καὶ μὴν, announcing a new comer: 1422: O. C. 549 n. θυρῶν is perhaps best taken as denoting the quarter whence the sound strikes the ear, so that it goes with “αἰσθέσθαι” (‘hear from the doors’). The order of the words, and the rhythm, favour this. It might, however, be a local gen., ‘at the doors,’ going with “ὑποστενούσης”: cp. 900 n. I should agree with the schol. in governing “θυρῶν” by ἔνδον, did not the wide separation of the words make this so awkward. When Sophocles places a genitive long before the preposition which governs it, the genitive is usu. causal; and, as this sense is readily perceived, the delay of the prep. then matters less. See, e.g., 578 f. “τούτου...οὕνεκ̓”: O. T. 857 f. “μαντείας...οὕνεκ̓”: Ph. 598 f. “τίνος ...χάριν”. προσπόλων τινὸς: the old man conjectures that it is a slave, because a daughter of the house was not to be expected at the gates, especially at such an early hour: cp. 518 n. But Orestes fancies that he recognises the voice.
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.
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