ἐπεὶ καθ᾽ αὑτόν γ̓. “"My fate must have been a divine judgment upon me for the sins of ancestors. For you could not discover against me (ἐμοί, dat. of interest, cp. 962),—taken by myself (καθ᾽ αὑτόν, apart from those ancestors),—any charge of sin, in retribution for which (ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου) I proceeded to sin (impf. ἡμάρτανον) against myself and my kindred."” If any voluntary crime on his part had preceded his involuntary crimes, the latter might have been ascribed to an “ἄτη” sent on him by angry gods. But he had committed no such voluntary crime. For “αὑτόν”=“ἐμαυτόν” see on 852 f. Others take “ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου” as=“"in that,"” “"because,"” and understand:—“"For you cannot charge any guilt on me personally (“καθ᾽ αὑτόν"”), in that I sinned against myself and my kindred.” But (1) καθ᾽ αὑτόν could not naturally express this contrast between the badness of the acts and the innocence of the agent. It contrasts the man with the “γένος”. (2) ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου regularly (if not always)=“"in return for which,"” “"wherefore"”: e.g. El. 585 “δίδαξον ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου τανῦν
αἴσχιστα πάντων ἔργα δρῶσα τυγχάνεις
”: Eur. Alc. 246 “οὐδὲν θεοὺς δράσαντας ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου θανεῖ”: I. T. 926 “ἡ δ᾽ αἰτία τίς ἀνθ᾽ ὅτου κτείνει πόσιν;” So Hec. 1131, 1136.
