ἄλεκτρα … ἀνυμέναια, as Ant. 917“ἄλεκτρον, ἀνυμέναιον”. The inverse order of words would be more natural, as the “ὑμέναιος” escorted the bride and bridegroom to their home. Cp. 164 f., and 187. γηράσκουσαν, acc. with “ἀλγεῖν”, while “ἐστερημένῃ” (960) depends on “πάρεστι”. Cp. Eur. Med. 1236“δέδοκται τοὔργον ὡς τάχιστά μοι” | “παῖδας κτανούσῃ τῆσδ᾽ ἀφορμᾶσθαι χθονός”, | “καὶ μὴ σχολὴν ἄγουσαν ἐκδοῦναι τέκνα”. The word “γηράσκουσαν”, like Electra's phrase “ὁ πολὺς.. βίοτος” in 185 ff., must be taken relatively to the ordinary age for marriage. Plato lays it down that a woman should not marry before sixteen or after twenty: “γάμου δὲ ὅρον εἶναι κόρῃ ἀπὸ ἑκκαίδεκα ἐτῶν εἰς εἴκοσι τὸν μακρότατον χρόνον ἀφωρισμένον” (Legg. 785 B)—a good comment on the words of Aristophanes, “τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς σμικρὸς <*> καιρός” ( Lys. 596). It would suit the data to suppose that Electra was about twenty-five, and her sister a little younger. Cp. Helen. 283 “θυγάτηρ ἄνανδρος πολιὰ παρθενεύεται”.
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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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