καὶ μὴ δοκεῖν “κ.τ.λ.” Her thought is, “δοκεῖς μὲν δρᾶν τι, πημαίνεις δὲ οὔ”: ‘you have merely the semblance of being active against our foes, without really harming them. I will not imitate you.’ The first “μὴ” affects all that follows it. Such a combination of independent negatives is especially frequent in denials of illogical conduct; since Greek idiom loved to bring out a want of consistency by a parataxis with “μέν” and “δέ”. Thus Alcib. I. p. 124 C “ἐγὼ γάρ τοι οὐ περὶ μὲν σοῦ λέγω ὡς χρὴ παιδευθῆναι, περὶ δ᾽ ἐμοῦ οὔ”. Dem. or. 18 § 179 “οὐκ εἶπον μὲν ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔγραψα δέ” (‘I did not say these things and then fail to propose them’). Similar is Soph. O. C. 277“καὶ μὴ θεοὺς τιμῶντες εἶτα τοὺς θεοὺς” | “†μοίραις†ποεῖσθε μηδαμῶς”.
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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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