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Χορός

ἃ ξύνισμεν τοῖσιν ἵπποις, βουλόμεσθʼ ἐπαινέσαι.
595

ἄξιοι δʼ εἴσʼ εὐλογεῖσθαι· πολλὰ γὰρ δὴ πάγματα

ξυνδιήνεγκαν μεθʼ ἡμῶν, ἐσβολάς τε καὶ μάχας.

ἀλλὰ τἀν τῇ μὲν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἄγαν θαυμάζομεν,

ὡς ὅτʼ ἐς τὰς ἱππαγωγοὺς εἰσεπήδων ἀνδρικῶς,

πριάμενοι κώθωνας, οἱ δὲ καὶ σκόροδα καὶ κρόμμυα·
600

εἶτα τὰς κώπας λαβόντες ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς οἱ βροτοὶ

ἐμβαλόντες ἀνεβρύαξαν, ἱππαπαῖ, τίς ἐμβαλεῖ;

ληπτέον μᾶλλον. τί δρῶμεν; οὐκ ἐλᾷς ὦ σαμφόρα;

ἐξεπήδων τʼ ἐς Κόρινθον· εἶτα δʼ οἱ νεώτεροι

ταῖς ὁπλαῖς ὤρυττον εὐνὰς καὶ μετῇσαν στρώματα·
605

ἤσθιον δὲ τοὺς παγούρους ἀντὶ ποίας Μηδικῆς,

εἴ τις ἐξέρποι θύραζε κἀκ βυθοῦ θηρώμενοι·

ὥστʼ ἔφη Θέωρος εἰπεῖν καρκίνον Κορίνθιον,

δεινά γʼ ὦ Πόσειδον εἰ μήτʼ ἐν βυθῷ δυνήσομαι

μήτε γῇ μήτʼ ἐν θαλάττῃ διαφυγεῖν τοὺς ἱππέας.
610

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.) — 595 focus

Leader of Second Semi-Chorus

595 We will sing likewise the exploits of our steeds! they are worthy of our praises; in what invasions, what fights have I not seen them helping us! But especially admirable were they, when they bravely leapt upon the galleys, 600 taking nothing with them but a coarse wine, some cloves of garlic and onions; despite this, they nevertheless seized the sweeps just like men, curved their backs over the thwarts and shouted, “Hippapai! Give way! Come, all pull together! Come, come! How! Samphoras! Are you not rowing?” They rushed down upon the coast of Corinth , and the youngest 605 hollowed out beds in the sand with their hoofs or went to fetch coverings; instead of luzern, they had no food but crabs, which they caught on the strand and even in the sea; so that Theorus causes a Corinthian crab to say, “'Tis a cruel fate, oh Poseidon neither my deep hiding-places, 610 whether on land or at sea, can help me to escape the Knights.”

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.) — 595 focus

Chorus: The things we are accustomed to with the horses, we wish to praise.

595

Chorus: They are worthy indeed to be praised; for they have indeed many tricks.

Chorus: they have borne us along with them, both the assaults and the battles.

Chorus: But we do not admire it too much in their case,

Chorus: as when I leaped manfully into the horse market,

Chorus: having bought jugs, but they also garlic and onions;

600

Chorus: then, taking the oars like us mortals

Chorus: having thrown them in, they gushed forth, hip-pai, who will throw them in?

Chorus: It must be seized. What are we doing? Are you not driving, you wretched creature?

Chorus: He leaped off to Corinth; and then the younger men

Chorus: with the shields they dug up beds and moved the mats;

605

Chorus: For we ate the prawns instead of any Medean sauce,

Chorus: If someone would come out from the door and hunt from the depths;

Chorus: So Theoros said, 'a Corinthian crab,'

Chorus: Terrible, by Poseidon, if I shall not be able to dive into the depths.

Chorus: They will not escape the Knights, neither on land nor in the sea.

610

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

607. mvp-tlg0019-tlg002-sanjaya-com-eng1-28

Line 607

εἴ τις ἐξέρποι θύραζε κἀκ βυθοῦ θηρώμενοι·

The construction ἐξέρποι (aorist middle optative of ἐξέρχομαι) combined with the present middle participle θηρώμενοι ('while hunting' or 'while being hunted') creates a syntactic tension regarding the temporal scope of the participle. While the optative in the protasis suggests a hypothetical or potential future scenario, the present tense of the participle implies an action simultaneous with the main verb's hypothetical occurrence. In the context of the Knights, where the Paphlagonian (Cleon) is depicted as emerging from a dark, subterranean pit, the participle likely functions not merely as a temporal marker but as a descriptive of the Paphlagonian's state as he is drawn out—simultaneously 'hunting' (i.e., preying on the demos) and being 'hunted' (by the Sausage-Seller's counter-aggression). This simultaneity underscores the chaotic, inverted nature of the scene where the predator becomes the prey.

Aristophanes Knights 595

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

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Commentary

Line 607

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