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THE
CHOEPHORCE OF ^SCHYLUS
WITH NOTES,
CEITICAL AND EXPLANATOEY.
BY
JOHN CONINGTON, M.A.
PEOFESSOK OF LATIN, AND FELLOW OF CORPUS CHKISTI COLLEGE,
OXFORD.
OF THE
c
LONDON:
JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND.
1857
3
^mui
LONDON :
SAVILT. ANP BDWARDS, PBINTEES, CHANDOS STBEET,
COVENT GiEDEN.
M mkJ
TO
EGBERT SCOTT, D.D.
MASTER OF BA.LLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD,
ETC. ETC. ETC.
IN GRATITUDE FOR THOSE LABOURS,
WHICH HAVE MADE THE STUDY OF GREEK EASIER TO ENGLISHMEN,
AND IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
PERSONAL KINDNESS.
PREFACE.
^HIS work, as some of its readers may perhaps remember, was
-■- announced for publication more than five years ago. At that
time I contemplated a series of notes like those which accompany
my translation of the Agamemnon, and these I had hoped might
be accomplished in a very few months. I was prevented, however,
from finishing them as soon as I had expected, and meantime my
conception of the sort of commentary that was required underwent a
gradual but complete transformation. Instead of simply giving
my opinion on the various difl&culties in the play which had
occurred to myself or to others, I now began to examine my author
line by line and word by word, in the hope of extracting the full
meaning, both of the whole and of its parts. I only trust that I
may have succeeded in transmitting to the reader some portion of
the insight which I have seemed to myself to derive from this kind of
study. The play itself is confessedly the most difficult of the tragedies
that have come down to us from Grecian antiquity, and much of
it still remains either obscure to me, or imperfectly cleared up ;
but I appear to feel firm ground under me in many places where I
used to move with uncertainty, and I cannot but hope that further
labour will considerably diminish the number of difficulties yet
unsolved.
The chief source from which to look for light is, I believe, the
poet himself, who, more perhaps than most writers, abounds in
parallelisms of thought and expression. Whether the object is to
explain a construction, to represent an image, or to apprehend an
idea, ^schylus will generally be found his o^vn best interpreter.
Accordingly, most of the illustrations in my notes have been drawn
from this or the other plays. Sophocles and Euripides, especially
where they write on the same subject, are valuable as affording a
basis for analogical reasoning, and will well repay a closer exami-
VI PREFACE.
nation for that purpose than they have yet received : but, like all
great authors, each has his marked individuality of thought and
feeling — each conceives in his own way of the tradition presented
to him, and hardly any testimony from them can bear on the
meaning of iEschylus with half the force and directness which we
feel immediately when the poet is made to witness in his own
cause. As a general rule, too, I have sought to confine myself to
the task of bringing out the meaning of the play, rarely diverging
into discussions of points of grammar, explanations of passages in
other authors, or lexicographical accounts of single words. At the
same time I have been anxious to pass over no question which
might fairly seem to call for answer, even at the risk of occasionally
repeating what is already sufficiently known, or may be gathered
from obvious sources, though it is jDossible that in this respect, as
in others, I may have erred on the side of defect as well as on that
of excess. I have adopted from Klausen the practice of prefixing
to each speech, or series of speeches, a brief summary intended to
convey its purport as a whole, a practice which I should be glad
to see pursued more generally in editions of the classics, as I have
frequently observed that superficial students, especially of ancient
poetry, are apt to overlook their author's drift, from not being at
the pains to divest it of the external form in which it comes to
them, and ask themselves what it would be if written down briefly
in such language as they are themselves in the habit of employing.
Throughout the notes I have endeavoured to study compression,
indicating considerations which may be further developed, and
referring to passages which require to be examined, while I have
not been sorry at times to relieve the dryness of such comments
by remarks of a general nature, intended to call attention to what
may be termed the literary characteristics of the play.
There is one feature in my edition which I feel sure will give it
an interest in the eyes of scholars. The late John Wordsworth
is known to have been for many years contemplating an edition of
^schylus, of which his well-known article on Scholefield's edition
in the Philological Museum was, as it were, a foretaste. Through
the unusual kindness of his brother, Canon Wordsworth, to whom
I was previously quite a stranger, I have been allowed to consult
his MS. materials, making such use of them as I might think best
for my own purposes. I have availed myself somewhat largely of
PREFACE. Vii
the permission, so as to incorporate in my commentary many of
the results of his patient thought and accurate and extensive
reading. I only regret that the plan of my work has not admitted
of my giving to the world a still larger portion of this most
valuable collection, especially as the undigested state in which it
has been left renders it but too probable that it is only through
some such medium as the present that it is likely ever to see the
light. Had the author been spared to complete his work, it would
undoubtedly have been one of which English scholarship might
well have been proud. His researches into MSS., though superseded
by the recent works of Hermann and Franz, would have produced
an apparatus criticus superior to anything which existed at the
time of his death, while his minute knowledge of the phenomena
of the Greek, language, some notion of which may be derived from
his article already referred to, would have given him a claim to
rank with such scholars as Lobeck. We should not have had then
to point to Bishop Blomfield as the last of our great editors of
Greek tragedy.
In strictness of speech the present edition has no pretensions to
be considered a critical one. Franz and Hermann seem to have
done all, or nearly all, that can be done by re-collation of MSS.,
and as I had nothing to add to their labours,* it seemed better to
refer readers to them than to attempt to make a digest of them for
my own pages. I have, however, thought it right to mention in
my notes all the instances in which my text has departed from the
reading of the MSS., with the name of the person by whom the
change has been introduced, so that a student disinclined to critical
minutiae should still be able to judge for himself of the extent to
which modern criticism has found it necessary to desert the oldest
external authorities. Here and there I may have passed over some
minute difference of orthography, though in general I have wished
to register even these. But I have not felt myself called upon to
note the discrepancies of the MSS. among themselves, or even to
specify eveiy one of the comparatively few and trifling instances in
* The librarian of the Escurial informs me that no MSS. exist there answer-
ing to the report inserted by Capt. Medwin in the preface to his translation of
the Prometheus. The story had not escaped the notice of John Wordsworth,
who speaks doubtfully of it, referring to an article in the British Critic,
No. 24, p. 379.
Vlll PREFACE.
which the parent MS., the Medicean, is less correct than its Guelf-
erbytan copy. For the text which I have printed I am myself
responsible. It will be found to occupy an intermediate position
between those of Wellauer and Klausen, who admit scarcely any
innovation upon the MSS. and early editions (authorities whose
respective values they do not always sufficiently discriminate), and
those of the later German editors, though its leaning on the whole
is decidedly to the former extreme. In general I may say that
the result of my experience has been to make me think more
highly of the MSS., and less highly of editorial ingenuity. The
three most recent continental recensions of the text, those of
Franz, Dindorf, and Hermann, appear to me to be in far too many
instances only monuments of sagacity misemployed. The high
tone of the scholarship of the present day (which they have them-
selves, in different degi'ees, contributed to produce) has preserved
them from falling into the errors of Schiitz ; but their dealings
with the text have been as rash and unscrupulous as his, and are
likely, if I may trust my own judgment, to meet with as little
favour at the hands of succeeding scholars. Let me not be mis-
understood, as if I wished to deny the eminent services which
emendatory criticism has at different times rendered to the text of
^schylus. The critical part of these notes, scanty as it is, will
show numerous instances in which errors have been purged away
by the care and acuteness of earlier scholars ; and to come to later
times, the restoration and distribution of the Ko/^^oe in this play,
a task of which the greater part was achieved by one of the first
efforts of Hermann's long life, affords, as I have there remarked, a
consolatory proof of the effect which may be produced by the
union of critical penetration, metrical knowledge, and poetical
feeling. But one who has made ^schylus, and this play in par-
ticular, his study for years, must be pardoned if he expresses the
feeling of disappointment with which he has watched the recent
course of ^schylean criticism, especially in those quarters from
which he had been led to expect most.* Even Mr. Paley's last
* Of Hermann's edition I have already ventured to express my opinion in
an article in the Edinburgh Review, July, 1854. The best continental edition
of the Clioephorce since Klausen's is Bamberger's (Gottingen, 1840), of which
the explanatory part is brief but able, and the critical ingenious, and at the
PREFACE. IX
valuable edition, certainly the most satisfactory which has ever
appeared within the same moderate compass, has marred its varied
usefulness by occasionally admitting alterations, which even the
editor himself does not profess to think certainly true, seemingly
because it is considered necessary to furnish an intelligible text.
Surely where, as in the obscurity of the author and the deficiency
of documentary evidence may well be the case, an editor is unable
to satisfy himself of the true reading of a passage, his business is
to give the text as it stands, adding such opinions as may commend
themselves to him on the probabilities of the matter. The ques-
tion is not simply, as some appear to think, between two readings,
neither, doubtless, the product of the autlior, but one making sense
the other nonsense, but between a reading which, if not genuine,
is the wreck of the genuine one, and another, which is confessedly
only a make-shift till the genuine one be found. Unanimity in
constituting a classical text is a thing to be desired rather than to
be hoped for : but we may at least expect that editors should
reform according to their own solid convictions, not re-write in
same time devoid of extravagance, though not always convincing. The last
published, De Jongh's (Utrecht, 1856), seems to add but little to the know-
ledge of the play, while in the recension of the text it is apt to return to errors
long since corrected. This extreme, however, is better than that embraced by
another Dutch scholar, Karsten, whose recent edition of the Agamemnon
(Utrecht, 1855), has but few parallels for rashness of innovation, even where
the text has hitherto been least suspected. Schneidewin's promised edition of
^schylus has unhappily been intercepted by his death. His Agamemnon,
which has appeared posthumously (Berlin, 1856), is evidently a work which
will require careful consideration from succeeding editors of the play, though
his reformations of the text, except, perhaps, in a single instance, scarcely
commend themselves as highly probable. Some of the points raised in the com-
mentary, e. g. on the scope of the second choral ode, had already been treated
by him more at length in certain ' Aeschyleische Briefe,' of which I had the
pleasure of receiving from him a copy, extracted from his Philologies, where
they had originally appeared. I must speak with general disappointment of
the various recent tracts on ^schylus by continental scholars, which have
fallen into my hands, with the exception of Todt's Commentatio de jEschylo
Vocabulorum Inventore (Halle, 1855), a work which I regret not to have seen
till after my own notes had been completed. Dindorf's PrcBfatio ad ^schyli
Tragoidiarum Editionem Lipsiensem 2W'<ia?/i (Leipsic, 1857), which I have seen
as these sheets are passing through the press, gives a fuller account of the
Medicean MS.; but the examples of critical restoration, in the case of the
Orestea at any rate, appear to be rather bold than successful.
X ^ PREFACE.
obedience to baseless and arbitrary fancies, or to the mere authority
of a great name.
With regard to the metres, I have followed the arrangement of
Dindorf's second edition, especially as he still adheres to the old
numeration of lines, a point in which some unifoi*mity, whether
produced by double notation or otherwise, is surely becoming a
matter of paramount importance.* The present play is obviously
one in w^hich the metrical arrangement presents unusual, perhaps
unexampled difficulties : out of four choral odes two are for the
most part metrically in a state which continues to divide, if not to
confound the critics, and there is a shorter song which, though
apparently not monostrophic, refuses in its existing condition to
conform precisely to antistrophic rules. The result of metrical
criticism, as Mr. Paley remarks, tends seemingly to establish the
fact that the law of antistrophic correspondence in ^schylus is
inexorably strict, so that there would be some plausibility in the
conclusion that certain parts of the play have at one time or
another, probably at a period antecedent to any known MS., under-
gone something like systematic corruption — a process from which
it is hardly likely that modern learning and ingenuity, however
pre-eminent, will ever be able to recover them.
The appendices which I have thought it worth while to add
will explain themselves. That on the Scholia is merely a slight
offering to a w^ork for which, except in the way of more careful
examination of MSS., little has yet been done.t That on the
Xprja-iJLos given to Orestes has already appeared in nearly the same
form in the Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, No. 5.
The view there propounded requires that the passage should be
considered as a whole, while its exposition would obviously exceed
the limits of a single note.
In dismissing this Avork I would desire to express a conviction
which has grown up during its progress, that much yet remains to
be done for the study of -^schylus. It is not for me to estimate
* The references to the dramatists in the commentary are all to Dindorf's
notation, with the exception of those to the tragic fragments, where I have
followed Nauck's recent elaborate collection.
t It is a satisfaction to see that so accurate a scholar as Maurice Haupt, at
the end of his preface prefixed to Hermann's jEschylus, promises an edition of
the Scholia, ' et aucta, et ut genera eorum postulant disposita.'
PREFACE, XI
tlie measure of success which the method I have pursued has
enabled me to attain : but I cannot doubt that the same method
applied to the examination of the other plays would set many
hitherto disputed passages in their true light, and bring out many
points as yet unnoticed. Such points may be inconsiderable if
taken separately, but in combination they form a solid possession
of knowledge, and it is in their discovery that we seem to reach
that familiarity with the author, the attainment of which is almost
like the gaining of a new sense. It is surely possible that there
may be scholars here or abroad who, uniting the intuitive sagacity
and minute learning of the Porsonian school with the patient
thoughtfulness and comprehensive wisdom of Miiller and Klausen,
may be able to give us such an edition of ^schylus as would in
some sort be both critically and philosophically satisfactory, deve-
loping the significance of the poet's words and thoughts, and
regulating his text with a discernment which can reject the wrong
even when unable to discover the right.
My acknowledgments are due to Dr. Wordsworth, for the kind-
ness which I have before commemorated ; to Mr. Paley, with
whom, in an early stage of my labours, I enjoyed the pleasure
of a long ^schylean correspondence ;* to Dr. Peile, who per-
mitted me to use some notes containing his reconsidered opinion
on several passages in the play ; and to various friends, from whose
knowledge and judgment I have derived much profit in many
ways during the progress of this book. The published works
which I have used will appear from the commentary itself. In
general I have been scrupulous in naming the author of each view
or illustration, though in the case of parallel passages I have not
always thought it necessary to do so.
* To prevent misconception, I may mention that my notes on the first half
of the play were communicated to Mr. Paley while he was preparing his last
edition. Unfortunately they were in a very imperfect state, a considerable
portion of them existing only in a first draft, and this has led him to notice as
mine various opinions which I have long since discarded.
INTRODUCTION,
THE vengeance of Orestes is ton died upon more than once in the
Odyssey. At the very commencement of the action, in Book I.
(w. 30 foil,), Zeus is introduced as thinking of the ' noble' {afxv^iovos)
^gisthus, recently slain by the 'far-famed' Orestes, when he
represents the event as an instance of the unreasonableness of men
in blaming the gods for evils which they bring on themselves,
-5]]gisthus having been distinctly warned by Hermes not to slay
Agamemnon or woo his wife, ' for there shall be vengeance from
Orestes the Atreid, when he shall have come to age and longs for
his own land.' In Book III. (vv. 304 foil.), Nestor informs
Telemachus that after the death of Agamemnon the people was
subdued under u^gisthus, who reigned for seven years over rich
My cense, but that in the eighth the godlike Orestes came back from
Athens, slew the slayer of his father, and gave to the Argives a
funeral feast, 'for his hated mother and the craven ^gisthus,'
during which Menelaus haj^pened to arrive from his ocean- wander-
ings. Telemachus had already asked (vv. 249 foil.) where Mene-
laus was, that ^gisthus had been left to work his will, and Nestor
had replied, that if Menelaus on his return had found ^gisthus
living in the palace, the murderer would not even have had earth
thrown on him when dead, but dogs and birds would have torn
him as he lay in the plain far from the city, nor would any Achiean
women have bewailed him — an apparent condemnation of Orestes'
conduct in giving the funeral feast, though nothing is expressly
said to show that the vengeance was in any way iucom23lete. In
Book IV. (w. 512 foil), Menelaus relates to Telemachus how
Proteus informed him of his brother's death, comforting him by
the assurance that if he returned home he would either find the
murderer alive or just slain by Orestes, so that he might be present
at the burial {a-v Se Kev rdcpov dvTi^oXrjo-ais — doubtless that of
^^gisthus).
All that ^schylus has in common with Homer is the bare fact
of. the return of Orestes after years of absence, and the reveno-e
which he takes. The funeral feast and the arrival of Menelaus,
whatever place they may have had in the legend, have none in the
XIV INTRODUCTION.
drama. The former would perhaps not be inconsistent with some of
the notices in the play (see on vv. 819 — 826), though it is not
involved in them, and the flight of Orestes would leave no time for
any solemnities in which he had to take part : the latter is im-
plicitly denied by the course of the Eumenides, as well as by that
of the CJioe2)horce. Even with regard to the absence of Orestes
there are points of difference. He is represented, as we have seen,
as coming from Athens. Under what circumstances he had been
removed thither Homer does not say. Agamemnon, in speaking
to Ulysses in the shades (Book XI. vv. 451 foil.), complains that
he was not allowed to see his son, and inquires whether he is in
Orchomenos, or Pylos, or Sparta, seeing that he i^ not yet dead.
Nor does there seem any great similarity between the views enter-
tained by the two poets on the condition of the dead Agamemnon.
The manner of his death is treated by Homer (Books XI. 411 foil.;
XXIV. 28 foil.) as a matter for grief even in the shades, as con-
trasted with the fate which he might have met in battle, and he
mentions it as an aggravation that his wife did not close his eyes
or his lips in death : but no hint is dropped that his loss of funeral
honours has aff"ected him, except as a mere indignity, and nothing
is said of his co-operation in the work of vengeance, which is
really the turning point of the ChoepJioroe. Nor, again, can we
tell whether Homer's version of the story included a featui-e which,
with the three tragedians, constitutes the essence of the catastrophe
the employment of fraud by Orestes. Such an exiDedient is
indeed peculiarly adapted to dramatic purposes, as supplying the
complication of plot, which was thought desirable even on the
ancient stage, and it might be suggested by the very existence of
the Chorus, one of whose functions is said to be ' tegere commissa :'
but the equitable retribution of fraud for fraud is likely enough
to have been an ingredient in the old legend, and the pointed
recurrence to it in ^schylus as a part of Apollo's injunctions
shows that, however introduced, it had entwined itself inextricably
with his conception of the tale.
The structure of the ChoephorcE, like that of all the plays of
j^schylus, is sufficiently simple. The first half of the action groups
itself round the tomb of Agamemnon. The tomb, according to
^schylus's version of the story, has been long unhonoured j
Agamemnon, mangled even after his death, had been buried
without the usual lamentations, and we are apparently meant to
INTRODUCTION. XV
infer tliat no mark of respect had been offered to him since. On
this day two distinct attempts are made to propitiate him. Orestes
has returned from exile, in the hope of being permitted to win
back his inheritance, and his first care is to pay to his father those
observances which absence hindered him from paying at the
funeral. Meantime Electra approaches with a train of Hbation-
bearers, wTiolform the Chorus of the play, and, indeed, give it its
name. The same night which had conducted Orestes to Argos had
terrified Clytaemnestra with a portentous dream, which the inter-
preters had declared to be significant of the wrath of her dead
husband. Accordingly she had for the first time bethought
herself of paying him the usual marks of honour, which were to
be accompanied by a prayer for good to herself and evil to her
enemies. The Chorus are Trojan captives, whom she doubtless
supposes to be fit instruments of her bidding. Why Electra was
allowed to accompany them is not clear, as her hostility must have
been known, though in the little which we see of Clytsemnestra we
do not find her mentioning her daughter ; but we may suppose
that in the strange mixture of feelings which prompted the self-
contradictory act of honouring her victim in his bloody grave, she
may have thought the presence of one sincere mourner at any rate
would be acceptable. But the Chorus is thoroughly possessed
with the conviction that the work of expiation which they are
charged to perform is unnatural and futile, and they readily listen
to Electra's doubts, and encourage her to turn the weapon against
the inventor by offering the libations as from herself, with a prayer
conceived in a directly opposite sense to that which Clytsemnestra
had intended. This is the first stroke of that irony which, though
it may have been more congenial to Sophocles than to the other
two tragedians, is involved in most of those stories of crime and
retribution from which the Greek tragic stage was replenished.
The attempt was monstrous, and it has failed ; the libations have
been restored to their proper office, and Agamemnon's wrath,
instead of being propitiated, has been aggi-avated by his child's
prayer. At this very moment a new object appears ; the lock of
hair which Orestes had left on the tomb is discovered by Electra.
It does not require much reasoning to convince her or her friends
that it must have come from Orestes, though, unwilling to believe
the best, she thinks that he must have sent it. A further dis-
covery of footsteps which are apparently his only tends to perplex
XVI INTRODUCTION.
and trouble her more. Orestes himself comes forward, and after
some little difficulty succeeds in convincing her that he is veritably
her brother. Thus deliverance appears to have arisen at last, but
there are doubts and dangers still. The plot may be discovered
through their own imprudence : Orestes may not have nerve for
the deed : the aid of the dead has yet to be effectually secured.
Orestes fortifies himself by recapitulating the terrible sentence
denounced by Apollo against those who neglect to avenge their
murdered kinsfolk, and reflects on the other motives which come
in to confirm his resolution. Then they all join in a long and
diversified lament, a hymn, as it is called, to the powers below.
Orestes desponds, Electra loses herself in vain wishes ; the Chorus
checks both, reminding them that the dirge is doing its work, and
that vengeance is drawing nearer every moment. They dwell on
the aggravations of the past, so as to extinguish the chidings of
compunction in the mind of Orestes, and exhort him to take the
future into his own hand. When the lament is over, and a final
effort has been made to sting Agamemnon into a sense of his
wrongs, Orestes for the first time enquires the history of the
libations, and learns the signs of vengeance given in the dream of
the preceding night. He formally accepts the office of avenger,
thus foreshown, and developes his plan of action, assigning to each
a part in the plot. All leave the stage but the Chorus, who sing of
the crimes of women as the worst form of created evil, branding
the crimes of wives against their husbands as the blackest of all,
and enforcing the law of retribution which sentences bloody and
godless deeds. Such is the first half of the action, and it is this
w^hich is most characteristically ^schylean. In order that the
catastrophe may be realized as he conceives of it, the poet has to
concentrate the reader's disposable attention on the supernatural
ao"encies at work. We are to think of this as the day of doom,
and to mark the footsteps of divine vengeance as she nears her
goal. That which Clytsemnestra, in insult or in fear, had denied
to Agamemnon for years is conceded at last, and being entrusted
to the hands of others, is turned to the very purpose which she
would most have deprecated, ^schylus has no reason to pro-
long Electra's suffering by deferring the meeting between the
sister and the avenging brother, nor has he occasion to labour in
making the way in which the recognition is brought about as
plausible as possible. He dilates on the admonition of Apollo
INTRODUCTION. Xvii
with a breadth of terrific detail which seems for the time to over-
shadow the whole mind of the speaker, and dwarf every minor
motive of personal feeling or private interest. The lamentation,
in the poet's view, is not a suspension of the action, but a part of
the action itself* It is not merely an impassioned lyric, awakening
successively the various tones of human feeling, but, as we are
repeatedly reminded, an actual agent, conducting the inquisition
for blood, assembling the succours underground, and bringing on
the destined hour, which, long fixed, has been awaiting its summons.
In the remainder of the play ^schylus probably did not aim at
much novelty of treatment. The victory had been already won so
soon as the succour of the gods was secured, and what follows is
as it were, but the performance of the promise. Orestes introduces
himself, tells his tale, and is believed — the work, we are told, of
the crafty goddess of Persuasion and Hermes the Nocturnal. The
precaution which Clytsemnestra wished nevertheless to take is
baffled by the intervention of the Chorus, and ^gisthus is deluded
by a falsified message. He appears, and goes in to meet his fate,
the Chorus having in the meantime poured out fresh prayers,
which are renewed with agonizing earnestness as the critical
moment arrives. As ^gisthus is breathing his last, a servant
makes a last desperate attempt to warn Clytaemnestra ; but the
intimation comes only in time to prepare her to die, not to put her
on her guard. Unable to defend herself by force, as she had
hoped, she pleads for her life, in a scene which Miillert rightly
regards as poetically necessary, in order ' to insist upon the bounden
duty' of the act of vengeance, 'and on the other hand to expose the
atrocity of the act in itself, and to exhibit in the strongest liglit
that it is not from any passion of his own, but from the obligation
to avenge his father, and obey the behests of Apollo, that Orestes
slays his mother.' She is led in to death, and the Chorus sings an
ode reviewing the scenes of blood which they had lived to witness.
* ' The obvious external defect, that the action lingers too long at the same
point, without any sensible progress, appears, on reflection, a true internal per-
fection : it is the stillness of expectation before a deep storm or an earthquake.
It is true the prayers are repeated, but their very accumulation heightens the
impression of a great unheard-of purpose, for which human powers and motives
by themselves are insufficient.' Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Art. Lect. 9.
t Dissertations on the Eumenides, § 98, Eng. Trans. Ed. 2.
6
XVIU INTRODUCTION.
enforcing the justice of this last deed of violence, and rejoicing in
the deliverance which has come to themselves and to the house of
their masters, now rising again under a brighter sky. The last
scene shows us Orestes victorious, pointing to the bodies of the
miu'derers united in death, and apj^ealing for his justification to
the very implement by the help of which his mother slew his
father : but the curse of matricide has already begun to fasten on
him ; his brain reels as he connects the murderess with the means
of murder and recurs from the past to the present, and after an
endeavour to battle with his madness, and employ the few remaining
moments of sanity in speaking on his own behalf, he surrenders
himself to the Furies, who drive him off the stage, while the
Chorus follow him with a word of mingled hope and despair.
The difference between ^schylus and Sophocles is forcibly ex-
hibited by the chief points which the Choephoroe and Electra have
in common. The very circumstance which gives the former play
its name re-appears in the latter. Clyteemnestra has seen a dream,
which, though characteristically made less shocking than that
adopted by ^schylus, has the same general purport, and in con-
sequence she dispatches propitiatory offerings to her husband's
grave. These, however, are entrusted, not to Electra, but to Chry-
sothemis, another of her daughters, who has shown herself more
yielding and subservient, a change which at first sight appears
to render the story more natural, but which, more attentively
considered, will perhaps show that Sophocles had not penetrated
^schylus's design, as explained above, in making the murderess
send her gifts by the hand of the true chief mourner. It almost
follows from this that far le.ss stress is laid on the offerings them-
selves. Electra indeed, in her conversation with Chrysothemis,
shows herself fully sensible of the insult and mockery involved in
such an embassy from the slayer to the slain, and persuades her
sister to fling the libations away, and offer instead a small present
with a prayer, in both their names : but this is all ; we are not
present at the ceremony ; it is not mentioned afterwards as a thing
on which hope is grounded ; nay, when Chrysothemis returns, she
does not even inform us that it has taken place. In fact the titles
of the two plays, and the corresponding structure of each, show the
different conceptions entertained by the two poets. Sophocles,
who, it should be remembered, was writing not a part of a trilogy,
but an independent drama, makes Electra his central figure. She
INTRODUCTION. XIX
does not indeed prologuize, Orestes and the TratSaymyo? being intro-
duced first on the stage, apparently that the audience, being
informed of the catastrophe from the first, may be able to feel the
irony of the situation as the poet feels it himself; but she enters
immediately after their departure, and retains possession of the
stage in every subsequent scene. From the moment of her father's
death she has been his chief champion; Orestes was sent into
safety by her, not, as ^schylus represents it, removed before
Agamemnon's arrival by Clytoemnestra herself ; and ever since she
has retained her spirit unbroken, sustaining the insidts of her
mother and ^gisthus, and endeavouring to stimulate her brother's
purpose. In the commatic scene with the Chorus, we see how she
can repel even well-meant consolation. In the dialogue with
Chrysothemis we find her contrasted with her more compliant
sister, and tried by the threat of a worse punishment than she has
yet had to bear : we next see how she can confront her mother ;
and then comes the climax of all, the extinction of the hopes of
years in the reported death of Orestes, prostrating her for the
moment, but soon leaving her free to plan a work of vengeance
which her own hand is to execute. In this part of the play
Sophocles has been. thought to have the advantage of ^schylus,
who does not expose his Eiectra to this last crowning agony ; but
the ground for preference vanishes as soon as we perceive the
fundamental difference between the two dramas. That which in
the tale of human suffering intensifies the anguish has no place in
the story of divine retribution. Whether the real interest of the
narrative is connected with its supernatural, or its natural aspect,
may of course be made a question. Sophocles, in deviating from
the ^schylean ideal, was undoubtedly entering on a road which
subsequent experience and the predilections of later artists have
pronounced to be the legitimate walk of the drama. Those who
think that Sophocles' view approaches more nearly to the ultimate
truth of art may still admit that the story in his hands has lost
some of the grandeur with which it had been invested by JEschylus.
Eiectra, sublime in her lamentation over her brother's urn, is less
than heroic when, in the earlier part of the play, she details the
domestic insults to which she has to submit, or engages in a rhe-
torical argument with her mother. Nor can it well be denied that
the insignificance into which she sinks on the appearance of Orestes,
who is employed through a great portion of the scene in moderating
XX INTRODUCTION.
her transports and exhorting her to silence, is some impeachment
of the judgment which chose her to sustain the part of protago-
nistes.*
The Mectra of Euripides is an attempt to draw out the human
interest yet further, not so much by developing character as by
varying and amplifying the circumstances. Something is doubtless
to be attributed to the wayward spirit of opposition to ^schylus,
which here, as elsewhere, vents itself even on the stage, in Electra's
criticism of the evidence for her brother's return ; but much is
merely the natural result of the poet's theory of his art. He was
the tragedian of common life ; his gods and heroes are Athenians
of his own day, with divine or heroic names ; and he especially
delighted, as we know not only from his own works but from the
ridicule of Aristophanes, in exhibiting the contrast between the
tragic ' gold and pui'ple' and the rags and squalor of every-day
poverty. Accordingly he is not satisfied with making his Electra
the slighted and insulted inhabitant of a palace which is not hers,
but he removes her from home, and places her in the cottage of a la-
bouring man, who, though really respecting the sorrow of his master's
daughter, allows himself to be called her husband. Realizing in
action the servitude which in ^schylus appears to be no more
than a metaphorical expression, she enters with a pitcher of water
on her head, and is actually mistaken by her brother at first sight
for one of the serving-maids. The same endeavour after homely
reality is seen in the speech where she describes her wrongs, telling
how she must make her own clothes if she would not go without,
and how ^gisthus in his drunken fits leaps on her father's tomb.
The revenge is concerted, not in the palace or at the tomb, but in
the cottage, over a frugal meal ; and it is in the cottage that
Clytsemnestra herself is despatched, having been warned, as she
enters, by her daughter, with pretended deference, not to let the
smoky crib sully her robes. The descent is indeed rapid from the
Choephoroe to an Electra like this ; yet we can hardly refuse to
* ' To shape and mould particular characters into freer individuality, and to
descend into lower depths of the human heart, were reserved for Sophocles,
who, for this very reason, very often found himself obliged to detach, so to say,
the centre of poetic interest from the centre of action, as, for instance, in this
story, where, instead of Orestes, with his unreserved devotion to his call as
Avenger, he was obliged to make the more remote Electra his pi-otagonistes.' —
Miiller. Dissertations on the Eumenides, § 99.
INTRODUCTIOX. XXI
recognize in Euripides a disposition to complete the change which
Sophocles had begun, though we may feel that all the dignity
and glory of tragedy have vanished under the process.
It is justly observed by Miiller* that 'as ^schylus generally
makes the fable subordinate to the idea, so again the d elineation
of character rank s with him below the dp.vplnpjpprit o£^ ie fable.
andr-so-4tri§ay7'occupies only the third place. The characters.' he
goes on to say, speaking particularly of the Eumenides, but referring
also to the j^receding plays, ' are in themselves very well sustained,
in pe rfect keepin J^=:febtu:^jghout, and marked, moreover, by moi^
than o ne fine touch of in dividuality ; sTill they are no more^t han
--^ccfm^t^]iQ,--^wrh77^ ^ — ^rf'ar ^ily- mg rrrP^TtliPm to be.'
Af?5epting this as a true criticism, and admif^ng that the subtle"
study of character belongs rather to a later stage of dramatic
literature, we may remark nevertheless that Orestes, the chief
figure of the story, is more powerfully conceived by -^schylus than
by either of his two successors. The comparison which has fre-
quently been made between Orestes and Hamlet, is grounded
perhaps rather on the similarity of the two legends than on any
resemblance between Shakspere's Prince of Denmark and the
hero of the three tragedians ; but it may be safely said that the
Orestes of -^schylus is the only presentation of the character
which would naturally be thought of in such a connexion. To
institute a formal parallel between the two creations, between the
simplicity of the one and the infinite complexity of the other,
would of course be out of the question. The distance between the
revenge of Orestes and the revenge of Hamlet is little less than
the distance between the recovery of an inheritance, and the
setting right of a time that is out of joint. But the conflict of
human feelings, ignored wholly by Sophocles, and sketched by
Euripides with the feeble hand of an imitator, is substantially the
same in both ; and though the supernatural warning has not the
same function in -^schylus as in Shakspere, they may be com-
pared in respect of their relative moment in bringing about the
catastrophe. The same sense of the gravity of the deed to be done
appears in the results which its accomplishment is made to entail
upon its actor, Orestes is not allowed by -^schylus, as he is I5y
Sophocles, to quit the stage as the successful vindicator of right,
* §99-
XXll INTRODUCTIOX.
but is driven off by bis mother's Furies.* And so Sbakspere
suffers Hamlet to take vengeance on the murderer of bis father
only after the king's treachery has done its work, and the avenger
himself has not half an hour of life, ^schylus too, if I have
interpreted him rightly in the last scene of this play, stands alone
among the tragedians in his delineation of the gradual access of
madness, succeeding immediately upon the bloody act, and an-
ticipating the visible manifestation of the avenging goddesses.
The remaining characters in the Choepliorce may be dispatched
more briefly. Electra, in the scene with the Chorus at the tomb,
shows that penetrating sense of the awfulness of her mission which
it was the object of ^schylus to enforce throughout, and her
speech when she first begins to entertain the thought of her
brother's arrival as a thing possible is full of human feeling ; but
on the actual apj^earance of Orestes she sinks into her natural place
as a secondary character, and after the first half of the play her
function ceases. Clytsemnestra is the Clytsemnestra of the Aga-
memnon, and must be read in the light of that wonderful con-
ception. The prominence given to her is not great, but she
sustains her character throughout — in her stately welcome of the
strangers, her grief, not wholly feigned, for the new victim of the
' insatiate archer,' her calling for the axe when she finds herself
betrayed, and her final pleading for her life; and we feel that
-(^schylus has done wisely in sparing us a scene between her and
Electra, such as, in Sophocles, only derogates from her dignity, and
in Euripides almost makes us doubt whether there may not be
something to be said in her favour.t Of JEgisthus too little is seen
to justify criticism; we cannot tell how far his professed sorrow
* Here, as in the previous vacillation of Oreste,?, Euripides agrees with
J^lschylus rather than with Sophocles ; but though the revulsion of feeling is
naturally drawn, it is rather spoiled by the introduction of the Dioscuri, the
clearness of whose prophecy contrasts unfavourably with the cloud in which the
Choephoros ends. Yet, as Euripides was not writing a trilogy, he could hardly
have avoided indicating the final consummation with more or less distinctness.
+ The same might perhaps be said of the scene between Clytsemnestra and
the Chorus at the end of the Agamemnon; but there is this grave diffei'ence,
that in Euripides she is just on the point of suffering retribution, while in
jEschylus she is victorious, and has years of triumph before her, so that if any
sympathy with her is excited, it is not brought into collision with the course
of events.
INTRODUCTION. XXUI
for the new family calamity is more than a servile copy of Clytsem-
nestra's feeling, and perhaps all that can be said is that we are
intended to note the contemptuous reflection, so unseemly in his
mouth, on women as the weaker sex, and the self-confidence with
which he declares that, if a trick is intended, he is the person to
find it out. The rambling speech of the nurse, like that of the
watchman in the Agamemnon, shows that ^schylus paid some
attention to the sketching of characters from humbler life ; but a
certain pomp of language clings to him even where the matter to
be spoken of is meanest, and though the experience of the modern
drama has taught us that the high and the low may be exhibited
in juxtaposition on the stage, as in nature, without producing a sense
of incongruity, the violence of the contrast strikes us at once as
irreconcilable with the fitness of ancient art, and we pronounce the
attempt a failure. With regard to the Chorus, we need only
remark the discrimination which -^schylus has shown in making
them Trojan captives. Sophocles and Euripides, writing single
dramas, doubtless found it more natural to enlist on the side of the
brother and sister the sympathies of the maidens of the country
than those of foreign bondwomen; but the Chorus of the Choephorce
form a link with the preceding play, companions, so we may con-
sider them, of Cassandra, and though without her power of pro-
phetic insight, looking, like her, not only to the death of Aga-
memnon, but to the overthrow of Troy, yet feeling like her, by
bitter exi)erience, that the enemies of their rightful masters are
theirs also.
It does not appear possible to arrive at a definite conclusion in
detail about the scenic arrangements of the play, disputed as they
have been between Hermann and Miiller and his school. I have
adverted to one or two of the controverted points in the course of
the notes, where I have attempted to give such stage directions as
appear probable, reconciling as far as I could the requirements of
the theatre with those of the story. On the one hand it seems
possible that the ancient authorities (who are not always consis-
tent with each other), from their habit of enumerating ratliei
than generalizing, may have induced us to overrate the slender-
ness of theatrical resources, as if the scenery was always substan-
tially the same, whatever the play might be ; on the other hand it
is certain, from the whole structure of their drama, as well as from
external testimony, that the Greeks paid far less attention to scenic
Xxiv INTRODUCTION.
illusion than modern taste would exact, tlie spectators being con-
tent, as it were, to ' make believe' what the poet wished them to
do. I have also hazarded a conjecture on the apportionment of
the various parts among the three actors, which perhaps may-
approximate to the truth, though I do not pretend that the diffi-
culty is entirely removed. On the question of the number of the
Chorus I have no suggestion to offer. The materials for its solu-
tion to be found in the play itself are perhaps more scanty than
those afforded by the other dramas of the trilogy : at any rate
they seem to have been less frequently appealed to by the sup-
porters of the rival hypotheses. How far such internal proofs can
be obtained, at least in the present state of our knowledge, seems
very doubtful. It is not even clear to what extent we ought to
look for symmetry in the ordinary dialogue of tragedy, as, though
in some parts there are evident traces of it, others, where we
should expect to see it no less, appear to have nothing of the kind.
No play of ^schylus is so deficient in MS. authority as the
Choej^horce. Nominally we possess three MSS. containing it, and
the collation of a fourth — the Medicean, written in the tenth or
eleventh century, the Guelferbytan (Wolfenbiittel) in the fifteenth,
another of the same date, once in the Monastery of St. Mark, at
Florence, now in the Laurentian library, and the collation of one
which Robortello used for his edition of JEschylus, published in
1552. Keally the whole weight appears to rest on the first of the
four, the Medicean. The two other extant MSS. are ascertained
to have been transcribed from it, and it is supposed to have been
itself the one which Robortello collated. It has been collated at
least four times in whole or in part (independently of Robortello's
labours), the two last collations, which ap^Darently leave little to
be desired, being included respectively in Frauz and Hermann's
editions. It is owing to the loss of six successive leaves in this
copy that the Prologos of the Choepliorce appears in its present
mutilated state.
Xor](f)6poi, the Greek title of the play, has been variously Latinized
by the editors as Choephorce, Choephori, and Choephorce. The choice
seems to lie between the two latter, as the Romans appear to have
rendered the nominative plural ol by i or or, even when the noun
was a feminine one. So in Cic. Verr. Act. 2, Bk. 4, c. 3, all, or
nearly all the MSS. give Canephorce, and in c. 8, Caneplwros in the
accusative.
?rT¥ ,
J
XOH^OPOI.
OPE2TH2.
'TT^PMH -^Oovie Trarpw^ eTroTrrevcou Kodrtj,
-*-^ <T(jorhp yevov fAoi ^viufjLa-)(^69 r alrovjuLevM'
jJkco yap eg yijv r^vSe Kal Karep^o/uLai,
1 — 2 1 . Orestes and Pylades at the
tomb. They had probably entered
by the passage on the left of the
spectators, which appears to have been
the ordinary approach for strangers.
See Hermann, Vol. 2, pp, 649, 650,
This speech forms the Prologos (Ari-
stotle, Poet. 12), or, as it is sometimes
called, the first act of the play,. Orestes.
' Hermes, god of the dead and patron of
our house, assist me, I am returned
from exile, and am prajdng at my
father's tomb, paying it that honour
which I was not here to jDay at the
funeral. What is this ? A mourning
train of women, seemingly bringing
libations to the tomb, with my sister
Electra at their head. Let us stand
apart and see what they are about, '
I — 9. These lines do not appear in
the MSS., owing to a deficiency of
six pages in the Med, MS,, beginning
after Agam. 1159, V^^'^^IJ'O.v rpocpals.
vv. I — 5 were recovered by Can-
ter from Aristoph. Frogs, 1126, foil,,
where Euripides is supposed to discuss
them, vv. 6, 7, by Stanley from the
Schol. on Pind. Pyth. 4, 145, w. 8,
9, recently by Dindorf from the Schol.
on Eur. Ale. 768 (Cod. Vat. 909).
Something is obviously wanted to con-
nect w, 5, 6: the remaining lines
cohere sufl&ciently well with each other,
and with the rest of the speech,
though it is of course impossible to
decide whether anything has been lost
there or not, A line of ^schylus has
been preserved by the Schol, on Eur.
Or. 25, which may possibly belong to
this speech, aix-qxavov revxvp'-'^ xal
5vaeK\vTov, where Nauck, with great
probability, conj, rex^'VP'-^ {rvKrifia
Meineke) and dvaeKdvrov. Its refer-
ence to the garment in which Aga-
memnon was slain is asserted in the
citation, audit is not easy to see in what
other part of yEsch, it is likely to have'
occurred, unless we suppose the story of
the trilogy to have been taken up again
in the Proteus. Its structure, indeed,
would admit of its being inserted in
more than one passage of the Orestea,
but it cannot be said that it would
improve any. It is conceivable, too,
B 2
XOH^OPOI.
TVfjL^ov ^' eiT oy(0(i) rwSe KtjpvcTO-co irarpl
k\v€iv, oLKOvcrai. ^ *
VP TF ^ ■Tp Tfp
that the gloss in Hesych. d<r/cei5ots*
ypCKoh, dirapaaK€vois. AiVxi^^os 'A7a-
fiifivovL may refer to this part of the
Choepli., as the word is one used by
Soph, in the opening scene of his
Electra (v. 36), and the confusion of
the Ag. with the Choeph. occurs again
in Hesych, s. v. 701/105. But Bergk's
conjecture, referring it to the Mem-
Tiow (see Nauck, fr. 123), is sufficiently
probable.
I. 'EpfXTJ. Wordsworth suggests,
very probably, that Orestes is address-
ing a statue of Hermes which stood
with others, such as those mentioned
Ag. 50S, foil., in the front of Agamem-
non's palace, within sight of the tomb
— in support of which he refers to
Soph. El. 1374, irarpQa TrpoaKvaavd'
edr] QeQv, oaonrep xpowvXa valovcnvTabe,
Eur. Hipp, roo, Schneider on Theh.
27, 490, noticing also the similar ad-
dress of Strepsiades (Aristoph. Clouds,
1478, foil.) dXX', cD 0tX' 'E/)/x?7, /j.7]Sa/j.Qs
dvfiaive /J.01. . . . Kai fxoi. yeuov ^vfj.^ov\os.
See note on v. 583, below. This
being premised, it is natural to inter-
pret irarpipa Kparr) of the palace, or
royal domain of Agamemnon, which
Hermes surveys, and which Orestes
wishes to regain (comp. v. 480), an
interpretation confirmed by the pa-
rallel words in Electra's prayer, v. 127,
Trarpwoiv bwfiOLTOiv einaKOTrovs, though
opposed to that of the majority of
editors, and of Wordsworth himself,
who, following Bacchus in Aristoph.
I. c, suppose Hermes to be invoked
as exercising his father's function as
Xd^vios, and perhaps as aojrrjp (comp.
Eum. 89, foil., where the adjuration is
somewhat similar). From the Schol.
on Aristoph. it appears that Aristar-
chus understood Trarpy' of Agamem-
non, though the same authority adds
that he followed the Aristophanic
Euripides further in supposing Kparr}
to refer to his overthrow by ^gisthus.
Wordsworth notices x^o'^'f as an ex-
ample of a tribrach contained by a
single word, comparing ^evia, Ag.
1596.
3 — 5. The Aristophanic Euripides
criticizes tjkoo Kal Karepxap-ai as tauto-
logical, and is answered that Karepxo-
fxaL implies more than t/kw, signifying
return from exile. So KaTeifit {Ag.
1283), Kardyo} {Eur. Med. roil, and
Porson's note), to which Wordsworth
adds, KaTairXelv, Hdt. i, 165, Kara-
hex^adai, Plato Rep. 8, p. 561 b.,
KaroLKL^eiv, Eum. 756. The reply
is so obvious, that it is difficult to
see the joke of Euripides' objection,
unless the point lies in exhibiting him
as a mere caviller. He makes the
same remark on kXv€iv, dKovaai, but it
is put off with a jest. Whether ^sch.
really intended any difference between
the words is hard to say. It has been
argued from Prom. 448, k\6ovt€s ovk
i]Kovov, that k\6€lv means to hear,
aKovetv to hearken: but in Ag. 1244,
5, where both words are used, k\ij€iv
appears to be, if any thing, the
stronger of the two. At any rate,
Eur. himself delights in this and similar
tautologies. Wordsworth refers to
Phcen. gig, ovk ^kXvov, ovk iJKovaa,
ib. 1335; Eacch. 554, 573; Hij^p.
546, 1068; Androm. 95; Ale. 108;
Orest. 940, and to Seidler, Be Vers.
T>ocJim. p. 352. In rySe, v. 4, as
Wordsworth remarks, Orestes turns
to the tomb, having previously looked
towards the palace and the statue of
XOH^OPOI.
Tov Sevrepov Se TovSe irevQtjTrjpLov
l|P 9J& ' ^ TF *t^ ^
01) yap irapbiv wjuw^a o-ov, irarep, jmopov,
ovS'' e^ereiva X^^P ^'^' iiccpopa veKpov.
^iv 7(r yjc 7J7 tJt •!>
Ti XP^^^ Xevcra-oo ; t/? ttoO' ^'^' onir/yvptg
crrelx^f^ ywaiKwu (papecriv jULeXayx^l^oig
irpeTTOvara ; 'ttolol ^v/UL(popa TrpocreiKaaro) ;
10
Hermes, The exact position of the
tomb is a matter of dispute, Her-
mann placing it in the proscenium,
Miiller and his school supposing that
it forms the thymele of the orchestra.
Krjpvcra-is} explains further the puqDose
for which Orestes invokes Hermes,
wlio is himself a herald, and the god
of heralds (Ag. 515), and so makes
the voice of the living enter into the
ears of the dead. See v. t2^ note.
6. The sentence is incomplete:
Orestes, however, seems to say that
he is bringing two locks of hair, one
an offering to Iiiachus, the other to
his father. The Greeks, as we learn
from Eustath. II. 2, p. 165, Pollux,
2. 3, Hesiod Theog. 347, used to offer
their hair to Apollo Kovporpbcpos, and
the rivers, as an acknowledgment of
nurture received from them {dpeirTr]-
ptov.) So Achilles, in the well-known
passage of Homer {II. 23. 140, foil.),
preserves his hair for the Sperchius,
but transfers the offering to Patroclus.
The belief that rivers were the fos-
terers of youth is of course accounted
for sufficiently by their invigorating
properties. QpeirTTjpLov here is a
subst., and so has nothing to do with
tlie common expression rpecpeiv KOfMrju,
alere, or pascere crinem. This class
of substantives, denoting the price
paid for a thing, is almost exclusively
used in the plural, as Wordsworth
observes ; comp. however \ijTpov.
8, 9. IlapCju cpfxco^a is Dindorf's
correction of Trapt^^w^a, the reading of
the Schol. Vat. ' I was not on the sjiot
to bewail thy death.' Comp. v. 1014,
vvv airoLfjub^o} irapthv. The words oi)S'
i^ereiva xetp' occur Eur. Ale. 768,'
and so give the Schol. occasion to
quote the present passage. The cus-
tom is mentioned again Eur. Supp.
772, where Musgrave refers to Phi-
lostratus' Heroica on the Locrian
Ajax, Travras de, ws ivl dvdpl dya6(^,
Xe?/5as apacrdaL.
10. Electra and the Chorus are
seen approaching in the direction of
the tomb. (Whether they enter toge-
ther through the central or royal door,
epKeia 6vpa, or separately, is a ques-
tion. Electra, by herself, not being
the TrpiOTayuvia-TTjs, would naturally
enter through one of the side doors —
probably that called yvvuLKeiovs irvXas,
V. 878, where see note. When seen
by Orestes they appear to be together,
as he would hardly have been curious
about the proceedings of the Chorus
as distinguished from those of Electra,
though Herm, argues from Electra's
language, v. 85, that she has arrived
at the tomb before them.)
12. nrpeirovaa. Ag. 30, 321, 1311;
Buttmann's Lcxil. v. deoTpdiros.
XOH^OPOL
TTorepa oo/ULOKri irrjiaa •wpoa-Kvpei veov \
rj TTttTjOi TCOfJLM TaoS^ €7r€lKa<Tag TU^ft)
XO(^S (pepovcrag veprepoig fxeiXiyiuLaTa ;
ovSev TTOT aWo' Ka\ yap ^HXeKrpav Soku>
(TTelyeLv aSeXcptjv rhv ejurjv irevOei \vypu>
irpeirovcrav. w Ziev, Sog lue TLcaa-Oai [xopov
irarpog, yevov ce ^^vjufia'^og OeXcov i/moi.
TlvXdSt], G-raOwjixev ckitoScov, cog av cacpcog
julolOo) yvpaiKwv ijrig rjSe irpoa-Tpoirr].
XOPOS.
laXrog e/c Sojucov ejBav
^(^oag TrpoTTO/ULTrbg 6^v')(€ipi cvv ktvttm.
J5
20
(7T/
13. TTTJfMa, MSS. TTTUfia, Turnebus'
correction of the Aldine Troytia.
14. Tvyxdvoj with the part, has the
force of 'to be right in doing a thing/
as in w. 317, 418. The so called
deliberative conjunctive is apparently
a relic of the Homeric use of the conj.
as equivalent to the fut. indie. {Od. 5.
465, (pfioL eyib, rl Trddo: ; tL vv fiot
fiT^KKXTa yevTirat ;) so that we may be
prepared to find that in the tragedians,
though seemingly confined to the ist
person, or its equivalent (Wordsworth
in Phil. 3Ius., vol. L, p. 238), it is
sometimes used as here, v. 171, Euvi.
678, where the question raised is not
one within the power of the speaker,
and where consequently there can be
no deliberation, as if it were an ordi-
nary future, or an opt. with dv. TdcrS'
iireLKaaoj tu^w (pepovaas is constructed
like ravT dXrjdT] Kal ^Xeirovra do^daoj,
V. 844, iireiKd^o} (for which see on
V. 976) having virtually the force of
vofil^u}, and similar verbs. The parallel
between the conj. and the indie, fut.
is well drawn out by Donaldson, Neio
Cratylus, bk. 4. oh. 3.
15. fji€L\iyfxacnv, MSS., /xeiXiyfiara,
Casaubon. Independently of the
question about the use of the dative
to express design or tendency, which
is rather Latin than Greek, rather
Thucydidean than ^schylean, it is
more probable that peprepocs should
= v€Kpols, as in v. 405, Pers. 619, and
fieiXiyfiaTa stand in opposition to
Xods ixods T doivovs, vrj<pdXia /xeiXiy-
/xara, Eum. 107, xoas ^epova', direp
veKpoiat fxeLXLKTTjpia, Pers. 609), than
that peprepoLS /xeLXiy/xaaip should be
constructed together in the sense of
inferice. It is easy to suppose that
an injury to a MS. happened to obli-
terate the last letters of the line, and
that a subsequent transcriber mistook
peprepois for an adj., with which a
subst. was wanted to agree.
1 8 . The sight of Electra, as Klau-
sen remarks, makes Orestes think of
revenge.
20. CKTrodup or e/c TrodQp, MSS.,
€Kiro8up, Stanl.
2 1 , TrpocTTpoTrr) is rightly explained
by Wordsworth, and Liddell and
Scott, a band of suppliants, like <pvyi^,
XOH<I>OPOI.
J/
prt'L^ (poivloig ajuLvyfJLoig
ovu^os aXoKi veoTOfJLW*
Sl* alwvog S' ivyjULola-i ^oa-Kerai Keap,
\ivo(p06poL o vcpaa-jmcLTOOv
25
Supp. 329, 359, Thuc. viii. 64, Sou-
Xeia, Thuc. V. -23. Orestes and Py-
lades retire, doubtless in the direction
by which they entered.
•22 — 83, Chorus. ' I come with liba-
tions for the tomb, my cheeks bloody,
my garments torn, my breast beaten
{Str. I.) There has been an alarm in
the palace from a dream, which the
soothsayers interpret of the displeasure
of the dead {Ant. i.) Hereupon the
impious queen sends me with a pro-
pitiatory offering, as though anything
could atone for a life once spilt. Alas
for the house ! Gloom and destruction
hover over it, now that its master is
no more {Str. 2.) Natural loyalty is
gone, and is succeeded by a crouching
fear of prosperous tyranny. The
usurpers enjoy the present: the desti-
nies of the rightful heirs ai-e in the
future: the dead have only the past
{Ant. 2.) The taint of blood will not
wear out : the guilty is plagued for his
deeds {Str. 3.) As lost chastity can-
not be repaired, murder cannot be
cleansed {Ant. 3.) But I am a slave,
bound to obey the commands laid on
me, and can only weep in secret
{Epode.y This forms the Parodos, or
song sung by the Chorus on entering.
(See Miiller, Diss., § 16.)
22. ^^v, MSS., ^^v^, Rob.
23. The construction of xocts with
irpSirofiTTos is defended by Soph. (Ed.
C 1019, 65ou KaTcipxecv TTJs €Ke?, iro[x-
irbv de /xe Xwpeij/, where TOfxirdv appa-
rently refers to Creon, not to Theseus,
who puts himself under Creon' s gui-
dance. Hickie {Classical Museum,
vol. 6, p. 249), refers to Lexicon
Sangerm. (Bachmann's Anecdota, i,
346), irofxirbv crvvo^oLirbpov koI irpo-
TT^IxTTOvra. Other instances of verbal
substantives or adjectives constructed
with an ace. are found in Prom.
904, diropa Tr6pi/Jbos, Pers. 981, fivpia
TrefiiraaTdv, Ag. 1625, rov^ i]KovTas
oiKovpSs. cvvK^irTi^, or dv KUTTTC^},
MSS. <xi)V KT^TTCp, Amald. d^vxeipt
KTVTTCj} clearly means the sharp sound
of the hands, not the sound of sharp
hands, so that this has been called a
case where one part of the compound
adj. refers to the subst., while the other
part stands for another subst. in the
genitive (Jelf, Gr. Gr., § 435, a. obs.) ;
perhaps, however, it is rather to be
classed with those compounds where
the first part alone is really significant,
the second being merely an orna-
mental addition of more or less ap-
propriateness, like piov6\p'n(f)ov ^t'^oy,
Find. Nem. 10. 11, and othei-s col-
lected by Paley, Append. B to the
and ed. of his Suppllces. So, perhajiJS,
dpicTToxei-p dywu, Soph. Aj. 935.
24. (poivL(raa/xvyfj-o2s, Med. cpoLvloLt
afxvyfioLs, Stanl. If the metre re-
quires pure iambics, as Hermann as-
serts, it would be better to read
irp^Trei Trapfjai (poLviaLs d/xvyp-bs than,
as he proposes, (pobios 5Lcoy/j.6s ; but
the reading in the text is superior to
either in sense and construction, &\okl
forming a natural epexegesis to dp.vy-
P-OLS.
26. dLOLypio?cn, MSS. 5' lvyp.o?ai,
Canter.
27. \ivo(p66poL \aKi8es = XaxtScs
\lv(x}i> (pdapivTCJV, like p.rirpoKT6iov
piiaafJLa, Euni. 281, dvdpo^dopov at'^a-
a
XOH$OPOI.
XaKLoeg e(j)\aSov vir aXyecriVf
irpoa-TepvoL arroXjULol
ireifKodv ayeKao'TOL^
^viiKpopaig 7r€7r\r]y]UL€vcov.
Topog yap opOoOpi^ (pofiog,
OOjULWV OVeipOjULaVTKf, 6^ VTTVOV KOTOV
irvecov, aoypovvKTOv afx^oa^a
fJLvyoOev eXaKe irep). (bo^cp,
yuvaiKeloicTLv ev Scojuiacriv ^apvg ttItvmv.
30
35
Tos, Soph. Ant. 1022. \aKi8es are
not the rendings, but the rents or
tatters, as in Pers. 835, Xa/ciSes —
CTfifioppayovaL itoiklKojv iaOrj/xdrcov,
irpoaTepvGL (TToXfiol iriirXiav ireirXriyixi-
VU3V being in apposition. Comp. a simi-
larly expressed case of epexegesis,
■^9- 995 J cnrXdyxi'a' 5' ovri /xard^ei,
irpbs iv8l.KOLs fppealv reXeacpopoLS divats
KVKXoTup.evov Keap. (Hermann's con-
struction, after the SchoL, aToXfiol
XaKides i(pXa8op, * the robes burst into
tatters/ is harsh in the last degree,
and not supported by Pers. 835,
where Trdvra is obviously adverbial ;
it is, however, necessary if Xivo(pd6pot
be understood actively, as XaKldes, in
the sense of rendings, cannot be in
apposition to aroX/uioi.) ^v/xcpopais is
the dative of circumstance or con-
dition, more ordinarily introduced by
eTTi. So OavdroLaifV. 53, ri^xais, v. 82.
28. dXyeai, MSS. dXyeaiu, Etijm.
M., p. 403, Porson.
29. irpoaTeXvoi, MSS. TrpodTeppoi,
Turn.
32. Topos yap (polios dpdodpi^,
MSS. Topos yap opdodpL^ (po^os,
Heath (06/3os from Tumebus), rightly,
as appears from the context, the
explanation of the SchoL, 6 aa^r]s
4>o^os 5i' oveipcjv fiavTevdfievos, and
the parallel passage, v. 929. 9j Kdpra
fcdvTis ov^ ovetpdrcov (pd^os. Probably
the order became accidentally confused,
and the corruption was then in-
troduced to help the metre, ^o^os
irepl ^6^(p fKaKev, a harsh and at
first sight improbable expression, the
feeling being first personified and
then made to produce itself as its
own efiect, is well supported by
Wordsworth from Eur. Ale. 50,
where Qdvaros is said ddvarov e/x^aXetu,
Iph. Aul. 775, "Aprjs .... KVKXwaas
dpei, and even Milton {Hymn on
Nativity, v. 51), 'meek- eyed Peace
. . . strikes a universal peace through
sea and land.' See also v. 65 below,
note.
35. fivxodev has a double reference:
to the female apartments, as in v. 447,
Ag. 96, Soph. Ant. 1293, which is
further explained hyyvvaiKeioLGLvev hds-
fiaaip, and to the adj-tum from which
the oracular voice proceeded. The
intention of the whole passage i s merely
to express by a personification the
shrieks of Clytemnestra, v. 535 : but
as her alarm was prophetic of her fate,
the imagery throughout is oracular.
The correction ^XaKe for eXa^e is
found in the Med. itself, irepl 06/3(^
^a/ce, as dfM<pt rdp^et eirdifxco^ev in
the parallel passage, v. 547. Comp.
Pers. 696.
36. yvvaLKiotcnv,'MSS. yvvaiKeloLaiv,
Vett. tltvCjv, MSS. ttLtvuv, Blomf.
XOH<I>OPOI,
9
KOLTai T€ TWl/O oveipaTWV
QeoOev eXaKov vireyyvoi
luL€iuL(j)6a-6ai Tovg yag
vepOev TrepiOvjUicog 40
TO?? KTaVOVG-L T €yKOT€lP,
ToidvSe yapLv ayapiv airoTpoirov KaKcov, (TTp. /3\
ICO yaia juaia, juLcojULeva jii laWei 45
^vcrOeog yvvd. (po(3oviuLaL S^ eirog toS' eK^aXelv,
TL yap Xvrpov irearovTog al^arog Treoo) ;
I to irdvoi^vg kcTTLa,
1(0 KaTacKacpal Sojulcov. ^O
dvrfKiOLi (BpoTocTTvyeig
SvocpoL KaXvTTTOVCriV SojULOVg
37. Kpirai, the interpreters, as
distinguished from the fxdvTis or re-
pacTKOTTos, who makes the response
or communicates the portent. Comp.
vv. 542, 551. Elsewhere, as in Theb.
24, &c., the /xdvTLS performs both
functions. Kpirai tupB', MSS. Kpi-
rai re rQud\ Porson.
38. vireyyvoi appears from Hdt.
5.71, Eur. Hec. 1029, to be said of
the giver rather than of the receiver
of a pledge. ' They spoke on oath. '
Oebdev, then, will go with 'iXaKOv, like
fivxodev ^XaKe just above. 'iXaxov,
MSS. '^XaKOv, Turn.
44. xdptj/ axapiv, Prom. 545, Ag.
1545. dirorpoTTOV has the second
syll. lengthened in Eur. Phoen. 586.
Elmsley's dxdpirov would make the
metre correspond more exactly to v.
54 ; but it is plain from Eum. 144,
150, 169, 174, that such precision was
, not required in the case of iambic
Itrimeters.
I 45. fiaXa. TrpocrcpiJiPrjaii wpbsTrpea^vriu
yLfx-qriK-q, dvrl rod S) rpo<pe, Hesych.
Ipomp. v. 66. VTo x^oi'6s rpocpov.
the word occurs as a synonyme for
p.rjTrip, Eur. Alc. 393, so that it is
difficult to see why Hei-mann should
call it 'ineptum.' p-wpiev dp.iXXei,
Med. piwpieva pi idX.Xei, Stanl.
46. It is better to refer eVos rod'
to the preceding sentence, particularly
the words dirbrpoTrov KaKLov, than to
the prayer which is to accompany the
libations. Electra's speech, v. 85,
foil., seems to show that they were
not charged with the delivery of the
prayer, being merely there to assist
her in carrying the libations, as the
name XoTjcpopoi imports, though she
embraces the occasion to take them
into counsel.
47. Xvypbv MSS., Xirpov Canter,
an obvious and necessary correction,
restoring one of Ji^schylus's favourite
sentiments, theimpossibiUty of atoning
for blood spilt. Comp. vv. 72, 520,
Ag. 1018, Emi. 647, Supp> 443.
Klausen cites an imitation from
Soph. El. 447, apa p.y] boKeh Avrripi'
avrfj ravra rod (jibvov (j)^peLv ; Ovk
'iariu.
52. /caXi/TTTOutrt MSS., KoXvirrovaiv
Blomf. See v. 64.
10
XOH^OPOL
oecnroTav Oavaroia-i. fai^T. j3\
cri^ag S' afxa^ov, aSdjUiaTOVf airoXejULov to irplv^ 54
OL WTwv (ppevog re Sa/uLiag irepalvov,
vvv a<pL(TTaTai. cpo^eirai oe Ti?. to <^' euTV^eiv,
Too^ €v iSpoToig Oeog re Kal Oeov TrXiov. 60
poira S^ eiTLcrKoireL AiKag
Ta)(€ia Tovg fxev ev (pder
53. SeaTorQu, MSS. SeaTrordv,
Paley, as in v. 82. davdroKn. MSS.
davdroLcnv, Herm.
54. aMixavTov, MSS. ddd/xarov,
Herm.
55. 5i' CoTuv is to be explained by-
such phrases as aKoijeiv, K\^eiu tlvos,
the ear being regarded as the recipient
of command, ^tup and (ppevds asso-
ciated as in V. 451, Theb. 25, comp.
by Blomf. ^peves re Med. Guelf.
(ppevos re Vett.
5 7. (po^draL 5e rts. dvrl rod eKaaros
(po^eTrai, SchoL, who wrongly adds
(pdiy^aaOai. The connexion is, ' the
sense of majesty is departed ; yet men
tremble, for prosperity is ever wor-
shipped.' So the herald in A(/. 549
asks Kul TTws dirovTiav Kotpdvwp 'irpeis
Tipds; as though it were strange that
those who owed duty to a constituted
authority should have any one to fear
in its absence. Fear is, with^sch.,
the binding principle of society {Eiim.
517, 698), and it generally departs
utterly with the overthrow of lawful
government {Pers. 584, foil, which is an
Oriental and exaggerated counterpart
of vv. 54, 5 of the present passage);
here, however, where royalty has been
succeeded by tyranny, fear remains,
though loyalty is no more. With the
expression comp. Fum, 506, rXd/xup
de rts (xdrav iraprjyopei.
60. So Soph., El. 150, makes
divinity synonymous with happiness.
debv, ' I worship thee, because thou
art happy in thy lot of weeping.' The
chorus in Eur. EL 994, addresses
Cl_yt£emnestra xatpe, (je^l^w <x* laa.
Koi fiaKupas UXouTov iJ.€yd\7}s r
evdaifiopias.
61. SkaVjMSS. 5t'/cas Turn. Schol,
i] TTjs dlKTjs poTT-q. The general sense
is, ' These are in the light, as the scale
of justice inclines : the fates of others
are " toiling in the gloom" of twilight :
others are in night helpless and hope-
less,' — the three parties being (as
Bamberger and Hermann have seen)
^gisthus and Clytsemnestra, who are
having their day ; Orestes and Electra,
whose day is yet to come ; and Aga-
memnon, whose day is past. (The
common interpretation, which sup-
poses ^sch. to be speaking of the
different times of life at which ven-
geance overtakes men, is much less
definite and appropriate.) "With
poTTo, eiTLcrKoiret comp. Supp.^ 402,
dfj.(poT€povs 'Op.alp.oiv rdd' iiriaKoirei
7i€vs eTepoppeTrrjs. poird 5iKas €Tri(TKOireL
is equivalent to Ukt] perrovaa eincrKoirei,
poTTTj being the inclination of the
balance which brings different fortune
to different persons. It is the balance of
justice, not merely of fortune, though
the moment is that of the triumph of
evil, for justice carries things on to ;
the end, wdv eirl repp-a vup^d, Ag. 782.
62. TOis, MSS. Tovs, Turn. What
the Schol. read is not quite clear, a.
while one gloss gives tov% p.kv iiria-Kc
XOH^OPOI,
11
Ta ^' €U ixeTaiyjiLM ctkotov
jUievei ')(j)ovL^ovO' aa-vya.'
Toug S^ oiKpavTog €-)(€i vv^,
01 aijuLaT eKTroOevO' viro -^Oovog rood)
ou
65
CTp. 7',
Trei Tttx^ws, another says rots /mh
olvtI tov Toiis iM€v. The accus. is sup
ported by the general use of einaKoireiu.
and by Sitpp. 402, though there Her
mann reads d/mcpoT^poLS after Schvitz
raxela, because they are enjoying their
happiness at once, while the pros
perity of the rightful heirs is yet to
come. As a period of enjoyment the
present time is short ; as a period of
waiting it is long.
6^. ra Se is used rather than ol 5e',
as Orestes and Electra cannot them-
selves be said to be in the twilight,
though their destinies may. iu fxe-
ratX/W'tV o-KOTOv is a condensed expres-
sion for ev fxeraix/J-l'V o'kotov koI cpdovs,
like ey /xecru} drjirovdev d-^p eaTL 7-^5,
Aristoph. Birds, 187, 'the air is mid-
way between earth {and heaven). ' For
other instances see Shilleto on Dem.
Fals. Leg., p. 100.
64. The MSS. read fiivei. xpovl^ovr
evxv or dxv jSpveL. Paley has restored
sense and metre by reading /x^vei xpovi-
tovd' davxd, the slightest possible
change, being merely that of C for G .
The only doubt seems to be whether
PpveL has crept in as an explanation of
IxeveL or vice versa, ^pvei is acknowledged
by one of theglosses of theSchol. ^pvei'
dvdei, and would be the more forcible
word of the two, expressing the
quickening of events in the womb of
the future {^/x^puov). The word was
evidently found here by the copyist
who interpolated v. 65 after v. 69 ;
but this would merely prove that the
corruption is of comparatively old
standing.
65. dKpavTot has its ordinary sense
of 'ineffectual,' as in v. 882, Ag. 248,
making night contrast as strongly as
possible with the daylight of power
and enjoyment, and with the twilight
which contains the hope of day. Aga-
memnon is one of the p€k6o}u d/xevrjua
Kdprjva, consigned to a state of
blank and utter obstruction, of du-
ration without progress, where work
is for ever undone, and questions
for ever unsolved. Comp. Job 10.
22, 'A land of darkness, as dark-
ness itself, and of the shadow of
death, without any order, and where
the light is as darkness.' Schiitz
aptly refers to the Latin nox intern-
2)esta, as explained by Servius, 'in-
actuosa.' (His suggestioi^ aKparos
vv^, as opposed to jxeTaLXP-l'^ crKdrov,
which Din dorf adopts, is infinitely less
poetical.)
66. The common notion that blood
spilt cries out for vengeance is varied
by the addition of the epithet Tp6(pov,
which implies, as Klausen remarks,
that the earth resents the shedding of
blood as an outrage to herself in her
maternal character, as the parent of the
slain and the fosterer of life generally.
The mythological connexion between
Demeter and Erinnys is drawn out by
MliUer, Diss., §§ 80-88. Comp. also
Numbers 35. 33, 34. Perhaps there
may be something of the same con-
trast between death and life intended
in Horn. II. 3. 243, tovs 5' ^87; Karix^v
^vaiioos ala, to which Mr. lluskin
has just been calling attention {Modern
Painters, vol. 3, p. 167), as an in-
stance where 'the high poetical truth'
is ' carried to the extreme/ by the
12
XOH^OPOI.
rlrag (povog Treinjyev, ov SiappvSav.
SiaXyrjg ara SLa(p€p€i
Tov a'lTLov TravapKerag: vocov /Spveiv.
OLyovTL o oure vvjucpiKcJov eSooXicov
avT.
y. 71
assertion of the 'pure fact,' without
regard to the circumstances in which
it is mentioned, though it should be
remembered that the use of perpetual
epithets is a common characteristic of
early epic or ballad poetry, the epithet
becoming in fact as much an inva-
riable mark of the thing as the
noun.
67. (povos combines the notions of
bloodshed and murder, the stream of
blood itself being regarded as avenging.
With 06j'os weTTjyev Klausen well
comp. Tkeb. 'j^6, kuI x^^via kovls irl-r)
fj-eXafiTrayes aljxa (polvLOv. yrewriyev ap-
parently expresses the curdling or con-
gelation which takes place after death.
SoperhapSj7rdxj/a Kovpo^6p(^,Ag. 15 12.
In the present passage the blood that
remains on the ground appears to be
distinguished from that which soaks
through, as if he had said, ' the earth
has drunk so much that she will
receive no more, so it lies in a
clotted mass {irekavos al/xaroacpayris,
Fers. 816) on her surface.' Comp.
Eur. El. 318, atfjia S' ernraTpos Kara
areyas ^leXav aearjirev. diappi'dap,
which is an adverb like eXiydrju,
Prom. 882, crvpdrju, Pers. 54, depdrjv
■^9- 235, not, as some have supposed,
an inf., or the neuter of a verbal
adj., will then imply flowing through
rather than flowing away. 8iappu8du
MSS. dLappvddv Blomf., diappvdav,
Herm.
68. dLarpepec dcaaTrapdaaei, Schol.,
which is also a gloss in Med. dtacpepei
TOV aLTLov is equivalent to dtacpepei rd
fieXrj TOV ahlov. Comp. Eur. Bacch.
759' ^^^O'l' 5e dapLdXas diecpopovv cnra-
pdyp,aaLV, Virg. ^n. viii. 642, ' Met-
tum . . . quadrigae Distulerant. ' This
interpretation seems to agree better
with diaXyris and voaov ^pveiv, than
Heath's «(//^a<, Klausen' s administrat,
Paley's inslgnem reddit, or Hermann's
differt auctori pcenam.
69. 7rauapK€Tas is apparently to be
constructed with vocrov as an adj. of
three terminations, like eixpiXrjTav
Tkeb. 108, irepLKXixTTa Pers. 596, a
licence which ^sch. may have taken
here for the sake of euphony. Butler
(curae secund^e ap. Peile) comp. Suidas,
iravapKeor tov fieydXov Kal dvpaTov, a
reference belonging to Callim. fr. 48,
iravapKeo% rjeXtoto. That wavdpKeTos,
though found nowhere else, might exist
with a similar signification, is plain
from the analogy of dp/ceros, which oc-
curs in a quotation in Athenseus, p. 113
b., in the sense of sufficient. We may
then render it ' never failing, ' after the
Schol., TTJs etj irdvTa tov -Xfibvov
dpKovarjs avT(3, and comp. Soph. Ant.
611 foil., TO T iireLTa Kal r6 pi^XXov
Kal TO irplv eirapKecrei v6p.os 08', ov8ev
epwei dvaTWV ^lOTii} irdpt^iroXis ^ktos
uTas. With voaov ^pieiv (the gen.
as in Soph. (Ed. C. 16), comp. Eur.
fr. inc. 107 T, dXXoop laTpbs avTos eX-
KecTLv ^pvoov. After this line the
MSS. repeat v. 65, tovs 8' uKpavTos
e'xet vv^, obviously the insertion of a
transcriber whose eye wandered back
to (Spijei, the old reading in v. 62.
71. wairep ry iin^dvTi vvpLtpiKijs
kXlvtis ovk ^(XTiv taacs irpbs dvairap-
devevcnv TrjS KoprjS, ovtcjs ov8^ t(^ (povel
TcdpeaTL TTopos irpos aKecnv tov (p6vov.
Schol. oi/rt MSS., oure Bothe. ovt€ — re
XOH$OPOI.
13
aK099 'TTopoL re iravreg e/c /Xia? o^ov
/SacuovTcg top ^^epoiJ-varj
(povov KaOaipovTeg "^lovarav arrjv.
express a comparison, like oi/re — oijre,
vv. 258, 260, re — re, Tkeb. 584, 5,
neque — nee, Hor. 3 OcZ. 5. 27 foil.
vvfxcpiKa €dd>XLa = vvfji,(pu}v, as ttcoXi/co,
iduiXia, Theh. 445, = irapdevuv. To
break into the bridal chamber is of
course equivalent to deflowering the
bride. Comp. Hor. 3 Od. 16. i,
' Inclusam Danaen turris aenea E,o-
bustffique fores . . . munierant satis
Nocturnis ab adulteris.' With the
position of otyovTL at the beginning
of the sentence, 'to denote that it
holds good with regard to the person
or thing' (Jelf, § 600. 3), comp.
V. 471, Sdifiacriv ^fifiOTOv tQv5' a/cos.
With a/cos vvfLcpLKuiu idcoXiuv, a remedy
of, or in the matter of, the chamber,
comp. Eum. 645, ireSas ju-eu hf Xvaeiev,
'icTTL TOud' dKOS, ib. 649, TOVTCOV iTTip-
Scts. Strictly of course ovre should
have preceded otyovTi, as the force of
the latter does not extend to TropoL re
iravres, but ^sch. wished to put the
emphatic word first. (dLyovri,, Stephens'
correction, received by Blomfield, Bam-
berger, Hermann, &c., though very
plausible, is perhaps less forcible than
the common reading, and less adapted
to the structure of the sentence. The
metrical argument has been answered
on V. 44. oLyeLV does not always
mean to open from within, as Words-
worth objects, though when used of a
door it will generally have that sense,
as doors in Greece were opened from
within ; comp. otvov, iridov o'CyeLU,
Hom, Od. 3. 392, Hes. Worls, 817,
where, as here, it may be translated
to break open.)
72. TvbpoL, not expedients, but
rivers, as the context shows. Comp.
Earn. 451, d(f>L€pd}fJL€9a . . . pvrois
TTopoLs. €K fiids 65ou IS wcll illustrated
by Bamberger, who refers to the
words of a Scholiast prefixed to The-
ocritus for the fact that Orestes was
ordered by the Delphic oracle to wash
in seven streams flowing from the same
source ; ^pT^c/Aos i^eireaev, iv iTTTa
iroTa/moLS iK puds Trrjyijs peovaiv aTo-
Xoijcraadai. odov would seem to im-
ply that the streams are here con-
ceived of not only as rising from a
common source, but as flowing to-
gether, i^ obov being like j3e^T]Kei> . . .
e| aKLPrjTOv -rrodos, Soph. Track. 875.
' Though all the streams on earth were
to flow together, it would be in
vain.'
73, 4. xot'pO|Wi;(rT7 MSS., x^P^/^^^^V
Person, ^aivoures cannot be recon-
ciled with the metre, and the com-
bination of the two participles §aivov-
res . . . Kadalpovres is rather awkward,
though not unexampled in ^sch.
Perhaps KaOaipovres should be substi-
tuted for j3aivovT€s, which may very
well have been a gloss, and a lacuna
of four syllables indicated in v. 74
after (f>6uov. lovcrav axTjf is a palpable
corruption, the latter word obviously
from pLaTTjv, as Scaliger long since
pointed out, the former perhaps from
Xvaeiav av. Comp. Xvrpov aip-aros
above, v. 48, Xvcraad' al/j.a v. 804 ;
(poi/cp (p6vov Xvovras, Soph. (Ed. R.
too; Eur. Or. 510, 598. (Other
conjectures are 'iXovaav, Scaliger,
piovcTLv, Heath, Wvcrav, Musgrave and
0. Midler, KXvaaiev or KXvffei.au du,
Bamberger and Franz ; KadapaioLs touv
6.V, Hermann. The metre seems to
require a diiambus.)
14
XOH^OPOI.
eiuLo) ^' avajKav yap ajuiCpiTrToXiv
Oeol irpocrrjveyKav, €k yap oikwv
Trarpuxov SovXiov /ul' ecrayov ala-av,
diKaia Kal jULi] SiKaia,
TrpeTTOVT ap^^ah ^lov,
€7ro)S. 75
75 — 8i. The general meaning of
this passage might have been ex-
pressed simply thus, e/xot 5e avd-yKrj
^(jTiv aiveaai k. t. X. aTV'yos KpaTovarj.
-^sch. has complicated it by changing
dvdyKT) icTTL into avdyKav Oeol irpocr-
TjveyKav^ which prevents us from
seeing at once the natural connexion
of KpaTovarj with efioi, and by adding
the epithet d/x(pL7rTo\iv, which almost
necessitates the parenthetical expla-
nation CK yap OLKCov k. t. \. This
view will enable us to unravel all
the difficulties of a much disputed
sentence, without any change, ex-
cept perhaps that of dpxo-h for
dpxo-s, V. 79, which has been re-
ceived by nearly every editor since
Kobortello.
75. 5e — ydp are to be taken closely
together as nearly =dXXa — ydp (and
so Wordsworth), as in Hdt. ix. 109 ;
Thuc. i. 115 ; Plato ^^^oL p. 38. b, in
the latter of which passages, as here,
the clause which ydp has to explain is
suppressed. (Soph. Aj. 678 is doubt-
ful, though so understood by Ellendt,
Wunder, and Dindorf.) avdyKav
dfKpiTTToXiv, ' constraint which involves
my whole country,' and so the con-
straint of captivity, is to be illustrated
from Ag. 357 — 361, 7]t' iirl Tpoias
TTvpyoLS ^/3aXes .... fj-eya dovXeias
ydyyajxov, aTrjs TravaXihrov. So 5e-
cnroavvoiaLv dvdyKaLS, Pers. 587. "With
dpLcpi-KToKLS Blomf. comp. Theh. •290,
rbv dfJicpLTeixv Xedov. (Hermann's
* duplicis sedis necessitatem' is less na-
tural. Butler's conjecture, dfj-cpiiroXov,
after Schiitz, ingenious, but unneces-
sary, and would introduce a tautology
with 5oij\iov ataav.)
77. I have ventured to insert /x*
after do6\iov, partly for the sake of the
metre {dovXlav, Blomf. ), partly because
the pronoun seems desirable, if not
necessary, to avoid ambiguity. The
construction is the Homeric one of
eladyeLV with two accusatives, iadyov
/xe {oi deol) SovXiov alcrav, as e/c ydp
OLKWv shows — ' they led me out of
my father's house into captivity.'
78. The use of fx-q is sufficiently ac-
counted for by alveaai, but it might
perhaps be explained by resolving the
words into etVe diKata ci're /xri, on a
comparison of such expressions as
do^rjs d€Lvu)v irepl Kal fxifj, Plato, Eep.
4. p. 430 b. ^vxv^ crKowQv (piXoaocpov
Kal fi-q, ib. 6. p. 486 b.
79. dpxds, MSS. ; dpxch, Sophi-
anus ap. Rob. The Schol. read
dpxds, which he explains in one place
dirapxds (read with Abresch, dtr*
^PXV^)} ii^ another, e^ore tovtov iwa-
vrjpT]jjiaL Tov fSiov. dpxds might be
constructed with irpeirovT ' as in Suj^p.
458, as emended by Marckscheffel,
rdx' S,!/ (MSS. Tvxdv) yvvatKQv ravra
(TviitrpeTrri ireXoi, Soph. Aj. 534, 7rp^-
TTOv ye rdv 9jv dai/xovos tov/xov rode,
while dpxv might stand in the singular
for ol iv reXei : dp^als, however, is
more probable. For this use of irp^-
TTovra = doKovvra, Blomf. well comp.
Eur. Bus. (fr. 315), dovXcp ydp ovx
OLOV re toXtjOt] Xeyeiv, Et decnroTaiaL
fXT] irpeirovTa TvyxdvoL, which may
perhaps be an actual imitation of the
present passage, as -i3Esch. himself
XOH<I)OPOI,
15
/3/a (pepofxepMv, alvecrai, iriKpov (ppevwv
(jTvyog KpaTOVQ-rj, SaKpvci) S' vd) eijuLarcov
fxaTaioia-L ^ecrirorav
Tv-)^ai?, Kpvcpaioi? irevOecTLv irayyovfjievi-i.
HAEKTPA.
^fjLwai yvvaiKeg, ScojULarcoi' evO/]iuLoP€g,
iirel irapecrre rtjcroe irpoa-rpoTrrjg ijULol
80
85
has probably imitated Solon (ap. Dio-
genian. 2. 28, quoted by Schneidewin),
apX^v a-Kove Kal dtKuiios /cdStVws. Ag.
124, iro/miroijs t dpxds.
80. jSi'a 4>€po[xh(i}v seems best taken
impersonally, * since things go by
violence.' Comp. Supp. 123, TreXo-
jxevwv KaXQs. to, irpdyfxara KaKU)S
(p^perai, Xen. Hell. iii. 4. 35. Not
unlike is Virg, Ed. ix. 5, ' Nunc victi,
tristes, quoniam fors omnia versat,
Hos illi, quod nee vertat bene, mitti-
mus hsedos.' iriKpCJv, MSS., inKpbv
Vett., after the Schol.
8i, fcparoucTT; by attraction to ep-oL
Comp. V. 1030 ; Soph. (Ed. C. 89.
In Q^d. R. 350 foil., we have a still
stronger instance, evviirw ce — yttrj
TrpoaavSdv — cos 6uti /xtdcTTopi., where,
as here, the object is to avoid a con-
fusion which would have been intro-
duced by the accusative. Person on
Eur. Med. 1218, thinks daKp^co cor-
rupt, and so Herm., who reads daKp^uv
v(peLp,dTwv — xax^'ovfievrj, but the verse
is evidently correct as it stands,
though not intended for an iambic
trimeter. With Sa/cpi^w S' v<p' eip^dTWV
Stanl. and Blomf. comp. Hom. Od.
4. 114; Eur. Sux>p. no; Or. 280;
Arist. Ran. 911, to which Words-
worth adds Isocrat. p. 362 b. e'7/ca-
\v\pdp.evos iKKae ; Plato, Phcedo. p. 1 1 7
c. So the story of Timanthes' picture
of Agamemnon.
82. The fortunes of Agamemnon,
Orestes, and Electra would naturally
be called /idratot, blind and aimless,
as opposed to those which are directed
aright by sovereign wisdom {dpOodv-
tul), without prejudice to ^schylus'
belief in an order of things for evil as
well as for good, such as we find
in Etim. 930. (The signification
wretched does not seem well supported:
in Soph. Track. 888, fxaraia, addressed
to the nurse, is perhaps an error for
p.a2a.) dea-TTorav, MSS., deairoTdv^
Stanl.
83. iraxvovixevT] of the effect o
grief, like xj/vx^i-v, Prom. 693 ; /cpi^oy,
Eitm. 161 ; Theh. 834, Traxvovp,€vr]v,
MSS, ; iraxvovp.evrj, Turn.
84 — 105. Electra. 'As you are
here to cany these libations, advise
me how to offer them. Can I use the
set phrases, talking of ofFei-ings of
friendship, and asking for a recom-
pence, or shall I throw them down
without a word, like so much pollution,
and retire in humiliation ? Tell me,
for our cause is a common one, and
be not afraid to speak, for if we must
suffer we must, I as well as you.'
The chorus are evidently standing
with Electra at the tomb, so that if
the tomb is on the stage, as Herm.
thinks, they must have ascended
there, instead of taking their ordinary
place in the orchestra.
16
XOH^OPOL
TTOjUL'Troif yevecrOe Tcovoe aviJ.^ov\oi wepr
rdcfya) Se yiovaa rdaSe Ki]Seiovg xoa^
'TTCog euchpov e'lTrco, iroo^ Karev^ojuiai irarpl \
iroTepa Xeyovcra irapa (pLXrj^ (plXw (pepeiv
yvvaiKO^ avSpc, rrjg e/ULtjg fxtjrpog irapa ;
90
84. 5/Jiual yvpacKes is a Homeric
pleonasm, Od. 7. T03. evdrj/iioves.
ed TLdeiaai to, Kara rbv oXkov, Scliol.
Comp. Ag. 1673, drjao/uLev Kparovvre
Tuivde dojfxaTcov koXQis, which, however,
is said of masters, not of servants.
evdrjfJLwv appears to have been an old
word, as evdrifxaavvr) occurs in Hesiod,
WorJcs, 469.
86. yeveadai, the first reading of
Med., corrected into yeueaOe, is not
improbable, and has been adopted by
Klausen; but the instances of cor-
ruption by itacism are so common
that we can scarcely hesitate to prefer
the more obvious reading.
87. Ti50y, MSS. {Ti/ii^cp being
added as a correction) rdcpcj} Stanley.
H. L. Ahrens' tL <pQi is highly ingeni-
ous (comp, V. 91), but would require
the omission of 6e, contrary to all ex-
ternal authority. 5e introduces the
question, as in Pers. 333, arap (ppdaov
fxoL — irbaov 5e ttXtJ^os ^v ; ib. 954,
olotoi ^6a /cat Trdir' eKirevdov, Tlov bk
(piXwp ctXXos 6xXos ; x^°v<''^ is a dis-
syllable, like €KTvi(x}p, Ag. 1493.
K-qdeiovs, 'funeral,' asin w. 226, 538.
The explanation of the Schol., cvy-
yevLKas, would be admissible in itself,
KTJdos not being restricted, as Valck.
on Eur. Phcen. 431, maintains, to
affinity (comp. Supp. 330) ; but the
epithet would not be very appropriate
here, as the offering was not one of
pious duty by Electra, but the result
of Clytaemnestra's terror, and its ap-
plication to xocts, 'kindred libations,'
would be harsh in point of language.
88. See on v. 14. Karev^ofiai was
changed by Turnebus into KaTei^ca/iiat,
but wrongly ; the fut. ind. is fre-
quently found in the same sentence
with the aor. conj., and the difference
of mood, as Klausen and Bamberger
remark, may be intended to express
a difference of sense, the question
in the first clause being how in
the world (ttcDs indefinite) Electra
can ask for a blessing at all, in
the second in what manner (ttcDs de-
finite) she shall pray. ttcDs is however
found in questions with the conj.
where the inquiry is, so to speak, bona
fide about the manner of doing a
thing, e. g. v. 171. Eur. M. 614,
such an inquiry being in fact more
properly deliberative than the other.
The difference is in fact not so much
in the meaning of ttcDj as in the spirit
in which the question is asked. The
questioner professes to wish for an
answer, even when he believes that
none can be given ; and so we some-
times find an answer given in the
terms of the question, when the ques-
tion has been put in incredulity, or as
an objection, as in vv. 532, 3 ; Ag.
549, 550 ; Eur. El. 969, 970. — evcppou',
either to Agamemnon, ' to make an
acceptable prayer,' or to ClytEem-
nestra, ' to say kind words' (ask for
blessings). The latter is rather con-
firmed by Eur. Ijih. Aid. 1188, dXV
e/xe diKaLov ayadbv eijxeadaL ri aoi ;
''H t2/)' davvirovs tovs deoiis rjyoljxed'
av, Et ToZcLv avOevraicTLv ev (ppovi^ao/jieVf
where Musgrave conj. €ij<ppov' acro/Mev.
89 — 92 . Am I to act as my mother's
ambassador, and speak of these as the
XOH$OPOI.
17
Twvo^ ov TrapecTTi Oapcro^, ovS^ e-^w rl (bw,
yeovcra Tov^e TreXavov ei^ Tv/mlSa) iraTpog.
rj TOVTO (batTKO) TOVTTOg, O)? VOfJiO^ ^pOTOlS
ccTT, avTLOovvai TolcTL TrejuLTTOVo-iv TaSe
(TT€(prj, GO(TLv ye Twv KGKcov CTra^iai/',
rj crly arijULCDSf wcnrep ovv aircoXeTO
irarrip, TaS^ e/c^eoucra yaTroTOV yycriv,
(TTelyci), KaOapfiaO^ cos T19 6ACTe/>t\|/-a?, iraXiv,
95
gifts of a friend to a friend, ' the first
requisite in making a funeral offering.
Klausen refers to Soph. El. 432, where
the difficulty is unfolded, not, as here,
just touched sarcastically. Not un-
like are the king's words, Shaksp.
Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. 3 — ' But, 0,
what form of prayer can serve my
turn ? Forgive me my foul mur-
der?'
91. With TuvSe ddpcrot Linwood
comp. Tuvde rdX/xav, Prom. 16.
93. * Or is this the charge I am to
give him {(pdaKO} avridovvai, like X^yu)
tpavTJvai, V. 143), as the common peti-
tion runs, torecompensethosewhohave
sent him these offerings — a recompence
not for good but for evil deserts ?
Electra puts a second formula into
her own mouth to show its inappro-
priateness. docriu re MSS., Soctlu ye
Stanley, SSaiv re would make the
clause part of the suggested prayer,
not, as it evidently is, Electra's own
comment, like ttjs i/xrjs fjiTjrpbs irapd
(To understand the sentence with
Bamberger as a serious prayer for re-
taliation would be to force an impro-
bable sense on ws vo/zos jSporoIs, to in-
terfere with the evident parallelism
between vv. 89, 90, and vv. 93 — 95,
and to anticipate the counsel of the
Chorus, vv. 117, foil., which Electra
apparently accepts as a new thought).
^da-KCo subj., like ffrdx^^, v. 98, as
Wordsworth remarks, observing that
<pd<rK€ip has no pres. ind.
94. On the position of ^<xti closing
a sentence at the beginning of a verse
see Elmsley on Soph. CEd. C. 1167,
where he retracts an opinion formerly
expressed against it on Eur. Heracl,
387.
95. Paley ingeniously understands
(rT4(f>tj of the libations, comparing
Soph. El. 440, TttcrSe dva/xevels x^ds
VK B.V irod\ 6y y ^kt€lv€, T(^d' eweaTe^eu :
but as garlands were part of the
usual offerings to the dead (comp.
Pers. 618 ; Soph. El. 895) there seems
no reason to reject the obvious render-
ing. — doaiv cognate ace.
96. *Am I to offer them without a
word, and thus repeat the insult of
his death, flinging them out like so
much pollution V Electra so words the
proposal as to assign a reason for re-
jecting it.
97. I have removed the comma
after eKxeovcra, to show that x'^o'''' is
not in apposition with rdde, but a
cognate ace, equivalent in the present
connexion to an adverb of the manner.
Comp. V. 578, dKparov alfia Trierai
TpiTrjv irbcnv { = TplTov).
98. TOVTO Trpbs Tb Trap' 'Adtjualois
'ido'i. OTL KaOalpovTes oUiav oaTpaKlvcp
dv/j.t.aT'rjpiu} pl\pavTes ev Tah Tpibdois t6
bcTTpaKov dfMeTaaTpeTTTel dvex^povv.
Schol. Trd\i.v is then to* be constructed
18
XOH<J)OPOL
xo.
SiKOvcra T€v-)(^o?, aa-rpocpoio-tv o^^aa-iv;
TrJQ-^' €(TTe (BovXrj^, (h (plXai, fxerairiaif
KOivov jap eyOo^ ev Sofxoig vo^l^ofxev
fxri KevOcT evSov KapSia^ (po^u) tipo^,
TO /uLopG-LjULOV jup Tov T eXevOepou fxei/ei
Kal TOV irpog aXXt]^ Sea-iroTOv^evov X^P^^'
\€yoi9 dv, el tl twv^' ^xoi? virepTepov.
alSovfievri (To\ (3o)jUiOP w? tvjjlPov TraTpog
Xe^o), KeXeveig yctpi tov e/c (ppevo^ Xoyov.
100
105
with (rret'xw, not, as Turnebus and
Stanley, with St/coOo-a. Virgil, in re-
ferring to the custom {Eel. 8. 10 1),
has made a similar mistake, as Blom-
field remarks, supposing that the per-
son throws the ashes behind him with-
out looking back, whereas the passage
of Theocritus which he followed {Id.
■24, 91, Bi.\}y 5^ veecrdat acrrpeTTos)
evidently means that the prohibition
to look back is to operate after the
S-shes are thrown out. Wordsworth
refers to Musgrave and Barnes on
Eur. Andr. 293, and to Ammon. Lex.
p. 79, KaOapcna fxh ra lepa Kal ra
dWa oh KadaipovTac KaOdp/mara 5e to.
fji€Ta TO Kadapdrjvat diroppLirTovixeva.
10 1. vofxlj^ojxev is equivalent to
XpujpieOa, as in vv. 697, 801, 1003.
102. fX7] Kevder, probably with re-
ference to V. 75, foil., as Klausen re-
marks. A comparison of v. 81 and v.
389 may perhaps show that the object
of Kevder' is ^x^os.
103. The consolation is the same as
that of the watchman in Soph. A^it.
235, TTJs e\7ri8os yap epxopiO-i. deSpay-
fjL^uos To /X7J Tradelv b.v 6XK0 irXrjv to
/xopaL/Jiou.
T05. Jacobs, followed by Blomfield
and approved by Hermann, changes
'ixoi'S into ex^cs, on a comparison of
V. 668, Aeyotr' hv ei' rt Se?: but
Wordsworth rightly remarks that the
optative is more appropriate here, as
in Ag. 1049, Tret^ot' hv, el TreWoC , ib,
1394, xatpotr' dv, ei xatpoir, as Electra
means to put the case doubtfully,
' tell me if you shoxdd have anything
to say,' not * tell me if you have any-
thing, as you doubtless have.'
106 — 123. Clio. ' I will speak as in
the sight of heaven,' El. ' Do so.'
Cko. ' In pouring the libations, pray
for thy father's friends.' El. ' Whom
shall I name as such V Cho. ' Thy-
self and any foe of -^gisthus.' El.
'Myself and thee?' Cho. 'Judge
from what I have told thee.' El.
' Any one else ?' Cho. ' Orestes.'
El. ' Well thought of.' Cho. 'Then,
for the murderers.' El. ' What am I
to pray?' Cho. 'The visitation of
some God or man.' El. 'To judge
or to punish them V Cho. ' Say at
once, to kill them.' El. 'Are such
prayers pious V Cho. ' Yes ; for they
ask for retribution.'
106. The Chorus mean that they
will speak with all the solemnity and
sincerity of persons taking an oath by
touching an altar. Wordsworth refers
to Person on Eur. Med. 21, and to
Ale. 1008. Comp. Juv. 14. 219,
' Cereris tangens aramque pedemque.'
XOH^OPOI.
19
HA.
XO.
HA.
XO.
HA.
XO.
HA.
XO.
HA.
XO.
Xeyof? au, wcnrep rjSecro) rd(pov irarpo^,
(pOeyyov -^eovcra (refjiva toIctiv evchpo(Tiv.
TLVag Oe TOVTOVS T(t>J/
(piX
wv 7rpo(Tevv(iir(jo\
110
irpwTOV /uLeu avrrjv yJiO(jTL<i A'lyicrOov orTvyei.
ejuioi re Kal <jol rap eirev^oiJLaL rdSe.
avTi] (TV ravra fj-avOdvova ijSij (bpdarai.
TLv'' ovv er dWov T^jSe TrpocmOM a-rda-ei;
ju.ejtxvt]or^ 'OpecTTOV, K€L Ovpaiog ecrO^ ojulco^.
€u TOVTO KCKppevcocrag ov-^ ^JKicrrd /me.
TO?? aiTLOL<S VVV TOV (pOVOV JULe/ULVfJIULei/r]
TI5
108. Boissonade cites Soph. (Ed. T.
276, wawep /j! apalov Aa^Ses, wS',
ava'^, epCb. See also (Ed. C. 276, 284.
rjdeaco like ^Koipa, v. 423, referring
really to present time.
109. (pdeyyov (Te/uLpd appears = eP^at
{(T€fxvol \6yoL of the oracles, Hdt. '7.
6), as the authorities quoted do not
support the use of ae/xvci in the sense
of dyadd.
110. ' Whom of those near to him
am I to name as such (evcppoves) V
The word cpiXoL is not necessarily co-
extensive with evcppopes, being used
elsewhere (below, v. 234, Earn. 119)
of I'elations who are expressly stated
to be ' kin, not kind.' This general
sense is probably identical with the
Homeric use of <pi\a yovfara, &c.,
which seems not unfrequently em-
ployed by ^sch., e.g. vv. 276, 410,
546 ; Ay. 983 ; Eiim. 608.
111. Whether avTou &c. can be
used of the first and second persons as
well as the third is a question not easy
to solve, though the weight of ancient
authority and modern opinion (see
Ellendt Lex. Soph. s. v.) seems de-
cidedly in the affirmative. Retaining
the MSS. avT-qv here, we can scarcely
avoid altering Kar avrou, v. 221,
into Kad' avTov, in spite of Peile's
I attempt to estabhsh a difference be-
tween the two cases, as marked by the
presence or absence of the personal pro-
noun.
112. r' ap MSS. Tap Dind.
113. crv (TKOTT-qaov TLs (TTvyet Ai'yt-
adov ovK e/xbu yap direiv. Schol. ravTa
and -f]^-!) will then go with (ppdaai,
fiavddvovaa meaning ' understanding
my drift.' The Chorus mean to say
that they had spoken plainly enough
to be understood, and that they will
not be more explicit.
114. The Chorus had already (v.
Ill) implied that others were to be
mentioned. In aTdais here, as in
vv. 459, 821, Eiim. 311, Aff. 311,
there seems, as Blomfield remarks, to
be an allusion to the stage position of
the Chorus, on which see IMuller,
-Diss. pp. 20, foil.
1 1 6. The construction may be eiJ
TOVTO (€<xtl), like rt tQv5' ev ; v. 338 :
but it seems better to make tovto the
object of ecpp^vuaas {(ppevovv Tivd tl like
bibdaKeLv TLvd Tt), and suppose a tra-
jection of Kai (see on v. 89 2), which
in sense belongs to tovto.
117. Bamberger rightly separates
p.ep.vqixivq (making mention of them)
from cpbvov, comparing fxefivrja 'Ope-
(TTOV, V. 115.
C 2
20
XOH(|)OPOI.
HA. TL cj)(Jo', SioaarK aireipov €^}]yovfJL€prj.
XO. eXOeh TLV avTOL<s oalimov' rj (BpoTwv rivd
HA. TTorepa SiKacTtjv rj SiKtj(p6pov Xeyet^',
XO. airXcog TL (ppd^ova, ocmg dvTairoKTevel,
HA. Ka\ TavTOL ijlovut\v evcre/Brj Oecov Trdpa',
XO. TTW? S' ov Tov e-^Opov avTajuei^ea-Oai kukois;
HA. Ktjpv^ /uLeyia-re t(jov dvco re kol Karot),
T20
1 1 8. i^TjyovfiePT} here refers to the
Athenian office of i^rjyrjrai, expounders
of the sacred law, for an account of
which see Miiller, Diss. §§ 74 — 76.
Electra, as Klausen well remarks, is
unwilling to put upon her own autho-
rity a petition which may possibly be
impious, violating as it does a natural
duty, so she requests the Chorus to
act as €^7]yr)Tris, just as Orestes, v.
551, takes the Coryphaeus for his
repacTKowos. In the Eumenides (vv.
595, 609) Apollo acts as e^rjyrjTTjs,
justifying the matricide both before
and after its commission. There is
also an allusion to the use of i^rjye'iadat
in the sense of dictation (Lat. verbis
prceire), which occurs in Eur. Med.
745, &c., as the formula which follows
plainly shows. The two may very
well be combined, if we suppose one of
the duties of the e^TjyrjTai to have been
the dictation of the form to be ob-
served in religious ceremonies (see
Liddell and Scott suh voce), which in
sacred matters would naturally be of
equal importance with more general
explanation arid advice on the course
to be pursued : indeed, in the case of
a prayer the two could hardly be se-
parated. It is true that Electra does
not proceed to repeat verbally the
form given by the Chorus ; but neither
does ^geus (Eur. Med. I. c), as such
literal exactness would not suit the
poetical variety of the di'ama.
120. KplTTJJ^ ^ Tl/XU}p6v. Schol.
12 T. (pddi is to be supphed for
(ppd^ova', from 0w, v. 118.
122. Tavrd fiovcTTlv evce^TJ seems to
stand for evae^es iari, ravra — , like
diKaios el/Jit for hlKaibv iari fxe — , the
change of construction rendering it
possible to dispense with a verb like
alreXu, which in the impersonal sen-
tence would have had to be ex-
123. TTws 5' ovK ei)(T6/3ey iari top
exGpbv dvTafiei^eadat kukois ; If we
were to punctuate after ttQs 8'ov ; we
could hardly avoid inserting ye after
ex0p6p, as in £11711. 435. Klausen
comp. Theb. 1049. Tra^wi/ kukQs Ka-
KoldLv avT-niMei^ero. Wordsworth cites
Archilochus, Fragm. 75 ed. Liebel. 'iv 5'
eTri(XTafx.ai fxeya, Top /ca/ccSs ti dpQura
deipols dPTaixei^eadaL KaKols, and cites
Liebel, p. 76, in proof that ^sch. fre-
quently imitated Archilochus,
^24 — 152. M. ' Assist me, Hermes,
as herald, by making proclamation to
the Gods below and the earth to hear
me while I pray. As I pour out the
libations, I invoke my father, bid-
ding him pity and restore myself
and Orestes, both defrauded of our
rights, the one a slave, the other an
exile. Grant that he may return, and
that I, when restored, may demean
myself better than my mother. For
our enemies, let vengeance come on
them, while we have victory and every
XOH^OPOI.
* 'E^/x^ ydovie, Ktjpv^ag cjuloI
Tovg y;]? euepOe SaijuLovag K\veiv e//"?
Kai yatav avTrjv, fj ra irdvra TiKrerai,
Opeyjyacrd r avOis rcovSe Kv/ua Xafx^dvei'
21
125
blessing. Thus I make my ofFering :
do you sing the dirge.'
J 24. This line formerly stood before
V. 165, till Hermann removed it. It
palpably completes the speech, which
now only requires a word such as
dpV^ou (suggested by Hermann and
Klausen) at the beginning of v. 125.
Hermes is invoked here, as in v. i,
but with a more definite reference to
his functions as ciaKropos or epLovvios,
which make him the channel of com-
munication between heaven, earth,
and the regions below (comp. Hor.
Od.i. 10. 19, ' Superis Deorum gratus
et imis') His duties as herald {Ag.
511, Supp. 221. 920) seem nearly
identical with those of a messenger,
like those of the heralds in the Aga-
memnon and the Supplices : here,
however, we are also reminded of the
office of a herald in the Athenian
assemblies, as in Eum. 566, foil. — /xe-
yia-TT}, MSS., fj^iyiare, Stanl.
125. KTjpv^as is apparently to be
connected with dai/movas, like Krjpvaae
6eovs, Eur. Hec. 148, to which Wel-
lauer refers, the sense in each case
being ' to make loud proclamation to
them that they may listen' {Eum. 570).
So KaXelu is used with an ace. followed
by an inf., e. g. Theh. 640. Soph. Aj.
831.
127. 5' ofJLfidTOJV, MSS., dcjfjLaTOjv,
Stanley, alp.dTwv, Hermann and
Ahrens. du/xaToov is proved to be right
by the faciHty of the con-uption, the fre-
quent use of the words Trarpya ddj/xara
in ^sch. e. g. Supp. 325, Theh. 648,
and the fact that restoration to her
father's possessions is the thought
chiefly present to Electra's mind
throughout the prayer, vv. 131, 135-7,
141, 2. iTTLCTKOTrovs IS to be con-
structed with 5ai/xouas, 'that they
may listen and look upon my father's
house' (compare Theb. 640, KoKei —
OeoiJi . . eTTOTTTTJpas . . yeveadai.), a re-
quest similar to that made by Electra
below, V. 406, Uecrd' 'Arpetddi' rd Xoiir'
dju.Tjxdi'cos ^x^^"^"- x^'^'- 5()}fxdT(x}i' drifxa.
The words dco/xdTCJv iiriaKOTrou occur
again, Eum. 740, where eTriaKoirov is
a substantive. But for these autho-
rities, and the parallel v. it, there
would be great plausibility in Paley's
suggestion to connect iirLo-KSTrovs as an
adj. with evxds, as in Eum. 903, (icpv-
fivrjffat) oTTOia vlktjs /xtj KaKTJs eiricrKOTra,
Soph. Aj. 976, ^oQ)VTOS dTr]s TTJcrd"
eiriaKOTTov fieXos.
128. Comp. Shakspere, Borneo
and Juliet, Act 2, Sc. 3. 'This earth,
that's nature's mother, is her tomb ;
What is her burying grave, that is her
womb. ' For the appeal for vengeance
to earth in her capacity as the mother
of all, see v. 66, note, and consult
Mliller, Diss., pp. 160, foil. Prome-
theus, calling on the gods to regard
his wrongs {Prom, go), exclaims irafj.-
fiTjrSp re 777.
1 29. rCovSe perhaps constructed with
\dix^avei. See Jelf, § 531, Obs. 6.
Ag. 275, ov do^av dv Xdj3oi.fj.i ^pi^ovaTjs
<j)p€vbs.
130. ^poTois indicates, generally,
what is expressed more particularly
22
XOH(|>OPOI.
Kayu> "^eovara Tccroe yepvL^a<s (BpoTOi?
XeyoOf KaXoucra irarep eiroLKTeipovT efxe
ipiXov T ^Opecmjv, ttco? avd^oimev SofJLOL^*,
130
in the next verse, KoKova-a irarip .
The dead are spoken of as mortals,
(1) as opposed to the gods, v. 125,
just as the Chorus, Pers. 630, after
invoking x^^'^'^^'- ^ai/xoves, says of the
shade of Darius /xovos clv Opt]tQv ire-
pas e'LTTOL, (2) as partakers of the same
nature with the Hving, the word being
not unfrequently used in connexion
with the last offices of humanity, as
in Soph, Aj. 1166, ^p9a ^poroTs tov
aelixvyfCTTOv rd(f)Ov evpdseura Kade^et
(comp, ih. 1380), El. T066, cD x^oz't'a
^poToTcTL (pdfMa. See also vv. 279, 483,
notes. This thought is brought out by
Klausen, who, however, understands
^poTOLS here of the living, constructing
it with xe/3i^t/3as, ' libamentum homi-
nibus lustrale.' Wordsworth remarks
' ^poTols interdum propemodum abun-
dat,' referring probably to such pas-
sages as those cited above from Soph.,
and Aj. 1358. (This explanation of
course has nothing in common with
the exploded fancy that ^porbs or
dvqrbs can ever be simply equivalent
to veKpbs. If ^sch. had written ve-
KpoLs, which is given as a variety by
MSS. Med. and Guelf., or (pdiTois,
Hermann's conj., the passage would
only have been less poetical.)
131. eiroLKTeLpbv r MSS. eiroLKTel-
povT Hermann. The latter seems
better, as avoiding the abniptness of
an imperative followed by a question :
while the participle will express the
ground on which the request is made,
' I say, addressing my father, as one
that has compassion on me and my
loved Orestes, How, &c.'
132. dvd'^oixev, ^aaikevaoiiev. Schol.
The dative is not found elsewhere in
^sch., but frequently occurs in Ho-
mer, who also uses the future form.
Comp. Prom. 49. ttXtiv Oeo'caL Koipa-
velv, ih. 940. 5apbv yap ovk dp^et deals.
To take avd^o/met/ as the future of
dvdyoj, as Blomfield and Klausen pro-
pose, though agreeing well with d\w-
fxeda, V. 133, (pevywu, v. 137, would be
objectionable, partly on account of
the use of the plural, as if Electra and
her father were to combine, whereas
the prayer in v. 139 is simply that
Orestes may return, partly as vir-
tually obliging us to separate e/xe'from
(piKov T 'OpecfTTjv, which would be
required as the object of dvd^o/xev —
not to mention that we should rather
have expected KaTd^o/meu. Electra,
summing up her petition in three
words, naturally asks for restoration
itself, not for an event which would
only lead to it ; the plural, like dXci-
fji-eda, as naturally points to the two
persons in whose behalf the prayer is
made, herself, and her brother ; and
the word ireirpaixevoi, including both
servitude and exile, follows immedi-
ately to express the antithesis between
their present condition and that which
they hope to obtain. Comp. Soph.
El. 71. Kal fXTj fx aTi/xou r^crS' diroaTei-
\rjTe yijs, 'AW apx^TrXovrov Kal Kara-
(TTdTTiv bbfiwv. (Schneidewin's conj.
0WS r' dvaxpov ev db/xois, also made
by a writer in the Classical Mu-
seum, vol. I, p. 267, would accord ad-
mirably in structure with the old read-
ing of V. 13 1, eTTolKTeLpbv T, but its
sense, though not inappropriate in
itself, and agreeing well with vv. 863,
961, is not confirmed by the con-
text.)
XOH^OPOI.
23
ireirpajJievoi yap vvv ye Trcog aXcojuieOa
TT^o? Tt]9 TeKOvorrjSf avopa S' apTrjWd^aTO
AHyicrOov, ocnrep crod (povou /meraLTiog.
Kayct) jULev avrlSovXog' e/c Se -^^prjiudTcoi/
(pevyiov 'OpecTT^g ea-TLV^ ol S' vTrepKOTTOog
€v TOiQ-i aroh irovoLcri ■^^lovctlv jmeya.
^35
133. ir€Trpayfji€voi.MSS., Trevpafxcuot
Casaubon, which is required by dvT7)\-
Xd^aro. Comp, v. 915. Stxws eTrpd^Tji/,
&v iXevd^pov Trarpos. Uov drjd''
t2/xos, oi'Tiv dvTehe^dixrjv ; — dXw/xeda is
of course said properly of Orestes alone,
Electra's fate being included as ana-
logous to his. Klausen well comp.
V. 254. &ix<po} (pvyrju 'ixovTe ttju avr-rji'
dofJLCJv. In Eur. El. 209 Electra na-
turally speaks of herself as doofidrioy
Trarpipiov (puyds, as she is there actually
removed from home and given in mar-
riage to a labourer.
134. Clytaemnestra is said to have
exchanged her own children for a new
husband in ^gisthus, either simply,
as having sought a fresh protector
(Ag. 1437), instead of those on whom
sTie might naturally have relied, or
because she wished to be the mother
of other children. The latter view is
supported by a parallel passage in
Soph. EL 587. rJTLS ^vvevSeis roj iraXa-
fivaiu:, fxed' ov Ilarepa top djxbv rrpdcrdev
e^a7ru)\e(ras, Kat TraldoTroieis, roi/s d^
irpbcrdev evae^els Kd^ evae^^v ^Xa-
(XTOuras eK^aXova ^xets.
135. ocnrep, as Klausen says, aggra-
vates the notion of impiety, being
more emphatic than os.
136. dvTidovXos is one of those com-
pounds of dvTi where the preposition
exerts its force upon the other ingre-
dient, instead of combining with it to
affect any of the remaining words in
the sentence. Even in this class,
however, the effect is sufficiently
various : sometimes local opposition is
expressed, as in geographical names :
sometimes hostility, a sense much
commoner in later Greek and its deri-
vatives, than in classical writers :
sometimes substitution, as in avri-
(pepwos, Ag. 406, dvTTjvup, ih. 444:
sometimes equivalence, as in the pre-
sent word, and dvTliraL^, Eum. 38 :
sometimes identity, as in dpTCTrerpos =
irerpiuos, Soph. (Ed. C. 192, to which
we may perhaps add dvTiixoXiros — fioX-
iralos, Ag. 17, dvTi,Tr€vdris= tt^pOi/jlos,
Eum. 782. The same word is occa-
sionally found with more than one
shade of meaning : thus dvTidovXos
itself occurs in the sense of substitu-
tion in .^sch. Prom. Unhoicnd (fr.
188).
137. (pevyeiv, MSS., (pevyoou, Rob.
On the participle with the verb sub-
stantive, see Jelf, § 375, 4; Madvig,
§ t8o, rem. 2, d. (pevyeip is itself
used for 'to live in exile:' see Lidd.
and Scott sub voce, kotttu) in vir^p'
KOTTos, as in irpoKOTTTw, seems best
explained by Blomf., as originally
denoting motion of some kind (comp.
antecello, excello, percello, connected
with celer). Even in irapaKoiros it
may be doubted whether the primary
intention of the verb, e. g., in Prom.
581, is not stepping aside, like the
metaphor from ploughing in delirare,
though it may afterwards have come
to be referred to the sense of coining,
as in TrapdKOfj.fia.
138. ef TOtcrt ao?s irovoLai, 'in the
24
XOH^OPOI.
eXOeiv S' ^Opeo'Tijv Sevpo <tvv Tvyri tlvl
KaTevj^ofxal aoi, Kal av kXvOl fxov, irarep,
avTtj T* e/uLol Sog crwcppovecrTepav ttoXv
IxrjTpog yevecrOai yelpa r eucre^ea-repav.
Tjfxlv fJLev ev^ag Tacroe, Tolg o evavTLOi<s
Xeyot) (pavrjvai crov, Trareo, Ti^aopov,
140
labours of thy hands.' Comp. Pers.
751 J 5e'Sot/ca ixrj ttoXvs ttXovtou Trdvos
Ovfjibs di'dpwTTOi.s y€vr]Tai rod (p6d-
cavTO% dpirayri. So Agamemnon is
called 6 irovCjv, v. 919, the man going
out to labour for the support of his
family, who remain within {rpecpet
8^ 7* dvdpbs fioxGos rjfieuas ^cno, v.
921). In Soph. (Ed. C- 335, CEdipus
asks, oi 5' avdofxai/ixot ttov veaviai tto-
veiv; and immediately proceeds to
make the well-known comparison
with the mode of life in Egypt, where
the women go out and provide main-
tenance for the men (compare the
whole speech, 337 foil., and especially
the words Trovelv, v. 34'2, VTrepirovel-
TOP, V. 345, ^cox^oOcra, v. 351, wovovaa,
V. 364). The notion is doubtless de-
rived from the primitive simplicity of
early times, when the general, no less
than the peasant, was regarded as a
labourer working for his Hvelihood.
Thus Achilles, in Hom. II. i. 162,
y^pas . . . (^ ewL woWd fxoyriaa . . .
iycb d' oKlyov re (f)Lkov re "Epxa/j^ '^x^^
errl vrjas, eirriv KeKa/xo} iroXefii^oov. In
Pei^s. 754, just after the passage
quoted above, Atossa goes on to say
to Darius, atj fxev jxiyav reKuois XIXoO-
Tov eKTT^crcj ^liv alxp-y. We may now
see more fully the force of the com-
parison of the family of Agamemnon
to young birds deprived of the parent
who fed them, below, v. 246, foil. The
present passage is imitated, though
not verbally, by Soph. M. 1290. —
/lera, MSS., ^t^Ta, Turn.
139. avv Tvxv 5e ry, T7ieh. 472.
1 40. Klausen seems right in con-
necting Kal aO kXv6i closely with
Kare^xo/xai, so as to make iXdeiv
' Opearrju parallel to avrij t e/xoi.
141. -3isch., believing, as Klausen
reminds us, that crwcjipoavvT} is the gift
of Heaven {Ag. 180), goes further than
Soph., who simply makes Electra pray
{El. 457) that Orestes may conquer,
so that he and she may make more
liberal offerings to their father's tomb.
The combination of the words aucppo-
vearipav and evcrejSecTTepav seems to be
referred to by Soph. ib. 307, iv odv
TOLovTois oijTe <TW(ppov€Lv, 0tXa£, Oiir
€V(T€^€?v Trdpea-Tiv, though the thought
there is not the same as here. X^^P<^
t' eixre^ecTTepav seems to include free-
dom from guilt as well as active piety,
— the 'immunis manus' as well as
the gift which it brings, — a com-
bination illustrated below on v.
377.
143. evxds is governed hj X^yu in
the- next clause, not, as Wordsworth
thinks, left without government, like
TovTuv fj.€P oi'Tws, Aff. 950. Comp. V.
555, TTjvbe fxeu (TTeixeiv ^aoj, AivQ d^
KpiiTTTeiu rdade (TVpdijKas ifids. (paprjvat
(comp. eiroTTTevaaL Xeyio, v. 583, jxap-
Tvpeiv Xeyii), v. 1040, and see on v. 93)
is, of course, virtually an accusa-
tive.
144. Imitated by Soph. El. 1155,
(pTjfxas Xddpa trpovirejUTres ws <pavov-
ixevos Ti/xupos avrbs.
XOH^OPOI. 25
Ka\ Tovg KTavovrag avriKarOaveiv oiKt]v. 145
TavT ev /micro) riOrjiuLL Trjg KaKyj<} apug,
Kcivoig Xeyovara rrju^e Trjv KaKrjv apav*
rjij.lv Se TTO/ULTTog 'tcrOi tcov ecrOXwv avco,
^uv Oeoiari Koi yrj Ka\ oiKr] viKt](pop(i).
TOiaiaS^ eir evyah TacS'' eincTirevoit) ^oa?. I50
viJLag 06 KcoKVToig eiravBLYeiv vofxog,
iraiava tov Qavovrog e^avScofjievag.
145. 8lkt]i', a cognate ace, such as
is frequently found in similar con-
nexions. Eur. Here. F. 168, TLfxwpom
i/jLovs XPV^^ Xiireadai tQv dedpa/mevcov
dlKTju. ^sch. Prom. 563, rivos d/uLTrXa-
Kias TTOLvas oX^Kei; Supp. 625, Xe^wixev
eir' 'ApyeloLS Ei^xa? 0.70^0,5 dyaOQu
TTOLPds. Eur. Hel. 77, aTroXavaiv eiKOvs
146. ' This I interpose to bar their
prayer for evil, uttering against them
this my prayer for evil.' rijs /ca/cTys
dpas, as Franz appears to have seen,
is the prayer which Clytaemnestra
wished to have presented along with
the libation, and which she is made
to present herself by Sophocles {El.
634, foil.) — an evil one, as being the
prayer of a criminal for impunity, if
not for judgments on her own chil-
dren. See again on v. 309. — ev /xecrcf
here = efxirodixiy, as in Xen. Cyr. 5.2.
26.
148. Klausen comp. Pers. 220,
irpco/uLeurj 5' airov rdde . . . eadXd aot
Trep-ireLv reKuq} re 7-^5 'ivepdev es 0dos.
TciSe ecrdXd there possibly confirms the
MSS. reading tQv5' here {tQv, Ro-
bortello), ' the good that I have in my
mind,' i. e., which she had prayed for
above, v. 139, foil.
149. The reference is to the com-
mon expression avu d^Q. The prayer
is made throughout to Agamemnon,
the gods having been invoked to listen
to it, V. 126, rather as assessors than
as principals, and now being requested
to co-operate and be propitious while
he sends the blessings desired.
150. Here we may suppose
Electra to finish pouring out the
libations, having begun to do so, v.
130. The Chorus is conceived to
sing while the streams are being ab-
sorbed into the ground ; and at length
Electra, v. 164, announces that all is
swallowed up, and so that her father
has received it. The libations are
fully described, Pers. 61 1-6 18, as
consisting of milk, honey, water,
wine, and oil, beside garlands of
flowers. Comp. Soph. (Ed. C. 469,
foil.
T 5 1 . If the text is correct, we must
suppose eiravdl^eLv, with Peile, to refer
to x"as in the verse preceding, 'to
crown the libations with wailing,' —
the same thought which is expressed
without a metaphor, Pers. 619, dXX,
Co (piXot, xoalcri ralade vepr^pwu "T/xvovs
iTr€V(prip.€tTe. But it may be doubted
whether we ought not to read kukv-
Toi/s diravdlieiv, which would be pre-
cisely parallel to ybebva 5' dv6e/xi^ofj.at,
Supp. 72, er- having naturally arisen
from €TLaTrev5u}. Comp. yXQaaau
diravdicraL, Ag. 1662. (/cw/cyrous is
also conjectured by Paley, Supp. I. c.
ed. i.)
152. irai-dva tov davbvTQ% is a rhe-
26
XOH'I'OPOI.
XO. 'lere SaKpv Kava-)(€^ oKoixevov '
oXo/mevo) SecrTrora,
CTTi
torical expression, like irai.dva 'Ept-
pvuv, Ag. 645, Atdg. t 'Ex^pov iraiav'
eTLfi^Xireiv, Theh. 868, quoted by
Butler, ap. Peile. So the Schol., 6'rt
eV airodavbvTO^ iratava elire kukCos.
Kai EvpLTrid-r]^ {Ale. 424) Tlaidva ry
Karoidev dcnrovbo) de<^.
153 — 163. Cho. 'Shed the cere-
monial tear now that the libations are
poured out. Hear me, O king ! Would
that some champion might appear,
armed at all points!' It should be
remarked, as Klausen observes, that
this is the first time that funeral
honours have been paid to Aga-
memnon (see V, 5TI, andcomp. Soph.
El. 911), so that the force of the
appeal for vengeance is strengthened.
The ode that follows is apparently
antistrophic, as most of the editors
have perceived since Hermann, Ohs.
Crit. p. 67, since the division after
V. 158 into two parts so nearly cor-
responding to each other can hardly
be accidental ; none of the proposed
arrangements of it, however, can be
called satisfactory. Any arrangement
which can be proposed must go on
the supposition that in the case of
dochmiacs, as in that of anapaests, and
occasionally of iambics, -^sch. de-
parts from the rule of exact syllabic
con-espondence in strophe and anti-
strophe by which he seems generally
to have bound himself, a supposition
countenanced by parts of the chorus,
vv. 935-972, though the ground there
is too precarious to serve as a basis
for inference. Even then, however,
changes would be necessary which are
not required by other considerations,
so that it seems far best to print the
passage as it stands in the MSS.,
except in the two instances 01705 and
^Icprj, where it has been corrected from
the Schol. on independent grounds.
Dindorf is doubtless right in saying
'numerus regnat dochmiacus :' but
after all that has been done, much
uncertainty remains, as regards not
only the metre but the sense.
153. Kavaxes and its cognates are
specially used of the plashing of water,
Hes. Tkeog. 367, Eur. Ci/cl. 152,
Cratinus Pytina, fr. 7, Meineke
(comp. by Blomf. and Wordsworth),
so that we must hardly compare
Milton's ' melodious tear.' The epi-
thet here seems rather exaggerated,
unless we suppose it to have been
suggested by the previous plashing of
the x^^'- dcLKpv 6\6fievQv is like
ovXiov dprjvov, Find. Pyth: 12. 14,
which Wordsworth compares. This
use of oXofievos, also found in Soph. (?)
Epig., fr. 189, oKofxeve waiduu, Eur.
Hel. 232, oKofievov (TKacpos, Or. 1364,
6\6p.evov, lidpiv, Med. 1253, 6\o/xeuau
yvvaiKa, Ph. 1036, oKofievav 'Epivijv,
nearly equivalent to the Latin perrft'^its,
tends to show that the tragedians at
least understood the Homeric oiiXo-
fievos, which occurs Prom. 397, in a
passive sense. oXofievov 6\oix€v(^ is
one of those expressions of which
KaKov KaKuts is the type, affected by
the tragedians for the sake of sound
rather than of sense, it being sufficient
that the two words should have the
same general meaning. Agamemnon
is oXofxeuos according to one appli-
cation of the word, so the lamentation
over him must be oXop-evos too, accord-
ing to another. There may also be a
reference to the tear as spilt on the
ground and lost.
155. ^pv/xa rode KaKuv KedvQiv r' is
apparently to be taken, with Scheie-
XOH^OPOI. / O. TH
Trpo^ epufJLa roSe kukccv kcSvwv t
CLTrorpoirov ayos aTrevyerov '""-i-i.i-L
KeyvfJLevwv "Xoav. KXve oe jnoi, kXv€
aejBag w Sea-woT, €^ ajmavpag (ppevog*
OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOl, 100, Tl9
oopvcrOevtjg avtjp, avaXurtip oojulcov,
'^KvOiKo. T €v yepolv iraXlvTOv
•^7
155
avT.
160
field and Peile, of the tomb, which is
called a barrier against evil and good
alike ; as we should say, a dead wall
shutting out both, the sentiment being
that sorrow and joy alike end with the
grave. The form of the tomb might
doubtless suggest the notion of a
mound for defence. With 'Ure 5dKpv
irpbi ^pvfMa, so interpreted, comp.
Ag. 1548, eirirvfi^Lov aXvov iir' du8pl
ddui ^vv ZaKpvcnv iaTTTiav, Theb. 753,
irpbs d-yvav aireipas dpovpav. dwoTpo-
TTOu is in itself probable enough, the
tear being called diroTpoirov, the averter
of pollution arising from association
with the offerings of the guilty, as
the libation is called dirbrpoirov kukuiu,
V. 44. For the construction of diro-
TpoTTov with an ace, see note on
V. 23. ^X7os, MSS. dyos, Vett.,
Schol.
15 7, For K\ie ixoL Wordsworth
refers to Hom. Od. 2. 263, kXv6L /jlol
(repeated 4, 762), Solon Carm., 5. 2,
k\vt€ pLot, ei'xop^ho}, Theogn. 13.
€vxofj.eyu) piOL KXvdt.. ^sch. Pers.,
633, the natural parallel of the present
passage, where the Med. MS. gives
9] p ' di'et pi,oi ; The construction is pro-
bably to be explained like di^aro oi
(TKTjTrTpov ( see v. 762 below), the case
of general reference being used, as is
natural in an early writer, in place
of one denoting a more specific rela-
tion, though in a passage like the
present, where pioi has no participle
agreeing with it, it may merely mark
the personal character of the entreaty
(= ' I pray you'). Comp. Ag. 905,
where vvu 8^ pi-oi, ^tXov ndpa, "EK^aiv'
(as Scholefield reads) seems more
idiomatic than uvu S', e/iot ^iXov Kapa,
the old text. In any case o-ejSas is
better taken as a voc. than an ace.
('audi reverentiam.' Herm.)
158. The sense of dp.avpds (ppevds is
fixed by the parallel passage, Ag.$^6,
as referring to the Chorus, not to Aga-
memnon. Whatever may be the
derivation of dpiavpbs and its cognates,
a comparison of the passages where
they occur (e. g. Hom. Od. 4. 824,
Hes. Worhs, 691, ^sch. Ag. 296,
465, Eum. 359, Pers. 223, Soph. (Ed.
C. 182, 1018, Eur. Here. F. 231. Aris-
toph. Birds, 685) shows that so far as
they imply the notion of darkness, it
is as a negative rather than as a posi-
tive quality — dimness rather than
blackness, so that we shall do right
here to accept the Scholiast's inter-
pretation, dp.avpd'i, TTJs dffdevovs,
instead of comparing with Words-
worth lu.eXayxi'Tcov (pprjv, Pers. 115,
KeXacvoxpoiS KUpSia, Sup}). 785.
159. lib TLs is like^eOrt's, Ag. 1449,
'Ah! who is there ?'='0 for some
one,' so that we need not read iVw
wnth Bothe and others, making ti$ in-
definite.
i6r. ^kvOlku t is the reading of
Med. from a correction, and of Robor-
tello, IiKvOtjs Tdr\ the common un-
metrical text, a mistake of Guelf.
28
XOHc^OPOI.
cr-^eoia t avTOKCOira poo/ulcov ^L(p>j',
Even if ^Kijdrjs were the true reading,
there would be no reason for supposing
a personification of steel to be in-
tended, as in Theb. 714, in defiance of
the word dvrip, which fixes the sense
to a human warrior, and of the speci-
fication of the weapons to be used,
which would be quite fatal to the con-
gruity of the image. With S/cy^t/ca
/3e\7/ comp. Prom. 712, and the
Athenian custom of employing Scy-
thian slaves as a police of bowmen.
iraXivTova, the Homeric epithet of
To^a, means not ' drawn back' as an
arrow, or 'quivering,' but 'bent,' or
'bending back,' opposed to evdvTOva :
see Blomf. Gloss. : so that j3e\r} must
be taken in a wide sense, like rofa,
for bow and arrows both. Attius'
tela reciproca (quoted by Varro, L. L.
7. 80, M., who explains recijJ^-oca
* quom unde quid profectum, redit eo')
is probably only a translation of one or
other of these expressions.
162. ^pyov of battle, like our word
action, as in Eur. Iph. T. 11 90, Xen.
Cyr. 7, p. 104, quoted by Abresch
and Blomfield. Hence the antithesis
between ayCov \6yojv and ^pyov, and
similar expressions, frequently found
in the tragedians. Klausen refers to
Theb. 414, Ag. 1650. iraXivTova ^eXrj
WLirdWujvlikeiraXivTovaTo^aTipda-crup,
Soph. Tr. 511. "Ap7;s for a warrior or
destroyer, as in v. 938 below, Eum.
354-
163. avT6i<o}7ro5 has not yet been
satisfactorily explained, as neither of
the two interpretations suggested by
the analogy of other compounds with
avTos, ' self-hilted,' and ' hilt and all,'
is particularly appropriate here. The
point of difference between the arrow
or spear and the sword obviously is
that the one is dismissed from the
hand, the other retained in it; and
this the poet doubtless meant to
express by avroKuwos, the hilt being
the prominent notion, though it
is scarcely an explanation to say
with the lexicographers that the
word merely means * with a handle.
Perhaps we may give a force to avrds
by supposing its real reference to be
to vuifxGiv, ' wdelding himself the sword
by the hilt,' just as ixovo(TKT}irTpoL<nv iv
dpovois xp^os irdv iiriKpaipets, Supp.
374, can be resolved into fidvos iv
dpbvoLs a-KrjTTTpu} Trdv xpios eiriKpalveLS.
In any case crx^Sta avroKwira had better
be taken closely with vo}/xQv, express-
ing not so much the ordinary qualities
of the sword, as the manner of its use.
/3e'\77, MSS. ^i(f>T], Pauw, from the
words of the Schol., rd dtp' eavrCjv
'^xovra TT]u \a^r]v ^i<pr]. crxidia d^ e/c
Tov ax^56v (povevovra /cat ov troppcodev,
ibawep rd j3e\r}. The objection to ^eXij
is not so much the repetition of the
word as its inappropriateness in a con-
nexion like this, where the contrast
pointedly excludes it.
165-182. EL 'Now that the liba-
tion is over, I see something new.'
Cho. * What is it ? — how I trem-
ble ! * El. ^A lock of hair on the
tomb.' CJio. 'Whose?' El. 'One
may easily guess.' Cho. 'Tell me.'
El. 'There is no one here but me
who would think of thus honouring
my father.' Cho. ' No ; for his other
kinsmen are his enemies.' El. ' The
lock itself resembles' — Cho. 'Whose
hair?' El. 'My own.' CJio. 'Can
it then come from Orestes ?' El.
'The hair is most like his.' Cho.
XOH<l>OPOI.
HA. e^ef iJiev rjStj yairoTovg ^oa9 irarrjo,
veov 06 jULvOou Tovoe KoivcjovrjcaTe.
XO. XeyoL's av. 6p')(€LTaL Se KapSia (po^o),
HA. opw To/maiov rovoe ^ocrrpvyov rddxi),
XO. Tivog TTOT avop6<Si 37 PadvYwvov Koprjg',
HA. ev^vjufioXov ToS^ ea-r). Travrl So^dcrai.
XO. TTco? ouv iraXaia irapa vecorepag juidOot)*,
HA. OVK eCTTLV OCTTLg irXtJV €/ULOV KCLpaiTO VIV.
29
165
170
' But how can he have come with it ?'
El. 'He must have sent it.' Cho.
' This is no better news, if it meana
that he is never to return.'
165. airoTov, MSS.; 'yairorovs,
Turn.
166. vio^ fivdos ode stands for fivdoi
Treplrovde veov, as in v. 100, r-^crS' ^are
^ovXrjs, cD (piXai, /xeraiTLai, ■t]5e ^ovX'q
for ^ovXt] irepl roude. The full force
of the line is, 'Here is something
new, about which I want to speak
with you.'
167. dvopx^'^Tai, MSS., &v, opx^i--
^ai, Turn.
t6S. Imitated by Soph. El. 900 ;
Eur. El. 512.
170. Wordsworth compares Dem.
I 01. p. 13, TO p.ev odv eirtTifidv laojs
<p7](TaL Tts cLp pabiov Kal iravTos
dvai.
171. Wordsworth finds a difficulty
in TTws fiddo}, as not strictly agreeing
with the use of the delib. conj,, and
rather inclines to Stephens' punctua-
tion, TTws odv; questioning Elmsley's
doctrine on Eur. Med. 1242, accord-
ing to which fjidOu} could not stand
for (pipe p,ddw. See however, on v.
14. With TTcDs fiddw comp. Ag. 543,
TTWS Stj hihaxdels rovde de(nr6(ro} XSyov;
(wrongly broken up by some of the
later editors) where ttcDs goes with
SLOaxdeis. With the sentiment im-
plied comp. Su2ijp. 361, ai) d^ trap'
oxpLySvov fidOe yepa(ppovQu {yepapo<ppo-
vG3v% Ag. 584, del yap rj^tf roh ye-
povaiv ed [xadelu, where ed answers to
TTws here.
I7'2. Electra is evidently arguing
in this line, as the reply of the Chorus
shows, not from the presence of the
particular lock of hair, but from the
presence of a lock at all as a sign of
respect ; so that Keipeadai must be
explained, with Linwood, after the
analogy of KSirreadat, TiWeadai, tv-
TTTeffdai, as exactly equivalent to irev-
dijcrai rpixh »'"' being Agamemnon.
So, probably, Eur. El. 545, dXX ij rts
avTov rdcpop eiroiKTeipas ^euos 'EKecpaT\
t) TTJade <tk6tos Xa^Cov x^ovos, where
there is nothing in the context to
suggest an accusative. Comp. also
the apparent imitation of Soph. El.
909, foil., ry yap TrpoarjKei vX-qv 7"
e/jLov Kal aov rode k. t. X., where Chryso-
themis is speaking similarly of the
general act of respect. Having esta-
blished her first position, Electra pro-
ceeds, in v. 174, to reason from the
particular lock, 68e (The common
interpretation, besides its disagree-
ment with V. 173, introduces an
absurdity, as Electra could never
mean to say, * There is no one but
myself who would cut off this lock,'
while Dobree's irXrjv evos would only
spoil the whole passage, precipitating
the conclusion to which the Chorus
30
XOH^OPOI.
XO. €-)^6po\ yap oh TTpocTfjKe TreuOtjcrai Tpi')(L.
HA. Kai /uLi]P oS' ecrrl Kapr toeiv ofj-OTrrepo^.
XO. irolaig eQelpai^', tovto yap OeXoo fxaOelv.
HA. avTolcTLV ^juLiv KupTa TTpOQ-cpeptjg loeiv.
XO. fxcov ovv 'OpecTTOV Kpv^Sa Scopov ^ ToSe',
HA. ixoKlctt EKelvov Po(TTpvyoL<s irpoa-eioeraL.
XO. Ka\ ir(h<s €K€ivog Sevp' eroXfj-i^crev fioXeiu',
HA. eVe/xxJ/c ■)^aLTi]v Kovpifxyjv ^apiv Trarpo?.
XO. 011-^ rjCTCTOv evSoLKpvTa juLOL Xeyeig rdSe,
€1 TijaSe "vwpag jm/jTroTe yj/avcrei ttool.
175
i8o
is at last slowly led, v. 177). Keipero,
MSS., KeipaiTO, Turn.
174. Kal fXTjv here, as in v. 205, Ag.
1178, Prom. 1080, Thei. 245, 457, in-
troduces a new fact, in the same way
as it is used to announce the appear-
ance of a fresh person on the stage.
Elsewhere, as in Prom. 982, 985, it
starts an objection. The presence or
absence of ye appears to make no ma-
terial difference. — ofMOTrrepos, Pers.
559, Eur. El. 530. Blomf. comp. Supp.
328, TTovov 5' tSots av ovbaixov ravrou
irrepov.
176. avToicnv ijjuuv for rats rj/xdv
avrCov, like KOfxaL xa/jtrecrcrtv ofiolat,
II. 17. 51, referred to by Well.
Woi-dsworth comp. Hdt. i. 116, Kal
ot re xapa/cTTj/o tov irpoaihirov 7rpo<y-
(pepeadat iSoKee is kiavTov.— Kdpra dva-
ixadr]s t'Seij/, Eur. Med. 1196.
177. The construction of /iwj' with
a conj., which Dindorf thinks '.inex-
plicable,' is supported by Hermann
from Eur. Ijjh. Aul. 321, where,
however, the first person is used, so
that the case there is merely one of
the delib. conj. Possibly it is to be
explained on the analogy of fii^ with
a conj. in interrogations (Jelf, § 873.
3, 4), ' Is it likely then that this may
be?' Comp. Hdt. 5. 79 (quoted by
Blomf.), dXXa fiaXXou /xr] ov tovto y to
XpWT-qpLov. At the same time, the
reading of Med., •^ without the added
iota, rather favours Scholefield's ^jv. rj,
which Franke conjectures, only stood
for the first person in the older Attic.
See Hermann's Pref. to Soph. (Ed. T.
/jlQv odv, which has been questioned
on the ground that p.Qiv is itself a
compound of p-rj and otv, is found in
Eur. And. 81.
180. eirepi-^ev Kal ttjv, MSS.; ^Tre/xi/'e,
Turn. ; x^'-'^W) Vett. Kovpip.-qv is
connected by Stanley with xat'r???',
by Wellauer with xctptj'. The latter
may be more elegant, and more in
accordance with the usual cadence
of an iambic line, but it is less sim-
ple. (In Agathon. Thyest. fr. 3, kov-
pip.ov xctyoii' Tptxos, xd/ati/ is adverbial.)
iraTpos, for which Blomf., Dind.,
Herm. substitute iraTpi from Turn.,
is well defended by Peile's remark,
that we see in it the origin of the
adverbial use of xaptj/, which, as here,
is really a cognate ace, and by Ag.
1387, "AlSov .... evKTaiav x^pi-^-
181. 6)5 in evdoLKpvTa, for which
Emper, followed by Hermann, would
read au daKpvTa, means naturcdly or
rightfully, as in Ag. 552, eS Xe^eiev,
Supp. 528, eS <TTvy-r]<xas.
XOH^OPOI.
31
HA. KCLjULo) 7rpo(T€(TTr] Kapola? kXvocoviov
e^ S/uijULaTMV Se S[\p-ioL TriirrovorL fxoL
185
182. \pav(rei, the first reading of
Med., seems better than \pavari, as
the sense required is, ' if he is never
to touch,' ' si nunquam tacturus
est.'
183-2 1 1. HI. 'I too am all per-
turbed, and know not what to think.
The offering cannot have come from
any Argive — still less from my mo-
ther. Yet how to fix it on Orestes ?
Oh that it could speak and tell us !
May the gods look on our troubles !
— they can aid us even now. See,
here are footprints, just the size of
mine, — more and more anguish and
perplexity. '
183. KapUas is perfectly expli-
cable as a second genitive con-
structed with K\vdd)VLOv, like euiz-^s —
%\t077s, Ag. 1447 ; but it seems rather
to be a genitive of place, like cppevos,
V. 389, 86/xwv, Ag. 431, and probably
ecTTLas, ib. T056. Comp. Ag. 976,
de?/xa irpoaTaTTjpiou Kapoias TepaaKovou
iroTaraL. In any case, Scaliger's
Kapdla, adopted by Herm., is quite
needless.
184. eiraWrjv MSS. eiralcrdT^v, Can-
ter.
1 85 . dlxpLOL, for which Schiitz would
read di\l/icju, Blomf. bixpia, is satis-
factorily defended, as a hypallage for
hL\pibiv, by the passage adduced by
Schwenk and Well., Eur. H. F.
447, ypaias oaaoju Trrjyds. Jelf, who
explains the latter (§ 440) as = yepatd
or yepxtLcis daKpva, does not apply his
principle of the compound notion to
the present case. The truth seems
to be, that the Greek and Latin
poets, as a matter of taste, were fond
of varying the direct construction of
the epithet and substantive by trans*
ferring the former to some other
noun, of which it might, though
less obviously, be regarded as an at-
tribute, the conditions of transfer-
ence being as various as the law of
association itself. Thus, when Ho-
race (i Od. 31. 9) says, ' Premant
Galena falce, quibus dedit Fortuna,
vitem,' he avoids the commonplace
expression, the Calenian vine, by
varying the image and attaching the
local character to the vine- dresser's
pruning-hook. Viewed on grounds
of art, the artifice is merely a verbal
one, the conception having, in the
case quoted, nothing really corre-
sponding to it, as the instrument
might not, like the vine, have any
distinctive peculiarity ; and even if
it had, the selection of so subordi-
nate an object as the medium for
conveying the general impression
proves that, with the classic writers
at least, painting by words did not
follow the same laws as painting by
colours. (Klausen and Peile suppose
dixj/ioi to apply strictly to crrayoues, in
the sense of thirst-exciting, tears being
accompanied with a sense of thirst,
and moreover causing thirst them-
selves by their saltness : but the first
reason is recondite, and the second
ludicrous. Hermann's ple^ice desi-
derio (thirsting for Orestes) is very
harsh. Wordsworth's ' draining the
eyes' is better ; but the epithet in
the present connexion seems rather
to point to drought than to exhaus-
tion, <jTay6ves being apparently the
first drops of a deluge, which after-
wards falls daraKTi.)
32
XOH$OPOI.
crrayoveg a<ppaKTOL Sva-^^l/uiov TrXtjiuLjULvplSogf
TrXoKa/uov loovcrri Tovoe' irta^ y^P ^^'^'■(Tua
aarrcou riv aWov T^cr^e Sea-iro^eiv (po^rjg ;
aXX' ovSe juli^v vlv rj Kravovcr CKeiparo,
i/ULt] Se fJLi]Ti]p, ovSafJLwg iircovv/ULOV
(ppovrj/ixa Traicr] SvarOeov TreTrajULev^j.
iyco S' OTTO)? /uev avriKpvg raS' alvea-oo,
190
186. 6.4)paKToi, even if it had not
the exclusive support of the MSS.,
would be a better, because a more
significant word than dcppaaroi, the
reading of Tumebus. Comp. Soph.
CEd. T. 1386, T^s aKovoiarjt injyrjs
^payix6s.
187. i\Trl<yo}, not the fut., which
seems not to be found in classical
Greek, but the aor. subj. (Shil-
leto, Dem. F. L. p. 194). ekiri^eiv
in the sense of voixl^eLv, as in Theb.
76.
188. ^XXoi/like xet'/iaros aXKo MX^P>
Ag. 199, 'other than Orestes,' who
is thus virtually included in the body
from which it is meant to distinguish
him. The principle is the same as
that of the substitution of the super-
lative for the comparative. TTjade
tpo^rjs shows that Electra is thinking
not of the improbability that any
citizen would bj-ave the anger of
^gisthus, as in Eur. El. 516, but of
the unlikelihood that any one not of
the family of Agamemnon could have
anything to do with the particular
lock.
189. See on v. 17-2. vlv at first
sight appears more naturally to refer
to ^6^r)s than to Agamemnon, who
has been nowhere named. He is,
however, sufficiently indicated by the
words i] KTavovcra (with which Well,
and Butl., while retaining the old
interpretation of eKeiparo, actually
seem to connect vlv) ; and the line,
so far from losing anything, really
gains in force and propriety by the
antithesis between his murderess and
his mourner. Comp. Ag. 1543, ^ <ri>
rod' ^p^aL rXricrei, Krelvaa' dvdpa rbv
avTTjs, airoKiaKvcaL]
190. 5^ introducing another predi-
cate, as in v. 841. The addition here
seems not intended to add anything
to the sentence, but to show the
bitterness of Electra's feelings. With
the sentiment comp. Soph. El. 597,
1 154, TI94.
192. rdh" aiveao}. XeiTrei, ovk ^xw.
Schol. a more successful attempt at
explanation than has been made by
the same authority in other places,
e. g. V. ^oo. dya\/j.a Tvp.^ov. Xeiirei t]
els. V. 623. ewel 8' iirepLvqaafiev. Xei-
ireL, fj-vqaop-ev (p.vr]aop,aL ed. Dind.)
'KXvTaLp.vrjCTTpas. v. 626. /xTjrtSas.
Xeirrei, elpydaaTO. These instances
may, however, show us the necessity
of Dindorf's caution, 'Hoc videtur
dicere voluisse, orationem illaeta-
bilem post verba ^poruv Opearov
abrumpi substitutis verbis Isetioribus
(xalvop^aL 5* vtr eXirihos : qua sola ra-
tione excusari potest ellix>sis ilia :'
while they suggest a suspicion that
his language after all may be too cha-
ritable towards the old interpreter,
who seems to have thought it allow-
able to complete any sentence under
any circumstances, by supposing any
XOH(|>OPOI.
33
eivai ToS^ ayXaLO-jULo. iuloi tov (piXraTOv
PpoTwv 'Ope(TTOV' dalvoixai (^' vir'' cXttlSo^.
(bed,
e'/O' el^e <pcovr}v €u(ppov\ ayjeXov SiKtjv,
OTTCO? OLCppOVTlS OVda /JLV] \LVV(J(j6[J.r}V,
oXX €u 'cracp^vei touS' airoirrva-aL ttXokov,
195
words to be understood. — alveiv, as in
Ag. 98, 1482.
193. Comp. Soph. El. 903. fXT] TOV
rod' dyXdl'cr/xa tXtjv Kelvov fioKelv.
Eur. El. 325. irvpd bk ^e^cros d7Xat-
cixdriov.
195. ev(ppov expresses all that could
be expressed by ^/mcppov', Auratus' con-
jecture adopted by Herm., and some-
thing more. ' Sensus est, vellem
loqui posset, et me loquendo clelectare,'
Wordsworth. On the other hand,
0wj'77 ^fj.(ppo}v is rightly characterized
by Blomf. as 'dura locutio,' as the
latter part of the compound stands
out more distinctly than in evcppcou,
and the word itself, as used elsewhere
by ^sch, (v. 1026, Prom. 848), ex-
presses rather sanity than intelligence
(Wellauer's and Linwood's rendering
of €V(ppov, 'easy to understand,' seems
perfectly unauthorized). — dyyeXov 5t-
K-)]v. Klausen remarks, that the same
opposition between the report of a
messenger and mere vague conjecture
is found A[/. 496.
196. \7}vv(X<x6p.y]v, MSS., KLVvffffb-
/xrjv, Turn. Hesych. has Kr)vva<x6fJiT}i^.
etScjXov eyevd/xrjv, which agrees with
the Schol. here : ecpavra^bp.'qv. Krjvvyfia
yap rb e'ibuXov. Krjvvyfia is found in
Hesych. and Phot., by whom it is
similarly explained, and has been re-
stored by some editors to From. 158,
where the MSS. have Kivvyfi. This
uniformity of testimony tends to prove
the existence of a word Krjvva-cru},
perhaps connected with Kifos, though
as Hesych. has two other words, Kiy-
Xvyfxa and K-qpvyixa, both of which he
interprets dxpe?ou, dadeves, nothing
can be pronounced with certainty.
But the sense is plainly not what is
required here, however it might suit
the passage in the Projuetheus, while
the existence of KLvv<xai>}, which Klau-
sen questions, is proved by Eustath.
on II. 4. p. 472. 43 (quoted by Blomf.
on Prom. I. c.) rod bk kivvoj avdis irapd-
yojyov TO Kivdcraio, though the follow-
ing words, e^ ov Trap" Aiax^Xa: aldepiou
KLvvy/xa, TO depiov etbuiXov, rather point
to the supposed K-qpvyfia.
rg7' <xa<pr]V7J, MSS., '(ra<priv€i,
Paley. The existence of the word
cafprjveo) = a-acprjui^u is established by
that of dLaaa(f)7]veio in Hippocr. p. 781,
vol. 3, ed. Klihn., while its rarity is
only an argument in its favour. The
nom. to 'a-a(pr]vet, as to elxe, v. 195,
will then be dyXd'C(xp.a, which in v.
199 is exchanged for irXbKos, probably
to facilitate the transition of thought
between the two different aspects in
which the hair is regarded. With
eS 'cracprjvei comp. ed (racpuJs, Pers.
784. In Soph. (Ed. T. 958, referred
to by Wordsworth, cra<pQs clearly goes
with dirayyeiXai, not with ei5 ia6\
(Wellauer's ed <xd<p' 9jp ij, the best
of the other corrections, seems to fail
from the absence of authority for the
particular expression <7d<p' eTvai, which,
being extremely simple, we might
have expected to find in frequent use,
instead of having to defend it by ana-
34
XOH^OPOI.
elirep y air e-^Opov Kparog rjv rerfxi-j^ievo^y
i] ^vyy€vi]<; wv ef^^ crvjULTrevOeiv c/xoi,
ayaXfj-a tv/ulIBov rovSe Kai Ti^r]v irarpog.
aW eiSorag /mev Tovg Oeof? KoXov^eOa,
OLOicriv €v yeifj-warL vavrlXcov CiKrjv
a-rpolBovjUieO'- el Se xph rv^^elv a-oorijpiag,
CTjUiiKpov yevoLT av arTrepniarog /xe-ya? irvQfxrjv.
KOL fxrjv a-TijBoL ye, Sevrepov reKp.t'jpioP,
200
205
logous constructions of adverb and
verb subst., such as ^v Trpeirovrus,
AfJ. 1 395-)
199. Harm, objects to elxe cvp-iriv-
detv, that it would signify not the
faculty of weeping, but scope for tears.
The truth is, that both are included
here, as ^vyyevris &v shows, the two
ideas being difficult to separate either
here or in other passages, e.g. Supp.
377, vfXLV 5' dprjyeiv ovk ^x^ /3Xd/37js
drep, where ^xo) as nearly as possible
= di'vap-aL. The consideration of the
question will be simplified by regard-
ing the inf. after ix<^ as a virtual
accusative.
■200. dyaXfjLa and Tifirjv are cognate
accusatives after avjXTrevdelv, = irevdos
dya\iJ.aTwS€S Kal ti/xtitlkov.
20 r — 204. Hermann's proposal to
give these lines to the Chorus is plau-
sible ; but while in themselves they
would be equally appropriate to either
speaker, it cannot be said that the
Chorus wants them, whereas E!ec-
tra's speech would end rather lamely
if terminated at v. 200. As the speech
stands, she is about to conclude in
V. 204 with an appeal to heaven, when
she observes the footprints— a tho-
roughly natural transitinn, which
would be ill exchanged for a more re-
gular division with a pause interposed.
Another argument in favour of the
present arrangement is, that it pre-
serves a symmetry which appears to
have been intended at least in a por-
tion of the present scene, vv. 106 —
152 answering to vv. 165 — 211, so
that t8 lines of dialogue are followed
by 29 spoken continuously.
201. The position of eiddras shows
that it is meant to be emphatic :
and the emphasis will best be brought
out by constructing it with oloictiv,
K.T.X., instead of forcing on koXov-
fieda (with Peile) a forensic sense,
when the context points to that of
prayerful invocation. diKr], MSS.,
diKrjv, Aid. Rob.
203. (TTpo^ovfied' like Trot/xeVos KaKoO
arpb^up, Ag. 657. The word aurrjpia
appears to have suggested the rather
harsh change of metaphor that follows,
being associated both with deliverance
from shipwreck {Ag. 664, 897 ; Sux)p.
765), and the preservation or perpetu-
ation of life by generation (vv. 236,
505 ; Eum. 661, 911.)
204. (TirepfxaTos with yhoir , as in
Soph. (Ed. T. 1082, T^s yap iri(pvKa.
fjLTjTpos. See Jelf, § 483.
205. We need not be much con-
cerned to vindicate ^sch. from the
ridicule of Euripides in the well known
passage of his Electra (vv. 532, foil.),
not only because such a weapon, so
used, recoils with fatal force upon the
inventor, but because the point in
which it is meant to touch -^sch. is
XOH<I)OPOI.
35
TToSwv ofJLOioi T019 T e/uLoicTiv ejuichepeig.
Ka\ yap ou ecrrov rwoe 7repiypa(pa iroSoiv,
avTOU T CKeiPov Kal ^vveixiropov tivo^.
one which his admirers would most
readily give up, his attention to pro-
bability and the nicer proprieties of
the drama. The strength of the
Choeph. does not lie in the intricacy
of the plot, nor in the dexterous deve-
lopement of the catastrophe, but in
the power with which the more terri-
ble elements of the story are brought
out. Nevertheless, Blomf. has suc-
cessfully shown that ^sch.'s manage-
ment of the dpayvJjpLcns is by no means
entitled to unmixed contempt. Elec-
tra reasons not like a Bow-street offi-
cer, or an inductive philosopher, but,
as he justly remarks, like a drowning
person catching at a straw — an image
not \mlike that which she is actually
made to use in v. -202— and the poet
himself shows his consciousness of the
insufficiency of her arguments by the
language which he puts into the mouth
of Orestes below, vv. 225 foil. Butler
(curae secundse ap. Peile), with less
judgment, proceeds further to defend
the arguments themselves, joining
issue on the question of the compara-
tive size of male and female feet : but
though it may be true that the in-
ference might have been made with
more plausibility in ancient than in
modern times, the censure of Eurip.
at least shows what was the feeling of
his own day, wrong as we may think
him, critically as well as dramatically,
in appealing to it. It is one thing to
say that the thought may be excused,
as coming from a poet who.se excel-
lences are of a diffijrent kind, or even
partially justified, with reference to
the situation of the speaker, and an-
other to contend that it is abstractedly
defensible, or even the happiest which
could have been chosen to illustrate
a particular state of mind (The ques-
tions raised on the whole passage, vv.
205 — 211, by the older critics, some
proposing to omit the whole, or parts
of it, others to change the order of the
verses, may now be considered as
dropped by universal consent: though
Herm., with as little reason, supposes
a lacuna after v. 208, where see note).
Kal fiTjv note v. 174.
206. Tro5Qu 5' o/jLOioi, MSS., to5u)u
61XOLOL, Turn. 5' appears to have been
added by some copyist, who thought
the sense of the preceding line com-
plete in itself. If irobQiv were con-
structed with SjxoLOL in the sense of
'like my feet,' as Klausen supposes,
we should be at a loss to account for
the words tols t' eixotcnv e/j-cpepels :
while Peile's interpretation, * like his
feet,' though less objectionable in point
of language, presents the difficulty
of making Electra commit herself to
a direct assertion about a thing which,
so far from knowing, she imme-
diately proceeds to infer by a remote
analogy.
207, 8. Kal "yap, confirmatory.
'The correspondence is easily seen:
for there are two diffiarent sets of foot-
prints, his own, and those of some
fellow traveller:' i.e. the footprints
reduce themselves to two types, one
of them doubtless his, while the other
merely shows that some one has been
with him. The condensation of the
expression is as natural as the simpli-
city and precipitancy of the reasoning.
Tlie apparent objection is seized on
and converted into a corroborative
D 2
36
XOH^OPOI.
OP.
iTTepvai TevovTOdv & viroypacpai /merpovjuLepai
eg TavTO crvix^aLVOvarL Tolg ejmoig cttlIBois.
TrapecrTi <5' wSh kul (ppevwv KaracpOopa.
ev-vov Ta Xoiira TOig Oeoig TeXecrcbopovg
ev-^ag iTrayyeXXovara Tvyyaveiv /caXco?.
210
argument, and a plausible statement
is submitted, accounting for the facts
in a very few words, almost every one
of which is an assumption. The defi-
niteness of avTov t' eKelvov, far more
emphatic than if Orestes had been ex-
pressly named, and the vagueness of
Kol ^uvefXTTopov TLvos alike denote in
different ways the strength of the con-
viction which Electra is anxious to
produce. Had she proceeded, as
Herm. thinks she ought to have done,
to enlarge on the characteristics of
the various footprints, remarking
that some are like, and others un-
like her own, the explicitness would
only have injured her case, and done
injustice to the vehemence of her
feelings.
■208. The abrupt commencement of
the sentence, without a connecting
particle, is another stroke of nature.
Electra tries the experiment again,
and repeats the result with more exact-
ness. She does not say which of the
two sets of footprints she is speaking
of ; she has really been thinking only
of one, and she wishes us to forget
that there is any other. inepvaL are
the heels, revovres, the tendons stretch-
ing along the length of the foot, as the
Schol. explains {revcov seems to be
used of various parts of the body, the
precise reference being determined by
the context, though in Eur. Med.,
1 166, it is doubtful), viroypacp-rj is
used here, not Tr€piypa(p7), not only as
including more points of resemblance.
but because only a part of the foot is
spoken of.
211. irdpeo-Ti S' w5ts like irdpeaTi
ddpaos, v. 91. So the use of Trdpecrri
or Trdpa with an inf.
212-7,24. Orestes and Pylades come
forward. Or. 'Pray that the gods
maybe as propitious to thee hereafter.'
El. ' What have I to thank them for
now ? ' Or. ' Thou seest what thou
hast long prayed to see.' El. 'Wliom
am I known to have prayed for ?'
Or. 'Orestes.' £1. 'And how has
my prayer been answered?' 0)\ 'I
am he.' £1. 'Thou art mocking me.'
Or. 'Then I am mocking myself.'
El. 'Thou art insulting my misfor-
tunes.' Or. ' Thy misfortunes are
mine.' El. 'Art thou then really
Orestes ?'
212-13. 'Pray that thou mayest
obtain blessings for the future, by the
ratification of the prayers which thou
preferrest.' In the first clause the
emphasis is on rd XotTrct, in the second
on Te\e<j(p6pov$. tol Xoiird is the ace.
after Ti'7xdj/eti', as is shown by tL Kvpu
in the next verse. Comp. vv. 711,
714, ^evQvs — Tvyxdveiv rd irp6a(popa
. . . KaKel KvpovvTUV dJifiacriu rd irpoa-
(j)opa. Te\ea(popovs evxds iirayyeWovaa
is to be constructed with rvyxdvecv, on
the well-known principle of the attrac-
tion of the subject of the infinitive to
the case of the subject of the principal
verb. Jelf, §672.2. eirayyeWetv ti
is to make a request or order known by
an ayyeXos, as in Thuc. 7. 1 7. So
XOH$OPOI.
37
HA. eTreJ tl vvv eKan oaifjLOVwv kvoco',
OP. eig oy^LV r]Kei^ wvTrep e^rjvyov irakaL. 215
HA. KOL TLva (jvpoicrOa fxoi KaXovjULevtj ^poTwv\
OP. t/'voLO "'OpecTTrjv ToWa cr'' €K7ray\oujuiei^>]v.
HA. Kal TTjOO? t/ Srjra Tvy^dvo) Karevy/uiaTCiov',
OP. oS' eljULL' jULt] jULOLTeu ejULOv jmaWov (ptXov.
HA. aW f SoXov TLv\ w ^ev, aiuL(pL ixol TrXeKeig', 2 20
OP. avT09 fcaO' avTov rapa jULtj-^avoppacpw.
here it is used of offering up prayers,
which are transmitted to the gods
as if through a messenger. Comp.
the use of Krjpvixcro}, v. 124, and
note. In Eur. EL, 563, the TraiSa-
7W76S begins the dvayvdopiaLS by say-
ing a; TTori/i', eiixov, dvyarep'HXeKTpa,
deoLS.
214. Eiectra wishes to remind him
that he has giv^en no reason, and so
throws her question into the form of
a supplement to his address. * Be-
cause I have obtained what blessing
now ?' So Soph. EL, 390, oirus wadys
TL xPV/^<^'> Jelf, § 882. cKarc, as in v.
436, Eum. 759.
215. et's 6xpLV TjKeis eKeivwv uivirep els
oxpLv eXdeiv e^rjvxoviraKaL. i^evx^a-Oai
as in Eur. Med., 930, referred to by
Peile. i^rivKov, MSS. ^^V^X^^y Rob.
216. The full construction of cryi/et-
depai is with a dative and an accu-
sative, the one depending on a-vv, the
other on eldevai. In the present
instance it happens that the two cases
refer to the same person, and thus
either may be omitted indifferently, as
variety dictates. Still, whichever is
expressed, the other must be con-
sidered as implied. A similar variation
of construction occurs vv. i03r,2. This
line is one of the few in ^sch. be-
ginning with a dactyl which is not a
proper name in whole or in part. See
Paley on Ag. 7, where he too hastily
asserts that no unequivocal example of
the kind is to be found in ^sch.
There is no ground to suspect any cor-
ruption here, while it seems arbitrary
to regard "HXios, v. 987, as a proper
name, or deop-aves, Theb. 653, as a
trisyllable.
217. iKiray\ovp,€vr]s, MSS.: eKtra-
yXovp-evrju, Kob. e/CTrayXercr^at is gene-
rally used of astonishment; it seems,
however, properly to denote bewilder-
ment, or perplexity of any kind, being
identical with eKTrX-qaaeadai. Comp.
the use of our word 'amaze' in such ex-
pressions as ' to be sore amazed'
{€Kdap.(3el(T6ai, S. Mark, 14. 33), and
*to be afraid with any amazement'
{p-rj (j)o^ovp.evaL p.7]^ep.iav tttoijo-li', I S.
Pet. 3. 6).
218. irpbs tL appears to mean 'with
reference to what' or ' why,' as irpos
rdde or irpbs raOra mean ' wherefore.'
Wordsworth comp. Neophron fr. 2,
Kal irpbs Tl TavTa dvpop-ai ; Botha
Eur. HeL, 456, irpos tLv' olKTpbs el;
Here, accordingly, the sense seems to
be 'with reference to what can I be
said to have my prayers granted 1'
219. (piXou. V. no, note.
220. dXX' Tj. V. 774, note.
221. /car' avTOv, MSS. : Kad' avroO,
Bothe. See v. in, note. With
p.rixci.voppa(pQ Peile well comp. Ag.
1604, Tovoe Tov (pbvov pa<f>evs, ib. 1609,
irdaau ^vfdxf/as pLTjxavrjv dvcr^ovXLas,
88
XOH^OPOI.
HA. aXX' ev KaKoicTi Toig e/ULoig ')€\av OeXeig.
OP. KOLV T0i9 ejULoi? ap\ e'lirep ev ye toictl croig.
HA. (0? bvT (JpecTTrjvJ Tao^ eyu) ere 7rpovvveiri*3\
OP. avTov /uLev ovv opccxra SucrjuiaOei^ e/ue,
Kovpav o' ioov(Ta r^vSe KtjSeiov Tpi-)^og
aveTrTepwOt]^ KaooKei^ opav e^ae,
L-)QfO(JKoirov(ja t ev (ttl/Bokti Toh e/uLoh
aauTrj^ aoeXcpov ^u/x/jLerpov tco crw Koipa'
^^- 3^3) Seifol TrXeKCLV roi fj.rjxai'ds
AlyvTTTioi.
222. vjSpl^eLv kv KaKo'iaiv, Ag. 1613.
223. eixoLffLV ap\ MSS. e/xois dp',
Turn.
224. The reading of this line is ex-
tremely doubtful, as, besides the
obvious metrical deficiency of the
vulgate, there is a question about its
language, and the remedy which na-
turally suggests itself for the latter
leaves the former untouched, those who
propose irpoaevviiru not being agreed
as to the reading of the preceding
words. Looking then merely to the
text, we shall find it simpler to retain
trpovvveirw ; nor does the word appear
impossible on other grounds, though
irpoaevviTTO} would undoubtedly be more
usual in such a connexion. Comp.
Soph. Tracli., 227, xat'peti' 5e tov
KTipuKa irpovvveiro}, with Eur. EL, 552,
o,aws 5^ x'^'-P^'-^ TOi)s ^euovs irpoaevviiru}.
The difference seems to be that in
irpoaevveireiv tlvo. tl the preposition
exerts its force on the accusative,
while in Trpovuveireiv tlvol ti the two
accusatives depend on the sim.ple eliretv
or eveireLV, irpo giving the sense of pro-
claiming aloud. Trpovvv€W€t.v rivl tl,
on the other hand, is used, as in Eum.
98, where the person is merely spoken
to, not, as here, also spoken of. If
irpouvveirw be retained, the fault seems
to lie in rdb\ which perhaps should
Tovb^ (marg,
Pauw
be
or dJi
raOr'.
225-234. Or
Ask. and Martin),
gave Trjb' , Porson
Now when I stand
before thee thou doubtest, though the
colour of my hair and the measure of
my footprints seemed proof enough to
thee a moment since. See the place
from which the hair was cut, and
examine this robe, thine own embroi-
dery. Contain thyself, and remember
that our kinsmen are our bitterest
foes.'
225. hvajxadeiv, properly intransitive,
here takes an accusative, like bvaro-
fxeiu, dcre^eiv {Eum. 270), &c. fikv
vvv, Med. fikv odv, Guelf a. m. pr..
Turn. (Schiitz's ixe vvv cannot stand
with e/ie : Franz accordingly writes
5uafji.a6Qs ^xets : Herm. dvcrp-adels. cii
5e Koi'pdi' ibovaa, both most gratui-
tously.)
226. KTjdeLov. V. 87, note.
229. ^vfi/xerpou T<^ ai^ Kcipa nsituvKWy
follows aavTTJs dSeX(pov, ' thy brother,
and consequently resembling thee in
his proportions,' expressing the prin-
ciple on which Electra had relied in
her conjecture, v. 205. Comp. Eur.
EL, 522, (pCKei yap, alfxaravTov oh dv
y irarpos, Td ttoXX' ofxoia au/xaros
irecpvKevaL. Orestes is pomting out
Electra's inconsistency in doubting
ocular demonstration after having just
accepted much more equivocal evidence.
XOH<I)OPOI.
39
(TKey^ai TOfJirj TrpocrOeia-a ^ocrTpv^ov rpiy^o^'
loou o' udyacriuLa toOto, cryj^ epyov yepo^,
(TTrdOrjg re irXijyd'S, eig oe Orjpeiov ypach^p.
2.-^0
so he deals rather with her reasoning
than with the fact from which she
reasons. Thus we see that ^vfi/xerpois
T(S (Tc^ irodi, which Paley proposes from
Eur. EL, 533, would be no improve-
ment, (The various attempts that
have been made to change the order of
the verses are quite futile, ^vfj-fxerpov
T(^ (ry Kcipa could not be said of the
hair, ^vfifxerpos, as Klausen remarks,
denoting size, not colour, while t<^ crcp
Kapq. is not the same as rfj crrj ko/ultj.
Even in the position of v. •2-27 before
vv. 228, 9 there is a propriety, as the
moment of Electra's highest exaltation
was after the discovery of the lock, and
before she had observed the footsteps.
Peile rightly renders IxvoaKOTrovaa t'
' as %oeU as when you were on the
quest in my footprints;' and Klausen
not inaptly refers to Ag. 239, foil.,
X^ovaa i^aXh! eKaarov . . . Trpeirovad
6' ws ev ypacpals irpocrevv^ireLv diXova' .)
230. <XKe\l/aLTO fiT], MSS., CKe-ipai
TOfMrj, Turn. rof^Lrj, * the stump,'
Paley, who comp, II. i. 235 ; Theocr.
JO. 46; Plato, Syirip. p. 190, e.
(Wordsworth and KirchhofF conj.
K6p.rj, which might almost seem to
have been read by Eur. El. 520,
CKe-^ai be X'^'-tV Trpocmdeicra afj Kofx-Q.
Eur. however is speaking of Electra's
comparing the lock with her own ;
^sch. of her verifying the lock as
having been actually cut off by the
speaker).
231. It matters little whether the
v(pa(r/xa here is a robe, as Eur. El.
543 took it to be, or a piece of em-
broidery, as the commentators assert,
in order to save the poet's credit,
-^sch. speaks, v. 9S0, of the robe in
which Agamemnon was slain as yet
in being ; and he may very well have
feigned that Orestes had preserved his
boy's clothing for the purpose of an
dvayvibpiais, as was sometimes done
in the case of oirdpyava.
232. els seems to be introduced to
avoid the repetition of idov, as in II.
3. 268, (bpvvTO 5' aiiTiK iireiTa &va^
dv5pQ)v ' AyajUL^/xvcau, ' Ap 5' 'OSvcrevs,
Slv {dvd) virtually stands for CopvvTo,
and in II. 5. 480, ^u6' a\ox6v re (pi\r]i>
^X'.TTOv. . . . Kd5 5e KT-qp-ara iroWd,
Kad (Kard) for '4\Lirov. See Jelf,
§ 643, obs. I. So in Moile's State
Trials, 'Anne Ayliffe,' 'The pri-
mate rose, the hierarchy up.' The
only difference is that in Homer the
prepositions are used absolutely in
their original force of adverbs, while
in ^sch. eh takes its case after it.
Ibiadia eh vj3pLv, Supp. 103. There is
some plausibility however in Her-
mann's supposition that a line has
been omitted, as in that case Orestes
and Electra would speak eleven lines
each. drjplov MSS., drjplwv Turn.,
drjpeiou Bamb., Dind., Herm., the
latter of whom seems right in saying
that d-qpLov, like iraibiov, is not ad-
mitted in tragedy. Comp. Ag. 1242,
1593, Salra iraLbeioiv KpeCiv. On the
subject of embroidery of this sort
Wordsworth refers to Thirlwall, Ilht.
Gr. I. 223 (ed. i), Ast on Theophr.
Char. p. 187, and index under .4 it^cea,
the commentators on Hdt. 1. 203, and
Wakefield on Lucr. 2. 35. Blomf.
shows from Pollux 7. 48 and 55
that a garment so embroidered was
called drjpaioy, and X'-^'^^ ^(jSUTds, or
40
XOH^OPOI.
evSov yevov, X^P*? ^^ M^ ''KTrXayrjg (ppeva?'
Toi'? (piXraTovg yap olSa vwv ovra? iriKpov^.
HA. to (p'tXraTOV fJLe\r,ij.a SwjuLacriv irarpo^, 235
SaKpurog eXTrl? o-Trep/uLaro^ arooTrjpLOv,
aXKrj TreTTOiOce^ omjul avaKTrjcrei iraTpo<s.
(Jo TepTTVov o/uLima, Te<T(Tapa<s /ULOipag eyjav
ejULor TTpocravSav S' ecrr' avayKaiw? 'i-^ov
irarepa re, Ka\ to lULrjrpo? eg cri /moi peirei 24O
233. /J-riKirXayiT] MSS., fj.rjKTrXayrjs
Turn. Blomf. well comp. Hdt. i. 119,
Iduv di ovT€ €^€7r\dy7}, evrSs re euivrov
ylverai, which shows clearly the in-
tended antithesis.
234. Note on v. no.
235 — 245. El. ' Thou art he whom
we have looked for to preserve thy
father's house, and thy strength of
hand shall restore it to thee. Thou
art all that I have to love — father,
mother, sister, brother in one — and
having thee, may I have the gods on
my side.'
236. cwTTiplov, note on v. 203.
Tlie notion is that of saving the house
by perpetuating the line. eXirh airep-
/iiaros - (Xirepixa eXiTLcdev.
237. dX/ci TreTTOidihs, II. 5. 299,
comp. by B-omf. avaKT-qcr-y MSS.,
dvaKTr](T€i, Porson. The sense is
' thou shalt regain thy father's house
that has longed for thee ; it shall re-
ceive a preserver, and thou shalt have
thine own.'
238. Bfijiia, as in Soph. Aj. g'j'j,
1004, ^^- 90?,, in the sense of an ob-
ject. So 600aX/i6s, CEd. T. 987.
This very peculiar use may possibly
be susceptible of explanation by a re-
ference to the Greek theory of vision
(Donaldson, Neiv Crat. § 478, ed. 2),
according to which impressions, those
of love in particular, were held to be
transmitted from the eyes of the per-
son seen to those of the person see-
ing. Thus 6/u.jtia and 6(pda\fx6s may
mean that which transmits visible
images, that being one of the func-
tions of the eye, just as the more ordi-
naiy one of receiving impressions, in
short of being the organ of vision,
gives rise to another series of meta-
phors, such as oipdaXfibs o'Uiov, v.
934, 6[xfjia doficov, Pers. 169 (Valck-
enaer's ovofia, adopted by Dind. and
Herm., is less poetical. Electra would
more naturally dwell on the visible
presence of Orestes than on the name
of brother). — fjLo7pa in the sense of a
function or duty, as in Supp. 1042.
239. Schlitz's citation of II. 6. 429
is peculiarly appropriate, as the enu-
meration of the various relations, end-
ing with that naturally inherent in the
person addressed, shows that ^sch.
must have had the words of Homer
before his mind. In the same way
Sophocles, in a passage which has
escaped attention {El. 1149), makes
Electra, after telling her how she had
performed the duties of mother and
nurse to her brother, recur to her
actual relation to him, eyCo 6' abe\<f>'^
aoL 7rpoa-7]v8<J:/JLT]v del. Wordsworth
comp, Antiphanes, Aphrod. fr. 2
(Meineke), ■^v irdaLv eXdelv kar' dvay-
Kaicvs ^xo''- Aristoph. Peace, 334,
dWd Kai Tapiarepov toi {xovct* dvay-
/catws ^xov.
XOH^OPOI.
41
crrepyrjOpov ^ Se TravSiKO)'^ e^QaipeTai ■
KOL T^? TvQeL(Tri<i vrjXecog oixocriropov'
iria-ro's S'' aSeXcpog ^(tO\ e/uLol a-e^ag (pepcov
juLOvog' Kparo? re Ka\ AUr} ^uv tm Tplrio
irdvTwv jULeyicTTM Vjt]VL crvyyevoiTO /not.
OP. ZeO ZeVf Oecopog T(Joi/Se TrpayniaToyv yevov'
loov oe ykvvav evviv aeTov iraTpog,
OavovTog ev irXeKTaicri Kai o-ireipajUiaa-L
245
241. <TT€py7}dp6v= ^pcos, as in Prom.
492, Eum. 192.
243. rjaO' = ^(pus, thou wast from
the first, before these new relations
were superadded, as Klausen explains
it. e/j-oi ce/Sas (pepojv /iiovos, the only
one from whom I have had a kins-
man's regards. ae^as (p^peiv like
%d/)tj', kX^os (p^peiv TLvi. aefSas of duty
to parents, Eum. 545, Supp. 707.
Electra complains of her dishonoured
state, V. 446, art/xos, ovdev d^ia.
244. fidpos MSS., povov Turn.,
needlessly. In Eur. El. 581 Orestes
sjjeaks of himself ^6p.p,ax6s yi aoi
p.6vos. Here the word p,6i'os suggests
the prayer that follows for divine aid.
Comp. vv. 866 — 868. rptros implies
the notion of (xojTrjp, as in vv. 578,
1073; Ag. 245, 1386; Eum. 'j^g ;
Supp. 27. On the doctrine, see
Mtiller, Diss. §§ 94, 5. For the
union of Kparo? with At/c?;, Klausen
comp. ^Ikt] viKTjcpopos, v. 149, and fr,
inc. 372.
246 — 263. Or. ' Look down on us,
O Zeus ; we are like young eaglets
that have lost their father, famishing
for lack of food. Like eagles too, we
.are thy ministers ; if thou let us
perish, thou wilt never again have
sumptuous offerings, such as our
fcither used to give thee. Lift us up,
and we shall rise at once from our low
estate.'
246. decjpos = iirdiTTTjs (comp. Prom.
118, 299, 302), so that we may comp.
Ag. 1579, Oeovs dvcodep yijs ivoTTTetjeiv
axv- (The MSS. irp-qyp.drwv for irpay-
p.dTiOP is conjectured, not improbably,
by Schneidewin and Herm. to point to
TrrjpLdruv.)
247. yevva PLP, MSS. ; yeppap eZviv,
Turn, yhpav evPLP like ttQXop edpLP,
V. 794. Agamemnon, as Klausen re-
marks, had been already symbolised
by an eagle, Ag. 109 foil.
248. With irXeKTOLai, comp. Thcb.
495, 6(peo3P TrXe KTdpaiat., with <nreipd-
p-aai, Soph. Rhiz. (fr. 490), TrXe/crats
ibp,u)P aTreipaLai dpaKOPTOjp. Clytaem-
nestra is elsewhere compared to a ser-
pent, vv. 994, 1047, Ag. 1233. The
combat between the eagle and the ser-
pent, so fruitful in its mythological
and historical applications, is found in
Jl. 12, 200 foil, Comp. also Soph.
Ant. no — 126, where there can bene
doubt that the same antithesis is in-
tended, though Schneidewin explains
dpdKWP of the Argives. Sympathy is
always excited against the serpent,
who appears as the insidious enemy of
birds {11. 2. 308 foil. ; Theb. 290,
503), and as such is rightfully exter-
minated by the king of birds. The
meaning here does not appear to be
that the eagle is strangled by the ser-
pent, but that he is entangled in its
coils and stung to death. JL 12. 205,
42
XOH<|)OPOL
oeivtjg e-)^Ldi/t]g. Tovg d' aircopipavia/uievovg
vy](TTL<s irieXeL \ifx6g. ov yap cVreX^/? 250
Oripav iraTpwav Trpocrcbepeiv c-Ki^vrnxacnv,
ovTco 06 KcijULe T^vSe T, ^HXeKTpav XejM,
loeiu TrdpecTTL (roi, iraTpocTTeprj yovov,
ajuLCJXjo (pvyrjv cyovre Ttjv avTrjv Sojulwv.
Kai Tov 6uTrjpo9 Kai ere TijmwvTog ixeya 255
'irarpog veoa-crovg tovctS' airocpQelpa^ iroOev
e^ef? ofjLoia^ -^^eipog euOoivov yepa^',
ISvwOeis oTTLcrio. Wordsworth refers
to Wex on Soph. Antig. vol. i. 120,
7. 96; and to the Schol. on the pas-
sage in the Antig. ttoX^/jliov ^ui6v
ecTTiv 6 dpaKojv irpbs tov derou, ibs (prjai
"NiKavSpos (The)'. 448).
250. TTie^ei \l/x6s like irpo<nne^ei
XpVI^°'-T^f o-XV^l^c-) V. 300. evTeXrjs, sc.
yivva. Schol. ovk eari yevua ivTeX-qs,
ibcrre Tr]v irarpi^av drjpav irpoadyeiv ry
KaXi^. Otherwise euTeXels, Pauw's
conj., would be plausible.
251. dripa Trarpi^a, MSS. d-qpav
irarpi^av, Rob. Schol. evTeXri^ irpoa-
<j)epeLV, like Kvpios dpoeiv, Ag. 104.
With aKrjvri/xaaiu Wordsworth comp.
S. Matth. 13. 32, wore iXdelu rd
irereLvd tov ovpavov, Kai KaTaaK-qvovv
€v Tots KXddoLS avTov, lb. 8. 20,
^Xoucrt . . . rd weTeivd Ka-
TaaKrjvdocreis.
252. ovTO) 5e, as Paley remarks, is
introduced as if the preceding lines
had reference to the eagles simply as
eagles, not as representing Orestes
and Electra, or, as Aristotle would
have phrased it, as if they were in-
tended not for a /j.eTa<popd but for an
eiKibu. The confusion of these two
modes of expressing similitude is both
natural and common. See among
other instances, SiLpp. 223, Soph. Aj.
168.-670; MSS., Xe7a; Aid.
253. irarpoaTepTJ passive, like /3to-
aTeprjs, Soph. (Ed. Col. 747, 6fx/xa-
TocFTep-qs, ib. 1260. dpyvpoarep-^s v.
1002 is active, and so ofi/xaTocrTepTjs,
Euvi. 940.
254. See vv. 133, 337.
255 — 263. Hermann plausibly as-
signs these verses to Electra, who
will thus have a speech of nine lines
answering to that of Orestes. See on
vv. 201 — 204, 232. There is nothing
in the context to guide us to a deci-
sion, as the words of the Chorus, vv.
264, would refer naturally enough to
Electra's previous speech. On the
other hand the division, like that pro-
posed on V. 201, would apparently
enfeeble the passage, terminating
Orestes' prayer rather suddenly, and
making Electra take up the strain
abruptly. The speeches that follow
too show no marks of symmetry. Kai
trbdev may seem more fitted for the
beginning than for the middle of a
speech: see, however, Ag. n75,
where ris is apparently interrogative.
255. dvTTjp is used adjectively like
aoiTrjp, Ag. 664, and consequently
coupled with the attribute ere tlixHv
li^yo., as if it had been tov Ovovtos.
256. peoacrovs. v. 501. Here it re-
minds us of the comparison, v. 247,
and prepares us for its repetition, v.
258.
25 7. o/JLoias — T0LavTr]S CTepa^. — x^'-P^^
XOH$OPOI.
43
XO.
ovT^ aerov yeveOX^ a7ro<pOeipag iraXiv
'TrejULweiv e-)(^oi9 au o-jj/uar' evTriOtj ^poTOig,
OUT ap-^iKog (Toi Tra? o^' avav6e\<i irvQfxrjv 260
ficojuLoig aprj^ei /SovOvToig ev t^/ULacri.
k6iull^\ airo crfxiKpov S'' av apeiag jmeyav
oofJLOv, SoKovvTa Kapra vvv wcTTTcoKevai,
(JO Traz^e?, w crcoTijpeg ecTTLag Trarpog,
(TiyaO\ oTTCog jur] irevaeTal Tf?, o) rcKva, 265
7^pa? like du}p7]/j.a ttjs ifiijs Xfp^j,
Soph. Track. 603. See, however, note
on V. 129.
258. V. 71, note. irdXiv, 'hence-
forth,' as in £um. 720.
260. irvd/x-^u, as in v. 204, Supp.
J 04. Comp. Ag. 966, pii^rjs yap ovcrrjs
(pvWas LK€T es dofxovs.
261. It is not very easy to adjust
the various metaphors here. The
meaning however seems to be that the
family tree, if allowed to wither, will
no longer supply boughs for the altars
on days of sacrifice. Conip. Supp.
704. deoiis . . . rioieu iyx^ptovs Trarpy-
ats 5a(pur](p6pOLaLV ^ovduroLcn rifxah.
ap-qyeiv and ^/iap, taken together, are
probably meant to suggest the notion
of help in time of need, like the
Homeric use of fji.6pcrifji.ov, oXedpiou,
prjXees, opcpaviKdv, 8ov\iov Tjfiap.
^ovduTov rifxap, however, has a distinct
meaning of its own, requiring no
rhetorical considerations to justify it.
Comp. Kpeovpybv ^fnap, Ag. 1592 ;
Vfj^epa Taupoo-cpdycp, Soph. Track. 609;
^ovdvTov ijfx^pav, Eur. Ilel. 1474.
262. Blomf. quotes Hesych., KOfxi^e'
eTTLfieXeias d^iov, and refers to II. 6. 490^
Od. 17. 112. With the antithesis,
afLLKpov and fi^yav, comp. v. 204, with
the general sense vv. 963, 4. fi^yav
aipeiv, as in v. 791. With dpeias
Paley comp. the use of ei^aipeLu, Soph.
Track. 147, of a plant growing. So
^pvos depdeu, Ag. 1525. — Savapias,
MSS. ; S' du dpeias, Turn.
263. Kdpra, probably with TreTrrw-
K^uai.
264 — 268. Cko. 'Hush, children,
on whom the safety of the house de-
pends, lest some one overhear you,
and tell the rulers ; whom I hope
to see one day on their funeral
pile.'
264. tD Trat — T^Kvov occurs v. 896.
TraiSes with reference both to Trarpos
and to the age of the Chorus, v. 171.
(TOJTTipes V. 203, note. In Eiim. 754
Orestes calls Pallas Co adoaacra rovs
efxovs dofxovs, as having in him saved
the line of Agamemnon, The address
here appears to imply a warning, ' do
not peril the responsibility with which
you are charged. ' ecrrta as the centre
of the house, the seat of family life,
Ag. 427, 1435, CAo. 629.
265. oTTwy is followed both by a fut.
ind. and by a subj. (Jelf, ^§811, 812,
Madvig, § 123), sometimes, as here,
in the same sentence (Isocr. Areop.
12, quoted by Wellauer ; Plat. Gorg.
p. 480 ; Tim. p. 18), according as the
writer chooses to regard the event as
certainly future or as merely contin-
gent. Here, as Klausen remarks, the
distinction is natural enough — ' you
will certainly be overheard, and if so,
you may be reported.'
44
XOll^OFOL
yXcocrartjg "^apiv Se irdvr^ oLTrayyelXt] TclSe
'Trpo<s T0V9 KparovvTag' ovg 'iSoijul^ eyco irore
OavopTag ev KrjKloi Tricrcrtjpei (pXoyog.
OP. ouToi TTpoSwceL Ao^Lov fjLeyaorQei/rjg
y^prjcTfxog, Kekevwv rovSe klvovvov irepav,
Ka^opOiaC(Jov TToXXa, Kai ovcr-veiiuLepovg
270
266. Abresch comp. Hes. Works,
709, /xTjde \pevbeadaL yXwcro-rjs xdpti'.
267. Comp. V. 385, note, where the
wish of the Chorus is precisely similar.
* Apud tragicos qui malum alieni im-
precantur saepe ejus avToirrai esse
optant; vide BerglerAristoph. ^c/iar?i.
1 1 70, 8v €t' €Tri8oLjjLL Tev6idos devofiet/ov.
Cf. Soph. Philoct. 1115 ; Lucian,
torn. 3, p. 305, 6v KCLKLCFTa €7ri5oi/xi
dTToXovfxevou.' Wordsworth.
268. ' Tnaa-ripei, nihil amplius quam
2n7iea.' Wordsworth, ktjkls iriaarjprjs
(pXoyos is the unctuous vapour of the
blazing pine, as fivdQcra KrjKis ixripiwv,
Soph. Ant. 1008, the unctuous vapour
of smouldering flesh. davovras ev
KriKlbt merely signifies lying dead in
the flame, not killed by the flame
(comp. v. 248), there being no refe-
rence here to the TricaoKibvTjTos fxbpos
of ^sch. Cress, (fr. 1x3)
269 — 305. Or. 'I cannot doubt
the word of Apollo, who solemnly en-
joined me to undertake the work,
threatening all the penalties that wait
on those who fail to avenge their mur-
dered kinsmen — leprosy produced by
the very offerings with which they
propitiate the shades — nightly panics
driving them from home — privation
of all intercourse with their fellow-
men — and lastly, miserable death.
Divhie commands, human feeling,
nay, the stress of want, all combine
to urge me to deliver our countrymen,
my father's brave comrades, from this
degrading yoke.'
269. ovTL, MSS., oijToi, Turn. oUtol
irpoduai)} is said by Apollo himself,
Eum. 64. No doubt had been ex-
pressed either by the Chorus or by
Electra ; but Orestes naturally adopts
the language of apology, reassuring
himself by repeating the oracle with
all its catalogue of penalties. When
the deed is done, though anxious to
justify himself before gods and men,
he, not less naturally, shrinks from
the recital (v. 1031) — 'that way mad-
ness lies.' fieyaadevTjs, an epithet of
Apollo, Eum. 61, is transferred to his
oracle. In Theb. 70, 977 it is simi-
larly applied to the Erinnys or curse
of (Edipus. The oracle is personified
as in Ag. 11 78.
2 70. With irepciv Wordsworth comp.
irddos dvcreKirepaTov, Eur. Hipp. 678 ;
Plutarch, tom. 2. p. 760, irvp Kal
ddXaaaav Kai irvods rds alOepos Hepdv
'eroipLOS.
271. Ka^oOpid^wv, MSS., Ka^op-
did^cov. Turn. Ka^opdid^oiiv iroWd
with reference to the manner of the
delivery of the oracle, Virgil's * Hor-
rendas canit ambages, antroque re-
mugit.' The antithesis intended to
be conveyed by dva-x^'-fJ-epovs and
depfibv appears to be ' striking a win-
try chill to my warm life-blood.'
Comp. Prom. 692, Trrj/xaTa, Xv/mara,
ZdjxaT dpi^dKei Kevrpcp \pvxei.v \pvxdv
€p,dv, Eum. 160, irdpeaTL /naariKTopos
datov dap.iov ^apv to irepi^apv Kpuos
iX^'-^i ^^^ ViotQ the employment of the
word dvTiKevTpa in Eum. 466, which
XOH*OPOI.
45
arag v(p' tjirap Oepiuov e^avSco/mevog,
€1 jULr] jULeTeijULi toO iraTpog Tovg airlovg,
Tpoirov TOP avTOV avrairoKTelvai Xeywv,
a7ro-^pr]IJiaTOL<TL i^tjjULiaig Tavpoufxevov
avTov S' €(f)a(TKe rtj (plXyj "^^X^ raSe
TLcreiv [x e^ovTa iroXKa SvcrTepTrtj /ca/cct.
275
is obviously intended to be parallel to
the present passage, Paley refers to
Soph. Ant. 88, (Ed. C. 622, for simi-
lar antitheses, the nature of the oppo-
sition varying of course in each case
according to the context.
272. u0' 'fjirap depends not on
i^av8dofi€vos, but on some verbal or
participial notion implied in dras —
* plagues striking to my heart.' So in
Sujyp. 184, wpos ijfMds . . . dwTTJpes.
273. Tovs alriovs seems rightly ex-
plained by Abresch as a condensed
expression for roi)s alriovs rod (pbvov
(v. 117), like Tov aiTiOu, v. 68, and
perhaps v. 837. Used thus techni-
cally, it becomes virtually equivalent
to (poveh, and is constructed accord-
ingly with a genitive of the person.
(It may be worth while inquiring
however, whether the key to the ex-
pression is not be found in the position
of the words, the prefixed genitive
apparently standing in a somewhat
indefinite relation to the noun that fol-
lows it, as in the well known idiom,
rfis'IraXlas els'PrfyLov.)
274. rpbirov tov avrhv, Tlieh. 638.
Here it means by stratagem, as
Schiitz explains it, comparing Soph.
El. 35 foil., where the employment of
craft is especially enjoined by the
oracle. Peile comp, v. 556. avrairo-
KTelpaL \^y(x)v, as in vv. 93, 143, notes.
275. dTTOxpT^AtaTos differs from a.xp'fl-
jxaTos as privative from negative, and
so can only be interchanged with it
where the two notions are rhetorically
convertible, which is not the case here,
Consequently, if dTroxp^y/waroicrt is re-
tained here, it must be rendered, 'de-
priving me of wealth,' not 'penalties
not to be paid in money.' Apollo
bids Orestes indulge his natural thirst
for revenge on those who have robbed
him of his rights, threatening him
with worse evils if he tamely submits
to these. This will agree well with
Tavpovjxevov, which is more applicable
to Orestes' natural feelings of resent-
ment than to a factitious exasperation
against the usurpers, produced by
causes in which they are supposed to
have no share. For Orestes' personal
feelings, resentment for past wrong
and desire of restoration to his inheri-
tance, see vv. 250 foil., 301, 480, 913
foil. ; and comp, v. 135, e/c Se XPV/^^-
Twv (peiuywv 'Op^a-rrjs ecTi, with ^gis-
thus' words, Ag. 1638, e/c rcDv be roude
X/DT^/idrwi' 7r€ipd(T0/xai "Apx^if ttoXitQv.
With ^rj/jLiaLs ravpovfievov, comp, Suj^p.
563, fiaLuofxeua iropots drifMois odvi'ais
re K€UTpo8aXr]TOLS, with ravpov/xepov
dpTairoKTetpai, v. 549, eKdpaKOPTOJ-
dels S' iyih Kreipo} plp.
276. avrdp 'in person,' as in v.
225, The penalties to come, inflicted
by heaven, and touching the life, are
contrasted with the penalties past,
inflicted by the usurpers, and touching
the property. 0/Xos, v. no, note.
rj/vxv life, as in Ag. 965, T457, 1466.
\(/vxv TLcreLP like dapdrcp rlcras, Ag.
1529-
277. ix^^'^°-) taken closely with
46
XOH^OPOI.
TOL juev yap e/c yrjg Svarcppovwv nxeiXlyiuaTa
(BpoToh TrKpavcTKoyv elire -j- ra^ Se voov vocrovg,
aapKcov eTrajufiarrjpag aypiai^ yvaOoi^
Xei-^^rjvag i^ecrOovTag dpyaiav (pvcnv
\€VKag oe Koparag Trjo^ eiravTeXXeiv voacp'
aWag re (poovelv Trpoor^oXag Eipivvcov,
280
rlaeiv. iroWa SvarepTrrj KUKa, comp.
Ag. 1090, TToXXd , . , avTb(f)ova /ca/cct.
Elsewhere the adjectives are coupled
by Kai or re, e.g. Ag. 63, iroXka . . .
Kal yvio^apij. Theh. 338, TroXXd . . .
^vaTVxn T^ vpaaaeL.
278. For the explanation of this
whole passage to v. 2q6, containing
the xpvc/^os, see Appendix 2.
280. It is not easy to say whether
dypiaLS yvaffoLs goes with iirap^aTTJpas
or with XcLxv^as (an attributive dative
equivalent to an epithet), or, lastly,
with i^eadovras, the two former being
rather recommended by the position of
the words, the latter by the ordinary
propriety of expression. Perhaps it
is best to print the two lines as Din-
dorf has done, without any comma, as
most probably representing the inten-
tion of vEsch., who, we must remem-
ber, wrote instinctively, not as a gram-
marian. The metaphor of a devouring
animal is a sufficiently natural one,
being applied, e. g., to the ulcer of
Philoctetes (fr. 249, (payebaLvav rj fiov
adpnas eadiei ttoSos) . Comp. also Supp.
620, ^b(TK-qixa TrrjfiovT]^, where the
image is that of an eating disease (so
Soph. Phil. 313, 1 167, ^6aK€LV v6(Tov),
which drains away nourishment from
the system, dypiais may refer, as
Blomf. thinks, to the ay pLoXeLxw or
dypLoipojpla, the worst sort of leprosy
(Hesych. s. v.).
281. XiX'Jji'cts MSS. Xeix^j'as Blomf.
Gloss., which seems to be the more
correct spelling. — apxaiav (pv<nv seems
to have been a technical medical term
for what we should call the normal
condition, ttjv vpb rod vocreiv Kardara-
(TLv, Hesych. Abresch remarks that
it is not uncommon in Hippocrates,
and occurs in Aristides, vol. i.p. 637.
Comp. Soph. Qi^d. Col. no, dbuiXov ou
yap dr] t65' dpxo.'i-ov Se/xas.
282. A description of the variety of
leprosy called XevK-rj, described by Cel-
sus 5. 28, who mentions as one of its
characteristics, * in ea albi pili sunt et
lanugini similes,' adding that it is
more inveterate than the other two
sorts, dX0os and p.^\as — 'quern occu-
pavit non facile dimittit.' See also
Leviticus 13. 3, &c. The interpreta-
tion given as an alternative by the
Schol., and adopted by Dobree, that
the leprosy would be incurable, lasting
into old age, is less natural, and de-
prives the description of one of its
most graphic touches. Kopaai are the
hairs on the temples, so that the refer-
ence is to leprosy in the forehead, as
in 2 Chronicles 26. 19, 20. — iiravTeXXei
Med. Guelf. ; iTravreXXeiv Rob., sup-
ported by Efym. M. p. 530, i ; Etym.
Gud. p. 338 ; Zonaras, p. 1236, who
quote the line. The omission of i> is
sufficiently accounted for by vSacp, but
it may prepare us for a similar error
in the next line. — dvreXXeiv of hair,
Theb. 535, referred to by Words-
worth.
283. (f>(i}veLv, used as in Soph. Aj.
73, 1047. See Appendix 2. It is not
clear whether irpoa^oX-r} here means an
( ^
XOH^OPOI. ( UNIVfek- 47
e/c T(£iv TrarpiiiMv aliuaTcov reXovjUieva?,
opwvTa \aiJL7rpov ev <jk6tw vcojulcJovt' 6(bpvv 285
TO yap G-Koreivov rcov evepripcov ^eXo^
e/c 7rpo<TTp07rai(jov ev yevei ireirTWKOTCov
attack or attacking party, as in Theh.
28, which is the common view, or an
infliction (thing incident, or attached),
as in Eum. 600, which Mr. Shilleto
suggests. The latter is supported by
i^ntipho, p. r2 3. 23, and other pas-
sages referred to by Lidd. and Scott,
but the former agi'ees well with the
parallel passage, v. 402 foil., and with
the description of the Furies by them-
selves, Eum. '3, 68 foil. (comp. especially
e(p65oi9, ih. v. 376.) 'De eirnroiJt.Trals,
eTT 070^70 fs, i(p6dois Furiarum et male-
ficorum dsemonum, vide Bemsterhus.
Lucian p. 208, Ruhnk. Tim. p. 115.'
Wordsworth, Neither would seem to
suit very well with reXovfxeuas, which,
however, doubtless, as Peile remarks,
contains the notion of retribution, so
that it may perhaps be considered
parallel to yXu><x(ra reXeiadu}, v. 310.
285. v(i}/j.C}VT' ocppvv, like iroha vco/xdu,
Soph. (Ed. T. 468, fr. 856. II, I'iofxa
irrephv, comp. by Peile, who rightly
observes that nothing more than the
ordinary motion of the eyebrow in
seeing is intended. Wordsworth ob-
serves that one of the two participles
is meant to limit the other, as ifKaiirep
and ofius had been expressed, just as
we should say 'seeing clearly, while
moving the brow in darkness,' and
comp. Dem., p. 281. 20, Kal irepi rdv
dXXojv . . . dvTLXeyovTas iavTols Tovd'
ofJioyvcj/xovovvTas. Darkness is the
proper element of the Furies, Earn.
72> 387, 396, &c. (comp. ib. 104), as
they are the children of night, and so
the dead man who has them at his call
sees in darkness as plainly as in day-
light. Thus the three lines imply that
beside the vengeance which the Furies
and the dead man inflict as powers of the
earth, they will visit the offender with
all the terroj-s of darkness. The two
provinces seem to be in fact connected;
the regions below the earth suggesting
the notion of darkness, which, again,
is the natural medium of avenging
terror. So tQv ivepr^pup in the next
verse illustrates aKoreivov.
287. e/f TpocTTpoTraiojv with /Se'Xoj,
like vfj.uos e^ 'Epipvcju, Eum. 331,
fJLrjPLi /Jl.d(TT€ip' €K dcCoV, Svpp. 163.
TTpocTTpoiraLwv, suppliants, as in Ag.
1587, Eum. 234, the suppliant not
being here, as there, a murderer taking
sanctuary, but a murdered man asking
the Furies for vengeance, like Clytaem-
nestra, Eum. 94, foil, ev yiuei with
TrpoaTpoTraiojv, as if it had been e776j'(2»'.
So Soph. (Ed. T. 10 16, 1430, Eur.
Ale. 904, comp. by Stanley and
Abresch. Blomf. comp. ev at/xari Eum.
606, and Wordsworth Soph. Ant. 660,
where iyyevr] is opposed to l^w yhovs.
With the whole passage Klausen well
comp. Plato Laios, 9. p. 865, 6 davaro}-
deis dvfiovTai re Tcp Spdaavri veodvrjs ibv
Kal(p6^ov KaiSei/xaTos dfxa didrrjv ^laiov
irdd'r]v avTos TreirXrjpcjfi^vos, bpCiv re rbv
iavTOv (povea evToh Tjdeat rots ttjs iavToO
avvrjdeias dvaaTpecpop-evov deifxaivet kuI
rapaTTo/mevos avrbs rapdrTei Kara dvva-
fxiv wdcrav, wliile the word TrpoaTpbiraios
is illustrated by a reference to p. 866,
idv 5' 6 irpoarjKWv eyyvrara fiif
eTTf^tr/ Tc2 TaOrj/jLUTi, rb p-iaa-fxa us els
avrbv -rrepieXrjXvdbs tou iradbvros tt/joct-
TpewojuLevov ttjv Tddrjv, k. t. X., where
TTpoffTpeTTO/x^vov secms to mean not
turning or averting, as Lidd. and
48
XOH<J)OPOI.
Koi Xvacra Ka\ /maTaiog €k vvktwv (po^og
Kivei, Tapdcra-ei Kai SicoKea-Oai iroXecog
^aX/c/yXarct) TrXdcrTiyyi XvjULavOev oe/uLag'
Kal Toig TotovToig oure Kpar^jpog juepog
eivai /uL€Tacr)^eiVf ov (piXocTTrovoov \i/36g,
^icixojv T* airelpyeLV ov^ opooimevrjv Trarpog
jiirji/iv, Se-^ea-Qai S^ ovre crvXXveLv tlvol'
290
Scott think, but making the irddrj a
subject of TrpoaTpoTTT).
288. Xvcraa as in the case of Orestes
himself, v. 1048, foil,, pLdraios eK vvktuv
(po^os as in that of Clytsemnestra, v.
32, foil., as Peile remarks. Here, as
elsewhere, it must be remembered that
the punishments of the man who does
not avenge his kinsman are the same
as those of the murderer. Comp. vv.
924, 5. K. opa, (pvXa^aL /uLTjTpos eyKOTOvs
Kvvas. 0. rds tov irarpos bk ttws (fivyw
Trapels rdSe ; — €K pvktQv = pvkt6s. Ja-
cobs on A nth. Pal. 3. p. 332 (referred
to by Blomf.) quotes Horn, Od. 12.
286; Theogn. 452 ; Eur. (?) Bhes. 13.
289. KLfel, rapdcraei, equivalent to
^Xet 5vva/j.LV KLvr)TLK7]v Kal rapaKTiK-qv,
as 'iKTavov, Bum. 99 (if the text is
sound), for (povevs el/xi, and so (poueijeL
Eur. Iph. Aul. 947. diuKeadai with
gen., as in Horn. Od. 18. 8, Stci/cero
oh dofxoio, quoted by Herm. Klausen
quotes Eur. Med. 'j6, 7'^s ^Xa;' Ko-
pLvdias.
290. xaX/cT^Xdro;, referring to the
brazen points, Kcvrpa, at the end of the
lash. See Diet. Antiqq., v. Flagrum.
The arrow of v. 286 is here exchanged
for a scourge, both apparently referring
to the same thing, the nightly terror,
which at last drives the wretch from
his fellows. So in Eum. 155, foil.,
the effect of a reproving vision is com-
pared to that of an executioner's
scourge.
291. The hand of man is to be heavy
on him as well as that of the gods.
The Furies drive him from home, and
no one takes pity on him. The con-
struction, as Well, has seen, is dvai.
{ = €^€ivaL) ixeTaax^f-v fJ-^pos oiire Kpa-
TTjpos, ov Xi/36s. With p.eTa<Jx^^^ uepos
he comp. Ag. 507, fiedei^etv (piXTdrov
rdcpov fxepos. The whole passage is
parallel to Euni. 653, foil.. Soph. CEd.
T. 236, foil., the last perhaps imitated
from it. Kparcpos, MSS. KpaTrjpos,
Rob.
292. 0iXo(r7r6i'5oi'Xt/36s maybe comp.
with (pCKodvTWv dpyicjv, Theh. 180 : it
is not easy, however, to see the pro-
priety of the expression, unless cpCKo-
cTTovbovhe resolved into 0iXtas (TttovS^s,
like \Lvo(f)dbpQL, V. 27, note. Xt/36s of
a libation, as in fr. Epig. 54, quoted
by Klausen, rplTov Aids HuiTijpos
evKTalav XtjSa. ov follows oiire, as in
Soph. CEd. Col., 973, comp. by Well.
293. Kl. comp. fr. adesp. 412
(attributed to ^sch. by Theophilus ad
Autol. 2. 54. p. 256), diKTjv dpavdov
ovx 6p(3}fi€vrjp. For the active agency
of the dead rnan see the passage fronoi^^
Plato, Laios. 9. p. 865, cited on v.
287.
294. 8^x^<T6ai oUre, MSS. S^x^adai
b' oiire, Herm., better than Miiller's
Sexcc^at rod re, which would introduce
a confused construction, oijre is to be
supplied before dix^cOat from the
second oiire, as in Ag. 532, Hdpis
XOH^OPOI. 49
Trai/TWJ^ S' aTi/ULOv Ka(pi\ov Ovi^cTKeiv '^(^povw, 295
KaKwg TapiyevOevra 7raiUL<pOapTM /mopo).
TOioicrSe -^prja-jULoh apa y^prj ireiroiQevaL'^
K61 njLf] ireiroiQa, Tovpyov ecT^ epyacTTeov.
TToWol yap eh cu ^vixitltvovctlv 'Ifjiepoi,
OeoO T ecperfxai, Kat Trarpog wevOog jmeya, 300
yap oiire avvTekris iroKis. avXKveLP
seems best explained by the Schol.,
cvvoLKetv, as if it were a-vyKaToKveiu
as \v<TLs is used by Pind., 0. 11 (to),
47, SopTTov \ijcnv (referred to by Mliller),
for KardXvaLS. (Tlie interpretation of
Blomf., ' to help in expiation,' is not
so natural in a connexion like this,
and it may be doubted whether such
an act of piety would be included in
the geueral prohibition. That of
Bothe, 'to put to sea with,' adopted
by Herm., besides the want of au-
thority for the diomatic use of '\veLv
in that sense, is perhaps open to the
objection that it would interfere with
the general tone of the passage, by in-
troducing a caution where we should
expect a prohibition.)
295. TrdvTOjv answers to oi} riva in
the previous line, as in the parallel
passage, Soph. (Ed. T. 238-241, pt.rjT€
irpoacpiavelv nva .... (hdeiv 5' d7r'
o'Uwv TTOLVTas. For irdvTWv Etljiov,
comp. V, 636, note. dcpiKou also is
constructed with irdvTOiv, as in Eur.
Eel. 526, d<piXos (p'CKojv. Elsewhere
in ^sch., as Wordsworth remarks,
ctTi/Aos takes a gen. of the thing (see
V. 408, Theh. 1024) in a quasi-political
sense, which it might well have here,
if the other explanation were not more
probable.
296. It is a question whether rapt-
Xfi^w here merely means to dry up as
salt fish is dried, or to embalm as a
mummy, the sense it bears in Hdt.
2. 66, &c. If the latter, xa/ccDj be-
comes emphatic ; that which kills him
embalms him ready for burial, but it
is a fatal embalming. Butler, to
whom this interpretation is due, comp.
Soph. Phin. fr. 641, veKpbs rdpixos
eiaopdv AlyvirTios. The same doubt
may be raised about the line of
Sophz-on quoted by the Schol. t6
yrjpas dfxpLL jxapalvov rapixevei. It
seems very disputable whether the
Homeric rapxvo} is the same word, as
in 11. 16. 456, 674, it seems from the
context to denote not anything done
with the body, but funeral obsequies
generally : embalming too does not
appear to have been known in the
heroic times.
297. dpa is probably interrogative,
according to the usage mentioned by
Jelf, § 873. 2, who rightly explains it
as a piece of Attic refinement, giving
an ironical appearance of doubt to a
question which is really meant to con-
tain a pointed and emphatic assertion,
and cites Xen. Oyr. 7. 5. 40, Eur.
Ale. 351.
298. ear' epyaareov, MSS. ; 'iar^
omitted by Aid., whence Turn, and
others i^epyacrreov.
299. For els '^v, Blorafield refers
to Eur. P^CBW. 462; Iph. A. 1127;
Hel. 742 ; and the Latin in tiniiin,
Virgil, £J. 7' '2> &c. crvfMTrixTovdLv,
MSS. ; crvp-irlTvovaLv, Turn, after
Steph.
300. deov T i(f>€Tfiai is of course
equivalent to the xpV^f^^^- Orestes,
in fact, says that he has many mo-
50
XOH^OPOI.
KOL Trpoa-irieCei yjprjfxarwv ax^n^'ta,
TO imr} TToXiTa^ eu/cXeecTaTOi'? (BpoTcoVf
TjOo/a? avacTTaTrjpag evoo^tf (ppevl,
Svoiv yuvaiKOiv mS' virtjKOOvg ireXeiv.
QrfKeia yap (pprjv el Se fxri, ray^ e'laerai.
XO. aXX', w jULeydXaL M.oipaif AloOcv
305
tives, and that if one fail (v, -298) the
others will remain in full force.
30 1 . Abresch reads irpbs irii^ei, and
so Dind. and Herm. Wordsworth,
however, cites the use of Trpoaheicdai.
and irpoayeveadai (Plato, Mep. 2. p.
375 e-)- ■XJirifJidTUJv axvv'iO; comp. vv.
i35j 275-
302. TO 117} is epexegetic of eh ev,
V. 299, as Bothe takes it, being in
fact an accusative, as in Ag. 15. 'All
these things spur me on to deliver my
country.' See vv. 397, 863, 1046.
303. With (ppevi comp. v. 1004,
Supp. 515 (if the reading is right),
775. The citizens are characterised
as Agamemnon himself is in Ag. 525,
783, 1227.
304. Wordsworth observes that dvolv
yvvaiKo7p is probably the gen., refer-
ring to Elmsley on Eur. Heracl. 287.
305. So ^gisthus is called \ewv
&va\Kis (comp. Hom. Od. 3. 310),
Ag. 1224. Tax' ^'O'eTctt is a phrase of
menace, like yvibaei rctxa Ag. 1649 '>
Eur. Supp. 580 ; Heracl. 65, 269 ;
Theocr. 26. 19, as Paley remarks. So
*sentiet,'in Latin, Ter. Eun. 1. i.
21, &c. : and our common expression,
* you shall see,' or * I will let you see.'
The first person is also used in similar
expressions, as in Eur. Heracl. 269,
ireipdifjievo^ St; tovto 7' avrlK etaofxai :
and so Iph. Aul. 970, rctx' efo-erat
ciSrjpos, where the speaker is talking
of his own sword, el 5e fxrj is not, as
Wordsworth suggests, the object of
etaeraif but the condition, * If he is a
man he shall soon see,' like iirel Sojcetr
Tct5' ipdeiP, Ag. 1649.
306 — 478. The name ko/x/xSs was
given by the old critics to all odes
divided between the acting persons
and the chorus, because in the earlier
form of tragedy lamentations for the
dead formed their principal subject
(Muller Diss. § 14). The following
scene and the closing one of the Per-
sians answer perhaps more nearly to
the original force of the name than
any in ,^sch. Hermann in his Obss.
Critt., p. 79, was the first to point out
the antistrophic and dramatic charac-
ter of the scene, which had been pre-
viously printed without any attention
to the metre, and consequently to the
divisions of the dialogue. Other im-
provements have since been introduced
by succeeding editors and critics, as
well as by Heim. himself. Altogether
the scene, as it now stands in the
modern editions, affords a most satis-
factory proof of the results of criticism,
having become one of the most read-
able parts of the play from one of the
least intelligible. It should be ob-
served that the anapaestic parts of the
scene, vv. 306—314, 340—344, 372—
379, 400 — 404, 476 — 478, are mono-
strophic.
306 — 314. Cho. 'Ye Destinies, de-
cree the triumph of the just cause!
Let bad words meet with bad words, as
is due ; let the death- stroke be repaid
by the death- stroke, as the old law of
retaliation has it.'
XOH$OPOI.
51
TrjSe reXevTau,
^ TO OLKaiov /jLerapalvei.
yXwarcra TeXelcrOco' TovcbeiXojuievoi/
310
306. dWct is a common form of in-
troducing a prayer. Comp. vv. 476,
540, 1063 ; Pers. 62S, 640 ; Soph.
(Ed. Col. 421 ; Eur. Med. 759, 1389 ;
and the use of at in Latin. With /xeyd-
\ai Mo'ipaL Kl. comp. Soph. Phil.
14.66, i]fj.€yd\rj MoTpa, and with Aiodeu,
Pers. loi (add Ag. 1026).
307. TcXevTciv, inf., used in wishes
and prayers, as in v. 365. Jeif, §671,
Madv. §§ 141. 2., 168. The various
uses are not very easy to explain,
unless we may assume a different
ellipse to meet the diflferent varieties.
Perhaps we may suppose the inf. to
be an ejaculation in each instance
— a subst., as it were, without govern-
ment, the case constructed with it
depending in some measure on the
person that is the object of the wish.
See, however, on v. 365. reXevrdu
seems to be transitive, though the ace.
is not expressed, as the Molpai are
regarded as persons. KL, however,
justly remarks that the power of des-
tiny is not sharply distinguished from
its decrees as realized in events.
Comp. Mliller, Diss. § 78, ' The
Erinnys atoned for and the Erinnys
that brings the mischief are un-
doubtedly one and the same in these
expressions, and both of them, by the
same verbal construction, are attri-
buted to the individuals offended and
incensed. . . . For us modern gram-
marians a chasm has disunited what
was originally one and inseparable ;
and the distinction between the my-
thico-poetical and the so-called rational
or philosophical view of the universe
— a difference which at first did not
exist at all, and when it had arisen
was little felt and heeded by the old
epic and lyric poets— demands of us
that we should mark it by a corre-
sponding use of small letters and
capitals.'
308. Paley well illustrates fiera-
iSabec by referring to Ag. 'j'j6, foil.
There is, however, still some difficulty
in understanding how justice is said
to leave the wrong side for the right,
unless we suppose that she abides
with the possessor till his title is ques-
tioned, when, if he is found to be in
the wrong, she leaves him. Comp.
V. 461, "Ap7]s "Apei ^vfx^dXoi, AUa
AiKg., where the notion seems to be
that of conflicting claims; also Ag.
812, 3. Perhaps we may say that
those of the ancients who, believing
in the moral government of the world,
saw that injustice was occasionally per-
mitted to triumph, could scarcely avoid
sometimes expressing themselves as
if it were possible that justice should
take the wrong side.
309. The expression here is parallel
to Ag. 1560, foil. The reference
seems, however, to be not to Cly-
tsemnestra's reproaches in that scene,
which can scarcely be singled out
as a special act of provocation, but
generally to her bitterness of language
(comp. Soph. El. 287, foil., 596), and
perhaps specially to the prayer which
the Chorus has been charged to put up
in her behalf against her enemies (see
on V, 146). This is to be repaid by
the language of the prayer for ven-
geance uttered or to be uttered. The
connexion between the curse and the
£ 2
52
XOH^OPOI.
OP.
irpacTcrova-a AUtj jmey^ avrer
olvtI Se irXtjyyjg (povia? (poviai^
7r\rjyi]v Tiveroo. Spdaravri iraOeiv,
TpLjepwv jULvOog raSe (pcovei.
CO irdrep, aivoTraTep, tl ctol
(pdjievo^ r] TL pe^ag
TV^oijUL av GKauev ovpLcra<s,evua (T
err p. a
€\ov(TLV evvai.
315
Erinnys should not be forgotten. In
Ag. 1409 Clytsemnestra is told that
she has incurred drj/modpdovs dpds.
311. dLKT] is the reading of Med.,
the original word having been diKrja,
the last letter of which has been after-
wards struck out. This accounts for
5i/c7?s in Guelf.
312. Comp. Ag. 1430, r^fifia rifi-
fiari Tiffai, where the receipt of the
blow is similarly regarded as a pay-
ment.
313. dpdaavTi is apparently to be
constructed either with cpoiPei or with
Tradeiv, which is really an ace. after
<pojv€i. It seems impossible to under-
stand 6<pei\eTaL with Wordsworth, as
if this were merely, as Peile thinks,
an abbreviated version of the fxvdos,
as it stands in fr, 444, dpdaavri ydp
TOL Kal rradeiv ocpelKeTai. We have a
third version, Ag. 1541, not to men-
tion the allusion to it, Pers. 818, Ag.
1658.
314 rpcyepcov ytiC^os, like TraXalcparos
yepwv X670S, Ag. 750. With the in-
tensive prefix, comp. rptTraXros, Theb.
985. Td5€<pa}ve2, Ag. \^i4.
315 — 32'2. Or, 'Would that word
or deed of mine could help thee,
father ! Still, unavailing as a dirge
may be, the honour of the house de-
mands it.'
315. alpoiraTTip, as equiv. to alvh$
iraTTjp, has been paralleled by Schixtz
to wpo^ovXoTrats, Ag. 386. The
comparison, however, is not quite
exact, as irpo^ovKoTrais may be con-
sidered as a compound not of an adj.
and subst., but of two substantives,
like iarpbixavTLs, Ag. 1623. A better
parallel perhaps would be TV(p\6irovs,
Eur. Phcen. 1549, which is there joined
with iroijs, as alvoiraT-qp here with
iraTTip. Compounds of atVos, similarly
resoluble, are found in the case of
proper names, such as alvbirapLs and
alvekev-q. (Wordsworth, in proposing
to read aludirarop as more consonant to
analogy, seems to have overlooked the
fact that alvoiraT-qp is not so much an
epithet, like fx.ovao/nrjTOip, aidripofirjTUp,
&c., as a noun. I have accordingly
placed a comma after irdrep.)
317. T^ixoLfi' is best connected {as
Woi-dsworth also suggests) with 0d-
fievos and pe^as, as in the parallel v.
418, Ti 5' hv <pdvT€S Tvxoi/iiev. See on
V. 14. ovplaas then will be equiv. to
Kai ovpiaai/xi, as opdibaavri, v, 584, to
Kal opdwaat. (For dv cKadev, Herm.
once on metrical grounds proposed
dyKadev, which he now rejects on ac-
count of the omission of dv (see on v.
594) ; a better reason for questioning
it is that its existence as a contraction
of dveKadev is apparently contrary to
analogy, and supposed to be a figment
of the grammarians. See on v. 335.
Well, reads dveKadev, which Kl.
adopts, remarking, ' Arsis dactyli
soluta nonfert vocem monosyllabam.'
XOH^OPOI.
53
CTKOTO) (puo(s icrojtxoipov l 320
yapiTE^ S' ojuoicog
K6K\}]PTai yoo^ evKXer]^ TrpoaOoSojULoig 'ArpeiSai^.
If eKudev is right, it can only refer to
the distance between the dead and the
living.)
319. 0dos is rightly constructed by
Blonif. with ovpi<xa$. Orestes asks by
what happy word or deed lie can turn
his fatlier's darkness to light. Peile
well couip. Pers. 300, cfiols ixh el-rras
diofiaaiv (pdos fxeya Kal XevKov ^fxap
vvKTos eK jj.eXa.'yxi-lJ-ov, where eliras (pdos
Kal 9}fxap is equivalent to (ftajxevos
Tvxoi/x' av oupiaas (pdos here, only
rather more boldly expressed. Comp.
also evd/uLepou TreXdcrai (pdos, Soph. Aj.
"jog. aKOTCj}, however, refers to the
physical darkness of the grave rather
than to the darkness of calamity,
though in these expressions it is not
always easy to distinguish metaphor
from reality (comp. Ag. 22), and we
must remember that an ancient poet
is not the same as a modern logical
thinker. (To take ^ctos in app. with
ewai is objectionable, as Agamemnon's
normal state is not the fxeTaixi^i-ou
CKOTov, which would be the natural
inference from such an interpretation,
but aKpavTos vv^, v. 65. The recently
revived punctuation of the Schol.,
miaking ctkotcx} (pdos dvTLfxoLpop a sepa-
rate sentence, would destroy the con-
nexion of thought, marked by 6;Uotws. )
icroTifxoipoi', MSS., avTip-oLpov Erfurdt
on Soph. El. 86. The confusion seems
to have arisen from a gloss or various
reading iabixotpov. The latter, which
is the reading of Turn., Vett., and
the earlier editors, is perhaps defensible
metrically, as we find iabveipov with
the first syll. long. Prom. 548, though
the general rule seems to be that this
licence is only granted even in the lyrical
parts of tragedy to prevent too great
a recurrence of short syllables, avri-
fxoLpov stands apparently for fxipos
(pdovs duTL (tk6tov. For the construc-
tion with a dat. comp. dvTliTakos. It
would be easy, however, to read, as
Pearson long ago suggested, (jkotov.
ofioiios, equally, all the same, in one
case as well as in the other — in a con-
nexion like this nearly equiv. to o/iwj.
So Emn. 358 (if the MSS. reading be
correct), Kpdrepov 'ovd' o/moius jxav-
povfxeu, ib. 525, Ti's . . . -^ TToXts ^porSs
6' bjxoluis er' dv (rejSoi. bUav ; Pers.
•214, aiodeis 5' ofxoius rrjcrde KoipaveZ
xQovbs. ' Be my words unavailing to
comfort thee or no, a splendid dirge is
still reputed an act of grace to the old
lords of the palace, the Atridae.'
Xdptres perhaps like clelicke, as Lidd.
and Scott explain '^voirrpa, irapdivwv
Xdpiras, Eur. Tro. 1109. The pi.
seems to occur nowhere else in the
existing text of ^sch. ; see, however,
on V.835.
321. K€KXr]i>Tat, Med. Rob.; k^.
KXrjTai, Guelf. For the agreement of
the copula with the predicate, see
Jelf, § 389, Madv. § 4. KeKKrjvraL, have
been called, or have the name of
being. Comp., with Peile, v. 1037,
Pers. 2, 242, Theb. 698, 929. tt^oct-
do8b/J.ois, To2s irpbTepov ecrxv^^'^'- 5bp.0Vf
Schol. Tlie poet seems to have chosen
a word which would not only express
antiquity, as if he had said tois TrdXai
'ATpeiSais, but contain a reference to
the palace, without binding himself to
its precise meaning as a compound.
See note on d^vxetp, v. 23, avTOKU-rros,
v. 163. oTTiadbdo/xos, its natural cor-
relative, means the back part of a
54
XOH<^OPOL
XO. TCKVOVf (ppovtjjULa Tov 0av6vTO9 ov Sajma^ei (rrp. /3'.
TTvpog /uidXepa yvdOo^f 325
(paivei S"* vcTTepov 6pyu9'
OTOTv^eTai S^ 6 Svt](TKWv, avac^alverai ^' o /SXair tcov.
nrarepwv re Kal reKovroov yoog epSiK09 jULarevei 330
TO Trai' aiuL(pi\a(pr]g rapa-^^Oel^.
house or temple. The dative seems
to depend on x^'-P^'^^^ rather than on
KiK\r)VTai or (VKKe-q^.
323 — 331, Cho. 'Think not that
the dead cannot feel : they are ready
to revenge at the last, and the dirge
itself is the sure instrument in the
discovery of the guilty.'
323. T€Kvov. note on v. 264. (Ppo-
VTjixa, mood, v. 191, so that <ppopr]/j.a
ov dafid^ei is parallel to daavros iari
Bvjxbt V. 422.
325. T} /xa\ep&, MSS. ; fiaXepd,
Pors. for the metre, yvddos of fire.
Prom. 368. With the general ex-
pression, conip. Lucan, 5. 763., 'Nos-
tros non rumpit funus amores, Non
diri fax summa rogi.'
328. From the wording of this line,
it is evident that the two parts of it
are meant to stand to each other in a
particular relation, which the ensuing
sentence, Tarepuv k.t.X., determines
to be one of cause and effect. ' The
dead is being lamented : the murderer
is being dragged to light: for the slain
father's dirge follows on his track.'
The conception appears to be a purely
poetical one, and to have reference to
supernatural rather than to natural
agency in the work of detection, the
dead man being ready to assist in his
own cause when duly lamented and
invoked. 6 dvqaKixjv and 6 ^Xdirruu
are in the present, to show that there
is no special reference in either word,
as there is in rod davbvros just above.
The shortened 6 before ^XdirTuv is to
be noted as an exception to Dawes'
canon. It is rather curious that most
of the other exceptions to it should be
in cases where ^Xaardvo} or its cog-
nates are used {e.g. v. 589, Supp.
317).
330. iraT^pojv re Koi reKovTwv is
merely a pleonasm, as in Eur. Here.
F. 1 367, 6 (pvaas xw re/ctbv vp.d% irarrjp,
comp. by Schwenk. ^vdiKos may be
taken closely with fjt.aT€6ei, the dirge
being said to take part in the work of
justice, or it may mean right or due,
and so stand in a sort of contrast to
€vkX€7)s, v. 321, Orestes from his point
of view speaking of the dirge as a
maximum, the Chorus from theirs as
a minimum. Orestes is comforted by
being assured that the due perform-
ance of the usual dirge will of itself
lead to the desired vengeance.
fxarevei, active, but without an object,
like Kivel, rapdaaei, v. 289, and the
instances quoted there, ' has power of
full inquisition. '
331. TO irdv, adverbial, as in Ag.
^75> 993- So the Schol. TravTeXQs,
though he is wrong in connecting it
with Tapaxdeis rather than with
/xarevei. dp.(f)iXa<pT}<i, Ag. 1015, is ex-
plained either as active, 'all-embracing,'
or as passive, ' filling both hands.'
The general notion of extensiveness,
in which both interpretations coincide,
seems all that is necessarily implied,
either in the present connexion, or in
others where the word occurs {e.g. Hdt.
3. 114,, 4. 28, 172, where it is found
XOH<I)OPOI.
55
avT. a
HA. k\vOl vvv, w Trdrep, ev /ULcpei
TroXvSaKpvTa irevQtj,
SiTraig Tol cr' eiriTvix^Lo^ Optjvo^ avacTTevd^ei. 335
Td(po9 S' //cera? SeScKTai
(pvydoag 0' o/ulolco^.
TL TwvS" eu, TL (5' aTCp KaKoov', ovK cLTpiaKTog ara;
XO. aXX' er' d^' e/c Tcovoe 6eo9 Yp(iC^v 34C>
as an epithet of elephants, trees and
thunder respectively) ; on the whole,
however, the passive sense, 'two-
handed,' appears the more natural,
especially with reference to its use in
Ag. I.e. Comp. the similar doubt
about the sense of fieaoXa^rjs, Eum.
158. Here it goes closely with
rapaxdeis, so as to be almost equiv.
to dficporipwdev, as Paley remarks, the
general sentiment concluding with a
special application to Orestes and
Electra. rapdcraeiu y6ov, like rapda-
ceiv vetKos, Ant. 794, nearly = /cti'etj'.
Paley comp. (j^ojvdv Tapaa-a^fxev, Pind.
P. II. 42. Comp. the h^i. excitare.
332 — 339. El. * Hear my wail too,
father. Thy two children are at thy
tomb invoking thee — exiles and sup-
pliants both. Can evil lot be worse?'
332. iv fiepei, in turn, referring to
the change of speaker, as in Eum.
193, 436.
334. TO?s iiriTVfji.^i5ioLS, MSS. ; roi
c €TriTvix(3i8ios, Schiitz; iirLTdfi^Los,
Herm., who would now read 84 <r' 65'
for Tois on account of the metre, roi
a is obviously right, rot seemingly
throwing a stress on hliraL^ — 'it is
by thy two children that this grave-
side dirge is raised to bewail thee.'
^7riTi;//,jSt5tos might perhaps be defended
by the example of alcpvLdios, Prom.
680, which must be pronounced as
a trisyllable if the MSS. reading be
correct ; but it is more likely that the
longer form of the adj. was introduced
from V. 342. iTTLTijfjL^LOi atuos, Ag.
1547. The metrical discrepancy with
the strophe, if any, must be left un-
touched, as there is nothing in the
sense or language of either this line
or V. 3 1 7 to suggest the propriety of
any change. With the general sense
of this and the next verse, which form
the pith of Electra's complaint, comp.
vv. 131 foil, 407 foil., 501 foil.
336, 7. By U^Tas, Electra seems to
indicate herself, by <pvyd8as, Orestes,
the latter as in v. 138. 'The sup-
pliant and the exile have alike found
shelter at thy sepulchre.' For exiles
taking sanctuary at an altar, comp.
Supp. 83, &c.
338. Comp. Ag. 211, Eum. 154,
where, however, as in v. 847 below, tL
TU}v8e seems to refer to one of two cases,
which it can hardly do here. With
the metaphor contained in drpiaKTos,
comp. Ag. 171, Eum. 589. (Lobeck,
Aglaoph. p. 354, cited by Dind. in
loc. Ag. understands rpid^ei-v of the
^0e5/}os, who comes in fresh as a third
man and conqueror : but this seems
much less likely. )
2^0 — 344. Cho. ' These wails, how-
ever, may yet be changed to triumphal
songs.'
340. e/f Twi'Se, 'out of this' (perhaps
'these cries'), constructed with ddrj.
Its use in such passages as v. 1056 is
substantially the same, though the
two might be distinguished as material
and causal. XPV^^^) ^^ ^^^ pleasure,
56
XOH^OPOI.
Self] KeXdSovg eiKpOoyyorepovg'
dvrl Se Op}]vwv €7riTv/uLl3iSLCt)v
iranjdv /meXdOpoig ev ^aa-iXeloig
peoKpara (plXov KojuLicreiev,
OP. €1 yap vir 'IX/co
TTjOO? TLVO<S AvKLCOVf TTOLTep,
SopLT/mrjTog KaTt]vapLcr6r]Sf
XiTTWv av euKXeiav ev SojuLOicri
T€KUCoi/ T ev KeXevOoL^ eTTKTTpeTrTOv aico
p. y
345
350
if he wills, or perhaps graciously, as
in Eur. Siq^p. 597, comp. by Kl. 7)v
/XT] TOP debv XPV^^^'^' ^XV- ^^^ on
V. 815.
341. AceXaSos ov iraLwvLOs, Pers. 605,
Avhere the epithet is perhaps intended
to correct the natural association of
cheerfulness connected with the noun.
e-/iv, MSS. ; deiv, Turn.
343, TraiiLu is explained by Suidas,
vfjivos evxapi-O'TrjpLos, and is supported
by the Homeric irai-qwu, though iraLav
is doubtless the more usual. With
the sense comp. Eur. El. 691, where
Electra tells Orestes that if he returns
successful, 6\o\v^eTaL irav 5Q/xa. fieXd-
6pois eu ^acriXeioLS to be constructed
with iratwv.
344. The primary notion intended
to be conveyed by veoKpara is merely
viov, the remainder of the compound
having reference to the phrase Kip-
vacOai <pL\lav (again alluded to in Ag.
798, vdape? ^l\6tt}ti), for which see
Porson, on Eur. Med. 138; Etym.
M. p. 537. 47, Kal veoKparas <rTroi>das
Al(Txv\os ra$ feucrTL eKX^Oeiaas.
KOfiigeL, MSS., Ko/xiaeiep, Porson. The
loss of the two last letters doubtless
occasioned the corruption. ko/j.l^€lv
of welcoming a stranger. Words-
worth comp. Eur. i/?)3f». 1066,
^evovs Ko/xi^up. See also below,
V. 683.
345 — 353. Or. 'Hadst thou but
fallen in battle at Troy, my father,
thou wouldst have left an inheritance
of glory, and we might have rejoiced
in thy foreign tomb.'
345. The whole strophe (and indeed
the following speech of the Chorus)
forms a single sentence, el yap being
followed, v. 349, by an apodosis, which
in that and similar formulas for ex-
pressing a wish is generally left to be
supplied. The sentiment, as Blomf.
remarks, is from Horn. Od. i. 236,
foil. This strophe was first given to
Orestes by Herm. Obss. Critt.
346. The Lycians are specified as
being among the bravest allies of
Troy, possibly also because Pandarus
wounded Menelaus.
347. Te/xvetv of a spear-wound, as
in Horn. II. 13. 501, where comp. the
following lines. Kareuapiadris, MSS.,
KaTrjvapicrdyjs, Herm., Porson.
348. Xlttup evKXeiau like KX-qdovas
XlTTWV, v. 1043. ^OpLOLO-LP, MSS., 56-
/xoLat,, Turn.
350. T€ KeXevdoLS, MSS., r' iv
KeX.evdoLS, Well., for the metre. If
this conjecture is correct, the sense
would seem to be, ' having made the
life of thy children a thing to be gazed
on in the public ways,' or as the
Schol. explains, eTnaTpeirrbv, ws roiis
viravTuvras eiridrpicpeadai, wpbs deav
XOH'I'OPOI.
57
KTitrag iroXv-^oiUTov av elyeg
TCLCpov SiaTTOVTLOv yag
ScojuLacriv evcpoprjTOV,
XO. (piXog (plXoLCTL Toig €K€i KoXcog Oavovcrif avr. ^\ 354
Kara -^Qovog efXTrpiiroov
TjfiQiv. Comp. the Xdyuv eu/cXeta,
which Electra promises to her sister
and herself as avengers of their father,
Soph. Fl. 973 — 985. eirtarpeirTov,
Supp. 997. eTna-TpeirTou ev KeXevdoLS
will then be equiv. to daKTvXodeLKTou.
Otherwise we must read r' &v with
Bamb., connecting KeXevdois (ways of
life, as in Find. .V. 8. 60, Eur. Here.
F. 432, comp. by Butl. and Blomf.)
with TCKVwv, and both with eTriarpe-
TTTov, 'having made thy life a model for
thy children's ways/ an image which
seems scarcely so natural here, as
Orestes and Electra are apt to dwell
on the actual losses which they have
sustained from their father's death.
aiuiva, MSS., alQ, H. L, Ahrens, for
the metre's sake, referring to Bekker
Anecd. i. 363. 17. alQi tqv alQ)va /car'
CLTTOKOTTTJU AtCTXJyXoS ftTTe.
351. KTLffffas, MSS., KTiaas, Eob.
There is nothing to decide the point,
as the antistrophic word is lost ;
KTiaas, however, seems more likely,
and in v. 370 we have another in-
stance of an Ionic form introduced by
mistake. 7roXvx(^crTov, high- heaped,
not as the Schol., vwb woXXuiu /cexw-
a/xevou. Kl. well comp. Horn. Od. 24.
80, foil., dyU0' avTolai 5' 'iweira fiiyav
Kat d/uLV/xoua tujul^ov ^evafiev 'Apyeiu}}/
iepbs crrpaTos alxMT<^^^ • • • "^s Kev
Tr]X€(paj^7]S €K irovTOipLv avbpdaLv eiTj.
Such barrows are still to be seen in
the Troad.
352. It is not clear whether yds
means the earth of whiclx the mound
would have been made, or merely the
land where it would have stood. The
epithet SiaTovriou makes rather for
the latter view, while such passages
as Theb. 950, yds ttXovtos, would sup-
port the former. The same doubt
may be raised on Ag. 453, drjKas
'IXtdSos yds. StttTroz/Tioi', apparently
because foreign burial was generally
considered an evil. See Soph. El.
1 1 36, foil, and perhaps CEd. C. 1713.
bLairovTLOvyds, Med. (F. ), biairovTiOv-
rds, Med. (H.), ScaTrouriovTas, Guelf.,
Rob., dcawouTLov yds. Turn.
353. 8(I}fjLa(TLv evcpoprjTov is meant to
contrast with ToXuxoicrrov, ' huge as
the tomb might have been, the house
could well have borne its weight' — a
sufficiently forced antithesis, according
to modern notions, but exactly parallel
to that in Ag. 441, where the handful
of dust sent home in the urn is called
^api) xf/7jyfj.a dvadaKpvTou. With
dwfiaaiv eiLxpoprjrov, comp. v. 841,
(pepeiv ddfiOLS TeuoLr' dv dx0os.
354 — 361. Cho. 'Aye, thou hadst
reigned below among thy gallant
friends, next in honour to the gods of
the shades, even as in life thou wast
a king of kings.'
354. Herm. first gave this speech
to the Chorus. It is apparently a
continuation of Orestes' speech, dilat-
ing on the regal honours which would
have attended Agamemnon even after
death — a natural topic for a band of
captives, though rather at variance
with the usual practice of the Chorus,
which mostly represses instead of en-
couraging the vain grief of the
mourners. 0iXos ^iXoicri, see on v.
359. Toils e/ce? /caXws dayovai. Those
58
X0H<3E>0P0I.
cre/uLvoTLiuLog avaKTcop,
TrpoTToXo^ T€ TOdv nieylcTTaiv -^OovioDV €K€i Tvpavvwv
^acriXevg yap^aS', o(pp^ eYrjs, jmopijuLov Xa-)(09
[iriirXavTwv 3^^
who died with him would have formed
his retinue below. Kl. refers to Hom.
Od.ii. 387., 24. 2 1, where Agamemnon
appears surrounded by those who, ac-
cording to the Homeric story, were slain
with him by ^gisthus. Comp. ib.
24. 37, where the poet seems to speak
of the death of Greeks and Trojans
about the body of Achilles in battle as
part of his dying honours.
356. dvoLKTUjp and irpoiroXos are ap-
parently both to be taken with ifMirpe-
TTiop, marking the two functions in
which he was conspicuous. cre/j.i'OTifios
Eum. 833,
358. The meaning apparently ia
that Agamemnon has the honour of
being the chosen attendant of Pluto
and Proserpine, the powers of the
shades. irpoiroXos is strictly one who
goes before, as dix(pliro\os is one who
accompanies, e/ce?, a favourite euphe-
mism for the regions below. Blomf.
comp. Soph. Aj. 854, 1372, El. 358
(add Ant. 76), Eur. Med. 1069, Hec.
422, Plato, Phcedo, § 9, in several of
which passages it is opposed to
€vddd€.
360. It appears from Strabo, 15. 3
(3 p. 322), pointed out by Paley, that
the funeral inscription of Darius was
supposed to be <pi\os 9jv (f>i\oi<xi : that
of Cyrus, ivddd' iyCj Keip-at KOpos
^aaikevs jSacrtX^ajj'. Recent discoveries
have shown the story to be untrue,
but we may safely assume it to have
been believed in Greece, and its coin-
cidence with the two parts of this
passage, here and v. 354 above, is too
remarkable to be dismissed as acci-
dental, in the case of a writer like
-^sch., who refers repeatedly to
Persian customs. (For the epitaph
on Darius, comp. Pers. 648, ^ <pi\os
dv-qp, (pikos 6x^05 • 0t\a yap niKevdev
ijdTj, 674, cD TToXvKXavTe (piXoKTi davwv.
Thus we must connect inTrXdPTwv
with ^aaCXeis, after Butler and others,
the general sense being * for thou
wast a king of kings.' This is not
precisely the Homeric conception of
Agamemnon's position (comp. how-
ever, II. 2. 183 — 197) ; but it is the
form which the conception took in
later writers {e.g. Sen. Ag. 39, *Rex
ille regum, ductor Agamemnon
ducum'), and ^sch. was sufficiently
likely to give it currency, if not to
originate it, as in his days the idea of
sovereignty had become more or less
associated with that of Oriental des-
potism, so that Agamemnon would
appear to him a sort of reduced type
of Xerxes (comp. Pers. 24, ^acCXris
jSacrtX^ws uttoxoi p-eydXov). See note
on V. 57, and comp. Ag. 256, 7, with
Pers. I — 7. The absence of the
article before imrXdvTuiv is a logical
rather than a grammatical defect, and
as such may well be excused in
poetry. (But for these considerations,
it would be more natural with Heath
to make ^aaiXevs — ^^-qs parenthetical,
and connect irnrXdvTiov with Tvpdvvwv^
comparing with iJ.6pLp.ov Xdxos, so un-
derstood, the account which the Furies
give of their functions, Eum. 334 foil.)
pibpipLov {II. 20. 302, equiv. to p.bpaL-
p.ov) Xdxos TTLwXduTcjv K.T.X. is a de-
scriptive synonyme for kings— the
^schylean version, as it were, of
dioTpecpees ^aaiXijes. ^s, MSS., 'Tjad',
XOH$OPOI.
69
-^epoLV ireia-L^poTov re fiaKTpov.
HA. yu>/^' viro TpcD'tag
/uer" aXXo) SovpiK/j.r]Ti Xaw
irapa ^Ka/JidvSpou iropov TeOacpOai,
365
Abresch, which has been restored as
the Attic form by various critics to
the few passages in tlie dramatists
where ijs was formerly read. Well,
collects other instances where 6 has
been omitted before O in MSS. or
early editions, Eiini. 376, 686, 798,
2'heb. 5, Pers. 322. The Med. origi-
nally had rju, which Rob. found in his
MS., and Kl. and Herm. adopt, the
latter reading ^^77. There seems no-
thing to warrant the change to the
third person, as though the speaker is
changed, the sentence is grammati-
cally part of that begun v. 345. 64>pa
i^T}^, MSS., 6(t>p ^^r)s, Pauw, inn-
TrXdvTiav, MSS., TrLirXavToiv,. Heath.
361. iria-ifM^poTou or TreicrLix^poTov,
MSS. ireLai^poTOv, Pauw. Xdxoy
^OLKTpovTe may possibly be ahendiadys,
as Scholef. suggests : at any rate it
may be said that the harshness of
§6.KTpov irt.w\dvTU}v is mitigated by
Xdxos preceding. KLwellcomp. Soph.
Q^d. C. 449, dpovovs Kol crKrjiTTpa
Kpaiveiu. (To change the text is only
to obliterate a characteristic ex-
pression.) The sceptre or staff is the
symbol of royalty in Jbisch.asinHomer.
Kl. refers to £iim. 626, StocrSdrotj
CK-qiTTpoLCi TifxaXcpovfjLevoi', Pers. 764,
exoi'ra (jKTjTTTpov evdvvTrjpioyf the
former of which illustrates- pU>pLfiou
Xdxos, the latter Treia-i^poTov ^aKTpov.
^oLKTpov, of a sceptre, Ay. 202.
362-371. El. 'No! I would not
have had my father buried in the
crowd at Troy. A death like his
ought rather to have happened to his
murderers, and that not under our
eyes, but far away.'
362. Tpojtas, the lengthened form,
occurs also m Pind. iV. 3. 60, quoted
byKl.
363. reix'^aai, MSS. Tet'xec",
Heath.
364. dWuiv, MSS. dWcp, Stan-
ley. dopi.Kp.nTi, MSS. dovpt.Kp.riTi,
Blomf.
365. T^da\f/aL, MSS. Teddcf^daL,
H. L. Ahrens,. confirmed by the Schol.,
XetTret to &4>ei\es. See on v. 307.
The construction of the nom. with the
inf. in the sense of a wish, is not
common. Jelf, § 671, e, refers to
Hom. Od. 7. 311 foU., 24. 375 foil,
Eur. Hel. 262. There, however, the
speaker is wishing for something for
himself, which would account for the
nom. ; but it is not easy to do so here,
and in the next verse, where the noms.
are in the 2nd and 3rd persons re-
spectively. Still, whatever may be
the rationale of the construction, there
seems no doubt about the text, as it
stands with Ahrens' correction.
Hermann's insertion of ireirpuffo is
very improbable, as requiring a
further change here, and in the
strophe. The Schol. has perceived
the sense, and the psychological truth
of the speech : 71/i'at/ct/cws ovdk tovtc^
dpecrKCTai., dWd Tip p.r}5^ tt]v a.pxv''
durjpTJadai. Electra rejects the conso-
lation derivable from a glorious death,
like Cassandra, Ay. 1305, speaking
slightingly of the interment among
his friends, which Orestes and the
60
XOHcE>OPOI.
Tra^o? 01 KTavovreg vlv ovtco da^rjvaL
^ ~ Oavarrjcpopov ala-av
TTpoa-ot) TLva TTVvOavecrOai ■
Tojvoe TTovoov aireipov.
XO. ravra julcv, d> iral, Kpetcra-ova "^pvcrov,
370
Chorus value, and wishes rather that
the murderers had been the sufferers.
367, ovTios, MSS. ovTCj, Porson.
There is the same ambiguity about
irdpos as about our word sooner, ex-
pressing either that the thing would
have been preferable, or that it should
have happened first. Electra thinks
less of addressing her father than of
framing her wish, and so passes in
speaking of him from the second to
the third person.
368. davaTr](p6pov alaav seems to be
constructed with haixrjvai as a cogn.
ace. rather than with irvvddvecrdai. It
is not, however, easy to decide, as a
word of the quantity of an iambus has
dropped out at the beginning of the
line, and its recovery might possibly
alter the sense and construction.
Perhaps, however, a clue to it is to
be found in a gloss attached to the
previous verse in the Med. MS.
Toh €Kelv(j}v, which seems to be an ex-
planation of some lost word, as there
is no dat. pi. to which it can refer.
(plXoLS, which would be constructed
with dafJLrjvaL, like ddfiT] "E/cropt 8icx3,
Hom. II. 20. 103, would suit the
general sense sufficiently well, de-
fining the meaning of ovtcj (compare
the prayer of Ajax, Soph. Aj. 841), at
the same time that the Schol. might
think himself bound to explain that
the friends spoken of were not
Electra's, but the murderers'.
369. irpbaaw, MSS. Trpoaoo, Herm.
Electra seems to wish that they had
received the news of their enemies'
death from a distance, partly because
distance had been already mentioned
by Orestes (v. 352, note) in his wish,
to which hers is parallel, partly in
order to contrast the effects of such an
event as strongly as possible with the
impression produced by her father's
murder, which happened almost before
her eyes. This wish the Chorus would
naturally rebuke as wild and visionary,
reminding her that if her enemies are
to fall, she must not be absent but
present, not passive but active. Ac-
cordingly their own prayer is that
when the deed is done they may be
there. irvvOdveadai constructed hke
fxaOelv, Pers. 247, Ag. 1155.
371-378. CAo. 'This is mere wishing
for impossible happiness, easy and
valueless. However, the prayer is
doing its work, they have unearthly
friends stirring, while their enemies
have none; it is the children's vic-
tory.'
371. Gold, as the most precious
metal (Pind. 0., i. i, referred to by
Kl.), was the symbol with the Greeks
for the highest happiness, as the
golden age shows. Stanley quotes
Aristot. Hymn, in Hermiavi., xp^crov
Tc Kpeaacj Kal yoveicv, and a similar
expression from CatulL, 107. 3,
' carior auro.'
372. For the traditional felicity of
the Hyperboreans, Blomf refers to
Pind. P. 10. 47, and to Spanheim on
Calhra. H. Del. 281. The hiatus is
paralleled by Butler from Pers. 39,
52, 542.
XOHc|>OPOI
61
^eydXijg Se TV)(r]9 Kai virepfiopiov
luei^ova (pooveig' Svvacrai yap.
aWa oiTrXrj^ ya/O Tyjaroe fxapayvi]?
oovTTog iKvetTar roov /mev apooyoi
375
373. (poiveV 6 bvvacrai, or (fxijvei'
oSuudaai, MSS. ((xavels' ddvvdaac,
Turn. (f)U)veh' d6ua<raL, Herm. The
final c had been mistaken for O. ov
dvuacrat had been proposed long before
by Jacob ap. Stanley, dvfaaai. was
read by the Schol. whose gloss is
pq.dLov yap rb evx^crOai. Bamb. comp.
Horn. Od. 5.. 27, TrjXefxaxov de tri)
Tri[x\pov eTriaTa/x^vus, duvaaai ydp,
Virgil's ' namque potes.' Words-
worth, who perhaps hit on the con-
jecture independently, as Emper did,
refers to Mitscherlich on Hor. i Od.
28. 28.
374. The Chorus reassure them-
selves by the thought, already ex-
pressed in a somewhat different form,
V. 324 foil., that the dirge has a
virtue of its own, and that being well
set on foot, it is already beginning to
have its effect in rousing the avengers
below. Comp. vv. 463 — 5. StTrX^s
then is parallel to d/x^LXacprjs rapa-
X^ei's, V. 331, the Chorus feeling that
two are likely to do the work more
zealously and present a more grievous
complaint (comp. v. 335) than one.
The prayer, having the nature of a
reproach, is compared to a scourge,
like Clytaemnestra's upbraidings of
the Furies in Eum. 135, 6, 155-161.
fxapdyfXTjs, Med. (H.) Guelf. fiapa-
yprjs, Med. (F.) Eob. Turn, read
fxapaivris, but the form ixdpayva is sup-
ported by Photius, by Plato Com. ap.
Poll. 9. 56, and hy Rhes. 817. For
the image of a double scourge comp.
A(). 642. (This interpretation, which
is due to Miiller, is far preferable to
the common one, sanctioned by the
Schol., which makes the 5i7rX^ [xd-
payva a double calamity, supposed to
be described in the following lines.
There would be no point, as Bamb.
remarks, in saying that the protectors
of the children are dead, as but for the
murder they would have required no
protection: nor again can it be na-
turally called a calamity that the
hands of the rulers are unholy : while
it is equally hard to see how the chil-
dren can be said in such a context to
bear the heavier part of the affliction.
In short, the explanation breaks down
in almost every part. Paley's inter-
pretation (on Sujyp. 827 ed. 2) of 5t7r\^
fxdpayva of the KOfifios, the beating of
the breast with both hands, is in-
genious, but rather fanciful.)
375. iKveirai. Abreschcomp. v. 380,
and Theb. 563, iKuelTai \6yos did (ttt]-
deojp. In what follows, the sense seems
to be that while on the one side help is
stirring below, on the other there can
be no similar reinforcement, as the
hands of Clytsemnestra and ^gis-
thus are blood-stained, so that they
cannot deprecate vengeance, but
rather provoke it : and thus the vic-
tory remains with the children. The
language of this line is well illus-
trated by Orestes' speech, Eum. 598,
Treiroid', dpcoyds 8' e/c rdcpov Tre/xireL
TraTTjp, though the succour brought
there is on the day of trial, while here
it is for the encounter with the
usurpers, as in vv. 460, 477, 497
foil, (where the word iraiaiv is also
used), 725. Comp. also Soph. El.
453, 7T]0€V evixevri 'YLpuv dpwycv
avTov els ix^poi/s fxoXeTu.
62
XOH^OPOL
Kara yrj^ ?^>;' tcov Se Kparovvrcav
veoe? ov-^ ocriai (TTvyepoov tovtoov
Traial Se /maWov yeyevr]Tai.
HA. TovTO Sia/JLireph ovg ^ikcO' airep re ^eXo?. (rrp. o. 380
Zeu Zey, KarcoOev afxiTGiJ.'Trwv
va-Tcpoiroivov arav
PpoTwv tKol/j-ovi KaL TravovpyM
yef/o/, TOK€V(TL S' o/xw? TeXelrai.
^'j'j. With x^P^5 ovx oVtai corap,
Eum. 313 foil., where x"P^^ irpove-
fxeiv may perliaps be understood of
putting forward hands in prayer
(comp, Theb. 699-701, which would
be precisely parallel to such an inter-
pretation of the passage), and at any
rate the contrast between Kadapas
Xetpas TTpovefieLV and x^'-P^^ (povias
eTTiKpiiTTeiv is strong and marked. So
in Ag. 'J'!6, cvv irlvi^ x^P^^ ^^ c°^'
trasted with o<ria. arvyepQv roirwv
is added after the mention of the
rulers, apparently to relieve the
feeling of the Chorus, like the curse
similarly introduced, v. 267.
378. This line apparently sums up
the result of the contest, as augured
by the presumed disposition of the
powers below. iraial is emphatic,
as it is their taking up of their duty
as children which ensures them sup-
port, and consequently victory.
fxaXKov yeyivTjTai I would understand
of success, after the analogy of nrXeov
^X^Lv or (pepeadat,, though I know of
no similar use of the word. Compare
the parallel pointed out on v. 384.
380-384. £1. 'That saying thrilled
through me. Avenging Zeus! it is
the parents' retribution.'
380. Electra, thus recalled from her
day-dreams, is penetrated with the
thought presented to her that all the
while the gods are working, and that
the crisis is approaching, ws, MSS.
oSs, Schiitz. tKero, MSS. ke0%
Pauw. With airep re. Wordsworth
well comp. Soph. Ant. 653. Trrva-as
uKxet T€ 5v<XfieP7j /xedes. CbcrTC might
have stood there, as are here, and the
substitution of wcret for ws in the one
case and of Hirep for & in the other
makes no difference in the propriety of
using re. The speech is given to
Electra by Rob., there being no pre-
fix in the MSS.
382. Comp. Ag. 58, vaTep6iroivov
UifiTreL irapa^daiv 'Epivvv. 'Sending
vengeance on the hand of the mur-
derer' is rather a strange expression,
though there may be a notion of the
hand as the recipient of a payment,
no less than as an agent in crime.
Rob. makes Electra's speech end at
/SAos, giving ZeO ZeO to Orestes. The
present arrangement was first sug-
gested by Stanley.
383. rX-rj/J-ovi., MSS. rXdfiovi, Dind.
Herra. For the use of the word comp.
V. 596-
384. There is apparently an aposio-
pesis, Electra stopping in what was
probably a prayer for vengeance to
contemplate the last words uttered by
the Chorus, and being thus led to view
the crisis in a new aspect. It can
scarcely be doubted that there is an
intentional correspondence between
the wording of the latter part of the
XOH^OPOI.
63
XO. ecpvfiv^cai yevoiro fxoi -TrevKaevr' oXoXvy/uiov avSpog
Oeivojuevov, yvvaiKog r' f^'^'P* ^'' 085
oXXv/xevag' tl yap KevOco (ppevog olov e/mTrag
present line, and that of v. 378, 'the
children have the advantage,' and
* the parents get their due.* 6/xQs was
long ago proposed by Stephens for
8fiu}s, and seems to have been read by
the Schol., whose words are tVa t6
6/xoiov Kal iaov t^j irarpi fiov <pv\axOri'
TOKevai then will be Clytaenmestra,
who is spoken of in the plural again,
V. 419. rekeiTai of vengeance, as in
vv. 284, 310. o/iws TeKelrai. will thus
be parallel to TlveLv 6/Jt.ov, Ag. 1325,
the adverb in each case having the
force of a cognate accusative. The
order is emphatic in itself, indepen-
dently of its exact correspondence to
that of V. 378. TOKevai was suggested
by iraLdl as its correlative (though
iraLai in the mind of the Chorus seemed
to denote the relation to the father
rather than to the mother), and it is
the prominent point on which Electra
fixes her regard. The speech of the
Chorus is present to her throughout :
it inspires the imprecation which she
is beginning to utter, and it suggests
the conclusion with which she in-
terrupts herself. This explanation
has at any rate the advantage of
giving a distinct significance to a form
of expression, the peculiarity of which
has led most of the commentators to
suspect some error.
385-394. Cho. 'May I raise the
sacrificial shout for both our tyrants !
Why need I check the hatred which
struggles for expression V
385. TrevKdevr' (Herm. for the
MSS. irevKrjevT^) dXaXvy/ndv seems
rightly understood by Kl. as a pitchy
or pinewood shout, i. e., a shout over
the pinewood fire of the sacrifice.
The Chorus apparently conceives of
the usurpers as victims about to be
slain over the fire, the moment of
slaughter being the signal for the
shout. See Horn. Od. 3. 450, Ag.
iit8, Eur. Or. 1137, cited by Peile,
and comp. v. 268 above, where KTjKldi
Tnacrrjpei cpXcr/os illustrates irevKciei'T'
here, and suggests that^sch. may have
wished by a single epithet to recall
a picture which he had already given
more fully, the shout being represented
as rising through the pitchy vapour
of the flame. This, though harsh,
seems better than the old inter-
pretation bitter, or Paley's piercing,
which are inconsistent with the general
meaning of the word, and perhaps less
appropriate in themselves. The metre
presents an apparent difiiculty, as
compared with that of the antistrophe :
Seidler, however (Z>e Vers. Dochm.
p. 45), seems to think it admissible,
though Herm. and Dind. alter the
text.
387. Comp. Ag. 1318, 9, 6rau
yvvrj yvvaiKbs avr' ifiov Odvrj, 'Kvfjp re
dvaddfiapros clvt' dvdpbs Tearj.
389. delou, MSS. olou, Herm. olov ia
constructed adverbially with iroTaTaL,
which with the rest of the sentence
forms the object of KevOu. <ppev6s is the
local genitive, like/capSias, v. 183. ^piiras
apparently = 6'/xws, as luProm. 48, 187.
* Why should I hide, how, do what T
will, there keeps fluttering at my
breast,' &c. Keudcv is the conj. With
tI yap Kc^idoj comp. v. 102, note.
(H. L. Ahrens' ri yap Ketjdu (ppevds
I6v ; ^fxiras k. t. \ is very plausible,
and would in some respects suit the
passage better than Hermann's conj..
64
XOH^OPOI.
TTOrarai, irdpoiOev Se Trpwpag 39O
SpijULug at]Tai Kpaoia^
OvfjLO^, eyKOTOv arvyo^ \
OP. KaL ttot' av anKpiOaXrjg Zei/? iiri X^^poL ^aXoi,
cjjev (p€v, Kapava Sat^ag ; |_ai^T. S\ 395
iricTTa jevoLTo X^P^^'
Keidu} (ppevbs ibv answering to <ppevQiv
(TTvyoi Kparovcrri, v. 8i ; but the de-
parture from the MSS. is greater,
unless we suppose 96 to be simply
OC repeated (see Cobet. Varice Lee-
tiones, pp. 7 foil.), and the longer
sentence is perhaps more ^schylean.)
390. Kl. comp. Ag. 976, dei/aa
irpocFTar-qpLov Kapdias repacrKoivov ttoto,-
rat. TTOTciTaL here introduces the
metaphor of the wind.
391. Kapdias, MS8. /cpaStas, Blomf.
dpifJLVs qualifies drjrai. For the image
Kl. cites II. 21. 386, dixa 5i a<pLv ivl
(ppecri dvfihs dT]ro, which -^sch. may
have had in view, though in Horn,
the verb seems to be passive, the mind
being represented as blown hither
and thither. The transition to the
active sense is easy enough, as the
wind may be spoken of either as an
agent or as an effect. Comp, also Ag.
110, <ppevb$ TTvecov dvaae^i] rpoiraiav,
and such expressions as dvfiod irvoai,
Eur. Phcen. 454. Whether Kpadias
is local again, or connected with
dvfios, is not clear. Wordsworth refers
to Eur. Med. 587, Kapdias /xeyav xb\ov,
and to Soph. Ant. 1085, where it
seems very doubtful whether Kapdias
does not belong to ro^eu^ara.
392. o-TU7osmaybe a cogn. ace. after
&7]Tai, but it is simpler to take it in
app. with dvfibs. cHyos, of the
feeling, as in v. 81.
394-399. Or. ' When will the God
of the orphan succour us, destroying
the tyrants, and setting the city free ?
I ask for my right, and call on the
powers below to hear me.'
394. Herm. first gave this speech to
Orestes, ^at irbr du jSdXot, a wish
expressed in the form of a question,
like Ti's cLu fjibXoi, Ag. 1449. In this
sense the use of Kai (see on v. 528) is
very uncommon, but there can hardly
be a doubt of the meaning here,
though Bamb. understands the ques-
tion as an objection, 'how can the
giver of life be likely to inflict death?
It is from the powers of the grave we
must look for aid.' Perhaps Kal ttcDs,
Ag. 1 198, may also denote a wish, as
Herm. and Donaldson think, but there
is nothing there to render it necessary,
either in the context, where Tryjyfia
yevvaio:s iraykv may mean ' however
firm its fixture,' or in the language,
as dv frequently follows ttws or rl%
rather than the verb where there is no
wish, e. g., Pers. 788, SupiJ. 336, 389,
590. dfjL(pida\ris. iir dficpoTepots tocs
yovevai BdWwv ^ €<p' y dficpbrepoi.
ddWova-ip oL yopeis. Hesych. the
Latin patrimus et matrimus. Hence
Butler well explains it of Zeus, as
standing to Orestes and Electra in the
place of both their parents, eirt xctpa
jSdXot. Wordsworth comp. Callim.
Up. 1, 6, ^(Ti.v b irdvTwv 'ApTraKT7]p
'Atbrjs ovK IttI x^'-P'^ jSaXei.
396. <p€v in a wish, above v. 195,
Ag. 1449. Kapava, the heads of Cly-
tsemnestra and ^gisthus. Kl. comp.
Hom. II. II. 158, 500, and v. 1047
of this play, which is peculiarly pa- '
XOH#OPOI
65
KXure Se Ta ■^(Oovimv re Ti/mal.
XO. aWa voiuLog fj-ev (poviag crrayovag
■^vimevag eg ireSov aXXo irpocraLTelv
alfxa. poa yap Xoiyog ^lEipivvv
irapa tcov irporepov (pOifxei/cov arrju
erepav eirayovcrav eir ary].
HA. TTOi irol Si] vepTepwv TvpavvlSe<s\
400
(7T/
405
rallel, as the cutting off of the heads of
the tyrants is connected there as here
with the restoration of freedom.
/SdXot Sa/'|as = /3a\oi /cat ^at^OL. da't^as,
with a long antep., as in Horn, II, 11.
497 (quoted by Herm.).
397. ' May the country feel confi-
dence again, ' instead of that fear which
(v. 5 7) succeeded the natural awe in-
spired by rightful authority. ainaTLa,
the want of confidence between ruler
and ruled, is the vice of tyranny,
Prom. 224, 5. For Orestes' wish to
deliver his country, see v. 302. iridTa is
used for confidence, Horn. Od. 11.456,
which however is not, as Herm. thinks,
otherwise parallel to this passage.
398. The old interpretation of e^
ddiKwv, ' from the unjust,' seems more
natural than Scholefield's, ' after in-
justice.' €K is frequently used where
we might have expected some other
preposition, as e^ ifxoO (hcpe^rj/xivos,
Prom. 221, €K dedv dodevra, Eum. 392.
399. Taxdovlwv TeTifiac, Med., the
last word corrected into Terifihai. Td
Xdoviujv re rifxal, H. L. Ahrens and
Franz. Bothe had already conjectured
TL TL/xai. Comp. Pers. 640, Td re Kal
dWoLxdoviiov dyefjLoves. TtfMai, of poten-
tates or officials {T[epaov6/j.ov rtfiTJs
fieydX-qs, Pers. 919) like rvpavviSes, v.
405j ^PX^^) ^9- 124, Milton's 'Thrones,
Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues,
I'owers.'
400—404. Ch. ' Blood will have
blood. Murder calls for a Fury, who
comes with other plagues from bygone
generations of crime.'
400. dW dvofjLos, MSS. dXXd v6-
/xos, Turn. v6/xos, vv. 93, 151. For
the sentiment comp. vv. 64, 5.
402. Xotybv 'Epivvs, MSS. XoLybs
'EpLvvv, Schiitz. Xoiyos, slaughter, as
in Supp. 680, dvdpoKfJirjS Xoiyos. vEsch.
as it were explains the supernatural
process. The murder calls for an
avenging Fury, and she, when she
comes, does not come alone.
403. irpoTipwu, MSS. Trporepop,
Person. Not only the present deed
of blood, but other crimes done by
ancestors in former generations are
had in remembrance, and produce a
new plague, drriv ir^pav eir' drr]. For
a similar notion of the revival by a
new crime of old offences, which might
else have been forgotten, comp. Ag.
345 foil., and for the belief that men
suffered for the crimes of former gene-
rations, comp. Ag. 1338, ^w?;i. 934. >
Agamemnon's own death is represented
as being theologically the mixed result,
of several causes, the old crimes of the*
house of Atreus combining with the
sacrifice of Iphigenia, and the slaughters ^
in the Trojan war.
405 — 409. El. *^Vhere are the
powei-s below? Look, mighty Furies,
on the remnant of the Atridte forlorn
66
XOH^OPOI.
'iSere TroXvKpareig ''Apal (pOeifAeucov,
'ISecrO^ ^A.Tp€iSav tol Xolir ajmrj'^avct)?
eyovra /cal ScojuLaroov
CLTijULa. Tra t/? rpairoir^ av, w Zev ;
XO. ireiraXraL S^ avre /jloi (plXov Keap TOvSe K\vov(Tav
Kai Tore fxeu
SvcreX
TTK},
[
OLKTOV, avT, e
410
and homeless ! Whither shall we
turn ?'
405. This speech was given by
Herm. to Electra, having been befoie
generally assigned to the Chorus. For
Trot TTOt Harm, would read tL irol for
the metre : Bamb., however, observes
that there are other instances where
the anacrusis of the antispast is
lengthened, and the reading of the
MSS. is preferable in point of sense.
TToi without a verb, as in v, 882,
406. kpal are the Furies, Eum.
417 (Miiller Diss., § 77), so that with
iro\vKpaT€?$ we may comp, Theb. 977,
fMiXaiv' ''Epivvs, ^ /iieyaadevris tls el,
with 'Apai (pOsLfievuv, ib. 832, tD fx^-
\aLva Kai reXeiayeveos Oldiirov t "Apa.
tpdeip-hoiv, the reading of the MSS. is
perhaps a vox nihili (though Atto-
tpdelcrdo} is read by Heyne, Hom. II. 8.
429), which has probably supplanted
the true word, answering to reKOfievuv,
V. 419. It seems useless to attempt
to restore it by conjecture, which be-
comes mere guesswork: H. L.
Ahrens' (pdLvo/xevojv perhaps has most
external probability, but the exist-
ence of a passive <p6ivo/xai is doubtful.
407. TO. XoLird rather than roi/s
\oiTOvs, from a sort of self-contempt,
*all that remains of the Atridse.'
409. With the language of Swyua-
TOiv aTLjxa comp. Theb. 1024, where,
as here, the sense is quasi- political,
referring to the position of an ariixos,
and so perhaps Soph. EL 12 14, ourws
&TLfxbs dp,i. Tov T€6vr]KbTo$ ; * Am I so
utterly without franchise in the dead V
With the sense comp. w. 127,132, &c.
7ra r/s TpdwoLT" &v seems said in impa-
tience and distrust of the gods below.
410 — 417. Ch. *My heart throbs
as I listen — at one time with fear, at
another with hope.'
410. The right assignment is again
due to Herm. Rob. had given this
antistrophe to Electra. TreTrdXarat,
MSS. Tr^TraXrai, Turn. a?rr€, re-
ferring to the sympathy which the
Chorus had expressed before, going
along with the performance of the
KOfifJios. See V. 374. <pl\ov, y. 110,
note. Blomf. comp. Supp. 785,
K€\aiv6xp(^s 5^ TrdWeTai /xov KapZia.
KXvovaav, the ace. where we should
have expected the dat., as in Pers.
913 (where ifioi need not be read,
being understood from e/xCop), Soph.
El. 479 (apparently imitated from this
passage). To explain the anomaly it
is only necessary to recollect that the
power of cases is not created by the
words which in common parlance are
said to govern them. KXiovaav is in
the ace, because it stands in the mind
of the writer for the object of the sen-
tence, though he has not completed
the grammatical construction. oTktov,
a piteous cry, Siipp. 51.
412. With the general language of
the rest of the speech Wordsworth
well comp. Ag. 100, 104, The verb
is omitted after dvaeXins, though there
is no personal pronoun, as in Eur.
Med. 612, Eel. 1523.
XOH$OPOI,
67
(TTrXdy^va ce julov KeXaivovrai ttjOo? eVo? KXvovcra.
orav S' auT^ ex' aX/ca? eirapri 415
— ^, airea-Tacrev a)(^09
'^Trpog TO (paveiarOai jjlol KoXwg.
OP. Ti S' av (pdvTe<} TvyoLiJ.€v, rj raTrep dvr. g-'.
TraOojULev cf^ea irpog ye tcov reKOjUievMv ;
irdpea-TL cralveiv, to. S' ovtl OeXyerar 42 O
414. ffrXdyxva, of the larger organs
of the body, as explained by Paley on
Ag. 995, where it answers to K^ap.
The image of the darkening of the
heart, as the effect of fear, recurs
again, Supp. 785, quoted above, Pers.
115. In Homer it is the effect of rage,
II. 1. 103. IJ.0V, the MSS. reading, need
not be changed, as ^sch. seems to
have imitated the Homeric con-
struction of a part, in the dat. after a
pronoun in the gen. {Tl. 10. 188, 14.
141) for which see Jelf, §§ 710, obs.,
712, obs. I. Trpbs 'i-JTos in answer to
the word, as in kiros Trpb<: 'iiros, Eum.
586. Wordsworth connects it with
Kkvovcra, but the instances of /SXeVeiv,
or bpav Trpos ti, to which he refers, do
not seem parallel.
415, e-KokKks dpapi, MSS. er*
dX/c^s, Blomf. {dXKcis, Franz). iirdpT},
Paley, who supposes 6 F to have been
corrupted into GP. The restoration
confirms and is confirmed by Blom-
field's suggestion that the missing
trochee at the beginning of the next
line was originally eXTris, a word
exactly fitting the context (comp. Ag.
102, which is a repetition of v. 416
in other words), and well suited to
eiraipeLv. Possibly /i* may have dropped
out after iirdpri.
417. Trpbs rb <pave7<TdaL jxol koXus
gives no very clear sense, and does
not suit the metre. None of the cor-
rections that have been proposed are
satisfactory. Trpbs rb <pa/xiaai /caXcDs
{(pafxiaaa' €/u.ol koXws H. L. Ahrens)
might be suggested, as requiring us
to believe little more than that fxoi has
been interpolated ; but probably the
true reading has been hopelessly
obliterated, as the words as they stand
bear marks rather of tampering than
of ordinary corruption.
418 — 422. Or. 'What can we talk
of but our wrongs ? Our mother shall
find the nature she gave us as im-
placable as hers.'
418. irdPTes, MSS. (f>dpT€S, Bothe,
Bamb. ruxoi/xev dv, MSS. Tvxoifiev,
Herm. The language resembles v.
315. Herm. first assigned this to
Orestes, who is beginning to feel that
the execution of the vengeance de-
pends on himself, while he naturally
pleads his wrongs as a reason for ex-
pecting divine aid. Peile rightly re-
moves the interrogation after Tvxoifj.eu,
so as to connect rj with ri, which
stands for ri aXXo. ' What should we
be right in speaking of but,' &c.
419. axOea, MSS. &X^a, Blomf.
Lachm. The Schol. explains rd in the
next line by rd dxv-
420. irdpecTL, like licet in Latin,
seems here little more than a form of
introducing a hypothesis, * although
one were to flatter.' calveiv is here
to soften a harsh feeling by gentle
suggestions, as in Theh. 383, 704 it
means to soften a harsh fact by evasive
68
XOH^OPOI.
\vKog yap ooctt^ w/uLocppcoi'
acravT09 eic jULarpog ea-ri OvjULog,
XO. €Koy^a KOiJ.iJ.ov" A pLOv €V re Kto-cr/a?
vojULoig IrfKefMia-rpla^,
OLTrpiKTOTrXijKTa 7roXv7r\avr}Ta o ^v iSeip
err.
■p- r-
425
conduct. The object of aaiveiv is
dxea, as is clear from the following
•words, rd 5' of/rt d^Xyerai. Strictly
speaking it is not the wrong that is
soothed, but the sense of wrong : hence
in V. 422 ctxea is replaced by 6vfj.6s.
421. XiJkos u)/ji6(ppcov seems to be
equivalent to w/xtj Xvkov (ppr]v.
422. iK fiarpos iffTi is to be under-
stood nearly with Pauw, 'is derived
from our mother/ agreeably to the
common use of ^/c tivos etvaL for lineal
descent. The sense then is at once
appropriate and forcible. ' We cannot
forgive her, for we are her true chil-
dren, implacable as she is.'
423 — 428. Clio. * I am beating my-
self in eastern fashion, with blow upon
blow, till my head rings again. '
423. "Apeiou, MSS. ""kpLov, Herm.
H. L. Ahrens, after the Schol. Tiepai.-
k6v. The Chorus is describing the
actual /co/i^ios which itis going through,
much as in vv. 22 foil. Comp. Sujij^.
69 foil., 120, I. ^Koxpa appears to
coine under Madvig, § 111, Rem. b.
' The first person of the aorist is some-
times applied to the expression of one's
state of mind by words or gestures,
occurring at the moment of speaking
... So iyeXaaa, rjvea-a, eir-qveaa,
ijadrjv, eSe^diiirjv, direTrTvaa, &c., in the
dramatic poets.' With the Arian
Kofxfxos and the Cissian dirge comp.
Pers. 936, KUKOfxiXerov lav Mapiavdv-
vov dpTjvTjTTJpos Tre/xxJ/u}, and with the
Cissians in particular ib. 120, /cat to
'Ktaaicju TroXia/J.' dvridovirov (^aerai.
dre, MSS. iv re, Herm. Kiaaiacs,
MSS. Kiaa-las, Eob. (This whole
passage was comp] etely misunderstood,
owing to the corruption in the next
line, for which Turn, introduced
vbfJLOLai TToXefiLarpias, altering ^Ko^pa
into ^KO\pe, a change which seemed to
agree with "Apeiov, so that the thing
described appeared to be Agamemnon's
murder. Herm. and H. L. Ahrens
discovered the truth independently of
each other, the latter rightly giving
the strophe to the Chorus. Peile and
Bamb. first saw that the time de-
scribed is not past, but present.)
424. voixoLaiXeixLO-Tplas, MSS. vofiots
l7]X€fiL<TTpias, Herm., H. L. Ahrens,
referring to Hesych. iriXep.L(jTpla%,
6pT]vr]Tpias, doubtless from this very
place. Comp. Supp. 115, i'tj Ir] lr]X4-
fMOLcriv ifXTrpeiTT} ^Qaa yooLS fie tl/jlu),
which seems to show that 77 should be
retained even in lyrics, iu vo/j-ois is
merely 'after the manner.' Words-
worth comp. Eur. Or. 1407, (ppvyloiat
v6/xois, ib. T500, TTpoaKwCi a' ava^,
vofMOiai ^aplBapoicTL Trpocnnrvfhv.
425. airpLyKTOL TrXTjKrd iroXvTrd-
Xay KTa, MSS. dTrpLKToirXrjKra, Seal.
TToXvTrXdvrjTa, Lachm. Comp. Pers.
1056. airpLyd' dirpiyda fidXa 76e5j'a,
from which Blomf. would read dirpLy-
bbirXrfKTa, but the other form is sup-
ported by dirpl^. dirpl^ means clench-
ingly, as in Soph. Aj. 310, Creus.
fr. 327, referred to by Kl. ; and so
airpLyda, Pers. I. c, so that dTpLKrb-
vX-rjKTa as an epithet of opey/xara
would naturally mean ' striking clench-
ingly, ' not ' striking ceaselessly.' With
XOH^OPOL
69
HA.
eiraacrvTeporpiPrj ra ^epog opeyjULara
avooOev apcKaOev, ktuttw ^' eirippoOec
KporrjTov ajiiop Ka\ TravdOXiov Kapa.
103 10)
<TT.
iravToX^e fxarep, Sa'iaig ev eKCpopalg
av€v itoXltolv avaKT ,
avev Se irevdrifJiaTtjov
erXag avoljuwKTOV avSpa 6d\^ai.
p. ri
430
Tro\v7r\dv7)Ta comp. Virg. A. 5. 435,
* en'atque aures et tempore circum
Crebra manus.' ^v seems to be ex-
plained by ^KoxJ/a, the time just past
'being chosen instead of the present,
not an unnatural thing in descriptive
narration.
426. eiraacrvTepoTpL^T]. Hesych.
€iraa<xiJT€poL' oXXol iir* ciWois. The
remainder of the compound is probably
to be explained from the sense which
appears in Trf>oaTpl(3eiu irXrjyds, as we
might say *one rub after another,'
dpiyfiara, stretching out the hands in
giving a blow, as in Ag. 11 11, which
will illustrate it whether we retain
dpeyofxeva, or read opiyfiara with
Herm.
427. avwdev and dviKadev are not
necessarily tautological, as the latter
appears to add the notion of distance
to that of height, ' longe a vertice. '
i-rrtppode?, as in v. 468. Her head
sounds in accord to the noise of the
blows. The present here throws light
on the previous use of the past, as the
effect described would be perceptible
when the rest of the action was over.
4-28. Of this line the Schol. says
Kcafj.ojde'iTaL ws dtdvpajj.^u)5es. We
should rather object to its simplicity,
which makes it difficult to translate
into poetical English : but the fault
found may have been that the language
was above the homeliness of the sub-
ject, as in the nurse's speech below.
Butler more than once makes an apt
remark that expressions in the tra-
gedians can often be exactly rendered
by vulgarisms of our own.
429 — 433. El. ' Wretched mother !
A wretched burial thou gavest our
father, with no retinue and no wailing.'
429. These lines belong to Electra,
to whom they are given in the old
editions. The description of the
Ko/x/xds seems to suggest the thought
of her father's actual funeral, which is
moreover mentioned to incense Orestes.
The omission of one of the interjections
lot) Id), as suggested by Well., would
bring the metre into accordance with
that of the antistrophe. It seems
almost impossible to decide whether
ddl'os here and in the next verse means
hostile or wretched. Hermann's doc-
trine on Soph. Aj. 784, that the former
sense is always marked by the reten-
tion of the Ionic form, applies only to
the iambic dialogue of tragedy. If we
adopt the former here, we may comp.
da'i'ais €v cKcpopats with Soph. El. 444,
ibaTe 8va-/x€vrjs, which may be an
imitation.
430. firiTep, MSS. /xarep, Schiitz.
431. So Clytaemnestra herself, Ag.
1553, Kal KaTadd\l/ofJL€v Ovx ^i^^
KKavOfiQiv tQiv i^ o'lkojv.
433. irXvs, MSS. I'rXas, Dind.
434 — 438. Or. 'It is a sad tale:
70
XOH$OPOI.
OP. TO TTOLV aTL/ULwg eXe^tt?, o'I/jloi*
Trarpog S'' aTL/ncoo'LV dpa tl<T€L
€KaTL fJLev Sai/movoov,
cKari S' afxav y^€pu)v\
eweiT eyo) vocrcpLcag oXol/uLap.
XO. eiJLacTyaXiG'dri Se y o)? t6<7^ etorjgf
(TTp. 0'.
435
ai/T
. e'.
but the gods and I will pay her t that
done I would gladly die. '
434. Rob. first gave the speech to
Orestes, drifxios ^\e|as follows the
analogy of wQs X^7eis, which is vir-
tually equivalent to ri Xeyeis, the
manner of the action being regarded,
as in certain cases it may be, as sub-
stantially the same with the object or
result. This seems especially the
case with verbs of speaking, hearing,
thinking, and the like, e. g., ttcDj fxddoj,
V. 171 (note), kKvovt dXridQs, Ag.
1244, and the common phrase ttcDs
SoKets. See note on v. 384, o^ws
TeXeirat. Another mode of explanation
might be suggested, that the adverb
qualifies, not the verb, but something
else in the sentence, expressed or un-
derstood ; but though there are some
instances in which this view may have
been present to the writer, who, it
must be remembered, wrote by instinct
rather than by rule, it does not seem
so generally applicable as that just
given. Perhaps to irdv may be ad-
verbial, as has been suggested to me
by Dr. Donaldson, who refers to Ag.
681, Eum. 891, for the use of es Tbirdv
in connexion with another adverb.
435. For the question with dpa, see
onv. 297. With aTifMuiatv TicreL corap.
dTificjaiv irpaa-ao/xeva, Ag. 700, riaas
d-rrep ^p^ev, ib. 1529.
436. €KaTi daifiovipv, v. 214.
438. pocrtpL^eiv here, as in v. 491,
Eum. Ill, and perhaps Theb. 982, is
used absolutely for tQ kill. The notion
may be the same as that of dvaipelv,
so that we need not explain it by sup-
plying ^tov. eXoi/xau, M-SS. oXoifxav,
Turn., as the Schol. read. Peile comp.
Ag. 1610, Blomf. Eur, EL 281, 663.
439 — 443. Cho, ' Aye, and he was
maimed too, and his burial was like
his death, that nothing might be
wanting to make the hoiTor complete
and insupportable. Thus it was.'
439. H. L. Ahrens rightly gives
these lines to the Chorus. They assist
Electra in spurring on Orestes.
e^iacrxaXt'cr^Tjj, MSS. e/xacrxaX^cr^T/,
Rob. , and so the Schol. The fullest
account of /iacrxaXtcr/xos seems to be
in Suidas, v. ifiacrxo-Xiad-r}, quoted by
Blomf. i&os ^v rots dpxo-i-oi.?, Sttotc
<f>ov€va€iav e| iTn^ovXijs TLvd, rb ^pyov
d(poaLovpJi'OLS, dKpcvTTjpid^eLv top ve-
Kpbv, Kai tCjv [xoplwv bpixadbv TroLrj<ravTas,
Kprj/Mvdvai Kara toO Tpax'rjXov, Kara
tQiv fxaaxo-XQu dieipovTas' d(p' ov di] Kol
fxaaxo-Xicr/xara irpodrjybpevffav avrd.
The Schol. on Soph. El. 445, where
the same word occurs, doubtless an
intentional imitation, gives as the
reason for the act, bid tovtcou ibairep
TT]v bvvaiJ.Lv eKelMOJv d<paLpov/ui.€voi, bid
rb 1X7} iradelv eh varepbv tl betvbv Trap'
eKeivwv. Stanley refers to the de-
scription of Deiphobus, Virg. A. 6.
494. The parts cut off were also
called dTrdpy/xaTa or €^dpyp,aTa, ApoU.
Rh. 4. 478. The Schol. here in-
geniously though erroneously sup-
poses the fiacxo-Xiffpibs to be alluded
to in w. 441, 2, the object of Clyt.
XOH^OPOI. 71
cirpacrcre S' airep viv wSe Odwrei, 44^
/uLopov KTicrai fjiwiieva
acpeprov alcovi crw.
KXveig Trarpwovg Suag arljULovg.
HA. Xeyeig irarpiaov fxopov eyio S'' airecTTaTOVv avr. T'. 444
being to prevent Or. from receiving
help from his father in the struggle.
This sense of the word /xacrxaX/i'w
seems to be conventional, as we have
/^a(rxa\4<rT^/), Prom, yr, for a girth
going under the armpits. 5^ twoto-
creLdrjs, MSS. 5^ y' (hs roa eldyjs, Kl.
on the whole the best of the various
similar corrections proposed, though
rda is hardly defended by Soph. Track.
53, where rdaop should probably be
TO (f6v. 'That thou mayest know
thus many things' — all the details,
ws hv eidys is a common phrase in
giving information, as in Eur. Or.
527, Phcen. loii, Aristoph. Pint. 112,
quoted by Blomf. on v. 1008 (102 1).
440. No parallel instance has been
quoted in illustration of this use of
irpdaao}, which is probably a rhetorical
one, the thought being the same as in
Ag. T406, ipyov diKaias T€Ktovos.
Hirep, MSS. 5.irep, Schiitz. With
the sense comp. vv. 429, 30.
441. KTetvaL, MSS. KTiaai, Stanley,
and so probably the Schol., who has
the words dvarvx^v p-eyLaTrju Kara-
aKeva^oucra ti^ try /3iV' Rob. has
delvoLi. KTi^eiu is a favourite yEschylean
word in this sense, which is nearly
equivalent to iroidv. Comp. vv. 351,
484, 1060, Eum. 17, 714, Supp. 140,
4.55> 635, Pers. 289. fiopov is Aga-
memnon's death, as in v. 444. With
the expression /xopov d(p€pTou so under-
stood, comp. V. 841, where the death
of Orestes (fidpos) is called dx^os
<f>€p€Lv dd/iiOLs. Ag. 1600 is onl}' a
verbal parallel, as fidpos there means
sors, not mors. The general sense is
that Clytsemnestra, so far from miti-
gating the cruelty of the blow, delibe-
rately chose to aggravate it by burying
her husband as ignominiously as she
had slain him. The Chorus and Electra
endeavour to prevent any accession of
natural feeling in the mind of Orestes
by representing all the exasperating
circumstances of his mother's crime :
and the insinuation here is, that it
was contrived in detail with the
intention of wounding him most
effectually.
442. d^epKTOv, MSS. d(pepToi',^oh.
443. k\v€is at the end of a speech,
implying that all is said. Prom. 683,
Ag. 348 (where the later editors rightly
restore it from one MS.). /c\i/et, MSS.
K\6eis, Turn. Trarpioiovs, MSS. ira-
Tpi^ovs, Person. dvaari/xovs, MSS.
5(/as dri/xovs, Stanley.
444 — 450. El. ' Meantime I was
kept away from the burial, and left to
weep in solitude. Think of this !'
444. This speech must belong to
Electra, to whom the old editions give
it, as the Chorus, having no impor-
tance beyond the present occasion,
could not with any propriety be made
to talk of the treatment to which they
were subjected at the time of Aga-
memnon's murder, much less to urge
it on Orestes as a special matter for
resentment, v. 450. X^yeis is an ex-
pression of assent addressed to the
Chorus. Comp. Soph. (ZW. T. 1475,
6. There is a similar transition in
Eum. 719, though X^yeis there is
XOH^OPOI.
XO.
ari/ULOgi ovoev a^ia,
/uLv^ov S^ a(p€pKT09 iroXva-lvov Kvvog Slkijv
eToifjLOTepa yeXcoro^ avecpepov Xi^tj,
yeov(Ta iroXvoaKpvv yoov KeKpyjULimevt],
ToiavT olkoxxjov €V (ppecrlv '-' — ypa(pov.
oi'' coTOOv Se (Tvv- dvT. r] ,
450
meant not to ratify the words of the
last speaker, but rather to close the
discussion. irarpiJiiov, MSS. irarpi^op,
Porson. dweaTdTovp, from the murder
and interment.
446. ovdh d^cos is equivalent to
ovK d^LOS or dvd^ios.
447. We must either adopt Stan-
ley's fJ-vxv, with Herm. and Paley,
or, as Mr. Shilleto has suggested to
me, understand /xvxov, as the Schol.
seems to have done, in a local sense
as the place where Electra was shut
up, like KaT€K\rjcrav MaKedovias Hep-
diKKau, Thuc. 5. 83 ; epKeuv iyKCKXei-
fffievovs, Soph. Aj. 12 74, where see
Lobeck's note (compare for a similar
apparent ambiguity, Virg. £. 6. 35,
* discludere Nerea ponto. ') . Electra
was much more likely to be confined
to the /Jivxos, the female part of the
house, than excluded from it. At the
same time there is nothing else in the
Choeph. to show that in ^schylus'
view Electra was kept in close con-
finement, as she is in the Electra of
Sophocles, TToXvaivov is an epithet
of Kvvos, civos and its cognates being
especially used of mischievous animals,
■^9- 734) Horn. II, 11. 481. Herm.
defends the form, which Pors. changed
into TToKvcFLvovs, by Hippocrates' use
of KaKOcnvdiTepos, KaKoa-LvuTara, kvvos
ZiK-qv, Ag. 3. Si/caj'MSS., St/cTji'Dind.
448. dvacpepeiv is used of heaving
the breath, Hdt. 3. 102, Hippocr.
wept Stair. 2. init. quoted by Paley.
Comp. the use of dvavuKaadat. abso-
lutely, Horn. II. 19. 314 ; Hdt. i.
86. So dvacpopb. aip-aTos, Athen. 12,
p. 439 (comp. by Paley). erot/xoTepa
y^\(t}Tos merely means that she found
tears come more readily to her eyes
than laughter.
449. xat'poucra, MSS. x^°^<^^> I^O'
bree, supported by an erasure in the
Med. , where the letters ai have been
added by a later hand. KeKpv/xfievrj
(Herm. for K€KpviJ.iJ,€va)\s illustrated by
d<p€pKTos : but it also implies that she
concealed her tears, like the Chorus, v.
81. Peile comp. Soph. El. 285, avrij
Trpos avT-qV ovbk yap icXaucrat irdpa
T6crov5' 6<Tov /xol dvjxbs 7]dovT]v (pepei.
450. Two syllables are lost : where,
it is impossible to say, though the
metre corresponded exactly to v. 428.
With the expression Kl. comp. Prom.
789 ; Supj). 991. (ppeaa-iv, MSS.
(ppeaLu, Rob.
451 — 455. Cho. 'Yes, let the tale
sink into thy mind. Thou knowest
the past : learn the future with all
speed : only be firm.'
451. Bamb. rightly gives these
lines to the Chorus. 6e with the
imper. indicates that the new speaker
is enforcing and adding to the in-
junctions of the old, as in vv. 490,
492. There is no occasion to alter
(xvvTeTpaive, as the compound verb
seems to be more in use than the
simple. The force of the preposition
may be to intimate that the efforts of
the hearer are to go along with those
of the speaker, or to express the no-
XOH<I>OPOI.
73
Terpaive ixvQov ^<tj'^<w (ppeuo^v pacrei,
TO. jULev yap ovrcog €-)(€i,
TO. ^' avTO<s opya jmaOeiu.
irpeireL S' aKajULTTTM jiievei KaOriKeiv.
OP. (76 TOL \eyoi), ^uyyevoVf irarep, (piXoi?*
HA. eyco S'' eTTKpOeyyo/uiai /ce/cXaf/xeVa.
455
(TTp. I
tion of boring so as to meet some-
thing (Lidd. and Scott s. v., Kenrick
on Hdt. 2. it). This last seems to
be the sense in a passage sufficiently
parallel to this, Plut. 2. 502 d., els
TTju \pvxw V O'KOV crvvTeTprjTat. The
metaphor does not seem to be kept up
in Tjcrvxi^ (ppevCov ^dcret, which can
hardly be anything but the instrum.
dat. Wordsworth comp. Soph. fr.
inc. 773, St' wros ^px^rat rpvirco-
fxeuov. — The ace. /xvdov is to be re-
marked, as expressing neither the
tunnel nor the tunnelling process,
but the thing for or by which the
tunnel is made. This is piobably to
be explained on the analogy of Jigere
jaculum, and similar expressions. It
may, however, be worth considering
whether there is not such a thing in
Greek as the instrumental accusative,
a use connected with the cognate
ace, though not simply resoluble
into it. Other instances which would
justify, if they do not necessitate,
such a hypothesis, are Fuvi. 404,
poi^dovaa koXtvov alyidos, Prom. 902,
^yows dcpvKTOv 6/JLfji.a irpoadpaKOL /xe,
Soph. (Ed. C. 1084, decoprjcracra tqv-
[xov 6/xfMa, Aj. 40, -^^ev x^P°- Comp.
too the similar use of ^aiveiv, irepdv
TToSa. — (ppovQiv, MSS. (fipevCoVf Rob.,
as the Schol, read.
452 — 4. ' The past is as has been
said : the future do thou yearn to
know for thyself : only remember that
thou must needs come into the field
with force unbated.' to, p,ku yap
oiJrws ^x^' is a conventional form of
dismissing a subject as sufficiently
dwelt on. Comp. Ag. 615, 950.
opy^, MSS. 6pya, Scaliger. Words-
worth comp. a citation from a MS.
of Phrynichus in Ruhnken's Timceus,
p. 194. cLKovaaL opyQ' irduv iTraipofiac
TTpbs rb aKovcrai. Peile well comp.
Shaksp. Hamlet, Act i, Sc. 4, * O
answer me : Let me not burst in
ignorance 1' The general force of the
expression is like rax' elVerat, v. 305,
note, as it is the practical issue that
is pointed to in each case. Thu3
Tpeirei d' k, t. X. will be a caution to
enter the lists with unbated resolu-
tion. KadrjK€Lv like Kare^av, Soph.
Tr. 504, and the Latin descendere.
456 — 460. Or. ' Help us, father !'
£1. ' I add my tearful appeal.' Ch.
' And we all join the cry : come up,
and help !'
456. The assignment of the parts
of the different speakers down to v.
465 is due to HeiTB., who had how-
ever been anticipated by Pearson in
the case of vv. 462 and 463-5. a4
TOL. See Jelf, § 736. 2. <pi\oiai,
MSS. (piXois, Pors.
457. KeKXavfieua (v. 731) is ex-
plained by W^ordsworth after Schafer
on Plut. vol. 4, p. 412, on the analogy
of dedaKpvfievos, which appears to
mean * bathed in tears' (comp. Horn.
Od. 20. 204, SeddKpvvrai di /xoi baae,
Plato Ion, p. 539 a. deddKpvvraL
Trapeiai, Eur. Ilel. 948, 8aKpv(rai.
^Xecpapa). No such sense however
^4
i
XO.
OP.
HA.
XO.
HA.
XOH^OPOI.
<jTa(TL<s 06 TrdyKOLi'os aS^ eTrippoGei,
UKOvcrov e<s (pdo^ imoXcov, ^vv oe yevov irpos e'^Opovg. zj-OO
"Apr]g"Apei ^vju^aXoi, AZ/ca Alkol. clvt. i.
Id) OeoL, KpalvcT euSiKCog ^ —
rpdjULog fM vipepirei KKvovcrav evyjULOLTCOV.
TO lULopa-ijULov i^evei TrdXai) eJ^O/UeVot? S"* dv eXOoi. 4^5
00 TToVo? eyyevrjg a-rp. ia\
Kai TrapdjULova-og drag
CLi/uLaToecra-a irXayd.
lot) ovcTTOv dcpepra Ki^Sfj'
100 Sv(7KaTa7rauarT0v dXyog, 47 O
appears to be inherent in KXalw, and
as several of its tenses are middle, it
seems better to regard the use of the
pass, here as an ordinary deponent.
Compare tcXaofxevos, Tkeb. 920, Ag.
1096.
458. ffrdais V. 114, note. &d',
MSS. ; dd', Rob.
460. &Kovaou fjkoXibv is equivalent to
aKovaov /cat fxoXe. Comp. vv. 317,
461 — 465. Or. ' Let us fight it out
by might and right.' £1. ' Decide
justly, ye gods!' Ch. *I tremble at
your prayers, knowing that they must
succeed.'
461. ^vfi^dWei, MSS., ^vfjL^dXoi,
Pors. For the union of "Aprjs and
Alkt], K1. oomp. V. 244 (where see
note).
462. The missing dissyllable was
evidently an ace. after Kpaber', but it
is useless to attempt to supply it.
The most plausible guess is Hermann's
blKUS.
463. Comp. V. 410. The Chorus
shudders at the near approach of the
event, which is brought on by the
power of prayer.
465. fxei^ei seems to include the
notion of delay as well as that of per-
manence, from the opposition appa-
rently intended in the Words hv ^X6ol.
Oomp. Eum. 382, fji,^u€L yap, which
Wordsworth rightly explains /xSpai/j-ov
ecrrt, citing ^5^. 1563, Sujip. 455. av
^Xdoi is nearly equiv. to iXevcrcTai,
like 6 TL Toi ■fi6p<n./x6v ecmv, to yefocr'
dv, Supp. 1047.
466—470. El. '0 evil inveterate,
intolerable, incurable!'
466. Scholefield -appears right in
appropriating this speech to Electra
and its fellow to Orestes. The thought
of the family curse makes her despair :
he replies that there is a family
remedy, the ancient remedy of blood
for blood, iw, MSS., o) Herui. iyye-
vr]%, inherent in the family, as Peile
rightly gives it, comparing Ag. 1566,
KeKoXXrjTai yevos Trpbs arq.. So the
dal/xu)v yevvris, ih. 1477.
467. wapdfjLOvaos may be understood
strictly of discordant sound, if we sup-
pose the irX-qy-q to be the stroke of a
scourge, as it probably is, on a com-
parison of such passages as Theh. 608,
Ag. 642.
470. A metaphor from a wound,
or running sore, as v. 471 shows.
XOH$OPOI.
75
OP. ^(jofxaa-iv ejuLjULOTOv
TcovS' aK09i ovS^ air aWoov
eKToOev, dkX dir avTwv
SicoKciv epiv aijuaTrjpdv.
Oecop Twv Kara yd^ 60 v/xpog*
XO. dWd KXvovre^f jmdKapeg -^OovLOt,
avT. la
475
Comp. Ag. 1479, irplv KaraXii^at. T6
471 — 475. Or. * Aye, but we have
a remedy of our own for that, in play-
ing out the game of bloodshedding.
So ends our song to the powers below.'
471. For the dative see on v. 7J.
The remedy is for the house, and it is
an heirloom, no less than the disease.
'4^i[xoTos is the adj. from ixbros, lint,
the preposition denoting that it is ap-
plied to the wound, so that it would
naturally require a subst., as Peile
remarks, comparing (Lkos ro/xa'iov, v.
539, dXe^rjfjLa ^p(Ii(jL[j.ov, x/oi(rT6»',
TTicrrbv, Prom. 479.
472. eKds, MSS., dt/cos, Schiitz.
With ovh' dir' dWoiv aXk" air' avrQv,
Wordsworth comp. ^sch. Myrm. fr.
135, Tah' ovx vir' aXKwv, dXka rots
avTwv TTepois ' kXKTKOjxecda.
474, al(t}/xavacpeLV, MSS., SidoKeLV
^pLv, Herm. ipiv is established by the
Schol., fjv rjpure irpos top irarepa., and
Slu)K€lu seems required by the sense,
as Orestes must mean that the only
way to stanch the blood is to kill till
justice is satisfied. This doctrine,
that the bloodthirsty spirit of the house
of Atreus is to be laid by blood-
shedding, is held equally by both the
parties in the quarrel, and so,- as each
is alternately victor, he craves for a,
pause from the struggle, on the ground
that he has satisfied the requirements
of destiny. Comp. Clytfemnestra's
words, Afj. 1575, dX\7]\o(p6vovsMavias
fxeXdOpuv d(peXovar], with those of the
Chorus in this play, below, v. 805,
yipwv (f)6pos /Jt,riK€T' Ip ddptCLS t^kol.
^piv will then be a sort of cogn. ace.
after tLWKeiv, like fieTrjXdop [ibpov, v.
988. (Klausen's 5t' ihixdv ^pip is nearer
to the MSS., and supported, as Bamb.
remarks, by Ag. 698, 5t' ^piv al/xaro-
ecffav, but it is difl&cult to see what
sense could be made out of Stct, unless
it could mean the channel through
which the cure is to come.)
475. OeCiv, MSS., deCJv tQv, Herm.
6'5*, 'This is,' or 'here ends,' as Peile
rightly gives it. Comp. v. 1065, oSe
Toi . . . x^'-l^^ • • • ^TeXia&rj.
476 — 478.- Ch. * Hear us, je dead,
^nd send the children victorious aid.'
476. The Chorus end nearly as they
began, v. 306. Kl. remarks that
dXXd frequently introduces the con-
clusion of a hymn, as in Hymn. A}xjll.
Del. 165, Ap. Pyth. 367, Merc. 579,
Ven. 292, Cer. 490. It may be ques-
tioned whether ^ciKayoes xdbvioi. is said
of the gods of the dead, or of the dead
themselves. fxaKapes in ^sch. is fre-
quently used convertibly with deoi,
though it occurs nowhere of the gods
below : in other writers it is a frequent
synonyme of tlie dead, though not in
.zEsch., who, however, calls Darius
/jiaKapiTrjs, Pers. 633. ,x^<^'"0' of course
would apply to eitlrer. Perhaps
^sch. meant to include both, as the
happiness of the dead would have
much in common with that of the
gods. So in Pers. I.e. l<xoZaip.uv fol-
lows fMaKapiras.
76
XOH$OPOI.
Tfjcrde Karevyj]^ irefJLireT apwyrjv
iraKjiv Trpocbpovcog eiri viKr],
OP. Trarep, rpoTroLcriv ov TvpavviKoh Oavoov,
airovjULevo^ juloi Sog Kpdro^ toov a-oov So/moov,
HA. Kctyco, Trarep, roidvSe crov -^elav eyoo,
(pvyeiv jmeyau irpocrOeiarav AiylcrOo) w — .
OP. ovTO) yap av (tol Satre^ evvofxoL jBpoTwv
KTiXolaT' el <^e iJ.r], irap evSeiTrvoig ecrei
480
478. With iraLcrlv comp. v. 378,
note. eTTt vIktjv, MSS., ewl vlkt], Portus.
The former would probably be admis-
sible, but the latter is more usual, and
strongly supported by v. 868, Hum.
1009.
479 — 488. Or. ' Father, remember
thy unkingly death, and restore me
thy kingdom.' M. 'Grant that I
may destroy ^gisthus, and get off
safe.' Or. * Do this, and we will give
thee a funeral feast : if not, thou must
go unhonoured.' JSl. ' Thy tomb shall
have signal offerings at my marriage
from my portion of the inheritance.'
479. The first part of the scene
that follows, down to v. 509, is a sort
of extension of the Ko/uLfxos, though
with some difference in tone. Hitherto
the cooperation of Agamemnon has
been almost taken for granted, ven-
geance being looked upon as a duty
to him, enforced on his children by
threatened penalties : now the other
aspect of the undertaking is presented
more prominently, the restoration of
the children to their rights, which is
regarded of course as a favour to be
done to them, so that it becomes an
object to make sure of their father's
help. With rptiroLCTLv ov TvpavviKOis
davibv, comp. Ag. 1494, KOLTav rapd'
avekevdepov.
480. alrov/xevos, the MSS. reading,
is supported by Pind. Isthm. 7. 5,
Theocr. 14. 61, quoted by Bamb. and
Paley. Turnebus' alTov/mevcp, how-
ever, receives confirmation from v.
784, TrapatTov/Jieva fioi — 56s ri^xaj.
481. TOidSe MSS. TOtcti/SeTurnebus.
482. The omission of the conclud-
ing word by the MSS. throws some
uncertainty over the sense of the line.
The explanation of the Schol. how-
ever seems to represent the sense
fairly, waTe (pvyfiv rds eTrt/SouXas
Alyiadov TL}JL(x}pr](xafJ.evriv avrov, so that
the lost word was probably equivalent
to fjiopou, which was supplied by Tur-
nebus, and has since generally taken
possession of the text.
483. daires ^i>vop.oi ^porCiv, * the
customary feaets with which mortals
honour the dead' (see on v. 130), but
which Agamemnon had not yet re-
ceived. In Hom. Od. 3. 309 Orestes
gives a funeral feast to the Argives in
honour of Clytsemnestra and ^gisthus,
but nothing is said about Agamemnon,
so that we might almost infer that he
had received a similar honour from his
murderers.
484. KTi^oiar, like eKacjcroiaTo Pers.
360. The e^'SeiTTj'a, according to
Hesych. and Etym. M., was an Athe-
nian festival, otherwise called aiwpa,
in memory of Erigone, daughter of
^gisthus and Clytsemnestra, who
came to Athens with Tyndareus, her
maternal grandfather, to accuse
XOH^^OPOI.
UTIIJ.0<S e/ULTTVpOKTl KPl(T(t)TOl^ YUOVOg.
HA. tcdyo) xoa? croi t>/? e/x;]? TrayKXijpiag
o'lcrco irarpwodv eV Sojulwv yajULrjXlovg'
irdvTWv Se irpcoTOv TovSe Trpea/SGuarco rdcbov.
OP. CO TaV, civeg juoi irarep eiroirTevcraL /md-ytjv.
77
485
Orestes (comp. Eur. Orest), and on
his acquittal hanged herself. This
is doubtless referred to here, in spite
of the anachronism, so that Trap'
evdeiirvoL^ will mean 'at the public
festivals of the dead. ' ^crri MSS. ^aei
Porson.
485. iv TrvpoL(n, MSS. efiiripoLCfL
Auratus, Canter : a correction which
seems necessary, irvpd meaning watch-
fires. e[nrvpoL(TL is probably an epithet
of evheiirvoLS (unless the relation of
the two words is to be reversed), as
aTi/xos seems only to take a dative of
the person at whose hands dishonour
is received. For the nature of the
festivities, Blomf, comp. Lucian, Cont.
p. 5x9. ol d^ /cat TTVpav v-qaavTes irpb
rCivx^J^IJ'dT^Vf KO-l §6dpov Tiva opv^avres,
Kaiovai re ravrl rd TroXvTeXi] delirfa,
Kal eis Ta opvy/xara dlvov koX p-eXiKpa-
Tov, ws 'yovv elKcicrai, iyx^ovcrtv. 'EPM.
ovK olda, cD TTopdfMeu, ri ravra irpos
Tovs if aSov. TreTricrTeiJKaac 8' odv rds
i/zuXas a.vaire/xirop.evas Karwdeu denrve'iv
p.h olov T€ irepiTreTOfievas ttjv Kvlaav
Kal Thv Katrvov, Trlvecv Zk airb tov
^odpov TO p,eKlKpaTov. Possibly kvl-
au}Tocs is to be taken with x^ovos,
KViadv xS^va following the analogy of
Kviaau dyvids, &c.
486. The xoat seem to have formed
a special part of the celebration of the
efjdeLTrva, one of Hesychius' definitions
being ai to?s veKpoh i7n(pep6fj.€vai
airovdai, ijyovv x°^^- — TrayKXrjpias.
Blomf. comp. Eur. Ion, 814, oaris
ce yrj/J-as, ^hos eireLcreXdCov ttSXiu,
Kal Sw/xa Kal arjv irapaXa^Cov wayKXr]-
piav, Pollux 10. 12, KaXXiov hk t7]v
epdofieueiav TrayKTTjaiau r) Trap-Trrjaiav
ovofxdaai, ws ev 'EKKXyjaiai'ovaaLS
' ApiaTO^dvrjr TpayiKCJTepov ydp rj
TrayKXrjpia. Here and in the passage
from the Ion it seems to signify, not
that the whole property has been in-
herited, but that the property, what-
ever it may be, is regarded as a whole ;
in Eur. Sicp]^ 14, however, the fonner
sense seems to prevail, and so in the
use of 7rap.7r7]aia, Theh. 8 1 7.
487. With yafxrjXiovs, Kl. comp.
Soph. El. 961 foil, (just as TrayKXrj'
pias is illustrated by vXovtov Trarpujov
KTTJaip, V. 960), with the promise to
Agamemnon, ib. 457.
488, On a comparison of the diffi-
cult line, Eu7ti. i, which is parallel to
this, it may be doubted whether
irpGiTov here is an adjective, as is
most probable at first sight, or an ad-
verb, equivalent to Trpcorrju irpecr^eiav
TTpea^evau}. The sense seems to be
that she will honour her father's
grave before those of her other dead
friends, on occasions such as the
eiidenrva.
489—496. Or. ' Earth, let my
father rise and be my patron in the
struggle.' EL * Persephone, give
us victory.' Or. ' Eemember the
bath, father.' El. *Aye, and the
net.' Or. 'How they snared thee.'
El. ' How they covered thee up.
Or. ' Does not this sting thee ?' EL
' Does it not make thee raise thy
head ?'
489. With cD Fa?', dwes, Kl. comp.
78
XOH^OPOL
HA. w Hepo-ecpacra-ai Sog Se t €vixop(pov Kpcrog. 49O
OP. /j.€juivt]cro Xovrpcov oh ipocrcpLo-Orjg, irarep.
HA, fxefJLvricTo S' afx^L^Xria'Tpov o)? eKaivicrav.
OP. 7reSai9 S^ d-)(a\KevT0i9 eOripevQrjg^ irarep.
HA. alc'vpcog Te ^ovXevroioriv h KoXvixfj-aa-iv.
OP. ap e^eyelpei toigS'* ovelSea-iv, irdrep', 495
HA. dp' opOov aipeig (pLXrarov to (tov Kdpa\
OP. t'lTOL SiKr]v 'laXXe a-vfjiixaypv (piXoig,
Pers. 629, 640. eTTOTTTeOa'at to regard
as a God, w. i, 583, 1063.
490. hi T seems defensible, 5^ ad-
dressing a new person, re having the
sense of also, a Homeric usage, sup-
ported by V. 864, where see the note.
€i}fjLop(pov KpoLTos is Well paralleled by
Erfurdt with Soph. (Ed. T. 189,
eviOTra Trifi^ov aXKav. Comp. also
V. 969 below, rvxo-i- evTrpoacoiroKoiTai.
(If any change be required, it is Her-
mann's 5e 7' : to question ei}fjLop(pov is
the mere license of conjecture.)
491. evo<X(f>i<x6r]s, v. 438.
492. c5i<r' or y cr' MSS. cl;: Bloraf.
Bamb., as Kaivi^eiv is more naturally
connected with an ace. of the thing
than of the person, its meaning being
to hansel or use for the first time.
Perhaps we ought further to change
eKaivia-av into e/catVicraj. The re-
ference probably is to Agamemnon's
having been presented with the fatal
garment as a new robe on his return,
precisely as Deianira, in Soph. Track.
613, explains the object of her gift by
saying that she has vowed to make
Hercules appear dvrijpa Kaipcf Kaivbv
ev irewXtofiaTi. Agamemnon then,
not Clytsemnestra or ^gisthus, would
be the KaivLi^uv, as in Ag. 1034 Cas-
sandra, who puts on the yoke, is said
KaivL^eiv ^vyov.— ap.cpip.'ncTpov, Ag.
1382.
493. ed-rjpeijdrji is an independent
assertion, not a verb dependent on
fii/xuTjcro. The comparison to hunting-
snares is drawn out, w. 998 foil.
494. Blomfield rightly connects
aiffxP^^ with ^ovXevTOiaiv. The gar-
ment is described in a different way,
seemingly to produce further exaspe-
ration, as in the passage below just
referred to.
495- ^^^y^!-PV> MSS. e^eyeipei,
Pors. oveideaaLV, MSS. dveidean^,
Kob.
496. There is a difficulty about the
position of (piKraTov, which cannot be
understood as a predicate, that place
being already occupied by opdov. Do-
naldson {New C. § 305, ed. 7,) proposes
(pihrdTois, comparing <pi\ois in the
next line. There are, however, other
passages where the adjective, though
in the position of a predicate, cannot
be taken predicatively (e. g. Soph.
Aj. 135, 1 167, Phil. 394), so that we
must suppose that metrical necessity
occasionally induced the Greek poets
to violate a rule which in general
they unquestionably observed.
497 — 499. Or. ' Either send justice
to help us, or rise thyself and wrestle
again, if thou wouldst recover the
day.'
497. These three lines were first
given to Orestes by Tyrwhitt and
Schiitz.
XOH^OPOL
79
HA.
»? raq ojULolag avriSog Xa/5a9 Xcc/^ai/,
e'lTrep KpartjOelg y^ avTivLKricraL OeXei^.
Kal rrjaS' aKOvarov XoiarOiou (So^jg, iraTep, 500
looav v€0(T<Tovq rovaS^ ecptjimevov^ racpo),
OLKTeipe QyjXvv apcrevog 0' ojulov yopov
Kai jULt] '^aX€/\f/•^/9 (rirep/xa YVekoinSwv ToSe.
ovTCt) yap ov T€6vr]Ka<s ovSe irep Oavcov
Traioeg yap avopl KXi^Soveg crcori^piOL 505
OavovTL' (peXXol S'' w? ayovci Slktvov,
498. /SXa/3as, MSS. Xa/3as, Canter.
Musgrave. The words o/xoiat Xa^ai,
or i] avTT] \a^rf, appear from Plato
Phcedr. p. 236 b., Eejy. 8, p. 544 b.,
and Suidas s. v. to have been a re-
gular phrase in wrestling, and v. 499
supports such a metaphor. The
meaning of the phrase however is not
quite clear : from the Scholiast on
the former passage it would seem to
have been used when wrestlers who
had fallen out of the ring were set up
in it again, while on the latter it is
explained to mean simply a second
bout, after both had been thrown so
that neither could be said to be upper-
most. Neither interpretation would
suit the passage in detail : but the
general sense is plain, ' stand up
again and have another struggle.'
Comp. V. 692, Ag. 1284.
500 — 509. El. ' Hear me yet once
more : pity thy two children, the sole
hope of the race, the sole means of
preserving thy memory. Listen, for
thine own sake no less than for
ours.'
500. The words "Kotadiov §orjs, as
well as the structure of the speech
itself, seem to show that it is to be
given entire to Electra, not divided,
as Bothe, Donaldson, and Herm.
think. Indeed, no equal division can
be made. Electra is throughout more
vehement and impulsive than her
brother, and in performing the last
part she naturally lingers longer
over it.
501. t'Swi/ more naturally goes with
OLKTeipe than with &kov(Xov, with which
the majority of the editors connect it.
Comp. Prom. 35-2, iduv c^'Kreipa, Sttpp.
486 (as corrected by Linwood and
Herm.) olKrlaas Ibuiv rdde. With veocr-
(xovs comp. vv. 247 foil.
502. dpaevos ydvov seems correct,
as explained by Kl. from the physio-
logical doctrine (Arist. Gener. Anhn.
4. i), which derived the sons from
the father and the daughters from the
mother. Thus an additional appeal
is made to Agamemnon on behalf of
Orestes. Perhaps apcreuos t6kw, Eur.
El. 652, is to be similarly explained.
bixov is explained by ecp-qixevovs, the
two being together engaged in prayer.
Comp. V. 335 foil. (Bamberger's
•yoov and H. L. Ahrens' irbvov are
scarcely so natural, and less forcible.)
505. K\r]d6ves aojrripLoi, because,
being spoken of themselves, they pre-
serve their father's name in the
mouths and memories of men. Herm.
rightly obsei-ves that KXtjdSves is more
poetical than K\r)56pos, which Schiitz
proposed.
506. dyeiv is here to draw up, as in
its sense of weighing it means to draw
80
X0H4)0P0I.
Tov eK ^vOov KXcocTTrjpa (ru)^ovT€g Xivov.
CLKOV' virep cov roidS^ ecrr oSvp/u-ara,
. auTO? ^e (TwXei rovSe TLiJ.ri<Ta<s \6yov,
XO. KaL fxiiv a/uLeiuLipr] rovS* erelvarov \6yov,
rl/uL^j/uia rvixpov rn? avoi/j.coKTov Tv-)(t]9.
TO, ^' aXX'j eTreiSt] Spap KanopOcoa-ai (ppevi,
epSoig av i^Srj Saiimovog Treipoojj.evog^
OP. ea-rar TrvOeo-QaL S' ovSev ecrr' e^co dpo^ov,
510
down, the common notion being that
of leading or drawing something
after it.
507. rbv €K ^vdov ad^oPTei is Tight]j
explained by Paley and Wordsworth
as a condensed expression or trajec-
tion, e/c ^vdov belonging, as the latter
remarks, syntactically to t6v, logically
to <xd)^ovT€s. Comp. V. 278, Soph.
El. 137, oijToi rbv y e^ 'A'tda . . .
irarep dpcrdaeis. "Kivov is the read-
ing of the Med. a manu prima, and
of Rob., and is preferable to \ivou,
which, being a neuter, could not go
well with KKwaTTjpa. \ivov KXcoaTrjpa
irepLcpepei \a^wv is quoted from Euri-
pides by Pollux, 7. 31. Clem. Strom.
2, p. 182 Sylb,, in a veiy inaccurate
citation of this passage, gives XtVc^.
509. (rd>^Vi MSS. (rc6^et, Pors.
The word is explained by awT-qpLoi.
and au^ovres preceding, which suffi-
ciently refute Hermann's or Tyrwhitt's
o-cD^e. ' Thou art preserving thyself,
by having respect to this our prayer.'
510 — 513. Cho. 'Your address,
though long, is a fair recompense to
the tomb for past neglect : but it is
time for Orestes to act.'
510. dixbix(j>rjT0vcerLvaTbv, MSS.
dfji€fX(pT} t6v8' ireivaTOv, Herm., who
first put this passage in its true light,
giving it to the Chorus, though he
has since injured it by needless altera-
tions. The emphatic words are
d/jL€fX(p7] and ereiVarov. Kal ix^v a sign
of interruption : see on v. 1 74. It
seems safer to retain ereivarov, like
ijXdeTov, Ag. 1207, confining ourselves
with Jelf, § 187, Obs. i, to the asser-
tion that in the Attic writers -rjv is
the more usual termination of the
second person dual, than to adopt
Blomfield's ereLvdrtiv.
511. 'A compensation to the tomb
for its unlamented condition in time
past.' Peile, rightly. The two geni-
tives belong to TifXTjfxa, though in
somewhat different relations, Comp.
Ag. 1447. dvoLfiwKTos, V. 433.
512. KaTopdovv difias occurs Eur.
Hipp. 1 445, a sense easily transferred
to the mind, like that of eiralpo) and
the Latin erigo.
513. 8ai/JLOvos Treipdijuevos, Ag. 1663,
daifiovos having the sense of tijxv^-
514 — 522. Or. 'First however tell
me what made her think of sending
libations — a mark of attention so late,
and so utterly incommensurate, as if
any payment could atone for blood
spilt.'
514. The object of the question, as
Bamb. remarks, is that Orestes may
reassure himself yet further. The
will of the Gods is now made unmis-
takeably evident to Jiim : as on the
one hand he had received his charge,
so on the other his victim had received
her summons, and that on the night
XOH<^OPOI.
TToOev "X^oas eireimy^ev, ck tivo9 \6yov
/jLeOv(TT€pov TijULcocr' avrjKecTTov 7ra6o9 ',
OavovTt S\ ov (ppovouvTi, SeiXaia ')(GLpi<s
eTTe/JLireT' ovk e^oijui^ av eiKacrat ToSe'
TO, Swpa fjLeio) S' ecrrl Ttjg ajuLaprtag.
Ta iravTa yap ng eV^ea? ai/0^ al/uLaTog
81
5^5
520
just passed, ^^co dpS/xou is apparently
a metaphor from a chariot course, as
in V. 1022, From. 883, though the
course is there that of reason, here
that which Orestes has to go through
as an avenger (comp. v. 794). * It
will not divert me from my course to
ask the question' — the course which
they had just been urging him to
pursue. In Ag. 1264 the metaphor
seems to be from a hound at fault
(comp. ib. 1184), and such may pos-
sibly be the image hei-e, as in Soph.
JEl. 1387 Orestes and Pylades are
called fieTddpofMOL KaKuiv irauovpyij/id-
Tcov a(f)VKTOi. Kvves, though the other
view seems better.
515. TTodev, as in Ag. 547, Prom.
593, of the cause. €k tiuos Xoyov,
like Kal ris rjv \6yos, Soph. (Ed.
T. 684, X670J being equivalent to
atria.
516. jne^' varepov, MSS. fxedi-
CTepov, Vett. fxedvaTepou, too late,
as the evil was done, but perhaps
also with reference to the lateness of
the attempt to make an expiation.
Tt/iwcra Trddos seems to be a mixture
of the notions of attending to the suf-
fering (comp. aaivuv, OeXyeiv dxv, v.
420, and the uses of depaireieiv and
curare) and honouring the sufferer.
Blomf. comp. fr. Phil. 250, tQu
dP7}K^<XT0}p Ka/ccDf 'larpSs.
517. davovuTi, MSS. davSvTi,
Pauw. This line is added to con-
firm the preceding one, and bring out
the force of fiedvarepov and dvf)Ke<jTov,
Orestes speaking, as Peile remarks,
according to the popular notion of the
insensibiUty of the dead, not according
to that on which he is himself acting —
a sort of argumentum ad hominem to
Clytaemnestra. Kl. comp. Bum. 115,
(ppoPTjcraT, S) Kara x^oubs deal. deiXaia
conveys a taunt, like dvoX^ov dudp\
Soph. Aj. T156.
518. rdde, Rob. and perhaps Med.,
where has been changed into a, or
vice versa, rdde, Guelf., seemingly a
correction to agree with rd dQpa,
which the early editors connect with
this line. The sense seems to be * I
cannot make this out by guessing, ' as
in Theb. 356, riV' iK ruvd' eUdaat.
X670S Trapa ; Orestes' point is, that he
cannot understand his mother's con-
duct : the atonement comes too late,
and is quite incommensurable with the
injury, and therefore he asks the ques-
tion.
519. ni<x(a, MSS. fxelu), Turn.
With the position of Se Peile comp.
Pers. 749, dvrjrbs i2v deOiv 5k irduTCJV
ip€T oiK ev^ovXig. Kal Iloa-eidQvos
Kparrjaeiu.
520. Paley well comp. Theb. 681,
dvdpo?u 5' d/j.aLfj,oiv ddvaros cD5' aiirb-
KTovos, Ovk '4crTi yijpas rovde toO ixia-
afiarot. Each is a case of auacoluthon,
such as might easily be paralleled
from Thucyd ides. For the sentiment,
see on v. 47. ai/naTos ev6s, the blood
of one life, as in v. 932 ■TroXXwy
alfidTCJv are many murders.
82
XOH<|)OPOL
evo^f (jLarriv 6 fjLO-^^Oog' cod' ey^ei Xoyog.
OeXovTi S\ e'lTrep otcrO\ €/jlo\ (ppaarov raoe.
XO. o7S\ ft) TeKvov, iraptj yap' €k t oveipaTwv
Ka\ vvKTiTrXdyKTCOv SeiimaTOOv TreiraKfJievt]
')^oa<i e7re/x\Jre racr^e ^v(TBeo<s yvvrj.
OP. rj KaL ireirva-Oe rovvap, (oVr' opOm (ppaa-ai;
XO. T€Keiv SpoLKOvr'' eSo^ev, w? avTrj Xeyei.
OP. Kal iroi TeXevra Ka). Kapavovrai Xoyog',
525
521. cD5' ^x^i X670S, Theh. 225.
Comp. V. 314, Tptyipcov fxv9o$ rdde
522. OeKovTL seems equivalent to
XPV^ovTi, as in Supp. 144, deXovaa 5'
ad diXovaav ayvd fi eTrtSe'rw Aios /copa.
523 — 539. Cli. '1 can tell you: it
was an alarming dream that made her
send the offering.' Or. 'Did you
hear what it was ?' Ch. ' She thought
she had given birth to a serpent.'
Or. What then?' Ch. 'She lulled it
like a child.' Or. * What food did it
want V Ch. * She dreamt she gave
it the breast.' Or. ' Without being
hurt herself?' Ch. 'It drew blood
with the milk.' Or. ' She dreamt of
a man, and she dreamt true.' Ch.
'•Well, she started up with a ciy :
lights were kindled, and the end was
that she sent these libations in the
hope of remedying the evil.'
523. Trdpei, MSS., the last two
letters in Med. being written over an
erasure. Trap?}, Pors., the only form of
the first person, as Wordsworth re-
marks, which ^sch. admits. Trapes
is given as a various reading by Med. ,
Guelf., and the Schol.
524. The alarm is said to be vvktI-
irXayKTos, as the disease in Ag. 1449
is called defxvioTrjprjs. In the same
way the epithet is applied to a bed,
Ag. 12, to hardship, ib. 330, and to a
child's cries,, Cko. 751. Treirakfiivq,
used for Tre(f)o^r)fxh'q, like irdWovT,
Supp. 567, for ecpo^ovvTo. Peile comp.
Soph. El. 410, e/c delfxaTOS Tov PVKTepov,
hoKeiv ijxoi, where, however, a diffe-
rent dream is given.
525. Tlie Chorus repeats its own
words frcm v. 46.
527. Kl. remarks that the earliest
authority for this version of the
dream is Stesichorus, quoted by Plu-
tarch, De Sera Num. Vind. c. 10, t.
2, p- 555 a. Ta 5^ dpdKUv idoKrjae /j.o\€LU
Kapa ^€^poT(i}/j.€uos cLKpov, 'E/c 8' dpa
Tov ^acriXei/s TlXeiadevidas ecpdvr}.
There is no occasion for Hermann's
cIis 6'. Throughout the arixofivdia
Orestes does not interrupt the Chorus,
which rather accommodates its answers
to the form of his questions.
528. It has not been noticed that
this line contains an exception to the
rule laid down by Person, Eur. Phcen.
1373, according to which Kal ttoT,
&c., state an objection (like Kal -rrCos,
V. 532), TTOi Kal, &c., ask for infor-
mation, the interrogative, as noticed
on V. 88, being in the one case in-
definite, in the other definite. That
the rule in general holds there
can be no doubt ; but as there are
some exceptions, e.g. koI tIs, Soph.
CEd. T. 684 (comp. v. 394, above),
where there is nothing in the shape
of an objection, it would not be worth
while to read iroi Kal here, though
XOH^OPOI.
83
XO. €v cTTrapydvoKTi iraiSo? opiJ-lcrai Sikvv.
OP. Ttvo? (Sopa^ -^pyjX^ovTa, veoyevefi ^a.Ko<s ;
XO. avrr] 7rpocrea")(e [xaXov ev Tudveipari.
OP. Kol TTcog arpooTOV ovOap ijv viro (jTuyog ;
XO. wcTT^ €V yaXaKTL Spo/j-Pov aljuLaTOf orirdG-ai.
OP. ouTOi juLaraiov avSpog oyp^ai/ov TreXei.
530
the transposition is supported by the
passage in the Phoenissce, where some
MSS. give Kal ttws, others ttws Kai.
TTOi reXei/rg, as in Pers. 787, tto?
KaTa(TTp€(p€is Aoycjp reXevT'^v ; ib. 735,
TTcDs re 5?; /cat tto? TeXevrdv, comp. by
Blomf. So TTOt drira Kpavei, woe
KaraXrj^ei, v. 1075, below. Kapavbw, v.
705, a poetical equivalent for /ce0aXai6a>,
as we talk of 'bringing to a head.'
X670S is seemingly to be explained
from X^7ei in the previous line of
Clytsemnestra's account.
5-29. 6/5/itcrat depends on TTOi reXei/ra
X670S, to which question it gives the
answer, 'What is the upshot of her
story f ' Why, that she lulled it as if it
had been a child.' bpixlaai is well ex-
plained by Abresch from Hesych.,
opixLaov avdiravcrov, and from -^lian,
de Anim. 2. r, rd /xrjKiaTa ireXdyrj
Trepaiovixeva'i rap(j(^ tQu irTepwv oiire
bpixl^eadal ttov ovt€ dvaTraveadai. Kl.
remarks that the word suggests of
itself the question put in the next line,
as showing that the creature had
been restless, and required pacifying.
Thus Person's opfiTJaac is quite need-
less, and indeed inferior, inasmuch as
it would involve a change of subject
from Clytsemnestra to the serpent.
530. This verse, as Abresch was
the first to see, belongs to Orestes.
The MSS. make no distinction of
characters through the greater part of
the aTLxop-vdia ; Rob. attempted one,
and gave vv. 529-531 to the Chorus.
TLvbs, MSS. rivos, Abresch. Herm.
retains rlvo^, in spite of the objection
to its beginning a sentence, veopeves,
MSS. veoyeves, Turn.
531. p.a^6p is the MSS. reading,
which there seems no occasion to
alter into p^aarbv, though that is
doubtless the common form in the
tragedians. The Homeric form ^lay
very well have been used occasionally,
especially as Hdt. has both. ev t
opdpaTL, MSS. ev nhpeipari, Porson.
532. ovxapi-p, Med., ip being a
correction of ^p. oddap ^p, Pauw,
Valckenaer. cttv^ seems to be here a
synonym of arijyos (comp. Xii//, Xt/3os).
Schiitz's arvyovs, however, is very
plausible.
533. iixTT', as Peile has seen, is
correlative to ttcDs. Orestes asks in
the tone of an objector, ' How was
her nipple unwounded V to which the
Chorus answers, 'Why, in such a
way that drops of blood were drawTi
from it,' i.e., it was so unwounded as
to be wounded, an idiomatic way of
qualifying an assertion till it becomes
a negation.
534. dpdpds is to be explained after
Heath as opposed to drjpiov. So dpdpbs
(^(payelop, Ag. 1092, (XTeyaarpop dp-
8p6s, Cito. 984. The line in effect
contains two co-ordinate assertions,
' it is a vision of a man, and no vain
one.' bipapop, which occurs nowhere
else, appears from the Schol. to have
been stigmatized by some gram-
marians. t6 X S^ 6'ti d-jrb rrjs 6^eios
irapTJ^e rb 6\papop. Blomf. defends it
G 2
84
XOH^OPOL
XO. rj ^' e^ virvov KeKpayev eirTor^fxevt],
iroWol S^ av^Oov, cKTVipXcoOevTeg ctkotco,
Xa/ULTTTrjpeg iv So/ULOicri Seo-Troli'tjg ^apiv
ire/ULTreL r' eireira rdoSe Kt]S€LOvg X^"^>
CLKog TOfxalov eKirla-acTa irrnj^aroov.
OP. aXX' euyoiJ.aL F? r^^e kul Trarpog racpo)
Touveipov eivai tout' efioL TeKecrc^opov.
KpLVO) Se TOi VLV (jO(tt€ (TvyKoWoog e-^eiv,
el yap rov avrov ^wpov ckXittoov efxoL
oiKpig fexao-a a-irdpyav^ ^riirXeiXero
535
540
by instancing rpoi^avov from rpdiyio
and Xeixpavov from XetTrw.
535. K€K\ayev, MSS., K^Kpayev,
Kob. Bamb. suggests K^KXrjyev, H,
L. Abrens, KeKkayyev. Kpd^o} bow-
ever appears a more natural word for
a sudden cry of terror tban KKd^oi,
wbicb wben used of a buman being
seems to imply a more measured and
premeditated utterance. Comp. Pers.
948, Ag. 48, 157, 172, 201, witb
Prom. 743.
536. dvrikdov, MSS., av^dov,
Valckenaer (on Hdt. 4. 145), sup-
ported by tbe Scbol., a.ve\aixipav, and
by Sopb. Aj. 285, rjvlx eairepoi Aa/i-
TTTTjpes ovKir' ■^dov, wbicb a MS. of
Suidas quotes witb ij\6ov. aKoru) can
bardly be taken except as the instrum.
dat. after eKTvcpXudeuTes, tbe notion
apparently being tbat light is extin-
guished by darkness getting tbe better
of it.
538. KTjSeious x^^^j "^' ^7-
539. Comp. Supp. 268, Toirwv aKf)
TO/xala Kal XvT-qpta. &kos rofiaiou is
interpreted by the Scbol. Oepdirevfxa
TfxrjTLKov. The modern commentators
mostly explain it like evrifxvwu aKos,
Ag. 16, Te/xveLv (pdpfxaKov, Hom. Hymn
Cer. 229, Plato Laxos, 836 b, 919 b,
of chopping up herbs for medicine.
Tbe former is supported by Ag. 849.
T€/x6vT€S . . . Trrjfi diroo-Tpe xpai voaov,
Sopb. Aj. 582, TOfiQvTi TTTi/xaTi. The
word then will be active here, not
passive, as in v. 168.
540-551. Or. ' May earth and the
tomb grant tbat tbe dream may come
true ! I read it exactly ; tbe serpent
was born, nursed, and suckled just as
I was ; she is to die a violent death,
and I am to kill her. I accept your
report of the dream. '
540. Earth and the tomb are ad-
dressed, as Kl. remarks, as in v. 722,
because they are to send up Agamem-
non. Comp. Pei's. 628 foil.
542. For the distinction between
oveLpoKpiTTjs and repaaKOTOS, see on v.
37. For Kpiveiv in this sense witb an
ace, Peile comp. Pers. 520. cvyKoX-
Xws seems to express the exact agree-
ment between the dream and the in-
terpretation, as in Sxipp. 310, it
denotes tbe agreement between two
stories. <rv(XK6Wws, Med., dvaKdWus,
Guelf., (TvyKoXkcjs, Vett., and so tbe
Scbol., <Tvvrjfiixevw% ry ak-qdeiq..
543. eKXeiTTOjv, MSS., ^kKlitJjv,
Blomf. , Herm. Tbe confusion between
the vowel and the diphthong occurs
again in the next verse.
544. The reading of this line has
XOH<l)OPOI.
85
Ka\ fxaa-Tov ajj-CpeyaarK e/uLOv OpeirT>]pLov, 545
OpojUL/So) S^ ejULi^ev aljuLarog (plXov ydXa,
rj S' a/ULCpl TGLp^ei rwS'' eiripiJiw^ev irdSei,
Sei TOL PLV, cog eOpey^ev CKirayXov repag,
6av€LV ^lalcog' CKopaKovTCoOelg o' eyco
KTelvM VLV, o)? Touveipov evveirei roSe, 550
yet to be discovered. The Med. gives
oixpeKTeiracraaTrapyavrjTrXei^eTO : the
Guelf. has inserted before TrXei^ero
by a later hand. All that seems clear
is that ov(pL^ and airdpyav' formed
parts of the original text, eiraaa may
contain some word agreeing with
airdpyav', like iir' d/xd, which is
Klausen's suggestion, or it may be a
participle like eird^as or eTretcr/Sctj,
conjectured by Bamb. rjirXei^ero pro-
bably stands for some verb, the sense
of wliich is given in the Schol. of Med.
einueXeias tj^lovto (the words by which
Hesych. explains KOfxi^eLv). E. A, J.
Ahrens conjectures -r/TraXt^ero: riyXat-
^€T0, TjXeyi^eTO, and 7]tXol^€TO (from
aTrXots, a notion which also occurred
to Pauw) might be suggested, though
there are objections to each. There
seems no reason to suppose that Turn,
and Vett. were right in reading airap-
yduoLS ojirXi^ero, so that the conjec-
tures which have been based on that
assumption fall to the ground.
545. With ifibi^ dpeTTTTjpcov, which
is to be explained by giving dpeirr-qpLOv
the force of a subst., like Meleager
Anth. 3. 6. 17, cited by Wordsworth,
vaaoi ifXT] dp^TTTeipa Tvpos, comp.
rots €/JLols iraXiyKOTOLS, Supp. ^'j6.
546. (piXoy ydXa, 'the milk of her
bosom,' or 'the milk of life.' See on
V, no.
547. dfKpiTap^i MSS., &fi(f)l Tappet,
Pors. Comp. V. 35. dficpl <t>()§Vt
Eur. Or. 825,
548. Kl. explains Sei toI vlv davelv
^taicos, ws /3iotws Wpexpev, but perhaps
the stress is rather to be laid on
'^dpeipev — 'as she reared the monster
instead of disowning it, she must die
a violent death,' Clytaemnestra's co-
operation having, as it were, brought
her under the fate symbolized by the
dream. In any case the nourishing
of the serpent is meant to be indicated
as answering to the impending bloody
doom, which may be the reason why
€Ope\f/d/j,r]u in v. 928 is made the prin-
cipal verb. In Ag. 717 foil, the rear-
ing of the lion answers to the welcome
given to Helen.
549. iKdpaKOVTOjdeis, turned into a
serpent, i.e. playing the part of the
serpent. Peile well comp. arpanodiu,
Ag. r35, the bit turned into an army,
i.e. the bit which is an army, though
the identification is there a reverse
process, of the symbol with the thing
symbolized. Comp. also ravpovp.evov,
v. 275.
550. KTeivco is a kind of prophetical
present, like dypel, Ag. 126, diroav-
Xarai, Prom. 171 (add iKiriirTei, ib.
948), quoted by Well. Orestes speaks
not of what he shall do, but of what
he is doing by virtue of the symbolical
dream, as if he were already his
mother's murderer, as in Ag. I. c.
Troy is regarded as already captured
on the strength of the apparition of
the eagles and the hare, and the wrath
of Artemis blazes forth accordingly
against the Atridse.
551. Orestes gladly accepts the pre-
86
XOH^OPOL
TepacTKoirov de rcovoe or* alpoufxai irepi,
XO. yevoiTO S' oi/Tft)?. raXXa S' e^rjyov (piXoig,
TOL'9 /JL€V TL TTOieiU, TOVg Sk jULtJ TL SpOLV XejOiV,
OP. air\ov<i 6 juLvOog' rrjv^e /mev (TTel'^eLV eo-cOf
alvu) Se KpviTTeLV rdcSe crvvO^Ka? ifxa^,
wg av S6\(p KTeii/avTcg avSpa rijuiiov
SoXo) re Kal 7\r](p6co(Tiv iv raurw ^po^w
555
tematural facts, as reported by the
Chorus (who is thus said to act as
repacKOTTos), finding the interpretation
which he can put on them as KpiTTjs to
be so favourable, alpovfiai seems to
mean ' I am willing to abide by you,'
just as it is used in the sense of
S^xo/xai, Theb. 264, Ag. 1653 (accord-
ing to Canter's correction), and v.
933 of this play, where see note.
552, 3. Cho. 'Be it so! now tell
each of us what to do or not to do.'
552. e^Tjyov, 'lay down the law,' as
Peile proposes to render it, hot with a
direct reference to the office of i^vjV'
rrjs (see on v. 118), but in the general
sense of instruction of which that
technical meaning is one application.
553. Toi/cr5' ev, MSS., Tot's p-iv,
Stanley. Wordsworth comp. Eur.
Iph. T. 721 {Med. 743), ri XP^^a
dpacreiv, i] t'l p.T] dpacreiv; \eye, which
seems to show that tI had better be
made inteiTogative here. Hermann's
transposition of this and the following
verse, both of which he gives to
Orestes, reading X^yio for Xeyuu, is
obviously unnecessary.
554-584. Or. 'I would have Electra
go in, to see that all is right there,
and the Chorus meanwhile keep
silence, that we may succeed in our
stratagem, which is a natural act of
retribution, and enjoined moreover
by Apollo. My plan is to go to the
outer gate with Pylades, pretending to
be strangers and speaking Phocian.
Suppose we are not let in at once, we
will wait till passers-by take notice of
the inhospitality. Then if I once get
in, I will kill him in a moment, and
so consummate the third great murder.
Remember your several parts : Hermes
here, my patron, will look to the rest,'
554. airXovs 6 fivdos rrjs aXyjdeLas
^(pv, Eur. Phcen. 469. a-rixeiv, MSS.,
(7T€'i.xeci>, Pors. (TTeixeiv depends on
ttiVcD, as Wordsworth also observes,
comp. Eum. 619, to p.eu SlKaiov tov6'
oaou adevei, piade^p, BoliX^ TrKpavcKOJ d'
{jpipb iiTLcrirecrdaL irarpos, where he re-
marks that such a transposition is
rare where sentences are connected by
tiev and 5e, though common with re
and Kai. See above v. 143.
555. Tatrde is rightly explained by
Turnebusof the Chorus, who thus have
the same direction given them which
is afterwards repeated in the resume,
v. 581, where their turn again comes
after Electra's. So too AVordsworth.
— crvudriKas, the complot with Pylades,
or the plot as a compact between
Orestes and the parties informed of it.
556. KTeLvdvTas, MSS., Kreivavres,
Rob. The dignity of Agamemnon is
dwelt on, as Kl. remarks , to enhance the
enonnity of the crime, as in v. 627,
Fiim. 625 foil. With the antithesis
between 56Xy and Tipaov, comp. Ag.
1494, &p.OL pLOi Koirav Tdu8' dveKevdepov
5oXty p.bpo} Sap-ei?.
557. The simplest form of the sen-
tence would have been, as Peile ob-
XOH$OPOI.
87
ava^ 'AttoXXcoi^, juavrig a\^euS>]<g to irpiv.
^evo) yap clkco'?, iravreXi] crdyrji/ e)(ciov,
t]^(ji) ^uv avSpl T(fiS'' e(p' epK€Lovg irvXag
TLuXdSy], ^€V09 T6 Kai Sopv^evog Sojulcov.
djUL(po) Se (pcovrjv o'lcrojuLev IlapptjacTLSa,
560
serves, ws hv 66Xy Krebavres, SoXy Kal
6dvo3cnv: but vEsch. has amplified it
so as to include the expression Xa^elv
doXit) {Theb. 38), and produce an exact
opposition between KTeLv avres and
davovTEs. re Kai couples 56Ay with ev
TavTcp iSpoxv, Xy](p6Qi<jLV having been
put out of its natural place (see on v.
554), probably in order to give pro-
minence to hoKip, which has to balance
its counterpart in the line before.
558. See on v. 274.
559. So Apollo, Bum. 61 S, says,
fxavTis ibv ov xpeixrofiaL, speaking, as
here, of the truth, not of his predic-
tions, but of his precepts. Stanley
comp. Virg. A. 6. 343, ' fallax baud
ante repertus, Hoc uno responso
animum delusit Apollo,' where the re-
ference is to his predictions.
560. TravT^Krj (Tdyr}v ^x^^ appears
to refer to the complete disguise of a
traveller who has come all the way
from Phocis, v. 675. There is no re-
ference to weapons, except so far as
they may happen to be included among
travelling accoutrements.
56;. €(f)epKLOVS, MSS., 60' epKelovs,
Turn.
562. ' ^evos re Kal dopu^evos do/nwu,
a stranger at once and friend of the
family, as bringing a message, namely,
from Strophius (vv. 679 foil.), who
in Ag. 880 is called eiipLeurjs bopv^evos,
and his house, below v. 914, bbfioL
dopv^euoi. Comp. Soph. i;7. 44-6, 671,'
Peile. Pylades was the son of Stro-
phius, so we may wonder that he is
not brought forward to accredit the
story. ^schylus however naturally
wished to make Orestes the chief
speaker; and this being done, Pylades
could not be introduced in his proper
character, but had to appear merely
as a companion of Orestes, disguised
in the same way. The other tragedians
have followed ^schylus, and indeed
gone beyond him, making Pylades
actually a Koocjybv irpoauiirov. The
awkwardness is felt in v. 563, as
Pylades could have no occasion to
counterfeit a tongue that was natural
to him, unless we take d^0a; to mean
' I as well as he,' which fxi/xov/x^voi
rather contradicts. For the function
of Pylades in the legend, see Miiller,
Diss. Earn. § 47.
563. oLcrofiev, the reading of all the
MSS., is condemned by Herm., who,
with most of the editors, adopts
Turnebus' rjcroixev. (pepeLU yXQcraav,
however, occurs below, v. 581, appa-
rently in the sense of xPV<^^°'-'-> ^^^ is
peculiarly applicable to the present
case, where the language is not native
but assumed, as Martin shows (ap.
Bamb.), comparing Hdt. 4, 106, voixa-
5es 5e eiaiv ecrdrJTa 5^ (popiovai rfj
^KvdiKy o/moiTju, yXQaaav 5k Idirju. lu
Latin we might say ' prae nobis
feremus.' With regard to the sense,
the words can hardly mean anything
else than that Orestes was to speak a
peculiar dialect, not merely with a
peculiar intonation. Those who object
witli Peile that Orestes does not alter
88
XOH^OPOI.
yXcocTcrrjg aiJTrjv ^(OKiSog lULifJiovfjLevw.
Koi St] Ovpcopwu ouTig OLV (paiSpa (ppevl
Se^aiT\ €7r€iSr] Sai/nova oofxog KUKOig'
[xevovfjiev ovTwg ioctt eireiKa'^eiv tlvo.
So/uLoig irapacTTeL'^ovTa kol rct^' evveweiVf
" TL Si] irvXaicTL Tov LKeTrjv aTrelpyerai
565
his dialect should recollect that
^schylus does not make his Persians
speak Persian. Greek tragedy does
not discriminate its characters by dia-
lectic peculiarities, as Greek comedy
does : it scarcely even discriminates
the tone of their diction, especially
in ^schylus : all in fact, with slight
occasional exceptions, are made to
talk in the main like Attic poets, ex-
cept in the choral odes : nor is it really
a greater violation of di-amatic illusion
to bid the audience suppose that
Orestes talks like a Phocian, than to
tell them that the oIkctt^s in v. 875
talks like a servant. Uapv-qcraiha, the
form given in the MSS., is preferred
by Herm. Person gave Tiapurjcrl^a.,
which is supported hy Earn. 11, where
the MSS. have HapvTjcroO. Blomf.
observes that the Attics distinguished
JIapvdaLos, the adj. of Parnassus, from
Uapvi^cnos, the adj. of Parnes, and
argues that the true form hei-e is
UapvaaiSa, which would agree with
Ilapvaaos, the spelling of Hesych., and
the Latin Parnasus, the orthography of
the oldest MSS. of Virgil, Propertius,
Ovid, &c.
565. Peile rightly observes that
that use of the opt., which does not
seem to occur elsewhere after Kai S17,
implies that the caseis likely to happen.
The expression may be regarded as a
condensed one for /cat Srj oi/'ris SeSe/crai
(01) yap de^air' dv, eirel k.t.\.)' /xeuov-
fiev. With 0at5pa <pp€vl U^aiT dv,
Kl. comp. Ag. 520, ^aidpoiat rotcrt'S'
566. \^^aLT, MSS. he^aiT, Turn,
/ca/cois qualifies daifiova, and indicates
the kind of possession, like daifj^ovQvres
ev dra, Theb. 1 00 1. The reference is
of course to the supernatural terror
caused by Clytsemnestra's dream. So
Cassandra exclaims, iov lov & /ca/cd,
Ag. 1204, when the spirit of prophecy
is on her. Kl. refers to Eur. Ale.
556 foil, as an illustration of the feel-
ing that grief suspends the duty of
hospitality.
567. ovTCJs seems to express the
attitude of supplication for admittance,
which would lead the passer by to
expostulate, on the assumption that
they were what they appeared to be.
568. Boissonade and Herm. read
do/jiovs, as in Soph. Ant. 1255 : ddfJLois
however seems so be used, as Peile
remarks, to indicate that the passer by
stops for a moment at the house, so
that it is not to be connected with
TrapaffTeixovra, but left by itself.
Peile appositely refers to Soph. (Ed.
T. 808, where 6xov is similarly sepa-
rated from TrapaareixovTa, a passage
which, singularly enough, Herm. was
the first to explain satisfactorily, re-
jecting the correction 6xov. irapa-
(TTixovra, MSS. TrapacTTeixovTa, Vett.
569. TrvXrjcn, MSS. ir^Xaca-i,
Blomf. The former may be a form
of a local dative, which however in
that case we should expect to have
found more frequently. It seems
better than to.regard the dat. as in-
strumental, with Blomf. and Words-
XOH<l>OPOI.
AfyicrOo?, eiTrep oTSep evSrjuiog irapwvl'^
€t S' ovv ajuLeiy^co (BaXov epKeUcv irvKoiv
KCLKelvov ev Opovoianv evpr}(j(jo iraTpog^
rj Kal lUioXcov eirena juoi Kara (iTOiJia
epeif (Tad)^ 'ictOl, Kal Kar^ 6(pOa\iuLovg ^dXei,
89
570
worth, the latter of whom comp.
diriXXei rfj dupq!, Lysias, p. 359, ed.
Keiske, and Horace's ' exclusus fore.'
Paley comp. Aristoph. Eccl. 4-20,
aTTOKKeirj rfj dvpa, Wasps 775, dTro-
KXeiaet rfi klxXI^l. In either case the
expression is to be distinguished fz-om
irvXuu ciTreipyeiv, to drive from the
gate, with which Stanley confounded
it. aTreipyeTai, for which many editors
read direipyeTe, a variation in Guelf.,
is well explained by Wordsworth,
* Why does ^gisthus cause the sup-
pliant to be driven away from him V
Kl. comp. Horn. Od. i. 189, v€/j.ea-
C7]dr] 5' ivi 6v/ji.(^ 'S<eLVQV 5^ra dvprjCLV
i<p€(XTd/J.€V.
570. It is worth remarking that
both Sophocles and Euripides actually
represent vEgisthus as from home at
the time of Orestes' arrival, ^schylus
evidently having no such meaning.
571. el d' ovu, A(j. 676, 1042.
dfj-ei^eLv, of passing the threshold,
like dfiei^eadaL, v. 965. Blomf.
comp. Fers. 69, Tropd/xov djj.elil/as,
Hdt. 5. 72, irpiv rj rds dvpas avTou
d/x€Lxj/aL. 'ipKLov, Med. epKetov, Guelf.
epKeiiov, Stanley.
572. Schiitz appositely refers to
Soph. £1. 267, oTo.i' 6pbvoi.s Myiadov
evdaKovvT" i'Sw Totcti/ TrarpipoLS.
573. ^Tretra is to be taken closely
with jxoXibu, the two cases supposed
being if Orestes should come upon
^gisthus (v. 542), and if ^gisthus
should come on him. Taken with the
principal verb after the participle, as
in Theb. 267, Eim. 438, it would
have no force here. Kara crrofMa pro-
bably with ipei : see on next verse.
574. epd is doubtful, being gene-
rally used, as Herm. remarks, not of
talking, but of saying something,
where the thing said is expressed.
Hom. II. 9. 55, however has ov8^
wdXiv ipeei, ' shall not gainsay or con-
tradict,' without an ace. or object,
clause ; and De Jongh cites Plato
Gorg. p. 495 a, e'iirep irapa rd doKOVvra
aavTip ipels, Menex. p. 234 b, ocTts
epfi eiri rots dirodavodcn. ^aXeiv,
MSS. ^aXei, Turn., a correction
which can hardly be questioned,
though the suspicion attaching to
epd will not allow us to speak with
certainty, /car' ocfidaXfious is parallel
to /card <TT6/j.a, as in Aristoph. Frogs,
626, Lva (Toi KaT ocpdaXfMovs Xeyri, comp.
by Wordsworth. Abresch. comp.
Hhes. 421, Xeyo} Kar opLfxa abv. Eur.
Or. 288, ei Kar'^ d/x/xara '^^(.(TTopovv
viv. jSaXet then will be intransitive,
as in -4^. 1173, the sense apparently
' if he should suddenly present him-
self to my sight.' It must be con-
fessed, however, that if this interpre-
tation be right, we should rather have
expected /card (XTOfxa BaXei . . . Kal
KUT d(pdaX/xQijs ipel, as in Eur. Ino,
fr. 4 1 4, which I quote for the sake
of one or two emendations, roidvde XPV
yvvaiKL TTpoairoXou i^v (read ■Kpo(nroXelv
veq., TTpoaTToXelv from Musgrave),
"Hris TO p.ev diKaLOV ov ciyqaeTai, Td
6' aiaxpd /xicrei (read fiicrei, and comp.
^sch. fr. 297. 9) Kal Kar' 6(p6aXp.oi;s
ipec (so Musgr. and others for e'xet)-
90
XOH^OPOI.
irplv avTOP eiTreiv, TroSairo^ 6 ^evog ', veKpov 575
QijarWf TToScoKei irepi^oKlov -^aXKevjULaTi.
cjyopou ^' 'J^pivvis 011-^ virecTTravicriuevr}
CLKparov alfia Trierai Tpln^v Troanv.
vvv ovv (TV (xev (hvXacrcre Tav o'ikoj KoXcog,
OTTOjg dv apTLKoWa o-vfj-^aLvri ra^e' ^^O
vfMV eiraLvod yXoocrcrav eu(pi]iuiov (pepeiv,
ad(p' L<x6i, as the Scliol. remarks, in
sense belongs rather to the next line.
(dpeZ, the conjecture of Bamb. and
Herm., is not satisfactory, obliging
us as it does to take Kar' 6(pda\ixovs
differently from Kara aTo/xa, while
the circumstance which it introduces,
^gisthus raising his eyes and drop-
ping them, as not daring to look
Orestes in the face, is one which
would scarcely find place in a brief
anticipatory sketch.)
575. TTodairbs 6 ^evos, v. 657.
576. veKpbv d-qcoo, like rvcfAbv edrjKC,
Hom. II. 6. 139. TToSw/cet* rep rax^t
^i(f>€L, ws eirl ifMipuxov d^ elirev, Schol.
Stanley comp. Theb. 623, irobwKes
6/jifjLa. Trepi^oKwv seems best explained
with Dobree as a metaphor from a
net suddenly thrown round an animal.
Comp. Eur. Med. 1278, dpKvwv ^[(povs,
Here. F. 729, iv ^pbxoicnv dpKVWv
^L(p7j<p6poi.cn. The explanation, ' I
will fling him round my sword, ' i. e.
' I will bury my sword in him,' be-
longs, as Kl. justly contends, to a
death like that of Ajax (Soph. AJ.
899, 967), not to an ordinary death
by the sword.
577. virecntavLffixevoi with the gen.,
as in Pers. 489, vTreairavLcrixivovs
^opds.
578. TpLTTjv is properly explained
by Schiitz, on a comparison of vv.
1065 foil., of the joint death of ^gis-
thus and Clytsemnestra, considered as
the thii-d of a series of which the
murder of Thyestes' children and that
of Agamemnon are the first and
second. voaLv a cognate ace. ; see on
V. 97. Pauw and Blomf. rightly re-
mark the allusion to the third liba-
tion, which appears from Antiphanes
(Athen. 15, p. 692 e.) to have been
of unmixed wine. Soph., who re-
peatedly imitates the language of this
play in his Electra, uses aKparov
atfjLa, V. 785, without any second in-
tention. Orestes wishes, as Kl. re-
marks, to express his hope that this
third libation will be really one to
Zeus Soter, and put an end to the
revelry of blood, which began, as we
learn from Ag. 1188 foil., when
Atreus slew the children of his wife's
seducer. The Chorus, v. 1073, speaks
more doubtfully, (ro^T-qp, ^ fibpov e?7rw ;
and asks when the calamity will be
over, seeing that the Furies have
already begun to fasten on Orestes.
579. <rvv odv, Med. av odv, Guelf.
vvv odv, Blomf.
580. dpTiKoXKos, which occurs
again Theb. 373, expresses the exact
juncture at which an event happens :
apri however does not mean 'just
now' or * of late,' as in dpri^vyla,
dpTLTpe(prjs, &c., but merely denotes
precision, so that the notion of time
is derived from the whole of the com-
pound, not from the first part of it.
581. vntv eiraLvQ) (pepeiv, like 8pd-
aavTL vadetv (pojvet, v. 313, in each of
which cases we should rather have ex-
XOH$OPOI.
91
(Tiyav 6' OTTOV Set Kal Xeyeiu ra Kalpia,
TO, ^' aWa TOVTCp Seup^ eiroiTTev(TaL Xeyo),
^i(pr](p6povg aycoi^ag opQoocravTL julol.
XO. TToWa iuL€u ya Tpecjyei Seiva Sei/uLarwv ayrj,
TTOvTial r' ayKoXai KvcooaXwv [crrp. a
585
pected the ace, as in Supp. 996. —
Wordsworth comp. yXQaaau evrvKOv
ipipeL, Siqip. 994.
582. "ZiyCov 6' OTTOV 5e? Kal Xeywv ra
Kaipia is quoted by Gell. N. A. 13,
18 from the Fireheariny Prometheus,
but that is no reason for suspecting,
with Dindorf, the genuineness of the
present Hne, which is perfectly in its
place. The Chorus obeys the latter
part of the injunction in its conversa^
tions with the nurse and with ^gis-
thus, as Kl. observes. Another si-
milar line occurs, Theh. 619, 0tXet bk
ctyav 7) Xeyeiu rd Kaipia.
583. TovTU) is rightly interpreted by
Schneider on Theb. 27, 490 of Hermes,
whose statue, as we have seen on v.
I, probably stood in the vestibule.
Comp. v. 727 foil., where the expres-
sions are parallel. eiroiTTeveLv and
opdovv are peculiarly used in ^sch. of
divine agency, vv. i, 489, 1063, and
Eum. 897, Supp. 673. Hermes was
called euaydovios or ay dovios, fr. 374,
Pind. Pyth. 2. 10, Isthm. i. 60, 01. 6.
79, which Kl. cites on Ag. 513. erro-
TTTevaai. opducrauTt will then be equiva-
lent to eTTOTrreOcrat /cat opdCHaai.
584. Orestes and Pylades retire as
before : Electra enters the palace,
probably by the side door mentioned
V. 878.
585—652. CJio. ' Earth, sea, and
air have each ita terrible products
{Sir. i). But nothing can compare
with the raging power of love in man,
and still more in woman {Ant. i).
Witness Althaea burning the brand
with which her child's life was bound
up {Sir. 2). Witness Scylla, sacri-
ficing a friend for an enemy, and
cutting off her father's fatal lock as
he slept {Ant. 2). So too but now,
when a wife lifted her hand against
her husband, a woman against a great
warrior — when the house became mas-
terless, and fell under weak female
rule {Str. 3). The Lemnian tra-
gedy is the type of all tragedies :
horrors which the gods hate, and
which bring their perpetrators to a
dishonoured end. Which of my in-
stances is out of place ? {Ant. 3). The
sword of Justice strikes to the heart,
when right has been trampled on
{Str. 4). Justice sets up the anvil :
Fate forges the blade : blood begets
blood, and Erinnys finds the child a
home {Ant. 4).'
585. yap, MSS. 7a, Pors. Schiitz.
Heath had conjectured 7ata, Turn.
y' drjp, from the gloss of the Schol.,
which really belongs to v. 589.
586. Kal deifxaroov, MSS. deLfxarcov,
Heath, dxv as in v. 635, Ag. iioi,
12 5 1, 1579, in all which passages it
has been needlessly proposed to alter
dxos into dyos. Comp. dXyos, Ag.
733, of a lion's whelp. With 5et-
p-droiv dxv comp. SecrirdTov arvyei, v.
770.
587. dyKoXai, at koi,X6t7]T€s, Schol. :
as we should say, the lap of the sea.
Stanley comp. fr. 450 (?), Kvp-druv iv
ay KdXais, Kl. Eur. Bel. 1062, 1436,
ireXayias is dyKaXas. The word may
be chosen to suggest the notion of a
92
XOH^OPOI.
avralitiv ^poTolcL
TrXdOova-r ^XacTTOvcn kol ire^al'^iJiioL
Xa/uLTrdSeg ire^dopoi 59^
irravd re koi TreSo/SdjuLova Kave/noevTMV
aiyiScov (ppdcrai kotov.
aXX' VTre pToX/uLOV avSpog (j)p6vt]iuia tU Xeyoi, avT. a. 595
mother or nurse, like Tp^(f)€L and
jSXacrroOcrt.
589. TT\ddov(TL should probably be
TrXrjdovaL, as Mr. Paley once suggested
to me, the Doric form seemingly not
being one of those admitted by the
practice of the tragedians. ^XaarovaL,
the MSS. reading, is supported by
^Xaare?, Bion. Id. 6. I'j, ^Xdareov,
Apoll. Rhod. 4. 1425, and perhaps
p\a(TTov/x€vr], Soph. Thyest. fr. 235,
and is required by the context, the
subject of the strophe being the ter-
rible products of earth, sea, and air.
For the ace, see Excursus on vv,
278 — 296. The Schol. referred to on
V. 285 has TToXXd, ri/crei 6 dr;p e/c ttjs
TjXcaKTis olktIvos TTT-qva Kat epirera.
elal yap 6<p€t,s e| dipos TriirTovTes.
The various corrections that have
been proposed only injure the sense.
7r€0aLx/j>-ioi is rightly explained by the
Schol. al fxera^v yijs /cat ovpavov
Xa/xTrdSes.
590. Tedd/xapoi, MSS. TreddopoL,
Stanley. The Schol. in Med. has
oT/xai TT^dovpoi, 'iu' y rb o-qfiaiPo/Jievov
/xereojpoL, though another gloss gives
ai dKT?v€S rod i]\Lou ai Kadrip.epi.val,
apparently pointing to TreSd/xepot,
which is Wellauer's conjecture.
\ap.irdd€s, then, will be the heavenly
bodies, to which the power of pro-
duction is attributed. Comp, Soph.
Ajit. 878, Eur. Med. 352, where
XafxTrds is used of the sun. The
^olic ired- for fxer- occurs in From.
271, irpbs TT^Tpais iredapcrioLS.
592. VTTivd, MSS. TTTavd, Herm.
With TTTavd re Kal Tredo^dfxova, comp.
Supp. 1000, Kal KvibdaXa wTepovvra
Kal TredoaTi^rj. Kavep-oevTo^v aiyidojv
KOTOV appears to depend on ^XacrTovcri,
storms being coupled with living
creatures as alike products of the air.
(ppdaai will then be the epexegetical
infin., 'for a man to tell of,' like
Atbs rrXaydv l;\;oi;criJ' eiirelv Ag. 367,
TerpojTai diKTijov irXeov Xeyeiv ib. 868,
though it must be owned that the
parallel would be more exact if (ppdaac
were the last word in the sentence.
This interpretation is not without
harshness, but it seems on the whole
less objectionable in point of language
than any other, at the same time that
it suits the various requirements of
the context. For dve/xoevriov we
should have expected dve/xoeaacov :
but it is apparently to be classed with
YeVi'ttJ' ^XajSevTa, Ag. 120, dpocroi . . .
TidevTes, ib. 562, and other instances
adduced by J elf, § 390. i. c. obs.,
though no metrical necessity can be
pleaded here. Kl. rightly observes
that the alyis is identical with the
shield of Zeus, as is shown by II. 4.
167, Virg. A. 8. 354. This will
enable us to understand the appear-
ance of Athene in Eum. 404, irrepoiv
ixTep poL^douaa KbXirov alyidos, which
is tantamount to saying that she
came with a rushing wind on the
wings of the storm, though of course
the words are meant to be understood
literally.
XOH^OPOI.
93
Kai yvvaiKwv (ppecrh Tka/uLovoov
TravToXjuovg epcorag
^ CLTaiari cruvvojULOvg ^porcoi^ ;
^v^vyov^ S^ ojULavXiag
OtjXvKpartji CLTrepcoTog epwg irapaviKO, 6oo
KvcoSdXcov re Kai Pporwv.
'i<TTCt) S' o(TrL<s ov')^ vTroTTTepog (rrp. /3'.
<ppovTL(Tiv oae)?
rav a TraiSoXvjULag raXaiva Gea-Tiag juticraTO 605
595. \^yoL without av, like tLs . . .
Kardaxoc, Soph. Ant. 605, and per-
haps ttQs TLS . . . 4>pd^€i€v, Ag. 1376.
The question seems suggested by
(ppdaaL.
596. (ppealv rXafxovojv is equiv. to
raXacTKppoucjv, as Blonif. remarks.
(})pe<xalv, MSS. (ppecriv, Aid. tXtj/ulS-
viov, MSS. T\a/x6vo}v, Dind.
597. Kal TravTdXfiovs, MSS. iravroK-
fjLovs, Kl., so as to connect 'ipwras with
yvvaiKdv. Tlie lacuna before aTaicn he
fills up by repeating ^pwr as, a very plau-
sible suggestion, and confirmed by the
passage which he quotes, Soph. Aj.
12O4, epwTWJ/5', epihrwv aTreiravcrev, but
seemingly liable to exception as not
quite corresponding with irXddovcn, v.
589. With draLai (tvuvS/jlovs, comp.
Soph. Aj. 1-23, drrj avyKare^evKTai,
and contrast the description of love in
Eur. Med. 844, rg. aocpiq. TrapeSpovs . .
^pwraj wavToias dperds ^vvepyovs.
599. ^v^vyovs 5' ofxavXias clearly
goes with what follows, as Heath was
the first to perceive. Taken with
what precedes, besides involving the
change of 5' into 6', it would create
an ambiguity with crvvvbixovs, and
form a very weak addition. The
sense seems to be, as Blomf. inter-
prets it, that the vehement passion of
the female breaks through the re-
straints of wedlock both in beasts and
men. The extension of the remark to
beasts, to which Bamb. demurs, is
supported by Archil, fr. 17, w
ZeO, irdrep ZeO, crop fM^v ovpavov Kpdros,
Si) 5' ^py' eV' dvdpLOTTOJv opds Aecopyd
Kadejuiara- aol d^ 6T]plu}u"Tl3pis re Kal
dlKT] fieXei. With TrapaviKci, where
irapd implies ' makes fatal conquest,'
Kl. comp. Soph. Ant. 791 (a passage
generally parallel), av Kal diKaiuv
ddiKovs (ppivas -jrapacnrds eirl Xw^g,.
With d-qXvKpar-qs, comp. Ag. 1470,
Kpdros r' lao^vxov e/c yvvaLKCov Kap-
dLodijKTov ifioi Kpar^veis. With kvu-
SaXwj/ re /cat Ppordv, comp. Supp. 999,
drjpes 5e KrjpaivovaL Kal ^poroi, in a
somewhat similar context.
602. i'crrw, 'let him be my witness,'
like iVrw Zevs. So Virg. G. 3. 474,
'Tumsciat, siquis . . . videat.' daeis'
/j.a6<Jjv, Hesych. Laroj 8aeis are to be
taken together, as the reflecting man
{offTLS ovx virbiTTepos (ppovriaLV, octtls ov
Kov(f)6uovs, com-p. dv€irTepu6-r]s, v. 228),
is bidden to testify on the strength of
the story that he is to hear. So
Stephens, orap dafj. {The sense is
unquestionable, according to the pre-
sent text : the metre, however, pre-
sents a difficulty, which, if insuperable,
seems best removed by Paley's rather
bold suggestion, rap daeis dp Tracd.)
605. 7raL5oXv/j.ds is Dindorfs cor-
rection of TratdoXv/xas. For the story of
94
XOH^OPOI.
wvpSarj Tiva irpovoiav, KaTalOovcra Trazdo? Sa(poLVOv
SaXbv }]\ik\ 67r€f /uoXcov /narpoOeu KeXdSrjorev,
^vfj-imeTpov Te Siai f^lov fxoipOKpavTOV e? d/JLap^
aXXav Set riv' ev Xoyoig arvyelv dvr, ^' . 6i3
(boLvlav ^KvXkav,
ar^ eyQpwv virai (pwr^ OLTrwXea-ev (piXov H^prjTiKoig 615
-^vcreoS/uiijTOKTiv opjmois TriOj^craara Scopoicn M/i^w,
Meleager, see ApoUodonis, i. 8.
Ov. M. 8. 273. foil.
607.* With TTvpdaT] irpbvoLav, comp.
Pers. 113, XaoTTopoLS fxaxo-vais. riva
is probably to be referred to rdv, as if
^sch. had said rivTiva, as Paley sug-
gests.
608. K aWovcra or KaWovca, MSS.
Karaidovaa, Canter. The original
corruption, as Peile remarks, may
have been from KATAIGOTCA into
KAIAieOTCA. Wordsworth in-
stances Soph. Phil. 680, where the
Harl. MS. has Ka/j-irvKa for Kar'
afxirvKa. haipoivbs seems only to be
used of colour. So Wordsworth, refer-
ring to Wustemann on Eur. Ale. 598.
Peile comp. Hesych. 5a(poLv6i>' fi^Xav,
heivbv, ttolklKov, epvdpbv, irvppbv. The
reference seems to be to the colour of
the brand when first taken from the
fire. 5aX6s is explained by Hesych.,
^6\ov KEKavp-ivov, TO e^rip-jxivov ^(iXov.
609. eirel, as in Ag. 40, d0' o5.
With p.6k^v [xaTpbdev, comp. Theb.
664, (pvyopra jxr^Tpbdev (tkotov. KeKd-
dT](T€, MSS. KeXddriaev, Herm.
611. ^ifipLerpov, as in Soph. (Ed. T.
1 1 13, ev re yap fiaKpd^ V-qpa ^vuqdeL
Tcpde rdp^pl a^jp-pLerpos. did, MSS.
f
dial, Cant. pLoipoKpaPToa-d', Med.
pt-OLpbKpavToed', Guelf. p.oipbKpavTov
5', Vett. S' was omitted by Cant.,
Turn, having previously given p.0L-
pbKpaTQv is r]p.ap. Dind. gives 5.pi.ap,
613. dWh 5^, MSS. &\\av,
Pauw. Set, Turn. Hermann's dWav
S' ^aTLv seems scarcely so good. eV
\6yoLS seems to go with (TTvyelv, ' to
express hatred of her in speech,' like
ev \byoLS Trpea-jSeverai, Eum. 21.
615. vTrai is apparently to be taken
with dirdiKeaev, as KL, so that
Scylla's reproach will be that she
made use of enemies to take tlie life
of a friend. There is much, however,
to be said for Wellauer's interpre-
tation, *at the instigation of enemies,'
and much also for Porson's correction,
inrep. For the story of Scylla, see
Ov. M. 8. I -1 5 1, and the Ciris attri-
buted to Yirgil.
618. Perhaps we should write
Xpvcreodp.droL(nv, like epid/xaros, Ag.
1 46 1. The word itself is not free
from suspicion, as no authority is
quoted for the use of d4p.u or its
compounds in the sense of an artificer's
work, and Hemiann's xp^'^^ox/^woicnv
is sufficiently tempting. The metre
does not correspond precisely with v.
607, but it would be hazardous to
adopt Hermann's TvpdarjTiv — xP^<^o-
Kp.-qTOKTLv. Treidrjaaa-a, MSS. ttiB-^'
a-aa-a, Abresch., a word used by Horn.
II. 9. 119, Od. 21. 369, Hes. W.
and D. 359, Pind. Pyth. 4. 109.
(Heath's Treicdelaa, answering to
aWovaa, or, as Porson conjectured,
Kaiovaa, in the strophe, is far less
Hkely.)
XOH^OPOI.
95
Nrcor aOavarag Tpi)(^09 PocripLcracr^ airpolBovXwg 6 20
TTveovO' a KVv6(pp(jov virvw. Kiyyavei Se VLv'^piJ.ri^. 62 2
eireL o eirefJLvaa-afJLriv ajueiXi-^cov (tto. y .
TTOvccVf oLKaipco^ Sc SvffCpiXh ya/uLijXeuiUL'' aTrev-verov
So/LLoig 625
620. The lock is represented by
Ov. M. 8. 10, and the author of the
Ciris, V. i'22, as the guarantee, not of
Nisus' life, but of the stability of his
kingdom, voacplaaa': hence the name
Ciris. (XTrpo^ovXuis with irv^ovd', Peile
well remarking that it was the poet's
object to enlist his hearers' sympathies
on the side of the unconscious sleeper,
not on hers who thus unnaturally
' murdered sleep. '
622. A good commentary on kvv6-
(ppwv is found in Supp. 759, referred
to by Blomf. /xefxapycofxePOL Kvvodpa-
(XeU, 6eu)V ovdkv eiratovTe^. So avai.brji
expresses not only shamelessless, in
our restricted sense, but want of
feeling altogether, a/Scis being that
which shrinks from any wrong doing.
VLv is rightly explained by t^e Schol.
Tov '^t<Tov, [17] T7}v liKvWav, as yEsch.
is speaking of the crime, not of its
punishment. The old commentator
seems right, too, in interpreting
''Etpfxris, 6 ddvaros, i.e. 'BpfMrj^ X^oj/tos,
though there may be also a reference
to his attribute of BoXlos. Kcyxdvet is
especially used of death, as Blomf.
shows. Comp. Hom. II. 17.672.22,
303, 436. So Kixdfo/xai, II. II. 441.
Soph. (Ed. C. 1450, d Ti fi,o?pa firj
Kiyxdi-vei. Simon. 91, /xolp' '^klx^v
davoLTov. Kixduet, MSS., a letter
having been erased in Med. before %.
Kiyxo-^^h Person, /xlv, MSS. nv, Blomf.
a
623. eTrefXP-qaafxev, MSS. e-rre^urj-
cdixTjv, Heath. Tliis passage is per-
haps not so desperate as has generally
been supposed. The general sense
apparently is 'Now that I have begun
to speak of the crimes of women
(comp. Juv. 3. II 4, 'et quoniam
ccepit Greecorum mentio '), I must
come to that of wife against husband.'
They proceed at once to touch on the
domestic story of the royal house,
which evidently forms the subject of
the strophe — the hateful man-iage of
the usurpers, the plot of Clytsem-
nestra against her lord, the unkindled
hearth, and the proverbially weak
rule of a woman. These, says the
Chorus, aKaipojs rico — words which
may be explained either as a direct
oxymoron, ' I pay them honour which
is no honour,' 01) a-^^cj or oi X^yu, as
^sch. elsewhere expresses it {Ag.
1612, Eum. 866), or, 'I celebrate
wrongly,' i.e., celebrate as wrong (see
on v. 434, dTifj.ojs ^Xe^as). For 5^ in
the apod, after eTrei, which Buttmann
and Hartung are wrong in denying
to Attic writers, see Klotz. Devar. 1.
371, foil. For the verb which be-
longs to two clauses placed in the
second, comp. vv. 143, 554 (note).
Here the ambiguity which might
otherwise have been produced by the
unusual length of the first clause
seems to have been obviated by the
insertion of the adverb, which really
forms part of the verbal notion, on the
same principle as in v. 232 (where see
note) the preposition in the second
clause apparently does duty for the
verb.
625. Crimes are called -kovoi here,
96
X0H4>0POI.
yvvaiKol3ov\ovg re /uLtjTiSa^ <ppevwv
ctt' dv^p\ Saoi<} -^eTriKOTM crefiag,
Tioo S"" dOepiJiavTOV ecniav oofj-wv,
yvvaiKelav droXjULOV ai-^fxav. ■.,
630
as TrrjfiaTa, v. 634, &XV, v. 635.
yafj.rj\€v/xa must, in spite of the
iiarepov Trpbrepov, be the marriage of
Clytaemnestra and Agamemnon, which
is called SvacpiXis and dTrei^xfO''
dofJLOLS (comp. Ag. 1192, atrexTvcrau
evvd^) from its results. So Svadd-
fxapros dvbpbs, Ag. 1319.
626. yvpaLKo^ovXovs like dvdpS-
j3ov\op, Ag. II. ^sch. perhaps had
his eye on Od. 11. 436, yvvaiKeiovs did
^ovXds. A sharp contrast is intended
between ywaiKo^ovXovs and dvdpi, as
in Ag. 12 31, Eicni. 625, foil., where,
as here, Agamemnon's dignity is in-
sisted on.
627. dvdpl T€vx^o-4^op<i> like avdpa
Tevx'n'^Tr^v, Theb. 644. This line is
omitted in the MSS,, but added in the
margin of the Med. a m. pr.
628. S??tois, MSS. 54ots, Dind.
For erriKdrq} Paley adopts iireiKdrcos
from an anonymous critic, ap. Scholef.,
who wished to read e7reiK-6TWS ^^av.
Paley also reads Xaots from a con-
jecture of my own ; but there does
not seem sufficient reason for chang-
ing Sgots, as there is some point in
saying that a man, whose majesty
was felt even by his fenemies, fell by
his wife. With iireiKdrcjs cre/3as we
might comp. Siqyj^. 'J'j6, ^vSlkop ae^as.
cr^jSas in app. with a noun in the dat.
is doubtful, though it seems to be in-
declinable in the sing. H. L. Ahrens,
however, reads aij3a.
629. tLwv, MSS. rfw, Stanley,
See on v. 623. ddepfiavrov ecrrlav is
parallel to irdvoi^v^ ecrrta, v. 49, de-
noting the state of the family hearth
under the usurpers, but whether
the meaning is that it was joyless and
inhospitable (comp. v. 565), that
sacrifices had ceased to be offered
(comp. the contrast in v. 863), or that
there was no rightful lord to kindle
the hearth (comp. Ag. 968-9), is not
easy to say. Clyt., in Ag. 1435,
speaks of ^gisthus as burning fire on
her hearth, which seems to imply that
he was to succeed to Agamemnon's
rights, and so is not easily recon-
cilable with the sense here, at the
same time that it illustrates the foiTQ
in which it is conveyed. The Chorus,
however, may purposely ignore him.
630. yvvaiKelav aixfJ-dv is a repe-
tition of yvvaiKos aixJJ-a, Ag. 483,
also spoken of Clyt. The aix/J-v is
the sign of power (Prom. 405), the
proper ensign of the male ruler (Pers.
755, where ttXovtov eKTrjau} ^iiv alxfJ-y
is contrasted with ^vSov alxjxd^eiv,
which is a sort of oxymoron, answering
nearly to the phrase here). droX/Mov
is explained by yvvaiKeiav. The lan-
guage in which Clyt. is spoken of in
this play, and in the Agamemnon,
oscillates between horror of her un-
womanly daring, and contempt for
her as a woman placed where a man
should be. The latter is the feeling
here, as in w. 302, foil. Comp.
Soph. El. 1240, foil., where El. ex^
presses scorn for her mother's sex,
and Or. reminds her that Clyt. has
shown that women can do daring
deeds.
XOH$OPOI.
97
KQKcou Se irpe(T^6v€Tai to Atjuiviou avr. y
Xoycp' yoarai Se S^iroOev KaraTrTvanov. rKaarev Se Tig
TO Seivov au \t]jULvioicri TrrjjULacriv.
6eo(TTvyi^T(p S' aycL 635
PpoTwv aTifxcoOev o'i')(€Tai yevog.
ore^ei yap ourig to ovarcpiXeg Oeoig,
TL tcopS^ ovk epSiKcog dyelpco ;
631, KaKwv TrpBajSe^erai equiv. to
Trp^iT^LCTTdv iari KaKQp. So Trpecr/Sei/w
used intransitively takes a gen., Plato,
LawSy p. 722 e. For the Lemnian
tragedy, Kl, comp. Pind. Pyfh. 4.
■252, Apollod. I. 9. 17. ^schylus's
lost play, Hypsipyle, was doubtless
on this subject.
632. TrpecrjSedeTaL \6y(p like iv
\6yoL9 irpea^everai, Eum. 21. Stj
irodei, MSS. driTrodev, Schiitz. after
Turnebus' d-ZiirovOev. The word ap-
pears only to occur elsewhere in the
phrase SiroOeu drjTodev ; it is, however,
acknowledged by Hesych., who ex-
plains it as Xi^LS (JwaiTTLKT}, ws Kal rb
drjirou. The sense would seem to be
'from some quarter or other,' and
hence from many quarters, like
(po^elrai tis, v. 59. Comp. the use
of drjTore, Ag. 577. (This seems
more probable th-in such conjectures
as Bamberger's yoarav 5^ br} TroOeT, or
Hermann's 7oaTat b^yd Trddos) yoarai,
then, will be passive, as in Homer,
not middle, as in other passages of
the tragedians. There is, however,
great plausibility in Blomfield's jSoarat,
in the sense of wepijSorjTov iari, which
would be more forcible and better
suited to the context. Comp. Supp.
583, ^vdeu irdaa ^oq, x^^v. rJKaaev —
irrifiaa-iv, in modern language, the
horror of the day, is always compared
to Lemnian crimes. av again, i.e.,
wheu the crime occurs a second time.
Hdt. 6. 138 is exactly parallel, vevo-
fiLaraL dvd ttjU 'EWdSa rd axerXia
^pya Trdvra ArjfMVLa KaXeeadai. showing
that there is no occasion to change ad
into dv with Herm., after Portus.
634. irrjfxacn, MSS. Trrjfxacny, Por-
son.
635- "^X" (see on v. 585) a dat.
like davdroLCTL, v. 53 (see on v. 27).
The sentence is commonly supposed
to have a general reference, as ^porQv
yivos could not be said of the Lem-
nians alone : but its special meaning
will be seen, if, with Heath, whose sug-
gestion has been unaccountably over-
looked, we join ^porQv drLpLwdev, which
will leave us free to understand yevos
with the Schol. to tQv A-qixvidbojv,
at the same time that it brings out
clearly the distinction (repeated in v.
637) between divine hatred and the
human infamy that follows it. Comp.
V. 295, where irduTcap dri/xov dvrjaKeiv
answers exactly to jSpordv dTip.w6kv
oixerat..
638. There seems no authority for
taking dyeipw in the technical sense of
avudyci}, to conclude inferentially, like
coUiyo in Latin, even if such a sense
were poetical in itself, or easily recon-
cilable with tL tQp8'. The Chorus has
been gathering, as it were, a heap of
instances of crime, and asks at the end,
' which of these am I adding to the
heap without reason?' ri tQvB' as in
V. 338.
H
98
XOH$OPOI.
TO S' o.y')(jL TTvevuXovwv ^L(pog
Siai^raiav o^vTrevKe? ovra
Sia\ AZ/ca?. TO lULt] OenAig yap ov
\a^ TreSov iraTOvixevov,
TO TTCLV Aiog crelSa? irapeKPavre^ ov OejuLLo-Twg.
AiKag ^' epelSerai TruOfMriv'
640
645
avT. S'
639. ^7X4 ir-vevfxbvijjv is constructed
grammatically with to, really with
ovra. See on v. 507. 'The sword of
Justice strikes to the vitals.' 07x1
TTvevfj-ovuv, which evidently is not to
be taken strictly, as if the lungs were
to be grazed, not touched, may per-
haps illustrate the use of d7XtaXos in
Pers. 889, Soph. Aj. 135, where it
can hardly mean more than * mari-
time.' TrKevjxbvwv MSS. Tvev/xoviov,
Bob., which Porson on Eur. Or. 271,
after Brunck, pronounces to belong to
early Attic, such as that of the tra-
gedians.
640. diavTaiav, probably TrXrjy^v,
understood as in -4 ^r. 1386. o^virevKes.
o^vTLKpov, Hesych., probably referring
to this very passage. See Buttm.
Lex, ix^'^'^VKTis. aovrai, MSS. ovra,
Herm., the s having been accidentally
repeated. It has been doubted whe-
ther ovra is present or future. Words-
worth decides for the former, observ-
ing that futures which have the ante-
penultimate long are not contracted,
* quod criticis adhuc ignotum esse
videtur.' The present too would
seem better suited to the sense, which
is evidently general.
641 — 4. 5iai At'/cas, v. 787. diai,
here denotes the agent, as Justice is
personified, ' in the hands of Justice.'
— The sense of to jxt] dejXLS is fixed by
ov de/xia-Tibs immediately following, as
well as by Sujij'i- 335, to mean crime.
Xa^ iredov TraTOv/xevov seems from the
whole context to refer to the neglect
of crime by the gods, not, as we should
have expected from such passages aa
^ff- 37^5 383, EiMi. 540, the neglect
or defiance of the gods by criminals.
Perhaps there may be a sort of anti-
thesis between the two kinds of
neglect, * if the criminal makes light
of the gods, the gods do not make
light of him,' as possibly in Ag. 370
foil., and so the words which would
more properly express the one kind
would be intentionally transferred to
the other. t6 -jrciv, which here as
elsewhere (see on v. 331) is adverbial,
will be more forcible if taken with the
preceding than with the following
words, coming after a negative, as in
Ag. 993, ov TO irav 'ix^v e\7rL8os (piXov
dpdaos — 'not at all,' like ov Travrois,
ov Trdvv. ir^bov ■jraTovfieuov, changed
by Herm. into iridoi, is supported by
and supports Ag. 1357. iredov iraTelu
doubtless came to be regarded as a
single notion, as it were a compound
verb. iraTo^fiepou seems to be a par-
ticiple for a finite verb, as probably in
Eu7n,. 68, and perhaps in vv. 828 foil,
below, Ag. 289, Ewm. 385. irapeK-
§dvT€s, as Paley suggests, is a sort of
epexegesis of to fir) de/xLs, as deXovTes
in Prom. 201 of crrdcrts. On the whole
the passage, though harsh in some of
its expressions, does not appear cor-
rupt, ov 6€/xLa-TU)s, Person's correc-
tion for dde/j.iaT(i}s, the reading of
Guelf. and the early editions, is now
found to be confirmed by Med.,
though the ov is there written so as to
XOH^OPOI.
m
OP.
7rpo')(aXK€veL S'' Alcra (paa-yavovpyog'
TeKvov eTTCKTcbepei joijuLa(T€
SicjUidTWv iroKaiTepodv
TLvei /ULvcro? XP^^^ kXvtu /Sucrcrocppwv "'lEipiPug.
iral irai, Oupag ciKovcrov epKelag ktvitov.
650
resemble a. The accent was cor-
rected by Dind.
645, 6. The stem or foundation of
Justice (expressing its fixity) is used
as the block, aK/xoderov {Diet. A.
'incus'), on which the anvil is placed
for Fate to forge a sword, perhaps
the same which we have seen put into
the hands of Justice above, v. 639. In
■^9- 1535 Molpa, apparently the same
as Aio-a, is represented sharpening
justice as a sword on a whetstone.
■irpo(rxo-^K€6ei, MSS. irpoxo-'^Ke^ei,
Herm. The former would suit the
sense (comp. Pind. P. i. 167, d\l/€v5e?
■irpbs S.KIX0V1 xd\K€V€ ykCocraav), but the
latter seems required by the metre,
though it is doubtful whether the pre-
position, as in wpoTviriv Ag. 133,
denotes time, or, like the Latin pro-
cuclere, extension. Like (paayavovpyds,
the word seems not to occur else-
where.
647 — 65 [. The passage as it stands
is of course corrupt, and it is not easy
to restore it with confidence, at least
beyond a certain point. That Si/jLacre
bcop^oLTiov conceals the words do/xoLs,
at/xctrwi', as the editors have seen, can
hardly be doubted, as the context re-
quires SofxoLs for €7reia<p€p€i, alp-aTuv
for iraKaiTepiov, and both words were
evidently read by the Schol., whose
explanation is eweiacpepeL de tois olkols
T^KVov ■jra\acu>p aip-drcju, 6 ecTL, riKTeL
(pQvos dXXov (p6uov. But more is re-
quired to complete the metre and
round off the sentence. Perhaps the
best suggestion is Hermann's do/xoiaLP,
iK 5' alixdriav, Mliller having proposed
e^ aifxdrcjv. TeKvov is the child of the
Erinnys, the new murder which is in-
troduced into the house. Comp. with
Kl. Ag. 1565, rts dv yovdv dpacou
€K^d\oL ddfioju (where 'Apct implied in
dpaiov is synonymous with ^'Epivvs),
V. 805 below, yepwv (povos ij.7jk€t' ev
56fioLs T€KOL. Possibly Bamb. may be
right in supposing an additional allu-
sion to Orestes entering the palace.
TLveL or cKriveL, as Paley remarks, is
said of the Erinnys, who from one
point of view is regarded as the payer,
not as the exactor of the debt, being
supposed to render the victim to jus-
tice. So exactly Ag. 1501 aXdarcap . .
rSvd' air eriaeu. reivei, MSS. rivet,
Turn., and so the Schol. diraiTe?,
XP^vip is perhaps to be connected
closely with KXvrd, as Donaldson con-
tends, comparing Pind. P. 11. 32,
XP^^V KXvrals iv 'Afj.6KXaLS, so as to
denote the long connexion of the
Erinnys with the house. But it
seems more natural to understand
XP^^V of the delayed vengeance,
(Comp. Ag. 462, 'Epcuves XP^'^V • • •
Tidda dixavpbv), and regard /c\i;rd,
which occurs nowhere else in ^sch.,
as a sort of Homeric epithet of the
Erinnys as divine. With ^vaco-
(ppwv Paley well comp. jjLvrifjiuv, used
as an epithet of the Erinnyes, Eum.
382.
653-667. Orestes enters, andknocks
at the principal door. Or. ' Is any
one within to receive a guest V
Servant. ' Who is there?' Or. 'Take
100
XOH^OPOL
rh ei^Sov, (i) Trai, iral^ juloX^ auOig, ev oo/uLoig ',
TpLTOV ToS^ eKTrepajULa ScoimaTdov AraXco,
eiirep (piXo^ev^ cg-tIv AlylcrOov dial.
0IKETH2.
eleVf oLKOvot)' Trooairog 6 ^eVo? ; ttoOcv',
'00
a message to the rulers of the house —
quickly too, as night is coming on —
and say that I would see one or other
of them, the master better than the
mistress.'
653. TTtti TTol was the common way
of calling the slave at the door.
Aristoph. Birds, 57, Acharn. 396,
Clouds, 132. The language here is a
mixture of the colloquial with the
tragic.
654. Herm. reads rts 'ivbov; See on
V. 5 30. It is surely as natural to ask
'Who is within?' as 'Is any one
within?' /AttX' adQis, v. 876.
655. We need not suppose, with
jelf, § 566. 3, that Or. calls out eKirepa,
CKirepa, eKirepa. The questions in the
two former lines are each equivalent
to Kokelv eKirepap-a : here he varies the
expression, rpirov rovro and similar
expressions are found elsewhere used
adverbially {e.g. Hdt. 5. 76, Teraprov
Sr] TovTO iirl ttju ' Attlkt]v aTrLKdp.evot),
as Wordsworth remarks, but we need
not therefore separate rpirov rod' liere
from eKirepafia.
656. The reading of this line is not
certain, as it is diflScult to see why
^sch. should have written Stat with
no metrical necessity, and if an altera-
tion is to be made, the occurrence of
Alyiffdov ^ia, v. 893, makes it very
probable that ]8ta, in some shape or
other, should be read here. AiyiaOov
dial, however, makes perfectly good
sense, as if it were Ai-yiadou dioLKOiyros,
in the hands or under the rule of
^gisthus (Peile well comp. v. 641,
5tat At/cas, Ag. 19, olkov . . . ovx, ws
ra Trpocrd'. apLara 8Lairovov/j.evov), and
so explained, is perhaps more forcible
than any of the conjectures proposed
(Bamb. andHei-m.'s jStai', constructed
with /caXw, which is perhaps the best,
seems open to the objection that
Orestes is calling in this instance, as
the previous verses show, for the slave,
not for his master). (piXo^ev' as an
epithet of bJojxara (which Porson altered
by reading (piKo^evr) 'crrti^-^ta, Elmsley
by (piXo^euos rts) is strongly confirmed
by dofj-ovs 5opv^€vovs, v. 914, do/xovs
exdpo^evovs, Eur. Ale. 574, a passage
generally rather parallel, and com-
pared by Wordsworth. Orestes,
finding his call not answered imme-
diately, makes the appeal which in v.
570 he had supposed to be made by a
passer-by.
657. AVhether the speaker answers
from within or opens the door is not
clear, etej'* aKoiiuj similarly begins a
line in Aristoph. Peace, 66^. It is
now generally allowed to stand, the
apparent metrical fault being excused
on the ground that ^sch. may have
wished not to alter the common col-
loquial formula. Perhaps there may
have been something in the pronun-
ciation which smoothed over the diffi-
culty, as would appear to be the case
in v. 1049 (note). With the rest of
the verse comp. v. 575.
XOH<I>OPOI.
101
OP. ayyeWe toici kvolokti dcojUiaTcou,
xoo? oucTTrep tjko) kul cbepco Kaivovg Xoyovg'
Ta-^vve S\ cog Ka\ vvKTog apjUL^ eirelyerai 66o
orKOTeivov, wpa S'' ejuLiropovg /meOiei'aL
ayKupav eV oojULotcri irai^ooKOig t,^PU)V'
i^eXOeTO) Tig ocojULaTcoi' TeXecrcbopog
yvvrj t' airap^og avopa t evir peireaTepov
aiScag yap ev XeyQeicriv ovk eirapyefj-ovg 665
658. The subject of the ayy eXia is
given V. 663, rdxvve — ^eucav being
thrown in parenthetically, as Paley
was the first to point out.
660. Comp. Pers. 692, rdxvi^e 5',
ws a/JLefXTTTOs S) xp^^o^' '^^''- seems to
refer back to raxwe, * Make haste, as
the car of night is making haste too,'
With 'NvKTos dpfia Stanley comp.
Theocr. 2. \66, durvya Niv/cro?, Kl.
^sch. IIcl. fr. 67, ixeKavLTTirov
Ny/CTOS.
661. (bpa, M8S., (hpa, Rob.
662. iravboKOLS with ^euwv. Words-
worth cump. Pollux 9. 15, jiep-r) 8e
7r6Xews Kal iravdoKelou /cat ^€vu!u Kal
cbs ev 'Ifct^oj So^okXtjs irauSoKOs ^evo-
CTaats. Kl. comp. Find. 0. 4 15,
^evlai. wavdoKOL. Paley remarks that
do/xota-L TT. ^. stands for the ^evdiv, as
yvvaiKeioKxi ddj/xaaiv, v. 36, for the
yvvaLKOoflTLS.
663. Sw/xctrcji', more probably with
e^eXOeToj than with reXecrcpopos. reXe-
acpupos seems to be like reXetoi/, Ag.
972, an epithet of the ruler of the
house, who constitutes its perfection,
more properly applied to a man, but
here to a queen regnant. Conip. Jl. 2.
701, where dofxos rjpiLTeXrjs is said of
the house of Protesilaus after his death.
6
664. Ta-rrapxos, Med,, roirapxos G.
Aid., rdirapxos, Rob. tott apxos seems
scarcely a likely word, as tottos is not
strictly synonymous with 861x0s, and
Bamb.'s areyapxos (Hdt. i. 133) is too
far from the MSS. Thus it seems
better witli Kl. to read r' dTrapxoi
{Ag. 1227, Pers. 327, according to the
best MSS.), re being strongly sup-
ported by dvSpa t\ Orestes, as Kl.
remarks, seems to wish to see the
mistress as the chief person, and also
^gistbus, as one to whom he can
speak more freely. Or Te-Te may be
virtually equivalent to fi-i], putting
the two cases, though not expressly
as alternatives. The change of con-
struction in the latter part of the line
may possibly be dramatic, as Orestes
seems in v. 663 to have forgotten
himself for the moment, showing more
knowledge than he elsewhere affects,
so that here he may be recovering
himself.
665. OVK, as the absence of an ad-
versative particle in the next line
shows, is clearly right, negativing not
eirapye/xovs but rid-qaLv, and express-
ing what goes on when the person
treating with a stranger is a man.
Xexdeta-LU is perhaps more doubtful,
as the SchoL, iu rah irpbs yvvalKas 6/xt-
Xiais, points rather to XeVxciiO'ii', Em-
per and Herra.'s conjecture, and the
use of the aorist participle, especially
without an article, in the sense of a
noun, is uncommon, eirapye/xovs Ag.
1 1 1 3. For the thought, comp. v. 736.
102
XOH<l>OPOI.
\oyovg TtOijcriv elire Oapcr^crag avt]p
Trpos avopa Kaa-fjfjujvev e/mcpaveg TGKfxap,
KAYTAIMNHZTPA.
t^evoL, Xeyoir' av el ti Ser irapecTTL yap
oizola irep cojulokti toictS' eireiKOTaf
Kai Oepfxa Xovrpa Kal irovoov OeXKTrjpia
(TTpco/uLP^, oiKaioov t' ofji/uLaTwv irapova-la.
el o' aWo irpa^ai Sei ti ^ovXicorepoVf
avopcop too'' ecTTlp epyov, oh KoivcocTO/J^ev,
670
667. riKfxap is the proof of the
truth of a story, as in Ag. 270, 315
(comp. ih. 352). Orestes challenges
inquiry, as ^gisthus, vv. 851 foil.,
declares his intention to institute it.
Comp. Soph. El. 774, ii/i, in the
last of which passages (compared by
Abresch) the words seem imitated from
this line.
668 — 673. CI. ' Say what you
want : if merely hospitality, it is at
your service : if business, I will in-
form the master.' Clytseranestra pro-
bably enters through the side-door
through which Electra retired. Both
were probably represented by the
same actor, the devrepaycovLaTifjs, who
may also have played the nurse, the
only other female character except
the Chorus.
668. irdpeaTc yap meets the suppo-
sition that what they want is enter-
tainment. Comp. V. 66 1. Clytaem-
nestra's speech here and elsewhere
answers to Orestes' : but we need
not suppose with Kl. that she over-
heard what he said, or even that the
message was exactly delivered to her.
669. Comp. perhaps Ag. 1046
oXairep vop^i^erai, if that is rightly un-
derstood by Herm. of the rule of the
house.
670. depp-a, \ovTpd is Homeric, II.
14. 6., 22. 444, Od. 4. 451 (comp. by
Bl. and Kb), the bath being the
natural refreshment after labour of
any kind, though the frequent use of
it{Od. 8. 247) was a luxury. deXKrripia
instead of deKnT-qpLa is due to Wake-
field.
671. diKaiojv, as De J. remarks, is
an appropriate word in the case of
hospitality, as in Pind. 0. 2. 11,
diKatov ^efov, ^ur. Ale. 1147. Comp.
the passages quoted by Lidd. and
Scott s. V. under the first head.
6p.p.6.Tuv is illustrated by Xen. An. 7.
746 (quoted by Paley), av 8e iSe^oj
ijdeciis Kui 6pp,aai kuI (f><j)vy Kal ^epLois,
and by Ov. M. 8. 677 (quoted by
Bothe), ' super omnia vultus Acces-
sere boni, nee iners pauperque volun-
tas.' So Ag. 520, (paibpolffL TOLfflb"
6p,p,aaL M^aade. Eur. Iph. A. 455,
TTUJs de^opai vlv ; iroiov op.p.a avp,-
jSdXw ; We may render then ' the
presence of courteous eyes.' irapovala
periphrastically, as in Eur. A Ic. 606
(quoted by Wordsworth), Soph. El.
1 104.
672. Schol. el d^ ov dia ^evlav
7]KeT€, dXXd 81,' dWo ti. — /SouXtos
means connected with ^ovXri, and so
is applied here to a matter for counsel,
XOH^OPOI.
lo:
OP. ^eVo? iJiev eifJLi AavXievg eV ^coKecov
(TT€L-)^ovTa S^ avTocpopTOv oiK€ia crayt]
eh "Apyo<s, wcTirep Sevp^ aTre^vyrjv Trooa?,
ayvco^ TTjOO? ayvcor^ elire crvimlBaXcov avrjp
€^i(TT0pi](Ta9 Kal aracptjVLcra^ ooov,
^Tp6(pio<s 6 ^(jok€v<}' TrevOojULai yap ev Xoyo)'
eirelirep aXXco^, w ^eV, €i^ "Apyog KLCig,
Trpog Tovg TCKOvrag Traj/c^i/cw? ju.€iuLvt]ju.evo^
<^75
680
in Supp. 599 to the counselling mind
of Zeus.
674 — 690. Or. 'I am a traveller
from Daulis in Phocis : on my way I
happened to meet with one Strophius,
who asked me, as I was going to
Argos, to tell Orestes' parents of his
death, and inquire whether they would
have his ashes buried at home or on
the spot.'
674. Orestes represents himself, as
Kl. observes, as travelling on the
road which led from Delphi and
Daulis to the Peloponnesus. ^wkU
fxev 71 yi] KXi^^erai., (txi-<^'^^ S' o56s 'Es
TavTo AeX(piop kcltto AavXias ayei,
Soph. (Ed. T. 733, of the spot where
Laius was killed.
675. OLKiaLS ayri, M.^^. oiKeia adyy,
Turn. avT6(popTOP and olKeiq. are
commonly explained as if the oppo-
sition were between carrying one's
own baggage ana having it carried by
others (Hesych. explains avrScpopTOi
by avTodiaKovoc) : they would seem,
however, to be contrasted rather with
carrying luggage for others, so as to
denote that Orestes was a traveller on
his own account, not a public traveller
who would be employed by others to
carry effects or messages. So Schol.
ewl idiq. irpayixaTeia. — In Eur. Or.
726, Orestes sees Pylades dpo/xcp (xrei-
Xovra ^cjKecjv cLtto.
676. ibaTrep deup' dwc^vyrii/ irodas is
rightly explained by Paley, * as I
have now carried out my purpose by
resting at Argos,' implying that Or.
had not deviated from his original
route in order to bring the message.
Here again the Schol. is correct,
though not generally followed by the
commentators (Abresch and De J.
are exceptions), ttjs odotTropias dire-
Xvaa iiri rif ^evLaOrjvat. Trap v/mv.
This explanation confirms that of the
previous verse, and is confirmed by it.
Or. compares his feet to horses, as
those of the messenger Theb. 371
are compared to chariot-wheels.
With this use of ibaTrep Paley comp.
V. 106, Hdt. 6. 41, Cbairep cop/j.7]6T}
€K Kapdirjs iroXios, ^irXee did tov
MeXavos koXttov.
678. 'After the common inquiries
had been exchanged' — ' having asked
my way and told me his,' as Kl.
rightly explains it. To take aacpTjviffas
686v, ' having told me my way,' would
not agree so well with the next verse,
as Peile remarks, nor with i^iaro-
p-fjaas bbov, even if it were not open
to Kl.'s objection that the way was
too well known to need pointing out.
679. ^Tp6(pLos 6 ^coKevs, At/. 881.
680. aXXws. 5t' dXXrjv XP^'-°^^) Schol.
Paley comp. Plut. Fort. Horn. 12, rwj/
fSap^dpoju Tis aXXos tov tSttov irepuwVf
Wordsworth Xen. Cyr. 1.1. 11.
681. iravhlKi))s = -KdvTWS, blKt] being
104
XOH<l>OPOI.
e^r' ou}/ KO/uiL^eiv doE^a viKrjcrei (piXcoVf
c'lT^ OVV /ULGTOlKOVf 6? TO TTUP CtCl C^ivOV,
OaiTTeiVf ecper/iiag TacrSe 7r6pOjUL€v<TOV ttoXiv. 685
pvv yap \€^)]T09 ^(^aXKeov irXevpcojULara
(TTrooov KeKCvOev avopog ev KCKXavjuievov.
TocravT^ ciKOVora^ eiirov. el oe Tvyyavu)
Toi? KvpLOKJi Kat irpo(Tr]Kov(jLv Xeywv
OVK oloa, Tov TeKOVTa eiKog eioevai. 60O
KA. ol ''yco, Kar^ uKpag etirag cog iropOovjuLeOa,
added because the claim was a matter
of obligation as between acquaintances.
So Or. declares be regards it, v. 704.
Peile comp. Supjy. 419, yevov iravdiKus
evae^rjs irpb^evos.
683. For this quasipolitical use of
VLKav of opinions, see Lidd. and
Scott s. V.
684. [xeTOLKov in relation to the land
where he was buried, not to those who
are supposed to give orders for the
burial, which seems to be the sense of
GdiTTeiv, 'to have him buried,' the sub-
ject of /co^aifeij/ and OdirreLV being appa-
rently (plXovs. KOfii^eLv is peculiarly used
of bringing or welcoming a stranger or
exile home (v. 344, and Lidd. and
Scott s. v.). Tliere seems no reason
to follow Schneider in writing dei^evov.
685. TTopdixeva-Qv, as in Eur. Iph. T.
735, opKOv Soroj jxoi rdcrSe TopO/xevaeiv
ypacpds Upos "Apyos. The word here
may perhaps be meant to suggest the
notion that Orestes is asked to do the
work of a professed 01776X05, for which
an apology is asked by implication
and felt to be due.
687. So Soph. El. 54 (quoted by
Stanley) calls the urn which is sup-
posed to contain the ashes of Orestes
rvTTwpLa x'^^'^'OTrXevpov. — Xe^rjs of an
urn, Ag. 443.
689. ' To the masters of the house
and his kinsfolk.'
690. Wordsworth remarks that ovk
otda el either negatives a thing or
leaves it doubtful, referring to Elms-
ley on Eur, Med. 911. rbu reKovra
is used generally, pointing to a ge-
neral proposition, ' a man's father
ought to hear news like this,' and
doubtless used by Orestes to make
himself appear as much of a stranger
as possible. So toi)s tckovtus, v. 681,
rots KvpLoiai k. t. X. v. C89, the latter
of which is said even in the presence
of Cly tsemnestra.
691 — 699. CI. ' Alas ! this news is
ruin. Cruel fate, that slays those near
to me one after the other ! Orestes
seemed to be beyond harm's reach,
and now our last hope is gone with
him.'
691. The MSS. do not say to whom
this speech is to be assigned. Rob.
gave it to an attendant, Turn, and
succeeding editors to Electra, to whom
it seems at first sight naturally to be-
long, being apparently contrasted with
Clyteemnestra's speech, vv. 707 — 718,
much as the language of the mother
and daughter is contrasted by Soph.,
while the words of
look like a
taunting reference to those of y. 695.
XOH^OPOI.
105
CO dv(Tira\ai(TTe rcovoe doi/maTcov 'A^a,
w? TToW 67rco7r«9 KOLKiroooiv ev KeLfJieva,
To^oig irpocrcoOev evcTKOTroi^ "XeLpoufxevt],
(plXcou diroy^iXoi^ /me t^v iravaOXiav.
Kai vvv ^Op€(TTt]^— — ;}j/ 'yctn eviSovXwg e^ft)i/,
695
But Electra has left the stage to for-
ward the plot within, and her return
would scarcely be consistent with her
brother's injunctions vv. 554, 579,
not to mention the scenic objection
that the same actor would be required
to act Electra and Clytaemnestra.
Well., perhaps the first modern editor
who felt the difficulty, wished to as-
sign the lines to the Chorus, and so
Bamb. But it is far more probable,
as Portus saw and the latest editors
have seen, that Clytsemnestra herself
is the speaker, as the tone of the
speech is the same as that of her
words in the Agamemnon (vv. 1567
foil., 1654 foil.), and again in this
play (v. 891), as if she groaned under
the murderous tyranny of the family
destiny, even when herself executing
its will. The grief may be hypocii-
tical, though perhaps that word hardly
suits the complexity of Clytaemnestra's
character, but I do not see in the
speech that ill-disguised exultation
which Paley and others find in it.
The nurse indeed testifies, v. 736, to
the existence of the feeling : but
-^sch. need not have meant her
thoroughly to understand her mis-
tress, ol iyu}, MSS. o'i '7W, Canter.
eviraa-'', MSS. eliras, Bamb., Paley,
a correction which appears clearly
right, being confirmed by elirov v.
688, and paralleled by Pers. 300,
efioLS fieu eliras 8io/j.aaip (pdos f^eya,
though Herm., without assigning a
reason, pronounces it ' non apta
oratio.' * Your message is a message
of utter destruction to us.' The words
are arranged as if etTras ws were paren-
thetical, TTopdoiJiiieda being the really
emphatic verb : see on v. 102 1, Kar'
aKpas TTopdovfieda, as Peile has seen,
gives the physical image of the deso-
lation of the house, KaraaKa^al dofxcoy,
V. 50.
69 ■z. dvawdXaiaTe, the same image
as cLTpLaKTOS, v. 339. 'Apd^'Epci/vs,
Eum. 417.
693. eTrwTras used nearly like iiri-
(XKOTre'lv V. 6r, but in the special sense
of taking aim. KaKwobCov ed KeifMeua
can hardly be separated from iroXXd,
though by refusing to do so, we leave
rather an awkward asyndeton in v.
695. The sense is explained v. 696, 7.
eirojirals, MSS. eirwirds, Rob.
694. TTpoawdev, as Peile has seen,
corresponds to /cd/cTroSwv ed Keifieva.
695. Comp. Hdt. 3. 32, where
Canibyses' sister illustrates the deso-
lation of the family by a stripped
lettuce, saying to her brother ravT-qv
Kore aij T7]v dpiSaKU ifiLfxriffao, rbv
Kvpov oIkov dTo-^LKd.aas. Young is
not likely to have copied ^schylus ;
but there is something of the same
feeling in his well known lines,
' Insatiate archer ! could not one
suffice ? Thy shaft flew thrice ; and
thrice my peace was slain.'
696. Kal vvv refers to iroWd v. 693,
as if it had been dXXa iroXXd. Comp.
its use after del /xev, Soph. Aj. i, 3.
'OpecrTTjs then is not to be connected
with ^v yap k. t. X., but made the
subject of the sentence which is re-
lOG
XOH<^OPOL
€^0) KoiJilYoav oXeOpiov TrrjXov TroSa
pvv (^' rjirep ev oo/uLotari "j'^Sa/c^/a? Ka\yJ9
larpog iXirh ^]Vi irapovcrav ejypacpei.
sumed in v, 698 after the parenthesis
by vvv 5', precisely as Soph., El. 783
— 6, makes his Clytaemnestra end her
speech on the same occasion with a
sentence where vdv 5' is followed by a
parenthesis, and repeated when the
thread is taken up again. So the
nurse contrasts her other sufferings
with the death of Orestes, vv. 748, 9.
€u/36\ws, Porson's correction, adopted
by all but Kl., is very tempting : but
evjSovXios may perhaps be defended,
the ev^ovXLa shown in the removal of
Orestes {Ag. 880 foil.), and here attri-
buted to Orestes himself, as if he had
concurred in it, being that which
aggravated the grief of his death, as
the efforts of the family had been
counteracted by the curse. Kl, well
comp. Eur. Heracl. 109, Kokbv de 7'
^'^cj irpayixdTOJv ^x^'-^ irbba, ^vjSovXias
Tvxbvra r^s d/mebovos, which looks
like an imitation of this passage.
697. The expression appears to be
proverbial, accoi'ding to the Schol.,
Suidas {aipcLv e^oj irbba irrfKov), and
Zenob. Adag. 3. 62, and occurs fre-
quently in a less graphic form, as
in P)'om. 264, Eur. l. c. vop.iiiav,
MSS. Ko/iii^oov, Rob., and so Schol.
vo/xi^ojv TToda might be explained like
Xpcuyue^/os TTodl (comp. ^x^os po/iL^ofiev,
V, 101), on the analogy of vefxeiv,
vcofjLciu TToSa, in which sense it would
agree better than ko/xi^cjv with the
passages where ex^ii' 7r65a is used, as
Kl. remarks : the authority of the
Schol. however may outweigh that of
the MSS., and koijlI^(j3v is strongly
confirmed by Soph. Ant. 444 (quoted
by Wordsworth) (ti) [xev ko/xl^ols av
aeavTov y diX^cs ''E|w ^apeias alrias,
and by a'lpeiv in Suidas, dvex^LV in
Eur. Hipp. 1-293 (quoted by Peile).
698, 9. vvv d-qirep, MSS. vvv S
TJirep, 'I'urn. The difficulty of these
two lines is well known. I have little
doubt, however, that by the clause
Tjirtp — iXwh 9iv is meant the hope of
the palace which was to cure the
reveh-y of the Erinnys there, the
Kw/xos ^vyyovuv 'Epivvuv of Ag. 1188
foil., drunk on human blood, and re-
fusing to quit the place of entertain-
ment. Whether this could be appro-
priately called ^aKxeta. KaXrj, the epi-
thet being understood ironically, is,
perhaps a little doubtful ; so I have
not disturbed the MSS. ^a/cx'as,
thinking that it may have been an
adjective, the substantive of which
has been coiTupted. /Sa/cxtas aXris,
bacchanalian frenzy, would not be
unnatural ; d<xr}s perhaps better in
itself, but further removed from the
original. (Emper and Herm.'s ^dXrjs
would give a different image.) The
eXiris is probably to be identified with
Orestes (comp. vv. 236, 776) as if it
had been oawep, the attraction, which
is not in itself unconmion (Madv. §
98. b), being here partially accounted
for by the recommencement of the
sentence at vvv S', which seems to
make a new nom. natural, irapovcrav
iyypdipei. is then most likely to be un-
derstood according to Paley's former
interpretation, though discarded by
himself, ' the hope that was to re-
move the revelry from the house re-
gisters it as there still.' But a satis-
factory elucidation of the expression
has still to be found, eyypdcpei itself
suggests the notion of a metaphor, if
XOH^OPOI.
107
OP
c-yo) iJ.ev ovv ^evoLtjiv wo evoaiixocnv "JOO
KeSvoov GKaTL TrpayfxaTOOv av tjOeXov
yuoocTTog yevecrQai Ka\ ^evcoOtjvar tl yap
^evov ^epoicTLV ecTLV ev/mevea-Tepov',
TTpog Sva-crelSeiag S' ^v e/aol toS' ev (ppecrlv,
TOLOvSe 7rpay/jLa fxr] Kapavwcrai (piXoi^f 7^5
KaraivecavTa Ka\ Kare^evcofjievov.
KA. ouTOL KVp}]G-eig fxeiov a^/co? G-eOev,
only our knowledge enabled us to de-
termine from what it is drawn. Those
who make 'O/aecrr?;? the subject and
eXTTiSa the object of iyypdcpei may
comp. Soph, EL 809, aTroaTrdaas yap
TTJs €/XT]S oi'xet (ppeubs M /jlol p-bvai 7ra-
prjaav eXTriduiv ert.. ev dofiots doubtless
goes grammatically with rjv (comp.
Ag. 1460, T]Tis Tjv TOT ev dofxoLs), but it
appears also to have some reference to
the revelry as taking place in the house.
700 — 706. Or. ' I would much
rather have deserved your hospitality
by good news ; but I had no choice,
from my duty both to my acquaint-
ance on the road and my entertainers
here.'
700. Orestes, like other messengers,
apologises for being the bearer of bad
news, evdaifxoaiv of worldly prospe-
rity, like evTvx^'iv, v. 59. It seems
to be thrown in here to intimate that
Or. is sensible of the advantage he is
gaining, and wishes in common grati-
tude that he could have done more to
earn it.
703. ^evov is the guest, ^evoiaiv the
hosts, whom the guest would naturally
wish to gratify if he could. So Peile
and others rightly explain it against
KL, who reverses the relation, and
supposes the meaning to be that a
guest has no greater object than to
earn his host's goodwill.
704. ^v, MSS. 6' ^v, Fauw. The
adversative particle seems necessary,
though it is not clear whether it had
better come third or fourth in the
sentence. Trpds dvaaejSeias on the side
of or akin to impiety, like irpos yvvaL-
k6s, Ag. 592, 1636. So TT/aos blK-qs
Soph. CEd. T. 1014.
705. KapavuKTaiY. 528, 'to accom-
plish a matter like this,' 0t'Xotj in-
cluding both Strophius and Clytaem-
nestra, each of whom had placed him
under a separate obligation, which is
explained in the next line.
707 — 718. CI. 'You at least shall
lose nothing : but you would like to
retire and refresh yourselves : mean-
time I will inform the master, as I
have yet a friend left.'
707. Pauw's conj. d^iwv has been
supposed to have been the reading of
the Schol. from his explanation tQv
COL d^icxiv TifxQv : but the words were
doubtless intended not so much to ex-
plain d^icos as to show that it is not to
be connected closely with fxelov, but
constructed with Kvprfffeis as a genitive
would be. Wordsworth comp. Aristoph.
Thesni. 187, p-ovos yap dvXe^eLas d^iws
ep.01', Soph. (L'd. 0.911, tTrei bedpaKas
ovt' epLOV KaTa^iojs. Kvp-qaeis d^iws is
like KaXQs Kvpei, Theb. 23, ^Lov eS
Kvprj<xas, ih. 699, where ^iov is not the
obj. of KvpTjffas, but means ' in respect
of life.' It is singular that there is a
similar doubt in the parallel passage,
108
XOHc|>OPOI.
oi)o ^ararov av yevoio dco/ULacriv (plXo?.
aWo^ o' ojULOLOog rjXQev av Tad ayyeXwv.
aXX' €(tO^ 6 Kaipog rumepevovTag ^evovg
/uLaKpa^ KeXevOou Tvyyaveiv ra irpoo-cpopa.
ay' avTOV €i^ avSpwvag ev^evovg Sojulcov,
OTTia-OoTrovg Se Tovaroe Kal ^vvejULTropov^'
KCLKel KvpovvTwv ScojuLacii/ TO. TrpoG-cpopa,
710
Soph. El. 800, ovT ifJLov Kara^ius
Upd^eias oiJre rod iropevaavros ^euov,
where another MS. reading is Kar'
a^iav, i. e. Kard^i' av. — [xelov, like
9jaaop, less on that account.
709. ojuolojs ijXdeu dv. el /cat fxrj av
ijyyeiXas, Schol,
7ro. Tfixepevovras with /xaKpds k€-
\evdov, like irp-qcraujixev 68o7o, II. 24,
264, and other instances of the geni-
tive after words implying motion
quoted by Jelf, § 522. 2.
712 — 3. So Admetus in Eur. Ale.
546 (quoted by Wordsworth) turns
from Hercules to an attendant, 7]yov
(XV, rQvde dco/xdrcov ecpeariovs fi!i€uu}vas
oL^as, royal personages being always
attended by slaves on the stage.
Orestes, being a traveller, has also
oirla-doiroL of his own, who in like
manner are mentioned here for the
first time. The form diria-doiros is
supported by deXAoTros, Troi^Xi'Tros,
Oldiiros, adduced by Blomf. de dis-
tinguishes between Orestes and his
attendants, nearly as if fxeu haft pre-
ceded, which seems to be the principle
of its use in repetitions, Jelf, § 767.
3. a. These attendants probably did
not accompany Orestes at his first
appearance, but were introduced to
assist his disguise, though it is not
easy to gather the stage arrangements
from the conduct of the action. At
any rate, the difficulty does not seem
sufficient to iustify a change of read-
ing, such as Pauw's oinadoTrovv hk
Tovde {Tov5e, Herm.) Kal ^vvep-iropov, re-
ferring to Pylades. Pylades, him-
self, we may remember, though men-
tioned incidentally in the play, is kept
by histrionic necessities in the back-
ground, to the sacrifice of aU true
dramatic probability, which would
have required that he should have
been recognised and acknowledged
on his first appearance with Orestes,
so that we need not scrutinige care-
fully the circumstance? of the intro-
duction of other persons whose impor-
tance to the action is far less even
than his. Hesych. explains oiri-
adowovs by VTroarpexpas, and so
Abresch, Peile, &c., interpret it here as
a nominative ; but it is hard to see why
the servant should take two journeys,
and not easy to believe that the word
in a context like this can mean any-
thing else than an attendant.
714. diii/xaaLv seems best constructed
with 7rp6(T(popa, so that the expression
is parallel to OTrotd irep 56/xoiaL rolad'
iireiKOTa, v. 669, though the relation
of 7rp6(T(popa thus becomes not quite
the same as in v. 711. dibfiaai, MSS.
ddbfjiaaLv, Vett.
715. eirevOvvw, MSS, virevdvi'q},
Turn, confirmed by the Schol. ws
ddoaovTL 5iK7]v, and the gloss in G.
VTTodiKU}. vwevdvucp is constructed
with Trpdcraeiv^ but attracted to aiVw.
See on v. 81.
X0H4>0P0I.
109
aivw oe TTpaarcreiv wg virevOvvw Taoe,
^jULei^ oe ravra Toh KpaTovdi ooofxdroov
KoivMCTOiJLev re kov (TiravL^^ovre^ (jylXoov
^ovXevcro/mecrOa Tfjcoe crvjULd>opug irepi.
XO. etev, (plXiai SjULw'iSeg olkwv,
TTore ^r] (TTOfxaTOiv
Sei^ofMev loryyv ctt'' 'Opea-rt]'^
(JO TTOTVia Ji.U(jov Kai iroTVL aKTr]
"^(jojULaro^, rj vvv eirl uavdp-^cp
aco/mari Kelcrai tm /SaariXeLO),
pvv eiroLKOvcrov, vvv eirdpri^ov
vvv yap aK/jLo^ei Ila^w SoXlav
^vyKara^rjvai, "^^Oovlov S' '^pjUfjv
715
720
725
716. Clyt. speaks generally, as Or,
had done vv. 65S, 689.
717. Kou (nraui^ovres (pLXwv can
hardly be without reference to v. 695,
so we must suppose that Clyt, is re-
assuring and correcting herself,
718. ^ovXevo/meOa, MSS, ^ovXev-
aofjLeaOa, Steph, The deliberation
which she contemplates seems to re-
late not to the truth of the story,
though ^gisthus afterwards, v. 85 [,
speaks of enquiring into that, but to
the steps to be taken about Orestes,
and perhaps, as Paley suggests, about
her own safety, which the publication
of the news might imperil. Clyt. re-
tires through the side-door, Orestes, as
the TrpuTayuvLaTrjs, probably through
the principal door, the guest-chambers
being supposed to be within, not, as
Herm, thinks, in a separate wing of
the building.
719 — 72Q. C7t. 'May we not raise
our voices for Orestes ? Help, Earth
and grave of the dead ! it is the hour
for the powers of guile.'
719. <pi\iai. d/Miotdes like (piXai
5/xwt5es, Supp. 977, though cpiXiui
means not dear to the speaker, but
friendly to the family, as they are
dficotSes oLKwv. Peile comp. Ag. 1491,
(ppevbs e/c (piXias tL ttot etTrw ;
720. 'Bow long is it to be before
we show what our voices can do V
Peile well comp. Ag. 104, Kvpios
€L/xi dpoetv . . . ^Ti yap deodev KaTairvelei.
ircLdu) ixoXirav oXkolv ^6fji<pvTos alwu.
722. V. 540, note, d/cTTj xcuywaroj,
because of the similarity of a high-
heaped mound to a shore, like UKTav
^ibfxiou, Soph, (Ed. T. 184. Comp. the
connexion between oxQos and oxdv-
723, Ag, is spoken of as in Ag.
1227, Eurn. 637, &c,
725, iirdprj^ov, by sending up Aga-
memnon, vv, 460, 489.
726, boXLa, MSS, bdXlav, Pauw.
The former might conceivably stand,
Tleidil) being made the subject of
cLKfid^ei, but the impersonal is more
usual, and has to be assumed in any
case for the latter part of the sen-
tence. Persuasion is invoked to
work belief of Orestes' tale.
727, ^vy Kara^ijuai like ^vv d^ yeuoO
irpbs exOpovs, v. 460, KaralSrjpac like
110
X0H<1>0P0I.
KOI Tov vv-^iov ToicrS^ ecpoSevarai
eoLKev avhp o ^evog revyeiv KaKov
Tpocbov S' 'Opea-Tov ri^vS' opw /ce/cXaf/xeV?;!/.
TTOi Srj Trareig, K/Xto'cra, Sooiulcitcov TrvXag',
Xvirrj S"* a/ULicrOo^ €(Ttl ctol ^vvefxiropo^.
730
Kad-qKeiv, V. 455. With the use of 5^,
•which is hke that in v. 713, conip.
Supp. 16, KeXaai 5'. 'Epfxija, MSS,
'BpiJiT]v, Turn.
7 2 8. If Kal TOV vvxi-ov is right, it is
to be compared with dvbpoX^Teipav /cai
rav pi\f/07r\op arav, Theb. 3H) aidoia
Kal yoedua /cat ra xpe'' ^^^j Supp. 194
(neither of them, perhaps, beyond ex-
ception), at the same time that the ar-
ticle might have a propriety as showing
that Hermes is invoked in reference to
a second and distant attribute, x^oviov
being his name as god of the dead, vi-
Xtov as god of fraud (Miiller, § 98).
e0o5eO(rai, if genuine, must doubtless
bear its ordinary intransitive sense,
but it is difficult to see its fitness here,
unless, with Lidd. and Scott, we gene-
ralise the notion of patrolling into
that of surveying. A comparison of
the parallel vv. 583-4 might suggest
€(pop€vaaL as the equivalent of eTro-
TTTevaai, though neither the aor. nor
the construction with the dat. seems
usual, icpedpeva-ai, too, would be an
easy corr-ection, whether taken of
Hermes lying in wait as the god of
stratagem, or acting as icpedpos, as he
might well be called, though, so far
as human warriors went, Or. had no
ecpedpos, v. 866.
729. ^KpodriX-qroKTiv, Ag. 1528.
730 — 733. * Here is a fruit of the
news — Orestes' nurse in tears. Whi-
ther away?'
730. Seeing the nui'se, the Chorus
changes its tone. Possibly, as Peile
thinks, there may be a half irony in
the present line ; at any rate, there is
an appearance of ignorance and almost
of unconcern. 'The stranger would
seem to be causing trouble.' re^x^LV
KaKov a,s in Eum. 125. (Herm.'s notion
that revx^i'V is an error for rvxeiv, and
that a line has dropped out, is quite
baseless.) dvi^p, MSS. avrjp, Porson.
731. KeKkavixevrjv, v. 457, note. 5^
has the force of 'ya.p.
732. The old reading, derived from
Rob., was VeiXiaffa, which was sup-
posed to be a proper name. M. how-
ever, has K^Xiccra, which the latest
editors have rightly preferred, Herra.
referring to Hemsterhuis on Aristoph.
Plut. p. 8, to show that slaves were
commonly called by their gentile
names, e.g.QpaTTa. Pind. P. 11. 25
calls Orestes' nurse Arsinoe, as
Pherecydes, according to the Schol.
there and here, called her Laodamia.
The nurse seems to be coming from
the palace, not. as is generally sup-
posed, going to it. Clyta?mnestra has
gone in to speak to ^gisthus, and not
finding him, sends the nurse to fetch
him. When found, he goes in, v.
849. The Chorus then asks the nurse
whither she is crossing the threshold,
TTvXai being used here not of the
actual gates, but of the entrance.
The door is probably that of the deu-
TepayojviCTTTjs, who performs the nurse
as well as Clyt. and Eleotra.
733. dfiiffdos is probably to be un-
derstood passively, like djuiados doidd,
XOH^OPOI.
Ill
TPO<l>02.
AHyicrOov y] Kparovcra roig ^evoig KoXetv
OTTO)? Ta^f(7T' avcoyeVf co? o-acpecrrepov 735
avrjp air^ av6po<s Trjp veayyekTov (paTiv
iXOiov irvdriTai ri^vSe, Trpog fxev oiKera^
OeTOCTKvOpcoTrwv evTog ojuLimaTcov yeXwv
KevOovcr^ 67r' epyoig oiaireir pay /nevoid KoXwg
K6ii/t]f Sojuiois Se TOicrSe irayKOLKOXf e^et j aq
(prilJ.ri<s v<p\ ?9 1^yyei\av ol ^evoi ropaxf.
Ag. 979, so that dfnados ^vui/xwopos
will be a companion who is not hired,
as persons might be, to carry baggage,
&c. (comp. V, 713), i.e., an unsought
companion.
734 — 765. Nurse. 'My mistress
sends me to fetch ^gisthus to the
strangers. She looks sad, but she is
really glad, and so will he be. Oh !
this last blow is harder to bear than
any. Dear Orestes ! how I used to
nurse him, getting up at night whenever
he cried — and now to hear of his death!
"Well, I must go on my errand.'
734. TOIL'S |ej'oi/s, MSS. TOis ^ivois,
Pauw. The correction seems neces-
sary, as it is difficult to believe that
^sch. would have used KoKelv roi/s
^hovs for ' to call to the strangers '
{ocroi KCKXriaTo ^ovX'tju, II. lo. 195, is
plainly different), or that avwye k.t.X.
means * bids me say that the strangers
are calling for ^gisthus ;' or, lastly,
as Herm. suggests, that Clytaemnestra
bids the strangers call ^gisthus, i.e.,
through the nurse. We have had the
converse error in v. 62.
736. v. 666.
738. e^TO crKvBpc^irSv, MSS. Oero-
CKvdpwTrbv, Erfurdt ap. Herm., an
admirable emendation, as Herm.
rightly calls it, very similar to Person's
fX€T(j}Tro<xu<pp6v(t)v in Supp. 198. dero-
(TKvdpwTrQ}v seems slightly better
(after Vettori's <XKvdp(jjiru)p), as the
forced grimness belongs rather to the
eyes than to the laughter, unless we
connect deToaKvOpiowov closely with
Kevdovaa, as if the grimness were the
result of the concealment. dero-
(TKvdpojTros, then, will mean, in lexico-
graphical strictness of expression,
'adoptively sad- faced.' Others have
come near the truth, Emper con-
jecturing ide\o(TKvdpwTrQu, Well, derds.
With (TKvdpumOiv ofx/xdrwu, Abresch
well comp. Eur. Or. 1319, aKvdpojwoijs
6fxp.dT0}v ^|w Afopas, with yeXuiv Keijdova,
Od. 19, 2 1-2, doXip 6' oye dciKpva Kevde.
740. ^x^LP, MSS. ^x^L, Rob., and
so prob. the Schol. ^x^t is quite in
keeping with the eipofievq X^fts of the
nurse, and so more natural ; other-
wise ^x^LV might stand, as Peile and
Paley suggest, the words being equi-
valent to biaweirpa'yfj.evoLS ovtojs iccTTe
TrayKCLKOos ^^ei;/.
741. 07?yu.77s v(p\ ^s (Abresch) seem
better than the common reading
077^7/j ^0' ■fjs, as involving a less
licence, though it is not easy to decide
between the requirements of ordinary
usage and the exemptions which may
be permitted in a speech like this.
In any case, the words refer to ^x^i,
not to Kevdova'. The nurse has
112
X0H<1>0P0L
^ Srj kXvcov eKeivo9 €u(ppai'6i poov,
cut'' av 7rbOt]Tai /uluOov. (h raXaiv^ eyw
o)? jULot ra fxev TraXaia cruyKeKpajmeva
akyr} SvaroLo-ra roiaS' ev 'Arpecog So^oig 745
tv)(ovt' ejmrjv tfKyvvev ev cTTepvoig (ppeva'
aX\' ouTL TTO) roiovSe irrifx'' uvecr')(oiJ,r]v.
TO. ixev yap aWa rXrjinovccg ijvtXovv KaKa*
(piXou S' 'Opea-Ttjv, rrj^ e^^? "v|/i^X^9 TpiPrjv,
ov e^eQpey\ra jULrjrpoOev SeSeyfxepr], 750
Kal vvKTiTrXdyKTcov opOlwv KeXevf^arcov
struck into a new sentence, and goes
off upon it.
742. There seems no contrast, such
as Paley supposes, between the sup-
pressed exultation of Clyt. and the
open joy expected from ^gisthus.
The words here mean little more than
V. 765, though the expression is more
emphatic. Perhaps it may be worth
while, with Peile, to connect kX^wv
with €V(ppav€i, 'his hearing will make
him a merry heart,' so as to avoid the
tautology in the next line, though
such tautology would be characteristic
enough. eKelvov, MSS. iKe?vo$, Rob.
744. The ' old ti-oubles,' as the
Schol. explains, are the feast of
Thyestes, the sacrifice of Iphigenia,
and the murder of Agamemnon, the
former of which doubtless the nurse
could recollect no less than the latter.
It seems more natural to explain crvyKe-
Kpa/j.€va of the mixture of evils which
the house had had to bear, the metaphor,
as in Ag. i'26o, being from mixing a
mess or draught, than to connect it with
fjioi, on the analogy of Soph. Ant. 13 1 1,
(XvyKeKpa/xac dva, Aj. 895, olkti^ Ti^de
GvyKeKpaiiiv-qv, Aristoph. Plut. 853,
ovTOj TToXvcpopu} (TvyKeKpafiaL dai/xofi.
748. rXrjfxouojSy in a good sense,
like iadi T\r][x(av oda', Ag. 1302.
749. (piXov 5' 'OpicTTTjv. The accu-
sative is put first, as frequently, as the
object of the sentence, as though a
transitive verb were to follow ; but
the speaker wanders characteristically,
and does not recover herself, summing
up in a different manner what she had
meant to say here, v v. 76 1 foil. See on
V. 675, and corap. Soph. (Ed. T. 449,
Tbv dv8pa tovtov bv irdXai ^rjTeXs ....
ovros ecTTLv evddhe, where, as here, there
may be an attraction, like Virgil's
' urbem quam statuo.' In the present
case the ace. is perhaps hazarded
more readily, as it is at once seen to
answer to ra fxh dXXa KaKa. No
other instance of TpL^-q in this sense
is quoted : but the transition from
the spending of time to the object on
which time is spent, as in the case of
irovos, &c., is sufficiently natural.
750. So the well-known line in
Aristoph. Ach. 478, a-KavdiKa /xol dos,
p.r)Tp6dev Sedeyfxevos. Here, however,
/xrjrpodev is 'from the mother's womb,
as in V. 609, the nurse being perhaps
also the midwife, as Abresch makes
probable, comparing Aristid. t. i,
p. 24, Hes. Theog. 479, where Sexeo-^at
is used of receiving a child as soon as
born.
751. KeXev/xdruu (the MSS. form.
XOHcI)OPOI.
11
Kai TToWa Kai iuL0')(^6i]p^ avcocpeXjjr^ ejuLol
TKaarri' to lurj (ppovovv yap coa-Trepel j3oTOi'
Tpe(p€iv aiayKJ], xw? yap ou ; rpoTrct) (ppei'6^-
ov yap TL (poovei irai^ eV wp ei/ cnrapydvoLg,
»7 Xi/ULog )] Siy^t] Tf? t] \i\^ovpLa
i 03
read also by Med. in Pers. 397) seems
rightly taken by Stanley with iroWa
Kai fiox^VP^- Comp. Soph, Ant.
1-265, (bfjLOL i/jt.Qv duoXiSa j3ov\€v/ui.dT<jjp,
and other instances quoted by Jelf,
§ 442 b. So perhaps Siq:)}). 296,
ravra TraWay/iaTcov, though the loss
of a syllable there renders the reading
doubtful. We need not then suspect
the text here of corruption, as the
words Kai noXXd k. t. X. may be con-
structed either as a nom., with an
ellipse of the verb substantive, or an
ace. intended to have been followed
by a verb. vvKTiTrXayKTa Kekevfiara
is like vvKTiTiXayKTos irbvos, Ag. 330,
the property of the patient being
transferred to the agent.
752. Comp. Soph. El. 1143, ol'yaot
rdXaiva TTiS €[xri% TrdXat rpocprjs'Apio-
(peXrjTOv, an imitation of this passage,
though Electra is the speaker, and
the details are not dwelt on in the
same manner.
753—4. Scholef. was the first to
explain rpoir^ (ppevos rightly, ' accord-
ing to its humour. ' Wordsworth comp.
Aristoph. Frogs 14 32, t]1/ d' eKxpecprj
Tis, Tols TpoTTots VTV7]peTeZu (of a lion's
whelp), and the word rpoirocj^opeLV.
For ixairepel ^otov he most appositely
refers to Soph. Hoip.. fr. 462, where the
shepherds say of their flocks to^utols
yap 6vTes deaTrdraL dovXevofxev, Kai
TLCv8' dvdyKT} Kai CLOoirihvTWv kX6€lv.
There is a verbal contradiction be-
tween t6 /iTj (ppovovv (with which
comp. Soph. Aj. 554) and (ppevos, but
it creates no real harshness.
756. Porson (or rather Stanley)
corrected el Xi/xds, an easy change, as
the words are frequently confounded,
the pronunciation having been, at
least at one time, the same (A. P.
Stanley on St. Paul, 2 Cor. 3. i, note),
besides their resemblance to tlie eye.
Whether ij can stand is doubtful : it
is not vindicated by such passages as
V. 890, Prom. 780, which are in-
stances of the indirect question, but
it may possibly be a case of a con-
ditional sentence expressed without a
conditional prefix (Jelf, § 860. 8,
Madvig, § 194. a. R. 3), though in
the other instances quoted the sen-
tence so expressed is placed before
that to which it forms a virtual
protasis. If the possibility of such a
mode of expression be conceded, it is
easy to see that its rude simplicity
may have recommended it to ^sch.
here, bearing as it does a strong
analogy to other constructions in the
speech (v. 740, &c.); and, accordingly,
I have ventured to leave it in the
text. 5i\prj, again, is a doubtful form
(see however Wordsworth, in Philolog.
Museum, vol. i., pp. 222 foil.), but it
has, at any rate, the analogy of ireivrj,
the secondary form of irelpa, and the
reading 5i\pr] rts (with which comp.
^9- 55> ^ '^'■^ 'AiroXXojv, tis having
nearly the force of irov) seems more
yEschylean than any of the various
conjectures that have been pro-
posed. Comp. Soph. (Fd. C. 95,
t) ceiaixov, rj §povTi]v n.v\ ^ Aids
ffiXas.
114
XOH^OPOI.
e^ef, vea Se vrjSvg avrapKrjq tckvcov.
TOVTCOV TTpO/ULaVTl^ ovcTa^ TToWa , o'lOjULaif
^l/■€vaOela■a iraiSo^ (Tirapyavoiv (paiSpvvrpia,
Kvacbevg Tpo(pevg re ravrov el-^eTtiv Te\o<s. j6o
eyco SiTrXtig Se TaaSe yeip(jova^La<s
e-^ovcr^ ^OpecTTtjv e^eoe^diuLrjv iraTpL
TeOvrjKOTOS Se vvv raXaiva ireuOo/Jiat*
(TTei-voo S'' eir^ avSpa rcovSe \viJ.avrr}piov
o'lKcoVf OeXcov Se TcovSe Trevcrerai Xoycov. 7^5
Eum. 859 (comp. by Wordsworth),
vea (ppovTLS, Eui'. Med. 48.
758. OLO/xai is slightly ironical, as
we should say, 'I should just think
so,' the nurse intending to lay a stress
on her troubles.
759. In <pai8pvvTpLa, as in other
words of the same class, the final a is
short, the word being formed so that
the antepenult should be long.
Wordsworth, who has himself adverted
to the question in Ph. Mus. vol. i. p.
'221, refers to Valckenaer and Monk
on Eur. Hijij^. 585, and Elmsley on
Med. 156.
760. The nurse was apparently
going to complete the sentence with
some verb with which (paihpvvTpia
might have been closely constructed,
when it struck her as more forcible to
say that fuller and nurse held the
same office, in other wo)ds, that their
duties had to be combined. We
should have naturally expected YJ/a-
^ei!s T€ Tpocpe^is re, as Tpo<p€vs is not a
mere adjunct, but a necessary part of
the subject, but the intonation, as
Herm. remarks (Opusc. 3, 253), may
have supplied the place of the particle,
and perhaps the absence of strict
logical connexion may have been in-
tended by ^sch. rpocpevs is of course
substituted for rpotpos to answer to
yva<(>€6s. CTpocpe^s, M, Tpo<p€iJS, Rob.
761. The expression in the pre-
ceding line had been general, so the
nurse here applies it to herself.
XeLpcova^La, Prom. 45.
762. There is no occasion to take
irarpi 'for the father,' with Paley.
The child is committed by the father
to the nurse, either actually or vir-
tually, so that the dat. is the Homeric
dative, after dex^adai, 11. 2. 186, &c.
(Porson on Eur. Hec. 539). M. gives
Trarpds as a second reading. e/c5exe-
adai, like excipere, implies that the
person who receives a thing stands
next in succession to the giver.
763. TedurjKdros ire66ofJiai, virtually
like Trevao/j-evos tro-Tpos 8t]u olxo/x^voto,
Od. I. 281.
764. Xvixavr-qpLov, Ag. 1438. The
word is prob. used generally, with no
particular reference either to ^gis-
thus' adultery, or his wasting the
substance of the house, v. 943, though
it might apply to either.
765. Blomfield's T6vbe — \6yov,
which is recommended on grounds of
euphony, is plausible, involving as it
does little or no change, but can
scarcely be called necessary,
766—773. Ch. 'How would she
have him come V N. ' What do you
XOHcE>OPOI.
115
XO. TTw? ovv KeXevei viv imoXeiv earToXiJLevov ;
TP. 5 TTtoj ; Xey' avOi^, o)? juLaOco (TaCpecrTepov.
XO. r] ^vv Xo^i'raf?, e^re /cal juLovocrrilSi] ;
TP. ayeiv KeXevei Sopv<p6povs OTrdovag,
XO. /xi 1^1/1/ (TV TavT^ ayyeWe Sea-Trorov CTTvyei'
aXX' avTOU iXOeiv, cog aSeijmdvTCoi; K\vr],
avoo-^O^ oarov Tct^fo-ra yrjOovcrr] (bpevl.
770
mean V Ch. Why, attended or alone.'
N. 'With a guard.' Ch. 'Do not
give any such message : bid him come
alone to hear good news.'
767. ^ TTws, MSS. ^ TTcDy, Porson.
6'7rws, which Schiitz conj., is the usual
way of retorting a question with irQ>s,
at least in the comic writers and
Plato : but Well. comp. Eur. Ion.
958, n. Koi ttCjs €v dvTpci} TralSa cbv
XLTrdv ^tXtjs ; K. ttws 5' ; olKTpa ttoWo,
crdfiaTos e/c/3d\\oi;cr' fTTT/.
768. Paley rightly retains -^ |iV.
rj is not unusual in direct questions
(Jelf, § 875. a), and the alternative
etre is sufficiently supported by AVell.
from Eur. Ale. 114, though the sen-
tence there is not interrogative.
770. deatroTou crrvyeL is rightly ex-
plained by Stanley * domino detes-
tando,' as we should say, ' our abomi-
nation of a master.' Comp. Soph.
EL 1241, &x^°^ yvvaiKQv, which is
said of Clyt. in much the same tone.
Elsewhere arvyos is used with a gen.
of the person feeling the loathing, as
in V. 1028, deup arvyos. But it can
can have no such sense here, as
^5]gisthus would never have been
described thus briefly as 'the hated
of our master' (Orestes or Aga-
memnon), and a double meaning is
not to be thought of. The only
tenable alternative would be to re-
gard fir] dyyeWe as a positive injunc-
tion, and connect Seairorov arvyei
with it, 'Forbear to give such a
message from hatred of our master,'
in other words, 'give no such message,
as you hate our master,' arvyei. being
constructed like 06/3c^, v. 102.
77 ^~ 2. ' Bid him come alone, that
he may hear without alarm.' It may
be questioned whether cus kXvti de-
pends on auujxdi or on iXdeiv, in
other words, whether it expresses the
secret intention of the messenger, or
forms part of the message ; but ws
irvdrjTaL, vv, 736, 7, looks rather like
the latter. Again, it is not clear
whether yTjdovarj (ppevi refers to
^gisthus or to the nurse, as it might
apply well to either (not, as Herm.
contends, to neither) ; to ^gisthus,
who would thus be cold to come with
joy at his heart, as there was good
news waiting him ; to the nurse, who
would be told to exchange her tears
for joy, as a more fitting accompani-
ment to the amended message. The
former is slightly supported by Soph.
£1. 1431, €(p' i]fxiu oSros (^gisthus)
€K TrpoacTTiov Xwpel yeyrjdws : tlie latter
perhaps more strongly by the nurse's
question, v. 774, which seems to imply
that she had been bidden to rejoice,
though it may indicate no more' than
her surprise that she should have been
told even in speaking to ^gisthus to
talk of it as a joyful matter. A
further question about the reference of
ocrov Taxf-cTTa is of comparatively little
I 2
116
XOH<J)OPOI.
€i> ayyeXcp yap Kvirrog opOovrai \0y09.
TP. aXX' 5 (ppoveig €u toi(tl vvi^ ijyyeXfxevoi*; ;
importance, and indeed depends on
the answer given to that just raised.
rax'-O'T dyadovcrri, MSS. Tax'-O'Ta
yadovarj, Turn. yr]6ovay, Pauw,
which is doubtless the Attic form,
though the present is unusual.
773. KpvTTTOs opdovcrrj (ppevi, MSS.
The line is quoted by Eustathius, on
II. 15. 207, and by a Schol. on the
same place, with the words Kpyirrbs
opdovrai \6yos, and attributed to
Euripides. Musgrave first saw that it
belonged to this place, and Porson
followed him. The transcriber was
obviously misled by the termination of
the previous line, as in Ag. 1216-7.
The Homeric Schol., however, seems
to have another reading, kvtttos, and
this Blomf. and Peile rightly prefer,
as palpably answering to opdovrai.
The latter well remarks that the lan-
guage is proverbial, ' In the hand of
the messenger a crooked story is made
straight,' i.e., it rests with the bearer
of a message to give it what turn he
pleases, and as well comp. Thuc. 7. 8,
rrjv avTOv yvihjx-qv pirjdeu ev ayyekt^
acpavLadelaav, — as we might say, 'in
the messenger's mouth,' or 'in passing
through the messenger.' The line is
no part of the message to ^gisthus,
but is partly addi-essed to the nurse,
partly remarked by the Chorus to
itself, as a yvw/ar] apposite to the
occasion.
774 — 782. N. ' Do you call it good
news?' Ch. 'What if bad were to
turn to good V N. ' Why, our hope
is cut off.' Ch. 'Not just yet.'
N. ' What ? have you heard any
other news V Ch. * Go and do as we
bid you, and Heaven will provide.'
N. 'I will, and may Heaven order
things for the best.'
774. (ppovels eS is rightly inter-
preted by the Schol. xatpets. This
sense is required by the usage of
dW 9j, which perhaps has not been
sufl&ciently understood. It will be
found, I believe, almost always to be
employed in statements or hypotheses
to which the speaker wishes to repre-
sent himself as driven rather against
his will, as if they alone were pos-
sible. So V. 220, dXX' ^ 56\ov tip',
d) ^eV, dfji^i fioi TrXe/cets ; ' Surely you
must mean to trick me.' Ag. 276.
dXX' ^ <t' eiriaviv ns aTrrepos (pares ;
' Well, then, surely you have been
fattening on some wingless tale' (what-
ever may be the meaning of the latter
words). Supp. 913, dW 9j yvvaiKuiv
els ttoKlv So/cets fjLoXelv ; ' Surely you
must suppose it is a city of women
that you are come to.' Comp. also
Soph. El. 879, dXX' ij fX€/xr]vas, (S
rdXaiva, Kairl roh 1.avrri% KaKO?(n
Kdirl rols i/xo'ii yeXds ; a consideration
of which will show the impossibility
of understanding (ppoveh eC here, ' are
you in your right mind V The only
class of possible exceptions to the
usage so explained, of which I am
aware, is that where the verb is the
deliberative conjunctive, Soph. CEd.
C. 26, Eur. El. 983, and there a
similar explanation would be admis-
sible, expressing the unwillingness of
the speaker to suppose that he is
meant to take the step in question.
There appears no occasion to distin-
guish, as Valckenaer and others have
done, between dXX' fj and dXX' 17, or,
again, to discriminate dXX' tj inter-
rogative from dXX' ij affirmative, as
all the instances quoted faU easily
under one class, that of dXX' ^ inter-
rogative, as explained above, though
XOH(|>OPOI. 117
XO. aXX' €L TpOTraiav Zei/? kukcov 6i]<jeL irore ', 775
1 1 . Kat TTcog ', ^Opecrry]^ eXTrz? olyeTai Sojulcov.
XO. ovTTco' KaKog ye fxavrt^ uv yvolrj rdSe.
iP. Ti <pri<s ; e-^eiq tl twv XeXeyixevoov Sl-^a ;
XO. ayyeW^ lovo-a, irpaa-a-e rdxeo-raXyOteW.
imeXei Oeoicnv (xivirep av lu-eXi] irepi. 780
it is also possible that the interrogation
may be an abbreviated form of tI
&X\o dXX Tj, so that dW ij should be
written in all cases. From want of
attention to this uniformity of usage,
dX\' 7j or d\X ij has been introduced
where it would have no place, as in
the very next line, v. 775, by Stanley
and Well., in Su]:)^). 511, even by
Person and Herm. Whether ed
(ppovetv can be taken as actually
equiv. to ev(ppalv€adaL, in default of
other instances, as Paley thinks, is
doubtful : it would seem safer to
understand it in its ordinary sense,
' You are well affected to the late
news,' think it friendly, or, as we
should say, think well of it. tolctl vvv
dyyeX/xaai refers, not like cl77eXXe,
dyyeXip, just above, to the nurse's
message, but to the tidings brought
by Orestes.
775. dXX' ei is 'but what if,' or 'but
suppose.' dXX' el hpaKovTijov ^vcrtppovwv
ex^l-ocrL ; Suj)}^. 511, 'but suppose
you were to give us up to far worse
than deadly serpents,' is the sus-
picious question of the Chorus, after
the king had promised in metaphorical
language not to give them up to
ravening birds of prey — as if they had
said, ' a metaphorical guarantee is
not a sufficient security against
enemies whose malignity no metaphor
can express.' Person's rpb-rraiov or
Tpoiraia is exceedingly probable, as
O'QdeLv T/JOTTttia occurs Theh.2'j'j, cTT'TjcraL
rpbiraLa twv KaKuju, Eur. Or. ^i^, and
Zeus would naturally be mentioned as
Tpo-rraios (Soph. Ant. 143, comp. by
Wordsworth) or PLKrjcpopos. But
rpoiraiau is supported by Eur. £1.
1 147, d/xoL^ai KaKuiW ixtTaTpoiroL
TTveGva-Lv avpUL do/mcof (quoted by
Blomf.), and Zeus 6i^(X€l may be com-
pared, as Peile remarks, with Ag.
970, OTau de Tevxv '^^^^ <*^* 6ix,<paKos
TTiKpds OTpov. Tpoiraia, too, a word
very rarely found, would seem to be
a favourite with ^sch., occurring
Ag. 219, Theb. 706.
776. Kal TTws, Ag. 550, 1310.
777. Conip. Soph, Bl. 1481, Kal
jxdvTLS (bv apiaTGS eacpdWov irdXaL :
778. tCov XeXey fie uojv, the messen-
ger's report. It signifies little whe-
ther 5txa be interpreted different
from, or simply apart from. Words-
worth remarks that e'xf'S signifies
'cognitum habes,' and comp. Soph.
Ant. 9, e'xets tl Kel<xrjKov(yas ;
'J'jg. TTpdaae TdireaTaXfj^eua, Eur.
Tr. 1 149. The injunctions here are
of course those of the Chorus. d77eX''
or dyyeX, MSS. a77eXX', Piob.
780. Comp. Ag. 974, p-eXoi Be tol
crol Tibvirep dv /xiXXrjs TeXelv, where as
here the language is intentionally
enigmatical, though the tone of the
two passages is sufficiently different.
Wordsworth also comp. Soph. Ant.
1335, /xeXeL yap ruivd' oTOiai XPV
p.eXeiv. /xeXXeL-p-eXXri, MSS. p.eXei-
/xeXri, Aid.
118
XOH^OPOI.
TP. aW etjuLi KOI (Toig ravra irelaoixai \6yoi^.
yevoiTo S* ft)? apicTTa avv Oewv Socrei.
XO. vvv TrapaiTovjUieva /not, iraTep Zei? Qeihv 'OXv/jltticou,
dog Tvyag Tv^eiv oojUiov Kvpioig
"^Ta G-(jo(ppo(Tuv eu jULaio,aevoig iSeiv,
781. With the construction ravra
rreicTO/Mai,, comp. Theb. 1065, tLs clu
olv TO. tt'lOolto;
782. (7VV dfCov hoaei is equivalent to
the common expression avu 6eo?s.
So deuiv didovToov, Theb. 'Jig, though
evil is there spoken of.
783 — 837. Ch. 'Grant me good
fortune, Zeus, for the rightful lords of
the palace. Place Orestes over his
enemies : he will repay thee well.
Remember whose son he is, and let
not the car of fate whirl him on wildly.
Ye Gods of the palace, stop the course
of slaughter, and let these horrors be
the last. Thou God of Delphi, let
joy succeed to sorrow, and Hermes
with thee, the speeder of action, the
revealer and concealer of secrets.
Then the house in gratitude will bring
out its wealth and raise the song.
Only let Orestes be bold, stifle the
pleadings of nature, revenge his
friends, dead and living, and slay the
slayers. '
The critical state of this Chorus
is less satisfactory than that of any
other part of the play. In various
■passages there are evident marks of
corruption, and that apparently not
always of a kind which ordinary
methods can be expected to remedy :
while bolder attempts, such as have
been made by several of the editors,
are of course infinitely hazardous,
and, indeed, are beyond a critic's
province. It would almost seem that
the text of the MSS. had at some
distant time been extensively tam-
pered with, so as entirely to obliterate
the original reading, as has been
perhaps the case in some of the choral
parts of Sophocles. The metrical dis-
position of the ode is scarcely less
diSicult, more than one scheme having
been proposed, while in any case the
succession of strophes and antistrophes
does not appear to be reducible to
that symmetrical proportion, whether
more or less complicated, which it is
the rule of other choruses to exhibit,
783 — 786, The latter part of this
opening sentence is evidently cor-
rupt, and no satisfactory restoration
has been suggested. Some guidance,
however, may be obtained by attention
to a fact which has not been hitherto
remarked, the evident correspon-
dence between the present passage
and the conclusion of the next chorus,
vv. 979 foil., which is also corrupt,
but has been partially restored, as we
shall there see : rvxai 5' evirpocriairo-
Kolrai TO xav ibeiv aKOvaaL dpeofJievoLS
fxeroiKois dofxcov ireaovvrai irdXiv. This
may help us to see that 5^ /xov Kvpiojs,
the MSS. reading here, should be
56/j.ov Kvpiois, a conjecture partially
due to H. L. Ahrens, who gives ifj^ov
KvploLS, which will thus answer to
fxeroiKOLS dofj-wv, as fxaiofievois I8e?v
will to ISeLv (XKOvaaL dpeojULeuois (how-
ever that is to be corrected), and
Tvxas Tvx^'^v to Tvxai. TrecrouvTac. But
the reading and interpretation of v.
786 must still remain uncertain, espe*
cially as those of the antistrophic v.
796, where the metre does not pre
XOH<J>OPOL
119
OLa OLKag irav €7ro<s
eXaKov Zeu, crv Se vlv (pvXdcraroig.
Trpo Se S^ ^-^Opcov rov -j-ecra) /meXdOpcov, d Zicu,
Oeg, cTrei vlv [xeyav apa^f
/ V
CO
cisely correspond, are no less so.
Possibly TO, au(ppocrvv may be a cor-
ruption of rXacricppoaiv or reXeaai-
(ppoaiv, but I have no definite con-
jecture to offer. e5 fiaiofievots I5e1u
seems likely to be genuine, eS iSelu
(as perhaps in v. 808) meaning * to
see good,' as eS /xadelv, Ag. 584, is
'to learn good.' So far then we
may render * grant that fair fortune
may befal the lords of the palace,
seeking as they are to see good.' rd
au}(ppou\ however, Herm.'s conjecture,
is not improbable, agi-eeing as it does
with the metre of v. 796, while it
yields a reasonable sense, * seeking as
they do to see moderation thrive,'
the language being parallel to Siipp.
77, €v TO diKatou l56vT€s, the sense to
Electra's prayer, v. 14O. But the
parallel of v. 971 is against it, as the
object of Idelv there seems to be the
change of fortune.
787, dLadLKoLaaL, MSS. dia diKas,
Pauw, supported by the Schol., which
has diKaicos. Another gloss is /card
b'lKav, 8 iaTi Kara to hlKaiov, from
which Herm. reads /cdS UKav, so as to
produce an exact syllabic correspon-
dence with V. 797. But Sict, as Paley
remarks, appears to be pronounced
monosyllabically elsewhere, e.g. Pcrs.
S^5> 637, where it answers to a single
long syllable. The Chorus apparently
means to assert its conviction of the
iustice of its prayer, and begs Zeus
to watch over its accomplishment, vlv
being ttcLv iwos, as in Siipp. 179,
(pvXd^at Tap.' ^tttj oeXrovjUievas. The
protestation is not unlike v. 638, tL
Tiovd' ovK ivdiKus dyelpo} ;
788. The reading is doubtless faulty
metrically, as the antistrophic v.
798, appears to be correct, but there
is no way of certainly emending it,
and nothing is gained by substituting
one of a number of equally plausible
alterations.
790. ^ ^ is omitted by Herm. If
retained, it will have to be added to
the antistrophic v., which is appa-
rently V. 827. Trpo 5e 5?? 'x^/jwj' is an
unusual crasis, so that Herm. may be
right in writing irpb be y ex^pGiv.
Tuiv 'icw, MSS. Tov ^(Tudev, Seidler.
t6v is doubtless right, as Orestes is
more likely to be spoken of as within
than his enemies, ^gisthus, the
object of his first attack, being away ;
'iawdev is only one of several ways of
supplying the metrical defect, though
it is not unlikely that it has been con-
founded with '^ao} below, v. 800. So
I retain cb Zed, though the metre re-
quires a monosyllable, des irpb exOp'^v
seems to be the same as irpodes ex^pCjv,
'prefer him to his enemies.'
79T, ^^yai' apas, comp. v. 262. It
is hard to say whether dpas is a nom,
abs., or agrees with the subject of
dixel\p€L, which may be either active,
' he shall repay thee,* or middle, * thou
shalt be repaid.' The objection to
the latter is the use of deXiov, which
occurs several times in the sense of
gladly (v. 765), or as applied to the
Gods, propitious, so that in the
present connexion it would seum
120
XOH^OPOL
SiSv/uLa Ka\ rpiTrXa
TraXljULTroipa OeXcov a/UL€L\^6i.
'lorQi (5' avSpo^ (plXov TTOdXov evvLV TvyevT'' ev ap-
fuaTL 794
'Tri-jiJ.a.TOOv, ^ev SpOjUiO) TrpocrriOelg
fjiirpov. ^TL<s av crw'^^ojuievov pvOjuLov
tout'' loeiv oaTreoov,
avojuievcov l3>]fj.aT(ji)v opeyfxa.
more appropriate to Orestes than to
Zeus. XPV^^^) however, in v. 340,
seems to mean *at his pleasure,' 'if
he will/ and so it might be rendered
here. But there is no reason why
Zens may not be represented as re-
ceiving his offerings with a good will ;
as, however the word is explained,
the notion of the passage will still be
that he is to be prevailed on to favour
Orestes by the promise of a heavy
reconipence. With this sense of
TTOLvri in iraKifnroLva, comp. Supp. 626,
dyadQvTToivds. /xti', MSS. I'ii', Seidler.
794 — 799. Here again there is obscu-
rity in the sense, and more or less cor-
ruption in the text. The words ladi.
— XTjuoLTioy appear right. (Herm.'s
substitution of dpfxacnv for apfx-aTL,
from the Schol., apjiiaaL, on metrical
grounds, seems needless, as vv. 800-1
show that the last syll. of a verse of
this kind may be common.) Orestes
is called Agamemnon's ttcDXos by a
common metaphor (comp. Theb. 455,
TTcaXiKQv e5u}\icjv), which is extended
here so as to represent him as yoked
in tive chariot of calamity, as his
father, Ar/. 218 (comp. by Stanley),
is said to put on the XeTradvov of ne-
cessity, icrdi. ^vyevT is an idiomatic
construction, and the words doubtless
mean that Zeus is to have regard to
his case, so that there need be no
harshness felt in the connexion with
7rpo(TTi6eis, which is as if it had been
ladi Kal irpoaTides. if hpbpLop is proved
to be wrong by the metre, and also
by the construction, which apparently
binds dpSjuiii} to irpoaTLdeis ; but it has
not been satisfactorily amended.
eOev [Sujyp. 67) dpofxip would be an
easy alteration, though the pronoun
would have no particular force. H.
L. Ahrens' dwhpopn^ is ingenious,
but hardly probable. The sense,
however, appears so far clear, that
Zeus is requested to set bounds to
the career in which Orestes is whirled
along. After jxirpov the text becomes
uncertain, though there are still
glimpses of the same meaning, aw'^6-
fxevov pvd/xov answering more or less
exactly to irpoaTtdeU fierpov, and
duo/uL€Pwv ^rj/j-aTiov Speyfxa, words which
evidently require no change, referring
to the course of the horse in the
chariot. Blomfield's alterations,
adopted by Paley, l8ol (from Portus)
5td tredop, yield a good sense at the
expense of a slight change, but do
not quite carry conviction, ddiredov
is doubtful in any case, as the first
syll. is short in Homer and else-
where (Porson on Eur. Or. 324), while
it is long in the only other passage where
it occurs in ^Esch. {Prom. 829, where
see Paley).
XOH<l>OPOI.
121
OL t' Vea-wQe Sco/ulcltcov irXovToyadyj
KKvTe, (rv/u<ppov€^ Oeoi.
aycTCf Tijov iraKai TreTrpayjuei'Mv
XvcracrO^ aljuia irpocrcbaToig SiKaig.
yepcov (p6vo<s iulj]K€t'' ev So/moi^ tckoi.
TO Se KoXwg KTOLjuLepov, CO fjieya vaiwv
IJ.Vyj)V VOjULL-
800
805
800 — I. ^crojOe Soi/xdrcav is, of
course, wrong, but a doubt still re-
mains whether it should be ^o-w
dw/MCLTCJu (Herra.), or 'iawOev bojxwv
(Well.). Tn other respects the line
is clearly correct, the metre being the
same as in vv. 793, 794, so that we
must reject Herm.'s hi^ere, a word
not improbable in itself, and explain
pofjil^ere by ^x^os vo/xl^ofiev, v. lOr,
^iov vopii^wv, V. T003, where, as here,
the verb is virtually equivalent to
X/OTjcr^ai. The fjLvxos is the receptacle
of the stores, Ag. 96. The wealth of
the house is vaunted by Clyt, ib. 961.
With irXovToyadT] Kl, comp. (piXo-
ya9ris, Theh. 918.
802. Kkvere, MSS. /fXure, Dind.
Paley seems right in saying that the
reference is to Gods like Zeiis "Ep/cetoj,
Kri7o-tos, &c. Apollo and Hermes,
whom Kl. supposes to be meant, had
probably statues in the vestibule.
See on V. i .
S03 — 4. The metre does not agree
with the antistrophe, but the lan-
guage and sense are quite unobjec-
tionable, ireirpayixevuv, which Canter
and some of the later editors would
omit, is strmgly supported by Ag.
1185, txvos KaKwv .... tQv vdXat ttc-
TTpajfievcov, comp. by Kl. treirpay-
fjLefwv then will be neuter, not, as
might otherwise have been maintained
from V. 440, masc. With \vaa<jd' alfj.a
7rpo<x<pdTOLS 5i/cats, comp. Soph. (JEd.T.
TOO, (povov (povco ttoXlv Auovra?. The
middle is used here, as the Gods are
to bring about the expiation by human
hands. Bamb. 's transposition, al/xa
XvcracrOe TrpoacpdroLs 5t/cats, would
make the metre of v. 804 more like
that of the previous lines, but cor-
rection would still be needed in the
antistrophe.
805. See v. 649, Ag. 750 foil.,
where the words y^pwv <p6vos are
paralleled by y^pcov X6yos, the image
by the passage that succeeds. Paley
seems rightly to explain the force of
y^pciju here, * May the curse now be-
come exhausted as by old age.'
806 — 811. This passage seems
rightly regarded by the later editors
as a fxeaipdos ; the metre, however, is
not certain, and the language of the
latter part, though intelligible, hardly
looks as if written by ^sch,
806. It is difficult to decide be-
tween the MSS. Tode {to 8^) KaXQs
KTdfxevov, and Bamb.'s to de KaXQs
KTifxevov, which succeeding editors have
adopted. There is no doubt harsh-
ness in the expression ' when this has
been well killed,' for 'when this
slaughter has been brought to a good
end,' but the sense suits the previous
lines, and the grammar may be ex-
plained by a principle which seems
not to be unknown to the tragedians,
the conversion of a cognate ace. into
the subject of a passive verb. So
122
XOH'I'OPOI.
orTojuiioVf €u 00^ avioelv oofxov avopo^i
Kal VLV eXevOepicog
XajULTTpcog iSeiv (piXiOLg 8 10
ojULjULaa-i Svo(p€pag KaXvirrpag.
^vXka^oi ivSUoos 7ra?j 6 Ma/a? eTrKpopcoTarog
perhaps v. 843, (p6v^ SedrjyfjLhip, and
more certainly Soph. Ant. g-j^, TKkos
TV(p\o}deu, though there appears to be
some unascertained corruption in the
whole passage, KaXws Krifxevov, on
the other hand, answers to the
Homeric ed KTlfxevov, but there is per-
haps some impropriety in applying it
to CToiJiiov, the mouth of the cave, in
spite of the well known splendour of
the Delphic temple. fiiya vaioju
CTo/xiou is a description of Apollo,
like fiiyav 'ix^^ I^^X^^> '^- 953-
(TTo^toj' (Soph, Ant. 1217) is used of
the entrance of the Delphic cave by
Strabo, 9. p. 641.
808. eS prob. with aPiSeip. The
verb is apparently aTra^ XeySfievoVy
but it yields a sufficiently good sense,
as explained by the Schol. dva^Xexf/ai.
Perhaps the recurrence of idelv may
cast some further doubt on it, but if
the present line stood alone, it would
naturally be pronounced above sus-
picion. The prayer is that the house
may look up and see good fortune,
much as in v. 961 foil, dvdp6s is
probably rather significant, being
intended to suggest the contrast of
female rule,
809 — 811, It is the house which is
elsewhere represented as looking for-
ward to freedom, vv. 942, 962, and as
covered by a veil of darkness (v. 52,
dv6(poL KaXviTTovcnv do/xov^ : com p. Eum.
3S0, 5vo(pepdv TLv' dxXvv Kara ddofMaros),
so that, if the text is sound, viv probably
refers to dofiov, though the pronoun in
that case certainly seems as if it might
have been omitted. eXevOeplcos Idecu
might conceivably be explained like
ed IdeXu, but this would hardly be ne-
cessary, and would not agree with
Xa/xirpQs. But Bamb,'s iXevdepias is
a highly probable correction, and he
may be right in further substituting
Xafxirpbv for Xa/j.Trpu)S, 6pt.fxa 5iai for
S/j-fxaai. In that case 0tXiws might
be changed into (piXias. H. L.
Ahrens' Xap^irpov . , , 0dos for Xa/xirpQis
. , , (piXiois is not unlikely (comp, v.
863, irOp Kal (pQs ct' iXevdepLa 8aio)p).
duo(p€pds, MSS, Svo<p€pa.s, Herm,,
who inserts e/c before it ; but dpocpepds
KuXviTTpas may be called a local gen.
Whether the Schol. read 8po(p€pds is
not clear, as his explanation of the
words, Tov <tk6tovs, need only mean
that he understood 'the gloomy veil' in
question to be ' the gloomy veil of
darkness.'
812 — 3, ^vXXd^oL like crvXXrjirrujp,
Ag. 1508. If e7ri0o/>c6raTos is correct,
it must be pronounced, as Paley sug-
gests, as if TT had preceded 0, like
67r0ts, II. 12, 208, ^eircpvpLr), Od. 8.
119, ircTTcpaOa-KUV, II. to, 478, 502
(comp. (paioxiTuves, v. 1049), ^^^
constructed either closely with ^vX-
Xd^oi, or possibly with irpd^Lv ovpLav,
as Kl, suggests, as its object (see on
V. 23). But Emper's ^Tret (popibraros
is very plausible, especially if combined
with H, L. Ahrens' ovpc€2 (or, as it
might be suggested, ovpielu or ovpiaai),
so as to give to irpd^Lv the govern-
ment it could hardly get from ^vXXajSnc
or diXcjv. (popos, as well as eiricpopos,
is used of an epithet of wind (Lat,
vent us f evens), so that either would
XOHO^OPOI.
123
irpu^LV ovplav QeKwv.
TToXXct <^' aWa (pavei Xpi'-X>^^
KpvTTT^' acTKOirov e7ro<s \iy(iiv
vvKTa irpo T ojULjULaToov cTKOTov (pepei,
KaO' rjixepav ^' ov^ev efxcpaveG-repog.
Kal TOT^ tjo)] irXovTOV
815
agree with ovplav, and with the
Schol. cjj iirl aveixov elirev.
815. Here again there are metrical
difficulties, which some have endea-
voured to remove by omitting the
pre-sent line, others by altering it, and
supposing a lacuna in the strophe.
The sense, however, is intelligible
and unobjectionable. ' Many other
things Hermes will reveal at his
pleasure ; but when he chooses to
speak mysteries, he is impenetrable
day and night alike,' i.e., Hermes,
though known as the revealer, is also
the concealer ; the former he may be
at other times, the latter he shall be
now, xnt^"} li^^ deXojv (from a
gloss on which word in the preceding
line it might possibly have come, if
there were any object in getting rid of
it), may mean either 'if he will,' or
'graciously' (see on v. 340), but the
senteqce, as just explained, almost re-
quires the former. Well, and Words-
worth understand it of giving an
oracular response, as in Eur. Jlel.
515, TJKovcra Tttj deaTTLCfdoO Kopds B.
XPV^ova' icpavT] (in which sense, an
extremely rare one, it seems to be
written without the t subscript) ; but
this, though otherwise plausible,
would oblige us to refer the sentence
to Apollo, contrary to the natural
tenour of the language, where there is
nothing to show that vv. 812-814 are
parenthetical. Hermes, who is the
revealer, 'Ep/JL-rjuevs, is also t!,e God of
craft and secresy. The Schol. gives
a philosophical explanation, which
may possibly have been present to
the mind of ^sch. dStdcr/coTros ecrrtv 6
\6yos, TOvrecTTiv 6 'Ep^f^s. He is the
God of speech, and therefore can be
plain or obscure at will. And so the
parallelism of v. 726 seems to show
that daKoirov ^ttos denotes, as Kl. and
Bamb. explain it, tales like those
with which Orestes has been deceiving
Clytfemnestra, Hermes being regarded
as their inspirer and speaker, and the
power that works belief in them.
acTKOTra is used with KpvirTa. t cttt],
Soph. Phil, nil, though there it
may have the force of dirpoaKOTra,
while here it seems to mean merely
'obscure,' like acTKOiroL TrXct/ces, Soph.
(Ed. C. 1682. vvKTa is not, like
(TKOTov, the obj. of 0epet, but adver-
bial, perhaps with reference to /card
in the next line. With Kad' rj/xepav,
which is less common than /xed'
■rjfxipav, Paley comp. Eur. El. 603,
vvxi-os 7) Kad' Tjixepav.
819 — 826, As before, the metre of
this passage, which is now generally
supposed to correspond to v. 831-
837, is more embarrassed than the
sense, tot TJdr}, Blomf.'s correction
of Tore 5?7,is probably right. ttXovtou
has been variously altered into an
epithet of i'6/xoi' {ttoXlv, Blomf., kXvtov,
Bamb., 5nr\ovv, Emper, irXdvov, H.
L. Ahrens, while Enger proposes
Kol TOT , el Stj TTor' odv), but as
it stands it would agree well in
its ordinary sense with 8io/xdTiov
XvTTjpiov (the Chorus promising
that the wealth of the house shall
124
XOH$OPOI.
ScojULOLTWi/ Xvrrjpiov,
OrjXvv ovpiocTTaTav
ofxov KpeKTOv yoarcov vojulop ixeQ^jaofxev
iroXei TCL^^ ev'
ejULov ejuLov KepSog ae^erai toSc
ara o' airoarTarel (plXoov.
(TV oe OapcTwVf orav i]K)j juLepog epycDv,
820
825
be lavished in offerings for its de-
liverance), if only a verb could be
found for it, so as to separate it from
BrfKvv ovpLoa-Tdrav, wliicli are clearly
epithets of vbfxov. ttXovtou might
conceivably be itself in apposition
with v6/jLov, expressing the abundance
of song {ttXovtov eifiaTOS, Ag. 1383,
7as ttXoCtos, Theb. 950), with which
the Chorus was to enrich the gods
(Ai'St/s (XTevayficiis Kul ydoLs irXovrl^eTai,
Soph. (Ed. T. 30); but in a context
like the present this would be far less
likely. ovpLocrTarav vojxov {comp.
avTLoaTarelv of the wind, Soph. Phil.
640) doubtless expresses the rush of
triumphant song borne upwards to
the Gods (not unlike Tennyson's
'full-sailed verse '), with probably an
additional notion of prosperous for-
tune. There is also doubtless a refe-
rence, as in the passages mentioned
on V. 114, to the stage position of the
Chorus. But for the metre, there
would be no sufficient reason to sus-
pect bfiov, as used of choral singing.
KpeKTov, too, seems right, occurring pos-
sibly in Soph. '05. Mat;', fr. 424, quoted
by Hesych. s. v. dpeKTos, for which it
is a various reading. It might apply
equally to the avXbs (KpcKeiv avXbv,
Aristoph. Birds, 683) and to the
Ktddpa, the former of which, accord-
ing to Miiller, Hum. §18, was chiefly
used in wild emotion, either of joy or
grief. yoarQv (MSS. yorjTwv), which
the Schol. took from yotjj, seems to
imply that this triumphal strain is to
be of the nature of a wail, either over
Agamemnon, in compensation for his
unlamented burial, oi-, more probably,
over ^gisthus and Clj'tsemnestra.
Comp. V. 385. So in Od. 3. 309,
Orestes gives a funeral feast to the
Argives in honour of the murderers.
fMedrjao/jiev seems the right word, ex-
pressing the full flow of long-checked
emotion. The words IloXet — tpiKwu
may very possibly, as Blomf. thinks,
be the words of the supposed song.
At any rate, they yield a sufficiently
good sense, the Chorus speaking of the
gain to the state, to themselves, and
to their friends, Orestes and Electra.
With TToXei rctS' e5, comp. Soph. Qi!d.
T. 879, TO KaXQs exov TroXec TrdXatcr/xa.
ae^erai is doubtless passive, ' my gain
is increased here,' or Mn this.' ' With
ara 8' diroaraTeL (plXwv, comp. Ag.
1 103, dX/ca 5' e/cds d-rrodTaTeL.
827 — 830. From this point to the
end of the Chorus, we have a series of
participles without any finite verb.
It is scarcely credible that jEsch.
could have so wi-itten, in spite of such
passages as those referred to on vv.
64 1 -644, even if the state of the metre
did not discredit the text as it stands.
But the words, as before, are intelli-
gible, and generally not suspicious in
themselves. fxepos epyuv, as we
should say, the post of action, is vir-
XOH^OPOL
125
€7rav(Tag irarpog epjfpf Opoovcra
irpog ere, Tckvov, TLarpog avSdvy
Ka] irepalvcov eTriimojucpov arav^
Tleporecog r' iv (ppecrlv
KapSlav cryeOwv,
Toig 0' VTTO ■^(Oovog (piXoig,
Toh T avooQev Trpoirpacrcrcov
yapLTog opyag \virpa<Si evSoOep
830
835
tually equivalent to Kacpbs ^pycjv
{^pyojv aKfMrj, Soph. EL ■22). Comp.
pe/haps, Soph. Tr. 149, "KajSyj . . .
(ppovTL^ujv fxepos, ' receive cares as her
portion.' irarpos ^pycf, ' thy fathers
business,' an expression not altogether
unlike rod Trarpos toiVs alriovs, v. 273,
may perhaps be doubtful on external
grounds, 'ipywv occurring so soon
before and irarpos so soon after, but
is by no means improbable intrinsi-
cally. It appears to depend on the
preposition in eiravaas, while dpoodaq.
depends on the verbal part of it.
reKvov is supposed to be said by Cly-
taemnestra — the one word which con-
stitutes the strength of her appeal.
It is actually repeated by her five
times in the scene between her and
Orestes, as Wordsworth remarks.
He also comp. Eur. El. 12 15, ^oav 5'
^XaaKe rdude vpos yivvv ep-av Tideccra
Xe'ipo.s, TcKOs ep.ov, Xirabct). Tlarpos
av8dv, the name or word of Father,
which Orestes is to shout so as to
drown his mother's cries of Son. No
instance of this sense of av5rj is given,
but it may be inferred from the
analogy of avddco, which has the sense
of calling by name. eirLp.op.cpoi'
{iirL/iiop,(f}av, MSS.) drav is the cala-
mity of a new murder done by a son
on a mother, which, though in one
view praiseworthy, in another is full
of reproach.
831. Uepaew re MSS. Uepa^us
t", Schiitz. (ppeaaiu, MSS. (ppeaiv,
Aid. Perseus had a stout heart
when he killed the Gorgon, and so
Orestes is called upon to steel his,
after the example of one who, as
Wordsworth remarks, was his country-
man, Mycenae being called TrdXiap-a
Ilepaeus, Eur. Iph. A. 1475. There
seems no reference, as the Schol.
supposes, to Perseus averting his
eyes while striking the blow. We
may contrast Shaksp. Hamlet, Act
3, Sc. 2, 'O, heart, lose not thy
nature ; let not ever The soul of Nero
enter this firm bosom.' crxe^wi' is
now written for ax^Owv, the existence of
a verb ax^Bw having been exploded by
Elmsley on Eur. Med. 995, Herac. 272.
834 — 5. TTpoirpdaaujp is &7ra^ Xeyd-
fievov, but is not in itself suspicious,
as the force of the compound may be
that the action is done on behalf of
others. To construct it with xdpcTos,
according to a suggestion of Blomf. 's,
with the sense that Orestes is to
prefer anger to kindness, seems less
likely, xdptros dpyds {opyds, MSS.),
however, yields no very satisfactory
sense, and Schiitz's alteration, x<^pi-Td^
dpyds, though intelligible, ' the good
offices of vengeance' (hardly, as Paley
thinks, ' the gratifying of the spirit of
revenge, ' as thefriends above and below
are evidently the per.^ons gratified),
126
XOH$OPOI.
(poiviav arav TiOeig,
TOP aiTioP S^ e^airoWv^ jj-opov,
Ainseos.
?/cft) fxev ovK aKXrjTog, aX\' VTrayyeXo^'
veav (pcLTiv Se TrevOo/ULai Xeyeiv Ttvag
^ivovg fidXovTag ovSajuLw^ ecpljuepov,
fjLopov S^ 'O^eVrou. Kal toS' aV (pepeiv 0011x019
yevoiT^ av ayOo<s aljULaTocrTayeg (povw
T(p irpocrOev kXKalvovTi koi ^eSrjyfxevw.
840
seems hardly worth adoption where
there is so Uttle to guide us to the
real requirements of the text. So
Blomfield's \vypds for Xvirpas need
not be admitted until the metre is
better ascertained.
836. drav is supposed to be unme-
trical, but none of the words proposed
carry conviction. The sense appa-
rently is, 'planting within a bloody
calamity,' i.e., doing a deed of death
in the house, though in another view
the Chorus would rather hope that
the genius of bloodshed would be ex-
pelled from the house by this new
deed, as in vv. 803 foil.
837. If TOP aiTLov is right, it would
seem necessary to change ixbpov into
fibpov with Turn, and most editors.
Franz, however, very ingeniously
reads Thv ainbv (comp. v. 274, rpbirov
Tov avTbv avTairoKTeivai), though he
has to insert Up" in order to satisfy his
notions of the metre.
838 — 847. ^gisthus is probably
represented by the TrpwTaycovLaTrjs.
He enters the stage probably by the
passage to the right of the spectators,
as if coming from the city, which
would account, as Kl. remarks, for
the mention of his XoxtTai, v. 768.
^gisihm. ' I have been summoned
by the news that Orestes is dead. If
true, it would be another drop in the
family cup of sorrow ; but is it more
than a woman's tale ? What do you
say?'
838. virdyyeXos seems not to be
found elsewhere : but it evidently
has the sense of vtt' dyy^Xuv kXtjOcIs,
Soph. Aj. 289, quoted by Abresch,
who also comp. Track. 391, e/xQv vir'
dyyiXcov . . . iropeveTai.
841 — 843. fxopov'Opeo-Tov, which is
really the subject, is here introduced
by 5^ as if it were an additional pre-
dicate. The principle seems the same
as that of the epexegetical use of re
in such passages as Ag. 15 2 5, ^/nov
^pvos . . . TTjp iroXuKXavrdv t' 'Icpiye-
veiav, Supp. 60, ras Trjpetas . . .
dXoxov, KipKTjXdrov t dridopos. dfi-
0epeii', MSS. dv 4)€p€Lv. Tm-n. (pepeiv
seems clearly required by (Sx^os.
* This would be a burden for the
house to bear.' -^gisthus is not
thinking of the odium likely to accrue
to himself, but moralizing, in Clytsem-
nestra's tone, on the tragedies of the
family. The question between deifia-
Toarayes, the MSS. reading, and
Stanley's alfiaToarayh is more diffi-
cult. The former might stand if
&X^os alone were concerned, as the
XOH<l>OPOI.
127
TTW? tout' aXrjOrj koi pXeirovTa dot^aar(t) ',
t] TTpo^ yvvaiKihv SeijULarovimcvoi \6yoi
'TreSdpcrioi OpwcTKOvcTLf Ovi^a-KovTe^ /uLarrjv ;
TL TcouS^ aV e'lTTOig wcrre StjXcJocrai (ppevt',
845
image of sweating terror under a
burden is far from unnatural : but
the words that follow, where the
notion of murder is not only intro-
duced but developed and dwelt on,
make the latter more likely, while the
vicinity of detfj-aToi/fxevoi. sufficiently
accounts for the corruption. There
is, however, a harshness in aifMaro-
arayes, which, in fact amounts to a
change of metaphor : -^sch. wishes
to specify in what the burden con-
sists, and chooses an epithet which,
as it were, compels him to follow a
different train of illustration, (povu)
cannot be taken with aifj-aToaTayis,
as it must agree with the words that
follow, which, though they might
refer to ^gisthus if Soyitots had not
preceded, cannot, without disturbing
the thought, be turned into a second
d;itive similarly constructed. Schiitz,
then, must be right in understanding
<pou(^, 'in addition to,' or 'coming
upon the murder, 'as in Supp. 443,
Kai xpiJ/WacrtJ' fiiv . . . yhotr cLu aWa,
well compared by Wordsworth, wlio
remarks that this use of the dative is
extremely rare except in repetitions
of the same word (such as Soph. (Ed.
T. 175, Eur. Phcen. 1496), which is in
fact virtually the case here, SeS?/-
y/xeuu} is taken actively by Schiitz
and Herm. : but see on v. 807. The
murder is said to be bitten, because
its effects are compared to those of a
bite where the wound festers.
844. Herm., followed by Peile and
Paley, points this line ttws ravr,
d\r]dTj k.t\., but this seems needless.
The sense is * How am I to think that
this is true?' (comp. v. 187, ttws yap
eX-rricru} 'ActtQu tip' dWov T7}<rd€ Se-
atro^eiv <p6^T]s ;) and ij follows in the
next line, because the two questions,
though not expressed in strictly
parallel language, really contain the
two alternatives of the truth or false-
hood of the story. pX^TTOvra, 'living,'
as dvri(TKovTes shows. The permanence
of truth is contrasted with the short life
of falsehood. See Ag. 479 foil., 620.
845 — 6. dcLfjiaro^ifievoc, like dedrj-
yfievii) just above, may be an instance
of the usage referred to on v. 807,
though it is possible that the story
itself may be said to be terrified, as a
strong way of expressing that it is the
product of terror. In any case, it seems
to be constructed with irpbs ywaiKuiv.
The sentimentandexpressionare paral-
lel to Ag. 486, raxvfiopov yvvaLKoyrjpv-
Tov 6\\vTaL kXcos, and the words rreddp-
aLOL dpwaKovaL seem to be suggested by
some such image as that of a blaze, like
that of the beacons, mounting up high,
but soon extinguished. The words
dpr](TKQVTes pdTT]v are appropriated by
Soph. El. 63, and applied in a totally
different sense to the subject of the
rumour itself, the pretended death of
Orestes. It is not likely that he
should have misunderstood them, as
he elsewhere (see on v. 578) borrows
the words of ^sch. without their
meaning : but neither is it surprising
that Portus should have conjectured
dv-qaKovTos here, though the contrast
of fiXeTTOPTa clearly shows him to have
been in error.
847. ' Which of these matters can
you make clear to me V is equivalent
128
XOH(|)OPOL
XO. ^KOvcrajULev jxev, irvvQavov de twv ^epcov
e'lcrco TrapeXOwv. ovSev ayyeXcov crOevo^,
(jos •j'auTO? avTOV avSpa 'TrevOecrOai ire pi.
AI. iSetv eXey^ai r' av deXco tov ayyeXop,^
eiT avTog ^v Qp^G-KOVTog eyyvOev irapoov,
efV e^ OLjULavpa^ kX^joovo^ Xeyei fxadoov,
ovTOi (ppeva KXey^eiav a)/XyaaTCe)/xeV>?j/.
850
to saying, ' Can you tell me anything
certain about the matter V
848—850. Cho. ' Your safer course
is to ask yourself on the spot. '
850. The MSS. reading cannot
stand, as though avros might con-
ceivably be defended, irevdecrdai riva,
in the sense of questioning a person,
seems an unheard-of expression.
dv5pa, too, must refer not to the mes-
senger, but to the master of the
house, who is contrasted with the
dyyeXoi, not the messengers who
bring the news, but third parties,
such as the Chorus, through whom it
might be transmitted. There is a
bitter irony in this speech of the
Chorus, who have heard Orestes' re-
quest to be confronted with a man
accepted by Clyttemnestra, and also
^gisthus' scornful allusion just made
to tales spread by women, and ac-
cordingly now bid him remember his
superiority and sift the matter for
himself, knowing well v/hat the con-
sequences will be. At the same time
we may recollect that ^gisthus has
just suffered unknowingly from his
neo-lect of the maxim, trusting to the
report of a messenger who has con-
trived to give the story a turn (v.
773), so that he falls as it were under
both edges of the proverb. avrbv
avToJp, however, which most of
the editors adopt, after Schxitz and
Porson, is no real improvement.
as TTcpl avTwv, ' about the facts them-
selves,' would be very weak, and
irdpa, Herm.'s correction, admitted
by Paley, apparently proceeds on the
erroneous notion that the dyyeXoL are
the ^euoi who have brought the news.
The simplest change would be to read
avToa, which would go naturally with
irevdecrdai. as a pregnant expression,
' to go to the spot and enquire.' irepi,
then, would be taken, with Peile,
whose view of the sense is perhaps
more nearly right than that of any
other commentator, as an adverb, or a
preposition without a case, as it
clearly must be in Ag. 1359, tov
dpCovTos ea-TL Kal to ISovXevaac irepi.
ovdev — ws is rightly comp. by Blomf.
with ovdev olov eaT' aKovaai. tQv eiruiv,
Aristoph. Birds, 966, ovdev olov to
avTov epcoTcLv, Plato, Gorg. p. 447 c.
851 — 854. uEg. 'Yes, I will see
whether the messenger be an eye-
witness or no : I am not to be
cheated.'
854. (ppeva KKi-ipeLav is questionable
on two grounds — the lengthening of
a before kK, and the use of the opt.
without dv to express contingency.
The first is vindicated byScholef. from
Eur. Ale. 542, alaxpov irapd K\aiovai
doivaadai (piXois : the latter may per-
haps support itself by Ag. 552, to.
fiev ris eS Xe^eiev, ih. 1375, Trjfiovrjv
dpKva-TaTov (ppd^eiev, both of which,
however, have been emended with
XOH^OPOL
129
XO. Zei* Zeu, t/ Xe-yo) ; iroBev ap^cofxai ;
tolS^ 67r€uvojULei/i] KCiTTiOea^ovcr^
i^uj/ 'ycto jULeXXovcri [j.iavde'ia'aL
irelpaL Koiravuov avopoodiKTijov
o'lKcov oXeQpov oia Tvavrog,
855
860
great probability. Elmsley's correction
here, 0peV av KKeipei-ev, is likely enough,
removing both anomalies at the ex-
pense of no real change, though in
any case it would perhaps be better
with Paley to retain Kke-^eLav, whicJi
will throw the sentence into a more
general form. thfj^fxaTUfMiuriv, Supp.
467. Comp. Euiii. T04, (f)pr]v 6fjL/xa-
(TLv Xa/jLTrpvperai, With (ppeua /cXe-
■J/€Lav, Wordsworth comp. Hes. Theog.
613, ws ovK 'iaTL Aios K\e\f/aL vbov.
— Exit ^gisthus (by the principal
door) .
855—868. Ch. 'How to pray with
most effect ? On this very moment
hangs the fortune of Agamemnon's
house. Orestes is one against two.
May he triumph !'
856. KCLTTLdod^ova-a, MSS. KaiTL-
dod^ova' Turn. Kd7nded^ova\ Schlitz,
Blomf., which is clearly right, what-
ever might be said for the old reading
in default of another. jxaprvpo-
p-evoiv Kal iwLdea^ovTCov /xt] KaTdyeiv,
Thuc. 8. 53. e-KLded'^eC deovs eiriKa-
\elTaL. Hesych. The word has been
also restored to Eur. Med. 1409, rd^e
Kal dprjvQ} KdTn.dod^(jtj MapTvpo/J-evos
daifjiovas.
858. The Chorus asks, as is usual,
what they are to say first, and what
last, Eur. £1. 907, riv' dpxw T^pCord
a' e^eiiroj KaKQv; Hoias reXevrds ; rtVa
/jLeaov rd^oj \6yov ; Comp. Eur. Iph.
A. 1124. So Milton, P. L. i. 376,
' Say, Muse, their names then known,
who first, who last.' ttcDs taov elirova- '
duvacofjiaL, then, will mean, ' in what
words am I to close, having said what
is right ?' (with icrov Paley comp. Ag.
786), TTws probably referring to 'iaov
elTTOva' no less than to dvvacojj.ai, which
seems to be also the case with i^tt^
5' evvolas. The time is most critical,
and the Chorus is anxious to know
how best to employ it in prayer, thus
obeying Orestes' injunction, Xeyeiy to.
Kalpca, as they had before done in
speaking to the nurse and to ^gisthus
respectively.
860. Treipai at aK/mai tGiv ^L(pCiv,
irapd TO ireipeLv, Schol., seemingly
a7ra| \eybjj.evov. W^ordsworth re-
marks that irelpeiv is very rare in
Attic, But this assumption of a new
word is extremely hazardous, and
Pauw's rrelpai gives a very good
sense (fuauBelcraL, of course, being
really an epithet of Koirdviov), as the
case was emphatically one of trial.
Comp. v. 513, 'ipdoLS dv ij5r] dai/xopos
ireLpdj/xevos. KOirdvwv, jn the sense of
Koiridwv, seems also to be peculiar to
this passage. dpdpoddl'KTOs is found
also, ^sch. Myrm. fr. 128.
862. 5td iravTos, as we should say,
throughout, Prom. 283. Here, as in
Eur, Ale. 888, Jph. T. 11 17, it seems
to refer to time. With the whole '^
K
130
XOH^OPOI.
t] TTVp Kai (pcog ctt' eXevOepia
SalooVi o.p-)(ag re TroXKTorovojuLOVs
€^€i, Trarepcov fxeyav oX^ov.
TOiavSe TToXtjv /movog wv €(peSpo9
Si(T<T0i9 jULeWei Oeiog ^Opecrrjg
ay^eiv. eirj c ein VLKrj.
A I. ee, OTOTOTOi.
XO. ea ea imaXa'
TTCo? e^et ; TTwg KCKpavrat oojuLOig ;
airocTTaOooiuLev irpayixarog reXov/uLevov,
OTTO)? ooKcojULev Toopo avaLTiai KaKcov
etvar fJ-a-^^m yap Srj KeKvpcorai reXog.
OI. o'ljUiOL TravoifJLOi SecrTroTov reXovjuLcvov,
865
870
875
line, comp. v. 934, 6(p6a\fji.bu o^kwv
/JL7] Travuikedpov irecreiv.
863, irup Kal (pQs seem to refer to
the sacrificial festivities which would
take place in the event of Orestes'
victory (v. 819), and which had appa-
rently, according to ^sch., been
intermitted during the reign of the
usurpers. See, on v. 629. For eXev-
Oepia, see V. 1046.
S64. re is apparently used as else-
where {Ag. 99, and perhaps Supp.
481) to express the close connection
of the action of the verb with that de-
noted by the participle.
866. roiavde is explained by what
follows, fjiovos &v '4(pehpos, ' so critical
is the struggle, of one against two,' re-
ferring to the agony of anxiety which
the Chorus has just been exhibiting.
[jLovos ihv ^^edpos is rightly taken by
Scholefield, ' having no ^(pe8pos,' or,
as we should say, being his own
^(peSpos. So Soph. Phil. 691, IV
avTos 9}u Trpocrovpos, ' where he was his
own neighbour/ or had no neighbour,
and perhaps Track. 1233 (comp. ib. 260),
■^7 IXOL p.r]Tpi p.kv davetv fxovTj Meratrtos
*sole partner,' or having no partner.
Tliey were two, so that one could take
up the combat when the other fell, but
he was single handed. dia<To?s, from
its position, seems to be constructed
with ^(pedpos.
867. deiots, MSS. BeTos, Turn.
868. axpeiv has special reference to
TToKrjp, closing in wrestling (comp. v.
498), though we may compare the
vaguer metaphor of iJ'dxw ^vvaTrreiv.
eirl vLkti, see on v. 478.
869. ^gisthus is heard within.
870 — 874. Cho. ' "What has been
the issue ? Let us stand apart and
appear unconcerned, for the crisis has
come.'
87 T. dd/xoL^, for the house, the
future of which was at stake.
875 — 884. A servant comes out of
a side door. — ' Alas ! my master
u^gisthus is dead. Open the women's
door at once — as for help it is too late.
Ho there ! are all deaf within ?
Where is Clytsemnestra ? She is on
the brink of death. '
875. TTCtV OlflOl, MSS. VaVOLfjLOt,
Porson. * Simile compositum non
XOH$OPOI.
131
OLIJ.OI /uiaX^ avOig ev TpiToig irpoarcpOeyjULacriv.
A^'lyicrOog ovkct^ €(ttlv. ctW avol^are
oTToog ra-^ia-ra, koi yvvaiKciov^ TrvXag
juiO')(\oh X^^^'''^' '^^^ /xaX* rj/ScovTO^ Se Sei,
ov-^ wg S' apri^aL SiaTreTrpayiULevu)' tl yap ;
880
memini vidisse,' Blomf, TeXov/xepov
may be liable to a slight suspicion as
having occurred so shortly before
(though such recurrences are not
infrequent in this play, e.g. ^x°^)
vv. 238, 9, ra ■irpb<j(f>opa, vv. 711,
714, ad\li>3 warpl, vv. 978, 981
(if the reading is right), fidpov, vv,
988, 9), but in itself it is perfectly de-
fensible, the use of the word in the
sense of putting to death being esta-
blished by Pind. 0. 6. 15, eVra 5'
^Treira irvpav veKpGiv reKeadevruv, the
present by Kaivetv, v. 886.
877. avol^are, without an object,
as in Soph. Aj. 344, avrip (ppovelv ^olkcv
dXX avolyere.
878. 'yvvaLKelovs TTf^Xaj is explained
by Herm. of the gates of the palace,
the servant having just come from the
^ei'wj'es. But there is an evident dis-
tinction between yvvonKeiovs and
epKeiovs Tr^Xas (vv. 561, 571), and as
the former is the door of the court-
yard, the latter must be the door of
the yvvaLK(jov?TLs, which Blomf. can
hardly be wrong in supposing to have
been the side door through which the
second actor entered, however diffi-
cult it may be to reconcile this position
with what we know of ordinary Greek
houses. This door, as usual, is
fastened from the inside, and the ser-
vant calls on those within to open it,
adding that a man of active power is
required, i.e., that it must be opened
■without the loss of a moment. fjioxXoh
%a\are will then mean to open by
means of the bars, i.e., by withdraw-
ing the bars — a form of expression
not unlike those by which in Soph.
Aj. 674, and Virg. E. 2. 76, G. 4.
484, A. I. 66, 5. 763, the waves are
said to be lulled by the wind, i.e.,
by the wind's abating. To under-
stand fiox\ois x«^S'''f) with Lidd. and
Scott, s. V, yUoxXos, of forcing open by
crowbars, as if the servant were
calling to the Chorus or some one else
outside the gate, would be somewhat
more suitable to fxaX' tj^uivtos, which
would rather prepare us to expect an
exertion of actual force, as in Od. ■23.
187, where the same words are used ;
but the more violent measure is hardly
likely to have been demanded be-
fore the less violent had been tried,
the words of v. 881 (which, however,
may apply merely to the exclamation
lov lov) imply that he has been speak-
ing to those within, and the word
fioxXos used in connection with a gate,
without further explanation, naturally
indicates the bar for fiistening, (X
very obscure passage, which might
advantageously be considered in con-
nection with this, is Eur. Iph. T. 99,
XaXKorevKTU KXrjdpa Xvcavres fioxXois.)
yvvaLKetos is here of two terminations,
like epK€Los, v. 561. We need not
raise the question of the combination
of Kal — 5^, as 5e is here the connect-
ing particle, and /cat closely connected
with jxdX' T]^u>vToi, like ovSe in the
passage from Homer.
SSo. 8cair€Trpayfx^piov, MSS. Sia-
TreTTpayp.ei'Ci}, Turn., Schol. who inter-
prets T(f a<pa'y€VTt. 01% ws 5', which
K 2
132
XOH^OPOI.
^ y •) t
lOV lOU.
Kcodtoi^ auTO) Ka). KaOeuSovcriv iixaTrjv
OLKpavra (Ba^o). irol J^Xvrai/ULi'ijarTpa ', tl Spa ;
€0iK6 vvv avTri9 eiri^rivov TreXag
av^]V Trea-elcrOai Trpog SUr]}/ TreTrXtjy/uLevo?,
KA. r/ S' ecTTl -^priixa \ rlva jSorjv 'l(TTr]^ SojULoig ', 885
Porson changed into ovx wcr', seems
right, as it is equivalent, as Paley re-
marks, to ovx ^o-Te 5', and there is
some force in the added particle.
Wordsworth ingeniously conj. 01;% (is
5' dprj^ec, following an early sugges-
tion of Harm, oi'x obs 5' dprj^ai. ri
•yap ; like 'quid enim V is used where
a person prej^ares himself to argue a
case, as in Eur. Or. 482, t'l yap ; (piXov
fjLOL warpos icmv 'iyKovos. Hence it
seems to be used where the speaker is
ready to rebut an objection, though
no argument follows, as here and in
Ag. 1 1 39, ov^ev ttot' el fir] ^vvdavov-
fievrjv. tL yap ;
881. Finding no attention paid to
his demand by those within the gate,
he calls out louder, as if resolved to
make himself heard. No answer is
returned, and he exclaims that they
are deaf or asleep. Peile rightly
connects /idTrjv with Kadevdovaiv,
comparing Eum. 94, eildoir' av, (h-rj,
Kal KaOeudovaQv ri del ; So nearly
Wordsworth, ' ita obdormiverunt ut
nullus eorum usus sit,' comparing Eur.
Hipp. 916, w 7r6XX* d[xapTdvQVT€$
dvdpwiroi. p.dTr]v. So also voa-u>v fidTT]v,
Soph. Aj. 635, TL [xdr-qv oix vyiaiveis,
Aristoph. Peace, 95.
882. dKpavra, Ag. 248, Pind. 0.
2. 87. TTOi, above, v. 405.
883. eirl ^vpov, MSS. (^vp6u, G.)
eTTL^rjuov, Abresch. If eTrt ^vpou be
right, we must suppose ^sch. to
have taken the proverbial expression
iirl ^vpov dKfXTJs 'iaTaaOai, j3aivei.u, &c.,
spoken of persons walking on a
narrow edge, and combined with it
the notion of the edge on which Cly-
taemnestra's neck was to fall, as Soph.
Aj. 786, has ^vpel yap iu XPV tovto
fxr] x^^P^*-" "^i-vd. Even then, how-
ever, Tre'Xas would not be clear, being
explicable either of proximity in time,
of proximity to ^gisthus, or of proxi-
mity to the razor's edge. On the
other hand, Abresch's conjecture, on
which AVordsworth seems also to have
fallen, is easy and natural, and agrees
with Ag. 12'JJ, where Cassandra, who
is to die much as ClytEemnestra dies,
anticipates the block.
884. irpbs diKT], Med. Trpbs diKrjv,
Guelf., Rob. Henn. reads BLktjs, but
diKTjv is supported by wpos rjdovrjv,
TTpbs ^iav, irpbs dvdyKrju, &c. The
servant is evidently in the interest of
^gisthus : but even he admits that
the act is just, as being one of retri-
bution.
885—892. Clyt. 'What is the
matter?' Serv. 'The dead are killing
the living.' Clyt. *Ah! I understand
the riddle : give me my axe and I
will try my chance yet : it is the next
step.'
885. Clytsemnestra opens the side-
door from within, and comes out.
^07?;' laravaL occurs Eur. Ijih. T.
1307, Heracl. 656. Here, as Paley
remarks, as in Ag. 1349, /3o^ is a cry
for help.
886. This line and the next are
imitated by Soph. £1. i^'j'j.
XOH^OPOL
133
OI. TOP Twi/ra Kalveiv roug reOptjKorag Xeyoj.
KA. ol ^yco. ^upjjKa Tovirog e^ alpiyjuLarcou.
S6\oi<? oXov/uLeO^ w(Tirep ovv eKreLvajmeu.
Solr] TL<; avSpoKjULyjra ireXeKW cog rd^^og*
eiScoiuev t] viKCOjuev, t] viKw/ueOa.
evTavQa yup ^h tovo cKpLKOfjLrjv KaKou.
890
yap aldddvei wdXai ZcDjras davovcnv
ovveK dvTavdds icra ; A. oi'/tot, ^vprJKa
roviros. \6ycj), the reading of Turn,
and Vett., is supported by the Schol.,
and paralleled by Soph. EL 59, 63,
but Xe7aj is far preferable ; the other
reading, as Schiitz remarks, having
nothing enigmatical about it. Xc'7w
has perhaps somethhig of impatience
in it, as in Ag. 279.
887. otiyu}, MSS. o2 '70?, Canter,
here as in vv. 893, 928. In all three
passages it appears to be an expres-
sion called out by the shock of a new
thought of sorrow. e'f alvLyfidruip
seems to be by means of riddles,
those being the medium of compre-
hension. In Ag. 1 1 12 it has the same
meaning, though not the same diffi-
culty to an English reader, as we more
naturally speak of a riddle as the
source of perplexity than of under-
standing.
888. wcrirep olv, v. 96. For the
general sense of the line, comp. vv.
^74. 556.
889. doirj rts seems equivalent to
56to} tls, as Xi^ot ris, Ag. 945 (comp.
by Peile,) evidently is to Xuerco tls.
There is great plausibility in the sug-
gestion of Abresch that Clyt. asks not
merely for an axe, but for the axe
with which she slew Agamemnon.
She feels herself (v. 891) once more
driven to appear in the character of a
murderess, and it would heighten the
effect to suppose that the very weapon
which she had used then, and then
only, is now to be taken up again.
So in Eur. £1. 279, Eh being asked
whether she would assist in killing
her mother, replies TavT(^ ye TreXe'/cei
ry iraTTjp dTrwXero, The preservation
of the weapon is as natural as that of
the robe, vv. 981 foil, below. If we
could be sure that ^sch., like Soph.
(El. 99) and Eur. {Eec. 1279, EL
160, 279, 1 160), represented the axe
as the weapon with which Agamem-
non was slain, the question might be
considered as decided. But he does
not say so positively, talking merely of
d/x<pLT6/j.ov jSeXe/uLvov {Ag. 1496). The
mention of yEgisthus' sword, v. lOil
below (comp. Ag. 1528), need only
show that ^gisthus took part in the
murder, as Eur. mentions ^l<pecnv
d/x(pLT6p,OLs {EL 164) and d^vOrjKTOj
/Se'Xet {ib. 1159) in connection with
the axe. Here, as elsewhere, the
difficulty is to know how far the
tragic poets followed a received tra-
dition, and how far they may have
simply copied from or even misunder-
stood one another.
890. For 7] see on v. 756.
89 1 . The best comment on this line
is Clyt?emnestra's speech, Ag. 1654
foil. She does not mean merely that
she is unfortunate enough to have her
life threatened, but that her cruel
destiny, which had already driven her
to bloodshed, now impels her to de-
fend herself by force, and so to at-
tack her son as she had attacked his
father.
134
XOH^OPOI.
OP. ere Kal juarevo)' rcfSe S' apKOvPTcog eyei.
KA. oi yu). TeOvrjKa^, (piXTar' Alyla-Oov ^la,
OP. (piXeig Tov avSpa \ TOiyap ev ravrcp Td(p(p
Keicrei. Oavovra S^ ovri jiitj TrpoSwg ttotL 895
KA. eiriory^eg, cb irai, Tovoe o' aioecrai, tckvov,
juacTToVf Trpog w crv iroWa Srj PpiXcov ajULa
ovXoiTLv et^ijjULeX^ag evTpacbeg yaXa.
OP. TlvXdSr], Ti Spd<T(ji) ; fxrirep'' alSea-Oco KTavelv ;
HYAAAHS.
irov or] TO, Xoiird A^o^lov jULavrev juara 9^^
892 — 905. Or, 'You I have to do
with now. I have done with him.'
Clyt. Alas ! so my loved ^gisthus is
dead.' Or. 'Die, then, with him
you love.' Clyt. 'Hold, my child ;
spare the breast which suckled you.'
Or. ' Pylades, ought I to spare V
Pylades. ' No, if you would not make
Apollo your enemy.' Or. 'Right:
come with me, and I will kill you on
the body of him whom you preferred
to my father. '
892. Orestes comes out of the
epKeioi injXac. — ae Kal yttarei^w. It
seems doubtful whether these words
are to be rendered ' I am even
looking for you ' (* not only is your
coming not unseasonable, but,' &c.),
or explained by the trajection of Kai,
a principle which has been maintained
in other passages, such as From. 5r,
and which apparently is not wholly to
be rejected, though in most of the
instances adduced there is something
in the part of the sentence to which
Kai is removed to show that the tra-
jection is not purely arbitrary (e.g.
in Prom. I. c. ^yvcoKa rdlade K0v8eu
K.T.X. probably stands for ^ypcoKU
Tdde Kal rotcrSe k. t. X.). See, however,
Klotz. Devar. 2 pp. 639 foil.
893. (f>i\TaT Aiyiadov ^ia, because
the person spoken of is a man, like
0iXe TeKvov, Od. 7. 157, Ko\\LKO(pdye
BoLwridiop, Aristoph. Ach. 880. So
Porson on Eur. Hec. 297 remarks
that the idiomatic expression was ^irj
'HpaKXeirj oairep. The use of the
masculine form to include the feminine,
like 6\ou>Taio$ dSfirj, Od. 4. 442,
diropwrepos \ri\pLs, Thuc. 5. 110,
though very rare, should also be taken
into account.
895. Keiari, MSS. /ceiVet, Porson.
896. drjaerai, MSS. 5' a'ldeaat,
Sophianus ap. Rob. For the sense of
this and the following lines, Stanley
comp. II. 22. 80, where Hecuba bares
her breast and conjures Hector by it
not to risk his life.
897. ibyjvoruKv, MSS. (^ crv, Rob.
dfMa with part, as in Ag. 1626.
898. For evrpa^es the MSS. of
Tzetzes, Exegesis of II. p. 62. 13,
id. Cliil. 12. 808, gwe €vrp€<pe$,
which Herm. would restore both here
and in Theb. 309, where it is read by
Med. and others, tliough he admits
the uncertainty of the point.
900. Pylades, who is a koj^ov
irpbawirov in the Electras of Soph,
and Eur., is enabled to speak here by
XOH^OPOI.
135
7^1 7rvuo-)^py](TTa, Tricrra o evopKco/uLara ,
awavTag e-)(Opovg tcov Oecou rjyov irKeov.
OP. Kplvco ere vlkclv, Kal irapaiveig julol kuXco^.
CTTov, irpog avTOV Tovoe ere crcbac^aL OeXco'
Kal Tcoj/ra yap vlv Kpelcra-ov' rjyrjcrot) 7rarp6<i'
TOVTO) Oavoucra ^vyKaOevS''' e-Trel (piXel'^
Tov avopa tovtov, ov o e'^p^W (piXecu crTvyeig.
KA. eydo cr^ eOpey^a, vvv Se y^^pdvai OiXco,
905
the withdrawal of the servant after
his speech, vv. 875-884, the same per-
former in fact, as the Schol. remarks,
representing both. A difficulty stiU
remains about his entrance, as we
should have expected him as rpLraycj-
PLarrjs to appear by the side-gate,
while as Py lades he would naturally
come in, as he went out, with Orestes.
TTOu dai, the reading of Med., seems
rightly retained by KL, Herm., and
Paley, as there can be no reason for
excluding from ^sch. a form found
more than once in Eur. — rd XoiTrct,
because part had already been per-
formed by the death of yEgisthus.
With the form of expression Abresch
comp. Eur. Tro. 428, iroO 8' 'AttoWco-
vos X6701 ; Soph. (Ed. T. 916, w ^eujj/
lxauT€v/jiaTa, 'Iv icrre ; ib. 953, crKorreL
Td aefjiu' 'iv rJKet rod deov juLavTev/xara.
901. 5' in a quasi copulative sense,
as in V. 713, where see note. Tlie
evopKuiixara, as the Schol. says, were
doubtless between Orestes and Py-
lades, who had bound themselves to
avenge Agamemnon's death, as Cly-
t^mnestra and ^gisthus had bound
themselves to do the murder together
and to share each other's fate, vv.
977 foil., which Kl. comp. The
breach of their oaths would of course
be visited by the gods who were in-
voked to sanction them, as the neglect
of the oracular injunctions would be
by Apollo ; and hence in the next line
Or. is told to esteem all mankhid
his enemies rather than the gods.
904. TTpbs avTov acpd^ai is prob. to
be explained ' to take you to him and
kill you there ;' but it might also be
accounted for by supposing that
(T(pd^ai itself is intended to convey
the notion of motion, to cut the throat
so that the blood should fall on ^gis-
thus' body.
905. Kp^aaov', MSS. Kpetaaou,
Turn.
906. Abresch comp. Eur. L'l. 1144,
vvficpevaeL be kclv Al5ou 06/xots Qlirep
^vvrjvdes iv (pdei.
908 — 930. Clyt. 'I nursed you:
let me live to be old.' Or. 'What,
live with me, after murdering my
father?' Clyt. 'That was Fate's
doing.' Or. 'And so is this.' Clyt.
'Has a mother's curse no fears for
you?' Or. 'Not a mothers who
cast off her child.' Clyt. 'Cast off!
I sent you to friends.' Or. ' It was
selling a freeborn child into slavery.'
Clyt. ' Why, what price did I get for
you?' Or. 'That I should be
ashamed to remind you of.' Clyt.
' Nay, name your father's faults too.'
Or. 'The wife may not blame the
husband.' Clyt. 'The husband's ab-
sence is the wife's trial.' Or. 'But
the husband's absence brings the wife
bread.' Clyt. ' So you will kill your
13(3
XOHc^OPOI.
OP.
KA.
OP.
KA.
OP.
KA.
OP.
KA.
iraTpoKTOvovcra
yap ^i
vpoiKijcreig 6/ULoc
M
oipa TOVTCOVf CO TCKVov, irapaiTia.
910
Ka\ TOvSe Tolvvv Mor^o' eiropcrvvev jULOpov.
ovSev (Te^it^eL yeveOXiovg apdgf tIkvov ;
T€Kovcra yap /ul^ eppi\^ag e? to SucTTvy^eg.
ovTOL (T^ aireppLyY ^S" oojULOvg oopvt^evovg.
Of^ft)? 67rpaOr]v Sv eXevOepov TraTpog.
irov orjO' 6 TijULog ovtlv^ avreSe^djULtjv ;
9^5
mother.' Or. * It is you that will
kill yourself.' Cli/t. 'Beware of a
mother's Furies,' Or. ' If I spare you,
a father's will be on me.' Clyt. * I
am singing my own dirge in the ears
of my grave.' Or. 'My father's
doom fixes yours.' Clyt. 'Ah! I see:
this was the serpent in my dream.'
Or. 'Yes, the dream was too true.
An unnatural murder brings an un-
natural punishment.'
908. The sense is rightly explained
by Kl., ' As I nursed your childhood,
now I wish to be tended by you in
my old age.' She only asks to grow
old, life being her first wish ; but she
relies on the natural claim of a parent
on a child for maintenance. Or.
understands this, and asks whether
the murderess of his father can be fit
to live with him. Thus there is no
occasion to read avv 5e with Auratus,
if indeed it is not absolutely inap-
plicable, as no instance has been
quoted where avyyrjpdaKCt} is used of
a person growing aged in company
with another who cannot be said to be
growing aged himself, his time of life
not being the same.
909 TrarpoKTOPovaa is to be noted,
not meaning, as might be expected
from the word, 'having killed your
father,' but 'having killed mine.'
There is no difficulty about the tense,
as iraTpoKToveLv is to be a irarpoKTovos.
910. irapalrLos, ^sch. Danaides,
fr. 43. 7. Clyt. does not now venture
to throw the whole blame on Fate,
but merely alleges that it was acces-
sor>^
912. yevedXiovs apds are the curses
of a mother, as atfia yeveOXiov, Eur.
Or. 89. For the identity of the 'Apd
with the 'EpLvvs see Miiller, § 77.
Paley appositely refers to Ag. -236, to
show that the imprecations of a dying
person had peculiar power, ae^i^y
MSS. ae^i^eL, Person.
914. ovK ecTTLV diropplxpai to dopv^e-
voLs eKdovvai irpbs dvaTpo(pr)v. Schol.
So Strophius, Ag. 880, is called
€VfxevT]s dopv^evos.
915. The meaning apparently is,
that Orestes' condition had been ana-
logous to that of one who is torn from
his home and sold as a slave, and
this though he was not, as Soph.,
(Ed. T. 1062, expresses it, Tphrjs
fiTjTpbs rpidovXos, but the son of a free
man. So in the parallel passage, vv.
133 foil., Electra speaks of herself and
her brother as in a manner {ircos) sold
into slavery, the one as being treated
with indignity at home, the other as
being an outcast from his property.
Clyt. seemingly wishes to repel the
charge by pointing out that the me-
taphor halts, when she is met by an
unexpected retort. Sixws is difficult
to explain, as it could not well mean
XOH$OPOI.
137
OP. aia-^vi/ojULal crov tovt'' opeioicrai (Ta<i>w<i.
ivA. fjLaW^ e'ld)^ ojuLOicog Ka). iraTOO^ tov crov ixaTa^.
OP. fj}] 'Xe'y^e tov 'kovovvt ecrco KaOtjimevr].
KA. aXyog yvvait^lv ajvopo? e'lpyecrOai, tckvov. Q)20
OP. Tpe(p€L oe y' avopo^ julo'^Oo'^ i][JLeva<s ecrw.
* away from my home, ' though dixa
might, while Schiitz's explanation of
the double sale, the removal of himself
from home, and the appropriation of
his father's property, is not very na-
tural, (The conjectures that have
been proposed, atVxyows (Heath),
dolKcos or otft:cDs (Bothe), would rather
enfeeble the passage.)
917. (TOV seems rightly defended by
Wordsworth, who comp. tovt6 fiov
diajSaWeL Dem. p. 234, rbv reLXi-criJiov
TovTov bv (TV fxov 8i€(Tvp€s, ^'6. p. 325,
and the similar uses of eiraLvdv, dya-
aduL, Oavj-id'^eLv. In some of these
instances, as here, it is not clear
whether the genitive belongs more to
the verb or to the accusative. In the
present case the position of the words
is rather in favour of the former, but
there seems no reason to doubt the
admissibility of the latter construction,
though it is questioned by Paley.
918. fiT] dW MSS. iidW Dind.,
whom see on Aristoph. Frogs 103,
Birds 109. The phrase occurs re-
peatedly in Aristoph., generally in a
negative answer to a question, and
apparently answers to our ' nay,
but.' Photius p. 244, I, as amended
by Dobree, has fxdWa' dvrl tov ovk
dWd. Here Herm. omits fii^. sup-
posing it to have been introduced
from the opening of the next line ;
but this seems hardly ground enough.
udras, of criminal passion, like
fxdraLos, Suj^p. 229,
919. For the sense of ttoz/oujt' see
note on v. 138, where some of the
passages referred to will also illustrate
the correlative, ^crw Kadr^fievrf, the de-
scription of the woman. Hence the
sting of the reproach in Pers. 755,
TOV 8' dvavbplas VTro"l^v8ou aix/J-d^eiv
(see on v. 630), and again in Soph.
M. 1241, where Electra declares that
she is not afraid of irepKrabv a%^os hSov
yvvaiKQv dv dei, and is reminded that
so far from her mother's being a mere
useless load of stay-at-home woman-
kind, she has shown that even a
woman can fight, kup yvuai^iv ws
"AprjS 'ive(TTLV (comp. Msch. Siipp.
749, Ag. 78). With this line and v.
921 Peile and Wordsworth well comp.
Shakspere, Taming of the Shrew, Act
5. Sc. 2, — 'Thy husband Is thy lord,
thy life, thy keeper. Thy head, thy
sovereign ; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his
body To painful labour both by sea
and land, While thou liest warm at
home, secure and safe.'
920. Clyt. in effect replies that the
very thing which is supposed to place
her husband beyond criticism, his
going abi-oad to labour, constitutes her
justification as tearing him away from
her. Comp. her own words, Ag.
861, 2.
921. Orestes' words contain some-
thing of the rejiroach of Hes. Theog.
598 (quoted by Abresch), where
women are compared to drones, oi S'
^vToade /xevovTes cTrrjpecpeas /card (tI/j.-
/3\oi/s 'AWdTpiov KdfiaTov cFcpeT^prjv
ei's yacTT^p' dfiCovTai. The plural Tjfxi-
pas may be used generally, or it may
138
XOH<J>OPOI.
KA. KTCvetv €0iKag, w tgkvov, Trjv juL}]Tepa,
OP. (TV TOL (TeavTyjVi ovk e'^co, Acara/crem?.
KA. O|0a, (pvXa^aL jun^rpog eyKOTOvg Kvvag.
OP. Tag Tov warpog Se ttco? (pvyco, irapeig raSe ;
KA. eoiKa Opyivelv Xoocra irpog tvix^ov jULOLTtjv.
OP. Trarpog yap atcra TovSe o-ovpi'^ei jULopov.
925
denote the female part of the house-
hold, daughters and women-slaves,
over whom the wife presides, like An-
dromache, II. 6. 491, 498, and Cly-
tsemnestra herself, Eur. Iph. A. 731,
where Agamemnon bids her xwpei
7rpbs''Apyos vapdevovs re TrjfieXei (see
also V. 738). ye throws the emphasis
on rpecpei, de being adversative. Klotz
Devar. 2. p. 334.
922. While apparently resigning
herself to her fate, Clyt. expresses her-
self so as to remind Or. of the un-
natural act he is about to commit.
So KL, who comp. Eur. Or. 825,
BavcLTOv T dp.(f)l (pojSip Twdapls idxw^
ToKaLva' TeKvov, ov roXp-as oaia
KTeivoov TCLV (jdv p.aT€pa.
923. Soph, apparently imitates the
form of expression, El. 624, av rot
XeyeLS vlv, ovk eyu}.
924. /fwes of Furies, v. 1054, The
comparison is drawn out, Euvi. 131, 2,
246, 7 — Hecate and the Furies were
represented with heads of dogs, and
had dogs to attend them, as Words-
worth remarks, referring to Theocr.
2. 12, 35. Eur. calls the Furies
KWiLircdes, Eur. Or. 254, El. 1249,
INIiiller, § 93, thinks that 'the long
pendant tongue of the Gorgoneum
was most likely the main type where-
by their resemblance to hounds was
expressed.' He also remarks, § 78,
that 'such expressions as the Erinnyes
of the mother (used also by Hom. II.
21.412, Od. II. 2 So) serve to show
how little the original use of the word
warrants the notion of a definite num-
ber of Erinnyes,' and observes that
* the number three can no more be es-
tablished on the authority of any poet
prior to Euripides, than the mention
of the well-known names, Alecto,
Tisiphone, and Megsera, can be found
in any writers prior to the Alexan-
drines. ' The Erinuys was in fact, as
we have seen, the 'Xpd, or the curse
endowed with personality.
925. For the sense comp. the whole
passage, vv. 278 foil., where, as there
remarked, the visitations in the case
of neglected vengeance are like those
in the case of actual murder, irapels,
as in V. 1032.
926. Two expressions are combined,
as Kl. rightly remarks, that of crying
to a tomb, i.e., to one who cannot or
will not hear, for which the Schol.
quotes a proverb, [ravTo] (a word
very plausibly inserted by Paley) irph^
Tvp-^ov re KXaieiv koI irpcs dvbpa
vrjTTLOv, and that of singing one's own
dirge, which occurs also Aff. 1322,
a7ra| er' eiireiv pijacv rj dprjvov deXuj
'Ep.bu TOV avTTJs, Supp. 116, ^tDcra
76045 p.e TLp.U).
927. a' bpl^ei, MSS., aovpi^et,
Elmsley, who intended by it aoi opii^et.
Blomf. resolves it into aot ovpl^ei,
which would be supported by ovpiaas
(pdos, V. 319. But opitei seems
better, the sense apparently being that
the destiny of Agamemnon determines
that of Clytaemnestra, that as she
chose to involve her fate with his by
XOH^OPOI.
139
KA.
OP.
XO.
yoi. T€Kovcra Tovi
ovS'' o(piv €Ope\^ufX}]v.
rj Kapra jmavTig ov^ opeiparwu (p6Po<s.
cKave^ y' ov ov Xi^'^^» '^^^ '^^ A^^ XP^^^ '^^^
(TTevoo fxev ovv Koi TcovSe crvixcpopav SiirXiji'.
eirel Se ttoWcov aijULarcov CTr^Kpicre
TXrjfJLwv 'OjOecTT?/?, TovO' ojuLcog alpov/LLcOa,
930
becoming his murderess, slie now is to
bear the appointed consequence. aoL
then is emphatic in opposition to
TTUTpos, SO that -^sch. could not have
written opt^et <Toi, though Eur. Lph.
A. 1-212, where no emphasis is in-
tended, has ioad"^ ofxaprelv /xol irerpas.
Ehnsley comp. aovTn.crdev, Aristoph.
T/iesm. 165.
928. Whether Clytsemnestra's ex-
clamation (see on v. 887) is called
forth by any action on the part of
Orestes, who immediately afterwards
brings the scene to a close, or by the
sudden thought of her dream, is not
clear. The emphasis of the line is
perhaps best brought out by Peile's
version, 'this is the serpent that I
bare and suckled.'
929. The MSS. give this line to
Or., the next to Clyt. Stanley, who
first restored the latter to its owner,
gave the former to Clyt. Kl., how-
ever, saw that both belonged to Or.,
who finishes the aTixo/xvdia with a
couplet, as in Ewm. 607, Prom. 780,
2'hcb. 105 1, Sapp. 322. Spoken by
Orestes, the present line gains in-
finitely in force, as it must be a further
pang to Clyt. to find that he knows of
her terrible dream. With the ex-
pression comp. vv. 32, 3.
950. Kdpes, MSS. ^Kuves, Heath.
The correction seems necessary, as
here at least no case can be made out
for the omission of the augment, 7',
wliich Herm. omits, is not a mere
metrical prop, but serves to bring
out ^Kaves into prominence. — Exit
Orestes with Clytsemnestra by the
principal door.
931-934. Ch. ' While pitying the
dead, we give our voice for Orestes,
as the one hope of the house.'
931. The Chorus appears to be
sobered by the arrival of an event it
had previously desired, and now ex-
presses its sympathy with Orestes in
more qualified language, merely
hoping that in consideration of the
many bloody deeds which had des-
troyed the family he may be spared
from retributive destruction.
932. ttoWcDj' is emphatic, equally
with, if not more so than, iirrjKpiaeu.
The line of murders is a long one, and
Orestes has added the last link to it.
eTraKpi^o) apparently occurs nowhere
else, but e^aKpi'^oj and vire^aKpi^oj
occur as transitive verbs (Eur. Or.
275, Bacch. 677) with the general
sense of getting to the top, though
in diff'erent constructions. Here the
gen. may be accounted for by supposing
iiraKpl^etv, as used by ^sch., to be
parallel to icptKueTadac. So Orestes,
in Ag. 1283, is prophesied of ascoming
aras rdade dpL-yKwawv 0t\ots, where
the thought is the same, but not the
image.
933. TXrifxcou 'Op^cxTrjs, Soph. £1.
602, Eur. EL 850. aipovfMai, ' I
make my choice,' is used frequently
in ^sch. of choosing or closing
with a piece of fortune, nearly Hke
the Latin opto. See v. 551, and the
140
XOH<J>OPOL
ocpOaXjuLov oiKOdv jULt] TTavcoXeOpov Trecreiv.
ejuioXe fjLev SUa UpiajuilSaig XP^^'^P^ ^api'SiKog
TToivd' 935
cjULoXe S' €9 SojULOV rov "'AyaiuLejuvovog
ciirXovg Xecov, SiirXovg "Aptjg.
passages there referred to. {ahoi-
fieOa, Musgrave's correction, preferred
by Harm, and Biomf., would only
make the expression less idiomatic.)
934. The lot which the Chorus
accepts is the rescue of the last hope
of the house from utter ruin. This
includes both an acquiescence in the
past, and a desire for the future, that
Orestes may neither be destroyed by
his mother's Furies, nor doomed to
death by the judges of blood. The
words 6(p6a\fibv olkcov, as Paley re-
marks, are parallel to Pers. 168, where
the language is evidently meant to be
oriental, but they have also a counter-
part in Pind. 0. 6. 16, Todeoj (XTpaTias
6<pda\/xbu ifids, ~Eu.r.A7Hl. 406, ets Trats
65'' ^v fxoL XoLTos, 6(p6a\fji6s ^lov. See
also on V. 2 38. Here the notion seems
to be that of a single eye, 'puerunicus,
ut Polyphemi lata acies,' the extinc-
tion of which would plunge the whole
body into darkness.
935 — 972. 'Agamemnon wrought
vengeance on the house of Priam :
murder entered his own house : but
Orestes recovers all. Shout for our
deliverance from the guilty spoilers !
Vengeance comes on them in secret,
and Heaven's justice with her, her
halting steps sped by Loxias. It is
time to worship — the reign of tyranny
is over ; the house rises from its
downfall, its stains will soon be
cleansed, and fortune once more shall
smile upon our masters.'
In this Chorus both the thought
and the cast of the diction are suffi-
ciently -^schylean, nor do there
appear to be many corruptions of lan-
guage, but the metrical arrangement
presents much difficulty. Possibly,
as has been intimated on vv. 153 —
163, the rule of syllabic correspon-
dence may not be imperative in doch-
miacs ; but even with this allowance
no scheme can be proposed which
would agree precisely with the text
as it stands, and everything beyond
is mere conjecture, interfering as it
does with words otherwise above
suspicion. The only point that can
be regarded as absolutely clear, is that
vv. 935 — 941 answer tow. 946 — 952.
935 — 939. The most satisfactory
explanation of this passage seems to
be that given by Peile and Bamb.,
who understand vv. 938, 9 of yEgis-
thus and Clytsemnestra. Like Cas-
sandra, Ag. 1286 foil., the Trojan
captives who form the Chorus natu-
rally dwell on the visitation that fell
on their city, and the death that
overtook the conqueror ; and this
forms an appropriate introduction to
their celebration of Orestes, who has
recovered the wealth which, aug-
mented by the spoils of Troy, passed
from the hands of Agamemnon into
those of his murderers. (Comp. Eur.
El. 313 foil., where it is made a
special charge against Clyt., that she
sits among Phrygian spoils, attended
by Asiatic slaves in the costume of
Ida, the captives of Agamemnon.)
This sense of 5nr\ovs Xeuv is con-
firmed by avficpopav dnrXrju imme-
XOH^OPOL
141
eXa^e o eg to irav 6 7rvOo'\(^pi](TTag (bvyag
OeoOev ev (ppaoalcriv wojULrjjuievog,
€7roXo\vt^aT^ w oecriTOcrvviav oojulcou
ava(puyas kukwu Kal Kreavwv Tpi/3ag
940
dlately above, v. 931, ttjv BitXtju
rvpavpida below, v. 973. ^gisthus
is called a lion, though a dastard
one, i.e., a cowardly destroyer, Ag.
1224, Clyt. a lioness, ib. 1258. "Aprjs
is used of the usurpers, v. 461, while
in Eum. 355 "Aprjs ridaaos is domestic
murder. They are said to have
entered the house just as murder or
the Erinnys might be said to enter
the house, though elsewhere from a
different point of view they are de-
scribed in stricter language as oiKovpoi
of Agamemnon. From the apparent
imitation in Eur. Or. 1400, ^Xdov es
dofxovs . . . XeovTcs "EXXai/es 8vo dcdv-
/Aw, it is probable that Eur., like the
Schol. and most of the editors, under-
stood the words of Orestes and Py-
lades ; but there is no reason for re-
garding his authority as final on a
question like this, which is not one of
Greek usage or Greek feeling, any
more than Aristoph. would seem to
be on the opening lines of the play ;
and the view, though natural in Eur.,
who makes Pylades an actual sharer
in the murder, would not be appro-
pi'iate to ^Esch., who has lately
dwelt on the position of Orestes as
single-handed, v. 866. The interpre-
tation of Kl., who supposes the double
slaughter of Agamemnon and Clyt. to
be meant, would suit the general
sense sufficiently well, but hardly
;i,grees with the particular words,
which would more naturally denote
some combined or simultaneous acts
of violence. x/)6j'y is supposed by
Paley, who takes the view of the
ISohol., to contain the point of the
comparison, but it would probably
have been placed earlier in the sen-
tence, if not repeated, had it been
meant to be emphatic.
940. Aa/ce, MSS. ^Xaxe, Schiitz.
^Xaxe 5' es rb Trap is a natural ex-
pression for Or. receiving the vay-
KKrjpla. So Astyanax is addressed
Eur. Tro. 1192 as iraTpi^uv ov \axdiv.
The words, too, agree with 6 irvdo-
XPVO'ras (pvyds, as Or. has been
already described as e/c Xf>VI^<^T(^^
4>€vyoov, v. 135, and Apollo in urging
him to vengeance seems to have re-
minded him of his lost inheritance,
vv. 274, 5. Aa/3e, which was at one
time supposed to be the reading of
Med. from the similar manner in
which /3 and k are there written,
would be less appropriate. The
Schol. is generally believed to have
read ijXaae from his gloss ^Xaaev 5^
els TO TeXos rod 8p6/xov, 6 ecTiv ijvv<Te
Tov dyQva, but it may be questioned
whether he had not fallen into the
same error as Stanley, who, in his
Curce SecundcB says, ' ^Aa/ce pro
iXrjXaKe,'
941. deoOev, prob. with (ppa8a7aLP,
being nearly equivalent to 6eQu, as
■Karpbdev, Ag. 1508, to irarpos. cd,
seemingly with wpfxr]fj.iuos, ' sped on
his way auspiciously.' (ppadaicTLVj
Bum. 245, (ppadalaf jSovXais, Hesych.
eiicppadaTaiv, MSS. ei5 (ppa5a?aiv,
Seidler, Herm.
942. iiroXoXv^drci), MSS. iwoXo-
Xv^ctr' S), Seidler. dopLOJU is con-
structed with dpa<f>vyds as well as
kckQu, though in a diffei-ent sense.
943. TpijSds, MSS. Tyoi^as, Stanley.
142
XOH^OPOL
VTTO Svoiu juLiaa-Topoiv Svcroliuiov Tv')(a<s. 945
e/uLoXe S' M fxeXei KpuTrraSlov /xa^a? oo\i6(ppcov iroiva,
"With the sense, comp. v, 137 above,
Soph. El. 1290, iraTp^iav KTrjacv
Atytados So/jluv 'AvrXeT, to, 5' e^x",
TO. dk diacTirelpei. fidrriv.
945. doiolv, Med. 5vo7v, Guelf.
fxtaaTopoiv of Clyt. and JEg. as mur-
derers, as Clyt. is ailed fiiafffia below,
V. 1028, Ag. 1645. As adulterers,
they are called aicx^vTripes or Karai-
cX^vTTJpes, V. 990, Ag. 1363. It is
doubted whether Svaoifios is from
oT/xos in the sense of a way, as the
Schol. takes it, or from oTjUos or o'i/jlt}
in the sense of a song, which Blomf.
prefers. It seems slightly more
Greek to put dva-oi/xov rvxas in appo-
sition to KaKwv Kal Tpi^cis, than to
construct it with viro.
946. There is considerable difficulty
in determining the sense of these
words. As the text stands, it is open
to connect <^ with HoLvd, the masc.
being used because Orestes is per-
sonified, to refer the clause <^ — f^dxas
to the crafty murderers on whom
crafty vengeance has come, and to
connect iroivd with /icixas, making
the whole (^ — iroivd the subject of
^fMoXe, ' he whose care is the crafty
punishment of treacherous strife,' pro-
bably Hermes. The second, which
is the view of the Schol., on the whole
seems liable to the fewest objections.
With (^ fJLeXeL KpvTrradiov fidxn-s, then,
we may comp. Etim. 350 (referred to
on vv. 935-939), and (if we suppose
<^ to refer specifically to ^gisthus)
Soph. El. 302, 6 (7VV yvvuL^i rds //.ctxas
TToiovfiepos, and the Homeric epithet
of ^gisthus, avaXKLs. The general
sense of retaliating craft}' murder by
crafty murder needs no illustration.
(Neither Auratus' 9 nor H. L.
Ahrens' 'Eppids for iroivd are unlikely
in themselves, though the latter is of
course infinitely the bolder of the two :
but the MS. reading as just explained
seems sound.)
948. 5^ p^dxa, MSS. S' iv /J-dxg.,
Pauw. There can scarcely be a doubt
of the truth of the correction, but
the sense of the line has yet to be
cleared up. No example of dijydveiv
Xfp^s has been quoted in any other
sense than that of touching the hand
in friendship or in supplication,
whereas the context seems to require
the mention of some act which might
take place in the heat of combat.
Wordsworth joins /idx? X^P°^) which
he regards as the opposite of p-dxri
dopos, but he does not explain how
^diye is to be understood. The words
of the Schol. 17 de Alos dvydrrip 7} ALkt]
irdpecTLV {irapeaTr) ?) eV rrj Trpos
MyiaOov fidxv Kal €(pri\paTO tov ^i<povs,
might tempt us to conjecture that he
read hopos, though the necessity of
separating words so constantly found
together as p-dxi] dopos would be an
objection to the reading. iTriTv/j.os,
the MSS. reading, seems at least as
good as Scaliger's iTr]TVfj.u}s. Trais
errjTv/jLOS yey dis occurs Soph. Track.
1064, and there is force in saying that
the Justice which assisted in the
death of ^gisthus was the true child
of Zeus, as the expression implies
that the act of retribution was strictly
just. So in Tlieh. 670 Eteocles says
that if Justice were to ally herself
with a man like Polynices, she would
belie her name. Wordsworth comp.
Eii^m. 534, dvaae^ias fxh vjSpis re/cos
XOH<l>OPOI.
143
Afo? Kopa A.iKav oe viv
'TrpocayopevojuLev ^poTol rf^oVre? KaXwg-
oXiOpiov TTveovar^ ev €-)^6poig kotov
Tavirep 6 A^oc^iag 6 TLapvacrio^,
fxeyav €)(^oov jULvyov -^Oovo^ "{"ex' o-^^Oei
i-a^ev aSoXct)? SoXia^
PXairTOfxevav ')(^povi(T6ela-av eirol-^^erai,
Kparelral tto)? to Oelov irapa to (xtj
951
955
wj €T}jfjLU}$, Soph. Track. 827, ry
Albs avToiraidi.
950. 7] Aios irapdevos Alkt], Theb.
662.
951. Tvxovres KaXus, when we are
so fortunate as to hit the right name,
the names by which the gods chose to
be addressed being a matter of im-
portance and sometimes of difficulty
to discover. Kl, refers to Ag. i6r
foil. ri'7xdi'0/iev irpoaayopevovTes,
the more usual form of expression in
-^sch. (see vv. 318, 418, above, &c.),
would not mean quite the same thing,
containing a positive rather than a
hypothetical assertion.
952. TTveovcr' ev ex^pois kotov, like
^epova' ev 7][uv virvov, Ag. 1450, a
verb implying motion, taking after it
a preposition expressing rest.
955 — 957. Tairep, MSS. Tavirep,
Herm. XP^^^'-^ deXaav, MSS. %/50J't-
aOelcrav, Herm. There are, of course,
other corruptions in the passage, but
no correction has been proposed
which can be called indisputable, and
tlie uncertainty of the metre forbids
much speculation. Paley's Ilap-
vacra-ias and eiropdid^oiv (used of
Loxias, like e^opdid^cov, v. 271) and
Klausen's dSoXots doXois are plausible.
Whether doXias is the reading of Med.
as well as Guelf., is doubtful ; Franz's
collation differing from the rest in
giving SoXiav, which may also have
been read by the Schol. SoXiav would
suit the sense, and might be adjusted
to the dochmiac measure by synizesis
(see on v. 334), though the limits
within which this expedient may be
applied are yet undetermined. The
general meaning of the passage seems
plain, Tdvirep referring to Justice,
whose halting steps Apollo is said to
hasten. eiroLxecOaL is used II. 5.
720, of Pallas when harnessing her
horses, ih. 16. 155 (both quoted by
Peile), of Achilles when arming the
Myrmidons, not to mention its use
with an ace. of a thing, such as ^pyov,
which may have been in the mind of
JE^iich.., who need not have looked on
AUri exclusively as a person. With
this latter shade of meaning, comp.
the expression blKrjv eire^eXdelv.
fSXaiTTOfjievav seems to be used rather
than ^XajSeicrav, because the sense re-
quired is not so much 'disabled' as
'halting,' though the present par-
ticiple, strictly speaking, would only
denote that the laming was still going
on.
958. The vulgate appears to make
neither sense nor metre, but no un-
doubted correction has been sug-
gested. To render it ' Divine Power
is under a law not to support the
guilty,' would seemingly necessitate
the omission of wapd. If, on the
other hand, we read irdpa, with AVell.,
144
XOH^OPOI.
vTTOvpyeiv KaKoi^,
a^LOv S' ovpavovyov ap-^av <rej3eiv,
irdpa TO (pcog iSelv.
imeya S' acjyrjpeO}] -^aXiov fo'iKoop,
ava ye fxav, Sojulol' iroXvv ayav "^povov
-^ajULaLTrereig eKeLcrO' aet.
TCL-^a Se TravreXrjg yjpovo^ aixel^erai
TTpoOvpa Sw/uLaTCOv, orav a(p* ea-rlas
960
96;
"Wordsworth, and Dyer {Tentamina
jEschylea, p. 14), KpareiTac would
require alterations, as the naked
statement that the deity is in some
way restrained would have no rele-
vancy to the context. If only the
sense were considered, Kparei re ... .
irdpa re would be an easy change,
though the qualifying ttws agrees
better with KpaTeLTai.. But no remedy
can be satisfactory which does not
deal with the metre, and this is not
to be attempted by unwarranted ad-
ditions and omissions.
960. Hermann's a^ta 5' and Wel-
lauer's a^i.ov are both probable, more
so perhaps than the hypothesis of a
synizesis, which the existing text re-
quires.
961. re 0WS, MSS. rh <pu)s, Turn.,
as in V. 972, where the MSS. have
t6.
962. fxeyav, MSS. p-^ya, Porson,
which was the original reading of
Guelf., though that would seem to
have no independent authority. The
sense of the line is sufficiently good,
the Chorus asserting that it has been
freed from the great bit which the
house used to wear. Stanley's
d(f)'ripedr], though simpler, would not
be a necessary correction. But a
cretic is wanted in the place of olkujv
to complete the metre. olKerCov, the
conjecture of Franz and Herm., is
exceedingly plausible, agreeing well
with vv. 75 foil., and accounting for
d(prip^d7]v. Yet the thought it con-
tains, the removal of constraint from
the household slaves, is scarcely so
great as that conveyed by the MSS.
reading, the liberation of the house
itself. p.€ya \pd\i.ov like a-rdp-iov p-eya,
^9' 133-
963. dvayepudv, MSS. dva ye p.dv,
Heath. The restoration is clearly
right, but the force of ye p.dv (objected
to by Herm., who reads dvaye) is not
obvious. Perhaps we may say that
there is something of impatience in it,
the Chorus, as it were, cutting short
its own reflections. * Arise, however,
ye halls.' 56/iOis, MSS. 56^oi, Herm.
Blomf. comp. li. 18. 179, dXK dva,
firjd' '4ri. Kelcro.
964. xayu.at7rere?(re Kelad' MSS.
Xap-anrereh ^Keiad', Well.
965. It is difficult to decide be-
tween the active and passive senses of
TravTeXrjs, but the former seems more
forcible, 'Time, that brings all to
pass, wiU do this,' the omnipotence
of time being frequently dwelt on in
different relations, e.g. Eum. 286, in
relation to this very matter of purifi-
cation. So ZeO irdrep TravreXes,
Theb. 117. 'Time will cross the
threshold ' merely means ' the house
will see a time.'
966. dp.(p', Med. d(p', Guelf.
XOU^OFOh
145
lxv(T0<5 irav eXacrr}
KaOapjuoig jfaTrap eXar/jpiov.
Tvyat ^' €V7rpo(70)7roKoiTaL TO iruv
tSeii/ CLKOva-ai "fOpeojuevoig
/xeroiKoig Sojucjov irea-ovvrat iraXiv.
irapa to (pcog loeii/.
OP. 'io€crOe "X^oopa^ Ttjv onrXtjv Tvpavvl^a
970
967. The subject of iXdcrri appears
to be diL/xara, as time is to cross the
threshold only when the purification
has been accomplished. Elsewhere,
as in Eum. I. c. time is represented as
himself the purifier, but the present
image virtually comes to the same
thing. With eXdarj comp. Eum. 2S3,
[xlaafxa . . . Kadap/xo7s rjXddy] x'^'-P^'
KTovoLs. Possibly eXad'y may be the
reading here.
968. dirap eXarripiov, the unmetrical
and awkwardly expressed reading of
the MSS., has been changed by
Schiitz into draj' iXaTrjpiois, Kadap-
IxotffLv being substituted for KaOapfxols.
If this emendation is right, as it pi'O-
bably is, we must suppose that the
concluding letters of eXaTrjpiois had
become obliterated, and were wrongly
supplied, as must have been the case
in V. 15 (note). But the occurrence
of iXarrjpLos immediately after eXdcr^
(paralleled however by epeTixo2(nv
ipeaabp-evoi, Ag. 52) may perhaps
tempt us to hazard a conjecture that
the reading may have been KaOap-
p.o2(TLV drdv dXiTrjpicou, the gen. de-
pending on fjivaos. Kadap/xoh /xardv
oXeLTTjpiojv or dXoLT-qplwv might also
be suggested, if it were certain that
either of those forms (on which see
Herm. on Soph. (Ed. C. 372) had
any existence.
969 — 971. rvxoL S* evTrpocrcoiruiKol-
rai, Med., rvx^- 5' einrpoauiroKolTq,,
Herm,, rvxai 5' einrpoaojiroKolTai,
Scholef,, juerotKodofxcou, Med., /zeroi-
Kois 86jj,u}u, Schiitz. The true reading
so fiir is established by the parallelism
of vv. 783 — 7S6, where see the note.
dpeofiePOLs is still uncorrected, though
fj.aiofi^yois there makes it probable
that Stanley was right in suggesting
6' UfiepoLS. But the sense is still
doubtful, as it is not certain whether
Idelv aKoua-ai is epexegetical or depen-
dent on the participle preceding it,
nor again whether to irdv is adverbial
or the object of the infinitives. The
credit of restoring the compound
evTrpoaioTTOKOLTrjs is of course due to
Herm. With the first part of it we
may comp. evp-opcpov Kpdros, v. 490.
'ilie latter part is a metaphor from
dice, KecaOac being the correlative of
iriiTTeLv, though no other instance is
quoted of this particular application
of either substantive or verb. For a
similar image, comp. Ag. 32. /ul€tol-
Kocs are Orestes and Electra, the new
inhabitants or settlers in the palace.
In a different sense in Soph. El. 189
Electra complains of herself, dW
direpei tis ^ttoikos dua^la otKOfo/xCj
daXdfxovs Trarpos.
973—1006. Or. 'See, here are the
usurpers and murderers united in
death as in life. See, too, here is the
robe by means of which they slew my
father. Spread it out to the Sun,
that he may see it also, and attest the
146
XOH$OPOI.
iraTpoKTovovg re Sco/marcov TropO^ropag.
ore/uivo). jUiev ^](Tav ev Opovoig toO' rjiMevoi,
(blXoL re Kal vvv, w? eireiKacrai iraOi]
irapea-TLV, opKog r' efxjuipei TTKrrciofxao-L.
^vvijo/uLocrav julcv Oavarov aOXiw Trarpl
Kal ^vvOaveicrOar Ka\ rao^ evopKcog e-^ei.
loecr
Oe S'
aure, tcouo ewrjKOOL KaKcov,
975
980
justice of my vengeance on my mother
(for I need not clear myself about
j3i]gisthus' death) : but she, the mur-
dei'ess of her husband, was ever mon-
ster more noxious ? Net or winding-
sheet, it is an implement for a robber.
Rather than wed such a partner, let
me die childless.'
973. Orestes is at first triumphant,
as he points to the bodies. Then, as
he turns to the robe in which his
father was slain, he begins to feel that
he must stand on his defence for what
he has done. The bodies are doubt-
less disclosed as that of Agamemnon
is in the preceding play, whether by
the eKKVK\r]/xa or by the opening of
the gates. (Paley urges that the
bodies need not have been shown, but
the exhibition adds much to the force
of the speech, as it must have done to
the scenic effect.)
974. iraTpoKTdvovs. See on v. 909.
dw/xdroiv TTopdrjTopas is doubtless
general, like Xv/xavrripLOv o'lkwv, v.
764, including both the murder and
the wasting of substance.
975. fiev is followed by re, as in
Theh. 924, 5 (comp. by Paley), a
transition, as Herm. there remarks,
from the disjunctive to the conjunctive
form of expression. With the line
generally, Paley comp. Hdt. 2. 173, <rk
yap XPW ^^ Opovcp ae/xvc^ aefMvbv 6o)K€-
Q-jTO. hC 7]fxepT]s Trpr]a(T€Lv to, 7rpriy/.iara.
976. irddr] after iireiKdcrai, express-
ing the object of the guess : see v. 14.
The words seem to mean, ' as one may
read their fate by conjecture,' i.e.
conjecture that their fate is that of
those who loved each other, not, as
Kl, explains, and Lidd. and Scott
appear to think, ' as one may compare
their fates.' In other words, eTret-
/cct^w has its ordinary sense of likening
a thing, or saying what it is like,
which is equivalent to guessing.
977. As men are said to abide by
an oath, i/ji/xeveiu opKip, the oath is
said here to abide by its pledges.
978. deXiws, MSS., ddXiq}, Portus.
The former might be defended (see on
V. 434), but not against the latter,
which V. 981 seems to make quite
certain. The occurrence of evopKCJS
in the same position in the next verse
sufficiently accounts for the error.
979, 'To die together,' i.e. in the
event of failure, as Kl. explains it.
This, Or. says, has come to pass. The
expression is rather awkward: ^vvu-
lioaav ddvaTov, however, sufficiently
implies that the death was to be in-
flicted jointly, while it was necessary
to express that the death which they
bound themselves to meet, if need
were, was a common one. rdb ' refers
to the whole subject of the ^wwixoaia,
Kal answering to fx^v, for which see
Jelf, § 766.
980, i-rrrjKoos here and in Ag. 1420
seems to have a semi-judicial sense.
XOH<I>OPOI.
147
TO ixy^yavrifjiai SecrjULOi/ aOXiw irarpl,
'TreSag re -^eipoiv Ka\ ttoSolv ^vvoopiSa,
eKTelvar^ avTov kol kvkXm TrapacrraSov
(Triyaa-rpov avSpog Sel^aO', wg 'iSrj irartjp,
ov-^ ovjULog, aW 6 iravT^ eTroirrevoov rdSe
''H\fo?, avayva /uLrjrpog epya rrjg ejurj^,
ft)? av Traprj ij.ol fxaprvg ev SiKt] Trore,
ft)? TovS'' iyo) /merijXOov evSiKwg juopov
Tov fxtjrpog' AiylcrOov yap ov yjreyoo /ixopop'
e-^ei yap ai(T)(yvTyjpog, cog i/ojulou, SiKtjp'
985
990
'taking cognizance of.' rcDfSe kukwv
then would mean the whole tragedy,
including both Agamemnon's death
and those of his murderers.
981. /xTjxctJ'Tj/xa, Ag. 1127, where it
probably denotes the same robe.
982. ireoas, v. 493. ^vvoopis is
generally used of the things which
constitute a couple, here of the thing
which couples, Paley refers to v.
1000, iroSicTT'Tjpas TreirXov^..
983. avTou doubtless refers to 5e-
crfMov, though Auratus' avrd would be
an extremely easy change. eKTelvar is
probably addressed to his attendants,
as Herm. explains it, not to the
Chorus.
984. (TTeyaarpov, elsewhere, as in
fr, inc. 357, a covering, seems
here equivalent to areyavdv diKTvov,
Ag. 358, (TTeyaarpov avdpos, like dvopbs
a (pay eHoVfih. 1092, dv8p6s 0])^. to drjpos.
985. 'H^Xtos OS TOLVT icpopa /cat
TrdvT^ ewaKOvei, II. 3. 277.
986. &vayva ^pya is constructed
with I'Stj, not with eTroirTe^icav. The
Sun is to see Clytsemnestra's handi-
work, that he may be able to give
evidence in her case.
987. It is doubtful whether -^sch.
here follows the later belief, identify-
ing the Sun with Apollo, the god who
actually appears in the trial, Eum.
576. But whatever may be the un-
likelihood that ^sch. would thus
mention a god whom he does not
afterwards introduce, it is no less ob-
servable that Apollo's evidence there
is of a very different character from
that which the Sun is desired here
to give. iv diKri, Ag. 1615, * on
my trial,' which he anticipates as
likely to happen one day.
988. For ixerrikdov ixopov, see on v.
474-
989. \f/eyo}, the MSS. reading,
seems more forcible than Turnebus'
\eyo}, though the latter was appa-
rently read by the Schol. It is a little
surprising that Herm. , who in Soph . El.
1 42 3 follows Erfurdt in changing X^7eti'
into xpeyeiv, so as to produce a parallel
to this passage, should read Xe7w here.
In Siqyp. 484, ixrjb' diroppifpOfj \6yos
'Eixov, we should perhaps read -ipbyos,
which would agree well with (piXaiTios
in the next line.
990. cos vofMOv is not 'as is the law,'
but ' as if it were the sentence of law, '
killing an adulterer not being regarded
as murder by Athenian law (Lysias
de ccedc Eratosth. 30, referred to by
Kl.), as it was only an anticipation of
the legal punishment. Thus we see
L 2
148
XOH<|)OPOL
ijrig S' eTr' avSp). tout' ejULrjcraTO arrvyog,
€^ OV T€KVO)V Vl^e-y^^' VTTO ^wvtjv /Sdpo^f
(piXov Teo)?, vvv ^' e-^OpoVf cog (paivei, kukov^
Ti (TOL 6oK€i ; fJLupaiva y eiT e-^iov emu
crt]7r€Lv Oiyovcra /uloXXov ov SeSi^y/mevov
ToXimrjg cKari kclkSikov (ppovij/maTO's ;
TL VLV TTpocreLTro}, Kuv Tv-)(W fjLoX' ev(TTOiJ.odv ;
995
the force of the gen., the elliptical
use of which is common in comparisons,
&<nrep I'x^i^w, Ag. 1382, &(Tt' 'A/xd-
^ovos, Eum. 628, (Tov ^d^is, ws deov
TLvos, Soph. Aj. 998, where, as here,
the two genitives stand in different
relations to the substantive, alax^-
vecv and its cognates are technically
used of seduction, Ag. 1363, 1626.
991. Comp. V. 626, fXTjTLdas . . .
iir dvdpi.
992. 'Of whom she conceived
children.' Comip. £um. 607, vCosyap
a'' i6p€\l/€v evrbs, & /xLaicpove, Zwj't/s ;
€K aov, MSS., a remnant, as Franz
remarks, of the writing of the poet's
time, when double letters were not in
use. e|ov, Rob. T^i'ex?;, Med. rjueyK'.
Turn.
993. TO ^dpos cpiXov Trpd)7]v, Schol.
(pabeL seems to be impersonal, as dr]\o7
is occasionally used, ' as things show.'
994. 5. -^V, MSS. eiV. Herm.
diyovcrau dXXov, MSS. dcyovcra fjidWov,
Blomf. Both corrections seem ne-
cessary, and with them the passage
becomes plain. Or. asks, was there
ever conger or viper more formed by
nature than his mother to poison by
the mere touch without biting ? ye is
unusual in questions, but there, as
elsewhere, it seems to bring out the
word to which it is attached into
greater prominence. The p-vpaiva,
lamprey, or as Peile thinks, conger,
is joined with the viper by Aristoph.
Frogs 473, 'ixf-^vd 6' eKaroyKccpaXos,
fj rd arrXdyxvo- <tov Aiaawapd^et,
TvevfiSvuv t' dvdd\peTaL Taprrjaia
fivpaiva. One account w^as that the
union of the fxvpaLva with the viper
produced a species of fiipaLva, the bite
of which was deadly (Athenjeus 7,
p. 312. c, referred to by Blomf.).
Wordsworth comp. Arist. irepl davfia-
aicov dKovafxdTwv, eh. 151, p. 845,
Bekk., ev Qea-adXia <f>a(Tl tov iepbv
Koko^ixevov '6(pLv irdvTas diroWijeLv oii
[xbvov edv 5dKr] dXXd /cat idv diyrj, sup-
posing ^sch. to have heard of this
snake, and to have thought of it here.
He quotes also Lucan, 9. 725. 'Ante
venena nocens. ... in vacua regnat
basiliscus arena.' Cassandra speaks
similarly of Clytsemnestra, Ag. 1233.
996. KavdiKOv, MSS. KadiKOv,
Turn. KaKdiKov, H. L. Ahrens, w'hich
is perhaps better, as slightly nearer.
The line, though referring in con-
struction to the fxijpaiva and ^^iSi^a,
really points to Clyt., expressing ' the
qualities in her which form the ground
of the comparison.
997. For Kciv Tvx^ Person read
KoX Ti^xw, understanding eiKXToixdv of
speaking aptly ; but the word is evi-
dently equivalent to €V(p7}fi€lv, as Kl.
interprets it. Or. wishes to find a
name for his mother, without saying
anything that ought not to be said.
VLV is Clyt., as is evident from w^hat
goes before. He proceeds to identify
her with the net, the instrument of
her crime, enlarging on its villanous
XOH^OPOI.
149
aypev/ma Otjpo'^, 'i veKpov irooevovrov
^polrr]^ KaracTKrjvwiJ.a ; Slktvov /mev ovv,
apKvv ^' av e'lTTOig Kal 7roSiG-T)]pa<s ireTrXovg.
TOiovTOV av KTit]<jaiTO (piX^rrjg avrjp
1000
uses, as if he had nothing else in his
mind, till in v. 1005 he at last returns
to her. This identification is doubtless
a symptom of the frenzy which is be-
ginning to work on him, at the same
time that it has its own imaginative
truth. Precisely the same identifi-
cation is made by Cassandra, Ag. 1 1 14,
foil, e ^, TrairoLTrairai, ri rode (paiperat;
^H blKTVov ri 7' Mdov; 'AW dpKvs
7/ ^6j/€vvos, 7] ^vpairia ^ovov. Thus it
would be worse than useless to follow
Meineke (anticipated by Scholef.) in
transposing this and the seven follow-
ing lines so as to insert them after v.
982, even if kclu t\jx<^ /xd\' evaro/MCop
were likely to have been said of the
net, which Or. might surely charac-
terize as he pleased without scruple.
998. veKpov and dpoiryjs are appa-
rently both constructed witli Kura-
aKrjvwfia, the latter probably forming
a sort of epithet to it, like evvrjs irapo-
rpdiprjpLa, Ag. 1447. ^sch. seems to
be speaking of the robe in which the
dead were wrapped, as we should say
the winding-sheet, which, as Kl. ob-
serves, was probably large enough to
be swathed round the feet. There is
a doubt about the meaning of bpo'iT-q,
which is explained by the Schol. to
mean a bier, a sense assigned to it
also by Eustathius, on Od. 12., p.
1726, who refers to its use in the
Agamemnon {v. 1540), giving a choice
of interpretations, irveXos rj Xdpva^
rots TedveQiffLv, and by Etym. M., ap-
pealing not only to ^sch., but to
Parthenius. On the whole it seems
safest to take it here as a bath, relying
on its use, Ag. I. c, Eam. 633, pas-
sages which are in other respects
parallel to this, the former speaking
of Ag. as lying on the bath's lowly
couch, while the second contains the
word irape(TK7]vu}(rev. The meaning
here then will be a bath-robe used as
a garment to swathe the feet of the
dead. But further light is required
on the use of the word, and perhaps
on the customs usual both in burying
and bathing.
999. Med. gives a variant dpvTTjs
for bpolTTjs. Both forms are reco-
gnised by Eust. I. c, who derives the
word from bpvs by syncope from
dpvoLTT], a form actually given here by
Guelf, doubtless from a misunder-
standing of Med. Or. inclines rather
to call it a Blktvov, the name proposed
for it by Cassandra, Ag. 1 1 15.
1000. Kl. well remarks that
Orestes' perturbed spirit is shown by
the accumulation of comparisons, none
of which seem to satisfy him. tto-
dL(7T7]p, which seems not to occur else-
where, is evidently a subst. from
irodi^oj (like p.aaxo-^i-crTrjp from pcacrxo--
Xi^io), here used adjectively, so that
its sense will be ' trammelling the feet, '
as the word TreSat has already been
applied to the robe.
1001. TOIOVTO p.dVj'MSS. TOIOVTOV
av, Turn. <Pl\7]tt]s, the reading of
the MSS., is recognised by Eustath.,
Suidas, and Hesych., and defended by
Wordsworth, who refers to Gaisford
and others on Hes. Works, 373,
Graevius on ib. 542, Ernesti on Hom.
Hymn to Hermes, 159. Hemsterhuis
on Poll. 9., p. 1120, quotes Sen. E}^.
5 1, ' Voluptates pr^ecipue exturba, et
150
XOH^OPOI.
^€V(t)v airaioXrjjuLa KapyvpocTeprj
Plov vo/uLi'^cov, TipSe T av SoXw/maTi
TToXXou? avaipwv TroXXa OepjULalvoi (ppevl.
ToidS' ejuiol ^uvoiKog ev SojuLoicri juLtj
yevoiT^' oXoifJLrjv irpocrQev e/c Oethv aTraig.
XO. aiat aiai jmeXecov epywv
1005
invisissimas habe, latronum more, quos
Philetas ^gyptii vocant : in hoc nos
araplectuntur, ut strangulent,' re-
ferring perhaps to a false etymology
from (piKetv. Such a reference to a
distinct class of robbers who used par-
ticular stratagems to ensnare their
victims, is just what is wanted here,
displaying the same sort of tendency
in the poet and his hero to expatiate
in far-fetched associations which has
been already shown in the mention of
the fjL^paLva. Scaliger's (pr]\r]Tr]s, how-
ever, if authorized by any MS., would
certainly be the easier reading. In
Soph. fr. 848, opKOS yap ovdeh dvdpi
(pLXrjTTi ^apvs, a MS. of Stobseus gives
<pT]\7)Trj from a correction.
1002. lefwv dTrai6\r]/xa would seem
at first sight to be said of the act, like
SoXci/xart below, and so Bamb. and
Herm. take it, making KapyvpoaTepi]
the beginning of a new clause, and
changing t' av hito rdv or y' av. But
dpyvpocTTeprj jSlov vo/xi'^cjv comes in
more naturally after (pCkrjTrjs, of which
it is a further description, and the use
of diraioK-qixa, a thing for a person,
besides being rather in keeping with
the identification of Clyt. and the in-
strument of death, is supported by fr.
119, oSoLTopuv dr]\7]fj.a, xw/Jtr-??? dpd-
Kojv, which, though from a satyric
drama, is sufficiently parallel in point
of expression. So /xiacr/j-a, v. 1028,
dX-qfia, Soph. Aj. 381, and many in-
stances in Aristoph., the usage being
partly poetical, partly colloquial. The
word itself occurs Aristoph. Clouds,
727, where it is joined with vovs diro-
aT€pr]TiK6s. dirac6\7) is used by ^sch.
Perrh. {fr. 180). Paley couples
dTraL6\7)/xa with ^iov as objects of
vofjii^wv, which seems scarcely so idio-
matic, dpyvpoareprj, see on v. 253.
1003. vofxi^Q}, MSS. POfiL^oiv,
Turn, j'o/itfwj', vv. loi, 801. Words-
worth comp, Eur. Alcmceon (fr. 88)
Tovs voixl^ovTas rex^ov. Herm. objects
to the use of ri^be, which he says
should be rotySe : but rySe is said with
reference not to the robe Or. holds in
his hand, but to that which he sup-
poses the 0tX?jT77sto own, — ' with this
his stratagem.'
1004. TToXXa depixalvoL (ppevl, lite-
rally 'he would heat much in his
mind,' doubtless means he would have
many hot thoughts or feelings, dep-
/xaivot. being used like dep/xos, Theh.
603, Bum. 560, with reference to the
hot blood of daring. The words here
are well chosen to express the feverish
heat and exhilaration of a triumphant
criminal — a state of mind, it may be
said, analogous to that which Or. him-
self feels as he is speaking, (ppevi, as
Wordsworth remarks, is frequently
used semipleonastically (see on v. 303),
while dep/xaivoL (ppeva, Lobeck's cor-
rection, would itself be unusual with-
out a dat. of the thing which causes
exultation.
1007 — 1009. Ch. ' Bloody was the
XOH^OPOI.
(TTvyepw Qavdrcd SieTrpd^Or]^,
151
€€,
Of Tri.
UNIVER
jULifjLvoPTi Se Kal TrdOog avOei.
OP. eopacrev t] ovk eSpacre ; imapTvpei Se
(papog t6S\ o)? e/3a\f/-€J/ AlylcrOov ^[(pog,
(povov Se KrjK^ ^vv XP^^V ^vjUL^dWeraL
TToXXa? (Sacpag (pOeipova-a rod iroiKiXiuLaTog.
crime, bloody is the punishment : and
there is evil yet in store.'
1007. at ai, MSS. alai aia?,
Bothe.
1008. The Chorus is addressing
Clyt., while mourning the fate of the
family. Wliether e ^ can form a line
by itself is doubtful. Wellauer's
alat alat is not improbable. See on
V. T019,
1009. ' -^o^ t^6 survivor (Orestes)
suffering is blossoming,' The Chorus,
as Butler remarks, doubtless sees that
the madness is beginning to work.
dvde2v is itself used of disease,
Soph. T7'. T089, ■fjvd-qKev, i^ibp/XTjKev
(comp. ib. 1000, fj-avias avdos, Ant.
960, ras fxavias deivbv aTrocrrdfei dv-
6r]p6u T€ fx^vos, the latter expression
apparently referring to the foam of
passionate frenzy) .
roio — 1017. Or. 'Was she guilty?
she must have been: here are the
stains of blood : and here am I to
speak of her crime, and to lament my
father and the whole house.'
loio. Or. seems to feel more and
more that he is already on his trial,
and pleads, as it were, formally against
the accuser within him, at the same
time that, as Heath has seen, his
mind is actually ' clouded with a
doubt,' as if he had yet to establish
that the crime of his mother and
-^gisthus had been committed at all.
His proofs are as insufficient as Electra's
own, vv, 205, foil., but he grasps at
them as satisfying for the moment
the cravings of his distempered reason.
OVK ^dpaaev, MSS. ovk ^8pacre, Turn.
Comp. Theh. 202. iJKovaas -^ ovk
■fJKovaas ; — These lines were first given
to Or. by Stanley.
ion. (pdpos, of the robe, Euni.
634. t6§' may possibly be the ace.
after fxapTvpd, (is — ^i0os being epex-
egetical. So Ag. 494, foil, fidprvpel
Be pLoc KacTLs HtjXov ^vvovpos 8t.x//La
KovLs rdde, 'fis ovt dvavdos k. t. X.
The robe is naturally brought up to
speak to the circumstances of its de-
filement, as in Eum. 460, as emended
by Musgrave and Herm., Kar^Kxa
ttocklXols dypevpiacrLv Kpui/'aa', d \ov-
TpQiv i^epLapTvpei (pbvov. The sword is
said here to have dipped the garment
in blood, though elsewhere ^dirTeiv is
used, as in Prom. 863, of the dipping
of the sword itself, -^Ve may infer
from this line, as from Ag. 1644, that
^gisthus, according to -^Esch,, took
part in Agamemnon's murder, though
from other passages it appears only to
have been a subordinate one,
10 1 2 . ^vpL^dWeTai is rightly under-
stood by Paley in its more ordinary
sense of contributing, rather than in
that of comparison or agreement with,
so that it has to be connected closely
with (pdeipovaa, which would otherwise
hang rather weakly. The point of the
words is that the destruction of the
152
XOH^OPOI.
vvv avTOV aivco, vvi/
TrarpoKTOVov 0' vcpacrfJia Trpocripcovwv roSe
aXyw /mev epya Ka\ irdOo^ yevo^ re ttglv,
XO. 0UT19 /mepoTTOW acTLvri ^lorov
1015
colours of the robe has been produced
not only by time but by the gush of
blood from a wound, the o^eia at/maros
acpayr] oiAg. 1389, the two cooperative
causes which have produced this effect,
blood and time, being, as is assumed,
though not expressed, consistent with
the charge against Clyt,, that she did
the murder, and that at a certain dis-
tance of time. The defectiveness of the
reasoning, as has been already inti-
mated, only heightens the dramatic
effect. With cpopov ktjkIs comp. Soph.
Phil. 696, ai/j.d8a KijKiOfxevav, ih. 783>
e/c ^vOov KtjkIov aifia, and see on v. 268.
1014. Donaldson (iV, C, p. 623,
ed. 2) seems right in understanding
avTov of (pbvos, which is apparently
the prominent thought in the speaker's
mind ; and this agrees with the parallel
V. 8, 01) yap irapojv ufxco^a aov, irarep,
jjLopou. alvG} then is to mention, as in
Ag. 98. The repetition of vvv, and
the use of irapwv (which seems to ex-
press time as well as place, as in Soph,
Aj. 338, Tois TTctXat 'NoaTjfiacn ^vvovcri
\vTret<jdaL irapthv) are doubtless in-
tended to enforce the thought that
this is his first opportunity of pouring
out his feelings about the murder on
the spot where it was committed.
Probably there is a designed reference
to ^vv xpo^V) ^ conscious transition
from the past, which seems to be
eluding his perception, to the present
moment, of which he can at any rate
assure himself. There would seem to
be something of a similar feeling in
the parallel scene of the AgaTmmnon,
where Clyt. is reviewing the deed just
done, epLol 5' ayCov o5' ovk d(f>p6vTi.aT0S
TTctXat Net'/cTjs iraXaids yXde, avv XP^^^
ye fx-qv. "FiCrT7]Ka 5' ^vd' iiraior^ iir'
e^eipyaa/x^voLs (vv. 1377 foil.), though
the speaker there can entertain the
thought calmly without beingmastered
or even disturbed by it. Symmons
has brought it out in his rendering of
the last of the lines just quoted with a
prominence which, though ill repre-
senting the character of the original
before him, affords a powerful com-
mentai-y on the present passage.
'These hands have struck the blow!
'Tis like the deeds that have been
done of yore ! Past! And my feet
are now upon the spot.' (Those who
suppose alvQ) and dTroc/j-w^o} to be con-
trasted adduce no instances where
vvv-vvv is used like nunc-nunc in the
sense of 'at one time — at another.')
T015 — 1017. 'And as I address
this web that slew my father (in lan-
guage of abhorrence, vv. 997 foU., or
as affording evidence of their crime,
vv. 10 10 foil.), I grieve for doing and
suffering both, even for our whole
house, a conqueror whom none need
envy, with pollution for my prize.'
^pya Koi irddos refers back to vv. 1007,
foil. Or. feels thatTra^eii/ tov ip^avra is
the moral of their entire family history.
1018 — 1020. Ch. 'No mortal can
pass through life without troubles:
they come, some now, some then.'
1018. Comp. for the sense Ag. 553,
for the language also ih. 1341.
1019. The MSS. reading is of
XOH$OPOI.
153
Sia "{"Trdi^T ari/mog dfj.€L\^€Tai,
jULO-^^uo^ o o fxev avTiy^ , o o >y^ef.
OP. a\\oi<s ovelm] TavT^ ap^ oio oTn] reXei'
WG-7r€p ^w 'iTTTroig ^viocrTpoipov Spo/uov
e^coTepo) (pepovcri yap viKco/ULevov
1020
course shown to be wrong by the
metre. Sm iravrbs (Heath) ....
dfieifpei. (Blomf.), would be a satisfac-
tory restoration if drifios were beyond
suspicion ; but the sense ' unavenged'
{aTLfjidipyjTos, Schol.), rare in itself, is
not particularly appropriate here,
where the sentiment seems not to be
'crime will not go unpunished,' but
' man is born to suffering.' 5ta iravr,
if genuine, is apparently to be taken
with ^ioTov, 5td being perhaps a
case of tmesis, as the Schol. regards
it (comp. Prom. -285, SoXtx?}j Tip/ma
KeXevdov Aia/jLeLxpcifxevos) . So far as
the sense goes, either dpLelxperaL or
dixelxpei might stand, es, which Med.
gives before fidx^os (es fiSxdou,
Guelf.), may be as Scholef. and
Kl. think a corruption of e L Pos-
sibly too djxelxperai may be merely a
corruption of d/xeiipeL at, and so am?
alai ought to be restored, as it has
been by Well, in the strophe.
1020. For the use of the singular
before 6 fxh— 6 de, Wordsworth comp.
Ag. 445, aTevovcTi 5* eS Xeyovres dvdpa
rbv fikv cl)s p-dxris idpis, top 5' iu (pouaTs
/caXws irecrouT'. avrUa, as we should
say, 'just now:' opp. toT/^et: seeLidd.
and Scott, ^^e, MSS. 7?^et, Turn.
102 1 — 1043. Or. 'No, it is not
over yet ; the madness is coming on
me ; but while I can, I would proclaim
my innocence, and appeal to Apollo
as the instigator of the deed. See
me now, I am equipped for a journey
to Delphi as a suppliant to get myself
purified — an exile, with the name of this
action clinging tome in death as in life.'
102 1. dXXos dv eldr] tovt', MSS.
I have ventured to insert an emenda-
tion proposed by myself in my edition
of the Agamemnon, v. 1530 (1560),
yielding, as it appears to do, a satis-
factory sense, expressed in language
such as iEsch. might have used, at
the expense of a slight change. Or.
will then say, ' It is on others then
that these reproaches will end (*. e.
they will reach others before they end),
and I know which way it will be ;' in
other words, they have a coui-se yet
to run, and I shall be the next sufferer.
0T8' oTTT] thus is virtually parenthetical,
apa going with reXe?, and express-
ing that * subjective consequence'
(Browne's AjJ}^. to Madvig, § 257 c),
which it so often denotes when joined
with the imperfect — 'it appears,' or
' it turns out.' The madness, as we
have seen, has been at work some time,
but it is only now that Or. becomes
conscious of it. The sense of the line,
so altered, is not unlike Shaksp. Romeo
and Juliet, Act 3, Sc. i, 'This day's
black fate on more days doth depend ;
This but begins the woe, others must
end.' With the language, comp. v.
1075. dveihr) are the family crimes,
as in Ag. 1560.
1022, 3. '7apab initio longius re-
motum nullam hie ofFensionem habet,
quoniam statim post (pepovai, ex quo
sententiapendet,positum est.' Herm.,
who on Ag. 1106 (1147) quotes Soph.
154
XOH^OPOI.
(bpeveg SvaapKTor Trpog 6e Kapola (po^og
aoeiv eTOifJLO^ rj c viropyeicruai koto).
ecog S'' er' e/ncppcov eifxl, KtjpvcrcTco (plXoi^i
Kraveiv re (prjjULi fJLtjrep^ ovk avev SiKr]<}f
irarpoKTOVOV /uLiaarjULa Ka\ Oecou crTvyog,
Ka). (piXrpa ToXfxrjg rrjcrSe 7r\eL<TTr]pi^ofxaL
TOP TTvQoiJLavTLV Ao^/ai^, ^jprjcravT^ i/uLol
Trpd^avTi jxev ravr^ €kt6<s airlag Kaicrjg
elvai, irapevra S' ovk epco Tt]v 'Qjixlav
TO25
1030
Phil. 1450, Kaipos Kol ttXoOs "05'
eTreiyet, yap Kara Trpvfivrjp ; Antiphan.
ap. Porphyr. de Abst. p. 131, raZs
evTeXeiais ol Oeol xatpofcrt 70.^. ijvto-
<TTp64>ov need not be suspected, as
though in Soph. El. 731 the word
means a charioteer, there is no unusual
licence in making it an epithet of the
course, iv (p 7]VLoa-Tpo(povaiv. Here, as
in V. 252 (note), there is a mixture of
metaphor and simile,
T025. -^5', MSS. -^ 5', Abresch.
Fear sings (comp. Ag. 979) and the
heart dances, as in v. 166, opx^^TO-i- Se
KapUa 06/3cj, the compound verb de-
noting dancing to music, as in such
expressions as vir'axikov, virb aaXtnyyos.
Abresch' s KpoTi^ also is plausible, but
there seems no occasion to alter k6t(j},
which will denote the influence under
which the heart is dancing, a savage
or furious dance, as would be natural
when madness overtakes a murderer.
k6tos is repeatedly attributed to the
Erinnyes themselves, who are called
eyKOTOL, vv. 924, 1054.
1026. He wishes to clear himself,
as if by the voice of a herald, to his
friends, meaning probably the Chorus,
though he might also refer to kinsmen
not present, such as Menelaus and
Tyndareus. di r\ MSS. S' ^r', Rob.
J028. Comp. Ag. 1645, where
Clyt. is called xwpas fxlaapLa /cat Oeuiv
e7xw/3iwv.
1029. ^iKrpa T6\/J.r]s rrjcrSe, as in
Pind. 0. 13. 95 (referred to by Lidd,
and Scott s.v.), a bit is called (f)i\Tpov
LTrrreLov. Comp. Eu7n. 427, ttoO yap
ToaovTO K^VTpov ws fiTjTpoKTovelp ; where
the metaphor is less bold. The sense
of ir\eL<XTT)pl^ojxaL, an ctTra^ \eybfievov,
which the Schol, explains /cafxcD/xai,
is to be inferred from the context.
TrXeLarripris occurs Eian. *]6%, as an
epithet of xpovos, and TrXeicrTrjpid^CiJ
or -d^ofjiaL is used of raising the price
of a thing. All that can be said ap-
parently is that it may mean irept
TrXetcrroO iroLovfiai, or something of
the kind. No one (except Pauw)
appears to have suspected a corrup-
tion, or it might be suggested that
^sch. may conceivably have written
irXeiad' opl^o/xaL.
103 1, 2. We should rather have
expected irpd^avra — irapivri, but the
former was doubtless avoided in order
to escape the confusion with xp'^o-ai'T ',
and the love of varying the expression
would then be a reason for using an
ace. in the second clause, instead of
repeating the dat. For irpd^avTi,
Wordsworth comp. Soph. CEd. C. 89,
which may be an imitation of this,
as the subject is an oracular response
XOH^OPOI.
155
To^o) yap ovTig TDj/uLaTwu irpoci^eTai.
Kal vvv opare iut,\ cog Trapea-KevacrjULevog
^vv TwSe OaWip Ka\ crecjyei Trpoari^oimaL
/uecroiuLCJyaXov 0' wpv/maf Ao^lov TreSov,
TTupog T€ (peyyog acbOLTOv KeKKrjfjLevov,
(pevycov toS^ aifxa kolvov ovS' ecpecrnov
aWrjv TpaTrecrOaL Ao^/a? iipieTO.
1035
of Apollo, irapivra would of course
have been followed by an infinitive,
but Or. suddenly breaks off with an
instinctive recoil from the subject
(see note on v. 269). For similar
varieties of expression, see Ag. 1055
(if dvpaiav t7]v8' is rightly taken as
the subject of Tpi^eiv), 1610, and
comp. notes on vv. 8r, 216. iKtbs
alrias, Prom. 330. elvai is probably
used because xpiycraj'T ' has the force of a
command rather than of a prediction.
1033. The meaning is not that the
evils denounced cannot be conjectured,
but that their height is such that the
flight of an arrow coilld not reach the
top, as Kl. maintains, after the Schol.,
comparing Supp. 473, /xiacrfx' ^Xe^as
ovx vTrepTO^evaLjjiov, and the description
of Scylla and Charybdis, Od. 12. 84,
102. So Virg. G. 2. T23, * ubi aera
vincere summum Arboris baud ullse
jactu potuere sagittse.' The construc-
tion of TrpocrtKecr^ai with the gen. is sup-
ported by Paley from Aristoph.^?i?^/i^
761, Trplu eKeivov TrpocnKeaOai aov, so
that there seems no sufficient reason for
suspecting the word on the ground of
its speedy recurrence. See on v. 875.
1034. It seems impossible to decide
whether opare is indicative or impera-
tive. The latter is perhaps more
usual in similarpassages, but the former
is strongly supported by Bum. 67, Kal
vvv aXovaas rdcrbe ras fidpyovs bpds.
1035. TT/joo-i'^o^at is used advisedly,
as Or. had adopted the accoutrement
of an Ikcttjs or irpoalKTwp, the olive
branch wreathed with wool. Bum.
43, ^xoit' eXaias vipLyivvrjTOV K\d8ov,
ArjveL fxeyicTTip crucppovojs iare/x/x^vov,
Blomf. comp. Hesych. daX\6s' /cXctSos
iXaias, Eur. Siq^p. 10, iKTTjpi 6aX\(^.
1036. TreSoj' here seems to be used
technically for the floor of the temple,
like $ot/3oi/ TreSov, Eur. Andr. 1085,
Iph. T. 972, IlaXXdSos Tre'Soi', Aristoph.
Plut.']']i. The word bears its general
sense of anything walked on, as con-
versely ^ddpov and oddas are used of
a country, e.g. Eur. Phcen. 982.
1037. The undying fire at Delphi
is mentioned by Callim. Apoll. 83,
Plut. Nura. 9, and On the wo7xl Et at
Delplii, p. 385 (quoted by Stanley), in
the latter of which passages it is said
to have been fed by none but fir-
wood. KeKXrjfxepov is nearly equivalent
to KXeLvov. So Pers. 2, rctSe . . tnara
KaXeiraL, ' These are the famed iriaToi.
1038. Blomf. comp. Eur. Supp.
148, alp-a crvyyev^s (pe&yojv, Hipp. 35,
/xlaa-fj.a 0ei'7a;j' ai'/xaros. KOivbv,
kindred, Soph. Ant. i. ecpicrriov, a
suppliant at the hearth, as in Bum.
577, 669, Siq)p. 365, 503. Turn.'s ^0'
eariav is plausible, but not necessary.
1039. It is doubtful whether dtXXTjj/
is to be taken as merely adverbial, as in
Plato, Eathyd. p. 273 b, or as a cogn.
ace, implying rpo-m^v or TpocrTpOTrr]v,
like diavTaiau, v. 640.
156
XOH<E>OPOL
ra d* ev XP^^V l^^'- '^^vra^ 'Apyelov^ Xeyct)
Kat fxaprvpeip [xoi j'/xei/eXea)? eiropa-vvQi] KUKa.
^wv Ka\ TeOvi'iKing rdcrSe KXtjSova^ Xlttcov.
XO. a'XX' €v t' eirpa^a<s, jjljjt^ eTrt^euxOyj^ (TTOjULa
(pV^rj irovrjpa fxr]T eiriyXoicra-cc) KaKa,
1040
1045
1040, r. These lines are of course
unintelligible as they stand, and
critical ingenuity cannot be said as
yet to have restored them. The best
suggestion perhaps is Blomfield's, who
transposes them, reading fxev ws for
fiOL /xepeXecas ; but the lines, so cor-
rected, are not very forcible. ^e'Xe'
(hs, Herm.'s original conjecture, would
have been probable if it could have
stood metrically : but the same cannot
be said of (bs fxeXe", still less of y
/liXe'.
1042,3. The incomplete construc-
tion in this couplet would hardly be
suspicious in itself, but the corrupt
state of its predecessor makes it
credible that the whole passage may
have suffered in some way, by omission
or otherwise. Taking it as it stands,
we may either suppose an ellipse of
the verb substantive, or regard the
speech as abruptly broken off, as Medea
in Eur. (3Ied. v. 925) is prevented
by her tears from finishing the sen-
tence she has begun. dXrjrrji rrjade
yrjs dwd^evos is repeated from Ag.
1282, where it is said by Cassandra
of Orestes' first exile. The words
that follow are not to be separated
but taken together, ' in life and death
having left this name behind me/ i. e.
among my countrymen. Comp. Soph,
£1. 984, 5, where the language has
perhaps been imitated from this place,
Toiavrd toi yu irds tls i^epei jSporQu,
Zibaaiv davomaLV d' ^crre jxt] 'KXtwelu
KXeos.
1044 — 1047. Ch. 'Do not be boding
evil against thyself : thy deed has
delivered thy country from two
monsters.'
1044. e3 T€ irpd^as, MSS. eS t
'iirpa^as, Heath (who, however, sup-
poses r' to be rot). /iTjS', MSS. /XTjr',
Person. eTTL^evx^V, MSS. eiri.l'evxOys,
Heath, Such appears, on the whole,
to be the most satisfactory way of
reading the line, re seems to answer
to /xriT, ' as thou didst succeed, so
neither.' Comp, Supp. 219, dXX ei5
r' eyrejuLipev ed re Se^ctcr^aj x^ovi. The
sense then will be the same as in v.
1052, fjLr) ipo^ou, vlkQ)v TToXv. Whether
ixrjb' — ixrjb' could stand at all in the
present connexion is very doubtful :
see KlotZj Devar. 2, pp. 707, 8 ; Jelf,
§ 776. 2. €Trt^€vxdfi would not be
wrong, but iirt^evxdv^ is more likely
(Peile comp. dire^vyiqv Trodas, v. 676),
especially with cr following imme-
diately. From Eiim. 405, quoted by
Peile, TTuXois dK/xaiois rbvh' iTn^ev^aa
oxov, it would seem that the mouth is
compared to a car, and the utterance
to the horse that hurries it on.
Comp. Prom. 883, e^w 5^ hpoixov
(pepofiai Xij(T(n)s Upevfiari ixdpyi^,
yXioaarjs dKpaT7]S.
1045. <prj/j.ac TTOvripai, MSS. (f^VfJ-XI
irovqpq,, Heath, rather an easier cor
rection than Auratus' (prjfxais irovrjpais
fjLTjd', MSS. I^vt', Person. iiri-
yXucrcru}, Prom. 928. Hesych. eiri
yXcoacru)' eironovl^ov 6id yXwTTTjs.
Alax- 'UpaKXeidais.
XOH^OPOI.
157
eXevOepuxrag iracrav "'A.pyeiav ttoXip
cvoiv d
OP.
paKOVTOLv evTrercog rejuLwv Kapa.
S^coal yuvaiKcg, alSe TopyouMv ^lk^v
(^aio^LTOdveg Koi TreTrXeKTaptj/uei/ai
irvKVoh SpcLKOva-iv ovkct' av jueipaiju' eyw.
XO. TLve<5 G-e So^ai, (piXrar' avOpcoTrcou irarpl,
a-Tpo^ovcriv ; 'io")(€, fxr] (polSov, vlkwv iroXv,
1050
1046. Comp. vv. 302 foil., 863.
Apyeirju, MSS. "kpyelav, Porson.
1047. So the Erinnys is called
dpaKaiva, £um. 128, the sons of
^gyptus, ^paKovTojv 5va-(pp6v(ay ex*
dioves, Sujyp- 511. Comp. also vv.
249, 994, of this play, rep-uiu Kapa
like Kapava 8at^a$, v. 396. evwerQs
seems thrown in by way of consolation,
reminding Or. that his victory has not
even the drawback of having been
hardly won.
1048 — 1050. Or. ' See, here are
fiends, with dark garments and snaky
hair. I must fly.'
1048. al'Se, ' Here they are,' as in
Sujij). 826. Sp-ojal yvvaTKes, which
Herm. finds frigid, is merely charac-
teristic of the formal simplicity of the
older tragedy. For the comparison
of the Furies to Gorgons, comp. Uum.
48, 9, and Miiller, § 93.
1049. (paLoxi-Twves is doubtless to
be justified by such examples as those
cited on vv. 812-13. Herm. quotes
Tzetzes, Schol. on Cliil. in Cramer's
Anecd. Ox. 3. pp. 358 foil., dxaptro-
y\(x}TTOS .... Kal ev rCjv baaioov
€KT€iu€L WS Trap' 'llTTCiJovaKTl ToSe "H;/
avTov 6<pLS Td)PTLKP7]p,Lov daKOL, Kal Trap'
AtVxuXw ^aioxirwves Kal TreTrX^KTav-q-
fxeuai Aeipois dpaKOvaiv ouk ^t d.i^
/j.eiuai,/j.' iyu}. Paley's note contains
a number of other instances to show
that " both the mutes and the aspi-
rated letters, as well as the sibilant,
have the power of reduplication ac-
cording to metrical convenience,"
For the sense, comp. Etim. 375,
afxerepaLS e<p6dois /JieXaveifiocni/. 7r\e-
KTdpT) is used Theb. 495, of the coils of
a serpent ; here the verb seems rather
to refer to the curls of the head.
Pans. I, 28. 6 (quoted by Stanley),
says that yEsch, was the first who
represented the Furies with snaky
hair: TpQros 5e AiVxi/Xos dpaKOPxas
eTroLTjaev dfxov rats ev ry Ke<paXy dpL^lv
etvac Tots d^ dydXfiaaLv ovre tovtois
^TreaTLv ovdev (po^epop, ovre oaa dWa
dvaKeiTac deCsp tGip inroyalojp. As
Miiller, I. c. remarks, this part of the
conception was borrowed fi-om the
Gorgons.
1050. dfifidpoLfj.' Med. ap fxeipalfj.',
Tzetzes as above. Turn,
105 1— 2. Ch. 'Mere fancies— thy
father loves thee, and thou hast no
ground for fear.
1051. (piXTar' dvOpdnrijjp Trarpi is
parallel to (piXraT' dyyiXwp ifxoi, Supp.
602, which is thus shown to be the
true readirig, rather than dyy^XXup,
a variant of equal MS, authority.
Or. is reminded of the love he has
earned from his fiither, probably to
show that he has nothing really to
fear from the powers below,
1052. arpo^ovaiv, Ag. 1216, of the
pangs of Cassandra. The MSS.
158
XOH^OPOI.
OP. ovK €i(j). So^ai TcovSe irrj/uidTCov ejaor
cracbcog yap aiSe juajrpog eyKoroi Kvve<s,
XO. iroralvLov yap alimd croL X^polv err 1^55
e/c TcovSe tol Tapayfxog eg (ppevag iriTvei,
OP. dva^ "AttoWov, a'lSe 7r\r}0vov(Ti Stj,
KCL^ SjULjuidTWV crrdl^ovcriv al^a ova-cpiXeg.
XO. fela-a-^ 6 KaOapjuor Ao^iov Se irpoa-Oiycav
iXevOepov ae roovSe TrrifjLaTWv ktl(T€l, Io6o
reading is clearly right as against
Person's (pojSov vlkCj. The present
viKwu in the sense of 'being a con-
queror' is supported by Eur. El.
762, vlkCjpt' 'OpeaTTjU iracLV dyyeWoj
(piXoLS, Theocr. l. 113, rbv ^wrav viku
Ad(pvip, where Wuestemann refers to
Anthol. Palat. p. 786. With vlkC:v
TToXij, Peile comp. Thuc. 7. 34, o't
re yap K.oplvdt.oL rjyrja-avTO KpaTeiv,
el fxrj /cat ttoXv iKparovvro, o'i t *A6r]-
voLOL evojxi^ov rjaadadai., on ov Troki/
eVLKWV.
1053, 4. Or. 'They are not fancies,
but my mothei-'s Furies,'
1053. 'There are not fancies of
these plagues/ i.e., these plagues are
not fancies.
1054. He repeats the words used
by his mother, v. 924, perhaps inten-
tionally, to show that her warning is
being fulfilled.
1055. 6. Ch. 'It is the fresh taint
of blood that bewilders thee.'
1055. ^TL need not be changed with
Stanley into 'iin, the sense being,
* the blood of thy hands is yet fresh.'
Contrast Eum. 280, ^pi^eL yap alfxa
Kal ixapalveraL xepos, where xe/)6s
seems to go with aljxa, as x^P^^^ here ;
and with the general sense comp. Ag.
1427, 8.
1056. iKTUpdeTOi, Aff.S'j'jr inTvel,
MSS.
1057, 8. Or. ' Apollo, their num-
bers swell, and their eyes drop blood. '
1057. Or. is doubtless intended to
see as many Furies as afterwards
appear in the next play. Tr\r]dvovaai,
MSS. ir\T]6iJovcn, Turn.
1058. Nearly repeated Eum. 54,
e/c 5' dfjLfidTOjp Xet^ovcn Svcr^tXi] X//3a.
1059. ^°' ^^- 'Purification awaits
thee at Delphi.'
1059. The MSS. reading has not
yet been satisfactoi-ily emended, eiacj,
Turn.'s reading, could not stand, as
the Greek belief was that a murderer
had to flee from his home and seek
purification elsewhere {Miiller, §§ 46,
50), and it is utterly gratuitous to
suppose, with Kl., that the Chorus
counsel Or. to do a prohibited thing.
Erfurdt's eh aoi and Wieseler's oTad'
ov are both plausible, but neither
carries conviction. Possibly the word
wanted may be some verb, such as
Xovaei. irpocrOlywv, MSS.
1060. If the text is right, Trpoa-Oiyuv
in the preceding line would seem to
be a nom. abs. Kriaet as a middle
would not be without force, ' thou
shalt get thyself made free,' ere stand-
ing for aeavrov, as p.e, Siipp. 116, for
ep,avTr]v, but the form does not seem
to occur elsewhere. Eitschl conj.
KTiaeLS, which seems scarcely worth
while. For the touch of the sup-
XOH^OPOL
159
OP. v/meig /mev ou^ opare Ta<j^\ eyoo S"* opoo'
eXavvoniai Se kovkct^ av /ueLvaiim^ iyw.
XO. aXX' evTV^oirj^f Kal (j' eTroTTTevcov 7rp6<pp(
Oeog (pvXaarcroL Kaipioia-L (ruiuL(popaig.
oSe TOL /meXdOpoig toi<s /SacnXeloLg
rpiTO? av yeifjiwv
TTuevcrag yovlag ireXea-Or].
iraioopopoL jmev irpoorov VTrtjpt^av
1065
pliant, see Eum. 446. Tu)v8e Trr)fj.dTO}v
is a repetition of Or.'s words, v. 1052.
io6r, 2. Or. 'You cannot see
them, but I can, and I must fly.'
1 06 1. Whether the Furies are visi-
ble to the spectators, though not to
the Chorus, as Muller thinks, or
merely supposed to be visible to
Orestes, is a question which seems
hardly to admit of solution. Their
actual appearance in the next play
would be a reason for introducing
them here.
1062 — 76. Ch. 'Heaven go with
thee ! So ends the third storm that
has shaken the palace. First came
Thyestes' feast — then the king
slaughtered in the bath, and now the
third, Preserver or Destroyer? When
will these woes have an end ?'
1062. dytijU.etVaj/x', Med. av fxe'watfjL
Hob. Orestes leaves the stage, pro-
bably by the way by which he origi-
nally entered at the beginning of the
play. Whether Pylades has been
with him through this scene does not
appear.
1063. Abreachcomp. Soph. (Ed. T.
1478, aXX evTvxoiris, Kal ae rijcrde Trjs
odov Aaifxcov a/neLvou ij fjLe (ppovprjaas
Ti'xoi, which, as he remarks, is an
imitation of this passage.
1064. 6ios, used generally, as in
Ag. 273, 603, &c., and perhaps v.
340 above. KaipioLffL cvfxcpopah ex-
presses the way in which the divine
protection is to be exercised. Comp.
Eum. 897, T(3 yap ae^ouri avp.(popa<i
opducro/xev.
1065. 65e Tot, Jelf, § 736. 2. So
the family bloodshed is comp. in Ag.
1533 to a shower of blood overthrow-
ing the house.
1067. irveovaas, MSS. irveijaas,
Scaliger, Porson. yovlas is explained
by the Schol. dvefios orau e^ ev8Las
KLVT]6rj xaXeTTOJ' irvevixa : by Hesych.
yopias'evxeprj^. AiVxi^Aos Aya/jL^p-vovi,
evidently referring to this passage.
The word may possibly have been
used in some such sense as they
shadow forth ; yet it is difficult to
suppose that Blomf. can be wrong in
interpreting it a 'family wind,' pro-
bably a word coined for the occa-
sion, like Aristophanes' avKocpavrias
{Knights, 430) after the analogy of
KaiKLas, eTTjaias, 6pvi.dlas, &c. With
%ct/xwj' ereKiadri, comp. xet/ttw^a reXei;-
TTjffaL, Ag. 635.
1068. TraidSfjiopoi, MSS. Traido'
^6poL, Aurat., Valckenaer. Comp.
irdxva KOvpo^Spip, Ag. 1512, and with
iracd. fxdxdoi, fiSx^ois dvdpOK/XTJcrt,
Eum. 248. It matters little whether
we write Traido^dpoi actively, or
iraLdS^opot passively, ' of children de-
voured ' (see on v. 27). With irpuTov
160
XOH<l>OPOI.
iu.6-)(0oi ToKave^ re Oveo-rov
^evTepov auSpog (Baa-iXeia TruOt]'
XovTpoSdiKTog S' coXer' ^Ayaioov
iroXifxapyo^ avtjp-
vvv ^' av TpiTog ijXOe iroOep a-cor^p,
1] fJLopov efTTO) ;
iroL Srjra Kpavei^ irol tcaraXrj^ei
jULeraKoijuLia-Oev /xeVo? arrjg ;
1070
1075
virrip^av, Wordsworth comp. Plat.
Menex. p. 237 b, ttjs evyeveias irpuTov
VTTjp^e.
T069. rdXavis re appears weak, the
conjunction bringing out the insuffi-
ciency of the epithet after Traiho^opoi.
The same kind of weakness appears
in the use of the same epithet, Ag.
1274, TTTWxos 'TctXati/a Xt/io^j'Tjs. But
there seems no reason to suspect the
words, as if re Qvicrov had been
added by some copyist to fill up the
line metrically. Copyists in general
show a tendency not to make paroe-
niiacs but to destroy them, as perhaps
in Pers. 545 (referred to by Paley),
and repeatedly in the Farn. MS. of
the Agamemnon.
1070. avZpos is emphatic, opp. to
7rat56/3o/)ot, as Peile remarks, comp.
Ag. 1504, T^Xeov veapoh ewidvaas.
There is also doubtless the notion of
dvTjp opp. to yvvrj, the crime of Clyt.
being that she, a woman and a wife,
raised her hand against a man and a
husband (see Ag. 1231, 1625 foil,
Cho. 991, '2). paffiXeia irddr} {^^aai-
Aews, as Paley remarks, comp. v. 724
above, vavdpxv (ro^P-ari rtp ^aaiXelo:)
contains a third element of crime, the
treason against a superior in rank and
honour, for which see on v. 556.
107 1. \ovTpo5dlKTOS, slain by the
bath, which is made the agent, as in
Ag. 1 129, the caldron where the water
was heated is called 8o\o(p6vos. The
mode of the murder is contrasted with
the dignity of the victim, £um. 625
foil.
1073. Tplroi aojTTjp, of course, is
properly a title of Zeus (see Miiller,
§§ 94 foil.), but ^sch. is fond of
transferring the appellation to any
person who, coming third in a list,
can conceivably be spoken of as a pre-
server. So in Ag. 1386, Clyt. gives
Ag. a third blow by way of offering
to Hades, the dead man's aiorrjp, and
in V. 578 of this play Erinnys is said
to have the third libation made to her
as awTTip. Here, accordingly. Or. is
aioTTjp, sent suddenly and as it were
mysteriously {irodev), like a God, to
deliver the house from the curse,
though the Chorus, by raising the
question, ■^ ixbpov eiirio ; doubts whether
the house can be regarded as yet de-
livered. See on v. 578.
1074. So Theb. 75 r, iyebaro p.kv
/xdpou avT(^, of Laius begetting
(Edipus.
1075. fieraKOLfxiadev with. KaraXri^ei,
fxerd simply expressing the change
from storm to calm involved in Kara-
Xt]^is. KaraX^^eL, Ag. 14 79.
APPENDIX I.
ON THE SCHOLIA.
THOUGH the Scholia on the Choephoroe cannot be said to be of any great
value, it may be worth while to notice some passages in them apparently
requiring emendation or explanation, by way of a contribution to a work which,
as Mr. Paley rightly says, is still a desideratum — a satisfactory edition of the
whole. I follow Dindorfs publication of 185 1 (Oxford). The mark ] shows
that the lemma, or portion of the text, has been supplied by the editors ; the
colon that it is found in the Med., the MS. which Dindorf follows, excluding
grammarian and editorial interpolations.
13. TTTJixa] avTlrov irrjijia viov. Dind. thinks this shows the Schol. to have
had some other reading than irriiMa before him. Does it not rather show that
he meant viov to be connected with Trrj/xa, not taken adverbially with TpocrKvpei'i
51. avriXLoi] o()s ovd^ ijXios €tISol. 'Imo cLv e7r/5oi,' Dind. The writer of
the Scholia seems to have used the opt. without dv intentionally. So on
V. 505, K\f]d6ves crwTT^/oiot is explained by dta (pi^fji,7)s au^oLev are, on v. 633, iJKaaev
Tis by elKoviaeie xis.
69. diaXyris drr]] 17 SLaLUivl^ovcra drrj, tovt' eariv 6 <p6vos. Paley thinks the
Schol. may have found alav-qs for diaXyris. Is it not as likely that he wrote
diaycovl^ovcra, though that word appears to be used by classical writers only in
the middle ? d7cDj'a and alQva are confused Ag. 1148. It is conceivable also
that he may have merely intended to explain did, regarding that as the impor-
tant part of the coihpound, or that the gloss may really belong to iravapKeras.
83. Kpv(paioLS irevdeai,^ tout '4(ttl, p.y] iK(paivo6ari to /xuaos to KaTo, KXurat-
fxvrjcrTpa^. The gloss evidently belongs to vv. 80, i, wLKpbv ^pevQv arvyos
KpaTovay.
88. /carei/^w/iai] Xeiiret \6yov. This is intended for the former part of the
verse, irQs evcppov' ei'Trw ;
94. Tade] dvTL toO tcls xoctj, rightly referred by Bamb. to rctS', v. 97.
123. TTuis. iva. This gloss, found only in Med., must belong to v. 131, ttws
dvd^ojj.€v 86/jlols, where another gloss has irQs : dvTl tov 'otois.
183. Kapdias KXvdiovcov] Kivrjais ttjs x°^V^ '''V^ 'f'*'''' olvtov. Bamb. corr.
avTTiv. Perhaps aurcov, i.e., Clytsemnestra and ^gisthus.
2 75- fw'""] ^ ep.^ tr]p.iav fjt.€/x(p6fi€V05, i) MyiaOov t6v p.r} ^-qp-LwdevTa iroivijv
ixi T(^ (p6vi{} TOV TTUTpSs. Hc secnis, as Paley remarks, to have read Tavpo6-
fxevos. Thus he means to propound a choice of two interpretations, * angered
with me on account of his losses,' or * angered with the penalties not exacted,'
M
l52 APPENDIX I.
i.e. with him from whom they have not been exacted. But there is much pro-
bability in Bamb.'s correction, fxe/jt,(p6/j.evov, the result of which would be that
in the view of the Schol. ravpovfihov might betaken either as the subject or the
object of avTairoKTelvai. (In Bamb.'s reprint of the Scholia, as in Butler's, fi'q
is omitted before ^Tj/xiwO^vTa. Dind. takes no notice of the variation.)
297. TOiotcrSe] Kara dir64>acnp dvayvoja-riov. This seems to show that he
rightly read the line as an interrogation, though he wrongly supposed it to be
equivalent to a negative proposition.
344. veoKpara '. KpaTT]pa veoKp-qrov r' daeirCkeL^oiiiva^. Read veoKpara : .
KpaTTjpa. " veoKp-^TOv t' eiaeviKeilSo/xevas." He first fills up the ellipse (so
another gloss, XetVet KpaTrjpa), then apparently quotes a parallel.
352. 7ro\vx(^crTov] ^tjXojtov Kal virb tuv itoXKCjv Kex^J^crp-ivov. Dind. has done
ill to prefer the reading of Med. to that of Rob., who omits ^rfKwTov Kai here,
and inserts ^rjXojTov before the gloss on eTncrTpeirrbv, v. 350, ws toi>j viravTuvras
eTTio-TpecpeadaL irpbs diav ruiCJv.
353, StttTToiTioy] ev Tols olKodofjLTifiaa-i t^s Tpolas. The words belong to iv
dofioicTL, V. 349, of which they are a mistaken explanation.
510. Kal ixT]v dfi6/x<pT]Tov] XetTret 7/ els. The gloss doubtless refers to the
beginning of the next line, TifjLrj/xa H/jl^ov. So on v. 200, ayakfia tv/x^ov, the
same formula of explanation is given.
512, 13. ra 5' aXXa] cD 'Opecrra. ^pdois] to. Kara tt]v acpayrji/ Alyiadov.
Reverse these glosses.
549. Set Toi VLV, cjj Wpe\pev : Sxnrep Si' aifxaros Wpe^e rbv dpaKovra, det avTrjv
6pe\j/aL ry t'Si'y ydXaKTt. 6 eari., 5t' a'i/xaros rrjv efxrju exLdvfxiav TrX-rjpuiaat.
Paley corrects 6v ^dec for Set, a change agreeing neither with the words
explained, nor with the latter part of the gloss. The Schol. seems to have
supposed the sense to end with the line, and accordingly to have supplied an
infinitive to Sel ex ingenio.
651. Xetirei tj eirl. A gloss written on the margin of hifiaae. This would
seem to show that the Schol. may have found a'ifxaaL, though another gloss on
V. 649 says, eTretcr^epci 5^ Toh olkois t^kvov TraXaidp al[xdTuv, eari, tIktcc 6
<p6vo$ dWov (pdvov.
693. KdKTTodwv] Kal TO. TToppwdev /caXcDs Keifieva tQv (plktav, 8 ecrri, ra iirl ^ivrjs
dyadd ivdiatTifjixaTa rod 'Opearov roh robots €V(Tt6x(^^ Kivovfiepij diroyvfivoU /xe^
KLvovfJLevT] seems to be an error for x^'-P^^f^^^Vt though the writer is rather
explaining than repeating the words of ^schylus.
755. ov ydp Ti (poovei:] dXV dvayKTjv did baKpvoiv iir^cpepev. Does this mean
that the child expresses its wants by crying, or is it to be referred to the previous
verse, meaning that the word dvayKi^ was brought out with sobs, by way,
perhaps, of accounting for the break in the line ? The past eirecpepev would
agree better with the latter view.
797. pvd[xbv .... Zdirehov] dvrl rod evraKTOv Kal fir] rpax^av vopeiav. From
this gloss and that on v. 798 it would seem that the Schol. supposed ddiredov
to be an adjective.
801. vofxi^eTe] TjvLox^Te Kal dtoiKeiTe. •)7i'io%e?Te should probably be ^vot/feZre,
813. iirLcpopuTaTOs] ws ctI dvep.ov elirev, dvrl rod 6 XoyiKibraros. The last
word is explained by subsequent glosses, which speak of Hermes as requested
APPENDIX I. 16^
to act in the character of \6yos (see commentary on v. 815), so that the mean-
ing of the Schol. is virtually, * exercising his appropriate attribute fully.'
827. ad 5^ dapa-div] <ri) 8^ dappCjv i/xoi, t^kvov Opoovcrrj irpbs ae Trarpbs avSdu, 6
icTTLV (hs B.V el TTCLTrip <TV/x^ov\€6(T7i, Svau 7]K7] Kaip6s, ^py({} e-KL^oKov eiriKaXeadfievos
rb eiduiXov roO Trarpbs. Read Kaipbs ^pyiov, eTi^oKov. From the subsequent
glosses, 6 Kaipbs rod 'ipyov, Xeiirei. eTri^aXoO, rb 5i ewavcras Trarpbs '^pycji dvrl rod
eTTiKaXecrdfievos rb e'ldcjXou rod Trarpbs, it is clear that ^py(i) was meant to be joined
with eTravaas, eTri/SaXou being 'understood,' as elsewhere, without even a
supposed warrant from the text. It is clear, too, that the Schol. found the
passage as we have it, unless he read some other word for ^py({3 (such as et/ctD),
in which case his text must have been corrupted along with that of the MS.
843. eXKaivovrt /cat bebriy[xh^)i\ cos eVt fxaxaipas, ou TrapaKa\v(p6hri, aW
deifivrjarip' iu yap rols dp-qvoLS d/j-dcraovcnv avrOiv rd arrjdr]. The first three words,
perhaps, belong to the epithet alfxarocrrayes in the previous line. If not, it is
possible that two glosses may have been combined, the one founded on a mis-
interpretation of eXKalvovri and dedrjyfiivq}, as if the former were connected
with eX/cw, the latter with deiKvvfic, the latter supposing the metaphor to be
from the state of a mourner's breasts, bruised and torn.
926. TTpbs rv/JL^ov fidrrju] on /xeWu} reKevrdv. TrapoLfxiau elvai rovro (paai
Trpbs rip-^ov re KXaietv kol Trpbs &v8pa vrjTTLou. Paley's proposed insertion of
ravrb has been mentioned in the commentary. Possibly it may be contained
n the gloss itself, which might be read thus, 17 Trapoi/xia ehat ravrb (prjCL k.t.\.
A few other remarks on the Scholia will be found in the commentary.
If 2
APPENDIX II.
On vv. -278 — 296.
Reprinted from the 'Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology,'
vol. -2. pp. 186 foil.
THE difficulties which this passage has hitherto presented to the critics can
scarcely be exaggerated,* The solution which I have to propose has the
merit, I think, of confronting them all, depending as it does, even in its details,
not mei'ely on isolated considerations, but on a view of the requirements of the
whole.
The source of all the perplexity and error has been the supposition that the
Xpv<^f^os, which is the subject of the speech, is in the main a prophecy to Orestes
about his own punishment, or at least about his and Electra's. That this is not
the case is evident from the tenor of the language throughout, which is studiously
general. The infinitives which run through the whole passage are not in the
future, as in v. 277, where Orestes is undoubtedly spoken of, riaeiv /xe, but in the
present (eTravreWeiv, v. 282, diuKeadai, v. 289, etvai, v. 292, where the negative
is o\}t€, not fiTjTe, drreipyeiu, v. 293, dex^crOai. and avXXtieiv, v. 294, OvqaKeiv, v,
•295) :+ and the same view is recommended or necessitated by ^porols, v. 2 79, which
at any rate suggests a general application, and rols tolovtols, v. 291, which speakg
for itself. The x/)??cr/x.6s then, like that referred to in Agam. 1568, is not a
prediction, but the announcement of a general law, operating in this case on all
who fail to avenge a father's murder. Keeping this before us, let us examine
the passage in detail.
The first sentence, vv. 278-282, is one which has been corrected in many
ways, some impossible, all more or less unsatisfactory. The words in v. 279,
rds 5e v^v, seem to speak of a contrast between the fate of Orestes and Electra,
* Dindorf, in the Preface to his third Leipsic edition (p. xlviii), declares the
whole passage, vv. 274-296, to be an intei-polation, 'calculated to deceive
those who are not accustomed to examine such passages in their verbal details
and in their whole connexion.' His sarcastic compliment to the writer, 'who
has done what Orestes himself {vv. 1029 foil.) asserts to be impossible/ has
been met by anticipation in my note on v. 269.
f xP'JJO'CfT' . . . elvai, w. 1030-1032, furnishes perhaps an apparent rather
than a real objection to this part of the argument : see note there.
APPENDIX II. 165
arid that of some other persons designated as jSporol. But nothing can be made
of the opposition, as, if we understand by ^porol men in general, we fail to
obtain a significant parallel ; if the citizens of Argos, we convict ^schylus
of a misapplication of language, when he might quite as easily have said daroi.
Nor do we gain much by turning rds 8e into rdade, whether we suppose it to
be put for rctSe, by attraction, or render it ' these diseases which follow.' I
pass over the forced senses which have been given to 8v<x<pp6vojv fieiXiyixaTa,
alleviations of diseases, or of angry visitations,' ' calamities which would delight
an enemy, ' and the like. That there is corruption somewhere in the sentence
cannot be doubted, and the general view of the requirements of the whole
passage which I have just indicated enables us to fix on the place — the words
rds de vi^v. A further examination of the context will, I think, guide us, at
least proximately, to the word or words required in place of them. According
to the present reading, /xeiXiyfjiaTa and vocrovs are coupled rather awkwardly
with ewavTiWeLv, v. 282, as objects of TicpavcTKUv elire, ' he (or it) spoke of
diseases, and (he said) that white hairs spring up on this disease.' We should
certainly have expected to have an infinitive in the earlier part of the sentence
as well as in the later, even if the sentence ended, as it is commonly supposed
to do, with V. -282. Musgrave seems to have perceived this, and the alteration
which he proposed of TL(pau(TK€cv for incpaiaKuiv is ingenious and plausible,
though few would follow him in his grotesque substitution of yacrrepuv for
rdj 5e y(^u. We might complete his emendation by a suggestion of Bamberger's,
and read incpavaKeLv elirev dadevCov voaovs "ZapKuju iirafjL^aTTJpas, if it did not
seem better that €iraiLi.(BaTrjpas should not be forced into so close a connexion
with uocrovs, instead of standing, as it is generally understood, in apposition to
it, and simply qualifying Xeix^fcts- iri.<pavaKwv, too, is a word which we
should gladly retain in its application to Apollo's oracle, which accords best
with its Homeric use, and is strongly supported by Eum. 620, ^ov\ri 7ri(pav(TK0i
8' iifxiii' ewLaTreaOaL irarpos, where Apollo is the speaker. We have then to seek
an infinitive which may stand in the place of rds 5^ vipv. Putting palseo-
graphical considerations out of sight, I know of no word so likely as ^Xaardveiv^
used, as it not unfrequently is (see Lobeck's Soph. Ajacc, pp. 90, 382, ed. 2, and
compare /SXaoToOcrt . . . irravd re koI Tre8o^dp.ova in v. 589 of this play) in a
sense which may be explained either as transitive, or, as I would rather regard
it, at least in earlier Greek, as inti'ansitive, with a cognate accusative. Let us
see then how the sentence will run ; —
rd fikv ydp e/c yrjs hvacfipbvwv fxeiXiyfiaTa
^poToh 7ri.(pava-K0Ju ttire ^Xaardveiv vdaovs,
capKuiv eTrafMJ3aT7]pas dypiaLS yvddoLS
\eLxrivo.s i^^crdovTas dpxaiav (pvaiv,
XevKds d^ Kdpaas rjS' eTrauT^Weiv vbcn^.
rd fih then stands in a sort of double opposition to XevKas 5^ KSpaas, v. 282,
where the distinction merely amounts to discrimination, and to dWas re, v. 283,
where it is a real contrast, dvacppdvojv ixeCKiyp-aTa, in a connexion like this, can
only have one sense, the libations offered to appease the angry powers below-
The sense of fieiXiy/xaTa is proved by v. 15 above (note), that of dva<pp6vu}v
1 66 APPENDIX II.
including both the dead and the Erinnyes (on the connexion of whom with the
earth see Miiller, §§ 80 foil.), by such passages as vv. 39 foil, above, and stUl
more by the contrasted use of evcppoves of the same powers when propitiated,
Pe7'S. 627, Eum. 992, 1030, where it is in fact synonymous with Ev/xiviSes.
The meaning then is that in the case of a person neglecting to avenge his
father's death, his very offerings of piety to those beneath, so far from being
accepted, only make diseases spring up from the earth on which they are
poured, e/c 777s belongs in construction to tcl fiecXiyfiaTa, in sense to ^XaaTdveiv
(see note on v. 507). ^porols then, as constructed with pXaaTaveiv, will have
the force illustrated in the note on v. 130, and originally apprehended by
Klausen, characterizing the living in their relation to the dead as partakers of
a common mortality. It is with great propriety that maladies so produced
from the earth are said to be Xeixn^es, which in ^schylus' view are diseases of
plants no less than of men (comp. Eum. 785, where the Xetx'^J' dcpvKXos, pro-
duced by the Erinnyes, is said to cast ^poTO(p66povs KrjXldas), so that iirafx^a-
rripas may possibly designate leprosy as mounting from the earth to the human
form, as the poison in Lucan's description of the African serpents (Phars,
9.830) runs along the soldier's lance, 'invaditque manum.' I will only add,
with regard to ^Xaa-Taveiv, that though to the eye it bears no very marked
resemblance to rds 6e v(fp, it might perhaps not unnaturally be confounded
with it by the ear, if we suppose transcribers to have occasionally written
from dictation, a source of confusion long since pointed out to me by a friend,
as explaining corruptions in other passages of the Greek dramatists.
So far the passage has been made to yield a clear and consistent sense. Let
us proceed to the next sentence, vv. 283-285. There we find the commentators
equally perplexed, hesitating between various supposed constructions, one of
which connects opQvra with (pcovei, 'it speaks of me as seeing,' another with
TeXoufievas, 'brought to pass on me as I see,' while a third makes it a neuter,
in a somewhat strange apposition with 7rpoaj36\ds, 'things which see.' The
only plausible suggestion is Hermann's, who places v. 285 after v. 288 ; but the
evident logical connexion between ip (Xkotui and to yap aKoreivop, pointed out by
Klausen, seems decisive in favour of the old order. Thus we are again led to
suppose a corruption, and again led to seek it in a lost infinitive. The use of
(pupel has already rather perplexed the editors, some of whom adopt Stanley's
i(f)u)V€L. We shall see the meaning of the adherence of the MSS. to the present,
at the same time that we clear up the sentence, if we read (pwvdv. These lines
then will be closely connected with the preceding, depending on incpavaKwv
eXire as their principal verb. The subject of (pwveip will be opQpra, its object
Trpocr^oXds. Translate, keeping the order of the Greek, ' and that other onsets'
(or, if we take irpoa-^oXas passively, ' visitations') * of the Erinnyes, brought to
pass by the slain father's blood, are summoned and harked on by him, as he
sees clearly while bending his brow in darkness.' The order of the words
enables us to see that the person designated by opCopra is the father, who has
been already mentioned by implication (as Klausen, though in other respects
wide of the mark, rightly perceives) in the word iraTpu^wp. The dead man calls
the Erinnyes, just as in v. 402, /So^ \oLybs''Eipi.pvp, or as inVirg. A. 6. 572,
'Tisiphone . . . vocat agmina saeva sororum.' He looks clearly through the
APPENDIX II. 167
darkness, and calls the Erinnyes, the powers of darkness, by name, as a hunts-
man his pack, the very image expressed in other passages (vv. 924, 1054, comp.
Eum. 132, 246) where they are actually spoken of as Kvves. Then follows a
parenthesis, rightly pointed as such by Paley, from t6 yap, v. 286, to Tapdaaei,
V. 289, expressing the fact that the arrow of darkness and the frenzy of midnight
panic are weapons in the hands of the dead, an explanation, in short, of the
dWas TTpoa-^oXas, after which the infinitives are resumed with didoKeadai, the
undoubted reading of the MSS., and continue to the end of the xPV<^fJ-os, v.
296. Thus the whole passage, with the exception of the parenthesis, forms one
sentence, depending on incfiavaKtjJv elire, precisely the structure which we should
have been previously entitled to expect in the case of an oracular utterance.
The above view is, I believe, perfectly original in the main. The observation
that the language throughout is general had already been made by Dobree, and
afterwards by Wordsworth, to whom it seems to have occurred independently,
as it did to myself: but neither of them appears to have applied it to clearing up
any of the difficulties of the passage, the supposition of the former that a line had
been lost after v. 284, Toiavra ireix\peLV etire tov KaTo, x&ov6s, 'Opwvra k. t. A.,
showing that he did not appreciate the value of his discovery, whether we sup-
pose him to have confounded wiii^peiv with iriixireLv, or to have imagined a
particular reference to Agamemnon and Orestes to be introduced in the middle
of the general denunciation. It may be some confirmation of the truth of my
view if I mention that it opened on me only very gradually, many months
having intervened between the first perception of the character of the xpV<^M^
with its bearings, and the complete solution of all the perplexities in detail.* I
still desire some illustration of the supposed belief that libations poured on the
earth by unholy hands produced natural diseases ; but it is sufficiently intelligible
in itself, and appropriate to ^schylus.
* It is to an early and incomplete draught of this view that Mr. Paley refers
in his remarks on this passage in his English commentary.
ADDENDA.
P. 68. Note on v. 4-22.
Comp. Pacuvius' Dulorestes fr. 18 (ed. Eibbeck), 'TJtinam nunc matrescam
ingenio, ut meum patrem ulcisci queam' (where the reading matrescam, altered
by Eibbeck into maturescam, is supported by Nonius, who quotes the line for
the purpose of exemplifying the word), a line doubtless spoken by Electra.
P. 94. Note on v. 608.
Possibly Sa^oLpSs may be intended to include the two notions, fiery red and
sanguinary, just as Cassandra in Ennius' Alexander, fr. 6 (Eibbeck), says of
the brand which symbolized Paris, ' Adest, adest fax obvoluta sanguine atque
incendio.'
ERRATA.
P. 44, notes, column i, line 5, for alieni read alicui.
,, ,, line i^, for KrjKos read ktjkIs.
P. 80, notes, column 1, line 5, for 187 read 188.
P. 97, notes, column i, line 3, for intransively read intransitively.
P. 99, notes, column 2, lines 27-8, dele the period after \engesince, and insert
a bracket before comp, Ag. 462.
P. 103, notes, column 2, line 33, for dWos read ^XXws.
A few misplaced accents will be foimd, but, I trust, chiefly in places where
the misprint is too obvious to mislead.
INDEX.
A.
Abresch, coirection by, p. 132.
Accusative, cognate, pp. 17, 25, 75 ;
converted into subject of a passive
verb, pp. 121, 127.
Accusative, instead of some other case,
p. 66.
Accusative, instrumental, p. 73.
Accusative, put first in a sentence
without regular construction, p, 1 12.
Adjectives of thi-ee terminations, p. 12.
Adulterer, killing of, no murder by
Athenian law, p. 147.
Adverbs, peculiar uses of, p. 70.
^gisthus, character of, pp. xxiii, 142.
^gisthus took part in Agamemnon's
murder, p. 15 1.
jEschylus, Supplices, v. 484, emended
p. 147 ; V. 602, true reading of, p.
157 j V. 620, illustrated, p. 46.
^schylus compared in his treatment
of his subject with Sophocles and
Euripides, pp. xvii — xxiii.
.^schylus sometimes imitated Archi-
lochus, p. 20.
Agamemnon, dignity of, enhancing
the crime of his murderers, pp. 86,
96, 160.
Agamemnon, position of in Homer,
p. 58.
Agamemnon symbolized by an eagle,
p. 41.
Agamemnon and Choephorce confused,
PP- 4, 159-
Ahrens (H. L.),. corrections by, pp.
57, 59, 63, 65, 67, 68, 1 18, 148.
Aldus, con-ections by, pp. 42, 117,
125.
Anacoluthon, p. 81.
AnapEBsts in the Ko/j.fx6s monostrophic,
p. 50.
Antispast, anacrusis of, lengthened,
p. 66.
Aorist participle, resoluble into a verb,
PP- 52, 65, 74, 91 ; without an
article as a noun, p. 10 1.
Aorist used of virtually present time,
pp. 19, 68.
Apollo, whether identified with the
sun, p. 147.
Aposiopesis, pp. 33, 62.
Aristarchus, how he understood v. i
of CJioeph., p. 4,
Aristophanes, his mention of ^schy-
lus, pp. 3, 4.
Article, position of, p. 78.
Article, with second of two epithets,
p. no.
Attraction of cases, pp. 15, 36.
Auratus, corrections by, pp. 77, 159.
Axe, whether the weapon by which
Agamemnon was killed, p. 133.
a, final, short in words like cpaidpvvTpia,
p. 114.
dyeiv, ' to di-aw up,' p. 79.
ayeipeiv, not * to infer,' p. 97.
ajKadev, for avUaOev, doubtful, p. 52.
ayKoXai of the sea, p. 91.
dyXh peculiar use of, p. 98.
ayihvLos of Hermes, p. 91.
6.T]fjiai, p. 64.
aiyis, the shield of Zeus, identical
with the storm, p. 92.
aivetv, 'to mention,' p. 152.
aivoTrar-qp, a substantive, p. 53.
alpov/j.ai = 5exop-a(; pp. 86, 139.
170
INDEX.
aiaxvvetv and its cognates, of adul-
terers, pp, 142, 148.
alTovfjLeuos, passive, p. 76.
alxM, the proper ensign of the male
ruler, p, 96.
at'w for alQva, p. 57.
OLKixbOeTov, p. 99.
aXeLTTjpLOS, dXiTTjpLos, dXoiTrjpios, p.
145.
dXXct introducing a prayer, p. 51 ; in-
troducing the conclusion of a hymn,
P- 75-
dXV €1, p. 117.
dXX' ^, p. 116.
dXXyjv, referring to a substantive un-
derstood, p. 155.
d/xavpos and its cognates express dim-
ness rather than blackness, p. 27.
d/x(pLda\7]s, p. 64.
d;U0iXa0^s, active or passive ? p. 54.
dfKptwToXts, p. 14.
duayKaioos ^X'^^t P- 40-
dj'dtrcreii' and similar verbs with dative,
p. 22.
dva4)€peLv, of heaving the breath, p. 72.
dPTjp, opposed to 71^1^^, p. 160; to
dripiou, pp. 83, 147.
dvdelp, of disease, p. 151.
dviSeiv, p. 122,
dvol-yeiv, without an object, p. 131.
dvrl, compounds with, p. 23; con-
fused with lao-, p. 53.
dvTifjLOLpos, with dative, p. 53.
dTraLoKr]p.a, p. 150.
diravdi^eiu, and similar words, meta-
phorical use of, p. 25.
dire^vyrjp ir65as, p. 103.
dTOTpoTTos, with accusative, p. 103.
dTroxpyi/J-aTos and dxpy]IJ'O.T0$, p. 45.
dirpiKTOTrXTjKTa, p. 68.
diTTeiv, of closing in wrestling, p. 130.
Spa, interrogative, pp. 49, 70.
dpa, of subjective consequence, p. 153.
'Apai, of the Furies, pp. 66, 105.
"A/37JS, of a warrior or destroyer, pp.
28, 141.
dpKeros, p. 12.
apaepos yopos, p. 79.
dpri, compounds with, p. 90.
dpxcuos, 'normal,' p. 46.
d(XK€voLS, a word possibly occurring in
a lost part of the Choeph., p. 3.
drLfxos and dri/xwdeis, with genitive,
pp. 49. 97-
drip-os, quasi-political, pp. 49, 66 :
whether for dTip-iiipTjTos, p. 153.
drpiaKTOs, p. 55.
avdrj, 'name' or 'word,' p. 125.
avTOLcrip i]/xLP for rah r]iJ.up avrwp, p. 30.
avTOKcoiros, p. 28.
" avTOTTTai esse optant qui malvmi
alicui [misprinted alie'ni] imprecan-
tur," p. 44.
avToae TreidetTOai, p. 128.
avTov, &c., whether used of ist and
2nd persons, p. 19,
avTocpopros, p. 103.
dxos, wrongly changed into dyos, p. 9 1 .
B.
Bamberger, corrections by, pp. 39,
67, 105.
Barrows in the Troad, p. 57.
Bath made the agent in slaying Aga-
memnon, p. 160.
Baths, hot, p. 102.
Blomfield (Bp.), corrections by, pp.
8, 9, 46, 59, 64, 67, 88, 90, 95,
123, 129.
Blood spilt, impossibility of atoning
for, pp. 9, 13, 81.
Blood spilt, an outrage to the earth,
p. II.
Blood, curdling of, after death, p. 12.
Bloodshed the way to get rid of
bloodshed, p. 75.
Bothe, corrections by, pp. 37, 67,
Bow, shooting with, metaphors from,
p. 155-
Buttmann's Lexilogus, referred to,
P- 5.
B and K written similarly in Med.
MS., p. 141.
^aXeip, intransitive, p. 89.
^dirreip, of dipping in blood, p. 151.
INDEX.
171
PiXrjf erroneously substituted for
/3\, vowel shortened before, p. 54.
^XaTrri/xepos, 'halting,' p. 143.
§\a(TTdveLv, with accusative, pp. 92,
165.
/3o?7, * a cry for help,' p. 132.
j3ov\tos, p. 102.
^poTol, not simply equivalent to
v€Kpoi, p. 22.
^poTol, of the living in their relation
to the dead, and vice versd, pp. 22,
166.
§pv€Lv, p. ir.
Canter, corrections by, pp. 7, 9, 77,
94» 105, 133-
Casaubon, correction by, p. 6.
Causation attributed to the absence
of a thing, p. 131.
Character, delineation of, in ^^sch.,
occupies the third place, p. xxi.
Chiasmus, p. 83.
Chill, the effect of grief, p. 15.
Chill, the effect of scourging, p. 44.
Choephorce, the Latinized title of the
play, p. XXV.
Choral odes, corruptions in, p. 118.
Chorus, whether entering with Elec-
tra, p. 5.
Chorus, not charged with Clytaam-
nestra's prayer, p. 9.
Chorus, age of the, pp. 29, 43.
Chorus, occupy the same position as
Cassandra in Agamemnon, pp. xxiii,
140.
Clytsemnestra, character of, pp. xxii,
105, 132.
Clytsemnestra, feeling of the Chorus
towards, p. 96.
Clytaimnestra, language of, after her
crime, parallel to that of Orestes,
p. 152.
Colloquial language mixed with tragic,
pp. 69, 100, 150.
Compound adjectives, pp. 7, 23, 28,
53.
Compound substantives, p. 52.
Conditional sentence without condi-
tional prefix, p. I T 3.
Confidence, want of, the vice of
tyranny, p. 65.
Conjunctive, see Subjunctive.
Crying to a tomb, a proverbial ex-
pression, p. 138.
Cyrus, inscription on tomb of, p. 58.
D.
Dactyl, commencing an iambic tri-
meter in ^schylus, p. 37.
Darius, inscription on tomb of, p. 58.
Darkness, the proper element of the
Furies, p. 47.
Dative, expressing design, doubtful in
^sch., p. 6.
Dative, 'in addition to,' p. 127.
Dative, of circumstance or condition,
p. 8.
Dative, at the beginning of a sentence,
PP- 13, 75-
Delphi, undying fire at, p. 155.
Delphi and Daulis, road leading from,
p. 103.
Demeter and Erinnys, p. 11.
Dialectic peculiarities not preserved
in tragic dialogue, p. 88.
Dindorf (W.), corrections by, pp. 5,
i9» 39» 69, 93, 94» 12 r, 137.
Diseases compared to devouring ani-
mals, p. 46.
Divinity synonymous with happiness,
pp. 10, 75.
Dobree, restorations by, pp. 72, 167.
Dochmiacs, whether corresponding
syllabically in strophe and anti-
strophe, pp. 26, 140.
' Doer must suffer,' pp. 52, 152.
Dogs, Furies represented in the form
of, p. 138, 166.
Donaldson's Neio Cratylus, referred
to, pp. 6, 40, 78, 99, 152.
Doors of the palace, pp. 5, 91, 102,
no, 13;.
dal for dri, p. 135.
daifiwv, in the sense of tvxV) V- ^O-
172
INDEX.
Sal'os, senses of, p. 69.
bajxrjvaL, with dative, p. 60.
hdire^ov, quantity of, p. 120.
d^-ydp = a.X\a-ydp, p. 14.
deye, p. 138.
Se, quasi- copulative, pp. 108, 135.
Se, in apodosis, after iirel, p. 95.
5e, introducing another predicate, pp.
32, 126; introducing a question,
p. 16.
5^ re, p. 78.
Sexecr^at, with dative, p. 114.
5td, with genitive, pp. 98, roo.
Stct, monosyllable, p. 119.
5td Travrbs, pp. 129, 153.
diacpepeLv and differre, p. 12.
6t/caios, of hospitality, p. 102.
diKiqv, cognate accusative, p. 25.
St'xws, p. 137.
U\pr], whether an admissible form, p.
113-
SLUKeadaL, and similar verbs, with
genitive, p. 48.
dpdaaPTi iradeLV, how constructed, p.
52-
dpoLTT] and dpurr], meaning of, p. 149.
bpofMos, p. 81.
Svvaa-ai yap, p. 61.
dvap-adeXv, with accusative, p. 38.
dvcroLiiios, whence derived, p. 142.
dvacppoves, of angry powers below, p.
165.
5i;(rxet/Ae/)0?, contrasted with deppLos,
p. 44.
E.
Eagle and Serpent, p. 41.
Ear, the recipient of command, p. 10.
Electra, character of, p. xxii.
Electra, why sent with the libations,
p. XV.
Elmsley, correction by, p. 139.
Embalming, apparently not known in
heroic times, p. 49.
Epexegesis, p. 8.
Erfurdt, correction by, p. iii.
Erinnyes, first represented by -i^sch.
with snaky hair, p. 157.
Erinnyes, no definite number of, p.
138.
Erinnys, revelry of, p. 106.
Euripides, Electra of, characterized,
pp. XX, xxi ; referred to, pp. 23,
Euripides' Ino emended, p. 89.
Euripides' ridicule of ^sch., p. 35.
Eustathius referred to, pp. 5, T16.
Exile attributed to Electra as well as
to Orestes, p. 23.
Exiles taking sanctuary at an altar,
P-55-
C and C confounded, p. 11.
et ydp, in a wish, with an apodosis,
p. 56.
ei TC e'xeis and el' rt ^xots, p. 18.
els eV, p. 49.
eladyeLv, with two accusatives, p. 14.
€K used where we might have expected
some other preposition, p. 61.
€K rQpde, pp. 55, 158.
eKKiJKXrjfia, p. 146.
€Kiray\e1adai, p. 37.
eXiriaw, not the classical future of
iXiri^o}, p. 32.
^fi/xoTos, p. 75.
ifxos for f/xoO, p. 85.
iv, after a verb implying motion, p.
143.
iv yhei—iyyevifis, p. 47.
ip fxipei, p. 55.
€u pi.€(xcp = ifiiroddbv, p. 25.
e^ alviyp.dTO}v, p. 133.
i^dpyfiara or dirdpyiiara, p. 70-
i^evx^adaL, p. 37.
i^rjyrjTai, pp. 20, 86.
ewayyeWeLu, p. 36.
eiraLveiv tlvl Troteiv tl, p. 91.
ivaKpiteLv, p. 139.
eiraveiv, with two datives, p. 125.
iireLKd^eiv, force of, pp. 6, 146.
iTTTjKoos, semi-judicial, p. 146.
iirl v'lKrjV, or eirl vlKrj ? p. 76.
eTTt ^vpov, p. 132.
eiTL^evyvvcrdai, p. 156.
iiriOed^eLP and iwidod^eLv, p. 129.
eTriirofXTal, iirayuyai, ecpodoi, p. 47.
INDEX.
173
eiriaKOTreLv, p. 10.
iiriaKOTTos, p. 21.
iTna-TpewTos, p. 57.
iiroix^adai, p. 143.
€iroTrT€}j€tv, of divine regard, pp. 78,
91.
^pyou, opposed to \6yos, p. 28.
epelu, whether used of talking, p. 89.
^pvfxa, of a tomb, p. 27.
^(TTi, closing a sentence at the begin-
ning of a verse, p. 1 7.
ecrrt'a, the seat of family life, pp. 43,
96.
ed, in the sense of ' naturally' or
' rightfully,' p. 31.
ev lde?v, p. 119.
evSecTTPa, or al(J)pa, p. *j6.
evfxopcpov KpaTos, p. 78.
evirpoacoTroKOLTTjs, p. 145.
€VTpa(pr]S, or evrpecfy-qs, p. 134.
€V(ppov€S, synonymous with EviJ,^vides,
p. 165.
ev(f)pwu, pp. 16, 19, 33.
^(pedpos, p. 130.
ecpoSevaai, icpopevaai, i(f)edpeu(rai, p. no.
^X^'-'^i ' cognitum habere,' p. T17.
^Xw, with infinitive, p. 34.
F.
Face covered in weeping, p. 15.
Fear in ^sch. the binding principle
of society, p. 10.
Franz, corrections by, pp. 65, 126.
Funeral feasts, p. 76.
Funeral honours paid to Clytaemnestra
and ^gisthus, pp. xiii, 124.
Future indicative and aorist conjunc-
tive in questions, p. 16.
Future indicative and aorist conjunc-
tive after oVwy, p. 43.
Gender, masculine for feminine, pp.
92, 134-
Genitive, after neuter adjectives, p.
Genitive after verbs implying motion,
p. 108.
Genitive of place, pp. 31, 6^, 64.
Genitive after oveidi^ecu and similar
words, p. 137.
Genitive used elliptically in compari-
sons, p. 148.
Genitives, two, differently connected
with the same word, pp. 31, 80,
I4T, 149.
Gold symbolizing the highest happi-
ness, p. 60.
Gorgons, Furies compared to, p. 157.
r and I confused, p. i6r.
r and T confused, p. 65.
yap placed late in a sentence, p. 153.
ye in questions, p. 148.
ye firiv, p. 144.
yeveOXios, ' belonging to a mother,' p.
136.
yipiov, TpLyipwv, applied to things, pp.
52, 121.
yXwcrcrrjs xctpci', p. 44.
yoaadai, passive, p. 97.
7077s and yorjTrjS, p. 124.
yovLas xet/iwj', p. i ^g.
H.
^ only stood for the first person in the
older Attic, p. 30.
7]/j.ap, Homeric use of, p. 43.
-r]u more usual termination of second
person dual in historic tenses, p. 80.
i]VL6crrpo(pos of a race-course, p. 154.
^s and ^ada, p. 59.
H.
Hair offered to Apollo and to rivers,
P-5.
Hands stretched out at funerals, p. 5.
Hands, purity of, connected with ac-
ceptable prayer, pp. 24, 6r, 62.
Heath, corrections by, pp. 8, 59, 91,
95, I39> I44» 156.
Hermann, restorations by, pp. 10, 21,
22, 39' 50, 54, 56, 60, 61, 62, 63,
67, 68, 75, 80, 98, 99, 122, 141,
143, 144, 145, 148-
Hermes, attributes of, pp. 4, 5, 21,
91, 95, no, 123.
174
INDEX.
Hermes, statue of, probably stood in
the vestibule of the palace, pp. 4,
91, 121,
Herodotus refeired to, p. 105.
Hiatus in anaptests, p. 60.
Homer, referred to, pp. 40, 58.
Homer, his mention of the vengeance
of Orestes, pp. xiii., xiv.
Honours paid to royal personages in
the shades, p. 57.
Hospitality, duties of, suspended by
grief, p. 88.
Hypallage, doctrine of, p. 31.
Hyperboreans, traditional felicity of,
p. 60.
e.
diXojv, p. 119.
-dep, adverb in, with force of genitive,
p. 141.
deSs, used generally, p. 159.
depixbs and its cognates, p. 150.
6€TO(TKv9pO}Tr6s, p. III.
drjpalov, an embroidered garment, p.
39-
drjpLov not used in tragedy, p. 39.
diyydveiv x^po?, p. T4'2.
dpeTTTrjpiov, class of substantives to
which it belongs, p. 5.
dvTTip, used adjectively, p. 42.
Iambic trimeters in lyrical parts do
not always correspond exactly, p. 9.
Inclusive expressions used where ex-
clusion is really intended, p. 32.
In-door life of women, p. 137.
Infinitive used in wishes and prayers,
PP- 51, 59-
Infinitive, present, whether used in
predictions, pp. 155, 164.
Itacism, corruption by, pp. t6, 75.
Justice, how conceived of by the
ancients, p- 51.
-ias, adjectives in, used of winds, p.
159-
IMadat CIS, p. 39.
lr]\€/xiaTpi.a, or laKefxiarpLa, p. 68.
i(Tos in composition, quantity of,
P- 53-
I'CTTW, p. 93.
I'w Tis, in a wish, p. 28.
K.
Klausen, corrections by, pp. 71, 75,
93.^
Kad' 7}p.ipav, less common than p.id*
Wepav, p. 123.
Kaddpfxara, p. 17.
KadrjKeLV, p. 73.
Kai, answering to /xev, p. 146.
Kai, trajection of, pp. 19, 134.
Kai ixrjv, p. 30.
Kol vvv, use of, p. 105.
Kai TTuis, Kai irodev, &c., pp. 42, 64, 82.
Kaivi^eLV, p. 78.
/ca/cd, of supernatural terror, p. 88.
Ka\eiadaL, uses of, pp. 53, 155.
Kavaxn^, of the plashing of liquid,
p. 26.
KOLT 6(p9a\/jiovs, p. 89.
Kara arbp-a, p. 89.
Keipeadai nva, like KbiTTecrOat., pp. 29,
32.
Ke'iadat, of dice, p. 145.
K€K\avfj.hos, whether to be explained
like SedaKpu/xeuos, p. 73.
KeXados, p. 56.
Kevrpov, p. 47.
K-q^eLos, p. 16.
KrjKis, pp. 44, 152.
Krjuvcrao} and Kivvaau, p. 33.
KTjpv^, function of Hermes, pp. 4, 21.
KTjpvaau}, with accusative, p. 21.
KlpvaadaL (piklav, p. 56.
kK, vowel lengthened before, p. 128.
KKveLv, aKoOcrai, whether tautological,
p. 4.
k\ij€iv, with dative, p. 27.
k\v€is, at the end of a speech, p. 71,
KViawToh x^o''o^> P- 77-
KOLvbs, 'kindred,' p. 155.
Kop-i^eLV, pp. 43, 56.
Ko/xpibs, p. 50 ; contributes to the ac-
tion of the play, p. xvii.
Kbwavov, in the sense of /coTrt's, p. 129.
INDEX.
-^15
KOTTTOJ, denoting motion, p. 23.
KOTOS, of the Furies, and the effects
produced by them, p. 154.
KovpoTp6(pos, function of Apollo, p. 5.
Kpd^co and /cXct^w, p. 84.
Kpdros, united with AUrj, p. 41.
Kp^K€Lv, applied either to avKbs or
Kiddpa, p. 124.
KpiTTjs, distinguished fi'om /xdvTis or
TcpacrKdiros, pp. 9, 84.
KTi^ei.v, use of in ^sch, for iroieHv, p. 7 1 .
/ewe J, of the Furies, p. 138.
Kvpetv d^iws, p. 107.
L.
Lachmann, corrections by, pp. 67, 68,
Last letters of a line obliterated, p. 6.
Leprosy, different kinds of, p. 46.
Libations to the dead, of what kind,
P- 25.
Life supposed to be produced by the
heavenly bodies, p. 92.
Lions, Clytsemnestra and ^gisthus
compared to, p. 141.
Lycians among the bravest allies of
Troy, p. 56.
Xa/Sat, 6/J.oiai., p. 79.
Xafx^dveiv, with genitive, p. 21.
X^yeLv, eiireiv, (ppdaai, used epexegeti-
cally, p. 92.
X^yeis, expressing assent, p. 71.
\4yo}, and similar verbs, with infini-
tive in the sense of giving a charge,
pp. 17, C!o, 24.
Xe'7w and rpeyco confounded, p. 147.
Xeixrjv, a disease of plants as well as
of men, p, 166,
\v€LV, in the sense of KaraKveiv, p. 49.
M.
Madness shows itself similarly in
Orestes and Cassandra, p. T49.
Manuscripts of the Choeph., pp. vii,
xxiv.
Masculine adjective, Trpbs rb arjixaL-
v6fJt,evop, p. 1 34.
Metrical anomalies removed by pro-
nunciation, pp. 100, 122, 157.
Moral and physical, antithesis of, p.
57-
Miiller (C. 0.), his Dissertation on
the Eumenides referred to, pp. xvii,
XX, xxi, II, 20, 21, 41, 50, 51, 66^
87. 136, 157, 158.
Murder begets murder, p. 99.
Murdered men assisting in the dis-
covery of their murderers, p. 54.
Murderer could not obtain purification
at home, p. 158.
fxa^bs and /xaaros, p. 83.
fiala, pp. 9, 15.
/xdKapes of the gods or of the dead ?
P- 75-
fjidX' rj^Giv, expressing activity, p. 131.
fidWd, fii] dWd, p. 137.
/xdWov yeyivrjTai, of success, p. 62.
/ia(rxaXt(r/^6s, p. 70.
^dratoy, pp. 15, 137.
(xdr-qv, peculiar use of, p. 132,
I^^Xn X^P^^ and /J-dxr] 8op6s, p. 142.
fie for ifiavTrjv, p. 158.
fxeiXly/xara, pp. 6, 165.
p.4v — re, p. 146.
fxipos ^pyuv, p. 125.
fji-ia-os and similar word$, peculiar use
of, p. II.
fieaciidds, p. 121.
/M€Td, in composition, expressing
change, p. 160.
/xeracpopd and eiKuv confused, pp. 42,
154-
/xiroiKOi of Orestes and Electra as
restored, p. 145.
p.y]U—ti7]U, p. 156.
p.'qxdvTjiJLa of the robe in which Aga-
memnon was slain, p. 147.
fxiaiveiv and its cognates of murderers,
p. 142.
fioc in personal entreaty, p. 27.
fxo^pa of a function or duty, p. 40.
fji-6uos neutralizing the substantive to
which it is added, p. 130.
fjLdxXos, bolt or crowbar ? p. 131.
fjivpaiva, p. 148.
fivxbs, pp. 8, 72, 121.
fxCoi^, with subjunctive, p. 30.
176
INDEX.
N.
Neque — Treelike oiire — oiSre, p. 13.
Net, sword compared to, p. 90.
Nominative absolute, p. 119.
Nurse, Orestes', names given to, p.
no.
Nurse, Orestes', dramatic representa-
tion of, p. xxiii.
veoKpds, p. 56.
vLKav, quasi-political use of, p. T04.
vlkCj, 'I have conquered,' or 'am a
conqueror,' p. 158,
vop-l^eLv = xPwG°^h PP- iS> I '2^ J 150-
voacpi^etv, ' to kill, ' p. 70.
vvfM(f)LKa eSwXta, p. 13.
pyp — yCj/, not used for ' at one time —
at another,' p. 152.
vcofJLciv, of ordinary motion, p. 47.
Oath taken by touching an altar, p.
19.
Oaths between Orestes and Pylades,
p. 135-
Old age and learning, p. 29.
Old Testament, parallels from to pas-
sages in ^sch., p. II.
Old offences revived by a new crime,
p. 65.
Opening lines of the Choeph.^ whence
supplied, p. 3.
Optative without Hv, pp. 93, 128,
161.
Optative, instead of imperative, p. 133.
Orestes, character of, p. xxi, — com-
pared with Hamlet, ih.
Orestes' robe preserved, p. 39.
Orestes, trial of, p. 147.
Orestes, madness of, its first signs, pp.
148,15--.
Oriental notions transferred by ^sch.
to heroic times, pp. 10, 58.
Out-door life of men, pp. 24, 137.
and C confused, p. 61.
and confused, p. 67,.
6 ixev — 6 Se, singular before, p. 153.
o5e, 'hei-e ends,' p. 75.
65e ixvdot for iivdos irepi rovde, p. 29.
otyeiv, not necessarily to open from
within, p. 13.
old' 6ir7), virtually parenthetical, p.
153-
olov, adverbial, p. 63.
oXbixevos, like perditus, p. 26.
6jj./jLa and ocpdakfios, of an object, p. 40.,
ofMoiws nearly = o^wj, p. 53.
ojULus reXeirai, p. 63.
oj^eidtf, of the crimes of the house of
Atreus, p. 153.
o^vx^ip, force of the compound, p. 7.
OTTLcrOoTrovs, p. 108.
opdre, indicative or imperative, p. 155.
opfii^eiv, p. 83.
ovra, present, not future, p. 98.
otJTe, omitted before ovre, p. 48.
oijT€ — oijTe, ovTe — re, re — re, pp. 12,
13-
6<pda\fi6s, metaphorically, pp. 40, 140.
6\f/avov, p. 83.
-oio, verbs in, p. 85.
Paley (Mr.), corrections by, pp. 11,
33, 67, 105.
Parodos, p. 7.
Parcemiacs, more frequently destroyed
than introduced by copyists, p.
160,
Participle, article omitted before, p.
58.
Participle for finite verb, pp. 98, 124.
Participle in dative after pronoun in
genitive, p. 6^.
Participle limiting another participle,
p. 47.
Participle, present, used in general
designations, p. 54.
Participle with verb substantive, p.
n-
Patrimony, Orestes and Electra's de-
sire of restoration to, p. 45.
Pauw, corrections by, pp. 28, 59, 62,
81, 83, III, 116, 119, 142.
Penalties denounced on those who do
not avenge their kinsmen, pp. 44
foil.
INDEX.
177
Perpetual epithets common in early
poetry, p. 11.
Perseus, the countryman of Orestes,
p. 125.
Persian affairs, allusions to, pp. 58, 68.
Personified things not sharply discri-
minated by the ancients from un-
personified, p. 51.
Pine-wood fires, pp. 44, 63.
Plato referred to, pp. 14, 15, 47, 48,
79, 155-
Pleonasm, p. 54.
Person, corrections by, pp. 8, 13, 40, 45,
56, 60, 65, 71, 72, 86, 91, 95, 115,
130, 134, 136, 145, 156, 157, 159-
Portus, restorations by, pp. 105, 146.
Prayer, compared to a scourge, p. 61.
Prayer, sent by Clytsemnestra with
the libations, pp. 25, 51.
Preposition used to save the repetition
of a verb, p. 39.
Preposition, without a case, p. 128.
Present tense, prophetical, p. 85.
Prologos, p. 3.
Pylades kept in the background, pp.
87, 140.
TrayK\7]pia, iray KT7]aia, Trafj-Trrjaia, p.
77-
irayKXTjpia, received by Orestes, p.
141-
■n-aiav rod Oavovros, p. 25.
iraidLOv, not used in tragedy, p. 39.
TratSo/Sopot, or 7rat5o/36pot? p. 159.
ttoXlv, 'henceforth,' p. 43.
TToXipTova, opposed to evdvrova, p. 28.
TrdXkea6aL=(f)o^€2adai., p. 82.
iravdpKeTos, p. 12.
vavdoKOS, p. lOi.
TravoL/xoL, p. 130.
TraureXrjs, active or passive, p. 144.
TTctpeo-Ti, introducing a hypothesis, p.
67.
irafjij, only form of first person which
.-Esch. admits, p. 82.
Uapvaaos, Ilapvrjcrds, Uapurjcraos, p. 88.
irdpos, ambiguous, like 'sooner,' p. 60.
irapovaia, periphrastically, p. 102.
Trapuiv, of time as well as place, p. 152.
iraT7]p in 7raTpoKTOPe7p, not referring
to the subject of the verb, pp. 136,
146.
Tredov, of the floor of a building, p.
155-
iredov iraTeiv, p. 98.
rreipd, for the point of a weapon, doubt-
ful, p. 129.
irevdeadai TLva, whether used for
questioning a person, p. 128,
Trejjdeadai, with genitive of participle
of person or thing heard about, p.
114.
TrevKTjeiS, p. 63.
Tncf>a\j(TKeLv, of Apollo's oracle, p. 165.
TrXddeLV or irXrjdeLvl p. 92.
TrXeLffTrjpi^eadai, p. 154.
ttXovtos, 'abundance,' p. 124.
-Kvevixo^v, earlier Attic than irXevmov,
p. 98.
TTodiaTrjp, p. 149,
TTobT], ' recompense, ' 13. 120.
TToXiJS with another adjective without
Kai or re, p. 46.
iromc, of crimes, p. 97.
iroi^os, a man's labour for the support
of his family, pp. 24, 137.
TTopos, of a river, p. 13.
TTpeireLV, p. 5.
TTperroPTa, in the sense of doKovvra, p.
14.
TTpea^eveadai, with genitive, p. 97.
Trpoiro/uLiros, with accusative, p. 7,
irpowpdaaeLv, p. 125.
irpos SiKrjv, p. 132.
irpos dvacre^elas, p. 107.
irpbs Tt, 'why,' p. 37.
TrpocrjSoXrj, p. 47.
irpoaevveireLV and irpovvviTreLv, p. 38.
irpoffdodo/xos, p. 53.
Trpoa-iKecrdai, with genitive, p. 155.
irpocnrU^eLV, p. 50.
irpoa-TpeireadaL, p. 47.
Trpo<XTp6iraLOS, p. 47.
TrpoaTpoTTT], p. 6.
TTvXai yvvaiKeloi and e'p/cetot, p. 13:.
TTi'Xats direipyeadaL and similar ex-
pressions, p. 89.
INDEX.
irvpd, watclifircp, p. 77-
TTcDXoj, p. 1 20.
irQs, definite and indefinite, p. 16.
TTujs, retorting a question, like Sttws,
p. 115.
Q.
Qualifying assertions into negations,
p. 83.
K.
Receipt of punishment regarded as a
payment, p. 52.
JReciproca tela, a translation of iraXlv-
Tova To^a, p. 28.
Rivers flowing from one spring used in
expiation of homicide, p. 13.
Robortello, corrections by, pp. 7, 23,
37» 42, 56, 7i» 86, loi, 106, 114,
117, 134, J54-
Royal personages attended by slaves
on the stage, p. 108.
Ruskin (Mr.) his Modern Painters
referred to, p. 11.
S.
Sacrifices seemingly intermitted du-
ring the reign of the usurpers, pp.
96, 130.
Scaliger, corrections by, pp. 6%, 73,
159.
Scholiast, on Choeph., pp. 8, 10, 11,
12, 14, 17, 19, 26, 27, 28, 32, 36,
42, 46, 49, 53, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61,
63, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 83,
84, 90, 91, 92, 95, 97, 99, lOI,
102, 103, 106, T07, 108, 112, n6,
119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 131, 135,
138, 141, 142, 143, 147, 153, 154,
161 — 163 ; on Euripides, p. 3 ; on
Homer, p. 116; on Pindar, p. 3;
on Plato, p. 79 ; on Theocritus, p.
13^
Schlitz, corrections by, pp. 55, 62,
65, 69, 71, 75, 91, 97, 125, 129,
T4T.
Scylla, Ovid's story of, how differing
from jEschylus', p. 95.
Scythian bowmen, p. 28.
Seidler, corrections by, pp. 119, 141.
Servitude of Electra and Orestes, pp.
XX, 23, 136.
Shakspere, parallels quoted from, pp.
17, 21, 73, 125, 137, 153.
Shilleto (Rev. R.), suggestions by,
pp. 47, 72.
Singing one's own dirge, p. 138.
Slaves commonly called by their gen-
tile names,, p. no.
Sophianus, corrections by, pp. 14,
134-
Sophocles' Electra characterized, pp.
xviii — XX ; imitations of ^sch.
in, pp. 9, 24, 29, 30, 69, 106, 113,
127, 132, 138, 156.
Stage directions in Choeph., pp. xxiii,
xxiv, 3, 5, 7, 15, 91, 99, 102, 109,
no, 126, 129, 132, 134, 139, 146.
Stanley (A. P.), referred to, p. 113.
Stanley (T.), corrections by, pp. 6, 7,
16, 17, 21, 59, 71, 86, 89, 92, 96,
126, 141.
Stephens, correction by, p. 109.
Stesichorus' account of Clytsemnes-
tra's dream, p. 82.
Stratagem, Orestes commanded to
employ, pp. 45, 87.
Subjunctive, deliberative, pp. 6, 29.
Supernatural part of the action of the
Choeph. more important than the
natural, pp. xvi, xvii.
Symbolism, p. 85.
Symmetry in iambic dialogue, pp.
xxiv, 34, 42.
Synizesis, pp. 16, 55, 119, 143, 144.
cdyrj, not necessarily of weapons, p.
87.
(xalveLV, p. 67.
aa(pr)veu', p. 33.
ae for creavTov, p. 158.
ci Toi, p. 73.
ai^as (pepeip, of paying regard, p. 41.
cr^jSas, indeclinable in singular, p. 96.
aeixvd, not = ay add, p. 19.
civos and its cognates, used of mis-
chievous animals, p. 72.
INDEX.
179
crovpi^ei, for (rot bpl^ei, p. 138.
GirXa'^xvO', of the larger organs of the
body, p. 67.
crayoves, opposed to daraKTi, p. 32.
arda-LS, referring to the position of the
Chorus, pp. 19, 124,
ar^yacTTpov, p. 147.
-aTeprjs, compounds in, p. 42.
<TTe(pT], of libations, p. 17.
(jTLxopivOla, finished with a couplet,
P- 139-
aTvyos, with genitive, p. 115.
(TTi;^ and arvyos, p. 83.
avyyqpdcTKeiv, p. 136.
avfijSdWea-daL, ' to contribute,' with a
participle, p. 151.
av/j,fjL€Tpos, denotes size, not colour,
P- 39-
crvveidevai., with dative and accusative,
P- 37-
crvvreTpalveiv, p. 73«
a-<pd^€LV TTpos Tiva, p, 135.
(Tx^^w, a vox nihili, p. 125.
aijjTrip, function of Zeus, pp. 4, 41,
90, 160.
acjTTjpia, of perpetuation of life, pp.
34. 40.
awcppoavvrj, the gift of heaven, p. 24.
Tautologies in ^sch., p. 4.
Tautologies in Euripides, p. 4.
Tomb of Agamemnon, where placed,
PP- 4» 5-
Trajection, pp. 80, 98, 166.
Transcription from dictation, errors
arising from, p. 166.
Tribrach contained by a single word,
p. 4.
Turnebus, coiTCctions by, pp. 8, 10,
24, 29, 30, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40, 4»,
43, 44, 56, 57, 65, 70, 76, 81, 83,
87, 88, 103, 108, 130, 131, 135,
144, 148, 149, 153, 157, 158.
Tzetzes, referred to, p. 157,
TctXas, sometimes a weak epithet, p.
160.
rapdaaeiv y6ov, p. 55.
rapLx^veiu, p. 49.
rdx' eicrerai, and similar expressions,
p. 50.
re, epexegetical, p. 126 ; seemingly
for re- re, p. 114; with a verb after
a participle, p. 1 30.
re and ye, confused, p. 1 7.
T^K/xap, p. 102.
T^Xeios and reXecrcpopos, of the ruler of
a house, p. 101.
reXeladat, ' to be killed,' p. 131.
Te/nveLv, of a spear- wound, p. 56.
Tiviov, of various parts of the body,
p. 36.
Tt, in the sense of rt dXXo, p. 67.
riydp; p. 132.
rlTuude, pp. 55, 97, 127.
riveip, of rendering a victim to justice,
p. 99.
Tts, nearly equivalent to TToy, p. 113.
Tij, indefinite, beginning a line, pp.
83, 100.
TX-qixovws, in a good sense, p. 112.
TO 1X7) defxis, p. 98.
TO irdv, adverbial, pp. 54, 70, 98.
TO/JLOLOU OLKOS, p. 84.
roM, p. 39.
Toirapxos, an unlikely word, p. loi.
Tov iraTpos tovs ahiovs, p. 45.
Tpeipetv Koixriv, p. 5.
Tpid^eiv, p. 55.
TpLTov TovTo, usod advcrbially, p. 100.
Tpoiraia and TpoTacou, p. 117.
Tvyxdveiv, with accusative, p. 36.
TvyxdvcLV, with participle, pp. 6, 52 ;
not the same as tvx^v with verb,
P- 143-
vwdyyeXos, p. 126.
vireyyvos, the giver of a pledge, p. 9.
VTr€(XTravL(r/j.ivos, p. 90.
vTrrjKoos, with genitive, p. 50.
viroypacprj differs from irepLypacpr}, p.
vTopx^^c^Oo-i, ' to dance to music,' p.
154.
i8o
IXDEX.
Valckenaer, corrections by, pp. 83,
84, 159-
Verb in second clause governing an
object in first, pp. 24, 86, 95.
Verb active, without an object, pp.
48, 54-
Verb substantive omitted where there
is no personal pronoun, p. 66.
Verbal adjectives constructed like
their verbs, pp. 7, 2 7.
Verbal adverbs, p. 12.
Vettori (Victorius), corrections by,
pp. 8, 27, 30, 81, 84, 108.
Virgil mistakes Theocritus, p. 18.
Vulgarisms, modern, sometimes an-
swer to expressions in Greek tra-
gedy, p. 69.
W.
Wellauer, corrections by, pp. 56, 69,
144.
Women compared to drones, p. 137.
Words lost from the text, pp. 60, 67,
76.
Words recurring after a short interval
not necessarily suspicious, pp. 131,
145, 155-
Wrestling, metaphors from, pp. 55,
79» 130.
<!•.
<pf vowel lengthened before, p. 122.
^aiVei, impersonal, p. 148.
(f>dos, of a joyful event, p. 53.
(pda-Kciv has no present indicative, p.
17-
fp^peiv yXQacrav, p. 87.
(pev, in a wish, p. 64.
(pevyeiv, to live in exile, p. 23.
(pdei/xevos, probably a vox nihili, p. 66.
(piXrjTTjs, (pT]\rjTTj$, p. 149.
0iXos used of nearness as well as dear-
ness, pp. 19, 85.
(piXrpop, p. 154.
(po^os irepl (po^o) eXaKep, similar ex-
pressions to, p. 8.
(povos, combining the notions of blood-
shed and murder, p. 12.
(popos, eiricpopos, of a wind, p. 122.
(ppeui, semi-pleonastic, pp. 50, 150.
(ppevovv Tivd rt, p. 19.
(ppovetv ed, p. 116.
(pvyrj, a band of exiles, p. 6.
(puivetv TLva, to summon a person, pp.
46, 166.
X.
X, vowel lengthened before, p. 157.
Xct/sii', as an adverb, really a cognate
accusative, p. 31.
Xo-P<-Tes, plural, p. 53.
Xeipos yipas, p. 43.
Xoat, part of the evbeiTrva, p. 77.
Xpil^^v, how used, pp. 55, 123.
i/zuXT?, life, p. 45.
<ir.
fi.
ws av eldys, giving infoi*mation, p. 71.
Zeugma, p. 59.
^y5iwr6s or ^ywros x^^^^t an em-
broidered garment, p. 39.
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