τάκεις … οἰμωγὰν=“ποιεῖ τακερὰν οἰμωγάν”, makest a languishing lament. Cp. Tr. 848“τέγγει δακρύων ἄχναν” (n.): Ai. 55“ἔκειρε...φόνον”. For “τήκομαι”, said of pining in grief, cp. 283, Eur. Med. 158“μὴ λίαν τάκου δυρομένα σὸν εὐνάταν.” ἀκόρεστον: cp. Aesch. Ag. 1143(of the nightingale) “ἀκόρετος βοᾶς.” τὸν πάλαι κ.τ.λ., acc. depending on “τάκεις οἰμωγάν” as=“οἰμώζεις”: cp. 556, 710: O. C. 223 “δέος ἴσχετε μηδὲν ὅσ᾽ αὐδῶ” (n.). πάλαι, some seven or eight years ago (13 f., n.).— ἐκ, here no more than “ὑπό” (Ph. 335 “ἐκ Φοίβου δαμείς”, n.). ἀθεώτατα: cp. 1181 (n.). κακᾷ … χειρὶ πρόδοτον, betrayed (to death) by a dastardly hand. χειρὶ, following “ἀπάταις”, denotes the violent deed. Sophocles thinks of both Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus as active agents in the murder (99 “σχίζουσι”). This is against understanding, ‘betrayed (by her) to (his) hand.’ ὡς is properly an exclamation (‘how!’), as in “ὡς ὤφελον”: here it stands, like utinam, with the optat. There are Homeric examples, as Il. 18. 107“ὡς ἔρις... ἀπόλοιτο”: ib. 22. 286 “ὡς δή μιν σῷ ἐνὶ χροῒ πᾶν κομίσαιο”: Od. 17. 243“ὡς ἔλθοι”: which must be distinguished from instances of “ὥς” (‘thus’） with optat., as Il. 14. 142“ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν ὣς ἀπόλοιτο”: Od. 1. 47“ὣς ἀπόλοιτο καὶ ἄλλος”. In Attic this “ὡς” with optat. is rare: Eur. Hipp. 407“ὡς ὄλοιτο παγκάκως.” ὁ τάδε πορὼν might refer to Clytaemnestra (for the masc., cp. Ant. 464 n.), but is rather general, including both the authors of the crime. εἴ μοι θέμις, like Tr. 809“εἰ θέμις δ̓, ἐπεύχομαι”: Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra are the rulers of Mycenae. Cp. Eur. Med. 83“ὄλοιτο μὲν μή: δεσπότης γάρ ἐστ᾽ ἐμός”. And the Chorus might shrink from imprecations on the mother in her daughter's presence.
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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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