment-199-3 εἰ … με δεῖ ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-199-4 ἐλευθέραν ²⁶⁸

mvp-comment-199-5 ζῆν ²⁶⁹

mvp-comment-199-6 πάντ’ ²⁷⁰

mvp-comment-199-7 ἀκουστέα ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-200-1 δεινόν γε ²⁷²

mvp-comment-201-1 τῆς … τικτούσης ²⁷³

mvp-comment-201-2 μέλειν ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-202-1 τἀμὰ νουθετήματα ²⁷⁵

mvp-comment-202-2 κείνης διδακτά ²⁷⁶

mvp-comment-202-3 ἐκ σαυτῆς ²⁷⁷

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’ ²⁷⁸

mvp-comment-203-4 ἑλοῦ γε ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-203-5 φρονεῖν κακῶς ²⁸⁰

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 ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-205-1 ἥτις ²⁸² φρονοῦσα ²⁸³ μῖσος ²⁸⁴

mvp-comment-206-1 πάντα ²⁸⁵

mvp-comment-206-2 τιμωρουμένης ²⁸⁶

mvp-comment-207-1 οὔτε … τε ²⁸⁷

mvp-comment-207-2 τήν τε δρῶσαν ²⁸⁸

mvp-comment-208-1 πρὸς κακοῖσι ²⁸⁹

mvp-comment-208-2 δειλίαν ἔχει ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-209-1 ἐπεὶ ²⁹¹

mvp-comment-209-2 ἢ μάθ’ ἐξ ἐμοῦ ²⁹²

mvp-comment-210-1 ἐπαρκούντως ²⁹³

mvp-comment-211-1 προσάπτειν ²⁹⁴

mvp-comment-211-2 εἴ τις ἔστ’ ἐκεῖ χάρις ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-212-1 ἡμὶν ²⁹⁶ ξύνει ²⁹⁷

mvp-comment-213-1 τὰ σὰ … δῶῤ ²⁹⁸

mvp-comment-213-2 ἐφ’ οἶσι ²⁹⁹

mvp-comment-213-3 χλιδᾷς ³⁰⁰

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.

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 174

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Chorus

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ΗΛ,

ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη

βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ·
185

ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ΧΟ.
στρ. γ΄.

Χορός

ἀλλʼ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ γʼ αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σʼ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

Then with less fear I may converse with thee.

EL

Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

CH

Der Chor.

/ 'Tis my love entreats j

Trust me, 1 feel a mother's fondness for thee,

And fain would save thee from redoubled woes.

Chorus

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Chorus

Current edition Experimental

ΗΛ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ· 185 ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ΧΟ. στρ. γ΄.

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

Then with less fear I may converse with thee.

EL Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

CH

Der Chor.

/ 'Tis my love entreats j Trust me, 1 feel a mother's fondness for thee, And fain would save thee from redoubled woes.

Chorus

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

ΗΛ,

ἀλλ᾿ ἐμὲ μὲν ὁ πολὺς ἀπολέλοιπεν ἤδη

βίοτος ἀνέλπιστος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρκῶ·
185

ἅτις ἄνευ τοκέων κατατάκομαι,

ΧΟ.
στρ. γ΄.

Χορός

ἀλλʼ οὖν εὐνοίᾳ γʼ αὐδῶ,

μάτηρ ὡσεί τις πιστά,

μὴ τίκτειν σʼ ἄταν ἄταις.
235

EL

Ask what you will, for he is nowhere near.

/ 'Tis my love entreats j

Trust me, 1 feel a mother's fondness for thee,

And fain would save thee from redoubled woes.

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