Aeschylus Eumenides 131

Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead (Translator)

In dreams ye chase a prey, and like some hound,
That even in sleep doth ply his woodland toil,
Ye bell and bay. What do ye, sleeping here?
Be not o'ercome with toil, nor, sleep-subdued,
155
Be heedless of my wrong. Up! thrill your heart
With the just chidings of my tongue,—such words
Are as a spur to purpose firmly held.
Blow forth on him the breath of wrath and blood,
Scorch him with reek of fire that burns in you,
160
Waste him with new pursuit—swift, hound him down.
[ Ghost sinks.

Eumenides. Aeschylus. Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead (Translator). . .

Current edition Experimental

English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1889, second edition) (OCR draft) (English) (Aeschylus, The Furies — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)
Εὐμενίδες First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 143-177 focus
Εὐμενίδες Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.) — 143-177 focus
Εὐμενίδες (1518 edition; OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides, 1518 edition. VLM-assisted OCR with native lineation and automated correspondence to the Smyth edition.) — 131 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 131 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 131 focus
ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 131 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Arthur Sidgwick, 1887.) — 131 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 131 focus
ὄναρ διώκεις θῆρα, κλαγγαίνεις δ᾽ ἅπερ
κύων μέριμναν οὔποτ᾽ ἐκλείπων πόνου.
τί δρᾷς; ἀνίστω, μή σε νικάτω πόνος,
μηδ᾽ ἀγνοήσῃς πῆμα μαλθαχθεῖσ᾽ ὕπνῳ.
ἄλγησον ἤπαρ ἐνδίκοις ὀνείδεσιν·
135
τοῖς σώφροσιν γὰρ ἀντίκεντρα γίγνεται.
οὐδ᾽ αἱματηρὸν πνεῦμ᾽ ἐπουρίσασα τῷ,
ἀτμῷ κατισχναίνουσα, νηδύος πυρί·
ἕπου, μάραινε δευτέροις διώγμασιν.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Martin L. West, 1990.) — 131 focus
Aeschyli Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Eumenides. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 131 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by F. A. Paley, 1885.) — 131 focus
ὄναρ διώκεις θῆρα, κλαγγαίνεις δ᾽ ἅπερ
κύων μέριμναν οὔποτ᾽ ἐκλιπὼν πόνου.
τί δρᾷς; ἀνίστω, μή σε νικάτω πόνος,
μηδ᾽ ἀγνοήσῃς πῆμα μαλθαχθεῖσ᾽ ὕπνῳ.
ἄλγησον ἡπαρ ἐνδίκοις ὀνείδεσιν·
130
τοῖς σώφροσιν γὰρ ἀντίκεντρα γίγνεται.
σὺ δ᾽ αἱματηρὸν πνεῦμ᾽ ἐπουρίσασα τῷ,
ἀτμῷ κατισχναίνουσα, νηδύος πυρὶ,
ἕπου, μάραινε δευτέροις διώγμασιν.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by Friedrich Blass, 1907.) — 131 focus
ὄναρ διώκεις θῆρα, κλαγγαίνεις δ᾽ ἅπερ
κύων μέριμναν οὔποτ᾽ ἐκλείπων πόνου.
τί δρᾶις; ἀνίστω, μή σε νικάτω πόνος,
μηδ᾽ ἀγνοήσηις πῆμα μαλθαχθεῖσ᾽ ὕπνωι.
ἄλγησον ἦπαρ ἐνδίκοις ὀνείδεσιν·
135
τοῖς σώφροσιν γὰρ ἀντίκεντρα γίγνεται.
σὺ δ᾽ αἱματηρὸν πνεῦμ᾽ ἐπουρίσασα τῶι,
ἀτμῶι κατισχναίνουσα, νηδύος πυρί,
ἕπου, μάραινε δευτέροις διώγμασιν.
Translations (10)
Eumenides Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 143-175 focus
The Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (The Eumenides. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 131 focus
In dreams you pursue the beast, and moan like a dog that never leaves off the care of toil. What are you doing? arise, let not toil overcome you, nor be ignorant of your loss, enfeebled by sleep. Grieve your heart by my just reproaches: for to the wise [such reproaches] are like stings. But wafting on him your bloody breath, wasting him with a fire of the entrails, follow, consume him by a second pursuit.
LES EUMÉNIDES (OCR draft) Experimental (LES EUMÉNIDES. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 131 focus
attrape! Gare!
The Furies (OCR draft) Experimental (The Furies. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 131 focus
In dreams doſt thou purſue him, like the hound
That opens in his fleep, on th' eager chace
E'en then intent.
And is this all? Awake,
Ariſe: let not thy toil ſubdue thee; know
165
What loſs enſues if ſleep enfeebles thee;
And let theſe juſt reproaches ſting thy mind,
Incentives to the wife: with firey breath,
That ſnuffs the ſcent of blood, purſue this ſon,
Follow him, blaſt him in the profp'rous chace.
170
Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 131 focus
La fiera in sogno insegui, e al par di cane
che mai la caccia non oblia, tu mugoli.
155
Sorgi, che fai? Stanchezza non t'abbatta!
Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 131 focus
In ſomnis perſequeris feram, latras uerò quemadmodum
Canis, ſolicitudinem nunquam relinquens laboris.
135
Quid facis? ſurge, ne te uincat labor.
Neq; ignores laborem mitior facta ſomno.
Molestia affice cor iuſtis probris.
His ſapientibus contrarij ſtimuli ſunt.
Neq; ſpiritum ſanguineum emittes hac
140
Expiratione attenuata uteris igni.
Sequere, tabefac ſecundis perſecutionibus.
Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1919–1923.) — 131 focus
Im Traume schlägst du an und spürst dem Wilde nach:
so läfst das Jagen auch im Schlaf die Bracke nicht.
Was hilft es? Aufsteh'n musst du, die Ermattung darf
dich nicht bezwingen, nicht des Schlafes Süfsigkeit
verhindern, daſs du des Verlustes inne wirst.
135 Wie Geiſselhiebe fühlt der Redliche den Schmerz
verdienten Vorwurfs: dring' er dir ins tiefste Mark.
Nun vorwärts zur Verfolgung, schnaube blut'gen Hauch,
heifser Gedärme Feuerodem hinter ihm,
verdorr' ihn, mach' ihn mürbe mit der zweiten Hatz.
Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Eumenides. Anna Swanwick, 1886.) — 131 focus
ATHENA
I'll bear thine anger, for mine elder thou,
810
And art moreover far more sage than I.
Yet me, with wisdom, Zeus not meanly dowers.
But ye, departing to a foreign land,
Will of the land ye leave enamoured be;
Of this I warn you; for, Time's onward flow
Shall these my lieges lift to loftier fame.
But thou a seat shall have, Erechtheus near,
Honoured by men and stolèd matrons, such
As ye from other mortals ne'er might win.
But cast ye not abroad on these my realms,
820
To waste their budding strength, whetstones of blood,
Evoking frantic rage not born of wine;
Nor pluck ye out the heart of fighting-cocks,
To plant among my townsmen civil strife,
Reckless of kindred blood; let foreign war
Rage without stint, affording ample scope
For him who burns with glory's mighty rage.
No war of home-bred cocks, I ween, is that!
Such terms I proffer, thine it is to choose;
830
Blessing and blest, with blessèd rites revered,
To share this country dear unto the gods.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1854; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylos. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1854. Native Donner line citations, Smyth card correspondence, selected textual readings and metrical facsimiles. Remaining OCR differences and unattributed reading notes are documented in the linked review inventory.) — 131 focus
Im Traume jagst du deinem Wilde nach und bellst,
Dem Hunde gleich, der seines Dienstes nie vergift.
Auf! Nicht gezaudert! Keine Müh' ermatte dich!
Verkenne nicht den Schaden, wenn dich Schlaf besiegt!
Gerechter Vorwurf schneide tief in's Herz dir ein;
130
Denn scharf wie Stacheln fühlen ihn Vernünftige.
Auf, sende denn blutvollen Odems Hauch ihm nach,
Durch Qualm verzehr' ihn aus der Eingeweide Brand,
Verfolg' ihn, brich im zweiten Jagen seine Kraft!
(Verschwindet.)
Erwecke,
English (Smyth; revised Bannon and Nagy, CHS) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Primary Sources revision of Herbert Weir Smyth’s translation by Cynthia Bannon and Gregory Nagy, with transliterated Greek terms tagged and aligned to the Smyth edition.)

No corresponding passage available

Commentary

Commentary on Aeschylus: Eumenides (Aeschylus. Eumenides. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887.)

146. ὁ θήρ , ‘our prey.'

150. νέος γραίας , simply young and old. This complaint that Apollo as one of the younger race has overridden the Furies who are elder goddesses constantly recurs through the play, 163, 731, 778, 838, 845; see Introduction. καθιππάζομαι, a bold picturesque word for trample down, so 731, 779.

151. τοκεῦσιν , generalising plural, to his mother, as the sense requires.

154. τῶνδε , your acts, insulting the old goddesses, and protecting the impious suppliant.

158. μεσολαβεῖ , another tersely vivid word: the goad 'grasped by the middle' to give the blow force.

169. μάντις ὤν , i. e. ‘though a seer,' and thus the last who should have allowed pollution.

174. τόν , Orestes: for Epic form cp. 137, 357.

Critical apparatus to Eumenides (OCR draft) (Latin and Greek critical apparatus to Gottfried Hermann's 1852 edition of Eumenides.) focus

mvp-comment-103-1 πόπαξ: πόπαξ Ald. Rob. Τurn. πύπαξ M. G. Farn. πυπάς Ven. Flor.

mvp-comment-104-1 δυςαχές: δυςαχές Μ. Rob. In G. ambiguum est utrum hoc an δυσαχθὲς scriptum sit. δυσαχθὲς Ven. Flor. Ald. Turn.

mvp-comment-105-1 οἴχεταí θ' ὁ θήρ: Libri οίχεται δ' ὁ θήρ. Correxit Abreschius.

mvp-comment-106-1 κρατηθεῖσ᾽ ἄγραν: κρατηθεῖσα plene M. G. Ald. Rob. άγραν, non ἄτων, etiam Ald.

mvp-comment-107-1 πέλει: Ζω bis Farn. Deinde ἐπιλογος Flor. Deinde libri πέλῃ. In G. tamen antea fuerat πέλει.

mvp-comment-108-1 νέος δὲ γραίας δαίμονας καθιππάσω: γραίας δὲ δαίμονας νέος Farn. καθισπάσω Par.

mvp-comment-109-1 ἱκέταν: ἱκέτην Farn.

mvp-comment-110-1 τοκεῦσιν: τοκεῦσιν M. G. Ald. Rob. τοκεῦσι Ven. Flor. Turn.

mvp-comment-111-1 δ᾽: δ' omittit Ven.

mvp-comment-112-1 ἐρεῖ τις: ἐρᾶ Flor. τις Farn. Ald. τὶς Rob.

mvp-comment-113-1 ὄνειδος ... μολὸν: ὄνειρος Par. μολών G. Ald.

mvp-comment-114-1 ἔτυψεν: ἔτυψεν M. G. Ald. Rob. Turn. ἔτυψε Ven. Farn. ἔτυψα Flor.

mvp-comment-115-1 μεσολαβεῖ: Hic versus omissus est in Par. μεταλαβεῖ Ald. Μεσολαβεῖ dubitari potest utrum active de stimulo in medium corpus tendente, neque stringente tantum, an, quod praestare videtur, passive intelligi debeat de stimulo quem quis medium prehendit, quo fortius vibrari regive possit.

mvp-comment-116-1 ὑπὸ: Libri ὑπὸ utrobique.

mvp-comment-117-1 δαΐου: πάρεστι μαστίκτορος omittit Par. πάρεστιν μαστίκτορος male ed. Vict. δάϊον Par.

mvp-comment-118-1 βαρύ, τὸ περίβαρυ κρύος ἔχειν: βάρυ τὸ περίβαρυ κρύος ἔχειν M. G. Turn. βαρὺ τὸ περὶ βαρυκρύος ἔχειν Ald. male lecta codicis G. scriptura. βαρὺ τὸ πέρι βαρὺ κρύος ἔχειν Ven. Flor. Farn. βαρὺ περίβαρυ κρύος ἔχειν Rob. Wakefieldius to in te mutavit. Non opus est mutatione.

mvp-comment-119-1 κρατοῦντες: Hunc versum omittit Par.

mvp-comment-120-1 φονολιβῆ θρόμβον: Libri φονολειβή, Correxit Arnaldus. Deinde libri θρόνον. Scholiastes τὸν θρόνον, οὗ Ὀρέστης καθῆτο, πάρεστιν ὁρᾶν φονολειβῆ ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς ὅλον. Item ad v. 168. propter hane explicationem adscriptum λείπει ὁ καί. Recte Wakefieldius θρόμβον scribendum esse intellexit. Sed male haec verba iunxit cum sequentibus, quum pendeant e participio κρατοῦντες. Et personarum distributio et antistrophica ratio docent his verbis, περὶ πόδα, περὶ καρά, finiri orationem pariter atque in stropha his, ύπο φρένας, ὑπὸ λόβον, hoc autem verbo, πάρεστι, et hic et illie novum alius personae dictum incipere. Haec est autem horum versuum sententia, talia perpetrant iuniores dei, praeter fas sibi vindicantes caedis vestigia, i. e. iudicium sibi arrogantes parricidii. V. Opusc. VI. 2. p. 39. seq.

Commentary on the Eumenides (OCR draft) (Brief English notes on Aeschylus' Eumenides by F. A. Paley, 1885.) focus

mvp-comment-55-1 πόπαξ] Our word pish! an exclamation of peevishness and dissatisfaction, as ποποῖ is pooh-pooh, Cho. 397 , Αg. 1043 . ὀτοτοῖ οι τοτοῖ ( Pers. 562 ) is tut-tut. But ὦ πόποι (so accented) means ໖ θεοὶ, Pers. 727 , Hesych.

ὦ δαίμονες.
The sentences following appear to be spoken by different choreutae in succession. So the Schol. seems to say, one wakes first, so that the chorus do not speak all at once. He adds, ἕκαστον κατ᾿ ἰδίαν προσενεκτέον, ‘each speech is to come on separately.'

mvp-comment-56-1 καθιππάσω] you override, a military term. Schol.

κατεπολέμησας.
Cf. 701, 741.

mvp-comment-57-1 ἔτυψεν] This epic form hardly occurs in the Attic, ἐπάταξεν being the usual equivalent. - μεσολαβεῖ, used passively, perhaps, grasped by the middle, so as to be firmly held.

mvp-comment-58-1 πάρεστι] I feel it (the reproach, says another) 'like the cruel smart of a torturer's lash.'

mvp-comment-59-1 This is said in satire and irony. This is what your younger gods do, assuming a power altogether beyond their right.' The dethronement of the Titanian powers and the cult of the beneficent Olympian deities (as before observed) is a main object of the play.

mvp-comment-60-1 θρόμβον] a clot. This seems a necessary correction for θρόνον. The unfinished speech, addressed to Apollo to show him the pollution of his shrine, is taken up by the next speaker, Yea, you may behold the central altar of the Earth (defiled) now that it has incurred the guilt of blood upon it ( ἔχειν). The Schol. seems to have read ὀφθαλμὸν, which he explained thus, you may see the seat (and) the altar (defiled), so as to incur a horrible pollution of blood if you raise your eye to look, ὥστε τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἔχειν αἱμάτων ἄγος ἐπαίροντα (perhaps ὥστε σε τὸν ὀφθ. ἐπ.). But ἀρόμενον must mean having taken upon itself.

Selected scholia accompanying Blass's Eumenides (OCR draft) (The mixed Greek, Latin, and German scholia register printed with Friedrich Blass's 1907 edition, aligned to O. L. Smith's later recensional editions.) focus

mvp-comment-67-1 λείπει δεινά (δεινά auch f).

mvp-comment-68-1 κατεπο-

mvp-comment-69-1 κομματικῶς καστον κατ᾿ ἰδίαν προενεκτέον. αἱ γὰρ φοροι τοῖς πάθεσιν.

mvp-comment-70-1 ἀφόρητον κακὸν ἐπάθομεν. λέμησας.

mvp-comment-71-1 ὡς ἡνίοχος ἔτυψέ με. μέρος τοῦ ἥπατος.

mvp-comment-72-1 λείπει τὸ ὡς.

mvp-comment-73-1 οὐ τὸ τυχόν, ἀλλὰ περισσῶς βαρύ. ἡμᾶς φη(σί) (φασι Weckl.).

mvp-comment-74-1 παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον τὸ πᾶν ἔχοντες.

mvp-comment-75-1 τὸν θρόνον, οὗ Ὀρέστης καθῆστο, πάρεστιν ὁρᾶν φονολιβῆ (-ειβῆ Μ) ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς ὅλον. τὸ δὲ „γᾶς ὀμφαλόν“ ἀντὶ τοῦ) τὸν (Kirchh. f. τὸ) ἐν Πυθοῖ. διὰ δὲ τούτων ἀποσκευάζειν δοκοῦσι τῆς ἐπικουρίας Ὀρέστου τὸν θεόν.

Wecklein’s commentary on Eumenides (1888; German; OCR draft) (Explanatory commentary, pp. 251–322; HW42J8 and HXJHA8 OCR collated, with missing comparison pages 294–295 explicitly marked. Unresolved OCR and provisional reference mappings are explicitly marked.) focus

mvp-comment-84-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 262

mvp-comment-84-2 Parodos (vgl. zu 1). Die Chorführerin erwacht und weckt die nächste Erinye, welche wieder eine andere anstöfst u. s. f. Dann stellen sie sich zu Halbchören zusammen.

mvp-comment-86-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-86-2 In den zwei ersten Strophenpaaren wechseln, wie sich aus dem Text ergiebt, die Halbchöre (A, B). Im dritten Strophenpaare treten sie zum Gesamtchore zusammen. - In der Aufregung unterbrechen sich im Anfang die Halbehöre: A. ἐπάθομεν, φίλαι, ἐπάθομεν πάθος . . θήρ. B. ἦ πολλὰ δὴ παθοῦσα καὶ μάτην ἐγώ, ὕπνῳ κρατηθεῖσ᾽ ἄγραν ὤλεσα u. s. w.

mvp-comment-87-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-87-2 δυσαχές (schwer zu beklagen) nur hier.

mvp-comment-88-1 1

mvp-comment-88-2 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-88-3 πέπτωκεν, er ist herausgeraten.

mvp-comment-89-1 2

mvp-comment-89-2 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-89-3 παῖ Διός: über die syllaba anceps am Ende des Dochmius bei einem Vokativ s. Seidler de vers. dochm. p. 85, Christ Metr. § 466. Vgl. Soph. Ai. 375

σκότος, ἐμὸν φάος, | ἔρεβος κτἑ.

mvp-comment-90-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-90-2 Apollon gehört dem jungen Göttergeschlechte des Zeus an, die Erinyen dem alten des Kronos. Prom. 156

νέοι γὰρ οἰακονόμοι κρατ τοῦσ᾽ Ὀλύμπου, νεοχμοῖς δὲ δὴ νόμοις Ζεὺς ἀθέτως κρατύνει· τὰ πρὶν δὲ πελώρια νῦν ἀιστοῦ. καθιππάσω
wie 734, 782. Schol. κατεπολέμησας, τα 734 κατατρέχεις. Es bedeutet,, mit Hohn und Übermut überrennen, niedertreten“, vgl. λà§ πατεῖν 110.

mvp-comment-91-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-91-2 τοκεύσιν allgemein (von der Mutter).

mvp-comment-92-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 263

mvp-comment-92-2 Cho. 337

τί τῶνδ᾽ εὖ, τί δ᾽ ἄτερ κακῶν
; Ag. 221
τί τῶνδ᾽ ἄνευ κακῶν
; Eur. Suppl. 527
τί τούτων οὐ καλῶς ἔχον
;

mvp-comment-93-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 264

mvp-comment-93-2 ὄνειδος - ὀνειράτων gesuch ter Gleichklang. ἐξ ὀνειράτων μου λόν, in Träumen mir zugerufen (von den Vorwürfen der Klytämestra). Vgl. Soph. Oed. T. 523 ἀλλ᾽ ἦλθε μὲν δὴ τοῦτο τοὔνειδος.

mvp-comment-94-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 264

mvp-comment-94-2 Der Vorwurf gab mir einen Stich ins Herz wie ihn der Wagenlenker mit dem Treibstachel versetzt, den er, um wuchtiger zu stofsen, in der Mitte fafst. Zu beachten sind die gleichartigen oder ähnlich lautenden Formen in Strophe und Antistrophe: μεσολαβεῖ φονολιβῆ, ὑπὸ φρένας ὑπὸ λοβόν περὶ πόδα περὶ κάρα, πάρεστι πάρεστι, βαρὺ τὸ περίβαρυ - βλα συρὸν ἀρόμενον, ἔχειν ἔχειν.

mvp-comment-94-3 3

mvp-comment-95-1 4

mvp-comment-95-2 Wecklein 1888, p. 264

mvp-comment-95-3 Zu Mute ist mir als durchschauerten mich entsetzlich, ja über die Mafsen entsetzlich die Hiebe des geifselnden Henkerknechts. Zu dem Anklang δαΐου δαμίου vgl. παρακοπὰ παραφορά 330. τὸ περίβαρυ wie häufig der Artikel bei δεινός das vorzugsweise Schreckliche, das Schrecklichste bezeichnet.

mvp-comment-96-1 5

mvp-comment-96-2 Wecklein 1888, p. 264

mvp-comment-96-3 Sie bemächtigen sich ganz und gar des Sitzes der Dike, welcher um Fufs, um Haupt von Blutklumpen trieft. Vgl. Soph. Oed. K. 1380

τοιγὰρ τὸ σὸν θάκημα καὶ τοὺς σους θρόνους κρατοῦσιν (Αραί
) und mit Δίκας θρόνον 542 βωμὸν αἴ δεσαι Δίκας, Ag. 395
μέγαν Δίκας βωμόν
, Soph. Ant. 854
ὑψηλὸν ἐς Δίκας βάθρον
, Solon frg. IV 14 σεμνὰ θέμεθλα Δίκης.

Commentary (Arthur Sidgwick, 1887) (OCR draft) (Arthur Sidgwick's commentary on the Eumenides, aligned to the canonical Greek text.) focus

mvp-sidgwick-82-1-1 This line is out of agreement; and generally the character of the first stanzas is that the lines are very disjointed: the true explanation being no doubt that the song is alternately taken up by one and another of the Furies, to give the dramatic effect of their excitement and anger. So the Schol. says κομματικῶς ἕκαστον κατ᾿ ἰδίαν προφερετέον· each bit must be delivered separately by a single voice. It is not worth while to attempt (as Herm. does) to distribute the parts exactly, as there is no evidence.

ὁ θήρ , our prey.

νέος γραίας , simply young and old. This complaint that Apollo as one of the younger race has overridden the Furies who are elder goddesses constantly recurs through the play, 163, 731, 778, 838, 845; see Introduction. καθιππάζομαι, a bold picturesque word for trample down, so 731, 779.

τοκεῦσιν , generalising plural, to his mother, as the sense requires.

τῶνδε , your acts, insulting the old goddesses, and protecting the impious suppliant.

μεσολαβεῖ , another tersely vivid word: the goad grasped by the middle to give the blow force.

mvp-sidgwick-88-1-1 'Tis come, I feel it, the sore, sore chill of the cruel scourger's blow. δάμιος μαστίκτωρ is the public scourger: a bold image for Klytaimnestra's taunts.

mvp-sidgwick-89-1-1 The MSS. read-

κρατοῦντες τὸ πᾶν δίκας πλέον·
φονολιβή θρόνον
περὶ πόδα, περὶ κάρα 1
πάρεστι γᾶς ὀμφαλόν κ.τ.λ.
This stopping must be wrong, as the construction is very clumsy with θρόνον in apposition to ὀμφαλόν, and the strophe which is very parallel in sound and structure makes it practically certain that the stop is at κάρα. We then have two alternatives : (1) Το keep θρόνον, changing stop from πλέον to κάρα :
Ruling utterly beyond the right
A throne dripping blood
From feet to head:
We may see the Earth's navel, etc.
[φονολιβή θρόνον is a regular dochmiac, and may rightly correspond to μεσολαβεῖ κέντρῳ, where the long κεν- is an irrational syllable. So for example O. Τ. 1315 δύσοῦρῖστὸν ōv corresponds to 1323 τυφλὸν κῆδεῦῶν.

mvp-sidgwick-89-2-1 Even if syllabic correspondence were required, we might easily correct to θρᾶνον Ahrens, θᾶκον Rauchenstein: but there is no need].

mvp-sidgwick-89-3-1 (2) To read with Herm. and others after Wakefield θρόμβον, and suppose the second and third lines interjectory, by another speaker: κρατοῦντες intransitive:

Ruling utterly beyond the right:-
A blood-dripping clot
Around his feet, about his head-
We may see, etc.
The two lines would then be a vivid and bold picture of angry horror at the foul stain on the god's shrine: such are the doings of the young gods as the ancient Furies dramatically exclaim. On the whole I prefer (1) which keeps the MS. reading, certainly also read (though misunderstood) by the Schol. who says, τὸν θρόνον οὗ Ορέστης καθῆτο πάρεστιν ὁρᾶν φονολειβῆ. It was not the seat of Orestes but the seat of Apollo.