τῷ φέρεις. “ποῖ” has better authority than “τῷ” (cr. n.), but the latter is certainly to be preferred here. ἔμπυρα probably refers to some articles of food, perhaps cakes, which she (or a handmaid) was carrying to be burned at the grave (cp. 326 n.). Thus Lucian, speaking of offerings to the dead, says (Charon 22), “καίουσί τε τὰ πολυτελῆ δεῖπνα, καὶ ἐς τὰ ὀρύγματα ο<*>῀νον καὶ μελίκρατον, ὡς γοῦν εἰκάσαι, ἐκχέουσιν”. Chrysothemis, in her reply, naturally speaks of the “χοαί”, since they formed the most characteristic part of the rite. But it seems impossible that the word “ἔμπυρα” should directly denote the libations, as was supposed by the schol. (“τάδ᾽ ἔμπυρα: ταύτας τὰς σπονδάς”), and by Triclinius. There is nothing to show that the term “ἔμπυρα”, ‘burnt offerings,’ was ever extended to offerings generally; or that “ἔμπυρα” could mean, ‘offerings at a “πυρά”’ (as the grave is called in 901). In the only other place where Sophocles uses the word “ἔμπυρα”, it has its ordinary sense ( Ant. 1005).
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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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