MANUSCRIPTS, EDITIONS, ETC.

§ 1. THE Electra was one of the most popular plays in Byzantine as in older times, and ranks second only to the Ajax in respect to number of MSS. This popularity bears upon another fact which is illustrated by the scholia (see below, § 3),—viz., the frequency of variants indicating a text, or texts, inferior to that represented by the better codices. On the other hand, though the great mass of the later MSS. are of no independent value, and teem with errors due to carelessness or to feeble conjecture, yet it happens now and again that some one among them preserves or confirms a true reading, offers a noteworthy variant, or presents some other point of interest.

The most important of the MSS. referred to in the critical notes are L-cod. Laur. 32. 9 (first half of 11th century), and A= cod. 2712 in the National Library of Paris. Next to these comes r=cod. Laur. 2725 at Florence, a vellum codex written in 1282 A.D. L is by far the best but not the sole source of the existing MSS.

S denotes the first reviser and scholiast whose corrections are found in L: corrections by later hands are signified by Lc.

r denotes one or more of the MSS. other than L.

§ 2. In common with the later MSS., L exhibits the interpolation avdậs dè πoîov (856), first deleted by Triclinius. It shares also the interpolation πατέρων after γενναίων (128), first removed by Monk (Mus. Crit. I. p. 69, ann. 1814). But the general superiority of L is not less apparent in this play than in the rest. Thus in v. 174, where, like the other MSS., it now has the corrupt orɩ, it originally had the genuine reading, er. In 192 most MSS. have lost ἀμφίσταμαι, but L has at least ἀφίσταμαι, while the majority have ἐφίσταμαι.

Verses 584-586, accidentally omitted from the text of L, have been supplied in the margin by the first hand. It is the first hand also which has inserted verse 993 in the text. But the addition of verse 1007 in the margin is due to the first corrector (S). A comparison of v. 993 with 1007 is instructive in regard to the difference between the two handwritings, which is often less clear than in this

Manuscripts, Editions, etc.

xlvii

example. The addition of verses 1485-6 in the margin may also be attributed to the first corrector.

§ 3. The scholium in L on v. 272 preserves autoévтŋv, changed in the MSS. to avтoþóvтηv. The scholium on 446 confirms (by the words τῇ ἑαυτῶν κεφαλῇ) the true reading κάρᾳ in 445, lost in almost all MSS. At v. 1281 the lemma of the scholium in L preserves av, corrupted in the text of L, as in most MSS., to ầv. Several of the variants recorded in the scholia are curious for the free indulgence in feeble guess-work which they suggest. A typical example occurs in the schol. on 1019, where ovdèv ĥoσov figures as a v. l. for avróxεipi.

§4. There are some gaps in the text. A trimeter has certainly been lost after v. 1264. In 1283 something has fallen out before ἔσχον. In 1432 the latter part of the trimeter is wanting.

In many instances lacunae have been suspected by various critics in several cases it has been suggested that transposition is required to restore the original order: and no less than 110 verses have been regarded by one or more commentators as interpolations. In a vast majority of these instances, the suspicion or rejection appears wholly unwarrantable, and, so far as I am able to see, verse 691 is the only one in this play which affords reasonable ground for strong suspicion.

Conjectural emendation (as the notes will show) has not left much to glean,-for those, at any rate, who conceive that the proper use of that resource is restorative, not creative; but, to mention two examples of small points, no one seems to have suggested that in 1380 προπίτνω ought to be προπίπτω, or that the halting verse, 1264, τότ ̓ εἶδες ὅτε θεοί μ ̓ ἐπώτρυναν μολεῖν, might be healed by the mere change of ὅτε to εὖτε.

Editions.

§ 5. Besides the various complete editions of Sophocles I have consulted F. A. Paley's commentary, in his volume containing the Philoctetes, Electra, Trachiniae, and Ajax (London, 1880); the 3rd edition of G. Wolff's Electra, revised by L. Bellermann (1880); and, above all, the 3rd edition of Otto Jahn's Electra, as revised and enlarged by Professor Michaelis, a work of the highest value for textual criticism, which contains also a well-digested selection both of the ancient materials for interpretation of the play, and of modern conjectures.

METRICAL ANALYSIS

THE lyric metres of the Electra are the following. (1) Logaoedic, based on the choree (or 'trochee'), -~, and the cyclic dactyl ~~, which is metrically equivalent to the choree. (2) Choreic, based on the choree (trochee). (3) Dactylic. (4) Dochmiac, ~--~ |- ^ •

(5) Anapaestic dimeters, with anacrusis, are used in the Parodos (third Strophe, and Epode); and, without anacrusis, in the first Kommos, second Strophe, 850 ff. Like the anapaests of Electra's Opvos preceding the Parodos (vv. 86-120), these belong to the class which may be described as 'free' or 'melic' anapaests, in contradistinction to the march-anapaest. (6) The 'paeon quartus,' is appropriately introduced in the first verse of the third Stasimon-that short ode which marks the moment of suspense, just after the avengers have entered the house. In v. 1388, the paeon is replaced, and as it were balanced, by a kindred measure, the bacchius, -~, often employed to denote perplexity or surprise.

The lyrics of the Electra have a special interest in regard to the question concerning the period to which the play belongs. Down to about 420 B.C. it is somewhat rare in tragic lyrics to find different classes of metre combined within the same strophe. One class is the yévos lσov, in which the time-value of the thesis is equal to that of the arsis, as it is in the dactyl, the spondee, and the anapaest. The other class, the yévos diπXáσlov or aviσov, includes the trochee and iambus, with the measures based upon them. In plays of the earlier period, the same strophe seldom represents both these classes. But in the Parodos of the Electra a single strophe combines dactyls or anapaests with choreic or logaoedic verses; and the Epode unites all four kinds. Such Toλνμeтpia was associated with the new tendencies in music which began to prevail shortly before the Sicilian Expedition.

In the third Stasimon (1384—1397) we have an example of dochmiacs in combination with other elements, the paeon, bacchius, and iambic. Another feature worthy of notice is presented by the μéλos ảπò σкηvîs in 1232-1287, viz., the use made of the iambic trimeter in connection with dochmiacs. Iambic trimeters, when thus interposed in a melic passage,

were not spoken, as in ordinary dialogue, but given in recitative with musical accompaniment (παρακαταλογή).

L denotes that the

In the subjoined metrical schemes, the sign ordinary time-value of a long syllable, commonly marked –, is increased by one half, so that it becomes equal to

or

the sign denotes

0r -ཅ༤. The

that such time-value is doubled, and becomes equal to sign ≥ means that an 'irrational' long syllable (σvλλaßǹ äλoyos) is substituted for a short. The letter w, written over two short syllables, indicates that they have the time-value of one short only.

At the end of a verse, ▲ marks a pause equal to ~, a pause equal to

The anacrusis of a verse (the part preliminary to the regular metre) is marked off by three dots placed vertically, .

The end of a rhythmical unit, or 'sentence,' is marked by ||. The end of a rhythmical ‘period' (a combination of two or more such sentences, corresponding with each other), is marked by ]].

If a rhythmical sentence introduces a rhythmical period without belonging to it, it is called a πpowdós, or prelude (marked as πp.): or, if it closes it, an rudós, epode, or postlude. Similarly a period may be grouped round an isolated rhythmical sentence, which is then called the μeowdós, mesode, or interlude.

I. Parodos, vv. 121-250.

FIRST STROPHE.—The measures of the several periods are as follows:-I. dactylic: II. dactylic: III. choreic (or 'trochaic'): IV. dactylic: V. logaoedic: VI. choreic.

I. I.

2. -1

- |-~~ | ||--|-~~|-~|-- | − ̄ ]

V.

VI. 1.

in III.

I.

SECOND STROPHE.-Choreic in periods I., II., and IV.; dactylic

II. I.

THIRD STROPHE.—Periods I., II., and III. consist of anapaestic dimeters, with anacrusis. In I., the spondees give a slow and solemn movement, suited to the theme; in II., where the subject changes from the crime to the passion which prompted it, the rhythm is lightened and accelerated by dactyls. Period IV. shows a blending of different measures, characteristic of the Toλvμeтpía to which reference was made above. The 1st and 4th verses are still anapaestic dimeters; but v. 2 is a choreic tripody, and v. 3 a logaoedic tripody, of the form known as a 'first Pherecratic.' In period V. we have choreic tetrapodies.