Aristophanes Knights 1191

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

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Knights. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1906.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ἱππῆς (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.)

Translations (2)
Knights (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 1191 focus
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.) — 1191 focus

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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ἄπιθʼ· οὐ γὰρ ἀλλὰ τοῦ παραθέντος ἡ χάρις.
The phrase τοῦ παραθέντος functions as a genitive of the agent (or more precisely, a genitive of source/origin) dependent on the abstract noun χάρις ('gratitude' or 'obligation'). While the agent of a verbal noun is typically expressed by the genitive, the specific construction here—where the agent is the indirect object of the implied verbal action of 'placing' or 'presenting' (paratithēmi)—is a subtle syntactic feature. The verb παρατίθημι can mean 'to place beside,' 'to present,' or 'to entrust.' In this context, the Demos (the slave's master) is being told to go away because the 'gratitude' (the political support or favor) belongs to the one who 'placed' (i.e., elected or set up) him, referring to the Sausage-Seller's rival (or the previous master) rather than the current addressee. The genitive construction avoids a more explicit dative of reference, relying on the semantic weight of χάρις to imply the relationship of obligation to the giver.

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αὕτη μὲν ἡ κίστη τὰ τοῦ Δήμου φρονεῖ.
The construction φρονεῖ + accusative of the thing (τὰ τοῦ Δήμου) is idiomatic in Aristophanes, where φρονέω denotes 'to be of the opinion' or 'to have the sentiments' of a person or group, rather than the more common dative of reference. This usage emphasizes the inanimate object's personification as a political agent, a rhetorical device central to the satire of the play.

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φράζων ὑφʼ οὗ †δεήσει μʼ† ἡττᾶσθαι μόνου.
The text presents a significant crux: the word δεήσει is transmitted with a dagger (†) in the critical apparatus, indicating a suspected corruption or lacuna. While the manuscript reading (δεήσει) yields a future indicative ('I will be compelled'), the syntactic flow and the context of the Soter's oath suggest a need for a subjunctive or optative to express purpose or condition, or perhaps a corruption of the verb itself. Editors have proposed various conjectures, including δεήσειν (infinitive) or δεῖν (present infinitive), to resolve the awkwardness of the future indicative governing the infinitive ἡττᾶσθαι in this specific syntactic environment, where a modal nuance is expected. The uncertainty of the verb form here affects the interpretation of the Soter's constraint on the Paphlagonian's defeat.