ἀπερίτροπος, ‘regardless.’ The word occurs only here; and “περιτρέπομαι” does not occur in a corresponding sense. But the poet has followed the analogy of “ἐντρέπομαι” and the epic “μετατρέπομαί τινος” as=‘to regard.’ With a somewhat similar boldness, he has elsewhere used “στραφείην” with a gen. as=“ἐπιστραφείην” ( Ai. 1117). The meaning is rightly given by Suidas s. v. “ἀπερίτροπος,—ἔχει ἐπιστροφὴν καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν ποιεῖται”. In the quotation of the verse by Suidas there, the word “ἀνεπίτροπος” (which would mean ‘without a guardian’) has accidentally been substituted for “ἀπερίτροπος”. Suidas, like the schol., explains “ἀπερίτροπος” by “ἀνεπίστροφος”. They both notice a second, but clearly erroneous, view, acc. to which “ἀπερίτροπος” has a twofold sense here:— (1) in relation to Orestes, ‘not returning,’ “ἀνεπέλευστος”: (2) in relation to Hades, ‘regardless.’
This text is part of:
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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.