Aristophanes Knights 824

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.) — 824 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.) — 824 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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Line 827

μυστιλᾶται τῶν δημοσίων.
The verb μυστιλᾶται (from μυστιλάω) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes and rare in the comic corpus, meaning 'to steal' or 'to embezzle' (specifically of public funds). Its formation from μύστης ('initiate' or 'member of a secret cult') is a pun: the Demos is accused of being 'initiated' into the secret society of thieves who are stealing the public money. This lexical choice blends the technical sense of embezzlement with the religious connotation of mystery cults, a typical Aristophanic wordplay on the corruption of the polis.

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Line 830

τί θαλαττοκοπεῖς καὶ πλατυγίζεις,
The verb θαλαττοκοπέω is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, a coined compound combining θαλαττο- (sea) and -κοπέω (to cut/trim, from κόπτω). Here it functions as a vivid metaphor for 'trimming one's beard to look like a sailor' or 'acting the part of a sea-faring man,' reflecting the specific Athenian anxiety about naval strategy and the visual identity of the demagogues who rose to power on naval platforms. The second verb, πλατυγίζεις, is a rare compound from πλατύς (broad) and γιγνώσκω (to make known/grow), likely meaning 'to spread oneself out' or 'to act pompously/broadly,' creating a parallelism of physical posturing with political posturing that mocks the defendant's (Cleon's) perceived arrogance and self-aggrandizement.

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Line 834

δωροδοκήσαντʼ ἐκ Μυτιλήνης
The phrase refers to the bribery of the Athenian general Phormio (or potentially a collective reference to commanders) by the Mytilenians during the Mytilenean debate or the subsequent naval operations, a specific historical allusion that Aristophanes exploits for satirical effect. The participle δωροδοκήσαντʼ (having accepted bribes) is in the aorist active, implying a completed act of corruption that serves as the causal basis for the preceding accusation or narrative context in the play, specifically targeting the perceived venality of Athenian imperial administration.