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ὧν τ᾽ ἔπαθ̓. The schol. understands, ‘the benefits which he has received’ at Electra's hands, who saved him from perishing with his father (12, 1128, 1350). And it might be said that she is here thinking of his ingratitude. But it seems worthier of her heroic nature that she should mean,—‘he forgets his wrongs—those great wrongs which he is bound to avenge.’ This agrees, too, with ὧν τ᾽ ἐδάη, ‘what he has learned’ by the messages which she has sent from Mycenae to Phocis, as to the subsequent conduct of the partners in crime. ‘He forgets his father's murder, and his sister's misery.’

Wecklein, reading “ἐδάην”, explains,— ‘what I have heard from him,’—viz., his promises of coming.

τί γὰρἀγγελίας: cp. Ant. 1229ἐν τῷ συμφορᾶς” (n.).

ἀπατώμενον, ‘disappointed’ by the result. The message is poetically identified with the hope which it inspires. Cp. Ant. 630ἀπάτας λεχέων”, a cheating (of his hope), a disappointment, concerning marriage. The partic. here expresses the leading idea of the sentence: ‘what comforting message comes to me that is not belied?’ (The pres. part., because the thought is, “ἀεὶ ἀπατᾶται”.) Cp. O. C. 1038χωρῶν ἀπείλει νῦν” (n.): Tr. 592ἀλλ᾽ εἰδέναι χρὴ δρῶσαν”. For τίοὐκ as=“πᾶν τι”, cp. O.T. 1526 (n.).

Herwerden's οὐχί μοι, for οὐκ ἐμοί, is specious; but “ἐμοί” may be defended by the antithesis with δέ.


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  • Commentary references from this page (4):
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 1229
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 630
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 1038
    • Sophocles, Trachiniae, 592
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