A Conjecture on Aeschylus Agamemnon 985

At Aeschylus Agamemnon 985 the manuscript reading psi alpha mu mu iota alpha sigma alpha kappa alpha tau alpha is corrupt, giving neither meter nor sense. Wilamowitz' conjecture psi alpha mu mu omicron sigma alpha mu pi tau alpha has met with some editorial approval, but its sense is dubious and should be rejected. I propose instead psi alpha lambda lambda omicron nu alpha kappa tau alpha iota sigma, "they were plucking on the shore", referring to the performance of a paean on the lyre by the Greek fleet departing for, or, less likely, arriving at, Troy. The fleet's departure would be an appropriate time for the soldiers to perform a paean, for which the lyre was a common accompaniment. Plucking a lyre without strumming, however, as psi alpha lambda lambda omicron nu implies, seems to have been a less common performance technique, sometimes culturally marked as 'Asian'. While there is evidence that a paean with plucked accompaniment might have seemed unexceptional to a Greek audience, if Aeschylus did intend an Asian connotation, I suggest that the Chorus, having just witnessed Agamemnon tread on the purple cloths, would thereby portray the Greek army as already tainted by tryphe on their departure for Troy. Whether `Greek' or 'Trojan', the conjectured army's paean would form an effective counterpoint to the lyre-less threnos in the Chorus' heart that dominates the ode.