τοιαῦτά σοι (ethic dat.) ταῦτ᾽ ἐστίν, as in O.C. 62. ὡς μὲν ἐν λόγῳ, so far as mere narrative can convey an impression. For the limiting sense of “ὡς”, cp. O. C. 76“ὡς ἰδόντι” (n.). τοῖς δ᾽ ἰδ., οἵπερ εἴδομεν,=“ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς ἰδοῦσιν”. Cp. O. T. 1237“τῶν δὲ πραχθέντων τὰ μὲν” | “ἄλγιστ᾽ ἄπεστιν: ἡ γὰρ ὄψις οὐ πάρα”. 764 f. The word δεσπόταισι would usu. imply that the speaker was a slave. The women of the Chorus are free (1227 “πολίτιδες”), and it has been suggested that the poet forgot this. But it is simpler to suppose that, in poetry, “δεσπότης” could bear its primary sense, ‘master of the house,’ ‘lord,’ without necessary reference to the special relation of master and slave. Cp. Tr. 363“δεσπόζειν θρόνων”. πρόρριζον: see on 512.
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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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