Sir Richard C. Jebb, Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Electra, 8

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[8] Between Stesichorus and Aeschylus, the only poet who illustrates the story of Orestes is Pindar. In the eleventh Pythian ode (478 B.C.), he describes a victory in the Pythian games as won ‘in the rich corn-lands of Pylades, host of Laconian Orestes; whom, when his sire was murdered, the nurse Arsinoè rescued from the violent hands of Clytaemnestra and from her deadly guile.’ That ‘pitiless woman’ slew Aga memnon and Cassandra. What, asks Pindar, was her motive? Was it ‘the slaying of Iphigeneia at the Euripus’? Or was it an adulterous passion? ‘Meanwhile, Orestes, a young child, became the guest of the aged Strophius, who dwelt at the foot of Parnassus. But in time, with the help of Ares, he slew his mother, and laid Aegisthus in blood¹.’

Three points in this sketch are noteworthy. (1) Pindar makes Orestes ‘a Laconian’; following the tradition, adopted also by Stesichorus and Simonides², that Amyclae in Lacedaemon was the place where Agamemnon was slain³. (2) The house of Strophius, ‘at the foot of Parnassus,’ is the refuge of Orestes; and Pylades is his friend. Probably the Nostoi ( circ. 750 B.C.), in which Pylades figured, gave this account; but Pindar is the earliest extant source of it⁴. (3) Clytaem nestra, not Aegisthus, is in the foreground; and the speculation as to her motive reminds us that the myth had now grown into a shape which was ready for dramatic handling. Twenty years after this ode was written, Aeschylus produced his Oresteia.

⁵

Introduction to 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 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

Ἥρας ὁ κλεινὸς ναός· οἱ δ᾽ ἱκάνομεν,

φάσκειν Μυκήνας τὰς πολυχρύσους ὁρᾶν δραιν L pr. ὁρᾶν A. ὁρᾶν Vat. ac.

πολύφθορόν τε δῶμα Πελοπιδῶν πελοπιδᾶν, ῶν L. τόδε,
10

ὅθεν σε πατρὸς ἐκ φόνων ἐγώ ποτε

πρὸς σῆς ὁμαίμου καὶ κασιγνήτης λαβὼν

ἤνεγκα κἀξέσωσα κἀξεθρεψάμην

τοσόνδ᾽ ἐς ἥβης, πατρὶ τιμωρὸν φόνου τιμωρῶν φθόνου L. corr. p.m. or C³..

νῦν οὖν, Ὀρέστα καὶ σὺ φίλτατε ξένων
15

Πυλάδη πυλάδη(σ) L., τί χρὴ δρᾶν δρᾶν A. ἐν τάχει βουλευτέον·

ὡς ἡμὶν ἤδη λαμπρὸν ἡλίου σέλας

ἑῷα κινεῖ φθέγματ᾽ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ,

μέλαινά τ᾿ ἄστρων ἐκλέλοιπεν εὐφρόνη.

πρὶν οὖν τιν ἀνδρῶν ἐξοδοιπορεῖν στέγης,
20

ξυνάπτετον λόγοισιν· ὡς ἐνταῦθ᾽ *ἴμεν ἐμὲν ἐσμὲν ἴ· μὲν? Μ. Dawes corr.,

ἵν οὐκέτ᾽ ὀκνεῖν καιρός, ἀλλ᾽ ἔργων ἀκμή.

ΟΡΕΣΤΗΣ.

Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-120 focus

Παιδαγωγός

ὦ τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος ἐν Τροίᾳ ποτὲ
1

Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖ, νῦν ἐκεῖνʼ ἔξεστί σοι

παρόντι λεύσσειν, ὧν πρόθυμος ἦσθʼ ἀεί.

τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν Ἄργος οὑπόθεις τόδε,

τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ἰνάχου κόρης·
5

αὕτη δʼ, Ὀρέστα, τοῦ λυκοκτόνου θεοῦ

ἀγορὰ Λύκειος· οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς δʼ ὅδε

Ἥρας ὁ κλεινὸς ναός· οἷ δʼ ἱκάνομεν,

φάσκειν Μυκήνας τὰς πολυχρύσους ὁρᾶν

πολύφθορόν τε δῶμα Πελοπιδῶν τόδε,
10

ὅθεν σε πατρὸς ἐκ φονῶν ἐγώ ποτε

πρὸς σῆς ὁμαίμου καὶ κασιγνήτης λαβὼν

ἤνεγκα κἀξέσωσα κἀξεθρεψάμην

τοσόνδʼ ἐς ἥβης, πατρὶ τιμωρὸν φόνου.

νῦν οὖν, Ὀρέστα καὶ σὺ φίλτατε ξένων
15

Πυλάδη, τί χρὴ δρᾶν ἐν τάχει βουλευτέον·

ὡς ἡμὶν ἤδη λαμπρὸν ἡλίου σέλας

ἑῷα κινεῖ φθέγματʼ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ

μέλαινά τʼ ἄστρων ἐκλέλοιπεν εὐφρόνη.

πρὶν οὖν τινʼ ἀνδρῶν ἐξοδοιπορεῖν στέγης,
20

ξυνάπτετον λόγοισιν· ὡς ἐνταῦθʼ ἐμέν,

ἵνʼ οὐκέτʼ ὀκνεῖν καιρός, ἀλλʼ ἔργων ἀκμή.

Ὀρέστης

ὦ φίλτατʼ ἀνδρῶν προσπόλων, ὥς μοι σαφῆ

σημεῖα φαίνεις ἐσθλὸς εἰς ἡμᾶς γεγώς.

ὥσπερ γὰρ ἵππος εὐγενής, κἂν ᾖ γέρων,
25

ἐν τοῖσι δεινοῖς θυμὸν οὐκ ἀπώλεσεν,

ἀλλʼ ὀρθὸν οὖς ἵστησιν, ὡσαύτως δὲ σὺ

ἡμᾶς τʼ ὀτρύνεις καὐτὸς ἐν πρώτοις ἕπει.

τοιγὰρ τὰ μὲν δόξαντα δηλώσω, σὺ δὲ

ὀξεῖαν ἀκοὴν τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις διδούς,
30

εἰ μή τι καιροῦ τυγχάνω, μεθάρμοσον.

ἐγὼ γὰρ ἡνίχʼ ἱκόμην τὸ Πυθικὸν

μαντεῖον, ὡς μάθοιμʼ ὅτῳ τρόπῳ πατρὶ

δίκας ἀροίμην τῶν φονευσάντων πάρα,

χρῇ μοι τοιαῦθʼ ὁ Φοῖβος ὧν πεύσει τάχα·
35

ἄσκευον αὐτὸν ἀσπίδων τε καὶ στρατοῦ

δόλοισι κλέψαι χειρὸς ἐνδίκους σφαγάς.

ὅτʼ οὖν τοιόνδε χρησμὸν εἰσηκούσαμεν,

σὺ μὲν μολών, ὅταν σε καιρὸς εἰσάγῃ,

δόμων ἔσω τῶνδʼ, ἴσθι πᾶν τὸ δρώμενον,
40

ὅπως ἂν εἰδὼς ἡμὶν ἀγγείλῃς σαφῆ.

οὐ γάρ σε μὴ γήρᾳ τε καὶ χρόνῳ μακρῷ

γνῶσʼ, οὐδʼ ὑποπτεύσουσιν ὧδʼ ἠνθισμένον.

λόγῳ δὲ χρῶ τοιῷδʼ, ὅτι ξένος μὲν εἶ

Φωκέως παρʼ ἀνδρὸς Φανοτέως ἥκων· ὃ γὰρ
45

μέγιστος αὐτοῖς τυγχάνει δορυξένων.

ἄγγελλε δʼ ὅρκον προστιθεὶς ὁθούνεκα

τέθνηκʼ Ὀρέστης ἐξ ἀναγκαίας τύχης,

ἄθλοισι Πυθικοῖσιν ἐκ τροχηλάτων

δίφρων κυλισθείς· ὧδʼ ὁ μῦθος ἑστάτω.
50

Ὀρέστης

ἡμεῖς δὲ πατρὸς τύμβον, ὡς ἐφίετο,

λοιβαῖσι πρῶτον καὶ καρατόμοις χλιδαῖς

στέψαντες εἶτʼ ἄψορρον ἥξομεν πάλιν,

τύπωμα χαλκόπλευρον ἠρμένοι χεροῖν,

ὃ καὶ σὺ θάμνοις οἶσθά που κεκρυμμένον,
55

ὅπως λόγῳ κλέπτοντες ἡδεῖαν φάτιν

φέρωμεν αὐτοῖς, τοὐμὸν ὡς ἔρρει δέμας

φλογιστὸν ἤδη καὶ κατηνθρακωμένον.

τί γάρ με λυπεῖ τοῦθʼ, ὅταν λόγῳ θανὼν

ἔργοισι σωθῶ κἀξενέγκωμαι κλέος;
60

δοκῶ μέν, οὐδὲν ῥῆμα σὺν κέρδει κακόν.

ἤδη γὰρ εἶδον πολλάκις καὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς

λόγῳ μάτην θνῄσκοντας· εἶθʼ, ὅταν δόμους

ἔλθωσιν αὖθις, ἐκτετίμηνται πλέον·

ὡς κἄμʼ ἐπαυχῶ τῆσδε τῆς φήμης ἄπο
65

δεδορκότʼ ἐχθροῖς ἄστρον ὣς λάμψειν ἔτι.

ἀλλʼ, ὦ πατρῴα γῆ θεοί τʼ ἐγχώριοι,

δέξασθέ μʼ εὐτυχοῦντα ταῖσδε ταῖς ὁδοῖς,

σύ τʼ, ὦ πατρῷον δῶμα· σοῦ γὰρ ἔρχομαι

δίκῃ καθαρτὴς πρὸς θεῶν ὡρμημένος·
70

καὶ μή μʼ ἄτιμον τῆσδʼ ἀποστείλητε γῆς,

ἀλλʼ ἀρχέπλουτον καὶ καταστάτην δόμων.

εἴρηκα μέν νυν ταῦτα· σοὶ δʼ ἤδη, γέρον,

τὸ σὸν μελέσθω βάντι φρουρῆσαι χρέος.

νὼ δʼ ἔξιμεν· καιρὸς γάρ, ὅσπερ ἀνδράσιν
75

μέγιστος ἔργου παντός ἐστʼ ἐπιστάτης.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός

καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς

ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης

ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις
80

μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

Παιδαγωγός

ἥκιστα· μηδὲν πρόσθεν ἢ τὰ Λοξίου

πειρώμεθʼ ἔρδειν κἀπὸ τῶνδʼ ἀρχηγετεῖν,

πατρὸς χέοντες λουτρά· ταῦτα γὰρ φέρει

νίκην τʼ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν καὶ κράτος τῶν δρωμένων.
85

Ἠλέκτρα

ὦ φάος ἁγνὸν

καὶ γῆς ἰσόμοιρʼ ἀήρ, ὥς μοι

πολλὰς μὲν θρήνων ᾠδάς,

πολλὰς δʼ ἀντήρεις ᾔσθου

στέρνων πληγὰς αἱμασσομένων,
90

ὁπόταν δνοφερὰ νὺξ ὑπολειφθῇ·

τὰ δὲ παννυχίδων ἤδη στυγεραὶ

ξυνίσασʼ εὐναὶ μογερῶν οἴκων,

ὅσα τὸν δύστηνον ἐμὸν θρηνῶ

πατέρʼ, ὃν κατὰ μὲν βάρβαρον αἶαν
95

φοίνιος Ἄρης οὐκ ἐξένισεν,

μήτηρ δʼ ἡμὴ χὠ κοινολεχὴς

Αἴγισθος ὅπως δρῦν ὑλοτόμοι

σχίζουσι κάρα φονίῳ πελέκει,

κοὐδεὶς τούτων οἶκτος ἀπʼ ἄλλης
100

ἢ ʼμοῦ φέρεται, σοῦ, πάτερ, οὕτως

αἰκῶς οἰκτρῶς τε θανόντος.

103

Ἠλέκτρα

ἀλλʼ οὐ μὲν δὴ

λήξω θρήνων στυγερῶν τε γόων,

ἔστʼ ἂν παμφεγγεῖς ἄστρων
105

ῥιπάς, λεύσσω δὲ τόδʼ ἦμαρ,

μὴ οὐ τεκνολέτειρʼ ὥς τις ἀηδὼν

ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ τῶνδε πατρῴων

πρὸ θυρῶν ἠχὼ πᾶσι προφωνεῖν.

ὦ δῶμʼ Ἀΐδου καὶ Περσεφόνης,
110

ὦ χθόνιʼ Ἑρμῆ καὶ πότνιʼ Ἀρὰ

σεμναί τε θεῶν παῖδες Ἐρινύες,

αἳ τοὺς ἀδίκως θνῄσκοντας ὁρᾶθʼ,

αἳ τοὺς εὐνὰς ὑποκλεπτομένους,

ἔλθετʼ, ἀρήξατε, τίσασθε πατρὸς
115

φόνον ἡμετέρου,

καί μοι τὸν ἐμὸν πέμψατʼ ἀδελφόν·

μούνη γὰρ ἄγειν οὐκέτι σωκῶ

λύπης ἀντίρροπον ἄχθος.
120

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.

OR

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.

Orestes.

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.

Orestes
( V)me then, my friends, and ere th' awakened city

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,

Orestes

English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-120 focus

Paedagogus

Son of him who once commanded our forces at Troy , son of Agamemnon!—now you may survey all that your heart has desired for so long. There is the ancient Argos of your yearning,
1

that consecrated land from which the gad-fly drove the daughter of Inachus; there, Orestes, is the Lycean market place, named from the wolf-slaying god; there on the left is Hera’s famous temple; and in this place to which we have come, know that you see Mycenae , the rich in gold,
5

and here the house of Pelops’ heirs, so often stained with bloodshed. Long ago from here, away from the murder of your father, I carried you for her whose blood is yours, your sister, and saved you and reared you up to manhood to be the avenger of your murdered father.

10

Now, therefore, Orestes, and you, best of allies, Pylades, our plan of action must be quickly laid; for look, already the sun’s bright ray is stirring the birds’ songs into clarity, and the kindly darkness of the stars is spent.
15

Before, then, anyone comes out from the house, we must make our plans, since we are at the point where it is no longer opportune to hesitate, but it is the moment for action.
20

Orestes

True friend and follower, how well you prove your loyalty to our house!

Just as a thoroughbred mount, even if advanced in years, does not lose courage in danger, but pricks up his ears, so you speed us forward and follow in the first ranks. I will tell you, then, what I have determined.
25

Listen closely to my words and correct me, if I miss the mark in any way.
When I went to the Pythian oracle to learn how I might avenge my father on his murderers,
30

Phoebus gave me the commandment which you will now hear: that alone, and by stealth, without the aid of arms or large numbers, I should carry off my right hand’s just slaughters. Accordingly, since I received this divine declaration, you must go into that house there
35

when opportunity gives you entrance, and learn all that is happening, so that you may report to us out of sure knowledge. Your age and the lapse of time will prevent them from recognizing you; they will never suspect who you are with that silvered hair. Let your story be that you are a Phocian stranger
40

sent by Phanoteus, since he is the greatest of their allies. Tell them, and affirm it with your oath, that Orestes has perished by a fatal chance, hurled at the Pythian games
45

from his speeding chariot. Let that be the substance of your message. Meanwhile, we will first crown my father’s tomb as the god ordered with libations and the luxuriant tribute of a severed lock; then we will return here, bearing in our hands an urn of hammered bronze
50

—now hidden, as you no doubt know, in the brushwood—so that we may gladden them with the false tidings that this body of mine exists no more, but has been consumed with fire and reduced to ashes. How does it hurt me, when by feigned death
55

I find true life and win renown? No word is ill-omened, I trust, if it yields gain. For often before now I have seen clever men die in false report; then, when they return home, they are held in greater honor.
60

And so for myself I trust that as a result of this rumor I, too, shall live, shining down like a star upon my enemies.
But you, O my fatherland and native gods of my soil, receive me with good fortune in this journey, and you also, house of my ancestors,
65

since I come by divine mandate to cleanse you as justice demands. Do not dismiss me from this land in dishonor, but grant that I may rule over my possessions and restore my house!
I have said enough. Go now, old one, and take care to watch over your task.
70

The two of us will depart; for so opportunity bids, chief ruler of every enterprise for men.
75

77 Within.

Electra

ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus

Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes

Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries?
80

Paedagogus

No, no; before all else, let us strive to obey the commands of Loxias and from them make a fair beginning by pouring libations to your father. For such actions bring

victory within our grasp and give us mastery in all our doings. Exeunt Paedagogus on the spectators left, Orestes and Pylades on the right.
85

86 Enter Electra, from the house.

Electra

O you pure sunlight, and you air, light’s equal partner over earth, how often have you heard the chords of my laments

and the thudding blows against this bloodied breast at the time of gloomy night’s leaving off! My accursed bed in that house of suffering there knows well already how I observe my night-long rites—how often I bewail my miserable
90

father, whom bloody Ares did not welcome with deadly gifts in a foreign land, but my mother and her bedfellow Aegisthus split his head with murderous axe, just as woodmen chop an oak.
95

And for this crime no pitying cry bursts from any lips but mine, when you, Father, have died a death so cruel and so deserving of pity!
100

103

But never will I end from cries and bitter lamentation,

while I look on the stars’ glistening flashes or on this light of day. No, like the nightingale, slayer of her offspring, I will wail without ceasing, and cry aloud to all here at the doors of my father.

105

O House of Hades and Persephone! O Hermes of the shades! O potent Curse, and you fearsome daughters of the gods, the Erinyes, who take note when a life is unjustly taken, when a marriage-bed is thievishly dishonored,
110

come, help me, bring vengeance for the murder of my father and send me my brother. I no longer have the strength to hold up alone against
115

the load of grief that crushes me.
120

Notes on the current edition

Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Electra

1. Pyth. 11. 15—37.

2. Schol. on Eur. Or. 46.

3. Pyth. 11. 31

θάνεν μὲν αὐτὸς ἤρως Ἀτρεΐδας

ἵκων χρόνῳ κλυταῖς ἐν Ἀμύκλαις

. Pausanias (3. 19. 5) saw at Amyclae memorials of Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra and Cassandra. The dominant influence of Sparta on the early development of the Dorian Choral Lyric may possibly help to explain how, in the lyric age, the local tradition of Lacedaemon could prevail over the Homeric version on a point of such importance. It is certainly a curious illustration of Dorian influence in modifying the Achaean legends of the Peloponnesus—though, in this case, the influence was not permanent, as it was in blackening the family history of the Pelopidae.

4. In his brilliant and suggestive Introduction to the Choephori, Mr Verrall holds (p. xix, note 1) that Pindar gives no countenance to the legend followed by Euripides, that Pylades was the son of Strophius. Pindar, he thinks, suggests no connection between them. “The home of Pylades in the ‘rich fields’ of Cirrha is distinguished clearly from that of Strophius on ‘the foot (spur) of Parnassus,’ that is to say at Crisa.” Is this so? Pindar first designates the Pythian festival by the words

ἀγῶνι... Κίρρας

( Pyth. 11. 12), and presently adds that the victory of which he sings was won

ἐν ἀφνεαῖς ἀρούραισι Πυλάδα

( ib. 15). In Pyth. 10. 15 f. the Pythian festival is similarly designated as

βαθυλείμων ὑπὸ Κίρρας ἀγὼν

πέτραν

: where

Κίρρας...πέτραν

is clearly equivalent to the

Κρισαῖον λόφον

of Pyth. 5. 35, and the

Κρισαίαις ἐνὶ πτυχαῖς

of Pyth. 6. 18. It is the spur of Parnassus under which Crisa was situated: there was no such

πέτρα

λόφος

near the site of Cirrha on the gulf. And, by adding

βαθυλείμων

, Pindar interprets this large sense of

Κίρρας

. In his time the town of Cirrha no longer existed (see ). The plain in which the Pythian games were held extended from the site of Cirrha on the south to that of Crisa (the seat of Strophius) on the north. It was called ‘Cirrhaean’ as well as ‘Crisaean.’ Hence the festival could be called ‘the contest of Cirrha,’ and its scene could also be identified with ‘the cornlands of Pylades.’ Was Euripides (in I. T. 917 f.) the first poet, as Mr Verrall suggests, who made Strophius a brother-in-law, and Pylades a nephew, of Agamemnon? It seems hardly probable. Anaxibia, daughter of Pleisthenes by Aëropè, and sister of Agamemnon, was mentioned by Hesiod (Tzetzes, Exeg. in Iliad., p. 68, 20); and as her only mythological function was to be the wife of Strophius and the mother of Pylades, it may be supposed that Hesiod knew those relationships. As we have seen, the association of Pylades with Orestes dates at least from the Nostoi ( circ. 750 B.C.).

5. Aeschylus.

Sir Richard C. Jebb Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Electra 8

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

πρὶν οὖν τιν ἀνδρῶν ἐξοδοιπορεῖν στέγης,
20

ξυνάπτετον λόγοισιν· ὡς ἐνταῦθ᾽ *ἴμεν ἐμὲν ἐσμὲν ἴ· μὲν? Μ. Dawes corr.,

ἵν οὐκέτ᾽ ὀκνεῖν καιρός, ἀλλ᾽ ἔργων ἀκμή.

ΟΡΕΣΤΗΣ.

Ἠλέκτρα

ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός

καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς

ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης

ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις
80

μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

OR

Orestes.

Orestes
( V)me then, my friends, and ere th' awakened city

Orestes

Electra

ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus

Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes

Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries?
80

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

πρὶν οὖν τιν ἀνδρῶν ἐξοδοιπορεῖν στέγης, 20 ξυνάπτετον λόγοισιν· ὡς ἐνταῦθ᾽ *ἴμεν ἐμὲν ἐσμὲν ἴ· μὲν? Μ. Dawes corr., ἵν οὐκέτ᾽ ὀκνεῖν καιρός, ἀλλ᾽ ἔργων ἀκμή.

ΟΡΕΣΤΗΣ.

Ἠλέκτρα ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις 80 μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

OR

Orestes.

Orestes ( V)me then, my friends, and ere th' awakened city

Orestes

Electra ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries? 80

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Ἠλέκτρα

ἰώ μοί μοι δύστηνος.

Παιδαγωγός

καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς

ὑποστενούσης ἔνδον αἰσθέσθαι, τέκνον.

Ὀρέστης

ἆρʼ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος Ἠλέκτρα· θέλεις
80

μείνωμεν αὐτοῦ κἀπακούσωμεν γόων;

Orestes
( V)me then, my friends, and ere th' awakened city

Electra

ah, me, ah, joyless me!

Paedagogus

Listen, my son; from the doors of the house, I think, came the sound of some serving girl moaning inside.

Orestes

Can it be my joyless Electra? Shall we remain here and listen to her cries?
80