ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν θάῃν. If the offerings are buried deep in the ground, they will thereby be committed to the care of the “νέρτεροι”: cp. Ai. 658 ff. “κρύψω τόδ᾽ ἔγχος τοὐμόν, ἔχθιστον βελῶν”, | “γαίας ὀρύξας ἔνθα μή τις ὄψεται”, | “ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸ νὺξ Ἅιδης τε σῳζόντων κάτω”. When Clytaemnestra passes to the nether world, let her find these treasures laid up for her there. They will be witnesses to her conscious guilt. The conjecture ἔστ᾽ ἂν for ὅταν is unnecessary, since σῳζέσθω=“σῳζόμενα <*>.” κειμήλἰ: cp. Il. 23. 618(of a cup), “τῆ νῦν, καὶ σοὶ τοῦτο, γέρον, κειμήλιον ἔστω”.
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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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