ὅρα...μὴ … τιθῇς. The subjunctive here is supported by our best MS., L, which has “τίθηις”, while in 584 it has “τίθης”. In 584 τίθης is clearly right: ‘see that you are not making a false excuse’ (she is actually making it). Cp. Plat. Theaet. 145C “ὅρα μὴ παίζων ἔλεγεν”: and other examples in n. on Soph. Ph. 30. Here, either “τίθης” or “τιθῇς” would be suitable. (1) With “τίθης”:—‘See that, in making this rule, you are not making woe for yourself.’ This means that to make the rule (as she is doing) is at once (logically) to make the woe. (2) With “τιθῇς”: —‘See lest, in making this rule, you make woe for yourself’: i.e., the rule may have the woe as a consequence. The woe is a future contingency (583 “εἰ δίκης γε τυγχάνοις”), against which Electra warns her. On the whole, I now prefer “τιθῇς”. Cp. 1003 “ὅρα κακῶς πράσσοντε μὴ μείζω κακὰ” | “κτησώμεθ̓”: fr. 82 “ἀλλ᾽ ὅρα μὴ κρεῖσσον ᾖ”. τιθεῖσα … νόμον: cp. n. on Ant. 8: Eur. Alc. 57“πρὸς τῶν ἐχόντων, Φοῖβε, τὸν νόμον τίθης”.
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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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