Aristophanes Acharnians 284

Anonymous (Translator)

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Acharnians. Aristophanes. Anonymous (Translator). New York. 192?.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Acharnians (OCR draft) (English) (English (Anonymous; Liveright, 192?). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Ἀχαρνῆς Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 280-346 focus
Translations (1)
English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 284 focus

Notes on the current edition

Acharnians

1. At the rural Dionysia a pot of kitchen vegetables was borne in the procession along with other emblems.
2. Cleon the Demagogue was a currier originally by trade. He was the sworn foe and particular detestation of the Knights or aristocratic party generally.

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

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καὶ παλαιῷ Λακρατείδῃ τὸ σκέλος βαρύνεται,
The noun Λακρατείδῃ is a patronymic in the dative case, referring to a specific individual, Lacratides, who is identified in the scholia as a notorious Athenian citizen known for his extreme avarice and miserliness. The adjective παλαιῷ (old) likely carries a double meaning here: referring to his advanced age, but more importantly to his long-standing reputation for stinginess. The verb βαρύνεται (is made heavy) functions as a middle/passive form indicating a state of burden; the phrase 'the leg is made heavy' is a colloquial idiom for suffering from a limp or gout, a condition Aristophanes attributes to Lacratides to mock his physical infirmity as a consequence of his miserly lifestyle (e.g., lack of proper exercise or diet). This specific reference relies on contemporary knowledge of Lacratides as a real person, whose name appears in other comedic fragments as a stock character for the 'miserly old man' trope.

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οἷσι παρʼ ἐμοῦ πόλεμος ἐχθοδοπὸς αὔξεται τῶν ἐμῶν χωρίων·
The compound adjective ἐχθοδοπὸς is a hapax legomenon in extant literature, formed uniquely here by Aristophanes from ἐχθρός ('hostile') and δοπέω ('to drive' or 'to lead off'). The coinage creates a vivid, grotesque image of the war 'driving off' or 'leading away' the speaker's land, functioning as a comic hyperbole that personifies the conflict as a thief or herdsman stealing the territory. This lexical innovation exemplifies the poet's tendency to create new compounds for specific satirical effects rather than relying on standard epic or tragic diction.

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ὦ Ξανθία, σφῷν δʼ ἐστὶν ὀρθὸς ἑκτέος
The form ἑκτέος is a rare Doric (or Boeotian) variant of the Attic ἑκτός, meaning 'sixth' (specifically here, the sixth day of the month, likely referring to the deadline for the *symmoria* or a specific tax payment, though the exact civic context is debated). The use of the Doric form in a character's speech (Xanthias is a slave) is a marker of his rustic or non-Attic background, a common Aristophanic device, but the morphological form itself is exceptionally rare in Attic comedy outside of this specific metrical and dialectal context.

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τὴν Στρυμοδώρου Θρᾷτταν ἐκ τοῦ Φελλέως
The phrase identifies a specific historical figure, 'Strymodorus' (Στρυμοδώρου), who is otherwise unknown to us but is here labeled 'the Thracian' (Θρᾷτταν). In the context of the play, this refers to a notorious Thracian archer employed by the Athenians. The genitive 'Στρυμοδώρου' functions as a patronymic, identifying the archer by his father's name, a common convention for identifying mercenaries or non-citizen soldiers in the 5th century. The reference to 'Phelleus' (Φελλέως) is a topographical marker; Phelleus was a deme of Athens located in the coastal region near the sea, which serves to locate where this specific Thracian archer was stationed or recruited from, contrasting with the more inland demes.