Aristophanes, Peace: 1–10, 13–61, 180–336

Introduction, Commentary Notes and Vocabulary by Charlie Paterson

A Level: 1–10, 13–61, 180–336

Introduction

The opening of Aristophanes’ Peace is a remarkable introduction to the wild imagination and fierce wit of Athens’ most popular and successful comic playwright. Furthermore, the play as a whole is a window onto life in Athens at a crucial moment in its history: as Aristophanes prepared Peace for the stage in 421 BC, Athens and Sparta were the closest they had ever been to securing peace since the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431. After a decade of fighting and the deaths of prominent leaders on both sides, negotiations were a tense and lengthy process. Perhaps only a few weeks after the performance of Peace in Athens, terms were agreed and the Peace of Nicias came into effect. Instead of celebrating the farcical solution of a problem that was, in reality, too complex to solve without the magic and imagination of theatre, Peace presented a problem that was as close to being solved as it had ever been before. Although far from a simple celebration of the peace negotiations between Athens and Sparta, this play abounds in optimism and festivity and as such is unique among the plays of Aristophanes.

This introduction provides an overview of the Peloponnesian War before looking at the life of Aristophanes, the performance context of the play and concerns with its staging and direction, the main themes and motifs of the play and the style and metre of the Greek. Suggestions for further reading, much of which is the basis of this introduction and commentary, are also provided to help candidates further their studies of Aristophanes, Greek comedy and the Peloponnesian Wars. This is by no means an exhaustive introduction; rather, it aims to provide students with enough understanding of the author, his times, his genre and the structure of the play to encourage them to develop their own personal responses to the literature and take on further research.

Plot and structure of Peace

It is useful to begin with an outline of the plot and structure of the play. Scholarly analysis of Aristophanic comedy has revealed that comedies had a loose structure made up of a range of component parts, which could be manipulated according to the needs of the plot. These structural elements are highlighted below in italics.

Prologue – an introduction to the theme and hero of the play, as well as an opportunity to warm the audience up for what is to come.

Lines 1–81: After leaving the audience in uncertainty for a time, two slaves eventually explain that they are making cakes out of dung to feed a giant dung beetle which their master has obtained in order to fly to Zeus and have it out with him over the years of wars that the Greeks have suffered.

82–172: Trygaeus, the hero, flies over the stage on a giant beetle and explains his plan. He ignores his daughters’ concern for him and continues on his journey to Zeus. The beetle is easily distracted by the smell of excrement in the streets below, which makes for a rather bumpy journey. Trygaeus presents himself as Bellerophon, the hero of a recent Euripidean tragedy.

173–235: Trygaeus arrives at the house of Zeus. Hermes, playing the role of a rather rude doorkeeper, is at first rather unhelpful. After he is given some sacrificial meat, he becomes more amenable and tells Trygaeus that the gods have become so fed up with mortals causing war that they have moved away to the highest point of the heavens. War is housesitting for them and has trapped Peace in a cave blocked up with boulders. Hermes also reveals that War is planning to use a pestle and mortar to make a savoury paste using the cities of Greece as his ingredients.

236–88: War comes out to make his paste and lists off the cities as he puts ingredients into a large mortar. His slave, named Uproar, is sent to find a pestle but there are none in the house and both Athens and Sparta have lost theirs. It is clear that these pestles are meant to be Cleon and Brasidas, the Athenian and Spartan leaders respectively, who sought to continue the war before both died in the previous summer. War is forced to go back inside to make a pestle himself.

Parodos – the chorus enters the theatre from the sides to sing and dance.

289–360: While the coast is clear, Trygaeus calls on all Greeks to help him free Peace. The chorus are unable to contain their joy; they sing about their previous sufferings and the joy that peace will bring. They call on Trygaeus to lead them in rescuing Peace.

361–424: Hermes re-enters and stops Trygaeus as he is about to approach the rocks covering Peace. He warns that Zeus has threatened death to those who help Peace. Trygaeus shows his cunning and wins Hermes over with flattery and deception. He suggests that the gods of the Persians, Moon and Sun, have been plotting against the Greek gods. Trygaeus promises Hermes additional festivals in his honour and offers him a golden libation bowl.

425–59: Trygaeus and Hermes pour a libation and pray for divine blessing on their endeavour. They pray for peace and for those who strive to stop peace to be cursed.

460–519: The chorus heave on the ropes as they try to pull Peace out of the cave. It is hard to get the group of Greeks to pull together: the Boeotians don’t pull properly, an Athenian warmonger is accused of getting in the way, the Argives sit at the back and mock, some of the Spartans don’t pull properly, the Megarians are so weak they can’t pull and the Athenians are in the wrong place. Finally, the Athenian farmers alone are successful in pulling Peace onto the stage with her two attendants, Opora (‘Vintage’) and Theoria (‘Festival-Goer’). As Peace returns, she brings with her the things that war stole from the Athenians: good wine and festivals held in the countryside.

520–600: Trygaeus, delighted at the return of Peace, surveys the audience with Hermes and comments on the peacetime occupations of the spectators. The chorus gather as an army of farmers, holding agricultural tools, and make a prayer to Peace in which they make clear how important she is for those in the countryside.

Agon – usually a conflict set out as two contrasting speeches with some comments from the chorus. This is a deeply unusual agon in that everyone agrees with Hermes: Peace has returned and so there is no conflict.

601–56: Trygaeus wonders why Peace has been absent for so long. Hermes is able to explain the reason and so presents the origins of the wars. He first links Pericles to a scandal with Pheidias, the sculptor of the Parthenon who stood accused of misappropriating some of the gold and ivory intended for the great statue of Athena. Hermes suggests that Pericles started the war to divert public attention away from the scandal, a rumour which is likely to have been invented to give the effect of a god providing a detail that had so far been unknown by mortals. He also lists the Megarian decree, the fear of the allied states in the face of increasing tribute demands, the appeal of turning to Sparta and the lust for profit as causes of war. He moves on to the devastating effect war has had on the farmers and rural life of Athens before he comes to a cutting depiction of the politician Cleon as a greedy lover of war, hater of the farmers and abuser of the law courts.

657–733: Peace, represented on stage by a statue, is presented by Hermes as too angry to speak to the audience because of their treatment of her. Hermes claims she is whispering into his ear, mainly asking questions. She wants to know who her biggest supporter and worst enemy were, who is currently in power and what has changed during her absence. Hermes suggests that Trygaeus take Opera, one of Peace’s attendants, as his wife and that he lead Theoria to the Council.

First Parabasis – the stage clears of actors and the chorus come forward to recite and sing an interlude in which Aristophanes can reflect on his efforts and the effect of his writing. There is a second parabasis on a different topic later in the play.

734–818: The chorus remove their masks and step out of character to address the audience as the poet himself. They present Aristophanes as a great benefactor of Athens who has turned the genre of comedy into a tool for attacking the monsters of the democracy, particularly Cleon. They suggest he should be rewarded for his innovative approach and courage in the face of adversity. They go on to mock his bald head and celebrate the return of Peace.

819–908: Trygaeus returns to the stage leading Opora and Theoria. He has now returned to his own house and enters into an exchange with his slave about what he saw on his journey. He sends Opora inside for a bath and orders wedding preparations to begin. While the girl is inside, the chrous and Trygaeus have an exchange about his happiness and upcoming marriage. Trygaeus then reveals Theoria to the slave and the audience, whom he characterizes as the Council. He describes the return of sex and festivities that Theoria brings to Athens and the chairman eagerly accepts her.

909–73: The chorus praise Trygaeus. He initiates the installation of Peace and prepares, with his slave, to sacrifice a sheep.

974–1015: Trygaeus and the chorus pray to Peace so that she might accept their sacrifice and reveal herself to them fully. They call on her to put an end to fighting and to restore a wide range of good foods to the marketplace.

1016–51: The slave takes the sheep inside for slaughter and Trygaeus arranges a fire to cook the meat. Hierocles, an oracle-collector, is attracted by the smell of the cooking meat, but Trygaeus is concerned that he will make some objection to peace, presumably as the real Hierocles had recently done in Athens. He thus decides to pretend not to see him.

1052–126: Hierocles starts to give advice on how to share out the meat. When he realizes the purpose of the sacrifice, he is quick to give prophecies against peace. Trygaeus calls Hierocles a fraud and chases him away.

Second Parabasis

1127–90: The chorus rejoice that Peace has returned and celebrate the rustic life she has brought back with her. They present a dialogue between neighbouring farmers who have finished the sowing and plan to eat and drink lavishly to demonstrate their delight that god has sent down rain for their land. The chorus then criticizes the military leaders and details the harm they have done to the people of Athens, contrasting the joys of peace with the difficulties of war.

1191–269: A man who crafts hooks for pruning the vines and a potter come with gifts for Trygaeus. The first man praises him as peace has led to his businesses returning to health. By contrast, an arms-dealer, helmet-maker and spear-maker are upset because their businesses are ruined without war. Trygaeus mocks them and suggests ridiculous new uses for their merchandise.

1270–304: Two boys appear on stage and practise the songs they wish to sing at the wedding party. The first boy is only able to sing lines about war and amusingly turns out to be the son of Lamachus, the Athenian general known for his fervour for war. The second boy turns out to be the son of Cleonymus, a man who brought shame upon himself by throwing away his shield and fleeing from battle in 424. This boy sings the beginning of a song written by the poet Archilochus, which describes a man throwing his shield away.

Exodos – the final scene of the play and the exit of the chorus to music.

1305–59: Trygaeus and the chorus turn to the food that has been left by the sickle-maker and potter and start the wedding celebrations in earnest. They celebrate the return of rural life and the gifts that Peace provides for all Greeks.

The Peloponnesian Wars

To understand Trygaeus’ mission to restore peace to Athens and the other Greek states, we need to look at the forces uniting and separating the Greeks in the decades preceding the performance of the play. The Persian Wars of 490 and 480–479 were a unifying force among the squabbling Greek states. Sparta led an effective but uneasy alliance in opposition to the eastern invaders and Athens made a significant contribution to the resistance. As the Spartans and their Peloponnesian allies started to withdraw after much success but increasing unpopularity, a new alliance developed against the Persians. This Delian League, so known because it was established on the island of Delos, sought to remove the Persians from the Aegean. Each member of the league made a contribution, known as tribute, and had a vote in any council called by the league. However, Athens was quick to take a dominant role: neutral states were forced to join and pay tribute, original members were prevented from leaving or forced to pay more tribute and Athens held executive power. In essence, Athens was exercising hegemony over the other states under the guise of promoting a united front against the Persian empire. During this time, Sparta and its allies were not part of the league but remained distant observers.

Meanwhile in Athens, the constitution was a direct democracy: all male citizens over a certain age were considered politically equal in that they could all participate in the functioning of the democracy. The Assembly, the main decision-making body, met around forty times each year and any male citizen over the age of 20 could speak on issues and vote by raising their hand. Although such a process ensured a large demographic of people could take part in the political machinations of the state, charismatic men emerged and started to dominate politics by proposing popular motions and vying for the power that the support of the common people could give them. From 461, the political scene in Athens changed dramatically with the exile of Cimon, a previous ambassador to Sparta, who had sought a peaceful relationship between the two states. When he sent troops to Sparta in the mid 460s to help quell the rebellion of their subject peoples, the helots, the Athenian troops caused offence; they were sent home and Cimon was ostracized (a form of exile lasting ten years), making way for reforms that led to greater power in the hands of the people coupled with an anti-Spartan foreign policy. Athens was then quick to make treaties with anti-Spartan states: Thessaly, Argos and Megara.

Athenian hostility towards Sparta and overweening dominance over its subordinates in the Delian League was not a way to promote unity among the Greeks. Soon Athens became embroiled in clashes with Corinth, a powerful ally of Sparta, in what has become known as the First Peloponnesian War. Meanwhile, Athenian forces started to push into mainland Greece and gain some significant territory. At the same time, although the threat of Persia had all but vanished from the Aegean, Athens nevertheless retained a tight grip on the Delian League, even moving the League’s treasury to Athens in 454. However, such abuse of power was not sustainable, and the Athenian empire was soon rocked by rebellions against Athenian hegemony in Euboea and Megara. Since Athens was distracted with their efforts to quell these rebellions, King Pleistoanax of Sparta chose this moment to lead an army against Attica, the greater region of Athens. This threat was short-lived: Pleistoanax turned back before reaching the city itself, perhaps after receiving a bribe from Pericles. However, such events demonstrated the extent of the tension between the two states and their allies. This period of instability in mainland Greece was finally concluded with the establishment of a thirty-year peace treaty in 445: Athens gave up its power on the mainland but retained power over the Delian League.

Thirty years proved to be too optimistic a timeframe and soon war became inevitable. Thucydides suggests two major events that led to the breakdown of the peace treaty: those at Corcyra and Potidaea. As the Athenians turned their attentions away from mainland Greece and to the area around the Black Sea and the south of Italy, they took an interest in Corcyra, a Corinthian colony with a large fleet and important coastal position which they had to keep away from the Corinthians if they were to ensure their control of the sea. As Corinth and the Corcyrans came to blows over Epidamus, a Corcyran colony, Corcyra sought support from Athens and received some limited help from them. Athens also sought to force Potidaea, another Corinthian colony, to join the Delian League but this led to Corinth backing an anti-Athenian rebellion in the region. Another major factor for war came in 433/2 when the Athenians imposed extremely strict trade sanctions on pro-Spartan Megara and its citizens, which would have been economically crippling as well as politically humiliating. Sparta, persuaded by Corinth that the Athenians had broken the terms of the peace treaty, and in fear at the growing power of Athens, declared war. It can be argued that Athens may not have broken the letter of the law as found in the treaty, but broke the spirit of it. It is very likely that the treaty was simply not adequate for the complex situation between the many Greek states and so war inevitably returned.

War proper broke out in 431 and lasted, with a short period of relative peace from 421 to 414, until the defeat of Athens in 404. The long first ten years of the war, which lead to 421 and the peace treaty anticipated in Aristophanes’ Peace, dragged on as the two sides were badly matched: Sparta and her allies were land powers, while Athens was a sea power with influence over a huge number of the islands in the Aegean. As a result, there was rarely the chance for anything that could be called a decisive victory. The Spartan king Archidamus initiated yearly invasions of Attica to entice the Athenians out to battle and to weaken them by disrupting their rural economy and food supply; the first ten years of the war are now referred to as the Archidamian War. The Athenian general and politician, Pericles, responded with a defensive strategy to avoid the otherwise inevitable defeat at the hands of a greater hoplite force. The Athenians in the countryside were forced to move into the Long Walls, which connected the city of Athens to its harbour, the Piraeus. Although this meant that the countryside of Attica was lost to the Spartans, the Athenians still had access to the sea and their empire.

When Pericles died in 429, to some extent this defensive policy died with him. Cleon, a popular demagogue who rose to power in the democracy as a fierce critic and rival of Pericles, gained huge influence in Athens and pursued a more offensive strategy. He kept control over the empire, quelling rebellions in Miletus and Lesbos with harsh punishments, sent generals to lead naval raids along the coast near Sparta and fortified key posts around the Peloponnese. It is worth noting at this point that the picture we receive of Cleon is a difficult one to interpret. Both Thucydides and Aristophanes seem to agree that he was a fierce warmonger and rabble-rouser who had excessive power over the democratic institutions of Athens. However, there may be reasons for Thucydides and Aristophanes to present him in this light. He supported the commercial or working class of Athens: he notably increased the pay for jurymen to ensure greater representation in the juries. This popular appeal is a clear target in satire and history written by conservatives. It is also possible that both authors held a grudge against him: Thucydides’ exile from Athens may have been strongly supported by Cleon and Aristophanes may have been prosecuted by Cleon for his negative presentation of the Athenian empire, as discussed later in this introduction. There may be more social snobbery and personal enmity behind the presentation of Cleon than historical fact.

Nevertheless, it was the case that the state of Athens was as its most bellicose at this time. The conditions at home were terrible and a clear source of the discontent found in Peace. Although manufacturers of weapons and those in leadership roles had much to gain in terms of wealth and prestige, the majority of other citizens, particularly those who came from the countryside, suffered greatly. The farmers and agricultural workers lost their incomes as their homes and land were destroyed by the annual Spartan invasions. As Athens quickly used up its vast resources building ships, training soldiers and importing food, huge levies were put in place for wealthy citizens who then became embittered at their personal loss. The overcrowding of the city and land within the Long Walls, as well as the increased contact between the states of the empire, led to the outbreak of a devastating plague that may have killed up to half of the population. Furthermore, Athenian men could be called up at any time on expedition and as the population reduced through disease and military failure, men with insufficient training or expertise were sent as both basic soldiers and senior leaders.

The year 425 could be considered a turning point in the war. Demosthenes, an Athenian general, fortified Pylos, a peninsula on the coast of Messenia near Sparta. A threat so close to home alarmed the Spartans, who were quick to end their invasion of Attica and send a fleet to Pylos. Despite being greatly outnumbered, clever strategy on the part of the Athenians and some weaknesses on the Spartan side led to defeat for the Spartans and a group of some 300 hoplites becoming trapped on the nearby island of Sphacteria. These men were to be a fantastic bargaining chip for the Athenians and the threat to kill these men was certainly enough for Sparta to put an end to all invasions of Attica. The Spartans sent multiple embassies to Athens to seek peace terms but they were rejected each time. The Athenians took the opportunity to garrison Pylos and gave the territory to local Messenians to launch attacks against Sparta. Thucydides saw this as a sign of Athenian arrogance: his Spartan ambassadors made it clear that the Athenians were missing the best possible peace treaty and channelling their hopes into an uncertain outcome. Cleon was certainly an influential voice for the continuation of war.

Cleon’s opposite number in Sparta was Brasidas. He was a distinguished solider and leader, having played an influential role in rescuing Methone from Athens in 431 and fought bravely at Pylos; he strongly supported the continuation of war. In 424, he led an army to support Perdiccas, king of Macedonia in the Chalcidic peninsula, where several cities were revolting against the Athenians. Perdiccas had been at odds with Athens since Athenian colonists founded Amphipolis on the River Strymon, which posed a threat to the stability of his own country. The city of Amphipolis, which controlled the crossing of the river, was a major producer of timber and ran several local silver mines. In a run of success in the area, Perdiccas and Brasidas took control of Amphipolis, which was a significant loss for the Athenians and a contributing factor to a one-year peace treaty established in 423. This was also a significant moment for our understanding of this time period as Thucydides was sent by the Athenians to save Amphipolis but arrived too late. He was exiled as punishment and as a result of this had access to information from both sides of the war, which allowed him to write his vital history of the period.

During this supposed peace, Brasidas was still making progress in the north of Greece. He took control of Skione and went on to attack Mende and Potidaea. In response, Cleon proposed death for all inhabitants of Skione and sent out troops. As soon as the year of peace finished, Cleon was quick to raise a large force to take back Amphipolis; however, he suffered a serious defeat at the hands of Brasidas. The defeat for Athens was of such enormity that peace was the only sensible response. Furthermore, both Brasidas and Cleon, the two men who had most ardently sought war, were both killed in the fighting. The Athenian general, Nicias, and Spartan king, Pleistoanax, were eager to make peace and the eventual treaty, known as the Peace of Nicias, was confirmed in the spring of 421. It was designed to last fifty years but it was troubled from the start. Negotiations were by no means simple: Athens still held the Spartan troops captured on Sphacteria and wanted the return of Plataea and Amphipolis, while Sparta continued to threaten Athens with invasions of Attica unless Megara’s port was freed. The terms set out a return to the status quo of 431, but Amphipolis was never truly returned to the Athenians. The allies were not in agreement about peace: Corinth and Thebes, both Spartan allies, voted against the treaty. Meanwhile in Athens, Alcibiades, another popular politician, was trying to disrupt the peace by seeking connections with disillusioned Spartan allies, Corinth and Sparta.

Therefore, the Athenians who took their seats in the theatre to watch Peace in the spring of 421 would have been men who had been hugely affected by the last decade of war. Every member of the audience would have lost multiple relatives to both the plague and warfare. Many, particularly those who came from the countryside, would also have lost their homes and livelihoods. Anyone who had been to the Council or Assembly in recent months would have been aware of the loss of Cleon’s fierce rhetoric for war, as well as the tense negotiations that were still ongoing and the fragile peace that they might create for the Greek states. It is under these circumstances that they came face to face with Trygaeus’ solution to war and celebration of peace.

Aristophanes

The surviving plays of Aristophanes, the father of Old Comedy, demonstrate his skill for writing absurd fantasy, sharp satire, filthy jokes and all the song and dance you would expect at a festival. These elements of his plays are now considered the key traits of the earliest form of comedy. He was also the most popular comic playwright, as shown by the wealth of his work that has survived from antiquity: we have eleven of his plays as well as around thirty-two potential titles and nearly 1,000 short fragments which survive either on papyrus or as citations in the works of other authors. Such an impressive survival rate is due to demand for his work in antiquity: ancient scholars were quick to produce commentaries on the majority of his works and Quintilian, the Roman rhetorician of the first century AD, encouraged his readers to study Aristophanes’ writing as a golden example of the grandeur of Attic Greek. By contrast, of the fifty or so other comic dramatists writing at the same time, no single complete play has survived.

However, it is very difficult to make many certain statements about the man behind the plays. Little information has survived about him other than what we have in his plays, the ancient summaries of them, known as hypotheses, and the ancient commentaries, referred to as scholia, that were written about the plays. As you might expect, caution is needed when dealing with this evidence. The parabasis, an extended speech by the chorus, in which the chorus seems to speak on behalf of the playwright, provides some information on his motive for writing and small personal details, such as his baldness. However, it is impossible to confirm whether we see a true picture of the playwright. The ancient scholars, known as scholiasts, who wrote summaries and commentaries on the plays were writing from a great distance, both temporally and geographically, and cannot be relied upon not to embroider the truth. We also have depictions of Aristophanes in literary texts, most notably the Aristophanes that appears as a character in Plato’s Symposium, where he gives a brilliant speech on love and sexuality. However, his character here seems to be based more on his role as a comic poet than a representation of his genuine beliefs: the story he tells is a farcical allegory, much like the plots of his plays, and his drunken behaviour and hiccoughing are the telltale characteristics of a vulgar comic character.

Nevertheless, we can make a few relatively certain statements about the playwright. The scholia on the Clouds suggests he felt too young to produce a play in 427 BC, the year in which his first play Banqueters was produced, and so we can suppose that he was born in the middle of the fifth century, around 445–450. His father was a certain Philippus and his family must have been relatively affluent as he was taught to read and write to a very high level, as demonstrated by the remarkable versatility of his writing. He certainly had a keen interest in the workings of the democracy and its key players, and perhaps served as a councillor. He fathered three sons who continued in their father’s footsteps by becoming comic playwrights and producers. The date of his death is uncertain but best placed in the 380s.

By contrast, we are able to say a good deal about Aristophanes’ career, which got off to a very promising start: his first play was produced in 427 and received second prize at the City Dionysia festival. It only took another year before he was awarded the first prize at the City Dionysia for his Babylonians. It is recorded that his depiction of the subjects of the Athenian empire as Babylonian slaves in this play led to his prosecution by Cleon, which was potentially the source of Aristophanes’ fiercely negative presentation of the politician in his plays. We also know that a man named Callistratos produced his first three plays and that producers were also employed for many of this later plays. It could perhaps be concluded that Aristophanes preferred the role of playwright to the managerial one of organizing the actors, chorus and staging. He continued writing up to 388, the year in which his son Araros produced two of his plays: Aiolosikon and Cocalus, neither of which survive. During his very successful career, he was awarded first prize at least six times. Frogs was such a popular play that it was given the extraordinary honour of being re-performed in Athens. For our purposes here, it should be noted that by the time of the performance of Peace in 421, Aristophanes was a well-established and successful playwright: at least eight of his plays had already been produced, two of which had taken the top prize.

Performance context

When reading Peace it is important to bear in mind its performance context. Comic performances were staged in a competition that formed part of state religious festivals in honour of Dionysus. This meant they were not frequent but nevertheless held a central position in the Athenian calendar. Moreover, the plays were performed among symbolic civic and religious rituals, which must have influenced the way in which the audience responded to the drama, which was often highly critical of the state and its politicians. In the city there were two major festivals each year: the Great or City Dionysia at the end of March and the Lenaea, a smaller festival which took place in January and had a greater focus on comedy. There were also Rural Dionysia, which took place in December and gave the opportunity to those who lived in the countryside to hear some of the performances from the City Dionysia.

Peace was performed at the City Dionysia. It is noteworthy that the religious rituals and celebrations of fertility, agriculture and merriment found in the play are found in the introductory events of the festival. It started with a procession, mainly of men carrying large wooden phalluses as symbols of fertility, to the precinct of Dionysus. A sacrifice was made to Dionysus and a celebration was held which included the dithyrambic competition in which choirs competed in dancing and singing hymns in honour of Dionysus. The majority of the festival, which lasted for several days, was given over to drama competitions. Three tragic trilogies were performed, each trilogy accompanied by the performance of a satyr play. Comedy was added to the festival in 486 and originally five comedies were performed; however, this went down to three during the war. It is unclear whether the comedies were performed on one day or divided between the trilogies. There were prizes for best tragedy and best comedy, which were awarded by the panel of ten judges, all selected by lot from a shortlist compiled by the Athenian Council. Winning poets were awarded a crown of ivy and paraded through the streets of Athens. There was fierce rivalry between poets and Aristophanes often ridicules his opponents in his writing. To take an example from Peace, the word for dung beetle could at first be confused for Cantharos, a comic playwright who had seen recent success and whom Aristophanes might have wanted to depict eating excrement.

The performance of the play was introduced by a series of rituals: during the war years, the generals made libations in the theatre; the allies of the Athenians brought in their annual tribute and piled it up in the centre of the theatre; men who had greatly benefited the city were named and awarded honours; children orphaned by the wars were paraded into the theatre, given armour and promised support by the state. This was not only a festival in honour of the god of wine, fertility and theatre but also a presentation of Athens’ democratic leaders and the might of the state Not only is the audience encouraged to admire the might of Athens but they are also encouraged to do their duty for the state as the state does its duty to the orphans and those who have given their time and wealth to Athens. However, to go from such civic rituals to watching the fantasy world of comedy in which politicians are harshly ridiculed, absurd solutions to current woes are depicted and lavatorial humour abounds must have had a strong effect on the audience. Through the license allowed to comic playwrights, the spectators are invited to step up as good citizens and to ponder the difficulties and ambiguities within the state.

It is also worth considering the size and demographic of the audience. The Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus had a capacity of 15,000–20,000 people. The audience would have mainly consisted of wealthy Athenian citizens along with senior magistrates of the democracy, such as archons and generals. The politician Pericles did introduce a fund to make a day at the theatre affordable for the poorest and to ensure more representation; for some this may have allowed a day off work but many of the poorest would still have been unable to attend. There is disagreement in the surviving sources as to the presence of women in the theatre, but it is possible and it is certainly the case that the priestess of Dionysus was present. There were a number of non-Athenians present as well: metics, who were resident aliens in Athens and worked as artisans or businessmen, as well as dignitaries of allied states, many of which were Ionian islands, who would have been encouraged to admire the might of Athens. In Peace, Trygaeus characterizes the audience as farmers, merchants, carpenters, craftsmen, immigrants, foreigners and islanders (296–8) and the slaves who open the play mimic an Ionian Greek in the audience (lines 45–9). This suggests that the audience was at least imagined to be more than just the wealthy city slickers of Athens: it represented the whole state and its empire.

Staging comedy

Actors were male and comedies were usually restricted to a cast of three, although there are several plays that required four. For Peace, there must have been three main actors for the major characters (Trygaeus, Slaves A and B, Hermes, Uproar, Arms-Merchant, Hierocles, Sickle-Maker), perhaps two additional actors from the chorus for small parts (Trygaeus’ daughters, Boys) and several silent actors (Attendants, Opora and Theoria, Potter, Spear-Maker, Helmet-Maker). Actors wore masks that depicted their character in one, often grotesque, facial expression and a costume befitting their character. For many characters these must have made clear their identity long before they were named either by themselves or by another character. In Peace, Hermes provides a good example of a character who must have had an obvious costume and so does not need to be named in the script at his first appearance. All actors playing male characters would also have worn a large artificial penis and possibly padded suits that gave them fat bellies and large bottoms.

To recreate the first performance of Peace is very difficult, as the original copies of the play did not mark how the lines were divided by characters and provided no stage directions. The surviving manuscripts do indicate the speaker in places but these are based on the assumptions of the early scholiasts and critics. Even these later interpretations are sometimes difficult to follow as the scribes used a small symbol to indicate a change in speaker, not necessarily indicating the name of the character. Modern editors have established the speakers and stage directions presented in this commentary using the same methods as ancient commentators: what makes the best sense given the context and the restrictions of the theatre. It is interesting to think about this as you read the play and to consider how the lines could be attributed differently when there are two or three actors on stage and at which points actors could enter or leave the stage for varying effects.

When it comes to picturing the staging of the play, we have some notes from the scholiasts but mainly have to rely on interpretation of the text. Before discussing this in more detail, it is important to have a clear picture of the theatre of Dionysus in your mind. At the centre of the theatre was the orchestra, a circular space from which the rows of seating rose upwards around just over half of the circumference. At either side of the orchestra there were two sizeable entry passageways known as parodoi and at the back of the orchestra was the skene, which would have been a simple wooden building of two stories. The second storey could be reached by the actors from the back and the flat roof allowed them to appear before the audience at a height. It is unlikely that there was a high stage in front of the skene as both comedy and tragedy required freedom of movement between the actors and the chorus. The skene is likely to have had three doors: one larger central door and smaller doors on each side of this. There is also some evidence to suggest that movable sets were being used at this time to help set the scene. Two further devices were in use at the time of Aristophanes. The first was the crane, which was used to fly characters across the orchestra. The actors were suspended on a rope and the crane was most likely mounted onto the roof of the skene. The second was the ekkyklema, a platform which was fitted with scenery and then wheeled through the central doors of the skene.

The theatre came with several constraints that limited the possibilities for theatrical illusions. Firstly, the plays were performed during daylight and so characters simply stated if it was meant to be dark in the play. Secondly, as the skene represented the transition between inside and outside, all action that was seen by the audience and not hidden by the skene was assumed to be happening in an outside setting. For this reason, the vast majority of the drama had to be depicted as if it were happening in the open air. In Peace, for example, War has to come outside to make his paste out of the Greek cities, when it would have made better sense if he were to make it inside. Perhaps for the Athenians, who spent much of their time outside, this would not have seemed so unusual. Furthermore, as there were no curtains, stagehands would have been visible to the audience throughout. However, in the world of comedy, there was no need to hide the mechanics and limitations of the theatre. Characters often draw attention to the theatrical world in which they exist and break the fourth wall. For example, the slaves in the prologue speak about the audience and their understanding of the play so far (lines 43–61) and Trygaeus calls upon the crane operator to pay attention as he controls the beetle (line 174).

In the original performance of Peace, it is likely that all three doors on the skene were used. The central doors led into the cave where Peace was held prisoner and the side doors were used for the house of Trygaeus and the house of Zeus. The crane was used for the giant dung beetle, which must have been a real visual treat for the audience. When Trygaeus mounts the beetle and appears in the air at line 82, his flight takes him across the stage from one door to the other. Although Hermes pretends that Peace speaks in the play, she does not have any lines and a note in the scholia tells us she was a statue. In fact, Aristophanes’ rivals mocked him for using a statue to play the main character in his comedy and it might be for this reason that he only won the second prize. Her rescue is likely to have been the chorus hauling the statue out of the central doors on the ekkyklema. Either the doors were already open and the chorus removed fake rocks from the platform to reveal the goddess or the doors of the skene were made to look rocky and were opened to reveal the statue. It is likely that the ekkyklema then remained on the stage throughout the rest of the play and Peace became a prominent image on the stage throughout the final episodes.

Another important element of comedy was the chorus, which provided singing, dancing and a collective voice to comment on the action of the play. The traditional chorus was made up of twenty-four male Athenian citizens who were not professional actors. They sang and danced to choral odes that were set to music. A leader commanded the chorus and took part in dialogue with the main actors. Although the character or size of a comic chorus was not entirely fixed within a play, the chorus of Peace stands out as rather fluid in its identity. The chorus in Peace arrives as Panhellenes (line 302), men from across the Greek states, and Trygaeus call on them as Hellenes, men of Greece as opposed to specifically Athenian men (line 292). However, the chorus sing of themselves in particularly Athenian terms by line 464, where they promise not to be fierce or badly tempered jurymen in the democracy when Peace has returned. When it comes to the final big pull to free Peace, however, they are Panhellenes again as the various groups of Greeks are accused of not putting their backs into it (lines 464–507). By line 508 all the members of the chorus appear to be farmers and peasants from the Athenian countryside. It appears to be the case that Aristophanes adapts the chorus to suit the drama on stage. As Trygaeus sets out for a truly panhellenic peace, the chorus help to demonstrate the struggle it is to get the Greek states to pull together; as Trygaeus celebrates the return of peace, the effect of this on the rural life of Athens becomes the key focus. The most important element of the chorus, which must not be forgotten as you read the text, is the rhythm, sound and movement they brought to the performance and the festival atmosphere they created.

The play

The play follows much the same structure as other early Aristophanic comedies: a free Athenian citizen, the hero of the play, focuses on a key problem in the state which can only be solved through comic and farcical means. The solution is achieved, a variety of scenes are presented to show the results of the change and then a celebration is held in honour of the hero. In Peace, Trygaeus represents, as is shown by his name and profession, an Athenian farmer who seeks peace to ensure a return to the old country life that existed before the war. Unusually, the aim of the hero is actually about to be met in the real world and Peace stands out from other comedies for presenting an outcome that is in fact achievable. However, the act of recovering peace in the play requires all the Greeks to, quite literally, pull together, which the chorus show to be an incredibly difficult task. The chances of the Athenian farmers being the driving force for panhellenic peace were not high. Furthermore, the peace that is celebrated in the play is presented as the peace of the Golden Age, as first depicted by Hesiod, in which men live a godlike and rustic existence of festivals and leisure, free from care and toil. This is, of course, far from the very tense and fragile peace that was possible in 421. Thus, although the play is closely connected to the contemporary reality – it is certainly more optimistic than any other comedy – it is still far from a simple celebration of the new Peace of Nicias.

Within the play, the obstacles to peace and the return of the rustic lifestyle are apparently insurmountable. At first Trygaeus, a mere mortal, has to get to heaven in order to call Zeus to account for the sufferings in Greece. His untrusty steed, a rather picky, demanding and foul-smelling dung beetle, only just gets Trygaeus to Zeus’ home. Furthermore, the gods have moved as far away from mortals as possible and the personified god, War, has now taken control of mortal matters. Peace has also been trapped inside a deep cavern, piled over with rocks, and Zeus has vowed death and destruction to anyone who tries to save her. Not only are the obstacles to peace enormous but also the world in which the Greeks live is one abandoned by the gods. Other than Hermes, the traditional pantheon of gods are not seen and never return to their original home. In fact, Hierocles, the oracle-collector, is the only character to argue that the gods pay attention to mortal affairs, yet he is chased off the stage by Trygaeus for being a con artist. The situation for the Athenians and the Greeks as a whole is made to seem dire.

However, this godless world is as optimistic as it is pessimistic: in this world without gods it is the actions of mortals that matter and so if mortals can continue to create war without any action from the gods, they can surely stop it as well. The power of human action comes across strongly. Although war is presented in personified form, he is far from a god of the pantheon. In fact, he is quickly shown to represent the human condition: he intends to use mortals, Cleon and Brasidas, as the pestles that are to crush the Greek states. Furthermore, Hermes provides a remarkable speech on the origins of the war in which the key forces are entirely mortal. The selfishness and greediness of men are presented as the root of the Peloponnesian War: he presents Pericles as provoking war to avoid public scrutiny over a financial scandal; the subjects of Athens are presented as avaricious and treacherous men who use war to their advantage; demagogic politicians are attacked for manipulating poor Athenian farmers for their own political and financial benefit. Although it is a positive thought that human actions, not the gods, are what control the war, Hermes presents a damning attack on human nature and the selfishness that is in the way of the peace Trygaeus desperately wants. Given the civic rituals that surrounded the performance of the play, the audience must have done more than laugh. They are perhaps encouraged to question their role in the state and the stability of their democracy.

The festive joys of the second half of the play provide a vivid picture of all the good that will come to those who have in the past been manipulated to think that war is in their own interest. These depictions of joy present the strongest possible argument against the arguments that Aristophanes associated with Cleon. It is hard to get to the end of the play and think that anything other than peace is in the interests of a rural Athenian. Furthermore, the many obstacles that stand in Trygaeus’ way swiftly vanish in the face of determination. Although revolting, the beetle does get Trygaeus to Zeus’ house; although he is unpleasant at first, Hermes is quickly persuaded to join Trygaeus and the chorus; the chorus of Athenian farmers prove themselves to be strong enough to save Peace without divine intervention. The play provides a glorious representation of the power of human endeavour and suggests that the men of Athens can secure peace if they look out for their own collective interests rather than being manipulated by self-serving politicians. By human endeavour, Trygaeus turns slaves toiling with excrement and war feasting on Greek cities into peaceful leisure and a wedding feast.

Style

A range of techniques or devices which are common in Old Comedy are found in Peace. The following list provides some key features of the text set for examination.

• Surrealism and allegorical imagery: Aristophanes’ imagination brings the abstract to life and confronts the audience with it in comic ways. The fantasy nature of the plot is seen from the opening when we find out that a giant dung beetle has been obtained so that the master can reach the gods. Trygaeus decides to fly on a beetle because it is the only creature in Aesop’s fables that is able to fly up to the gods. Thus, there is some absurd logic to this choice of beetle: Trygaeus takes the fable to be true and so a giant beetle is found which he can ride on. Setting a scene at the house of Zeus and the other gods is also surreal and the comedy is heightened by the characterization of Hermes as a doorkeeper and slave of Zeus. The fact that the gods have moved with most of their belongings but have left behind a random selection of knick-knacks is also amusing. Further abstract ideas are taken by Aristophanes and made concrete in an entertaining fashion: Trygaeus’ trip to heaven with meat, which he gives to Hermes, is an absurd depiction of a sacrifice; War mixing together a paste out of the Greek states is an extended culinary metaphor for war taking over and feeding on the Greeks.

• Anticlimax: as with other comedies, the conflict of the agon is quickly resolved and the dramatic tension of the plot is eased early in the play. Peace is unusual in that the speeches of the agon are not particularly antagonistic: there would certainly have been members of the audience who disagreed with the arguments given by Hermes, but Trygaeus and the chorus simply agree with him. Such swift resolution of a weighty topic is farcical and the lack of conflict here perhaps suggests how obvious the route of peace should be to the Athenians. Such early resolution also allows the play plenty of time to portray the festivity fitting for a comedy at a religious festival. The episodes that follow the main drama of the play allow for humour and jokes as well as a cheerful ending.

• Paratragedy: Aristophanes plays with tragedy in two ways: paratragedy and tragic parody. The first term refers to general parody of the style and conventions of tragedy. Aristophanes likes to contrast high tragic lines with lowly comic devices. Much vocabulary and diction is taken from the grand style of tragedy for comic effect: the words sound overblown when contrasted with the ridiculous situations in which they are used. For example, Trygaeus’ pathetic outburst at the end of his flight on the beetle is tragic, but he instantly calls on the crane operator, breaking the fourth wall and returning to the world of comedy (lines 154–77). At line 235, the ‘θυείας φθέγμα πολεμιστηρίας’ (‘the voice of the martial mortar’) contains in it a stark contrast between the tragic φθέγμα and the purely comic πολεμιστηρίας.

• Tragic parody: the second way in which Aristophanes uses tragedy is his parody of specific plays. This can be subtle: we first hear Trygaeus shouting from inside as a slave on the outside worries about his madness, much like Medea and the Nurse in Euripides’ Medea. His parody can also be much more substantial. The most extended use of a tragedy in Peace is found in the flight of the beetle which parodies Euripides’ Bellerophon. This tragedy only survives in twenty-eight fragments and a few incomplete ancient summaries; however, it is likely that it presented the audience with the hero Bellerophon who has been reduced to a state of poverty. He decries the gods as undeserving of sacrifices from mortals and goes on to fly to heaven on Pegasus, the mythical flying horse, in order to confront the gods; however, he is thrown off during the flight and soon dies. As ever, the tragic hero learns an important lesson: humans may never understand the working of the gods, but must respect them. The parallels with the comic plot of Peace are clear. Although so little of the Euripides’ play remains, there are certainly three verbal allusions to Euripides’ script and there are several references to the beetle as Pegasus. Trygaeus’ daughter even warns him not to slip off the beetle in case he should provide Euripides with a plot for one of his tragedies (lines 146–8). The parody itself is amusing and stops the mission of the hero from seeming too serious. There is also some drama here as it is not clear until he lands if Trygaeus will make it or become a second Bellerophon. This is also a form of generic one-upmanship: Comedy can reach the places that Tragedy cannot.

• Other theatrical parody: as well as tragedy, satyr plays – tragicomic burlesques that followed tragic trilogies – are also parodied. A common scene in satyr seems to have been the hauling of a cult object from obscurity. In Aeschylus’ Dictyulci, for example, a chest in which Danae is trapped is dragged out of the sea by the chorus of satyrs. The similarities to the dragging of Peace from the cave are clear. As well as parody of different genres, there is also parody of the conventions of the theatre: the slaves at the start of the play address and mock the audience (lines 43–9, for example), while Trygaeus calls on the crane operator to make sure he doesn’t fall off (line 174).

• Poetic versatility and use of other genres: Aristophanes was a very versatile and skilled poet and he plays with the meaning not only of words but also metre and genre. For example, he produces beautiful lines of choral lyrics (e.g. lines 775–96 and 797–818). When the two boys sing, he writes epic hexameters in the mouth of the first boy (lines 1270–97). The hexameters are martial poetry and are no longer appropriate in the world of peace, whereas the lyric lines provide an excellent vehicle for a joyful celebration of peace. To add humour he quotes Archilochus for the second boy (lines 1298–9), providing the opening lines of a famous elegiac poem about a man throwing away his shield. This provides a dig at the Athenian Cleonymus, who did just that in battle and is named as the father of the boy. There is also parody of a range of poetic genres beyond tragedy. For example, the hero of the comedy is very much a mock epic hero: his great adventure and cunning plans are a comic reworking of Homer’s Odyssey.

• Innovation: Aristophanes was an innovator with language, genre and theatrical conventions. There are many coinages of his own that are designed to amuse, such as ἱπποκάνθαρος (line 181) to describe the beetle as a new Pegasus and πολλοδεκάκις (line 243), which helps to bring out the excessively aggressive nature of War.

• Political and topical satire: as the chorus says in the first parabasis, Aristophanes uses comedy to leave the average citizen alone and ‘attack the monsters’ (lines 752–3). He brings real issues facing the Athenians to life in a farcical manner and while doing so is able to lampoon key figures of the day. Aristophanes’ satirical style must have put many noses out of joint and one particular enmity can be found in both his plays and the accompanying scholia: the Babylonians, which was produced at the City Dionysia of 426, led to a prosecution of Aristophanes by Cleon. Although the play does not survive, it seems to have attacked the magistrates of the democracy and Cleon felt it embarrassed the state of Athens in front of the foreign guests present at the performance. Although there is no evidence that the case was successful, there is plenty for Aristophanes’ resulting anger: Cleon is most unflatteringly caricatured in Knights of 424 and Wasps of 422. Savage derision of Cleon is also found in Peace, a year after the politician’s death. In fact, there is more abuse directed at Cleon in Peace than at any other contemporary politician. He is depicted as a warmonger and demagogue: at the beginning of the play, the slaves suggest an audience member will think the beetle is an allusion to Cleon eating shit in the underworld (lines 45–8); he is a potential pestle for smashing the Greek states together (line 270); he is also Cerberus in the underworld (line 313). This comparison to the guard dog of the Underworld is surely mocking his claim to be the watchdog of the people of Athens, and the blustering bark of the dog refers to his rabble-rousing style in the Assembly. Lamachus, an Athenian general, is also presented disparagingly as a lover of war and it is his son at the end of the play who can only recite military verses (line 1290).

• Teasing and abuse: although the most stinging attacks are aimed at political figures, there is plenty of abuse hurled at contemporary celebrities, Athenian officials and others. In Peace, the audience comes in for some abuse when the slave mockingly describes the different statuses of the audience members (lines 50–3). There is also the opportunity to mock foreigners as the slaves mimic an Ionian (lines 45–9), Hermes plays a Spartan (lines 212–14) and Trygaeus recalls a song sung by Datis the Mede in terrible Greek (lines 289–91). Furthermore, there is Hierocles, a real collector of oracles, who most likely opposed peace in Athens and thus made himself a prime target for abuse.

• Sexual and scatological jokes: bawdy humour is found throughout comedy and helps to create a relaxed, festive atmosphere. Scatological humour is frequent: the opening scene builds to an irreverent pun on a cultic title of Zeus (line 42), translated masterfully by Sommerstein as ‘Lord of the Thunder-Crap’; Trygaeus nearly loses control of his bowels on the beetle (lines 175–6); the chorus fart with carefree joy (line 335); Trygaeus turns a breastplate into a potty (lines 1224–39). Sexual jokes are also frequent, such as the presentation of Datis as a sexually frustrated slave masturbating during his afternoon rest (lines 289–91).

Speaking, chanting and singing

It is important not to forget the rhythm and musicality of Peace as you read it. The actors mostly spoke their lines but also chanted and sang a few. Iambic trimeter is the metre commonly used for spoken lines. It is made up of three iambic metra, each of which is made up of two, two-syllable feet. In a basic iambic metron, the first syllable can be either long or short (represented by ×), the second and fourth are long (represented by –) and the third is short (represented by ∪). This provides the fundamental structure:

× − ∪ − × − ∪ − × − ∪ −

This simple form of the metre could easily become rather tedious, so the poet had various ways in which these metra could be varied: a long syllable could be replaced by two short syllables (∪∪) and an anapaest (∪∪ −) could be used in place of any foot but the last. The many variations available here mean that iambic trimeter can closely create the sounds and rhythms of natural, conversational speech. The vast majority of the text set for examination in Greek is written in this meter.

The chorus sang or chanted many lines, which are written in a wide variety of Greek metres and designed to be accompanied by music and dance moves. Within the text set for examination, the chorus enters to free Peace at line 299 with lines of trochaic tetrameters, the basic form of which is:

− ∪ − × − ∪ − × − ∪ − × − ∪ − ×

As with the iambic trimeter above, the author can vary this basic form to avoid monotony. Trochaic tetrameters are often used to create a real sense of speed and thus excitement. At line 299 this is particularly fitting and the sense of speed is further emphasized by the fact the metre shifts suddenly in the middle of a sentence. Other metres also bring with them a particular feeling or meaning. Dactylic hexameter, the metre of Homer’s epics, brings with it a sense of military achievement. It is seen towards the end of the play when the two boys are rehearsing to sing at the wedding but are unable to sing anything other than militaristic epic lines. A complete lack of metre, for example the extra-metrical shouting in line 60, also provides important variation and highlights key moments in the plot.

Sommerstein’s commentary, found in the further reading listed below, is particularly useful in highlighting the changes in metre during the play.

Questions

The following questions are designed help to develop discussions on individual scenes as well as the whole play.

For individual scenes:

• What scenery might be visible at this time?

• What costumes would we expect for each character? What props do characters carry and how do they use them for comic effect?

• What demands are being made on the actors and the theatre?

• What is the significance of the name of each character? How is each character presented? Do they live up to their name?

• What makes a scene funny? What is the balance between satire, physical comedy and coarse, scatological humour?

For the play as a whole:

• What knowledge does the play demand of its audience? What can we learn about the audience from the play?

• Does this play have any meaning for Athenians who do not live in the countryside?

• How seriously do you think Aristophanes mocks individuals? How seriously do you think he mocks Athenian citizens as a body?

• Does the play present peace as a comic impossibility or an achievable situation? Do you think the audience would consider Trygaeus to be mad as the slaves do at the start? Are the celebrations at the end justified?

• What is the relationship between tragedy and comedy? What use of tragedy does comedy make? What use of other genres does Aristophanes make?

• What picture of the Athenian democracy does Aristophanes present?

• In what ways, if any, can this comedy be considered serious?

• To what extent is the play a window onto the realities of Athenian politics? Can the play be read as a historical source?

Further reading

This brief bibliography provides the two most useful commentaries, on which this introduction and commentary heavily rely, as well as good translations of Peace and other comedies. There are also some suggestions for accessible secondary reading on Aristophanes, Greek comedy, Peace and the Peloponnesian Wars.

Primary reading

Olson, S.D. Aristophanes: Peace (Oxford: OUP, 1998).

Sommerstein, A.H. Aristophanes: Peace (Oxford: Aris & Phillips, 2005).

Barrett, D. (ed.) Aristophanes: The Birds and Other Plays (London: Penguin Books, 2003).

Secondary reading

Bowie, A.M. Aristophanes: Myth, Ritual and Comedy (Cambridge: CUP, 1993).

de Ste Croix, G.E.M. The Origins of the Peloponnesian War (London: Bloomsbury, 1972).

Dover, K.J. Aristophanic Comedy (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1972).

Goldhill, S. ‘The Great Dionysia and Civic Ideology’, in J. Winkler and F. Zeitlin (eds.), Nothing to Do with Dionysus (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).

Kagan, D. The Archidamian War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990).

MacDowell, D.M. Aristophanes and Athens: An Introduction to the Plays (Oxford: OUP, 1995).

Newiger, H. ‘War and Peace in the Comedy of Aristophanes’, in E. Segal (ed.), Oxford Readings in Aristophanes (Oxford: OUP, 1996).

Rhodes, P.J. A History of the Classical Greek World (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006).

Silk, M.S. Aristophanes and the Definition of Comedy (Oxford: OUP, 2000).

Text

Οἰκέτης A
	αἶρ᾽ αἶρε μᾶζαν ὡς τάχος τῷ κανθάρῳ.
Οἰκέτης B
	ἰδού. δὸς αὸτῷ, τῷ κάκιστ᾽ ἀπολουμένῳ· καὶ μήποτ᾽ αὸτῆς μᾶζαν ἡδίω φάγοι.
Οἰ. A	δὸς μᾶζαν ἑτέραν, ἐξ ὀνίδων πεπλασμένην.
Οἰ. B	ἰδοὺ μάλ᾽ αὖθις. ποῦ γὰρ ἣν νῦν δὴ ᾽φερες; ὴ κατέφαγεν;	5
Οἰ. A	μὰ τὸν Δί᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ἐξαρπάσας ὅλην ἐνέκαψε περικυλίσας τοῖν ποδοῖν. ἀλλ᾽ ὡς τάχιστα τρῖβε πολλὰς καὶ πυκνάς.
Οἰ. B	ἄνδρες κοπρολόγοι, προσλάβεσθε πρὸς θεῶν, εἰ μή με βούλεσθ᾽ ἀποπνιγέντα περιιδεῖν.	10

Lines 11–12: Slave A demands a cake made from the excrement of a young male prostitute and makes a crude joke. More information on these lines can be found in the commentary.

Οἰ. B	ἑνὸς μέν, ὦνδρες, ἀπολελύσθαι μοι δοκῶ· οὸδεὶς γὰρ ἂν φαίη με μάττοντ᾽ ἐσθίειν.
Οἰ. A	αἰβοῖ, φέρ᾽ ἄλλην χἀτέραν μοι χἀτέραν, καὶ τρῖβ᾽ <ἔθ᾽> ἑτέρας.	15
Οἰ. B	μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ᾽γὼ μὲν οὔ οὸ γὰρ ἔθ᾽ οἷός τ᾽ εἷμ᾽ ὑπερέχειν τῆς ἀντλίας.
Οἰ. A	αὸτὴν ἄρ᾽ οἷσω συλλαβὼν τὴν ἀντλίαν.
Οἰ. B	νὴ τὸν Δί᾽ ἐς κόρακάς γε, καὶ σαυτόν γε πρός. ὑμῶν δέ γ᾽ εἷ τις οἶδέ μοὶ κατειπάτω πόθεν ἂν πριαίμην ῥῖνα μὴ τετρημένην. οὸδὲν γὰρ ἔργον ὴν ἄρ᾽ ἀθλιώτερον ἢ κανθάρῳ μάττοντα παρέχειν ἐσθίειν. ὗς μὲν γάρ, ὥσπερ ἂν χέσῃ τις, ἢ κύων	20
	φαύλως ἐρείδει· τοῦτο δ᾽ ὑπὸ φρονήματος βρενθύεταί τε καὶ φαγεῖν οὸκ ἀξιοῖ, ἢν μὴ παραθῶ τρίψας δι᾽ ἡμέρας ὅλης ὥσπερ γυναικὶ γογγύλην μεμαγμένην. ἀλλ᾽ εἰ πέπαυται τῆς ἐδωδῆς σκέψομαι	25
	τῃδὶ παροίξας τῆς θύρας, ἵνα μή μ᾽ ἷδῃ. ἔρειδε, μὴ παύσαιο μηδέποτ᾽ ἐσθίων τέως ἕως σαυτὸν λάθῃς διαρραγείς. οἷον δὲ κύψας ὁ κατάρατος ἐσθίει, ὥσπερ παλαιστής, παραβαλὼν τοὺς γομφίους,	30
	καὶ ταῦτα τὴν κεφαλήν τε καὶ τὼ χεῖρέ πως ὡδὶ περιάγων, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ σχοινία τὰ παχέα συμβάλλοντες εἰς τὰς ὁλκάδας.	35
Οἰ. A	μιαρὸν τὸ χρῆμα καὶ κάκοσμον καὶ βορόν· χὤτου ποτ᾽ ἐστὶ δαιμόνων ἡ προσβολὴ
	οὸκ οἶδ᾽. Ἀφροδίτης μὲν γὰρ οὔ μοι φαίνεται, οὸ μὴν Χαρίτων γε.	40
Οἰ. B	τοῦ γάρ ἐστ᾽;
Οἰ. A	οὸκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως οὸκ ἔστι τὸ τέρας τοῦ Διὸς σκαταιβάτου.
Οἰ. B	οὸκοῦν ἂν ἤδη τῶν θεατῶν τις λέγοι νεανίας δοκησίσοφος, ‘τόδε πρᾶγμα τί; ὁ κάνθαρος δὲ πρὸς τί’;
Οἰ. A	κᾆτ᾽ αὸτῷ γ᾽ ἀνὴρ Ἰωνικός τίς φησι παρακαθήμενος· ‘δοκέω μέν, ἐς Κλέωνα τοῦτ᾽ αἰνίσσεται, ὡς κεῖνος ἐν Ἀΐδεω σπατίλην ἐσθίει.’ ἀλλ᾽ εἰσιὼν τῷ κανθάρῳ δώσω πιεῖν.	45
Οἰ. B	ἐγὼ δὲ τὸν λόγον γε τοῖσι παιδίοις καὶ τοῖσιν ἀνδρίοισι καὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ τοῖς ὑπερτάτοισιν ἀνδράσιν φράσω καὶ τοῖς ὑπερηνορέουσιν ἔτι τούτοις μάλα. ὁ δεσπότης μου μαίνεται καινὸν τρόπον,	50
	οὸχ ὅνπερ ὑμεῖς, ἀλλ᾽ ἕτερον καινὸν πάνυ. δι᾽ ἡμέρας γὰρ εἰς τὸν οὸρανὸν βλέπων ὡδὶ κεχηνὼς λοιδορεῖται τῷ Διὶ καί φησιν, ‘ὦ Ζεῦ, τί ποτε βουλεύει ποιεῖν; κατάθου τὸ κόρημα· μὴ ᾿κκόρει τὴν Ἑλλάδα.’	55
	ἔα ἔα· σιγήσαθ᾽, ὡς φωνῆς ἀκούειν μοι δοκῶ.	60

Lines 62–179: The Slave reveals the purpose of the dung beele and soon Trygaeus appears flying on the back of it. His daughters come out to stop him from going on his mission; he does not listen but sets out like Euripides’ Bellerophon. The beetle is easily distracted by food below and so the journey is rough, but Trygaeus finally makes it to the home of Zeus. For a more detailed summary of these lines, see the commentary.

Ἑρμῆς
	πόθεν βροτοῦ με προσέβαλ᾽ – ; ὦναξ Ἡράκλεις, τουτὶ τί ἐστι τὸ κακόν;	180
Τρυγαῖος
	ἱπποκάνθαρος.
Ἑρ.	ὦ μιαρὲ καὶ τόλμηρε κἀναίσχυντε σὺ καὶ μιαρὲ καὶ παμμίαρε καὶ μιαρώτατε, πῶς δεῦρ᾽ ἀνῆλθες, ὦ μιαρῶν μιαρώτατε; τί σοί ποτ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ᾿νομ᾽; οὸκ ἐρεῖς;
Τρ.	μιαρώτατος.	185
Ἑρ.	πατὴρ δέ σοι τίς ἐστιν;
Τρ.	ἐμοί; μιαρώτατος.	187
Ἑρ.	ποδαπὸς τὸ γένος δ᾽ εἶ; φράζε μοι.
Τρ.	μιαρώτατος.	186
Ἑρ.	οὔτοι μὰ τὴν γῆν ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως οὸκ ἀποθανεῖ, εἰ μὴ κατερεῖς μοι τοὔνομ᾽ ὅ τι ποτ᾽ ἐστί σοι.
Τρ.	Τρυγαῖος Ἀθμονεύς, ἀμπελουργὸς δεξιός, οὸ συκοφάντης οὸδ᾽ ἐραστὴς πραγμάτων.	190
Ἑρ.	ἥκεις δὲ κατὰ τί;
Τρ.	τὰ κρέα ταυτί σοι φέρων.
Ἑρ.	ὦ δειλακρίων, πῶς ὴλθες;
Τρ.	ὦ γλίσχρων, ὁρᾷς ὡς οὸκέτ᾽ εἶναί σοι δοκῶ μιαρώτατος; ἷθι νυν κάλεσόν μοι τὸν Δί᾽.
Ἑρ.	ἰηῦ ἰηῦ ἰηῦ, ὅτ’ οὸδὲ μέλλεις ἐγγὺς εἶναι τῶν θεῶν· φροῦδοι γὰρ· ἐχθές εἰσιν ἐξῳκισμένοι.	195
Τρ.	ποῖ γῆς;
Ἑρ.	ἰδοὺ γῆς.
Τρ.	ἀλλὰ ποῖ;
Ἑρ.	πόρρω πάνυ, ὑπ᾽ αὸτὸν ἀτεχνῶς τοὸρανοῦ τὸν κύτταρον.
Τρ.	πῶς οὖν σὺ δῆτ᾽ ἐνταῦθα κατελείφθης μόνος;	200
Ἑρ.	τὰ λοιπὰ τηρῶ σκευάρια τὰ τῶν θεῶν, χυτρίδια καὶ σανίδια κἀμφορείδια.
Τρ.	ἐξῳκίσαντο δ᾽ οἱ θεοὶ τίνος οὕνεκα;
Ἑρ.	Ἕλλησιν ὀργισθέντες. εἶτ᾽ ἐνταῦθα μέν,
	ἵν᾽ ὴσαν αὸτοί, τὸν Πόλεμον κατῴκισαν, ὑμᾶς παραδόντες δρᾶν ἀτεχνῶς ὅ τι βούλεται· αὸτοὶ δ᾽ ἀνῳκίσανθ᾽ ὅπως ἀνωτάτω, ἵνα μὴ βλέποιεν μαχομένους ὑμᾶς ἔτι μηδ᾽ ἀντιβολούντων μηδὲν αἰσθανοίατο.	205
Τρ.	τοῦ δ᾽ οὕνεχ᾽ ἡμᾶς ταῦτ᾽ ἔδρασαν; εἰπέ μοι.	210
Ἑρ.	ὁτιὴ πολεμεῖν ᾑρεῖσθ᾽, ἐκείνων πολλάκις σπονδὰς ποιούντων· κεἰ μὲν οἱ Λακωνικοὶ ὑπερβάλοιντο μικρόν, ἔλεγον ἂν ταδί· ‘ναὶ τὼ σιὼ νῦν Ὡττικίων δωσεῖ δίκαν.’
	εἰ δ᾽ αὖ τι πράξαιτ᾽ ἀγαθόν, Ἀττικωνικοί, κἄλθοιεν οἱ Λάκωνες εἰρήνης πέρι, ἐλέγετ᾽ ἂν ὑμεῖς εὸθύς· ‘ἐξαπατώμεθα νὴ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν’. – ‘νὴ Δί᾽, οὸχὶ πειστέον. ἥξουσι καὖθις, ἢν ἔχωμεν τὴν Πύλον.’	215
Τρ.	ὁ γοῦν χαρακτὴρ ἡμεδαπὸς τῶν ῥημάτων.	220
Ἑρ.	ὧν οὕνεκ᾽ οὸκ οἶδ᾽ εἷ ποτ᾽ Εἰρήνην ἔτι τὸ λοιπὸν ᾿ψεσθ᾽.
Τρ.	ἀλλὰ ποῖ γὰρ οἷχεται;
Ἑρ.	ὁ Πόλεμος αὸτὴν ἐνέβαλ᾽ εἰς ἄντρον βαθύ.
Τρ.	εἰς ποῖον;
Ἑρ.	εἰς τουτὶ τὸ κάτω, κἄπειθ᾽ ὁρᾷς
	ὅσους ἄνωθεν ἐπεφόρησε τῶν λίθων, ἵνα μὴ λάβητε μηδέποτ᾽ αὸτήν.	225
Τρ.	εἰπέ μοι, ἡμᾶς δὲ δὴ τί δρᾶν παρασκευάζεται;
Ἑρ.	οὸκ οἶδα πλὴν ἕν, ὅτι θυείαν ἑσπέρας ὑπερφυᾶ τὸ μέγεθος εἰσηνέγκατο.
Τρ.	τί δῆτα ταύτῃ τῇ θυείᾳ χρήσεται;	230
Ἑρ.	τρίβειν ἐν αὸτῇ τὰς πόλεις βουλεύεται. ἀλλ᾽ εἶμι· καὶ γὰρ ἐξιέναι, γνώμην ἐμήν, μέλλει· θορυβεῖ γοῦν ἔνδοθεν.
Τρ.	οἷμοι δείλαιος. φέρ᾽ αὸτὸν ἀποδρῶ· καὶ γὰρ ὥσπερ ᾐσθόμην καὸτὸς θυείας φθέγμα πολεμιστηρίας.	235
Πόλεμος
	ἰὼ βροτοὶ βροτοὶ βροτοὶ πολυτλήμονες, ὡς αὸτίκα μάλα τὰς γνάθους ἀλγήσετε.
Τρ.	ὦναξ Ἄπολλον, τῆς θυείας τοῦ πλάτους – ὅσον κακόν – καὶ τοῦ Πολέμου τοῦ βλέμματος. ἆρ᾽ οὗτός ἐστ᾽ ἐκεῖνος ὃν καὶ φεύγομεν, ὁ δεινός, ὁ ταλαύρινος, ὁ κατὰ τοῖν σκελοῖν;	240
Πό.	ἰὼ Πρασιαὶ τρὶς ἄθλιαι καὶ πεντάκις καὶ πολλοδεκάκις, ὡς ἀπολεῖσθε τήμερον.
Τρ.	τουτὶ μέν, ἄνδρες, οὸδὲν ἡμῖν πρᾶγμά πω· τὸ γὰρ κακὸν τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τῆς Λακωνικῆς.	245
Πό.	ὦ Μέγαρα Μέγαρ᾽, ὡς ἐπιτετρίψεσθ᾽ αὸτίκα ἁπαξάπαντα καταμεμυττωτευμένα.
Τρ.	βαβαὶ βαβαιάξ, ὡς μεγάλα καὶ δριμέα τοῖσιν Μεγαρεῦσιν ἐνέβαλεν τὰ κλαύματα.
Πό.	ἰὼ Σικελία, καὶ σὺ δ᾽ ὡς ἀπόλλυσαι.	250
Τρ.	οἵα πόλις τάλαινα διακναισθήσεται.
Πό.	φέρ᾽ ἐπιχέω καὶ τὸ μέλι τουτὶ τἀττικόν.
Τρ.	οὗτος, παραινῶ σοι μέλιτι χρῆσθαι ’τέρῳ. τετρώβολον τοῦτ᾽ ἐστί· φείδου τἀττικοῦ.
Πό.	παῖ παῖ Κυδοιμέ.
Κύδοιμος
	τί με καλεῖς;
Πό.	κλαύσει μακρά. ἕστηκας ἀργός; οὑτοσί σοι κόνδυλος.	255
Τρ.	ὡς δριμύς.
Κύ.	οἷμοι μοι τάλας, ὦ δέσποτα.
Τρ.	μῶν τῶν σκορόδων ἐνέβαλες εἰς τὸν κόνδυλον;
Πό.	οἷσεις ἀλετρίβανον τρέχων;
Κύ.	ἀλλ᾽, ὦ μέλε, οὸκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν· ἐχθὲς εἰσῳκίσμεθα.	260
Πό.	οὔκουν παρ᾽ Ἀθηναίων μεταθρέξει ταχὺ <πάνυ>;
Κύ.	ἔγωγε νὴ Δί᾽· εἰ δὲ μή γε, κλαύσομαι.
Τρ.	ἄγε δή, τί δρῶμεν, ὦ πόνηρ᾽ ἀνθρώπια; ὁρᾶτε τὸν κίνδυνον ἡμῖν ὡς μέγας· εἷπερ γὰρ ἥξει τὸν ἀλετρίβανον φέρων, τούτῳ ταράξει τὰς πόλεις καθήμενος. ἀλλ᾽, ὦ Διόνυσ᾽, ἀπόλοιτο καὶ μὴ ‘λθοι φέρων.	265
Κύ.	οὗτος.
Πό.	τί ἐστιν; οὸ φέρεις;
Κύ.	τὸ δεῖνα γὰρ, ἀπόλωλ᾽ Ἀθηναίοισιν ἁλετρίβανος, ὁ βυρσοπώλης, ὃς ἐκύκα τὴν Ἑλλάδα.	270
Τρ.	εὖ γ᾽, ὦ πότνια δέσποιν᾽ Ἀθηναία, ποιῶν ἀπόλωλ᾽ ἐκεῖνος κἀν δέοντι τῇ πόλει. ἢ πρίν γε τὸν μυττωτὸν ἡμῖν ἐγχέαι.
Πό.	οὔκουν ἕτερον δῆτ᾽ ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος μέτει ἁνύσας τι;
Κύ.	ταῦτ᾽, ὦ δέσποθ᾽.
Πό.	ἧκέ νυν ταχύ.	275
Τρ.	ὦνδρες, τι πεισόμεσθα; νῦν ἀγὼν μέγας. ἀλλ᾽ εἷ τις ὑμῶν ἐν Σαμοθρᾴκῃ τυγχάνει μεμυημένος, νῦν ἐστιν εὔξασθαι καλὸν ἀποστραφῆναι τοῦ μετιόντος τὼ πόδε.
Κύ.	οἷμοι τάλας, οἷμοι γε κἄτ᾽ οἷμοι μάλα.	280
Πό.	τί ἐστι; μῶν οὸκ αὖ φέρεις;
Κύ.	ἀπόλωλε γὰρ καὶ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοισιν ἁλετρίβανος.
Πό.	πῶς, ὦ πανοῦργ᾽;
Κύ.	εἰς τἀπὶ Θρᾴκης χωρία χρήσαντες ἑτέροις αὸτὸν εἶτ᾽ ἀπώλεσαν.
Τρ.	εὖ γ᾽ εὖ γε ποιήσαντες, ὦ Διοσκόρω. ἷσως ἂν εὖ γένοιτο· θαρρεῖτ᾽, ὦ βροτοί.	285
Πό.	ἀπόφερε τὰ σκεύη λαβὼν ταυτὶ πάλιν· ἐγὼ δὲ δοίδυκ᾽ εἰσιὼν ποιήσομαι.
Τρ.	νῦν τοῦτ᾽ ἐκεῖν᾽· ἥκει τὸ Δάτιδος μέλος,
	ὃ δεφόμενός ποτ᾽ ᾖδε τῆς μεσημβρίας, ‘ὡς ἥδομαι καὶ χαίρομαι κεὸφραίνομαι.’ νῦν ἐστιν ὑμῖν, ὦνδρες Ἕλληνες, καλὸν ἀπαλλαγεῖσι πραγμάτων τε καὶ μαχῶν ἐξελκύσαι τὴν πᾶσιν Εἰρήνην φίλην,	290
	πρὶν ἕτερον αὖ δοίδυκα κωλῦσαί τινα. ἀλλ᾽, ὦ γεωργοὶ κἄμποροι καὶ τέκτονες καὶ δημιουργοὶ καὶ μέτοικοι καὶ ξένοι καὶ νησιῶται, δεῦρ᾽ ἷτ᾽, ὦ πάντες λεῴ, ὡς τάχιστ᾽ ἄμας λαβόντες καὶ μοχλοὺς καὶ σχοινία·	295
	νῦν γὰρ ἡμῖν αὖ σπάσαι πάρεστιν ἀγαθοῦ δαίμονος.	300
Χορός
	δεῦρο πᾶς χώρει προθύμως εὸθὺ τῆς σωτηρίας. ὦ Πανέλληνες, βοηθήσωμεν, εἷπερ πώποτε, τάξεων ἀπαλλαγέντες καὶ κακῶν φοινικίδων· ἡμέρα γὰρ ἐξέλαμψεν ἥδε μισολάμαχος.
	πρὸς τάδ᾽ ἡμῖν, εἷ τι χρὴ δρᾶν, φράζε κἀρχιτεκτόνει· οὸ γὰρ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως ἀπειπεῖν ἂν δοκῶ μοι τήμερον, πρὶν μοχλοῖς καὶ μηχαναῖσιν εἰς τὸ φῶς ἀνελκύσαι τὴν θεῶν πασῶν μεγίστην καὶ φιλαμπελωτάτην.	305
Τρ.	οὸ σιωπήσεσθ᾽, ὅπως μὴ περιχαρεῖς τῷ πράγματι τὸν Πόλεμον ἐκζωπυρήσετ᾽ ἔνδοθεν κεκραγότες;	310
Χο.	ἀλλ᾽ ἀκούσαντες τοιούτου χαίρομεν κηρύγματος. οὸ γὰρ ὴν ἔχοντας ἥκειν σιτί᾽ ἡμερῶν τριῶν.
Τρ.	εὸλαβεῖσθέ νυν ἐκεῖνον τὸν κάτωθεν Κέρβερον, μὴ παφλάζων καὶ κεκραγὼς, ὥσπερ ἡνίκ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ ὴν, ἐμποδὼν ἡμῖν γένηται τὴν θεὸν μὴ ‘ξελκύσαι.	315
Χο.	οὔτι νῦν γ’ ἔτ’ ἔστιν αὸτὴν ὅστις ἐξαιρήσεται, ἢν ἅπαξ εἰς χεῖρας ἔλθῃ τὰς ἐμάς. ἰοὶ ἰοί.
Τρ.	ἐξολεῖτέ μ᾽, ὦνδρες, εἰ μὴ τῆς βοῆς ἀνήσετε· ἐκδραμὼν γὰρ πάντα ταυτὶ συνταράξει τοῖν ποδοῖν.
Χο.	† ὡς κυκάτω καὶ πατείτω πάντα καὶ ταραττέτω, οὸ γὰρ ἂν χαίροντες ἡμεῖς τήμερον παυσαίμεθ᾽ ἄν.	320
Τρ.	τί τὸ κακόν; τί πάσχετ᾽, ὦνδρες; μηδαμῶς πρὸς τῶν θεῶν, πρᾶγμα κάλλιστον διαφθείρητε διὰ τὰ σχήματα.
Χο.	ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγ᾽ οὸ σχηματίζειν βούλομ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ἡδονῆς οὸκ ἐμοῦ κινοῦντος αὸτὼ τὼ σκέλει χορεύετον.	325
Τρ.	μή τί μοι νυνί γ᾽ ἔτ᾽, ἀλλὰ παῦε παῦ᾽ ὀρχούμενος.
Χο.	ἢν ἰδού· καὶ δὴ πέπαυμαι.
Τρ.	φῄς γε, παύει δ᾽ οὸδέπω.
Χο.	ἓν μὲν οὖν τουτί μ᾽ ἔασον ἑλκύσαι, καὶ μηκέτι.
Τρ.	τοῦτό νυν, καὶ μηκέτ᾽ ἄλλο· μηδὲν ὀρχήσησθ᾽ ἔτι.
Χο.	οὸκ ἂν ὀρχησαίμεθ᾽, εἷπερ ὠφελήσομέν τί σε.	330
Τρ.	ἀλλ᾽, ὁρᾶτ᾽, οὔπω πέπαυσθε.
Χο.	τουτογὶ νὴ τὸν Δία τὸ σκέλος ῥίψαντες ἤδη λήγομεν τὸ δεξιόν.
Τρ.	ἐπιδίδωμι τοῦτό γ᾽ ὑμῖν, ὥστε μὴ λυπεῖν ἔτι.
Χο.	ἀλλὰ καὶ τἀριστερόν τοί μ᾽ ἐστ᾽ ἀναγκαίως ἔχον. ἥδομαι γὰρ καὶ γέγηθα καὶ πέπορδα καὶ γελῶ μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ γῆρας ἐκδὺς ἐκφυγὼν τὴν ἀσπίδα.	335

Commentary Notes

Lines 1–42

The play begins with an anonymous man (Slave Β) dressed in the scruffy attire of a slave kneading round cakes in a large mixing bowl. As he kneads, he presumably makes clear his disgust at his task. A second anonymous slave (Slave Α) comes out of one of the side doors of the stage, which represents the door to an Athenian house, and frantically calls out to his companion. In the opening exchange between the slaves it quickly becomes apparent that the cakes being kneaded are made of dung and have to be produced at a fast rate in order to satisfy a greedy and rather fussy dung beetle, which is hidden behind the door of the house.

This is a hugely engaging opening scene as it remains unclear for a long time why there is such a dung beetle and who the free Athenian hero of the comedy will be. It is also not clear for several lines whether this is a real beetle or an extended joke at the expense of another playwright or contemporary politician. As well as keeping the audience guessing, this scene also provides an entertaining contrast between the two slaves: Slave Α is terrified by the voracity of the beetle and the speed at which cakes need to be produced to sate the beast, while Slave Β wallows in self-pity at his wretched role kneading the stinking dung into cakes. Their exchange varies in speed as it contains a variety of distichomythia (two lines per character), stichomythia (one line per character) and hemistichomythia (half lines per character), as well as a longer speech in which Slave B laments his task. The bawdy nature of the scene, with multiple references to excrement, opportunities for physical comedy and an extended joke at the expense of Zeus himself, is sure to have set the audience laughing from the start.

1

αἶρ᾽: the sense of the verb is ‘pick up and hand over’.

μᾶζαν: a cake made of roasted barley flour mixed with a liquid such as milk or wine to form a paste that was kneaded into shape. This sweet delicacy was known for its moist, dense texture.

ὡς τάχος = ὡς τάχιστα.

τῷ κανθάρῳ: with the introduction of the dung beetle, a creature that gathers and eats dung, Slave B’s signs of disgust must start to make sense and it becomes clear that the cakes are not the delicious delicacy their name would initially suggest. As the giant dung beetle remains hidden offstage at this point, the audience remains unsure as to whether these cakes are for a man who is being called a dung beetle and thus presented as a ‘shit eater’, a common term of abuse in Greek comedy, or for a real dung beetle. Sommerstein suggests the audience may initially think of the comic poet Kantharos who was victorious in the City Dionysia of the previous year, 422 BC, and a clear rival of Aristophanes. Given the author’s reputation for fiercely mocking the politician Cleon, some might suspect a reference to him.

2

ἰδού: ‘there you go’.

τῷ κάκιστ᾽ ἀπολουμένῳ: ‘to the one about to perish most terribly’ is best translated as a general curse, e.g. ‘that abominable creature’. Consider how you can most effectively bring out the slave’s anger in your translation.

3

μήποτ᾽… φάγοι: a negative wish for the future using the optative. The slave curses the beetle with the wish that he never taste anything better than dung. However, this shows the slave to be rather foolish: the beetle would love nothing more than to eat only dung!

αὐτῆς: genitive of comparison, assume μᾶζης.

ἡδίω = ἡδίονα.

4

ἐξ ὀνίδων: Ass dung would have been a common sight and smell in the streets of Athens. It is amusing that the beetle is picky about the type of dung it eats.

5

ποῦ … ἣν: ‘where is the cake which’ – a condensed direct question followed by a relative clause for which the antecedent has to be understood.

γὰρ: often used to strengthen a question.

νῦν δὴ: ‘just now’ – δὴ is often used to give greater exactness to adverbs.

6

ἦ κατέφαγεν: the slave can’t believe that the beetle has eaten the first cake so quickly.

μὰ τὸν Δί᾽: ‘no by Zeus’ – this oath is understood as negative by context. Slave A responds in this way not because Slave B was wrong but because his wording was insufficient to describe the greediness of the beetle: it didn’t just eat the cake, it devoured the whole lot.

ἐξαρπάσας: the compound strengthens the meaning of the verb and so brings out the bad manners of the beetle.

7

ἐνέκαψε: ‘it gulped down’ – a much stronger verb than Slave B’s κατέφαγεν.

περικυλίσας τοῖν ποδοῖν: τοῖν ποδοῖν is in the dual dative form. The slave provides a realistic description of dung beetles, which use their front legs to roll dung and gather it into a ball. It is at this point that it becomes clear to the audience that the slaves are dealing with a real dung beetle.

8

τρῖβε: as the tense of imperatives is based on aspect, the present form here suggests that the slave must keep on kneading over a long period.

πυκνάς: a good μᾶζα was dense in texture. It is amusing that even though made of dung, the cakes need to be made well. It is likely that Slave A returns inside at this point. Given there are no surviving stage directions, it is interesting to consider when actors enter and exit the stage and the effect this could have on the drama.

9

ἄνδρες κοπρολόγοι: the slave speaks out to the audience members, who are often the butt of jokes in comedy, and amusingly characterizes at least some of those watching as dung-collectors. There were indeed men who collected dung in the city and removed it to the countryside where it was sold. This was presumably a rather humble and easily mocked profession. He calls upon dung-collectors as they are more used to the terrible smell than he is.

10

εἰ μή: ‘unless’ – the negative μή is used in the protasis (if clause) of conditionals.

11–12: These lines have not been included in the prescription for examination. Slave A returns to the stage and requests another dung-cake, this time made from the excrement of a young male prostitute. This gives the opportunity for a coarse sexual joke of the sort that is common in Old Comedy, particularly from the mouths of characters of low status. Although these two lines are not essential for our understanding of the play, they do add to the bawdy nature of this opening scene and to the humorous warm-up act that these hapless slaves provide. These lines also further the characterization of the beetle as picky and demanding. Once Slave B provides the dung-cake, Slave A presumably returns inside.

13

ἑνὸς … ἀπολελύσθαι: ‘to be found not guilty of one charge’ – ἀπολύμαι takes a genitive of the crime. ἀπολελύσθαι is a perfect passive infinitive – the perfect tense describes a current state caused by a past action and is thus best translated as the present.

ὦνδρες = ὦ ἄνδρες.

μοι δοκῶ: ‘I think’ – followed by an indirect statement using the infinitive construction.

14

οὐδεὶς. … ἂν φαίη: ‘no one can say’ – a negative potential optative with ἄν creates a strong assertion.

με μάττοντ᾽ ἐσθίειν: μάττοντα is in agreement with με and should be translated temporally – ‘while kneading’. It was a common complaint among Athenians that slaves pilfered from the household stores but at least this slave can’t be accused of stealing dung.

15

αἰβοῖ: a cry of both panic and despair as the slave feels the pressure of supplying enough dung-cakes to satisfy the beetle.

ἄλλην: assume μᾶζαν for all the adjectives in this line.

χἀτέραν = καὶ ἑτέραν.

16

<ἔθ᾽>: these angular brackets show that the editor has added this form of ἔτι to the text. This line, as preserved in the manuscripts of the play, required one more syllable to be metrically complete.

μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω: ‘no by Apollo’ – the negative nature of this oath is made clear by the following οὔ.

‘γὼ μὲν οὔ: ‘I will not’ – a future tense form of the previous verb should be assumed.

17

ὑπερέχειν: ‘to keep my head above’ – followed by the genitive.

τῆς ἀντλίας: bilge water is the filthy liquid that collects at the bottom of a ship. The slave uses the metaphor of being unable to keep his head above the water while bailing out a ship to vividly portray his inability to keep up with the excessive demands of the beetle. The fact that bilge water is filthy and unpleasant makes it a perfect comparison for the dung the slave is kneading.

18

αὐτὴν… ἀντλίαν: Slave A repeats the word used by Slave B but amusingly appears to have misunderstood his partner’s use of it. Slave B uses a metaphor to show how he is overwhelmed by demand but Slave B does not understand it and thinks his partner is overwhelmed by the smell of the dung in the mixing bowl.

ἄρ’: ‘in that case’.

οἴσω συλλαβὼν: ‘I shall pick it up and take it with me’ – note here the common use of a finite verb and participle in Greek when English would use two finite verbs joined by a conjunction.

19

νὴ τὸν Δί᾽: ‘yes by Zeus’ – a strong positive assertion.

ἐς κόρακάς: ‘carry it to hell’ – the imperative form of φέρω has to be assumed from what Slave A has just said. This phrase takes its force from the fact that ravens feed on carrion and so to go to the crows implies you are denied burial and left to be eaten by the birds.

γε … γε: repetition puts emphasis on the καὶ. The assumed imperative needs to be repeated.

πρός: ‘as well’.

20

ὑμῶν δέ … τις: ‘one of you’ – an example of a partitive genitive.

κατειπάτω: ‘let him say’ – third person imperative which introduces an indirect question.

21

ἂν πριαίμην: ‘I might buy’ – potential optative in an indirect question.

μὴ τετρημένην: ‘of the sort that has no openings’ – using μὴ rather than οὐ gives the participle a generic force: it describes a particular type of nose.

22

ἦν ἄρ’: ‘it turns out that’ – the imperfect tense is used with ἄρα to highlight that a past truth that is still true has just been recognized. It is best translated with the present tense.

23

μάττοντα: this participle is the accusative subject of the infinitive παρέχειν.

ἐσθίειν: infinitive of purpose.

24

ὗς … κύων: pigs and dogs were common animals in Athens and are likely to have lived on leftovers and dung. They are also considered to be slaves to their own bodily desires and lacking in self-control.

ὥσπερ + ἂν + subjunctive = ‘as soon as’.

χέσῃ: crude vocabulary commonly found in comedy. The implication here is that dogs and pigs do not need the excrement to be kneaded into shape for them; they eat it as it comes.

25

φαύλως: ‘greedily’.

ἐρείδει: ‘gets to work on’, i.e. ‘devours’.

26

βρενθύεταί: a βρένθος is a type of waterbird and so the origin of this verb for behaving arrogantly is likely to be the proud pluming of feathers carried out by birds. One might note the amusing contrast between the beauty of a pluming bird and the voracious appetite of the dung beetle.

27

ἢν μὴ παραθῶ = ἐάν + subjunctive, forming the protasis (if clause) of a future open conditional. This is accompanied by a present tense apodosis to show how characteristic this behaviour is of the beetle – ‘if I don’t do X … he does Y’. μή is the usual negative for a protasis. παραθῶ is the active aorist subjunctive from παρατίθημι and αὐτῷ, referring to the beetle, should be assumed as the indirect object.

τρίψας: aorist active participle of τρίβω.

28

μεμαγμένην: perfect passive participle of μάττω.

ὥσπερ γυναικὶ: the dative is used here as the contrast is to the assumed dative on line 27 (see note above). This dig shows the Athenian gender stereotype of women being very particular about the way in which their food is prepared; it was common in comedy to associate women with extravagance and prissiness. It is humorous that we are yet to meet a human hero, but an insect being compared to a human.

29

εἰ: ‘whether’ – an indirect question is introduced by the verb σκέψομαι.

πέπαυται τῆς ἐδωδῆς: παύω takes the genitive. ἐδωδή is mainly used to refer to the food of animals and so brings with it connotations of uncivilized, unrestrained eating.

30

τῃδὶ: ‘in this way’. If the slave wishes not to be seen by the beetle within, he presumably opens the door inwards. This must also be the best way to delay the revelation of the beetle to the audience while also exciting them with the prospect of seeing it.

παροίξας τῆς θύρας: aorist active participle of παροίγνυμι, which takes a genitive.

ἵνα μή … ἴδῃ: negative purpose clause. ἴδῃ is the aorist active subjunctive of ὁράω.

μ᾽= με.

31

ἔρειδε: present imperative of ἐρείδω. The slave repeats the vocabulary he used in line 25 (see note above).

μὴ παύσαιο μηδέποτ᾽: ‘may you never stop’ – μή + optative is used for a negative wish for the future. If a compound negative, such as μηδέποτ’, follows another negative, it forcefully confirms the negative (unlike in English where they cancel each other out).

ἐσθίων: παύω is followed by a participle.

32

τέως ἕως: ‘until’.

σαυτὸν λάθῃς διαρραγείς: this subjunctive, commonly found in a relative clause after a potential optative, is best translated in the present tense in English. λανθάνω + accusative + participle = I escape the notice of X in doing Y. It is often best to translate the participle as the main verb: I do Y without X noticing. διαρραγείς is the aorist passive participle of διαρρήγνυμι, which is very commonly used in curses.

33

οἷον: ‘how’.

κύψας: ‘head down’ – the aorist active participle of κύπτω. This image of the beetle standing with his head down is the beginning of the comparison of the beetle to a wrestler. Wrestling was a key part of an Athenian boy’s education and the audience would have easily understood this image. This is the second time that the dung beetle has been described as a human.

κατάρατος: ‘accursed’.

34

παραβαλὼν τοὺς γομφίους: ‘moving its mandibles from side to side’. The γομφίους are the large appendages around the beetle’s mouth that are used to gather and soften food. Here they are likened to the arms of a wrestler moving from side to side as he engages in a bout.

35

καὶ ταῦτα: ‘and furthermore’ – the slave turns to a second description of the beetle.

τὼ χεῖρέ: accusative dual form. This must refer to the front legs of the beetle.

πως: ‘rather’.

36

ὡδί: ‘like this’ – this emphatic form of ὺδε suggests that the slave does an impression of the beetle, making the most of an opportunity for some physical comedy.

τὰ σχοινία: ‘ropes’ – in particular, thin ropes which were often plaited together for greater strength and longevity.

37

συμβάλλοντες εἰς τὰς ὁλκάδας: the second image employed by the slave to describe the beetle is that of workers who create thick ropes used to hold and tow the heavy cargo ships that transported supplies across the Mediterranean. To create ropes, thinner ropes are plaited together using a crank. The workers’ hands must have turned in circles to work the crank and their heads must have moved from side to side as they assessed their work. Given the naval strength of the Athenians, it is likely that the audience would have pictured this easily.

38

μιαρὸν … βορόν: ἐστί has been omitted from this tricolon of adjectives. It is unclear in the surviving manuscripts how the lines at this point are divided between the two slaves. It could be an interesting activity to experiment with the different ways of dividing the lines between them and the effects this would have on the drama.

μιαρὸν: ‘filthy’, which is an understandable description given what the beetle eats; however, this word also has the strongly pejorative sense ‘polluted’ which is the polar opposite of ‘sacred’ and used to refer to any destabilizing element in society.

τὸ χρῆμα: ‘the creature’.

39

χὤτου … ἡ προσβολὴ: the syntax of this indirect question is complex – ‘of whichever of the gods the attack is’, i.e. ‘which of the gods is attacking us’. χὤτου = καὶ ὅτου – a genitive of possession. δαιμόνων is a partitive genitive. The slaves consider the beetle so terrible that they assume it has been sent as a form of divine retribution.

ποτέ: used to strengthen the indefinite nature of ὅστις in the question and as such is not needed in the English translation.

ἡ προσβολὴ: ‘attack’ – the use of this military word brings out the threat the slave feels from the beetle.

40

οἶδ’ = οἶδα, which introduces the indirect question on the previous line.

Ἀφροδίτης … φαίνεται: ἡ προσβολὴ remains the nominative. The use of the genitive Ἀφροδίτης follows the pattern of the previous line, with εἰναί supplied to follow φαίνεται – ‘does not appear to be of Aphrodite’. The slave provides two examples of goddesses that cannot have sent the beetle in order to bring out the hideous nature of the creature. Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, provides a stark contrast with the ugliness and repulsive smell of the beetle.

41

οὐ μὴν: = ‘not indeed’.

Χαρίτων: the three Graces (Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia) were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome and became the attendants of Aphrodite. As with Aphrodite above, such images of beauty could not have produced such a horrible creature.

γε: marks out the importance of the Graces within the sentence and as such does not require translation.

τοῦ = τίνος

οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως: ‘there is no way in which’ or ‘it cannot be that’.

42

Διὸς σκαταιβάτου: Aristophanes has forged a new word here by adding the letter sigma to the beginning of a traditional cult title for Zeus (καταιβάτης = descending with a thunderbolt). In doing so, the prefix for down (κατα-) forms the stem of σκωρ (σκατ-), which means ‘excrement’ or ‘shit’. This comic wordplay should come across in your translation. Sommerstein translates the phrase as ‘Zeus, Lord of the Thunder-crap’ but there are many creative ways in which to translate this. There is no response to this joke in the script. In fact, Slave B quickly moves on to asking what the point of the whole opening scene has been. There is something highly amusing about building up to such witty wordplay and instantly moving on without comment.

Lines 43–61

After the intriguing opening of the play, the slaves now begin to explain what the audience have seen. After a brief joke at the expense of the recently deceased politician Cleon, Slave A returns into the house. Slave B explains that his master, suffering from madness, openly shows his anger at Zeus. The slaves both speak directly to the audience in an insolent tone and have several opportunities for mimicry and physical comedy.

43

ἂν … λέγοι: ‘may say’ – a potential optative.

τῶν θεατῶν: a partitive genitive following τις.

44

δοκησίσοφος: ‘who thinks he is wise’ – a rather grand compound adjective, the tone of which is surely mocking the young men of the audience who have been trained in sophistry.

τόδε πρᾶγμα τί: ‘what’s happening here?’ – the verb ἐστί has been omitted.

45

ὁ κάνθαρος δὲ πρὸς τί: the question word comes at the end of the clause. The clause is best reordered in English: ‘what has the beetle got to do with anything?’

κᾆτ᾽= καὶ εἶτα.

γ᾽: this particle is often found with pronouns to give them emphasis but is not necessary in your English translation.

46

ἀνὴρ Ἰωνικός τίς: τίς is the indefinite pronoun – ‘a certain’. It has an accent because the word that follows is an enclitic and so leans on the previous word and passes its own accent up the sentence. Representatives of the subject cities (many of which were Ionian) brought their tribute to the City Dionysia, carrying it into the theatre and placing it on display. The Athenians mocked the Ionians for their effeminate ways and the dialect of Greek they used. The introduction of this anonymous Ionian gives a perfect opportunity for a comic impression.

47–8

δοκέω … ἐς … αἰνίσσεται … κεῖνος: direct speech allows the actor to mimic an Ionian for comic effect. These forms are all Ionic in dialect.

ἐς Κλέωνα: the Ionian interprets the beetle as an allusion to Cleon, now dead, eating excrement in the Underworld. The reason this bitter comment about Cleon is put into the mouth of an Ionian may be to do with tribute. In 425, tribute was raised to its highest level and this was probably still in effect in 421 when Peace was first performed. Cleon was held responsible for this rise in taxation and so the Ionians are unlikely to have held him in much regard.

ἐν Ἀΐδεω: supply δόμοις to make sense of the genitive Ἀΐδεω.

σπατίλην: a rare and unpleasant word – not only is Cleon depicted as eating excrement, he is eating the runniest, smelliest sort.

49

εἰσιὼν … δώσω: Greek uses a participle and finite verb where English would use two finite verbs connected with a conjunction.

πιεῖν: ‘something to drink’ – infinitive of purpose. The implication is that the slave will urinate and give it to the beetle as a drink. Slave A now leaves the stage and never returns.

50

τοῖσι: poetic form of τοῖς found throughout the play either with or without a final ν, depending on the start of the following word.

παιδίοις: diminutive form. The slave sets off on an ascending list of audience members, which is overblown and irreverent given that he is merely a slave speaking to the mainly free Athenian audience. His diminutives are gently mocking.

51

ἀνδρίοισι: diminutive and poetic form.

52

τοῖς ὑπερτάτοισιν ἀνδράσιν: these men of high positions are likely to be the magistrates of Athens who had reserved seating in the theatre.

53

καὶ … ἔτι … μάλα: ‘and also, especially …’.

τοῖς ὑπερηνορέουσιν: this adjective is almost exclusively found in the epic poetry of Homer where it conveys excessive arrogance in purely negative terms (e.g. the suitors of Penelope in the Odyssey). Thus the word is perhaps purposefully chosen to be double-edged: at first it sounds like a grand epic word for the most important men in the theatre, but its true meaning is far from complimentary. The men being referred to are likely to be the most senior of those who have reserved seating in the theatre: the highest magistrates, state priests and the generals of the Athenian navy.

τούτοις: the deictic pronoun suggests that the actor is pointing at these men.

54

ὁ δεσπότης: this refers to Trygaeus who is as yet unnamed. At last there is mention of an Athenian citizen who could be the hero of the play.

μαίνεται: implies a powerful and violent madness.

καινὸν τρόπον: ‘in a new way’.

55

οὐχ ὅνπερ ὑμεῖς: ‘not in the way you are (mad)’ – ὅνπερ refers back to τρόπον and a form of the verb from the previous line should be assumed to follow ὑμεῖς (μαίνεσθε). It is common for characters in comedy to abuse the audience.

ἕτερον καινὸν: supply τρόπον.

56

δι᾽ ἡμέρας: ‘all day’.

57

ὡδὶ: the actor clearly mimics his master.

κεχηνὼς: ‘with his mouth wide open’ – perfect active participle of χάσκω.

λοιδορεῖται: this verb is followed by a dative and suggests quite forceful abusive behaviour towards Zeus. The master’s madness is becoming clear as he is described as adopting a standard position of prayer but then hurling abuse at the king of the gods whom he is meant to placate.

58

τί ποτε βουλεύει ποιεῖν: direct speech again allows for some comic mimicry.

59

κατάθου: aorist imperative of κατατίθεμαι. The master impudently presents Zeus not as a war bringer but as a slave doing the sweeping.

μὴ ‘κκόρει = μὴ ἐκκόρει. There is wordplay here as ‘don’t sweep away’ also contains the word for children (κόρος/κόρη) and so can be interpreted as ‘don’t make childless’.

τὴν Ἑλλάδα: this refers to all the Greek-speaking states in the Mediterranean and Near East, highlighting the extent of the troubles that they have faced in recent years.

60

ἔα ἔα: ‘wait a second, listen up’ – the metre of the poetry is lost for a line as the slave notices something and draws the audience’s attention to it.

61

σιγήσαθ᾽ = σιγήσατε. This seems to imply that the audience could become noisy at times and may here be responding to the rather poignant prayer of the master that was just reported by the slave.

ὡς … δοκῶ: causal clause. δοκῶ introduces an indirect statement using the infinitive construction. The main nominative (I) is also the subject of the infinitive in the indirect statement.

φωνῆς ἀκούειν: here ἀκούειν takes the genitive of the noise that is heard.

62–179: The voice of Trygaeus, whose name is not yet known by the audience, is heard calling on Zeus from within the house. The slave goes on to explain how his master’s madness developed: at first, he wanted to reach Zeus by making little ladders but he fell down, then by going out and getting an enormous beetle on which he could fly. The slave looks inside one more time and is shocked to find his master now riding the huge insect like a horse and starting to fly into the air.

Trygaeus then appears by means of the theatrical crane, sitting on a giant dung beetle. The slave calls him mad and asks where he is going. The master replies that his slave should support him on his journey and stop men on the earth shitting, so that the beetle is not distracted from his true purpose by the smell of food. Trygaeus makes clear that he aims to fly up to Zeus so that he can ask him about his plans for the Greeks.

The slave calls into the house for the master’s children and they come out to beseech him not to go. However, their constant wheedling at their father, who presumably has struggled to feed them due to the poverty caused by wartime conditions, has meant that he no longer cares for them. One daughter asks how he intends to reach Zeus and he describes his beetle as a winged horse in words that are very likely to have been taken from or based on lines from Euripides’ Bellerophon. Trygaeus thus begins to present himself as the parody of a tragic hero.

The daughter asks a series of questions intended to put her father off his mission. She asks why he did not use Pegasus so as to look more like Bellerophon in the eyes of the gods and so gain their favour. Trygaeus explains that he could not afford to feed himself and a horse; however, he can feed himself and provide excrement for the beetle. When the daughter asks what will happen if he falls into the sea, he suggests the beetle can also be a boat and raises his comic phallus as an oar. When asked which harbour he would seek, he amusingly suggests the Beetle Harbour, a common term for the Peiraeus, the main port of Athens. Finally, the daughter begs him not to fail and thus provide a real plot for Euripides to use.

Trygaeus says farewell to the girls and sets off. As he flies, Trygaeus sings an anapaestic chorus, the opening lines of which do parody a passage from Euripides’ Bellerophon, in which Bellerophon seeks to calm his flying steed, Pegasus. It becomes clear that the beetle is distracted by alleyways, which are a good source of dirt and shit. The rough journey almost becomes too much and Trygaeus calls upon the crane operator to pay attention otherwise he will shit himself with fear (providing another meal for the beetle!). As the journey becomes smoother, he catches sight of the house of Zeus and starts to head back towards the stage.

Lines 180–235

During the flight, Trygaeus and the beetle move across the stage from one side to the other. There is room for some silent comic acting as the beetle lands: the hero now tries to disembark and prepares himself both emotionally and physically to knock on the door of the gods. A voice from inside is heard and then the door opens and Hermes, the messenger god, comes out. Although he is not named until line 365, his mask and costume, presumably wings and a wand, make his identity clear to the audience. Trygaeus receives a gruff reception and quickly becomes sarcastic and impudent.

Hermes turns out not to be as fierce as his initial introduction suggests; in fact, he is easily pleased with a gift of meat and starts to provide some information. We find out that the gods have moved house, leaving behind a few household items, to be as far away from the warmongering Greeks as possible. Hermes also tells us that War has moved into the house of the gods and, having trapped Peace in a deep cavern, he intends to pound the Greek states together with his pestle and mortar into a savoury paste.

The scene is entertaining in the way it presents the gods as normal Athenian men: Zeus lives in an ordinary house but is wealthy enough to have a slave (Hermes) who watches the door and is open to bribes for information. The gods even leave some essential household items behind in their rush to leave. Furthermore, this section sets up the comic depiction of the war among the Greek states as the anthropomorphic god War pounding the states together, which will allow for the use of entertaining props and an extended culinary metaphor when the god appears on stage.

180

πόθεν βροτοῦ με προσέβαλ᾽: Hermes is so struck by the sight of the beetle that he is unable to finish his sentence. We should assume ‘voice’ as the nominative to go with the genitive βροτοῦ. There is a certain grandeur to these opening words from the god: βροτοῦ is a word mainly used in the high genres of epic and tragedy, and the structure of the sentence is in the style of tragedy.

ὦναξ Ἡράκλεις: an expression of surprise.

181

τουτὶ: emphatic form of τοῦτο.

τὸ κακόν: ‘evil’ – an adjective and article used to create a noun.

ἱπποκάνθαρος: an Aristophanic coinage, which merges the words for horse and beetle to create a mythical creature. The prefix ἱππο- can be used to give a sense of enormity, which is fitting for the giant beetle that has just been flying around the stage. However, comparing the beetle to a horse also continues the comparison of the beetle to Pegasus and so Trygaeus is presenting himself as a perverse version of Bellerophon (see summary of lines 62–179). Despite talking to a god, Trygaeus is clearly not taking the situation seriously.

182

μιαρὲ: see note on line 38. All the following adjectives are in the vocative. The excessive repetition of various compound or superlative forms of μιαρός shows how Hermes is overcome with anger to the extent he is almost speechless.

κἀναίσχυντε = καὶ ἀναίσχυντε.

184

πῶς δεῦρ᾽ ἀνῆλθες: note that the beetle is likely to be sitting on the stage at this point, so this is likely to be a sign of surprise or disbelief rather than a genuine question.

μιαρῶν: partitive genitive following μιαρώτατε.

185

ἔστ᾽ ὄνομ᾽ = ἔστιν ὄνομα. Hermes asks a series of three questions which ask for information by which an Athenian citizen can be identified.

οὐκ ἐρεῖς: ἐρῶ is the future tense of λέγω. It is clear that Trygaeus is taking his time to respond to Hermes by and the god’s impatience is starting to show. Trygaeus mocks Hermes by simply repeating what he has called him rather than giving his real name.

187

ἐμοί: ‘my father?’ – Trygaeus follows the syntax of Hermes’ question in using the dative here. By repeating the dative he is surely teasing the questioner. The line numbers on the text adhere to the original line numbers of the manuscripts but not the order in which they are preserved. It is clear that 186 and 187 were copied in the wrong order as it makes more sense for the questions to go from name to father and then to country, particularly given the increasingly ridiculous answers. The confusion is likely to be a result of three lines ending in the same word: a scribe copying at speed could easily glance away, look back at the text and return to the wrong line, missing out a section and then reinserting it in the wrong place.

186

τὸ γένος: ‘by birth’ – an accusative of respect.

φράζε μοι: the imperative brings out Hermes’ impatience.

188

οὔτοι … ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως οὐκ: ‘there is no way that you will not …’, which is best translated ‘you will most certainly …’. See note on line 41.

ἀποθανεῖ: the future tense of ἀποθνῄσκω is the contract middle form ἀποθανοῦμαι. The use of the simple future tense in both the protasis and apodosis of this conditional makes it a stronger threat.

189

εἰ μὴ κατερεῖς: κατερῶ is commonly used as the future form of καταγορεύω.

τοὔνομ᾽ = τὸ ὄνομα.

τοὔνομ᾽ ὅ τι ποτ᾽ ἔστι σοι: literally ‘your name, whatever it is to you’ but best translated ‘what your name is’. The noun here is placed in the main clause of the sentence and not in the indirect question where we might expect it to be. This is called prolepsis and is common in conversational speech. σοι is a dative of possession.

190

Τρυγαῖος: the audience (and Hermes) finally discover the hero’s name. As usual in Aristophanic comedy, his name is appropriate to his role: the root of the name is τρυγάω ‘I gather crops or fruit’ which not only fits his profession as a vine-dresser but also his role as defender of the Athenian countryside.

Ἀθμονεύς: a deme or political region about six miles outside of Athens. By giving Trygaeus this deme, Aristophanes presents him as a man from the country.

ἀμπελουργὸς δεξιός: ‘vine-dresser’ – a man who is skilled in pruning vines but likely to also mean an all-round viticulturist.

191

συκοφάντης: the sycophants of Athens were people who took others to court not for the public good, as was expected in the democracy, but out of a desire for personal gain. Given the danger they represented in Athenian society, they can be presented as villainous characters. Trygaeus contrasts himself with these figures and presents himself as a humble defender of the democracy in order to gain access to Zeus.

πραγμάτων: ‘legal disputes’. ἐραστὴς πραγμάτων and συκοφάντης are essentially the same in meaning.

192

κατὰ τί: ‘for what reason’ or ‘why’.

τὰ κρέα ταυτί σοι φέρων: the sense of the verb in the question is assumed in the answer – ‘ bringing …’. After an animal was sacrificed, the Athenians burned the fat, bones and some meat. The gods were thought to eat the meat by inhaling the smoke. Trygaeus’ trip up to the gods to physically hand the meat over is a comic reinterpretation of a traditional sacrifice.

193

πῶς ἦλθες: ‘is that really why you came?’ – this is a dramatic exclamation as opposed to a genuine question. Note how Hermes, originally unwelcoming, has quickly changed his tune on receiving the sacrificial meat.

ὦ γλίσχρων: formed from the adjective γλίσχρος (sticky, sweaty) to vividly convey Hermes’ greed. The noun is formed to complement Hermes’ δειλακρίων and thus mock his sudden change in tone.

193–4

ὁρᾷς ὡς: indirect statement using ὡς is a poetic version of the ὅτι construction.

195

ἴθι νυν: ‘come on now’ – frequently used before a second imperative.

κάλεσόν: aorist imperative. Trygaeus acts like he is speaking to a slave rather than a god.

ἰηῦ ἰηῦ ἰηῦ: ‘ha ha ha!’ – Hermes responds to Trygaeus’ request with mocking laughter.

196

ὅτ' = ὅτι – a causal clause.

οὐδὲ μέλλεις: ‘you have no chance of’.

τῶν θεῶν: ἐγγύς takes the genitive.

197

φροῦδοι γὰρ: assume εἰσί(ν).

εἰσιν ἐξῳκισμένοι: the perfect tense is formed here using the perfect passive participle and part of εἰμί. Note that the middle form ἐξοικίζομαι is used here.

198

ποῖ γῆς: ‘where on earth (have they moved) to?’ – assume the verb from the previous line. γῆς is a partitive genitive, literally translated ‘to where of land’.

ἰδοὺ γῆς: ‘on earth indeed!’ – ἰδοὺ is used when repeating someone else’s words in a dismissive manner.

πόρρω πάνυ: ‘a long, long way away!’.

199

αὐτὸν … κύτταρον: ‘the very pinnacle’ – κύτταρον is found in Greek literature to refer to a range of hollow, dome-shaped objects: in particular, the cells of a wasps’ nest and the cup of an acorn. They provide a comically small comparison for the dome of the sky. It appears that the gods have moved as far away from mortals as they can to the very top of the dome.

ἀτεχνῶς: ‘to put it simply’.

τοὐρανοῦ: τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.

200

κατελείφθης: aorist passive of καταλείπω.

201

σκευάρια: these tend to be small household items. We soon learn that War is unable to find a suitable pestle, which suggests that the gods have taken most of their belongings with them. It is comic to present the gods as humans who leave knick-knacks around the house.

202

χυτρίδια: ‘small earthenware pots’.

σανίδια: perhaps ‘chopping boards’, but can simply be ‘planks of wood’.

κἀμφορείδια = καὶ ἀμφορίδια – ‘small jars’. Note that all three of these nouns are diminutives: the gods have only left behind the small non-essentials.

203

τίνος οὕνεκα: ‘why’ – genitive + οὕνεκα.

204

Ἕλλησιν ὀργισθέντες: translate the participle as a causal clause – ‘because they had become angry …’. ὀργίζομαι is followed by the dative.

εἶτ᾽ = εἶτα.

205

ἵν᾽ = ἵνα – ‘where’, not to be confused with a purpose clause.

τὸν Πόλεμον: war is personified as the new tenant of Zeus’ house. The audience may remember the personification of war in Aristophanes’ Acharnians, which was produced in 425. In this earlier comedy, War was presented as a drunken party animal.

206

παραδόντες: aorist active participle of παραδίδωμι.

δρᾶν: present active infinitive of δράω.

ὅ τι βούλεται: ‘whatever he wants’ – ὅστις can introduce an indefinite clause with the indicative rather than the usual indefinite construction.

207

ἀνῳκίσανθ᾽: the prefix makes it clear that the gods have moved upwards to keep away from mortals. Note the contrast with κατῴκισαν in line 205.

ὅπως + superlative adverb = as X as possible.

208

ἵνα μὴ βλέποιεν: negative purpose clause. βλέποιεν is in the optative rather than the subjunctive because it follows a historic main verb; this makes no difference to the translation.

209

μηδ᾽ … αἰσθανοίατο: the purpose clause continues with μη and another optative verb. αἰσθανοίατο is a poetic form of the third person plural present optative.

ἀντιβολούντων μηδὲν: assume ὑμῶν with ἀντιβολούντων, which are in the genitive following αἰσθανοίατο.

210

τοῦ = τίνος.

οὕνεχ᾽ = οὕνεκα – see note on line 203.

εἰπέ: aorist active imperative of λέγω. Trygaeus is becoming increasingly impatient and worried.

211

ᾑρεῖσθ᾽ = ᾑρεῖσθε – imperfect tense of αἱρέομαι. The imperfect tense implies that mortals repeatedly got in the way of peace treaties by opting to wage war.

211–12

ἐκείνων … ποιούντων: ‘although …’ – a concessive genitive absolute. ἐκείνων refers to the gods. Since it is clear that peace did not work, translate the participle as conative: ‘trying to make peace treaties’. Hermes is saying that mortals have blocked divine attempts to make peace rather than the other way around.

212

κεἰ = καὶ εἰ.

οἱ Λακωνικοὶ: a comic term for the Spartans, which draws attention to their region in the Peloponnese rather than stating their city.

213

ὑπερβάλοιντο … ἔλεγον ἂν: ‘if they ever …, they would always …’ – this is a past general condition made up of a protasis of εἰ + optative and an apodosis of the imperfect indicative + ἄν. It is likely that this refers to 430 when the Athenians, now weakened by plague and threatened by the Spartan invasions of Attica, sought a peace treaty in vain.

μικρόν: ‘by a small amount’ or ‘a little’.

ταδί = τάδε which is best translated ‘the following’.

214

ναὶ τὼ σιὼ = νὴ τὼ θεώ in Spartan, Doric dialect. The dual form τὼ σιὼ refers to Castor and Pollux who grew up in Sparta and were common in Spartan oaths. Once again, direct speech offers the opportunity to mimic a Spartan for comic effect.

Ὡττικίων = ὁ Ἀττικίων – a condescending Spartan form for ‘the little Attic man’. The singular is being used to represent their enemy as one.

δωσεῖ δίκαν: ‘will pay the penalty’. δίκαν is also in the Doric dialect.

215

εἰ δ᾽: a second past general conditional. See note on line 213.

τι πράξαιτ᾽ ἀγαθόν: literally ‘you do something good’ but best translated ‘achieve some success’. πράξαιτε is second person plural. This refers to the Athenian occupation of Pylos, as confirmed on line 219. Note that although both Athenians and Spartans are depicted as getting in the way of peace, the Spartans are presented in a worse light: Spartan weakness is mentioned first and only the Spartans are described as seeking peace in an embarrassing state of weakness.

δ᾽ αὖ: ‘on the other hand’.

Ἀττικωνικοί: a comic term for the Athenians which echoes οἱ Λακωνικοὶ on line 212. It refers to their region rather than their city. Here it is vocative following πράξαιτε.

216

κἄλθοιεν = καὶ ἔλθοιεν – the protasis of the past general condition continues.

οἱ Λάκωνες: another term for the Spartans.

εἰρήνης πέρι: genitive + πέρι = ‘concerning’.

217

ἐλέγετ᾽ ἂν: apodosis of the past general conditional. See note on line 213.

ἐξαπατώμεθα: Thucydides reports in Book 4 of his History of the Peloponnesian War that when the Spartan embassies reached Athens seeking the release of the Spartan hoplites trapped on the island of Sphacteria, the Assembly was misled by their leaders, in this case Cleon, into rejecting the Spartan offer of peace. Cleon is depicted as telling the Athenians that the Spartans had bad intentions so that the Assembly would vote against peace and continue the war. His motivation is said to be greed.

218

νὴ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν: Athena was the patron goddess of Athens. She is used for the stereotypical oath of the Athenians just as Castor and Pollux are for the Spartans in line 214.

οὐχὶ = οὐ.

πειστέον: the gerundive of πείθω in an impersonal neuter form – ‘we must not be persuaded’.

219

καὖθις = καὶ αὖθις.

ἢν ἔχωμεν: ἢν = ἐάν and introduces the protasis of a future open conditional – ἐάν + subjunctive = ‘if we …, they will …’. The apodosis comes before the protasis. Here ἔχω has the sense ‘keep hold of’ or ‘continue to occupy’.

τὴν Πύλον: it is now made explicitly clear that Aristophanes is alluding to the Athenian occupation of Pylos in 425. See note on line 215.

220

γοῦν: ‘at any rate’ or ‘after all’ – here showing support for what Hermes has said.

χαρακτὴρ … τῶν ῥημάτων: ἐστίν needs to be understood here and the adjective taken predicatively; translate in the following order – ὁ χαρακτὴρ τῶν ῥημάτων <ἐστίν> ἡμεδαπὸς – before refining your translation. The word χαρακτὴρ is used for the design punched onto a coin during the minting process and helps to convey how Trygaeus considers these words to be distinctively Athenian.

221

ὺν οὕνεκ᾽: ‘therefore’ – ὺν refers back to all that has just been said about Spartans and Athenians blocking peace.

οἶδ᾽ = οἶδα.

ποτ᾽ … ἔτι: ‘ever again’.

Εἰρήνην: given that this was performed and not read, it is not immediately clear that peace is personified in the way that War has been until Trygaeus asks his question on the next line.

222

τὸ λοιπὸν: ‘in the future’.

ὄψεσθ᾽ = ὄψεσθε – future tense of ὁράω.

γὰρ: strengthens the question but difficult to translate other than in tone.

223

αὐτὴν: ‘her’ – refers to Εἰρήνην.

224

ποῖον: understand ἄντρον.

εἰς τουτὶ = εἰς τοῦτο – the deictic pronoun implies that Hermes is now pointing at the cave in which Peace has been trapped. It is most likely that he points to the central doors of the stage. τὸ κάτω implies that Hermes points downwards towards the doors.

κἄπειθ᾽ = καὶ ἔπειτα.

225

ὅσους … λίθων: accusative ὅσους is the object of ὁρᾷς on the previous line. λίθων is a partitive genitive – ‘how many (of) rocks’.

ἄνωθεν: ‘from above’. It is difficult to tell exactly how this was staged. We are initially led to picture a cave but here the entrance seems to be piled up from above as if it is a hole in the ground.

226

ἵνα μὴ λάβητε μηδέποτ᾽: negative purpose clause. The two negatives work together to strengthen the negative meaning; therefore, it is best to omit the first when translating.

αὐτήν: ‘her’ – refers to Εἰρήνην.

εἰπέ μοι: see note on line 210.

227

ἡμᾶς … δρᾶν: ‘to do to us’.

δὲ δὴ: marks a surprised tone.

228

πλὴν ἕν: ‘except for one thing’ – πλὴν is used adverbially with a single word when a negative precedes it. It is possible to imagine that a second οἶδα is missing: ‘I don’t know except I know one thing.’ This expression is common in tragedy and otherwise not found in Aristophanes. Hermes is clearly speaking in a grand manner as he toys with Trygaeus. Hermes must know exactly what is planned but is enjoying his dominant role in the exchange.

ἑσπέρας: genitive of time.

229

ὑπερφυᾶ τὸ μέγεθος: ‘monstrous in size’ – ὑπερφυᾶ is the accusative singular form in agreement with θυείαν. τὸ μέγεθος is an accusative of respect.

εἰσηνέγκατο: aorist of εἰσφέρω.

230

ταύτῃ τῇ θυείᾳ: dative following χράομαι.

231

τὰς πόλεις: the cities of Greece.

βουλεύεται: from βουλεύομαι not βούλομαι. As the exchange becomes more terrifying for Trygaeus there is some hope in the fact that War is still only planning.

232

καὶ γὰρ: ‘for in fact’.

ἐξιέναι: infinitive of ἔξειμι following μέλλει on line 233.

γνώμην ἐμὴν: ‘in my opinion’.

233

θορυβεῖ: a strong verb to use here as it often describes the noise of crowds in confusion.

ἔνδοθεν: ‘inside’.

οἴμοι δείλαιος: a tragic exclamation as Trygaeus realizes that the noise he hears means that War is about to appear. Trygaeus starts to move off towards the side of the stage where he will hide when War arrives.

234

φέρ᾽= φέρε – the imperative provides a sense of urgency.

ἀποδρῶ: iussive subjunctive of ἀποδιδράσκω – ‘let me escape!’.

καὶ γὰρ: ‘for in fact’.

ὥσπερ ᾐσθόμην: by repeating the verb the sense becomes clear – ‘I heard … as if I heard it’. A clearer translation would therefore be ‘I think I heard’.

235

καὐτὸς = καὶ αὐτος – ‘also I’.

θυείας φθέγμα πολεμιστηρίας: this phrase is a peculiar mix of comic and tragic vocabulary: φθέγμα is often found in tragedy but πολεμιστηρίας is only found in comedy. The idea of a speaking warrior mortar is also hugely comic and one might guess at words that would be more fitting here: the sound of a trumpet or the shout of a leader. It is a moment of high emotion but only so much as comedy will allow. Such a line provides a perfect transition into the next scene and the appearance of War.

Lines 236–88

After making a lot of noise offstage, War appears carrying a huge mortar and a selection of ingredients. He is preparing to make a savoury paste, commonly used to accompany fish or meat, out of certain Greek cities which all have a connection to a foodstuff commonly used in Greek cookery. As he names each city he presumably picks up the ingredient each one is associated with and shows it to the audience. Once the ingredients are in the mortar he sends his slave, appropriately named Uproar, to find a pestle, since there is not one in the house. Uproar first goes to Athens to use Cleon as a pestle, a man known to have pursued war rather than peace, and then to Sparta for Brasidas, a similar warmonger. As both men are now dead, War is left without a pestle and so is forced to go inside to make one himself.

236

βροτοὶ πολυτλήμονες: both words bring an epic tone and, along with repetition of βροτοὶ and the dramatic ἰὼ, make this a powerful opening line for War.

237

ὡς: introduces either an exclamation (‘how …!’) or a strong assertion (‘… let me tell you!’).

τὰς γνάθους: accusative of respect. This suggests that mortals are going to be metaphorically punched in the face. War is characterized as a vicious brawler.

238

ὦναξ Ἄπολλον: Apollo was associated with poetry, music, prophecy and medicine. The call to him here may have been provoked by the threat of physical harm and the potential need for medical assistance in the future. However, it is also likely that Apollo was commonly used at moments of shock or surprise.

τοῦ πλάτους: genitive of exclamation – a colloquial usage. The joke is that the mortar must be enormous if all the cities of Greece are to fit inside it.

239

ὅσον κακόν: supply ἐστί to form an exclamation – ‘what an evil it is’.

τοῦ βλέμματος: another genitive of exclamation.

240–1

ἆρ᾽ … σκελοῖν: this question shows Trygaeus’ astonishment at coming face to face with War, a figure that causes such terror in the mortal world.

240

καὶ: used here to draw attention to the new information provided in the relative clause but does not need translation.

241

ὁ δεινός, ὁ ταλαύρινος: both adjectives are used by Homer to describe Ares, the god of war.

τοῖν σκελοῖν: genitive dual form following κατὰ. ‘The one down your legs’ can be interpreted in two ways: War is so terrifying that it either turns legs to jelly or sends excrement down legs as soldiers lose control of their bowels. The second interpretation seems far more fitting given the tone of comedy and the many scatological references found in the opening of the play.

242

Πρασιαὶ: War has begun to make a paste in the mortar using the cities of Greece as his ingredients. Prasiae was a town located on the coast of Laconia. It was attacked by the Athenians in 430 during their summer campaign along the coast. Prasiae has been chosen here because it recalls the inability of the Greeks to make peace by recounting key events in the last decade of the Peloponnesian War but also its name is similar to πράσα (leeks) and so it makes a good ingredient for a savoury paste. War holds up some leeks to the audience before throwing them into the mortar.

243

πολλοδεκάκις: a word coined by Aristophanes to create this hyperbolic description.

ὡς: introducing an exclamation.

ἀπολεῖσθε: future tense of ἀπόλλυμαι.

244

τουτὶ = τοῦτο.

ἄνδρες: Trygaeus addresses the audience.

οὐδὲν ἡμῖν πρᾶγμά: supply ἐστί to make sense of this – ‘it is no bother for us’.

245

τῆς Λακωνικῆς: genitive of possession. Trygaeus does not show much concern as he hears of the fate of Prasiae. His lack of interest here will contrast dramatically with his response when Attica is mentioned in line 252.

246

ὦ Μέγαρα Μέγαρ᾽: Megara was located on the Isthmus of Corinth and became an ally of Sparta during the Peloponnesian Wars. The Megarian Decree of c. 432, which essentially banned Megarians from harbours and markets across the Athenian empire as a punishment for cultivating sacred land and showing disrespect to the Athenians, was an important catalyst for war. From 431, Athens invaded Megara twice annually until 424. It was a key exporter of garlic and a head of garlic is likely to be held up by War before he throws it into the mortar.

ἐπιτετρίψεσθ᾽: future tense of ἐπιτρίβομαι. An amusing double meaning is found here as the verb can suggest the act of destroying something like a city but also the act of crushing garlic for cooking.

247

καταμεμυττωτευμένα: ‘beaten into a paste’. A μυττωτός is a garlic-based paste used to flavour cooked meat or fish.

248

βαβαὶ βαβαιάξ: a sound to show shock or horror. Trygaeus is not necessarily sympathetic to such a great enemy of Athens, but is surely surprised by the terrible treatment they are about to receive. However, this could also be the response of someone whose eyes are caused to water by the chopping of garlic.

ὡς: introduces an exclamation.

μεγάλα καὶ δριμέα: these adjectives describe τὰ κλαύματα in the following line. δριμέα is often used to describe something with a strong taste like garlic and so is very fitting in this extended cookery scene.

249

τὰ κλαύματα: the audience might have expected the word ‘garlic’ given what has come before and so is surprised by ‘wailings’.

250

Σικελία: Sicily had been in turmoil as Syracuse and other Dorian cities fought against Leontini and the Ionian cities. Athens had supported Leontini, using both warfare and diplomacy to try to encourage more cities to support the Ionians against Syracuse. Sicily was famous for its cheese and so War must hold up a chunk before throwing it into the mortar.

ὡς: introduces an exclamation.

ἀπόλλυσαι: present tense rather than future suggests that there is nothing that can be done to protect Sicily. Notice that the distichomythia turns to stichomythia as the pace increases towards the dramatic introduction of Attica to the mortar.

251

πόλις: this must refer to the territory of Sicily rather than a specific city.

διακναισθήσεται: the future passive of διακναίω. This vocabulary further develops the culinary theme (‘will be grated’) as well as that of warfare (‘will be destroyed’).

252

φέρ᾽: see note on line 234. War suddenly deviates from the pattern he has established for introducing cities for the mortar. Attica is placed in a particularly emphatic position at the end of the line.

ἐπιχέω: iussive subjunctive – ‘let me pour over’.

καὶ: ‘also’.

τουτὶ: τοῦτο.

τἀττικόν = τὸ Ἀττικόν. The honey produced on Mt. Hymettos was famous across the Greek world.

253

οὗτος: ‘oi you!’.

‘τέρῳ = ἑτέρῳ – the dative follows χρῆσθαι.

254

τετρώβολον: the point being made is that the honey is expensive due to its quality and perhaps also due to the limitations that war has put on its production.

φείδου: imperative of φείδομαι, which takes a genitive.

τἀττικοῦ: see note on line 252.

255

παῖ: vocative – War calls for his slave boy.

Κυδοιμέ: the slave’s name is ‘din of battle’, ‘uproar’ or ‘hubbub’. Translators tend to translate his name into an English form; for example, Sommerstein calls him ‘Hurlyburly’. The boy emerges from Zeus’ house and must be wearing the shabby clothes of a slave. A war demon of the same name appears in Homer’s Iliad.

256

ἕστηκας: the perfect tense of ἵστημι is used for a present state – ‘you are standing’.

οὑτοσί = οὗτος – assume ἐστί – ‘here is …’.

257

ὡς δριμύς: ὡς introduces an exclamation. δριμύς describes κόνδυλος in the previous line.

οἴμοι μοι τάλας: common tragic exclamation of grief and horror.

258

τῶν σκορόδων: ‘some of the garlic’ – the accusative ‘some’ has to be assumed to go with this partitive genitive.

259

οἴσεις … τρέχων: as seen previously, the finite verb and participle are best translated as two finite verbs joined by a conjunction in English. You may also wish to consider an adverbial phrase for τρέχων – ‘at a run’. A question in the future tense can often be translated as an imperative – ‘get!’.

260

οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν: a dative of possession with the pestle as the nominative. It is amusing to note that in their hurry to leave, the gods left the mortar but took the pestle.

261

παρ᾽ Ἀθηναίων: παρά + genitive = ‘from’.

μεταθρέξει: μεταθρέξομαι is the future tense of μετατρέχω.

ταχὺ <πάνυ>: the angular brackets show that πάνυ has been suggested as an addition to this line. The textual critic Dobree put forward this suggestion in order to complete the line, which was otherwise un-metrical. The phrase ταχὺ πάνυ is found elsewhere in Aristophanes and makes good sense here.

262

ἔγωγε: ‘I will’. The tense is assumed from μεταθρέξει on the previous line.

εἰ … κλαύσομαι: a future open conditional. The protasis is condensed into εἰ δὲ μή and the verb needs to be assumed – ‘if I don’t (do this)’.

263

ἄγε δή: ‘come on then’. Although Trygaeus is speaking to the audience, the colloquial imperative ἄγε remains in the singular form.

τί δρῶμεν: the subjunctive is used to make this a deliberative question.

ἀνθρώπια: a diminutive form is used to show his sympathy for the people.

264

τὸν κίνδυνον ἡμῖν ὡς μέγας: the noun here is placed in the main clause of the sentence and not in the indirect question in order to mimic the style of conversational speech. ἡμῖν is a possessive dative. Assume ἐστί for sense – ‘how great the danger is for us’.

265

φέρων: ‘with’.

266

τούτῳ: the pestle.

ταράξει: not only a verb for mixing, and thus appropriate for the extended cookery metaphor, but also very frequently used with the sense of creating political turmoil.

267

ὦ Διόνυσ᾽: Trygaeus turns to Dionysus in this personal prayer for several reasons. As a vine-dresser, Trygaeus is likely to pray to this god of viticulture frequently. The god of harvest and agriculture is also very fitting for a man on a mission to protect the Athenian countryside. Dionysus Eleuthereus (‘the deliverer’) is also an appropriate god to free the Greeks from their current grief and sorrow. Finally, as the play is performed at the City Dionysia, it is possible that there is a statue of Dionysus Eleuthereus on stage for Trygaeus to turn to as he prays.

ἀπόλοιτο: optative wish for the future.

μὴ ‘λθοι: ἔλθοι is a second optative wish for the future. μὴ is the negative form used with the optative.

268

οὗτος: ‘here I am’ – used in a vocative sense to gain the attention of someone.

τὸ δεῖνα γὰρ: ‘um, well …’ – mumbled interjections to delay giving the news.

269

ἀπόλωλ᾽= ἀπόλωλε.

Ἀθηναίοισιν: dative of possession.

270

ὁ βυρσοπώλης: the pestle must be Cleon who had inherited wealth from his family’s tanning and leather-working business and had recently died at Amphipolis. A pestle is an object that creates destruction by smashing and mixing ingredients; for this reason, it is a suitable description of a demagogue who did the same in politics. In fact, Aristophanes had already compared Cleon to a pestle in his Knights.

ἐκύκα: imperfect tense of the contract verb κυκάω. This is a verb commonly found describing the actions of demagogues in Athens.

271–2

εὖ γ᾽ … ποιῶν ἀπόλωλ᾽: literally ‘doing well he died’ which comes to mean ‘he did us a good service by dying’.

272

ἐκεῖνος: Cleon.

κἀν δέοντι = καὶ ἐν δέοντι – ‘and just at the right time’.

τῇ πόλει: dative of advantage – ‘for the city’.

273

ἢ … ἐγχέαι: ‘or before he pours out the paste for us’. πρίν is followed by an infinitive. The sense of this line is uncertain because it is not clear why the paste is poured out for the Athenians when they have already been included in the ingredients for it. Furthermore, the nominative of the previous line is Cleon, but this line can only be read with a sudden shift to War as the unnamed subject of ἐγχέαι.

274

μέτει: another future question used as an imperative.

275

ἁνύσας τι: ‘quickly’.

ταῦτ᾽= ταῦτα – assume a verb like δράσω to take this accusative.

δέσποθ᾽= δέσποτα – the vocative form.

ἧκέ: imperative.

276

πεισόμεσθα: πείσομαι is the future tense of πάσχω.

νῦν ἀγὼν μέγας: assume ἐστί here – ‘now this is …’.

277

ὑμῶν: partitive genitive.

Σαμοθρᾴκῃ: Samothrace, an island in the north of the Aegean Sea, was home to a well-known mystery cult. Little is known about mystery cults, but it is clear that initiates called upon the gods of the cult to protect them at times of crisis.

τυγχάνει: τυγχάνω is followed by a participle to give the meaning ‘I happen to be …’. It is often best to translate the participle as the main verb and τυγχάνω as an adverbial phrase: ‘I X by chance’.

278

νῦν … καλὸν: ‘now it is a good time to …’ – ἐστιν + neuter adjective + infinitive is a common construction for ‘it is X to do Y’.

279

ἀποστραφῆναι … πόδε: an indirect statement using the infinitive construction following the introductory verb εὔξασθαι on the previous line. The genitive participle, τοῦ μετιόντος, is best translated as a noun: ‘the errand-boy’. τὼ πόδε is in the accusative dual form. The use of ἀποστραφῆναι creates a pun: it can mean ‘to turn away’ when talking about danger or bad luck, but also ‘to twist back’ when used to describe the torture of a person. So at first it sounds to the audience like a prayer for protection but by the end of the line it is clearly a prayer for injury.

280

κἄτ᾽ … μάλα = καὶ ἔτι … μάλα – ‘and yet again …’.

281

μῶν οὐκ: ‘surely’ – a double negative that requires a positive answer.

282

τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοισιν: a dative of possession.

283

τἀπὶ … χωρία = τὰ ἐπὶ … χωρία. ἐπὶ + genitive = ‘towards’ or ‘in the direction of’. The plural χωρία implies a range of places along the very northern coast of the Aegean Sea.

αὐτὸν: the Spartan pestle is the general Brasidas who died at Amphipolis in 422 as Cleon and the Athenians sought to recapture the town. Cleon died in the same battle. For several years Brasidas had been in the regions near Thrace providing support to the towns that were revolting against Athens. Because of his military success and increasing influence, he was considered to have opposed peace and is thus a very suitable pestle.

284

ἑτέροις: ‘to other people’ – the people he supported include the towns around Chalcis and King Perdiccas of Macedon.

285

εὖ … ποιήσαντες: see note on line 271. Assume ἀπώλεσαν from the previous line as the main verb in this sentence too.

ὦ Διοσκόρω: for Castor and Pollux, see the note on line 214. The noun is in the dual vocative form.

286

ἂν εὖ γένοιτο: ἴσως is often followed by ἂν and a potential optative to express a cautious hope for the future.

θαρρεῖτ᾽: imperative.

287

ἀπόφερε … λαβὼν: translate both verbs as imperatives – ‘pick up and take back’.

ταυτὶ = ταῦτα – this agrees with τὰ σκεύη.

288

δοίδυκ᾽ = δοίδυκα.

εἰσιὼν ποιήσομαι: translate both as finite future verbs. See note on line 18.

Lines 289–336

Trygaeus is delighted that War has so far been unable to make his paste. With War safely back in the house, Trygaeus calls the chorus and audience together to free Peace from the cave. The metre shifts from iambics to fast trochaics as the chorus join and celebrate the promise of a peaceful future. However, the demands of the plot and the demands of the genre clash: as the chorus is needed to help free Peace and avoid War’s attention, they are unable to stop singing and dancing. Trygaeus quickly loses his temper with the chorus in a scene that must have been full of movement and sound.

289

τοῦτ᾽ ἐκεῖν᾽= τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο – ‘this is it’!’ The sense here is that Trygaeus has found a time for which Datis’ song is fitting.

Δάτιδος: Datis the Mede commanded the Persian campaign into Greece, which ended at Marathon.

290

ὃ: accusative neuter relative pronoun referring back to τὸ μέλος.

δεφόμενός: this is a colloquial word and rather crude: ‘wanking’. It is important not to fear the use of such coarse language when translating Greek comedy. The Athenians seemed to associate afternoon masturbation with men from the East, as demonstrated by the surviving phrase ‘a Lydian at noon’. This is likely to be because many slaves were from the East and their only chance for sexual pleasure may have been during their afternoon break when masters would take a nap. Therefore, this image of Datis not only presents him in an embarrassing act but also in the role of a sexually frustrated slave.

ᾖδε: imperfect tense of ἀείδω.

τῆς μεσημβρίας: genitive of time.

291

χαίρομαι: this appears to be an error, as χαίρω would be the correct form to use here. Confusing the correct voice of verbs is also found in Timotheus’ Persians to show a Phrygian struggling with the Greek language. This short piece of direct speech is therefore designed not only to show Trygaeus’ delight at the opportunity he now has to stop War but also to gain a few laughs by mocking a Persian.

κεὐφραίνομαι = καὶ εὐφραίνομαι.

292

νῦν … καλὸν: see note on line 278. The infinitive following this construction is ἐξελκύσαι on line 294.

Ἕλληνες: using ‘Greeks’ as opposed to ‘Athenians’ encourages the audience to look beyond state rivalries and see the significance of the message of the play for all the Greek states.

293

ἀπαλλαγεῖσι: aorist participle of ἀπαλλάσσομαι agreeing with ὑμῖν on the previous line.

πραγμάτων … μαχῶν: genitives following ἀπαλλάσσομαι.

294

πᾶσιν: dative follows φίλην – ‘beloved by us all’.

295

πρὶν … κωλῦσαί: πρὶν + infinitive = ‘before’.

ἕτερον … δοίδυκα … τινα: accusative subject of the infinitive κωλῦσαί.

296

κἄμποροι = καὶ ἔμποροι.

297

μέτοικοι: ‘metics’ were foreigners in Athens who had limited citizenship. They could not own land and were subject to heavy taxes; nevertheless, they had the right to remain in Athens, set up businesses and access the Athenian legal system. There were a large number of metics in Athens at this time and many of them had become very wealthy.

ξένοι: there would have been a large number of foreign visitors at the City Dionysia.

298

νησιῶται: this must refer to the men from the islands of the Aegean Sea which were part of the Athenian empire. They were not citizens of Athens but were from allied states.

ἴτ᾽ = ἴτε – imperative.

ὦ πάντες λεῴ: the vocabulary used here is that of a herald making a solemn announcement. From this point the metre of the poetry changes from iambic trimeters to trochaic tetrameters, which give a greater sense of speed and excitement as Trygaeus calls together the chorus and audience. The metre remains trochaic tetrameters until just beyond the examination prescription.

299

λαβόντες: this aorist participle is best translated in the present tense.

300

ἡμῖν … πάρεστιν: ‘it is possible for us …’ – followed by the infinitive σπάσαι.

σπάσαι: there is an amusing pun here: ‘to pull’ and ‘to drink’. Trygaeus is calling on them to both pull Peace out of the cave and drink a libation to the Good Spirit.

ἀγαθοῦ δαίμονος: supply ‘a libation’ – a drink was poured to the Good Spirit at the end of a meal to mark the beginning of drinking and entertainment. This is a call to make the most of this opportunity and move on to the fun that can follow if Peace is rescued.

301

χώρει: imperative of χωρέω.

εὐθὺ τῆς σωτηρίας: εὐθὺ + genitive = ‘straight to …’.

302

ὦ Πανέλληνες: a particularly inclusive term for all Greeks. The members of the chorus are encouraging each other but also all those in the audience to play their part in ensuring peace.

βοηθήσωμεν: iussive subjunctive.

εἴπερ πώποτε: ‘if ever’ – the chorus suggests this is a now or never moment.

303

τάξεων … κακῶν φοινικίδων: the genitives follow ἀπαλλαγέντες. φοινικίδων were part of the uniform of officers in the Athenian army. With peace back, there will be no need for military knowledge or regalia.

304

ἡμέρα … ἥδε μισολάμαχος: as it is a compound adjective, μισολάμαχος is two-termination (i.e. the masculine and feminine endings are the same). Here it is feminine nominative singular in agreement with ἡμέρα. Lamachus was an Athenian soldier who rose to the high position of general on several occasions, including during the Sicilian expedition. He is found in Aristophanes as a model soldier but also as a man eager to continue the war for financial gain. Thus, the day on which Peace is saved would certainly be hostile to him.

305

πρὸς τάδ᾽: ‘therefore’.

κἀρχιτεκτόνει = καὶ ἀρχιτεκτόνει – imperative of ἀρχιτεκτονέω.

306

οὐ γὰρ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως: see note on line 41.

ἂν δοκῶ μοι: ‘I intend to …’. ἂν + subjunctive is commonly found after ὅπως in this construction and has no effect on the otherwise obvious translation.

307

πρὶν … ἀνελκύσαι: πρὶν + infinitive = ‘before’.

μηχαναῖσιν: poetic dative plural ending for μηχαναῖς.

308

θεῶν πασῶν: partitive genitive.

φιλαμπελωτάτην: Peace is described in such a way because it was common during an invasion to destroy the crops and farms of the enemy. Vineyards were an essential part of the Athenian rural economy and so were frequently destroyed during Spartan invasions of Attica to weaken the wealth and power of Athens.

309

οὐ σιωπήσεσθ᾽: a question in the future tense is used as an imperative.

ὅπως μὴ: a negative purpose clause using the future tense (ἐκζωπυρήσετ᾽ on line 310) rather than a subjunctive.

τῷ πράγματι: the dative follows περιχαρεῖς.

310

ἐκζωπυρήσετ᾽ ἔνδοθεν: there is a double meaning here. The chorus could either enrage War who is inside, or they could inflame him from the inside, much like a fire that has burnt down so that there are no flames but there is a hot core ready to be rekindled.

κεκραγότες: perfect participle of κράζω agreeing with the second person plural nominative.

311

τοιούτου … κηρύγματος: the genitive follows ἀκούσαντες. κήρυγμα is normally used for public proclamations and reminds us of the official vocabulary used on line 298. Trygaeus’ words are being taken as an official proclamation.

312

οὐ γὰρ ἦν … ἥκειν: ‘for it was not …’, introduces an indirect command with the infinitive as the chorus explains what they were not told to do in the proclamation.

ἔχοντας σιτί᾽ ἡμερῶν τριῶν: ‘with food rations for three days’. These were the usual orders when calling together soldiers for an expedition. The chorus are delighted to be called together for something other than military duty.

313

τὸν κάτωθεν Κέρβερον: Cerberus was the enormous three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the Underworld. This is another allusion to Cleon who is thought to have described himself as the watchdog of the people of Athens. Aristophanes takes his words and turns them against him. This is a particularly fitting comparison now that Cleon is himself dead and in the Underworld.

314

μὴ: in place of ἵνα μή to create a negative purpose clause with the subjunctive γένηται on line 315.

παφλάζων καὶ κεκραγὼς: Cleon’s loud voice is frequently commented on in Aristophanic comedy. Having a loud voice to rouse a crowd is surely a mark of his demagoguery.

315

ἐμποδὼν … μὴ ‘ξελκύσαι: μὴ + infinitive here follows a verb of prevention.

316–17

οὔτι … ἐμάς: these lines are modelled on lines 976–7 of Euripides’ Children of Heracles. They are the words of Alcmene, Heracles’ mother, as she prepares to have Eurystheus, the terrible king of Argos who has brought great suffering to her son and grandchildren, killed. They are words of passion and conviction in the face of great suffering and so add a moment of grandeur to the comic scene.

οὔτι νῦν γ’ ἔτ’ ἔστιν: ‘there is no longer anyone …’.

αὐτὴν: refers to Peace.

ἐξαιρήσεται: irregular future of ἐξαιρέω.

ἢν ἅπαξ … ἔλθῃ: ‘once she has come’ – ἢν + subjunctive is technically the protasis of an open future conditional to go with the apodosis on the previous line.

ἰοὶ ἰοὶ: loud cheers of joy and celebration.

318

ἐξολεῖτέ … ἀνήσετε: future open conditional starting with the apodosis. ἐξολεῖτέ is the irregular future tense of ἐξόλλυμι.

τῆς βοῆς ἀνήσετε: the genitive follows ἀνίημι, here found in the future tense.

319

ταυτὶ = ταῦτα.

συνταράξει: see note on line 266. The nominative is unclear here: it could be War or Cleon. It is likely that Aristophanes has left this vague on purpose in order to highlight their similarities.

τοῖν ποδοῖν: dual dative.

320

ὡς … ταραττέτω: the use of ὡς here is unusual and probably corrupt. As such, the editor has used an obelus (or dagger) to mark this. It is best ignored when translating this line. All three verbs in this line are third person singular imperatives – ‘let him …’. See note on line 270 for use of κυκάτω. This line echoes line 995 of Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound where the central character directs these commands at Zeus.

321

χαίροντες ἡμεῖς … παυσαίμεθ᾽ ἄν: the optative and ἄν found here form the apodosis of a remote future conditional for which the protasis needs to be assumed: ‘(even if he did all these things), we would not …’.

322

τί τὸ κακόν: ‘what is this madness?’

τί πάσχετ᾽: ‘what’s the matter with you?’

323

διαφθείρητε: μηδαμῶς + subjunctive creates a negative command.

324

βούλομ᾽= βούλομαι.

ὑφ᾽ = ὑπὸ + genitive.

325

οὐκ ἐμοῦ κινοῦντος: ‘without me moving them’ – a genitive absolute.

αὐτὼ τὼ σκέλει: the dual accusative form. αὐτὼ is best translated ‘by themselves’.

χορεύετον: a gerundive which here takes an agent in the accusative – ‘my legs feel the need to dance’.

326

μή τί μοι νυνί γ᾽ ἔτ᾽: ‘not any more now, thank you very much’. μοι is an ethic dative which shows the emotional involvement of the speaker and is often translated as ‘please’ or ‘goodness me’. Here, a sarcastic ‘thank you very much’ has been suggested but there are many ways to translate this.

ὀρχούμενος: παῦε is followed by a participle.

327

ἢν ἰδού: ‘see, look’.

328

τουτί = τοῦτο in agreement with ἓν.

ἔασον: imperative.

329

τοῦτό: ‘that’s it’.

καὶ μηκέτ᾽ ἄλλο: a subjunctive verb to follow μηκέτ᾽ needs to be supplied here to create a negative command – e.g. ‘and don’t another .’

μηδὲν ὀρχήσησθ᾽: μη + subjunctive = negative command.

330

ἂν ὀρχησαίμεθ᾽: the optative + ἂν here should be translated as a future tense to match the future tense of the protasis.

τί: ‘in any way’ – the indefinite article has an accent due to the following enclitic. See note on line 46.

331

ὁρᾶτ᾽: either indicative or imperative.

τουτογὶ = τοῦτο – here best translated as ‘we’ll do this’ or ‘yes.’

332

ἤδη λήγομεν: the present tense emphasizes their intention to stop.

333

ὥστε μὴ λυπεῖν ἔτι: ‘as long as you don’t …’ – result clause construction of ὥστε + infinitive. Assume με as the object after λυπεῖν.

334

τἀριστερόν = τὸ ἀριστερόν.

μ᾽ ἐστ᾽ ἀναγκαίως ἔχον: ‘it is necessary for me …’ – supply ‘to throw out’ for sense.

335

γέγηθα: perfect tense of γηθέω.

πέπορδα: perfect tense of πέρδομαι. Farting is often a sign of joy and satisfaction.

336

τὸ γῆρας ἐκδὺς: the metaphorical language here presents the feeling of being young again as the taking off of old age like it is a piece of clothing.

ἐκφυγὼν τὴν ἀσπίδα: the shield represents military service.

Vocabulary

While there is no Defined Vocabulary List for A Level, words in the OCR Defined Vocabulary List for AS are marked with * so that students can quickly see the vocabulary with which they should be particularly familiar.

*ἀγαθός -ή -όν	good
*ἀγών -ῶνος, m.	struggle, contest, crisis
ἀείδω, imp. ᾖδον	to sing
Ἀθηνᾶ -ᾶς, f.	Athena
Ἀθηναία -ᾶς, f.	Athena
Ἀθηναῖος -α -ον	Athenian
ἄθλιος -α -ον	wretched, miserable
Ἀθμονεύς	of Athmonum (a region of Attica)
αἰβοῖ	bah! (exclamation of disgust or astonishment)
Ἀΐδης -εω, m.	Hades, the Underworld
αἰνίσσομαι	to hint at, allude to
*αἱρέομαι	to choose
*αἴρω	lift up, give
*αἰσθάνομαι, aor. ᾐσθόμην	(+ gen.) to hear
*ἀκούω	(+ gen.) to hear
ἀλγέω	to be in pain, suffer
ἀλετρίβανος -ου, m.	pestle
*ἀλλά	but
*ἄλλος -η -ο	other, another
ἄμη -ης, f.	shovel
ἀμπελουργός -οῦ, m.	vine-grower
ἀμφορείδιον -ου, n.	small jar
*ἄν	particle used to make clause indefinite/potential (e.g. would, could)
ἀναγκαῖος -α -ον	necessary
ἀναίσχυντος -ον	shameless
ἄναξ ἄνακτος, m.	lord
ἀνδρίον -ου, n.	inferior men, little men
*ἀνέλκω, aor. inf. ἀνελκύσαι	to drag up
*ἀνέρχομαι, aor. ἀνῆλθον	to come up
*ἀνήρ, ἀνδρός, m.	man
ἀνθρώπιον -ου, n.	poor little person
ἀνίημι, fut. ἀνήσω	(+ gen.) to cease from
ἀνοικίζω	to move upwards, move to safety
ἀντιβολέω	to entreat, supplicate
ἀντλία -ας, f.	bilge-water, filth
ἄντρον -ου, n.	cave
ἁνύω	to do quickly
ἄνω	on high
ἄνωθεν	from above
*ἀξιόω	to deign, see fit
ἀπαλλάσσομαι, aor. ἀπηλλάχθην	(+ gen.) to be free from
ἅπαξ	once
ἁπαξάπας -ασα -αν	all at once, entirely
ἀπεῖπον	to be worn out, give up from exhaustion
ἀποδιδράσκω, aor. ἐπέδρα	to run away, escape
*ἀποθνῄσκω, fut. ἀποθανοῦμαι	to die
*ἀπόλλυμι, fut.mid. ἀπολοῦμαι	to destroy, lose; (middle) die
Ἀπόλλων -ωνος, m.	Apollo
ἀπολύω, perf.pass.inf. ἀπολελύσθαι	(+ gen.) to acquit of, be found not guilty of
ἀποπνίγω	to choke, suffocate
ἀποστρέφω, aor. pass. ἀπεστράφην	to turn away, twist back
ἀποφέρω	to carry off
*ἄρα	then, in that case
*ἆρα	particle introducing a question
ἀργός -όν	idle, lazy
*ἀριστερός -ή -όν	left
ἀρχιτεκτονέω	to be chief architect
*ἀσπίς -ίδος, f.	shield
ἀτεχνῶς	simply
Ἀττικίων	little Athenian
Ἀττικός -ή -όν	Attic
Ἀττικωνικοί -ῶν, m.	men of Attica
*αὖ	on the other hand
*αὖθις	again
*αὐτίκα	at once, very shortly
*αὐτός -ή -ό	himself, herself, itself; (not in nom.) him, her, it
*Ἀφροδίτη -ης, f.	Aphrodite
βαβαί βαβαιάξ	goodness me!
*βαθύς, βαθεῖα, βαθύ	deep
βλέμμα -ατος, n.	expression, look
*βλέπω	to look
*βοή -ῆς, f.	shout, shouting
*βοηθέω	(+ dat.) to help
βορός -ά -όν	greedy
*βουλεύομαι	(+ inf.) to resolve to, plan to
*βούλομαι	to want, to wish
βρενθύομαι	to act haughtily, behave arrogantly
βροτός -οῦ, m.	mortal
βυρσοπώλης -ου, m.	leather-seller
*γάρ	for
*γε	at least
*γελάω	to laugh
*γένος -ους, n.	family, birth
γεωργός -οῦ, m.	farmer, peasant
*γῆ -ῆς, f	land
γηθέω, perf. γέγηθα	to rejoice
γῆρας -αος, n.	old age
*γίγνομαι, aor. ἐγενόμην	to become, happen, be
γλίσχρων -ονος, m.	greedy one, niggard, miser
γνάθος -ου, f.	jaw
*γνώμη -ης, f.	opinion
γογγύλος -η -ον	round
γομφίος -ου, m.	molar, tooth
*γοῦν	at any rate
*γυνή γυναικός, f.	woman
δαίμων -ονος, m./f.	divine power, god, goddess
Δάτις -ιδος, m.	Datis
*δέ	and, but
δείλαιος -α -ον	wretched
δειλακρίων -ωνος, m.	poor little creature
δεῖνα -ος, n.	a certain thing, (here) the thing is
*δεινός -ή -όν	terrible, fearful
*δεξιός -ά -όν	skilled, right
δέον -οντος, n.	the right time
*δέσποινα -ας, f.	mistress
*δεσπότης -ου, m.	master
*δεῦρο	here
δέφομαι	to masturbate, wank
*δή	in truth, indeed, then
δημιουργός -οῦ, m.	craftsman
*δῆτα	(in a question) then
*διά	(+ acc.) because of
	(+ gen.) for, through(out)
διακναίω, fut.pass. διακναισθήσομαι	to grate, tear into pieces
διαρρήγνυμι, aor. pass. part. διαρραγείς	to break; (passive) to burst
*διαφθείρω	to destroy, ruin
*δίδωμι, fut. δώσω	to give, pay
*δίκη -ης, f.	punishment, penalty
Διόνυσος -ου, m.	Dionysus
Διόσκοροι -ων, m.	the Sons of Zeus, Castor and Pollux
δοῖδυξ -υκος, m.	pestle
*δοκέω	to seem, think
δοκησίσοφος -ον	considering oneself wise
*δράω, aor. ἔδρασα	to do
δριμύς -εῖα -ύ	bitter, fierce
ἔα	whoa!
*ἐάω, aor. εἴασα	to allow
*ἐγγύς	(+ gen.) near
ἐγκάπτω, aor. ἐνέκαψα	to gulp down greedily
ἐγχέω, aor. ἐνέχεα	to pour into a vessel
*ἐγώ	I
ἐδωδή -ῆς, f.	food, meal
*εἰ	if
*εἰμί, imp. ἦ(ν)	to be
*εἶμι, imp. ἴθι	to go
εἴπερ	if indeed
*εἰρήνη -ης, f.	peace
*εἰς	(+ acc.) into, to
*εἷς, μία, ἕν	one
*εἴσειμι	to enter
εἰσοικίζομαι	to move in
*εἰσφέρω, aor. εἰσήνεγκα	to carry in
*εἶτα	then
*ἐκ/ἐξ	(+ gen.) from, out of
ἐκδύω, aor. ἐξέδυν	to take off, be rid of
*ἐκεῖνος -η -ο	that, (pl.) those
ἐκζωπυρέω	to rekindle
ἐκκορέω	to sweep clean
*ἐκλάμπω, aor. ἐξέλαμψα	to shine forth
*ἐκτρέχω, aor. ἐξέδραμον	to run out
*ἐκφεύγω, aor. ἐξέφυγον	to escape
*ἕλκω	to drag, (here) dance
*Ἑλλάς -άδος, f.	Greece
*Ἕλληνες -ων, m. pl.	Greeks
*ἐμβάλλω, aor. ἐνέβαλον	to throw into
*ἐμός -ή -όν	my, mine
ἐμποδών	in the way
ἔμπορος -ου, m.	traveller
ἔνδοθεν	from inside
*ἐνταῦθα	here
*ἐξαιρέω, fut. ἐξαιρήσομαι	to take away
ἐξαπατάω	to deceive, trick
ἐξαρπάζω, aor. ἐξήρπασα	to snatch away
*ἔξειμι	to come out
*ἐξέλκω, aor. inf. ἐξελκύσαι	to drag out, (here) rescue
ἐξοικίζομαι	to move out
ἐξόλλυμι	to destroy utterly
*ἔπειτα	then
*ἐπί	(+ acc.) towards
ἐπιδίδωμι	to give, bestow, make a gift of
ἐπιτρίβομαι, fut. ἐπιτετρίψομαι	to be rubbed out, be crushed
ἐπιφορέω	to pile upon
ἐπιχέω	to pour over
*ἔργον -ου, n.	task, function
ἐρείδω	to lean on, set to work on
*ἔρχομαι, aor. ἦλθον	to go, come
*ἐσθίω, aor. ἔφαγον	to eat
*ἑσπέρα -ας, f.	evening
*ἕτερος -α -ον	the other of two, another
*ἔτι	still, further, in addition
*εὖ	well
*εὐθύς	at once, immediately
εὐθύς -εῖα -ύ	straight, direct
εὐλαβέομαι	to beware of
εὐφραίνομαι	to make merry, be elated
εὔχομαι, aor. ηὐξάμην	to pray
ἐχθές	yesterday
*ἔχω	to have
*ἕως	until
*Ζεύς Διός, m.	Zeus
*ἤ	than
ἦ	surely…not?
*ἤδη	already, by now
*ἥδομαι	to be pleased, be delighted
ἡδονή -ῆς, f.	pleasure, delight
*ἡδύς ἡδεῖα ἡδύ	sweet to taste
*ἥκω, fut. ἥξω	to have come
ἡμεδαπός -ή -όν	of our land
*ἡμέρα -ας, f.	day
ἤν	if; look!
ἡνίκα	when
Ἡρακλῆς Ἡρακλέους, m.	Heracles
θαρρέω	to have courage, be bold
θεατής -οῦ, m.	spectator
*θεός -οῦ, m./f.	god
θορυβέω	to make noise
Θρᾴκη -ης, f.	Thrace
θυεία -ας, f.	mortar, bowl (for grinding herbs, etc.)
*θύρα -ας, f.	door
ἰδού	behold, there you go
ἰηῦ ἰηῦ ἰηῦ	ha ha ha!
*ἵνα	there, where; so that, in order that
ἰοί	a cry of joy
ἱπποκάνθαρος -ου, m.	horse-beetle
*ἵστημι, perf.intrans. ἔστηκα	to set up, stand
*ἴσως	perhaps
ἰώ	oh! alas!
Ἰωνικός -ή -όν	Ionian, from Ionia
κάθημαι	to sit down, be seated
*καί	and, even, also
καινός -ή -όν	new, strange
*κακός -ή –όν	bad, evil
κάκοσμος -ον	smelly
*καλέω	to summon
καλός -ή -όν	fine
κάνθαρος -ου, m.	dung-beetle
*κατά	(+ acc.) concerning, about
	(+ gen.) down
*καταγορεύω, aor. κατεῖπον	to tell
καταλείπω, aor.pass. καταλείφθην	to leave behind
καταμυττωτεύω	to make mincemeat of
κατάρατος -ον	accursed, abominable
*κατατίθεμαι, imp. κατάθου	to lay aside, put down
κατεσθίω, aor. κατέφαγον	to eat up, devour
κατοικίζω	to settle in residence, establish, place
κάτω	below
κάτωθεν	from below
Κέρβερος -ου, m.	Cerberus
κεφαλή -ῆς, f	head
κήρυγμα -ατος, n.	proclamation, announcement
*κινέω	to move
κλαίω, fut. κλαύσομαι	to cry, wail
κλαῦμα -ατος, n.	(pl.) weeping, wailing, misfortunes
Κλέων -ωνος, m.	Cleon
κόνδυλος -ου, m.	knuckle, a punch
κοπρολόγος -ου, m.	dung-gatherer
κόραξ -ακος, m.	raven, crow
κόρημα -ατος, n.	broom
κράζω, perf. ἐκέκραξα	to shout, shriek
κρέας κρέως, n.	meat
κυδοιμός -οῦ, m.	uproar
κυκάω	to stir up, throw into confusion
κύπτω, aor. part. κύψας	to stoop, to put one’s head down
κύτταρος -ου, m.	pinnacle
κύων κυνος, m./f.	dog
*κωλύω, aor. ἐκώλυσα	to hinder, get in the way
*Λακεδαιμόνιος -α -ον	Spartan
Λακεδαίμων -ονος, f.	Laconia, Sparta
Λάκων -ωνος, m.	a Spartan
Λακωνική -ῆς, f.	Laconia, Sparta
Λακωνικός -ή -όν	Spartan
*λανθάνω	to do (+ participle) without (+ accusative) realizing
*λέγω, fut. ἐρῶ, aor. εἶπον	to speak, say
λεώς -ώ, m.	people
λήγω	to stop
*λίθος -ου, m.	stone
*λόγος -ου, m.	word, plot
λοιδορέομαι + dat.	to hurl abuse at
*λοιπόν -οῦ, n.	the future
*λοιπός -ή -όν	left over, remaining
*λυπέω	to vex, cause pain, be a nuisance
μὰ	(+ acc.) by X, for X’s sake (often referring to a god)
μᾶζα -ης, f.	cake, barley-cake
μαίνομαι	to be mad
*μακρός -ά -όν	long
*μάλα	especially, as much as any
*μᾶλλον	more
μάττω, perf. μέμαγμαι	to knead, mould
μάχη -ης, f.	battle
*μάχομαι	to fight
Μέγαρα -ων, n.	Megara
Μεγαρεύς -έως, m.	citizen of Megara
*μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα	big
μέγεθος -εος, n.	size
μέλε	(vocative) master
μέλι -ιτος, n.	honey
*μέλλω	to be destined to, be about to
μέλος -εος, n.	song
μέν	indeed
*μέν ...δέ ...	on the one hand …on the other …
μεσημβρία -ας, f.	midday, noon
μετατρέχω, fut. μεταθρέξομαι	to run and fetch
μέτειμι	to go to fetch
μέτοικος -ου, m.	immigrant
*μή	not
*μηδαμῶς	in no way
*μηδέ	and not
*μηδείς, μηδεμία, μηδέν	no one, nothing
*μηδέποτε	never
*μηκέτι	no longer
μήν	truly, indeed
*μήποτε	never
μηχανή -ῆς, f.	machine, crane
μιαρός -ή -όν	filthy
*μικρός -ά -όν	small, little
μισολάμαχος -ον	hostile to Lamachos
*μόνος -η -ον	alone
μοχλός -οῦ, m.	crowbar
μυέομαι, perf.pass.part. μεμυημένος	to be initiated (into a mystery cult)
μυττωτός -οῦ, m.	a savoury paste
μῶν	surely not …?
*ναί	(+ acc.) yes by X (often referring to a god)
*νεανίας -ου, m.	young man
νή τὸν Δία	(+ acc.) yes by Zeus (strong affirmation)
νησιώτης -ου, m.	islander
*νῦν	now, just now
*ξένος -ου, m.	foreigner
*ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε	this
*οἶδα, plup. ᾔδη	to know
οἰκέτης -ου, m.	house-slave, slave
οἴμοι	alas!
οἷον	how
*οἷος -α -ον	what sort of
*οἷος τ’εἰμί	to be able
οἴχομαι	to go
ὁλκάς -άδος, f.	cargo ship
ὅλος -η -ον	whole, entire
ὀνίς -ίδος, f.	the dung of an ass
*ὄνομα -ατος, n.	name
ὅπως	in such a manner as; (+ superlative adverb) as X as possible; so that
*ὁράω, fut. ὄψομαι, aor. εἶδον	to see
*ὀργίζομαι, aor. ὠργίσθην	(+ dat.) to grow angry with
ὀρχέομαι, aor. ὠρχησάμην	to dance
*ὅς, ἥ, ὅ	who, which
*ὅσος -η -ον	how much; (pl.) how many
ὅσπερ, ἥπερ, ὅπερ	who, which
*ὅστις, ἥτις, ὅ τι	whoever, whatever
ὅτε	when, since
*ὅτι	that
ὁτιή	because
*οὐ (οὐκ, οὐχ)	not
*οὐδέ	and not
*οὐδείς, οὐδεμία, οὐδέν	no one, nothing
οὐδέπω	not yet
*οὐκέτι	no longer
*οὔκουν	(impatient question) not
*οὐκοῦν	surely
οὕνεκα	(+ gen.) on account of
*οὐρανός -οῦ, m.	sky, heaven
οὔτι	by no means, not at all
οὔτοι	indeed not
*οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο	this, (pl.) these
*παῖς, παιδός, m.	child
παλαιστής -οῦ, m.	wrestler
*πάλιν	back, again
παμμίαρος -ον	utterly vile
Πανέλλενες -ων, m. pl.	all the Greeks
πανοῦργος -ον	wicked, villainous
πάνυ	altogether, completely
*παρά	(+ gen.) from
παραβάλλω, aor. παρέβαλον	to throw to the side, move sideways
παραδίδωμι	to hand over, betray
παραινέω	to advise, recommend
παρακάθημαι	to sit beside
παρασκευάζομαι	to get ready
παρατίθημι, aor. subj. παραθῶ	to serve
*πάρεστι(ν)	it is possible
*παρέχω	to provide
παροίγνυμι	to open a little
*πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν	all, the whole
*πάσχω, fut. πείσομαι	to suffer, endure
πατέω	to trample on
*πατήρ -τρός, m.	father
*παύω, perf. πέπαυμαι	to stop
παφλάζω	to splutter
παχύς -εῖα -ύ	thick
*πείθω	to persuade
πεντάκις	five times
πέρδομαι	to fart
*περί	(+ gen.) about
περιάγω	to turn in a circle
περικυλινδέω, aor. περιεκύλισα	to roll around
περιοράω, aor. περιεῖδον	to overlook, allow
περιχαρής -ές	joyful
*πίνω, inf. πιεῖν	to drink
πλάσσω, perf. πέπλασμαι	to form, mould
πλάτος -εος, n.	breadth, width
*πλήν	(adverb) except, save
ποδαπός -ή -όν	from what country?
πόθεν	from where?
*ποῖ	to where?
*ποιέω, fut. ποιήσω	to do, make
*ποῖος -α -ον	what kind of?, which?
*πολεμέω	to wage war
πολεμιστήριος -α -ον	of a warrior, martial
*Πόλεμος -ου, m.	war
*πόλις -εως, f.	city
*πολλάκις	many times, often
πολλοδεκάκις	many tens of times, umpteen times
*πολύς, πολλή, πολύ	much, many
πολυτλήμων -ονος, m/f.	much enduring
πονηρός -ά -όν	poor, wretched
πόρρω	far away
*ποτέ	ever
πότνια -ας, f.	mistress, lady
*ποῦ	where?
*πούς ποδός, m.	foot
*πράγμα -ατος, n.	matter, affair, trouble
Πρασιαί -ῶν, f.	Prasiae
*πράττω, aor. ἔπραξα	to achieve, accomplish
πρίαμαι	to buy
*πρίν	(+ inf.) before
*πρόθυμως	eagerly
*πρός	(+ gen.) by
	(+ acc.) concerned with, to do with
	(adverb) as well, besides
*προσβάλλω, aor. προσέβαλον	to strike, reach
προσβολή -ῆς, f.	attack, assault
προσλαμβάνω, aor. προσέλαβον	to lend a hand, help
πυκνός -ή -όν	dense, firm, solid
Πύλος -ου, f.	Pylos
πω	yet
πώποτε	ever
πως	somehow, rather
πῶς	how?
ῥῆμα -ατος, n.	word
*ῥίπτω	to throw
ῥίς ῥινός, f.	nose
Σαμοθρᾴκη -ης, f.	Samothrace
σανίδιον -ου, n.	board, plank
*σεαυτόν, σεαυτήν/σαυτόν, σαυτήν	yourself
*σιγάω	to be quiet
Σικελία -ας, f.	Sicily
σιός -οῦ, m.	god (in Spartan dialect)
σιτίον -ου, n.	corn, food
σιωπάω, fut. σιωπήσομαι	be quiet
σκαταιβάτης -ου, m.	descending in a storm of shit
σκέλος -εος, n.	leg
σκέπτομαι, fut. σκέψομαι	to look
σκευάριον -ου, n.	utensils, small household items
σκεῦος -εος, n.	stuff, items, household utensils
σκόροδον -ου, n.	garlic
σπατίλη -ης, f.	diarrhoea
σπάω, aor. ἔσπασα	to draw in, drink
σπονδαί -ῶν, f.	treaty, truce
*σύ	you (sg.)
συκοφάντης -ου, m.	lover, malicious accuser
συλλαμβάνω, aor. συνέλαβον	to gather together, carry off
συμβάλλω	to twist together
συνταράσσω, fut. συνταράξω	to throw into disorder
σχῆμα -ατος, n.	gesture, dance, dancing
σχηματίζω	to dance
σχοινίον -ου, n.	rope
*σωτηρία -ας, f.	safely, salvation
τάλας τάλαινα τάλαν	wretched
ταλαύρινος -η -ον	shield-bearing
τάξις -εως, f.	military formation
ταράσσω, fut. ταράξω	to throw into disorder, stir up
*ταχύς -εῖα -ύ	quick
*τε ...καί …	both … and …
τέκτων -ονος, m.	carpenter
τέρας -ατος, n.	divine sign, monster
τετραίνω, perf. τέτρημαι	to perforate, pierce holes into
τετρώβολος -ον	costs 4 obols
τέως	so long
τῃδί	in this way, in this direction
τήμερον	today
τηρέω	to watch over, look after
*τις, τις, τι	someone, something
τοι	in truth, indeed
*τοιοῦτος -αύτη -οῦτο	such
τολμηρός -ά -όν	audacious
*τρεῖς, τρία	three
τρίβω, aor. ἔτριψα	to knead, pound
*τρίς	three times, thrice
*τρόπος -ου, m.	way, manner
*τυγχάνω	(+ participle) to happen to be
*ὑμεῖς	you (pl.)
ὑπερβάλλω, aor. ὑπερέβαλον	to prevail, gain the advantage
ὑπερέχω	(+ gen.) to stay above
ὑπερηνορέων -οντος, m.	superman, an overbearing man
ὑπέρτατος -η -ον	of the highest rank
ὑπερφυής -ές	enormous, monstrous
*ὑπό	(+ acc.) under, beneath
	(+ gen.) by, out of, because of
ὗς ὑός, m.	pig
*φαίνομαι, aor. ἐφάνην	(+ inf.) to appear to be, to seem
φαύλως	simply, without a second thought
φείδομαι	(+ gen.) to be sparing with
*φέρω, fut. οἴσω	to carry
*φεύγω	to flee
*φημί	to say
φθέγμα -ατος, n.	voice
φιλάμπελος -ον	vine-loving
φίλος -η -ον	dear, beloved
φοινικίδιον -ου, n.	a little Phoenician, crimson robe
φράζω, fut. φράσω	to declare, explain
φρόνημα -ατος, n.	pride, arrogance
φροῦδος -η -ον	gone away
*φωνή -ῆς, f.	voice
φῶς φωτός, n.	light
*χαίρω	to rejoice
χαρακτήρ -ῆρος, m.	character
Χάριτες -ων, f. pl.	the Graces
χάσκω, per. part. κεχηνώς	to gape, hold one’s mouth open
χέζω, aor. ἔχεσον	to shit
*χείρ χειρός, f.	hand
χορεύω	to dance
*χράομαι, fut. χρήσομαι	(+ dat.) to make use of
*χράω, aor. ἔχρησα	to lend
*χρή	(+ inf.) it is necessary
*χρῆμα -ατος, n.	thing, creature
χυτρίδιον -ου, n.	small pot
*χωρέω	to come
χωρίον -ου, n.	place, district, region
ὦ	(+ voc.) o (addressing someone)
ὡδί	in this way
*ὡς	as, since, that, how
*ὡς τάχιστα	as quickly as possible
ὡς τάχος	as quickly as possible
*ὥσπερ	as if, just as, as soon as
ὠφελέω	to help