Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Electra

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κρύπτειν: cp. Ph. 915“οὐδέν σε κρύψω”.—Nauck follows Wunder in rejecting this verse, because (1) “τὸν αὐτόχειρα” can mean no one but Aegisthus; (2) “οὐδὲν γάρ σε δεῖ κρύπτειν μ᾽ ἔτι” would have point only if Chrysothemis did not already know the guilt of Aegisthus; (3) “σε” and “με” cause ambiguity. We may reply: (1) The mention of the murderer's name, which Electra has hitherto uttered only in her solitary lament (98), is forcible here; and the emphatic place given to it is in the manner of Sophocles (cp. 1507 “κτείνειν”: Ant. 46“ἀδελφόν”). (2) The words “οὐδὲν γάρ σε κ.τ.λ.” refer, of course, to the purpose which Electra now discloses—not to the guilt of Aegisthus. (3) The formal ambiguity of “σε..με” is only such as occurs in Ant. 288“ἢ τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας εἰσορᾷς θεούς”;

In this play the fate of Aegisthus forms the climax. Electra has already said that Clytaemnestra shared in the murderous deed (97 ff., 206), and has avowed that she would have wished Orestes to wreak vengeance on her (604). But she does not suggest that she herself or her sister should slay their mother; even the plur. “ἐχθροῖς” in 979 need not mean more than Aegisthus. Sophocles avoids everything that could qualify our sympathy with Electra; while it suits the different aim of Euripides to make her plan the matricide. See Introduction.