Aristophanes Wasps 281

ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.

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Wasps. Aristophanes. ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Wasps (OCR draft) (English) (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). 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)
Σφῆκες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 230-333 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.) — 281 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 275

ἐμβάδας, ἢ προσέκοψʼ ἐν
The reading προσέκοψʼ ἐν is a textual crux found in the manuscript tradition of Aristophanes' Wasps (line 1305). While the majority of manuscripts (the vulgate) read προσέκοψ' ἐν, some ancient authorities and the scholia suggest a different punctuation or reading that affects the syntax of the verb with the dative. The phrase is a colloquialism where the verb 'to stumble' (προσκόπτω) is used with a preposition that is often omitted or varies in the comic tradition, creating ambiguity as to whether the subject stumbled 'upon' the slippers (embades) or if the slippers themselves are the object of a different verbal action implied by the context of the legal proceedings. This variation is significant for understanding the physical comedy of the scene, where the character Philocleon is likely tripping over the very slippers he wears, a detail that hinges on the textual transmission of the preposition.

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Line 277

καὶ τάχʼ ἂν βουβωνιῴη.
The verb βουβωνιῴη (aorist optative of βουβωνίζω) is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes and a rare formation in Attic comedy. Derived from βῶν (scrotum) or βουβῶν (groin), it is a coined verb meaning 'to swell in the groin' or 'to suffer from buboes.' The construction relies on the comic convention of using bodily ailments as metaphors for political or social infection; here, the character (likely Philocleon) suggests that his master, Bdelycleon, would be afflicted with bubonic plague symptoms were he to attempt to restrain him. The optative with ἂν indicates a potential condition, but the specific lexical choice creates a grotesque pun on the 'swelling' of the city's political ailments, a device rare even for Old Comedy's bodily humor.