οὐκ ἔστιν, finally rejecting the supposition, like “οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα” ( Tr. 449: Ai. 470). ταῦτα μὲν μέθες: σὺ δὲ κ.τ.λ. Here “σὺ δὲ” marks an antithesis, not of persons, but of clauses, and serves merely to emphasise the second clause. This is a peculiarly Ionic usage. Il. 9. 300“εἰ δέ τοι” (=“σοι”) “Ἀτρείδης μὲν ἀπήχθετο”.. | .. “σὺ δ᾽ ἄλλους περ Παναχαιοὺς” | “τειρομένους ἐλέαιρε”: 6. 46 “ζώγρει, Ἀτρέος υἱέ, σὺ δ᾽ ἄξια δέξαι ἄποινα” [“ζώγρει”=“μὴ κτεῖνε”]: 4. 491 “τοῦ μὲν ἅμαρθ̓: ὁ δὲ Λεῦκον, Ὀδυσσέος ἐσθλὸν ἑταῖρον”, | “βεβλήκει”. Her. 3. 68“εἰ μὴ αὐτὴ Σμέρδιν..γινώσκεις, σὺ δὲ παρὰ Ἀτόσσης πύυευ”: 7. 159 “εἰ δ᾽ ἄρα μὴ δικαιοῖς ἄρχεσθαι, σὺ δὲ μηδὲ βοήθεε”. The Attic poets took the idiom from the Ionians: Aesch. Ag. 1060“εἰ δ᾽ ἀξυνήμων οὖσα μὴ δέχει λόγον”, | “σὺ δ᾽ ἀντὶ φωνῆς φράζε καρβάνῳ χερί”. It is rarer in Attic prose: Xen. An. 4. 2.§§ 5, Xen. An. 6: “αὐτοὶ ἐνταῦθ᾽ ἔμενον, ὡς τὸ ἄκρον κατέχοντες: οἱ δ᾽ οὐ κατεῖχον”.
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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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