βάσταζ̓, sc. “τὸ κάλυμμα”, ‘handle it,’ i.e., ‘lift it’: cp. 905 n. οὐκ ἐμὸν, since Orestes is supposed to be a Phocian stranger. ταῦθ̓, ‘these relics’; he avoids saying either “τήνδ̓” or “τόνδ̓”. προσηγορεῖν φίλως. Lucian (De luctu, c. 13) describes the sorrowful farewells addressed by relatives to the corpse, when laid out for burial: “φήσει γὰρ ὁ πατήρ, γοερόν τι φθεγγόμενος καὶ παρατείνων” (‘drawing out’) “ἕκαστον τῶν ὀνομάτων: τέκνον ἥδιστον, οἴχῃ μοι καὶ τέθνηκας καὶ πρὸ ὥρας ἀνηρπάσθης, μόνον ἐμὲ τὸν ἄθλιον καταλιπών κ.τ.λ.”
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VI: The Electra. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1894.
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