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1384-1397
Third stasimon. Strophe, 1384—1390=antistr., 1391—1397. For metres see Metrical Analysis.
This short ode fills the interval of suspense. The Chorus imagine the avengers, who have just passed within, as guided by divine powers to their goal.
ἴδεθ’
, like
Tr. 821
ἴδ’ οἷον, ὦ παῖδες κ.τ.λ.
It seems necessary to alter
ὅπου
, the reading of L (cr. n.).
προνέμεται
expresses a gradual and regular advance.
προνέμεσθαι
is lit. ‘to go forward in grazing.’ The midd. occurs only here; nor is the act. found in a strictly parallel sense; in
Aesch.
Eum. 313
καθαρὰς χεῖρας προνέμοντ’
=‘putting forward.’ But we have the analogy of
ἐπινέμειν
, as meaning to encroach on a neighbour's pastures;
Arist.
Pol. 5. 5. 9
τῶν εὐπόρων τὰ κτήνη ἀποσφάξας, λαβὼν
(
sc.
τοὺς εὐπόρους
)
παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπινέμοντας
. In
Aesch.
Ag. 485
πιθανὸς ἄγαν ὁ θῆλυς ὅρος ἐπινέμεται
|
ταχύπορος
, some make
ἐπινέμεται
pass., ‘is encroached upon’; but
ταχύπορος
is in favour of its being midd., like
προνέμεται
here: ‘the limit of a woman's belief (too lightly won) quickly oversteps the border’ (between fact and fiction).Campbell suggests that the image in
προνέμεται
is from
fire ‘eating its way’ forward, and compares
Her. 5. 101
ἀπ’ οἰκίης ἐς οἰκίην ἰὸν τὸ πῦρ ἐπενέμετο τὸ ἄστυ
. This hardly agrees so well with the idea of a stealthy advance.
τὸ δυσέριστον αἷμα
, bloodshed, deadly vengeance, against which the guilty will strive in vain.
δυσέριστον
=
δύσμαχον
:
cp. 220
οὐκ ἐριστά
. Not, as the schol. took it, ‘bloodshed caused by unholy strife’ (between mother and children).
φυσῶν
: cp.
I. A. 125
οὐ μέγα φυσῶν θυμὸν ἐπαρεῖ
|
σοὶ
..
; I. T. 288 (the Erinys)
πῦρ πνέουσα καὶ φόνον
.
δωμάτων ὑπόστεγοι
: cp.
Ai. 796
σκηνῆς ὕπαυλον
:
Aesch.
Eum. 669
σῶν δόμων ἐφέστιον
:
I. T. 80
<*>ξεδροι χθονός
.
μετάδρομοι … κύνες
, the Erinyes. Cp.
Aesch.
Ch. 1054
σαφῶς γὰρ αἵδε μητρὸς ἔγκοτοι κύνες
.
Aesch.
Eum. 246
ὡς κύων νεβρὸν
|
πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σταλαγμὸν ἐκμαστεύομεν
.
Ar.
Ran. 472
Κωκυτοῦ τε περίδρομοι κύνες
.
ἀμμενεῖ
was in the schol.'s text (see cr. n.), and is clearly better than
ἀμμένει
. For the apocopè of
ἀνά
in comp., cp.
Ant. 1275.
τοὐμὸν φρενῶν ὄνειρον
:
cp. 492
n.
αἰωρούμενον
. Cp.
Her. 8. 100
(of Mardonius)
ὑπὲρ μεγάλων αἰωρηθέντα
, ‘in suspense concerning great issues’ (victory or death).
Thuc. 7. 77
(Nicias)
ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ κινδύνῳ τοῖς φαυλοτάτοις αἰωροῦμαι
.
ἐνέρων … ἀρωγός
. Orestes is the champion, not only of his father's spirit, but also of Hades, who is ‘not regardless’ (184), and of the other powers invoked by Electra from the nether world (110 ff.). Cp.
O. T. 126
Λαΐου δ’ ὀλωλότος
|
οὐδεὶς ἀρωγὸς ἐν κακοῖς ἐγίγνετο
.
ἀρχαιόπλουτα
. He is to eject the usurper, and to recover his inheritance (
cp. 72
: 162: 1290).
νεακόνητον αἷμα χειροῖν ἔχων
. The words, if sound, mean, ‘bearing keen-edged death in his hands.’
αἷμα
is the deed of blood by which vengeance is to be taken.
νεακόνητον
refers primarily to the keen edge of the weapon (sword or dagger) with which the blow is to be dealt; but may suggest also the keen edge of the avengers' resolve (
Aesch.
Th. 715
τεθηγμένον τοί μ’ οὐκ <*>παμβλυνεῖς λόγῳ
).The bold use of
αἷμα
may be illustrated by
Aesch.
Ch. 932
πολλῶν αἱμάτων
, ‘many deeds of blood’;
Eur.
Or. 284
εἴργασται δ’ ἐμοὶ
|
μητρῷον αἷμα
, ‘the murder of a mother.’ Eur. Itshould be remembered that Orestes does
not enter the house
with a weapon displayed in his hands. The sword or dagger is concealed. We may be sure, then, that, whether
αἷμα
is genuine or not, at least Sophocles did not use any word (such as
μάχαιραν
) denoting a
weapon; since then the words
χειροῖν ἔχων
would necessarily have had their literal sense, ‘holding in the hands’; they could no longer have meant, as the context requires them to mean, simply, ‘charged with,’ ‘bearing with him.’ This fact—that some
abstract word is required—is, to my mind, the strongest argument in favour of
αἷμα
.If
νεάκονητον
is right, the
α
must be short. The verse corresponds with 1387
με^τ <01> α^δρο^μο—ι— κα^κ
|
ω—ν πα^ν
|
ου—ργη—μα^τ
|
ω—ν Λ
||, a dochmiac dimeter. Now, analogy would suggest that
νεακόνητον
is Doric for
νεηκόνητον
. Cp.
νεηκονής
(
Ai. 820
):
νεηκής
(Hom. ):
νεηλιφής
(
νέος, ἀλείφω
, Arist. ). Even when the second part of the compound begins with a consonant, we find such forms as
νεα—γενής
([Eur. ]
I. A. 1623),
νεηθαλής, νεήτομος, νεήφατος
. Yet at least two exceptions occur. (1)
νεα^λής
in Nicander
Alexiph. 358 and 364; although the
α
is normally long. (2)
Anthol. Pal. 7. 13
παρθενικὴν νεάοιδον
: in an epigram ascribed to Leonidas of Tarentum,
c. 280 B.C. It seems possible, then, that Sophocles should have written
νεα^κόνητον
.
ὁ Μαίας δὲ παῖς
. Hermes
χθόνιος
, whom Electra had already invoked (111), acts here in his twofold quality as
πομπαῖος
and
δόλιος
. Cp.
Ph. 133
Ἑρμῆς δ’ ὁ πέμπων δόλιος ἡγήσαιτο νῷν
. A like part is assigned to him in the
Choephori, 727
χθόνιον δ’ Ἑρμῆν
| ..
τοῖσδ’ ἐφοδεῦσαι
|
ξιφοδηλήτοισιν ἀγῶσιν
:
ib. 812
ξυλλάβοι δ’ ἐνδίκως
|
παῖς ὁ Μαίας ἐπιφορώτατος
(like a favouring wind) |
πρᾶξιν οὐρίαν θέλων
.
Ἑρμῆς σφ’ ἄγει
is the most probable reading. The erasure in L, and the variants in later MSS., have prompted conjectures. Thus Neue, whom Nauck and Wecklein follow, writes
ἐπί σφ’ ἄγει
: G. Wolff suggests
ἑξῆς σφ’ ἄγει
: Kvíčala,
σφ’ ἐπεξάγει
. But it is rash to assume that
Ἑρμῆς
is a gloss: cp. [Eur. ]
Rhes. 216
ἀλλ’ εὖ σ’ ὁ Μαίας παῖς ἐκεῖσε καὶ πάλιν
|
πέμψειεν Ἑρμῆς, ὅς γε φηλητῶν ἄναξ
. If the
ς
of
σφ’
had been lost after
Ἑρμῆς, φ)ἄγει
might have led to
ἐπάγει
, and this to mistaken remedies, such as
ἐπεισάγει
(cr. n.). Commentary on Sophocles: Electra. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. 1907.
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