σωφρονεῖν, to observe such moderation as the Chorus recommend; εὐσεβεῖν, to abstain from the unfilial behaviour which Clytaemnestra resents (596), and which Electra herself deplores as a cruel necessity (616—621). The passage is grievously marred by changing “εὐσεβεῖν”, as some do, to “εὐστομεῖν” (cr. n.). In Aesch. Ch. 140Electra says, “αὐτῇ τέ μοι δὸς σωφρονεστέραν πολὺ” | “μητρὸς γενέσθαι χεῖρά τ᾽ εὐσεβεστέραν”. ἔν τοι κακοῖς: similarly “τοι” can separate the art. from its noun ( O. C. 880, etc.). The vulg. “ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς” is not unmetrical (since not only “τοῖς”, but also “ἐν”, coheres with “κακοῖς”), but is weak. In Ai. 776, too, “τοι” was corrupted to “τοῖς.” πολλή ᾿στ᾽ ἀνάγκη, as O. C. 293, Tr. 295.— κἀπιτηδεύειν κακά: i.e., as her circumstances are evil, so, on her own part (“καί”, 1026), she is driven to an evil behaviour, —i.e., to defying her mother: as she says in 621 “αἰσχροῖς γὰρ αἰσχρὰ πράγματ᾽ ἐκδιδάσκεται” . I place only a comma, not a colon, after πάρεστιν, as the context requires; for the opposition expressed by “ἀλλά” is merely to the negative form of the preceding clause, not to its sense.
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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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