we are to give the same sense to the passage in the Choeph. 573: ὑμῖν δ´ ἐπαινῶ γλῶσσαν εὔφημον φέρειν, σιγᾶν δ´ ὅπου δεῖ καὶ λέγειν τὰ καίρια. What can be clearer than the meaning of Clytemnestra, who wishing to offer her sacrifice, breaks off the dispute and will not listen any longer to the words of Electra (οὐκ εὔφημα), but only to εὔφημον γλῶσσαν, and reproaches her with not suffering this to be heard.
All the obscurity of our passage disappears as soon as we observe that αἴγλη signifies a band, which is supposed to be drawn over the eyes of the sleeper; for this is an image naturally suggested by the common and literal phrase of shutting the eyes, tegere lumina somno. Αἴγλη does not signify a band in general: but primarily an ornamental band, one glittering with gold and pearls (Plin. xxxiii. 12) or other precious materials, especially for the arm or the foot, just as χλιδὼν derived its name from the luxurious affluence indicated by it, though in common speech the derivation was forgotten. The lexicographers give the following explanations of αἴγλη. Lex. Sangermann. (Bekk. Anecdot. Gr. p. 354): αἴγλη—καὶ τοῦ ζυγοῦ τὸ περἰμεσον—καὶ χλιδὼν δέ τις οὕτως ἐκαλεῖτο ἔνιοι δέ φασι σημαίνει καὶ τὸν περιπόδιον κόσμον ἢ τὸν ἀμφιδέα ἢ ἁπλῶς ψέλλιον. σημαίνει δὲ καὶ τὴν πέδην ἡ αἴγλη ὡς παρ´ Ἐπιχάρμῳ. Pollux v. 100, of articles of female dress: ἰδίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῖς ποσὶ, περισφύρια, περιπέζια, πέζας, καὶ αἴγλην καὶ πέδην καὶ περισκελίδας. Hesych. Αἰγληχίδων. Σοφοκλῆς Τηρεῖ χιτών, καὶ τέδη παρὰ Ἐπιχάρμῳ ἐν Βάκχαις. From what has been already said it is clear that this has been rightly altered into αἴγλη, χλιδών, and that the reading χιτών arose through mistake out of χίδων, and ought therefore to be corrected χλιδών, though it has been very lately repeated after Brunck in three different reprints of the fragments of Sophocles, none of which is worthy of the present state of literature. Pollux observes that there were several expressions in use signifying at once a band for the arm, and a band for the foot; and he specifies ἀμφιδεύς and χλιδών; which is natural enough, since the meaning of these terms is general, not confined like that of βραχιόνιον, πέδη, &c. Αἴγλη belongs to the same class, and this is the reason why Sophocles was
