Aristophanes, Wasps, ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart, 230

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Χορός

χώρει πρόβαινʼ ἐρρωμένως. ὦ Κωμία βραδύνεις.
230

μὰ τὸν Δίʼ οὐ μέντοι πρὸ τοῦ γʼ, ἀλλʼ ἦσθʼ ἱμὰς κύνειος·

νυνὶ δὲ κρείττων ἐστί σου Χαρινάδης βαδίζειν.

ὦ Στρυμόδωρε Κονθυλεῦ, βέλτιστε συνδικαστῶν,

Εὐεργίδης ἆρʼ ἐστί που ʼνταῦθʼ ἢ Χάβης ὁ Φλυεύς;

πάρεσθʼ ὃ δὴ λοιπόν γʼ ἔτʼ ἐστίν, ἀππαπαῖ παπαιάξ,
235

ἥβης ἐκείνης ἡνίκʼ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ξυνῆμεν

φρουροῦντʼ ἐγώ τε καὶ σύ· κᾆτα περιπατοῦντε νύκτωρ

τῆς ἀρτοπώλιδος λαθόντʼ ἐκλέψαμεν τὸν ὅλμον,

κᾆθʼ ἥψομεν τοῦ κορκόρου κατασχίσαντες αὐτόν.

ἀλλʼ ἐγκονῶμεν ὦνδρες, ὡς ἔσται Λάχητι νυνί·
240

σίμβλον δέ φασι χρημάτων ἔχειν ἅπαντες αὐτόν.

χθὲς οὖν Κλέων ὁ κηδεμὼν ἡμῖν ἐφεῖτʼ ἐν ὥρᾳ

ἥκειν ἔχοντας ἡμερῶν ὀργὴν τριῶν πονηρὰν

ἐπʼ αὐτόν, ὡς κολωμένους ὧν ἠδίκησεν. ἀλλὰ

σπεύδωμεν ὦνδρες ἥλικες πρὶν ἡμέραν γενέσθαι.
245

χωρῶμεν ἅμα τε τῷ λύχνῳ πάντῃ διασκοπῶμεν,

μή που λίθος τις ἐμποδὼν ἡμᾶς κακόν τι δράσῃ.

Παίς

τὸν πηλὸν ὦ πάτερ πάτερ τουτονὶ φύλαξαι.

Χορός

κάρφος χαμᾶθέν νυν λαβὼν τὸν λύχνον πρόμυξον.

Παίς

οὔκ, ἀλλὰ τῳδί μοι δοκῶ τὸν λύχνον προβύσειν.
250

Χορός

τί δὴ μαθὼν τῷ δακτύλῳ τὴν θρυαλλίδʼ ὠθεῖς,

καὶ ταῦτα τοὐλαίου σπανίζοντος ὦνόητε;

οὐ γὰρ δάκνει σʼ, ὅταν δέῃ τίμιον πρίασθαι.

Παίς

εἰ νὴ Δίʼ αὖθις κονδύλοις νουθετήσεθʼ ἡμᾶς,

ἀποσβέσαντες τοὺς λύχνους ἄπιμεν οἴκαδʼ αὐτοί·
255

κἄπειτʼ ἴσως ἐν τῷ σκότῳ τουτουὶ στερηθεὶς

τὸν πηλὸν ὥσπερ ἀτταγᾶς τυρβάσεις βαδίζων.

Χορός

ἦ μὴν ἐγὼ σοῦ χἀτέρους μείζονας κολάζω.

ἀλλʼ οὑτοσί μοι βόρβορος φαίνεται πατοῦντι·

κοὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅπως οὐχ ἡμερῶν τεττάρων τὸ πλεῖστον
260

ὕδωρ ἀναγκαίως ἔχει τὸν θεὸν ποιῆσαι.

ἔπεισι γοῦν τοῖσιν λύχνοις οὑτοιὶ μύκητες·

φιλεῖ δʼ, ὅταν τοῦτʼ ᾖ, ποιεῖν ὑετὸν μάλιστα.

δεῖται δὲ καὶ τῶν καρπίμων ἅττα μή ʼστι πρῷα

ὕδωρ γενέσθαι κἀπιπνεῦσαι βόρειον αὐτοῖς.
265

τί χρῆμʼ ἄρʼ οὑκ τῆς οἰκίας τῆσδε συνδικαστὴς

πέπονθεν, ὡς οὐ φαίνεται δεῦρο πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος;

οὐ μὴν πρὸ τοῦ γʼ ἐφολκὸς ἦν, ἀλλὰ πρῶτος ἡμῶν

ἡγεῖτʼ ἂν ᾄδων Φρυνίχου· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἁνὴρ

φιλῳδός. ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ στάντας ἐνθάδʼ ὦνδρες
270

ᾄδοντας αὐτὸν ἐκκαλεῖν, ἤν τί πως ἀκούσας

τοὐμοῦ μέλους ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς ἑρπύσῃ θύραζε.

Wasps. 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

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

Translations (2)

Wasps (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 230 focus

Enter the Chorus, composed of old men costumed as wasps.

Leader of the Chorus

230 March on, advance boldly and bravely! Comias, your feet are dragging; once you were as tough as a dog-skin strap and now even Charinades walks better than you. Ha! Strymodorus of Conthyle, you best of mates, where is Euergides and where is Chabes of Phlya ? 235 Ha, ha, bravo! there you are, the last of the lads with whom we mounted guard together at Byzantium . Do you remember how, one night, prowling round, we noiselessly stole the kneading-trough of a baker's wife; we split it in two and cooked our green-stuff with it.— 240 But let us hasten, for the case of Laches comes on to-day, and they all say he has embezzled a pot of money. Hence Cleon, our protector, advised us yesterday to come early and with a three days' stock of fiery rage so as to chastise him for his crimes. 245 Let us hurry, comrades, before it is light; come, let us search every nook with our lanterns to see whether those who wish us ill have not set us some trap.

Boy

Father, father, watch out for the mud.

Leader of the Chorus

Pick up a blade of straw and trim your lamp.

Boy

250 No, I can trim it quite well with my finger.

Leader of the Chorus

Why do you pull out the wick, you little dolt? Oil is scarce, and it's not you who suffer when it has to be paid for.

Strikes him.

Boy

If you teach us again with your fists, 255 we shall put out the lamps and go home; then you will have no light and will squatter about in the mud like ducks in the dark.

Leader of the Chorus

I know how to punish offenders bigger than you. But I think I am treading in some mud. Oh! 260 it's certain it will rain in torrents for four days at least; look at the snuff in our lamps; that is always a sign of heavy rain; 265 but the rain and the north wind will be good for the crops that are still standing. Why, what can have happened to our mate, who lives here? Why does he not come to join our party? There used to be no need to haul him in our wake, for he would march at our head singing the verses of Phrynichus; 270 he was a lover of singing. Should we not, friends, make a halt here and sing to call him out? The charm of my voice will fetch him out, if he hears it.

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.) — 230 focus

Chorus: Go forward bravely. O Comedy, you are lagging.

230

Chorus: By Zeus, not indeed before that, but you were a hound's thong;

Chorus: But now Chirindas is better able to walk than you.

Chorus: O Stymodorus Condylos, best of the jurors,

Chorus: Is Euergetides here somewhere or is it Chabes the Phlyean?

Chorus: Come, then, what remains, alas! woe!

235

Chorus: when in that youth we were together in Byzantium.

Chorus: I and you, guarding; and then walking about by night

Chorus: We stole the pestle from the bread-seller without her knowing,

Chorus: And then we will touch the jar, having split it open.

Chorus: But let us dance, men, as it will be for Laches now;

240

Chorus: They say that he has a seal for all money.

Chorus: So yesterday Cleon, our guardian, told us to come at the right time.

Chorus: Having brought for three days a malicious anger.

Chorus: against him, as if he had wronged those who were angry. But

Chorus: Let us hasten, men of my age, before it becomes day.

245

Chorus: Let us go, and with the lamp let us search everywhere,

Chorus: Lest perhaps some stone hinder us from doing some evil.

Boy: Guard this lump of clay, father, father!

Chorus: taking a wisp of straw from the ground, now light the lamp with a snuffer.

Boy: No, but I think I will light the lamp in this way.

250

Chorus: What then have you learned, that you push the wick with your finger?

Chorus: And these things, when olive oil was scarce, did you perceive?

Chorus: for it will not sting you, when it is necessary to buy something valuable.

Boy: If, by Zeus, you are going to admonish us again with your knuckles,

Boy: Having extinguished the lamps, let us go home alone.

255

Boy: And then perhaps, having been deprived in this darkness,

Boy: you will stir up the clay as you walk, like a grasshopper.

Chorus: Indeed, I punish you and others more severely.

Chorus: but this fellow seems to me to be mud to the one treading.

Chorus: And there is no way, not even for four days at the very most.

260

Chorus: We must necessarily make the god water.

Chorus: At least, the mushrooms are coming with the torches.

Chorus: But when this is the case, he loves above all to make rain.

Chorus: And it needs the figs too, which are not yet ripe.

Chorus: to become water and blow a north wind upon them.

265

Chorus: What is this, then, that you are not the co-defendant of this household?

Chorus: Has he suffered something, as he does not appear here to the crowd?

Chorus: No, it was not before the flute-player, but was first among us.

Chorus: He would lead singing of Phrynichus; for indeed he is a man

Chorus: A lover of song. But it seems to me, men, to stand here now.

270

Chorus: To call him out singing, if perhaps he hears something.

Chorus: Let my song creep forth from pleasure.

Aristophanes Wasps 230

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Παίς

τὸν πηλὸν ὦ πάτερ πάτερ τουτονὶ φύλαξαι.

Χορός

κάρφος χαμᾶθέν νυν λαβὼν τὸν λύχνον πρόμυξον.

Παίς

οὔκ, ἀλλὰ τῳδί μοι δοκῶ τὸν λύχνον προβύσειν.
250

Χορός

τί δὴ μαθὼν τῷ δακτύλῳ τὴν θρυαλλίδʼ ὠθεῖς,

καὶ ταῦτα τοὐλαίου σπανίζοντος ὦνόητε;

οὐ γὰρ δάκνει σʼ, ὅταν δέῃ τίμιον πρίασθαι.

Current edition Perseus

Boy

Father, father, watch out for the mud.

Leader of the Chorus

Pick up a blade of straw and trim your lamp.

Boy

250 No, I can trim it quite well with my finger.

Leader of the Chorus

Why do you pull out the wick, you little dolt? Oil is scarce, and it's not you who suffer when it has to be paid for.

Strikes him.

Boy

If you teach us again with your fists, 255 we shall put out the lamps and go home; then you will have no light and will squatter about in the mud like ducks in the dark.

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Παίς τὸν πηλὸν ὦ πάτερ πάτερ τουτονὶ φύλαξαι.

Χορός κάρφος χαμᾶθέν νυν λαβὼν τὸν λύχνον πρόμυξον.

Παίς οὔκ, ἀλλὰ τῳδί μοι δοκῶ τὸν λύχνον προβύσειν. 250

Χορός τί δὴ μαθὼν τῷ δακτύλῳ τὴν θρυαλλίδʼ ὠθεῖς, καὶ ταῦτα τοὐλαίου σπανίζοντος ὦνόητε; οὐ γὰρ δάκνει σʼ, ὅταν δέῃ τίμιον πρίασθαι.

Current edition Perseus

Boy Father, father, watch out for the mud.

Leader of the Chorus Pick up a blade of straw and trim your lamp.

Boy 250 No, I can trim it quite well with my finger.

Leader of the Chorus Why do you pull out the wick, you little dolt? Oil is scarce, and it's not you who suffer when it has to be paid for. Strikes him.

Boy If you teach us again with your fists, 255 we shall put out the lamps and go home; then you will have no light and will squatter about in the mud like ducks in the dark.

Stable identifiers

Παίς

τὸν πηλὸν ὦ πάτερ πάτερ τουτονὶ φύλαξαι.

Χορός

κάρφος χαμᾶθέν νυν λαβὼν τὸν λύχνον πρόμυξον.

Παίς

οὔκ, ἀλλὰ τῳδί μοι δοκῶ τὸν λύχνον προβύσειν.
250

Χορός

τί δὴ μαθὼν τῷ δακτύλῳ τὴν θρυαλλίδʼ ὠθεῖς,

καὶ ταῦτα τοὐλαίου σπανίζοντος ὦνόητε;

οὐ γὰρ δάκνει σʼ, ὅταν δέῃ τίμιον πρίασθαι.

Boy

Father, father, watch out for the mud.

Leader of the Chorus

Pick up a blade of straw and trim your lamp.

Boy

250 No, I can trim it quite well with my finger.

Leader of the Chorus

Why do you pull out the wick, you little dolt? Oil is scarce, and it's not you who suffer when it has to be paid for.

Strikes him.

Boy

If you teach us again with your fists, 255 we shall put out the lamps and go home; then you will have no light and will squatter about in the mud like ducks in the dark.