οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους: for the verb compounded with a noun similar in sense to “θαλάμους”, cp. Tr. 760“ταυροκτονεῖ...βοῦς”: Il. 4. 3“νέκταρ ἐῳνοχόει”. By “οἰκονομῶ” was meant properly the ‘management’ of a household, either by the master, or by a domestic of the higher grade, a “ταμίας” or “οἰκονόμος”, ‘house-steward.’ But here “οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους” denotes the discharge of humbler duties, in attending to the daily service of the house: as in Aesch. Ch. 84 the “δμωαὶ” are “δωμάτων εὐθήμονες”. Electra describes her own condition by the word “δουλεύω” in 814, Aesch. Ch. 1192: as in Aesch. Ch. 135 she says “κἀγὼ μὲν ἀντίδουλος”.
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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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