Aristophanes Acharnians 385

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.) — 347-488 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.) — 385 focus

Notes on the current edition

Acharnians

1. A tragic poet; we know next to nothing of him or his works.
2. Son of Aeolus, renowned in fable for his robberies, and for the tortures to which he was put by Pluto. He was cunning enough to break loose out of hell, but Hermes brought him back again.

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.

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μὴ οὐ καταξαίνειν τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ἐς φοινικίδα;
The verb καταξαίνειν (to cut, tear, or hack) is used here in a comic, hyperbolic sense, referring to the physical mutilation or dismemberment of the character Dikaiopolis (or a specific character depending on the immediate context of the play's action) as a form of punishment or threat. The construction μεν...δε (implied in the rhetorical question's force) or the simple use of the negative particle μεν with the interrogative particle ου creates a strong rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, effectively meaning 'Are we not going to cut this man to pieces?' The use of the preposition ες (instead of the more common εις) with the accusative φοινικίδα (a Phoenician cloak) is notable; it suggests the act of cutting the man *into* the cloak or *into* pieces resembling the cloak, or perhaps a specific reference to the cloak itself being the instrument or target of the violence. The phrase 'cut into a Phoenician cloak' is a metaphorical or literal threat of dismemberment, playing on the idea of reducing a man to the size or shape of a garment, or perhaps a reference to a specific scene where the character is being forced into a ridiculous or humiliating position involving the cloak.

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οἷον αὖ μέλας τις ὑμῖν θυμάλωψ ἐπέζεσεν.
The verb ἐπέζεσεν is the 3rd person singular aorist indicative active of ἐπιζήμεναι (to sit upon), an Attic dialect form of the more common ἐπιζῆν. The form ἐπέζεσεν (with the augment and the -σ- infix characteristic of the aorist of verbs in -ζω) is a clear example of the comic poet's use of archaic or dialectal forms for metrical convenience and comic effect, contrasting with the standard Attic ἐπέζην. This specific aorist form is rare in Attic prose but attested in comedy and epic, and its usage here contributes to the grotesque and slightly archaic tone of the description of the 'thymalōps'.

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† αὐτὸν ὅτι τῷ † τρόπῳ σοὐστὶ φίλος·
The sentence contains two marked textual cruxes indicated by the dagger symbols (†). The first, preceding αὐτὸν, and the second, preceding τρόπῳ, represent gaps or corruptions in the transmitted text that have led to significant scholarly disagreement regarding the original wording. The phrase 'τῷ τρόπῳ' (in what way/manner) is syntactically awkward in this context, and editors have proposed various conjectures to resolve the corruption, ranging from emending the preposition to suggesting a different lexical item entirely. Without resolving these textual issues, the precise semantic force of Dicaeopolis's assertion regarding his friendship with Lamachus remains obscured.

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αὐτός τʼ ἐμαυτὸν ὑπὸ Κλέωνος ἅπαθον
The phrase αὐτός τʼ ἐμαυτὸν presents a rare and emphatic pleonasm (αὐτός + reflexive pronoun) typically found in Aristophanic comedy to underscore the personal agency and victimhood of the speaker against the specific targeting of Cleon. While the reflexive ἐμαυτὸν is standard for the first person, the addition of αὐτός here functions not merely as an intensifier but as a focalizing device, isolating the speaker as the specific object of Cleon's action in a context of political persecution. This construction is syntactically distinct from the more common αὐτὸς ἑαυτόν or simple reflexive usage, highlighting the dramatic irony of the protagonist (Dicaeopolis) claiming personal victimization by the most powerful demagogue in Athens.

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ἀλλʼ ἐξάνοιγε μηχανὰς τὰς Σισύφου,
The imperative ἐξάνοιγε (aorist active, 2nd person singular) is formed with the augment and the -ε ending characteristic of the Attic aorist of verbs in -νυμι (cf. ἄνοιγε). However, the prefix ἐξ- here is not a simple spatial 'out' but implies the 'unveiling' or 'unearthing' of a scheme, a usage reinforced by the genitive object μηχανὰς. The construction relies on the specific semantic range of μηχανή, which here denotes not merely a 'device' but a 'plot' or 'stratagem' (specifically the Sisyphian trick of escaping death or deceiving the gods), a meaning that resonates with the play's broader themes of legal and rhetorical trickery. The reference to Sisyphus is particularly apt in a comedy where the protagonist Dicaeopolis seeks to outwit the state and the chorus through legal loopholes, as Sisyphus was proverbially the 'cleverest' of men, often associated with trickery and evasion of justice.