Sir Richard C. Jebb Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Electra 2

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

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Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Electra (English) (Sophocles, The plays and fragments with critical notes. Part 6, The Electra. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, author. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1894.)

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1 focus
Ὦ τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος γρ. τυραννήσαντος ἐν Τροίᾳ ποτὲ
1
Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖ, νῦν ἐκεῖν ἔξεστί σοι
παρόντι λεύσσειν λεύσειν λεύσσειν, ὧν πρόθυμος ἦσθ᾽ ἀεί
τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν Ἄργος οὑπόθεις οὗ retouched L. οὗ ἐπόθεις A. τόδε,
τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ινάχου κόρης·
5
αὕτη δ᾽, Ὀρέστα, τοῦ λυκοκτόνου θεοῦ
ἀγορὰ Λύκειος· οὐξ δύξ ἀριστερᾶς δ᾽ ὅδε
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-120 focus
Translations (5)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1 focus
Son of the king who led the Achaean host
1
Erewhile beleaguering Troy, ’tis thine to day
1
To see around thee what through many a year
1
Thy forward spirit hath sighed for. Argolis
1
Lies here before us, hallowed as the scene
Of Io’s wildering pain: yonder, the mart
Named from the wolf slaying God, and there, to our left,
Hera’s famed temple. For we reach the bourn
Of far renowned Mycenae, rich in gold
And Pelops’ fatal roofs before us rise,
Haunted with many horrors, whence my hand,
Thy murdered sire then lying in his gore,
Received thee from thy sister, and removed
Where I have kept thee safe and nourished thee
To this bright manhood thou dost bear, to be
5
The avenger of thy father’s bloody death.
5
Wherefore, Orestes, and thou, Pylades,
5
Dearest of friends, though from a foreign soil,
5
Prepare your enterprise with speed. Dark night
Is vanished with her stars, and day’s bright orb
Hath waked the birds of morn into full song.
Now, then, ere foot of man go forth, ye two
Knit counsels. ’Tis no time for shy delay:
The very moment for your act is come.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
O Sohn des Feldherrn, der in Troas einst gebot, 1
1
Des Agamemnon, endlich ist es dir vergönnt,
Zu schaun mit Augen, was zu schaun dich stets verlangt.
Dein graues Argos, deiner Sehnsucht Land, ist hier, 2
Der wuthgeschlagnen Inachid' uralter Hain;
5
Das dort, Orestes, ist der Markt des Lykiers,
Des wolferlegenden Gottes, und zur Liuken hier
Der Hera stolzer Tempel: wo wir hingelangt,
Schaust du Mykenä's Veste, reich an goldnem Schaz,
Und hier der Pelopsenkel unheilschwangres Haus,
10
Wo nach des Vaters grausem Tod ich ehedem
Von deiner Schwester dich empfing und weiter trug
Und rettet' und zu solcher Jugendblüte dich
Aufzog, dereinst zu rächen deines Vaters Mord.
Nun denn, Orestes, und o du, mein Pylades,
15
Der Freunde liebster, was zu thun, berathet schnell:
Denn schon erweckt der Sonne strahlenvoller Glanz
Der Vögel Morgenstimmen uns zu hellem Schall;
Die schwarze Nacht der Sterne schwand in's Dunkel hin.
Drum eh' ein Mann aus dieses Hauses Pforte tritt,
20
Beredet euch zusammen; denn wir stehen da,
Wo's nimmer gilt zu säumen, wo's der That bedarf.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1 focus
O son of gi^eat Atrides ! he who led
1
Embattled Greece to Troy's devoted walls,
1
At length behold what thy desmng eyes
1
So long have sought. Behold thy native soil,
1
Thy much-loved Argos, and the hallowed grove
Of lo, frantic maid. On this side lies
The Lycian forum, on the left the fane
Of Juno, far renowned. Behold ! we come
To rich Mycense, and the slaughterous house
Of Pelops' hapless race, from whose sad walls
Long since I bore thee, at thy sister's hand
Gladly rocoivod, niul with paternal oiire
To this blest clay have fostered up thy youth,
Till riper years should give thee to return,
And pay with dire revenge thy father's murder.
Now, my Orestes, and thou dear companior
5
Of all our suft'erings, much-loved Pylades,
5
Let deepest counsel sway our just resolves ;
5
/For lo ! resplendent Pha-bus wifh his light
/ Calls up t lie cheerful birds to early song,
VAnd gloomy night hath lost her starry train :
Pours forth her busy throngs, this instant here
JiOt us consult. Believe me, 'tis no time
For dull delay ; 'tis the decisive hour,
And this the very crisis of our fate.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1 focus
THOU son of Agamemnon, who 'gainst Troy
1
Once led the pow'rs of Greece, now may thine eyes
1
Behold what long hath raised thy ardent wish.
1
This is the ancient Argos; this the grove
Of Iö, stung with frenzy o'er the earth
To wander; the Lycæan forum this
Of the Lycæan Phœbus; on the left
Glorious through Greece that stately temple stands
Sacred to Juno. Now we are advanced
Whence thou may'st see Mycenæ rich in gold;
And this the house of the Pelopidæ
5
With frequent slaughters stain'd: in times long past,
5
Beneath his murderers when thy father fell,
5
I took thee from thy sister's pious hand,
I bore thee hence, I saved thee, to this age
I train'd thee to avenge thy father's blood.
This hour, Orestes, and thou faithful friend,
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-120 focus

Notes on the current edition

Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Electra

1. Cyclic epics.
2. The Epic Cycle (
Ἐπικὸς κύκλος
) was a body of epic poems by various hands, arranged in the chronological order of the subjects, so as to form a continuous history of the mythical world. One part of this Cycle consisted of poems concerning the Trojan war. A grammarian named Proclus ( circ. 140 A.D. ?), in his
Χρηστομάθεια
, or ‘Manual of Literature,’ gave short prose summaries of the poems in the Trojan part of the Cycle. The Manual itself is lost, but fragments have been preserved by the patriarch Photius (9th century) in his Bibliotheca.
3. The Cypria related the origin of the Trojan war, and its progress down to the point at which the Iliad begins. (Cp. my Introduction to Homer, p. 153.)
4. Pyth. 11. 22. See below, § 8.
5. The Nostoi described the adventures of some Greek heroes on their return from Troy,—especially those of Menelaüs, who visited Egypt, and of Agamemnon, who was slain by Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra. ( Introd. to Homer, p. 154.)
6. There happens to be an independent proof (if any were needed) that the religion of Delphi animated the Nostoi. The poem related how Calchas committed suicide, because Mopsus, whom he met at Colophon, proved to be a greater seer than himself. Mopsus belongs to the traditions of the Apolline
μαντική
: he is sometimes called the son of Apollo by Manto, a daughter of Teiresias.
7. Influence of Delphi.