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472-515

First

στάσιμον

. Strophe, 472—487=antistrophe, 488—503: epode, 504—515. For the metres see Metrical Analysis.

Encouraged by the tidings of Clytaemnestra's dream, the Chorus predict an early retribution on the murderers.

εἰ μὴ )γὼ

κ.τ.λ.

The sanguine prediction of the Chorus in O. T. 1086 ff. has a similar preface,—

εἴπερ ἐγὼ μάντις εἰμὶ καὶ κατὰ γνώμαν ἴδρις.

γνώμας λειπομένα , failing in it: cp. Tr. 936

οὔτ’ ὀδυρμάτων

ἐλείπετ’ οὐδέν

ἁ πρόμαντις Δίκα , because she has sent the dream, a presage of her own advent. In Aesch. Cho. 33 Clytaemnestra's vision is itself called

δόμων ὀνειρόμαντις

. The fact that

μάντις

has just preceded gives no ground for suspecting

πρόμαντις

: cp. 163 (

γᾶν

after

γᾶ

) n. For

Δίκη

as an avenging power, cp. 528 : Ai. 1390

μνήμων τ’ Ἐρινὺς καὶ τελεσφόρος Δίκη

δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη . The goddess Justice is here conceived as being in her person the victorious avenger. The words mean literally, ‘bearing away just triumphs of prowess.’ Cp. Il. 13. 486

αἶψά κεν ἠὲ φέροιτο μέγα κράτος ἠὲ φεροίμην

: for the plur.

κράτη

, Suppl. 951

εἴη δὲ νίκη καὶ κράτη τοῖς ἄρσεσι

: and for

χεροῖν κράτη

, above, V. 37

χειρὸς ἐνδίκους σφαγάς

, 206

θανάτους αἰκεῖς διδύμαιν χειροῖν

.—Others render: ‘carrying just victory in her hands,’ like Eris in Il. 11. 4

πολέμοιο τέρας μετὰ χερσὶν ἔχουσαν

. The use of

φέρεσθαι

as=

φέρειν

is rare, but not unexampled: Campbell quotes Her. 7. 50

πολλὴν φορβὴν φερόμενοι πορευόμεθα

: and we might add Il. 6. 177. But the picture thus given seems less clear and strong.

μέτεισιν , will come in pursuit (of the guilty): Aesch. Cho. 273

εἰ μὴ μέτειμι τοῦ πατρὸς τοὺς αἰτίους.

οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου : cp. O. C. 397

ἥξοντα βαιοῦ κοὐχὶ μυρίου χρόνου

(n.).

ὕπεστί μοι θράσος is followed by κλύουσαν as if

ὑφέρπει

ὑπῆλθέ με

had preceded. Cp. Aesch. Pers. 913

λέλυται γὰρ ἐμοὶ γυίων ῥώμη

τήνδ’ ἡλικίαν ἐσιδόντ’ ἀστῶν

: Aesch. Cho. 410

πέπαλται δ’ αῦτέ μοι φίλον κέαρ

τόνδε κλύουσαν ο<*>κτον

. In other examples the presence of an infin. modifies the boldness: Soph. Ai. 1006 f.

ποῖ γὰρ μολεῖν μοι δυνατόν, εἰς ποίους βροτούς

, |

τοῖς σοῖς ἀρήξαντ’ ἐν πόνοισι μηδαμοῦ

; Eur. Med. 814

σοὶ δὲ συγγνώμη λέγειν

τάδ’ ἐστί, μὴ πάσχουσαν, ὡς ἐγώ, κακῶς

. (Cp. Soph. Ant. 838 n.)

ἁδυπνόων … ὀνειράτων : cp. the invocation of Sleep, Ph. 828 ,

εὐαὲς ἡμῖν ἔλθοις

. In Aesch. Cho. 32 ff. the dream is described as ‘breathing resentment’ against the murderers:

τορὸς γὰρ ὀρθόθριξ φόβος

, |

δόμων ὀνειρόμαντις, ἐξ ὕπνου κότον

πνέων

ἀμναστεῖ γ’ ὁ φύσας ς’ . The pronoun

σε

is indispensable here, and could have easily fallen out after

φύσας

. To add it there is better than to read

ἀμναστεῖ σ’ ὁ φύσας

: for the

γε

after the verb, marking assurance, is expressive.

χαλκόπλακτος , act., ‘striking with bronze’; cp. Ph. 688

ἀμφιπλάκτων ῥοθίων

, ‘billows that beat around him’ (n.).

γένυς : cp. 159

γενύων

(n.).

The very axe (

φόνιος πέλεκυς

, 99) with which the blow was dealt is imagined as nourishing a grudge against the murderers who had set it such a task. Such a personification recalls that practice of Athenian law by which inanimate objects which had caused death were brought to a formal trial in the court called

τὸ ἐπὶ Πρυτανείῳ

, and, after sentence, cast beyond the boundaries, in the presence of the Archon Basileus and the sacrificial officers of the tribes (

φυλο‐

βασιλεῖς

). Aeschin. or. 3 § 244

τὰ μὲν ξύλα καὶ τοὺς λίθους καὶ τὸν σίδηρον, τὰ ἄφωνα καὶ ἀγνώμονα, ἐάν τῳ ἐμπεσόντα ἀποκτείνῃ, ὑπερορίζομεν

. (Cp. Dem. or. 23 § 76 .) A like conception was implied in the English law (repealed in 1846) of ‘deodands’ (Deo danda), i.e., personal chattels (whether animals or things) which, having caused the death of a human being, were forfeited to the Crown for pious uses.

ἐν αἰκίαις :

ἐν

denotes the manner; cp. O. C. 1682

ἐν ἀφανεῖ τινι μόρῳ φερόμενον

. The penultimate of

αἰκία

is always long (511, O. C. 515 : P.V. 93, 178, 600: Eur. Bacch. 1374 ).

καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ : as with the might of a resistless host. Cp. 36 .

λόχοις : cp. Ant. 1074

τούτων σε λωβητῆρες ὑστεροφθόροι

λοχῶσιν Ἅιδου καὶ θεῶν Ἐρινύες.

χαλκόπους : so O.T. 418

δεινόπους ἀρά

(n.).

ἄλεκτρ’ ἄνυμφα : cp. 1154

ἀμήτωρ

: O.T. 1214

ἄγαμον γάμον

. The epithets, which properly describe the

γάμοι

, are given to the whole phrase: cp. 1290 : 1390: Ant. 794

νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον

(n.).

γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθ’ , eager haste for marriage; the plur. is fitting, since both the partners in guilt were striving for that goal. (In Eur. Hipp. 1140 f.

νυμφιδίων δ’ ἀπόλωλε φυγᾷ σᾷ

λέκτρων ἅμιλλα κούραις

, the sense is, ‘competition’ for marriage.)

ἐπέβα , like

ἐπέπεσε

, suggesting the violence of the passion which seized them: so Ph. 194

ἐπέβη

is said of the sufferings sent upon the hero by Chrysè.

495-498

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι … συνδρῶσιν : ‘therefore I am confident that we shall never see (

ἡμῖν

, ethic dat.) the portent draw near to the murderess and her accomplice without giving them cause to complain of it’;— i.e., ‘we shall assuredly find that the dream has been an omen of their ruin.’

Verses 495—497 (

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι...τέρας

) answer metrically to vv. 479—481

ὕπεστί μοι...ὀνειράτων

, where the text is certain, save for the doubt whether

θράσος

θάρσος

should stand in 479. Here we must first decide two points.

(1) Are the words πρὸ τῶνδε sound? I think so. The sense is, ‘ for (=on account of) these things,’

πρό

being used as

ὑπέρ

is in O. T. 165

ἄτας ὕπερ

, Ant. 932

βραδυτῆτος ὕπερ

. This is a rare, but not unexampled, sense of

πρό

, in which the notions ‘before’ and ‘by reason of it’ were associated, just as in Lat. prae and our own ‘for.’ See Il. 17. 666

μή μιν Ἀχαιοὶ

ἀργαλέου πρὸ φόβοιο ἕλωρ δηίοισι λίποιεν

,= prae timore, ‘ for fear’ (not, as Düntzer explains, ‘forward on the path of flight’: cp. Leaf ad loc.). Tr. 505

κατέβαν πρὸ γάμων

, ‘entered the contest for the marriage’ (not ‘before’ it, which would there be pointless).

(2) Could

ἔχει με, μήποτε τέρας πελᾶν

(etc.) mean, ‘ the belief possesses me, that’ etc.? Surely not. No real parallel for so strange a phrase has been produced. It is irrelevant to quote those impersonal verbs which directly express the occurrence of a thought to the mind; as Xen. An. 6. 1. 17

εἰσῄει αὐτοὺς ὅπως ἂν καὶ ἔχοντές τι οἴκαδε ἀφίκοιντο

(‘the thought came to them, how they might,’ etc.): Thuc. 6. 78. § 1

εἰ δέ τῳ ἄρα παρέστηκε, τὸν μὲν Συρακόσιον...πολέμιον εἶναι κ.τ.λ.

Either, then, the subject to

ἔχει

has dropped out, or the words

μ’ ἔχει

conceal a corruption.

The following remedies are possible: I incline to the first, as involving least change. (1) Reading in 479

ὕπεστί μοι θράσος

, we may read here

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μ’ ἔχει

<θάρσος τι>, μήποθ’ ἡμῖν

etc. (It may be remarked that

τι

is in harmony with the tone of

ὕπεστί μοι

in 479.) Another available word is

ξύννοια

(cp. Ant. 279 ). (2) Or, reading in 479

ὕπεστί μοι θάρσος

, we could read here

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοι θάρσος ἴσχει με

. On either view, the

ἁδυπνόων

in 480 is long (as several critics have assumed). It should be noted that (1) involves a different constitution of the verses: see p. lxxxii.

In those MSS. which have μή ποτε μή ποθ’ ἡμῖν , the first

μήποτε

(absent from L) was probably an attempt to fill the gap: unless, indeed,

μ’ ἔχει

should be

θράσος

(as Wunder thought).—For other conjectures, see Appendix.

ἀψεγές : schol.

θαρρῶ ὅτι τοῖς δρῶσι ταῦτα τὰ ἄδικα καὶ συνδρῶσιν αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἔσται ἄψεκτος ὁ ὄνειρος· παθόντες γὰρ ψέξουσι τὸ ὀφθέν

.—Bergk, whom Hartung follows, reads ἀψεφές , ‘unheeded,’ a word known only from Hesychius:

ἀψεφές, ἀφρόντιστον· Σοφοκλῆς Φαίδρᾳ

. (Hesych. has also

ψέφει· δέδοικεν...φροντίζει

πελᾶν , ‘Attic’ fut. inf. of

πελάζω

: cp. O. C. 1060

πελῶσ’

: Aesch. P. V. 282

πελῶ

. (In Soph. Ph. 1150

πελᾶτ’

should be

πηδᾶτ’

.)—Others take

πελᾶν

as pres. inf. of

πελάω

(as in Hom. hymn. 7. 44

πελάαν

: cp. n. on O.C., l.c.).

τοῖς δρῶσι , Clytaemnestra, to whom the dream came: τοῖς συνδρῶσιν , Aegisthus ( cp. 97 ff.): for the plur. cp. 146 (

γονέων

), n.

μαντεῖαι βροτῶν , means of divination for men.

εὖ κατασχήσει , come safely into harbour,—as a seafarer was said

κατέχειν εἰς γῆν

( Ph. 221 n.). Cp. Tr. 826 (of oracles)

καὶ τάδ’ ὀρθῶς

ἔμπεδα κατουρίζει

ἱππεία here=driving of horses, like

ἱπποσύνη

( Il. 4. 303 etc.); a word used by Eur. H. F. 374 with ref. to the raids of Centaurs (

χθόνα Θεσσαλῶν ἱππείαις ἐδάμαζον

Oenomaüs, king of Pisa in Elis, had promised the hand of his daughter Hippodameia to the suitor who should defeat him in a chariot-race; the penalty of failure being death. The young Pelops, son of Tantalus, offered himself as a competitor. Myrtilus, the charioteer of Oenomaüs, was persuaded (either by Hippodameia or by Pelops) to betray his master. He did so by leaving out one or both of the linch-pins by which the naves of the chariot-wheels were secured to the axles. Tzetzes on Lycophron 156

ταῖς χοινίκισι

πλήμναις

, the naves)

τῶν τροχῶν οὐκ ἐμβαλὼν τοὺς ἥλους

. According to another story, he substituted a linch-pin of wax for a real one ( schol. Apoll. Rh. 752

ἐμβαλόντα κήρινον ἔμβολον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀκραξονίου

). So Pelops won the race, and the bride. But Oenomaüs was soon avenged on the traitor; for Myrtilus insulted Hippodameia, and was thrown into the sea by Pelops; upon whose house he invoked a curse, as he sank.

Euripides, too, ( Or. 990 ff., Helen. 386 f.) refers to this chariot-race as the event with which the troubles of the Pelopidae began. Apollonius Rhodius briefly describes the critical moment of the race as one of the subjects embroidered on the cloak of Jason (1. 752 ff.); there Oenomaüs was seen, ‘falling sideways, as the axle broke at the naves of the wheels,’—

ἄξονος ἐν πλήμνῃσι παρακλιδὸν ἀγνυμένοιο

πίπτεν

The eastern pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia ( circ. 450 B.C.) was adorned with sculptures by Paeonius, representing the preparation for this contest ( Paus. 5. 10. 6 ). The fragments found on the site have sufficed for a reconstruction of the group. Zeus occupied the centre; to the right of him were Pelops and Hippodameia; to the left, Oenomaüs and his wife Steropè. On each side was a chariot drawn by four horses. Myrtilus was sitting in front of his team, with his face turned away from his master.

In the older and nobler form of the myth, Pelops won, not by a fraud, but by the grace of Poseidon, who gave him winged horses (Pindar O. 1. 87

ἔδωκεν δίφρον τε χούσεον πτεροῖσίν τ’ ἀκάμαντας ἵππους

). On the chest (

λάρναξ

) of Cypselus, seen by Pausanias in the Heraeum at Olympia ( Paus. 5. 17. 5 ), Pelops was driving two winged horses.

αἰανὴς suits the idea of persistent calamity. Whatever its real etymology, it was associated with

ἀεί

( Aesch. Eum. 572

ἐς τὸν αἰανῆ χρόνον

, ib. 672

αἰανῶς μένοι

), and was used to denote that which pains by wearying, or wearing (as Pind. P. 1. 82

κόρος...αἰανής

: Pind. I. 1. 49

λιμὸν αἰανῆ

The form

αἰανὴς

has the best authority, and some critics hold that

αἰανὸς

(Hesych.) was a Byzantine invention. But in Aesch. Eum. 416 ,

ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν νυκτὸς αἰανῆς τέκνα

(so L, schol., and Tzetzes on Lycophron 406),

αἰανῆ

is far less suitable.

εὖτε , ‘since,’=

ἐξ οὖ

, like

ὅτε

( Thuc. 1. 13

ἔτη δ’ ἐστὶ μάλιστα τριακόσια...ὅτε Ἀμεινοκλῆς Σαμίοις ἦλθε

ὁ ποντισθεὶς Μυρτίλος . The legendary scene was at Geraestus (now Cape Mandelo), the s. promontory of Euboea: Eur. Or. 990

Πέλοψ ὁπότε πελάγεσι διεδίφρευδε, Μυρτίλου φόνον

δικὼν ἐς οἶδμα πόντου

, |

λευκοκύμοσιν

πρὸς Γεραιστίαις

ποντίων σάλων

ᾐόσιν ἁρματεύσας

. Tzetzes on Lycophron 156

ῥίπτεται παρὰ Πέλοπος περὶ Γεραιστὸν ἀκρωτήριον. ὁ δὲ τελευτῶν ἀρὰς ἀρᾶται τοῖς Πελοπίδαις δεινάς κ.τ.λ.

To Myrtilus was sometimes traced the name of the

Μυρτῷον πέλαγος

which lay S. of Euboea, E. of the Peoponnesus, and W. of the Cyclades. Pausanias (8. 14. 12) rejects this etymology, supposing Myrtilus to have perished on the coast of Elis. The Myrtoan sea was probably so called from the islet Myrto near Geraestus.

A vase found at Capua shows Pelops and Hippodameia in a ship, from which Myrtilus is falling backwards into the water. A winged Erinys hovers in the air above, brandishing a sword over the head of Pelops (Baumeister, Denkmäler p. 1204, referring to Mon. Inst. x. 25).

ἐκοιμάθη : cp. Ai. 831

καλῶ θ’ ἅμα

πομπαῖον Ἑρμῆν χθόνιον εὖ με κοιμίσαι

παγχρυσέων δίφρων , the golden chariot given to Pelops by Poseidon: see Pind. O. 1. 87 , in n. on 505. This plur. (750), as denoting one chariot (like

ὄχεα, ἅρματα

), is not Homeric.

παγχρυσέων

(

¯¯˘¯

), the epic form, suits the metre here. Cp. Soph. Tr. 1099

χρυσέων

(

¯˘¯

). Dindorf, keeping the MS.

παγχρύσων

, inserts

ἐκ

after it. The strophic test is absent in an epode.

πρόρριζος here=

πανώλεθρος

, as in Ar. Ran. 587

πρόρριζος αὐτός, ἡ γυνή, τὰ παιδία

, |

κάκιστ’ ἀπολοίμην

. It would strain the word to understand, ‘torn from his place’ in the chariot.

ἐκριφθείς . In Her. 6. 86

ἐκτέτριπται...πρόρριζος

is said of a man whose family is exterminated (cp. Eur. Hipp. 684 ); but

ἐκτριφθείς

is manifestly unsuitable here.

ἔλειπεν (cr. n.) is confirmed by metre, since every other v. of this epode has anacrusis, which ἔλιπεν would exclude. For the intrans.

λείπω

, cp. Eur. H. F. 133

τὸ δὲ κακοτυχὲς οὐ λέλοιπεν ἐκ τέκνων

: Helen. 1156

οὔποτ’ ἔρις

λείψει κατ’ ἀνθρώπων πόλεις

. And

ἕλειπεν

in turn confirms οἴκου as against οἴκους . For πω suits the imperf. in this sense (‘was never yet absent from the house’), but would require the aor. if the sense were, ‘has never yet left the house.’ For the sing.

οἴκου

(=family), cp. 978 .

πολύπονος .

πολυπάμονας

is very possibly the word which was read by the schol. on 508 (see cr. n.). But

πολύπονος

, the reading of our MSS., suits the context far better. Even if the v. l.

οἴκους

were right, such an epithet as ‘wealthy’ is jarring here. In an epode, conjecture had freer scope than in a strophe; and

πολυπάμονας

may have been prompted by the desire to define

οἴκους

.— Remark αἰκία so soon after

αἰκίαις

(511): cp. 163 (

γᾶν

), n.

Commentary on Sophocles: Electra. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Experimental

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

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 472 focus

εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ ἐγὼ MSS. Dind. corr. παράφρων

μάντις ἔφυν καὶ γνώμας

λειπομένα σοφᾶς,

εἶσιν ὁ πρόμαντις
475

Δίκα, δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη·

μέτεισιν, ὦ τέκνον, οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου.

ὕπεστί μοι θράσος θάρσος C΄ΑΓ Pal. θράσος L2.,

ἁδυπνόων κλύουσαν
480

ἀρτίως ὀνειράτων.

οὐ γάρ ποτ' ἀμναστεῖ ἀμνηστεῖ LF. ἀμναστεῖ AL. γ᾽ ὁ φύσας ῾Ελλάνων ἄναξ,

οὐδ᾽ ὁ παλαιὰ first a by C²? χαλκόπλακτος χαλκόπληκτος LAFL3. χαλκόπλητος Pal. ἀμφάκης ἀμφήκης LF Pal. (c. gl. or γένυς στομά πελέκεως) corr. ex Hesych. γένυς,

ἅ νιν κατέπεφνεν αἰσχίσταις ἐν αἰκίαις.
485

ἀντ.

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους

καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἄλεκτρ᾽ ἄνυμφα γὰρ ἐπέβα μιαιφόνων

γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθ᾽ οἶσιν οὐ θέμις.

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μ' ἔχει

μήποτε add A, om. LILª Pal. μήποθ᾽ ἡμῖν ἡμιν L. ἡμῖν CA. ἡμῖν Pal.
495

ἀψεγὲς πελᾶν τέρας

τοῖς δρῶσι καὶ συνδρῶσιν. ἤ ή LL². ή A. τοι μαντεῖαι βροτῶν

οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν δεινοῖς ὀνείροις οὐδ᾽ ἐν θεσφάτοις,

εἰ μὴ τόδε φάσμα νυκτὸς εὐ κατασχήσει.
500

ἐπ.

ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πολύπονος ἱππεία,

ὡς ἔμολες αἰανὴς αἰανὴσ L, accent by Co. αἰανὴ ΑΓL² Vat. ac VV3 MM². αἰανῆ Pal.

τᾷδε γᾷ.
505

εὔτε γὰρ ὁ ποντισθεὶς

Μυρτίλος μυρτίλοσ L. ἐκοιμάθη,

*παγχρυσέων παγχρύσων L and most MSS. πολυχρύσων M. δίφρων

δυστάνοις δυστάνοις L. αἰκίαις
510

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr.

ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett.

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΝΗΣΤΡΑ.

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 472-515 focus

Χορός

εἰ μὴ ʼγὼ παράφρων μάντις ἔφυν καὶ γνώμας

λειπομένα σοφᾶς,

εἶσιν ἁ πρόμαντις

Δίκα δίκαια φερομένα χεροῖν κράτη·
475

μέτεισιν, ὦ τέκνον, οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου.

ὕπεστί μοι θάρσος,

ἁδυπνόων κλύουσαν
480

ἀρτίως ὀνειράτων.

οὐ γάρ ποτʼ ἀμναστεῖ γʼ ὁ φύσας σʼ Ἑλλάνων ἄναξ,

οὐδʼ ἁ παλαιὰ χαλκόπλακτος ἀμφάκης γένυς,
485

ἅ νιν κατέπεφνεν αἰσχίσταις ἐν αἰκίαις.

488

Χορός

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους Ἐρινύς.

ἄλεκτρʼ ἄνυμφα γὰρ ἐπέβα μιαιφόνων

γάμων ἁμιλλήμαθʼ οἷσιν οὐ θέμις.

πρὸ τῶνδέ τοί μʼ ἔχει
495

μή ποτε μή ποθʼ ἡμῖν

ἀψεγὲς πελᾶν τέρας

τοῖς δρῶσι καὶ συνδρῶσιν. ἤ τοι μαντεῖαι βροτῶν
500

οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν δεινοῖς ὀνείροις οὐδʼ ἐν θεσφάτοις,

εἰ μὴ τόδε φάσμα νυκτὸς εὖ κατασχήσει.

504

Χορός

ὦ Πέλοπος ἁ πρόσθεν

πολύπονος ἱππεία,
505

ὡς ἔμολες αἰανὴς

τᾷδε γᾷ.

εὖτε γὰρ ὁ ποντισθεὶς

Μυρτίλος ἐκοιμάθη,

παγχρύσων δίφρων
510

δυστάνοις αἰκίαις

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ τί πω

ἔλειπεν ἐκ τοῦδʼ οἴκου

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

Translations (5)

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 472 focus

An erring seer am I,

Of sense and wisdom lorn,

If this prophetic Power of right,

O’ertaking the offender, come not nigh

Ere many an hour be born.

Yon vision of the night,

That lately breathed into my listening ear,

Hath freed me, O my daughter, from all fear.

Sweet was that bodement. He doth not forget,

The Achaean lord that gave thee being, nor yet

The bronzen-griding axe, edged like a spear,

Hungry and keen, though dark with stains of time,

That in the hour of hideous crime

Quelled him with cruel butchery:

That, too, remembers, and shall testify.

From ambush deep and dread

With power of many a hand

And many hastening feet shall spring

The Fury of the adamantine tread,

Visiting Argive land

Swift recompense to bring

For eager dalliance of a blood-stained pair

Unhallowed, foul, forbidden. No omen fair,—

Their impious course hath fixed this in my soul,—

Nought but black portents full of blame shall roll

Before their eyes that wrought or aided there.

Small force of divination would there seem

In prophecy or solemn dream,

Should not this vision of the night

Reach harbour in reality aright.

O chariot-course of Pelops, full of toil!

How wearisome and sore

Hath been thine issue to our native soil!—

Since, from the golden oar

Hurled to the deep afar,

Myrtilus sank and slept,

Cruelly plucked from that fell chariot-floor,

This house unceasingly hath kept

Crime and misfortune mounting evermore.

CLYTEMNESTRA
Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 472 focus

Wenn weissagender Geist Kunde mir gab,

Wahrhaft, voll weiser Besonnenheit:
465

Naht voraus verkündend

Das Recht, gerechte Strafgewalt in starker Hand;

Es naht heran, Tochter, nicht in ferner Zeit.

Muth hebt den Busen mir,

Weil ich von Träumen eben hörte, die mich hold umweh'n.
470

Der Schmach vergißt dein Vater niemals,

Er, einst Hellas' Fürst,

Und nie das alte Beil von Erze,

Das zweischneidige,

Das frevelnd in arger Wahnsinnsthat den Tod ihm gab.
475
Gegenstrophe.

Mit viel Füßen, mit viel Händen erscheint,¹

Chernen Fußtrittes, Erinnys, in

Grauser Höhle lauernd.

Denn mordbefleckten Ehebunds unkeusche Lust

Umstrickte sie, sonder Zucht und sonder Scham.
480

Drum hebt Vertrau'n mein Herz,

Nimmer erschein', erschein' uns dieses Zeichen, ohne Fluch

Zu künden Thätern und Genossen.

Die Graunbilder des Traums

Und alle Wort' aus Göttermunde
485

Sind Trug, eitles Nichts,

Wenn dieses Gesicht der Nächte nicht das Heil uns bringt.

Schlußgesang.

Pelops', des Urvaters,²

Fluchvoller Roßwettlauf!

Wie reich an Leid kamst du
490

Diesem Land!

Denn seid im Meergrunde

Myrtilos den Tod schmeckte,

Der aus dem Goldsize

Durch schnöden Trugs Unthat
495

Entſeelt hinabstürzte,

Ruhte nie

Der Frevel, der fluchvoll

Auf diesem Haus lastet.

Die Vorigen.

Klytämnestra.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 472 focus

Must yield to her requests.

Chrysothemis

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 472 focus

amidst you well the secret guard;

For should my mother know it, much I fear

I should have cause the daring deed to mourn.

If wisdom with one prescient ray

Illumes the darkness of my soul,

The vengeful Fury speeds her way;

Before her, baleful omens scowl;

I hear the flaping of their wings;

The force of justice in her hands she brings.

The dreadful visions of the night I hear:

They breathe sweet music to my ear;

My courage kindles at thinspiring sound.

Thy father rouses in the realms below;"

Ne'er will the king of Greece forget his wound,

Ne'er the old Axe of brass, that struck th' insidious blow..

She comes, with all her hundred hands,

Her hundred feet, the furious pow'r,

No more in dreadful ambush stands;

She comes, she knows her torturing hour;

With feet of brass I hear her tread;

She marks th' unholy, blood-polluted bed:

Vengeful 'gainst those th' accursed attempt who dared,

And those the horrid deed who shared,

She sends these boding signs, nor sends in vain.

If aught of truth terrific dreams disclose,

If aught the oracle's prophetic strain,

This vision of the night our happier state foreshows.

How black with miseries to this land,

O Pelops, was thy fatal course,

When jealous Pisa's dangerous strand...

Saw thy swift car's victorious force!

For since by rage, untaught to spare,

The hapless Myrtilus was slain,

Hurl'd headlong from the golden car,

And plunged into the roaring main,

Strife in this house delights to dwell,

And Murder shrieks with hideous yell.

Clytemnestra
ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 472-515 focus

Chorus

If I am not a deranged prophet and one who lacks wise judgments,

Justice, the sender of the omen, will come, winning the just victory of her hands’ might. She will come in pursuit before long, my child. Courage is mine,
475

since I heard just now of this sweet-blowing dream. Never does the lord of the Hellenes, your producer forget,
480

nor does the axe of long ago forget, striking with bronze on its jaws, which in most shameless disgrace annihilated him.
485

488

Chorus

She, too, will come, she of many hands and many feet who lurks in her terrible ambush,

the bronze-shod Erinys. For an unwed, unbetrothed passion for a marriage polluted by murder seized the pair, though divine law forbade it to them.
490

Therefore I am confident that the portent—a wonder which I will never blame—will draw near to the criminals and conspirators. To be sure, mortal prophecy
495

from fearful dreams or divine signs exists no more, if this vision of the night does not find due fulfillment.
500

504

Chorus

O chariot-race of Pelops long ago, source of many a sorrow,

what disaster you have brought upon this land! For ever since Myrtilus sank to rest beneath the waves,
505

hurled to utter destruction from his golden chariot in disgraceful outrage, from that time to this, outrage and its many sorrows
510

were never yet gone from this house.
515

Sir Richard C. Jebb Commentary on Sophocles: Electra 472

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

472-515

495-498

Current edition Experimental

εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ ἐγὼ MSS. Dind. corr. παράφρων

ἀντ.

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους

καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἐπ.

ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr.

ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett.

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΝΗΣΤΡΑ.

CLYTEMNESTRA
Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

Klytämnestra.

Must yield to her requests.

Chrysothemis

Clytemnestra
ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

472-515

495-498

Current edition Experimental

εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ ἐγὼ MSS. Dind. corr. παράφρων

ἀντ. ἥξει καὶ πολύπους καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις 490 χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἐπ. ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς, οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr. ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett. πολύπονος αἰκία. 515

ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΝΗΣΤΡΑ.

CLYTEMNESTRA Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

Pelops', des Urvaters, 2 Fluchvoller Roßwettlauf! Wie reich an Leid kamst du 490 Diesem Land! Denn seid im Meergrunde Myrtilos den Tod schmeckte, Der aus dem Goldsize Durch schnöden Trugs Unthat 495 Entſeelt hinabstürzte, Ruhte nie Der Frevel, der fluchvoll Auf diesem Haus lastet. Die Vorigen.

Klytämnestra.

Must yield to her requests.

Chrysothemis

Clytemnestra ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.

Stable identifiers

ἀντ.

ἥξει καὶ πολύπους

καὶ πολύχειρ ἁ δεινοῖς

κρυπτομένα λόχοις
490

χαλκόπους ᾿Ερινύς ἐρινῦς L. ἐριννὺς Α. ἐρινύς Γ..

ἐπ.

ὦ Πέλοπος ὁ πρόσθεν

πρόρριζος ἐκριφθείς,

οὔ *τί πω οὗ τίσ πω MSS. Herm. corr.

ἔλιπεν ἔλειπεν LA. ἔλιπεν Γ. ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ οἴκους οἴκου(σι?) L. οἴκους V pr. M pr. οἴκου Cett.

πολύπονος αἰκία.
515

CLYTEMNESTRA
Enter CLYTEMNESTRA .

Clytemnestra
ELECTRA, CHORUS....CHORUS. EPOD. CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, CHORUS.