δέξεται εὐπατρίδαν, i.e., will receive him, so that he shall be once more a noble of the land, instead of an exile; for the proleptic force, cp. 68 “δέξασθέ μ᾽ εὐτυχοῦντα” (n.). So Orestes exultingly imagines how men will say of him ( Aesch. Eum. 757), “Ἀργεῖος ἁνὴρ αὖθις, ἔν τε χρήμασιν” | “οἰκεῖ πατρῴοις”. Διὸς εὔφρονι | βήματι, by the kindly guidance of Zeus; “βῆμα” here having a sense parallel with that of the causal tenses, “βήσω, ἔβησα”. Schol. “βήματι: ἀντὶ ὁδῷ, πομπῇ”. This is certainly bold, though not too much so (I think) for Sophocles. No correction seems probable (see cr. n.). The most ingenious, perhaps, is Mekler's “εὐπατριδᾶν ἕδος” (in appos. with “γᾶ...Μυκηναίων”). It is, however, somewhat weak; and the rhythm seems to favour the slight pause after “εὐπατρίδαν.” γᾶν, notwithstanding γᾶ in 161: cp. 375, 379 (“γόων”): 511, 515 (“αἰκίαις, αἰκία”): 871, 873 (“ἡδονῆς, ἡδονὰς”): O. C. 554 n. Ὀρέσταν, emphatically placed at the end, is drawn into the case of the relative ὃν: cp. Od. 1. 69“Κύκλωπος κεχόλωται, ὃν ὀφθαλμοῦ ἀλάωσεν”, | “ἀντίθεον Πολύφημον”. Aesch. Th. 553“τῷδ̓, ὃν λέγεις τὸν Ἀρκάδα”.
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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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