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Line 855

ὥστʼ εἰ σὺ βριμήσαιο καὶ βλέψειας ὀστρακίνδα,

The noun ὀστρακίνδα (ostrakinda) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes and a rare Atticism derived from ὄστρακον (pottery shard). In this context, it functions as a direct object of the verb βλέπειας, but its usage here is syntactically elliptical and semantically charged: it likely refers to the act of 'looking at' or 'considering' ostraka (shards) in the context of the Athenian ostracism procedure. The phrase thus evokes the threat of ostracism—a political mechanism used to exile prominent figures for ten years—without explicitly naming the procedure, relying on the audience's familiarity with the visual symbol of the shard as an instrument of political judgment. The use of the optative βριμήσαιο ('if you were to be fierce') and βλέπειας ('if you were to look') in a conditional clause with ὥστε ('so that') creates a hypothetical scenario where the speaker warns the addressee that his aggression will lead to him being scrutinized or targeted by the democratic process. The lexical choice of ὀστρακίνδα, rather than the more common ὄστρακα, adds a poetic and slightly archaic flavor, possibly signaling a deliberate allusion to the ritualistic nature of ostracism in the Athenian imagination.

Knights. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

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

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ἱππῆς Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 843 focus

Κλέων

οὐκ ὦγαθοὶ ταῦτʼ ἐστί πω ταύτῃ μὰ τὸν Ποσειδῶ.

ἐμοὶ γάρ ἐστʼ εἰργασμένον τοιοῦτον ἔργον ὥστε

ἁπαξάπαντας τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐπιστομίζειν,
845

ἕως ἂν ᾖ τῶν ἀσπίδων τῶν ἐκ Πύλου τι λοιπόν.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης

ἐπίσχες ἐν ταῖς ἀσπίσιν· λαβὴν γὰρ ἐνδέδωκας.

οὐ γάρ σʼ ἐχρῆν, εἴπερ φιλεῖς τὸν δῆμον, ἐκ προνοίας

ταύτας ἐᾶν αὐτοῖσι τοῖς πόρπαξιν ἀνατεθῆναι.

ἀλλʼ ἐστὶ τοῦτʼ ὦ Δῆμε μηχάνημʼ, ἵνʼ ἢν σὺ βούλῃ
850

τὸν ἄνδρα κολάσαι τουτονί, σοὶ τοῦτο μὴ κʼγένηται.

ὁρᾷς γὰρ αὐτῷ στῖφος οἷόν ἐστι βυρσοπωλῶν

νεανιῶν· τούτους δὲ περιοικοῦσι μελιτοπῶλαι

καὶ τυροπῶλαι· τοῦτο δʼ εἰς ἕν ἐστι συγκεκυφός,

ὥστʼ εἰ σὺ βριμήσαιο καὶ βλέψειας ὀστρακίνδα,
855

νύκτωρ καθαρπάσαντες ἂν τὰς ἀσπίδας θέοντες

τὰς ἐσβολὰς τῶν ἀλφίτων ἂν καταλάβοιεν ἡμῶν.

Δῆμος

οἴμοι τάλας· ἔχουσι γὰρ πόρπακας; ὦ πόνηρε

ὅσον με παρεκόπτου χρόνον τοιαῦτα κρουσιδημῶν.

Κλέων

ὦ δαιμόνιε μὴ τοῦ λέγοντος ἴσθι, μηδʼ οἰηθῇς
860

ἐμοῦ ποθʼ εὑρήσειν φίλον βελτίονʼ· ὅστις εἷς ὢν

ἔπαυσα τοὺς ξυνωμότας, καί μʼ οὐ λέληθεν οὐδὲν

ἐν τῇ πόλει ξυνιστάμενον, ἀλλʼ εὐθέως κέκραγα.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης

ὅπερ γὰρ οἱ τὰς ἐγχέλεις θηρώμενοι πέπονθας.

ὅταν μὲν ἡ λίμνη καταστῇ, λαμβάνουσιν οὐδέν·
865

ἐὰν δʼ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω τὸν βόρβορον κυκῶσιν,

αἱροῦσι· καὶ σὺ λαμβάνεις, ἢν τὴν πόλιν ταράττῃς.

ἓν δʼ εἰπέ μοι τοσουτονί· σκύτη τοσαῦτα πωλῶν

ἔδωκας ἤδη τουτῳὶ κάττυμα παρὰ σεαυτοῦ

ταῖς ἐμβάσιν φάσκων φιλεῖν;
870

Δῆμος

οὐ δῆτα μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης

ἔγνωκας οὖν δῆτʼ αὐτὸν οἷός ἐστιν; ἀλλʼ ἐγώ σοι

ζεῦγος πριάμενος ἐμβάδων τουτὶ φορεῖν δίδωμι.

Δῆμος

κρίνω σʼ ὅσων ἐγᾦδα περὶ τὸν δῆμον ἄνδρʼ ἄριστον

εὐνούστατόν τε τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖσι δακτύλοισιν.
875

Κλέων

οὐ δεινὸν οὖν δῆτʼ ἐμβάδας τοσουτονὶ δύνασθαι,

ἐμοῦ δὲ μὴ μνείαν ἔχειν ὅσων πέπονθας; ὅστις

ἔπαυσα τοὺς βινουμένους, τὸν Γρύττον ἐξαλείψας.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης

οὔκουν σε δῆτα ταῦτα δεινόν ἐστι πρωκτοτηρεῖν

παῦσαί τε τοὺς βινουμένους; κοὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅπως ἐκείνους

οὐχὶ φθονῶν ἔπαυσας, ἵνα μὴ ῥήτορες γένωνται.
880

τονδὶ δʼ ὁρῶν ἄνευ χιτῶνος ὄντα τηλικοῦτον

οὐπώποτʼ ἀμφιμασχάλου τὸν Δῆμον ἠξίωσας

χειμῶνος ὄντος· ἀλλʼ ἐγώ σοι τουτονὶ δίδωμι.

Δῆμος

τοιουτονὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς οὐπώποτʼ ἐπενόησεν.

καίτοι σοφὸν κἀκεῖνʼ ὁ Πειραιεύς· ἔμοιγε μέντοι
885

οὐ μεῖζον εἶναι φαίνετʼ ἐξεύρημα τοῦ χιτῶνος.

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.) — 843 focus

Cleon

No, my brave friends, no, you are running too fast; I have done a sufficiently brilliant deed 845 to shut the mouth of all enemies, so long as one of the bucklers of Pylos remains.

Sausage-Seller

Of the bucklers! Hold! I stop you there and I hold you fast. For if it be true that you love the people, you would not allow these to be hung up with their rings; but it's with an intent you have done this. 850 Demos, take knowledge of his guilty purpose; in this way you no longer can punish him at your pleasure. Note the swarm of young tanners, who really surround him, and close to them the sellers of honey and cheese; all these are at one with him. 855 Very well! you have but to frown, to speak of ostracism and they will rush at night to these bucklers, take them down and seize our granaries.

Demos

Great gods! what! the bucklers retain their rings! Scoundrel! ah! too long have you had me for your dupe, cheated and played with me!

Cleon

860 But, dear sir, never you believe all he tells you. Oh! never will you find a more devoted friend than me; unaided, I have known how to put down the conspiracies; nothing that is hatching in the city escapes me, and I hasten to proclaim it loudly.

Sausage-Seller

You are like the fishers for eels; 865 in still waters they catch nothing, but if they thoroughly stir up the slime, their fishing is good; in the same way it's only in troublous times that you line your pockets. But come, tell me, you, who sell so many skins, have you ever made him a present of a pair of soles 870 for his slippers? and you pretend to love him!

Demos

No, he has never given me any.

Sausage-Seller

That alone shows up the man; but I, I have bought you this pair of shoes; accept them.

He gives Demos the shoes; Demos puts them on.

Demos

None ever, to my knowledge, has merited so much from the people; you are the most zealous of all men for your country and for my toes.

Cleon

875 Can a wretched pair of slippers make you forget all that you owe me? Is it not I who curbed the pederasts by erasing Gryttus' name from the lists of citizens?

Sausage-Seller

Ah! noble Inspector of Arses, let me congratulate you. Moreover, if you set yourself against this form of lewdness, this pederasty, 880 it was for sheer jealousy, knowing it to be the school for orators. But you see this poor Demos without a cloak and that at his age too! so little do you care for him, that in mid-winter you have not given him a garment with sleeves. Here, Demos, here is one, take it!

He gives Demos a cloak; Demos puts it on.

Demos

This even Themistocles never thought of; 885 the Piraeus was no doubt a happy idea, but I think this tunic is quite as fine as invention.

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.) — 843 focus

CLEO: These things are not yet good in this way, by Poseidon.

For a deed of such a kind has been wrought by me, so that

Cleon: to silence all my enemies at once,

845

Cleon: until any of the shields from Pylos remains.

Sausage-seller: Stop in the shields; for you have given a blow.

Butcher of mutton: For you should not, if you really love the people, have acted with premeditation.

Allantopoles: Let them be untied from these handles.

Sausage-seller: But this is a device, Demos, so that you may be where you wish.

850

Sausage-seller: Punish this man, so that this may not happen to you.

Leather-seller: For you see what a crowd of leather-sellers there is for him.

Sausage-seller: of young men; but honey-sellers surround them.

Sausage-seller: And cheese-sellers; but this is a confusion into one,

Sausage-seller: So if you were to show your strength and look like a sherd,

855

Sausage-seller: if they were to snatch the shields at night while running

Choragus: 'If they were to take over our grain supplies.'

Demos: Alas, wretch! They have herons, do they? You wretch!

Demos: For how long you have been interrupting me, acting as a demagogue in such a manner.

Cleon: O god, do not judge the speaker, nor think so.

860

Cleon: 'He will find a better friend of mine, who, being one alone'

Cleon: I stopped the conspirators, and nothing has escaped my notice.

Cleon: It is being assembled in the city, but I have immediately shouted.

Allantopolēs: For that is what those who hunt eels have suffered.

Ball-seller: When the pond dries up, they get nothing.

865

Sausage-seller: if they whirl the mud both up and down,

Sausage-seller: They take it; and you too, if you disturb the city.

Sausage-seller: Tell me just this one thing: while selling a skin, how much do you sell?

Sausage-seller: You have already given him a kick from yourself.

Sausage-Seller: 'Claiming to kiss the public?'

870

Demos: By no means, by Apollo.

Sausage-seller: So you know him, then, what sort of man he is? But I...

Ball-seller: I offer to carry this pair of slippers for a price.

Demos: I judge you to be the best man of all those I know about the people.

Demos: both most loyal to the city and to the fingers.

875

Cleon: So it is not terrible, then, that a man like this should have such power,

Cleon: Should you not remember me, of how many things you have suffered? Who...

Cleon: I stopped the drunkards, having erased Gryttos.

Sausage-seller: But surely it is not a clever thing for you to be a butt-guardian.

Sausage-seller: Will you stop those who are drunk? And it is not possible to stop them.

Sausage-seller: You did not stop out of jealousy, so that orators might not arise.

880

Sausage-seller: Seeing this one to be so big and without a tunic,

Sausage-seller: Never have you considered the Demos worthy of a wrestling-match.

Sausage-seller: Since it is winter; but I give you this one.

Demos: Such a thing Themistocles never conceived.

Demus: And yet, that too is wise, the Piraeus; but as for me, however

885

Demos: No greater discovery appears to have been found than the tunic.

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

855. mvp-tlg0019-tlg002-sanjaya-com-eng1-61

Line 855

ὥστʼ εἰ σὺ βριμήσαιο καὶ βλέψειας ὀστρακίνδα,

Aristophanes Knights 855

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Line 855

Current edition Experimental

Δῆμος

οἴμοι τάλας· ἔχουσι γὰρ πόρπακας; ὦ πόνηρε

ὅσον με παρεκόπτου χρόνον τοιαῦτα κρουσιδημῶν.

Δῆμος

οὐ δῆτα μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης

ἔγνωκας οὖν δῆτʼ αὐτὸν οἷός ἐστιν; ἀλλʼ ἐγώ σοι

ζεῦγος πριάμενος ἐμβάδων τουτὶ φορεῖν δίδωμι.

Δῆμος

κρίνω σʼ ὅσων ἐγᾦδα περὶ τὸν δῆμον ἄνδρʼ ἄριστον

εὐνούστατόν τε τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖσι δακτύλοισιν.
875

Κλέων

οὐ δεινὸν οὖν δῆτʼ ἐμβάδας τοσουτονὶ δύνασθαι,

ἐμοῦ δὲ μὴ μνείαν ἔχειν ὅσων πέπονθας; ὅστις

ἔπαυσα τοὺς βινουμένους, τὸν Γρύττον ἐξαλείψας.

Δῆμος

τοιουτονὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς οὐπώποτʼ ἐπενόησεν.

καίτοι σοφὸν κἀκεῖνʼ ὁ Πειραιεύς· ἔμοιγε μέντοι
885

οὐ μεῖζον εἶναι φαίνετʼ ἐξεύρημα τοῦ χιτῶνος.

Cleon

No, my brave friends, no, you are running too fast; I have done a sufficiently brilliant deed 845 to shut the mouth of all enemies, so long as one of the bucklers of Pylos remains.

Demos

Great gods! what! the bucklers retain their rings! Scoundrel! ah! too long have you had me for your dupe, cheated and played with me!

Cleon

860 But, dear sir, never you believe all he tells you. Oh! never will you find a more devoted friend than me; unaided, I have known how to put down the conspiracies; nothing that is hatching in the city escapes me, and I hasten to proclaim it loudly.

Demos

No, he has never given me any.

Sausage-Seller

That alone shows up the man; but I, I have bought you this pair of shoes; accept them.

He gives Demos the shoes; Demos puts them on.

Demos

None ever, to my knowledge, has merited so much from the people; you are the most zealous of all men for your country and for my toes.

Cleon

875 Can a wretched pair of slippers make you forget all that you owe me? Is it not I who curbed the pederasts by erasing Gryttus' name from the lists of citizens?

Demos

This even Themistocles never thought of; 885 the Piraeus was no doubt a happy idea, but I think this tunic is quite as fine as invention.

Commentary

Line 855

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Line 855

Current edition Experimental

Δῆμος οἴμοι τάλας· ἔχουσι γὰρ πόρπακας; ὦ πόνηρε ὅσον με παρεκόπτου χρόνον τοιαῦτα κρουσιδημῶν.

Δῆμος οὐ δῆτα μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης ἔγνωκας οὖν δῆτʼ αὐτὸν οἷός ἐστιν; ἀλλʼ ἐγώ σοι ζεῦγος πριάμενος ἐμβάδων τουτὶ φορεῖν δίδωμι.

Δῆμος κρίνω σʼ ὅσων ἐγᾦδα περὶ τὸν δῆμον ἄνδρʼ ἄριστον εὐνούστατόν τε τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖσι δακτύλοισιν. 875

Κλέων οὐ δεινὸν οὖν δῆτʼ ἐμβάδας τοσουτονὶ δύνασθαι, ἐμοῦ δὲ μὴ μνείαν ἔχειν ὅσων πέπονθας; ὅστις ἔπαυσα τοὺς βινουμένους, τὸν Γρύττον ἐξαλείψας.

Δῆμος τοιουτονὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς οὐπώποτʼ ἐπενόησεν. καίτοι σοφὸν κἀκεῖνʼ ὁ Πειραιεύς· ἔμοιγε μέντοι 885 οὐ μεῖζον εἶναι φαίνετʼ ἐξεύρημα τοῦ χιτῶνος.

Cleon No, my brave friends, no, you are running too fast; I have done a sufficiently brilliant deed 845 to shut the mouth of all enemies, so long as one of the bucklers of Pylos remains.

Demos Great gods! what! the bucklers retain their rings! Scoundrel! ah! too long have you had me for your dupe, cheated and played with me!

Cleon 860 But, dear sir, never you believe all he tells you. Oh! never will you find a more devoted friend than me; unaided, I have known how to put down the conspiracies; nothing that is hatching in the city escapes me, and I hasten to proclaim it loudly.

Demos No, he has never given me any.

Sausage-Seller That alone shows up the man; but I, I have bought you this pair of shoes; accept them. He gives Demos the shoes; Demos puts them on.

Demos None ever, to my knowledge, has merited so much from the people; you are the most zealous of all men for your country and for my toes.

Cleon 875 Can a wretched pair of slippers make you forget all that you owe me? Is it not I who curbed the pederasts by erasing Gryttus' name from the lists of citizens?

Demos This even Themistocles never thought of; 885 the Piraeus was no doubt a happy idea, but I think this tunic is quite as fine as invention.

Commentary

Line 855

Stable identifiers

Δῆμος

οἴμοι τάλας· ἔχουσι γὰρ πόρπακας; ὦ πόνηρε

ὅσον με παρεκόπτου χρόνον τοιαῦτα κρουσιδημῶν.

Δῆμος

οὐ δῆτα μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω.

Ἀλλαντοπώλης

ἔγνωκας οὖν δῆτʼ αὐτὸν οἷός ἐστιν; ἀλλʼ ἐγώ σοι

ζεῦγος πριάμενος ἐμβάδων τουτὶ φορεῖν δίδωμι.

Δῆμος

κρίνω σʼ ὅσων ἐγᾦδα περὶ τὸν δῆμον ἄνδρʼ ἄριστον

εὐνούστατόν τε τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖσι δακτύλοισιν.
875

Κλέων

οὐ δεινὸν οὖν δῆτʼ ἐμβάδας τοσουτονὶ δύνασθαι,

ἐμοῦ δὲ μὴ μνείαν ἔχειν ὅσων πέπονθας; ὅστις

ἔπαυσα τοὺς βινουμένους, τὸν Γρύττον ἐξαλείψας.

Δῆμος

τοιουτονὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς οὐπώποτʼ ἐπενόησεν.

καίτοι σοφὸν κἀκεῖνʼ ὁ Πειραιεύς· ἔμοιγε μέντοι
885

οὐ μεῖζον εἶναι φαίνετʼ ἐξεύρημα τοῦ χιτῶνος.

Cleon

No, my brave friends, no, you are running too fast; I have done a sufficiently brilliant deed 845 to shut the mouth of all enemies, so long as one of the bucklers of Pylos remains.

Demos

Great gods! what! the bucklers retain their rings! Scoundrel! ah! too long have you had me for your dupe, cheated and played with me!

Cleon

860 But, dear sir, never you believe all he tells you. Oh! never will you find a more devoted friend than me; unaided, I have known how to put down the conspiracies; nothing that is hatching in the city escapes me, and I hasten to proclaim it loudly.

Demos

No, he has never given me any.

Sausage-Seller

That alone shows up the man; but I, I have bought you this pair of shoes; accept them.

He gives Demos the shoes; Demos puts them on.

Demos

None ever, to my knowledge, has merited so much from the people; you are the most zealous of all men for your country and for my toes.

Cleon

875 Can a wretched pair of slippers make you forget all that you owe me? Is it not I who curbed the pederasts by erasing Gryttus' name from the lists of citizens?

Demos

This even Themistocles never thought of; 885 the Piraeus was no doubt a happy idea, but I think this tunic is quite as fine as invention.