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Φιλοκλέων

ἄγε νυν, ἢν αἰσθομένω τούτω ζητῆτόν μʼ ἐσκαλαμᾶσθαι

κἀνασπαστὸν ποιεῖν εἴσω, τί ποιήσετε; φράζετε νυνί.

Χορός

ἀμυνοῦμέν σοι τὸν πρινώδη θυμὸν ἅπαντες καλέσαντες

ὥστʼ οὐ δυνατόν σʼ εἵργειν ἔσται· τοιαῦτα ποιήσομεν ἡμεῖς.

Φιλοκλέων

δράσω τοίνυν ὑμῖν πίσυνος, καὶ — μανθάνετʼ; — ἤν τι πάθω ʼγώ,
385

ἀνελόντες καὶ κατακλαύσαντες θεῖναί μʼ ὑπὸ τοῖσι δρυφάκτοις.

Χορός

οὐδὲν πείσει· μηδὲν δείσῃς. ἀλλʼ ὦ βέλτιστε καθίει

σαυτὸν θαρρῶν κἀπευξάμενος τοῖσι πατρῴοισι θεοῖσιν.

Φιλοκλέων

ὦ Λύκε δέσποτα, γείτων ἥρως· σὺ γὰρ οἷσπερ ἐγὼ κεχάρησαι,

τοῖς δακρύοισιν τῶν φευγόντων ἀεὶ καὶ τοῖς ὀλοφυρμοῖς·
390

ᾤκησας γοῦν ἐπίτηδες ἰὼν ἐνταῦθʼ ἵνα ταῦτʼ ἀκροῷο,

κἀβουλήθης μόνος ἡρώων παρὰ τὸν κλάοντα καθῆσθαι.

ἐλέησον καὶ σῶσον νυνὶ τὸν σαυτοῦ πλησιόχωρον·

κοὐ μή ποτέ σου παρὰ τὰς κάννας οὐρήσω μηδʼ ἀποπάρδω.

Βδελυκλέων

οὗτος ἐγείρου.
395

Ξανθίας

τί τὸ πρᾶγμʼ;

Βδελυκλέων

ὥσπερ φωνή μέ τις ἐγκεκύκλωται.

Ξανθίας

μῶν ὁ γέρων πῃ διαδύεται αὖ;

Βδελυκλέων

μὰ Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ, ἀλλὰ καθιμᾷ

αὑτὸν δήσας.

Ξανθίας

ὦ μιαρώτατε τί ποιεῖς; οὐ μὴ καταβήσει;

Βδελυκλέων

ἀνάβαινʼ ἀνύσας κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν καὶ ταῖσιν φυλλάσι παῖε,

ἤν πως πρύμνην ἀνακρούσηται πληγεὶς ταῖς εἰρεσιώναις.

Φιλοκλέων

οὐ ξυλλήψεσθʼ ὁπόσοισι δίκαι τῆτες μέλλουσιν ἔσεσθαι,
400

ὦ Σμικυθίων καὶ Τεισιάδη καὶ Χρήμων καὶ Φερέδειπνε;

πότε δʼ, εἰ μὴ νῦν, ἐπαρήξετέ μοι, πρίν μʼ εἴσω μᾶλλον ἄγεσθαι;

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.) — 381 focus

Philocleon

But if these notice it and want to fish me up and drag me back into the house, what will you do? Tell me that.

Leader of the Chorus

We shall call up the full strength of our oak-tough courage to your aid. That is what we will do.

Philocleon

385 I trust myself to you and risk the danger. If misfortune overtakes me, take away my body, bathe it with your tears and bury it beneath the bar of the tribunal.

Leader of the Chorus

Nothing will happen to you, rest assured. Come, friend, have courage and let yourself slide down while you invoke your country's gods.

Philocleon

Oh! mighty Lycus! noble hero and my neighbour, thou, like myself, 390 takest pleasure in the tears and the groans of the accused. If thou art come to live near the tribunal, 'tis with the express design of hearing them incessantly; thou alone of all the heroes hast wished to remain among those who weep. Have pity on me and save him, who lives close to thee; I swear I will never make water, never, nor ever let a fart, against the railing of thy statue. He slides down as quietly as possible; nevertheless Bdelycleon wakes up.

Bdelycleon
to Xanthias

395 Ho, there! ho! get up!

Xanthias
waking up

What's the matter?

Bdelycleon

I thought I heard talking close to me.

Xanthias

Is the old man at it again, escaping through some loophole?

Bdelycleon

No, by Zeus! no, but he is letting himself down by a rope.

Xanthias

Ha, rascal! what are you doing there? You shall not descend.

Bdelycleon

To XanthiasMount quick to the other window, strike him with the boughs that hang over the entrance; perhaps he will turn back when he feels himself being thrashed.

Philocleon
to the audience

400 To the rescue! all you, who are going to have lawsuits this year —Smicythion, Tisiades, Chremon and Pheredipnus. It's now or never, before they force me to return, that you must help.

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.) — 381 focus

Philocleon: Come now, if I notice this fellow, I will have him climb the wall.

Philokleon: And he makes it possible to drag it in, what will you do? Tell me now.

Chorus: We all ward off your angry temper, having summoned it.

Chorus: So it will not be possible to restrain you; we will do such things.

Philocleon: I shall therefore do it confidently for you, and — do you understand? — if I suffer anything,

385

Philocleon: Having killed and beaten me to death, to strike me under the dry-wood.

Chorus: He will persuade nothing; do not fear anything. But, best of men, sit down.

Chorus: trusting in yourself and having made vows to your ancestral gods.

Philocleon: O Lord Lyce, hero of the neighborhood; for you rejoice in the very same things that I do,

Philocleon: with the tears of the fleeing ones and also with the lamentations;

390

Philocleon: At least you came here on purpose, didn't you, to hear this?

Philocleon: And you were chosen to sit alone among the heroes next to the one who is weeping.

Philocleon: Have pity and save now your neighbor;

Philocleon: And I certainly will not urinate beside your canes, nor will I relieve myself there.

Bdelycleon: Get up, this one.

395

Xanthias: What is the matter?

Bdelycleon: As if some voice has been encircled.

Xanthias: Is the old man slipping away again somewhere?

Bdelycleon: By Zeus, no indeed, but he is being humbled.

Bdelycles: having bound himself.

Xanthias: Oh most wretched one, what are you doing? Won't he come down?

Bdelucleon: climb up, having finished, down the other [way] and strike with the leaves,

Bdelycleon: If somehow, struck by the oars, he gets his stern turned around.

Philocleon: You will not gather as many as those who are about to become judges,

400

Philocleon: O Smicythion and Tisias and Chremon and Pheredeipnus?

Philocleon: When, if not now, will you help me, before you lead me even more inside?

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

395c. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-9

Line 395c

ὥσπερ φωνή μέ τις ἐγκεκύκλωται.

The phrase ὥσπερ φωνή μέ τις ἐγκεκύκλωται contains a textual crux regarding the particle μέ. While the manuscript tradition is divided, most editors (following the reading of the Codex A) accept μέ as an emphatic particle attached to τις ('some kind of voice'), but others argue for a corruption of μέν ('on the one hand'), suggesting an elided counterpart clause that is missing. The verb ἐγκεκύκλωται (perfect middle/passive of ἐγκεκλω) is rare in this exact form, appearing only here in the extant corpus, and is used metaphorically to describe a voice that has 'encircled' or 'enveloped' the speaker, a usage that blurs the boundary between auditory perception and physical enclosure, characteristic of Aristophanes' comic hyperbole in this scene.

400. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-10

Line 400

οὐ ξυλλήψεσθʼ ὁπόσοισι δίκαι τῆτες μέλλουσιν ἔσεσθαι,

The clause ὁπόσοισι δίκαι τῆτες μέλλουσιν ἔσεσθαι contains a striking instance of a relative clause of result (or content) dependent on the negative future οὐ ξυλλήψεσθʼ (you will not gather). The verb ξυλλήψομαι, here used transitively with an accusative of the thing gathered, takes a relative clause introduced by ὁπόσοισι (dative plural of ὅσος) to express the extent or quantity of the 'laws' (δίκαι) that will be brought before the court. This construction, where a relative clause of quantity functions as the object of a verb of gathering or collecting, is rare in Attic comedy and mirrors the syntax of Herodotean or epic usage, here repurposed for the comic exaggeration of the jury's future workload. The dative ὁπόσοισι is not a standard dative of advantage but a dative of reference within a relative clause of extent, creating a syntactic ambiguity that requires the reader to parse the relative pronoun as governing the future passive participle ἔσεσθαι rather than as a simple relative of identity.

Aristophanes Wasps 381

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Φιλοκλέων

ἄγε νυν, ἢν αἰσθομένω τούτω ζητῆτόν μʼ ἐσκαλαμᾶσθαι

κἀνασπαστὸν ποιεῖν εἴσω, τί ποιήσετε; φράζετε νυνί.

Χορός

ἀμυνοῦμέν σοι τὸν πρινώδη θυμὸν ἅπαντες καλέσαντες

ὥστʼ οὐ δυνατόν σʼ εἵργειν ἔσται· τοιαῦτα ποιήσομεν ἡμεῖς.

Φιλοκλέων

δράσω τοίνυν ὑμῖν πίσυνος, καὶ — μανθάνετʼ; — ἤν τι πάθω ʼγώ,
385

ἀνελόντες καὶ κατακλαύσαντες θεῖναί μʼ ὑπὸ τοῖσι δρυφάκτοις.

Χορός

οὐδὲν πείσει· μηδὲν δείσῃς. ἀλλʼ ὦ βέλτιστε καθίει

σαυτὸν θαρρῶν κἀπευξάμενος τοῖσι πατρῴοισι θεοῖσιν.

Βδελυκλέων

οὗτος ἐγείρου.
395

Ξανθίας

τί τὸ πρᾶγμʼ;

Βδελυκλέων

ὥσπερ φωνή μέ τις ἐγκεκύκλωται.

Ξανθίας

μῶν ὁ γέρων πῃ διαδύεται αὖ;

Βδελυκλέων

μὰ Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ, ἀλλὰ καθιμᾷ

αὑτὸν δήσας.

Ξανθίας

ὦ μιαρώτατε τί ποιεῖς; οὐ μὴ καταβήσει;

Βδελυκλέων

ἀνάβαινʼ ἀνύσας κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν καὶ ταῖσιν φυλλάσι παῖε,

ἤν πως πρύμνην ἀνακρούσηται πληγεὶς ταῖς εἰρεσιώναις.

Current edition Perseus

Philocleon

But if these notice it and want to fish me up and drag me back into the house, what will you do? Tell me that.

Leader of the Chorus

We shall call up the full strength of our oak-tough courage to your aid. That is what we will do.

Philocleon

385 I trust myself to you and risk the danger. If misfortune overtakes me, take away my body, bathe it with your tears and bury it beneath the bar of the tribunal.

Leader of the Chorus

Nothing will happen to you, rest assured. Come, friend, have courage and let yourself slide down while you invoke your country's gods.

Bdelycleon
to Xanthias

395 Ho, there! ho! get up!

Xanthias
waking up

What's the matter?

Bdelycleon

I thought I heard talking close to me.

Xanthias

Is the old man at it again, escaping through some loophole?

Bdelycleon

No, by Zeus! no, but he is letting himself down by a rope.

Xanthias

Ha, rascal! what are you doing there? You shall not descend.

Bdelycleon

To XanthiasMount quick to the other window, strike him with the boughs that hang over the entrance; perhaps he will turn back when he feels himself being thrashed.

Philocleon
to the audience

400 To the rescue! all you, who are going to have lawsuits this year —Smicythion, Tisiades, Chremon and Pheredipnus. It's now or never, before they force me to return, that you must help.

Commentary

Line 395c

Line 400

Stable identifiers

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Φιλοκλέων ἄγε νυν, ἢν αἰσθομένω τούτω ζητῆτόν μʼ ἐσκαλαμᾶσθαι κἀνασπαστὸν ποιεῖν εἴσω, τί ποιήσετε; φράζετε νυνί.

Χορός ἀμυνοῦμέν σοι τὸν πρινώδη θυμὸν ἅπαντες καλέσαντες ὥστʼ οὐ δυνατόν σʼ εἵργειν ἔσται· τοιαῦτα ποιήσομεν ἡμεῖς.

Φιλοκλέων δράσω τοίνυν ὑμῖν πίσυνος, καὶ — μανθάνετʼ; — ἤν τι πάθω ʼγώ, 385 ἀνελόντες καὶ κατακλαύσαντες θεῖναί μʼ ὑπὸ τοῖσι δρυφάκτοις.

Χορός οὐδὲν πείσει· μηδὲν δείσῃς. ἀλλʼ ὦ βέλτιστε καθίει σαυτὸν θαρρῶν κἀπευξάμενος τοῖσι πατρῴοισι θεοῖσιν.

Βδελυκλέων οὗτος ἐγείρου. 395

Ξανθίας τί τὸ πρᾶγμʼ;

Βδελυκλέων ὥσπερ φωνή μέ τις ἐγκεκύκλωται.

Ξανθίας μῶν ὁ γέρων πῃ διαδύεται αὖ;

Βδελυκλέων μὰ Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ, ἀλλὰ καθιμᾷ αὑτὸν δήσας.

Ξανθίας ὦ μιαρώτατε τί ποιεῖς; οὐ μὴ καταβήσει;

Βδελυκλέων ἀνάβαινʼ ἀνύσας κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν καὶ ταῖσιν φυλλάσι παῖε, ἤν πως πρύμνην ἀνακρούσηται πληγεὶς ταῖς εἰρεσιώναις.

Current edition Perseus

Philocleon But if these notice it and want to fish me up and drag me back into the house, what will you do? Tell me that.

Leader of the Chorus We shall call up the full strength of our oak-tough courage to your aid. That is what we will do.

Philocleon 385 I trust myself to you and risk the danger. If misfortune overtakes me, take away my body, bathe it with your tears and bury it beneath the bar of the tribunal.

Leader of the Chorus Nothing will happen to you, rest assured. Come, friend, have courage and let yourself slide down while you invoke your country's gods.

Bdelycleon to Xanthias 395 Ho, there! ho! get up!

Xanthias waking up What's the matter?

Bdelycleon I thought I heard talking close to me.

Xanthias Is the old man at it again, escaping through some loophole?

Bdelycleon No, by Zeus! no, but he is letting himself down by a rope.

Xanthias Ha, rascal! what are you doing there? You shall not descend.

Bdelycleon To XanthiasMount quick to the other window, strike him with the boughs that hang over the entrance; perhaps he will turn back when he feels himself being thrashed.

Philocleon to the audience 400 To the rescue! all you, who are going to have lawsuits this year —Smicythion, Tisiades, Chremon and Pheredipnus. It's now or never, before they force me to return, that you must help.

Commentary

Line 395c

Line 400

Stable identifiers

Φιλοκλέων

ἄγε νυν, ἢν αἰσθομένω τούτω ζητῆτόν μʼ ἐσκαλαμᾶσθαι

κἀνασπαστὸν ποιεῖν εἴσω, τί ποιήσετε; φράζετε νυνί.

Χορός

ἀμυνοῦμέν σοι τὸν πρινώδη θυμὸν ἅπαντες καλέσαντες

ὥστʼ οὐ δυνατόν σʼ εἵργειν ἔσται· τοιαῦτα ποιήσομεν ἡμεῖς.

Φιλοκλέων

δράσω τοίνυν ὑμῖν πίσυνος, καὶ — μανθάνετʼ; — ἤν τι πάθω ʼγώ,
385

ἀνελόντες καὶ κατακλαύσαντες θεῖναί μʼ ὑπὸ τοῖσι δρυφάκτοις.

Χορός

οὐδὲν πείσει· μηδὲν δείσῃς. ἀλλʼ ὦ βέλτιστε καθίει

σαυτὸν θαρρῶν κἀπευξάμενος τοῖσι πατρῴοισι θεοῖσιν.

Βδελυκλέων

οὗτος ἐγείρου.
395

Ξανθίας

τί τὸ πρᾶγμʼ;

Βδελυκλέων

ὥσπερ φωνή μέ τις ἐγκεκύκλωται.

Ξανθίας

μῶν ὁ γέρων πῃ διαδύεται αὖ;

Βδελυκλέων

μὰ Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ, ἀλλὰ καθιμᾷ

αὑτὸν δήσας.

Ξανθίας

ὦ μιαρώτατε τί ποιεῖς; οὐ μὴ καταβήσει;

Βδελυκλέων

ἀνάβαινʼ ἀνύσας κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν καὶ ταῖσιν φυλλάσι παῖε,

ἤν πως πρύμνην ἀνακρούσηται πληγεὶς ταῖς εἰρεσιώναις.

Philocleon

But if these notice it and want to fish me up and drag me back into the house, what will you do? Tell me that.

Leader of the Chorus

We shall call up the full strength of our oak-tough courage to your aid. That is what we will do.

Philocleon

385 I trust myself to you and risk the danger. If misfortune overtakes me, take away my body, bathe it with your tears and bury it beneath the bar of the tribunal.

Leader of the Chorus

Nothing will happen to you, rest assured. Come, friend, have courage and let yourself slide down while you invoke your country's gods.

Bdelycleon
to Xanthias

395 Ho, there! ho! get up!

Xanthias
waking up

What's the matter?

Bdelycleon

I thought I heard talking close to me.

Xanthias

Is the old man at it again, escaping through some loophole?

Bdelycleon

No, by Zeus! no, but he is letting himself down by a rope.

Xanthias

Ha, rascal! what are you doing there? You shall not descend.

Bdelycleon

To XanthiasMount quick to the other window, strike him with the boughs that hang over the entrance; perhaps he will turn back when he feels himself being thrashed.

Philocleon
to the audience

400 To the rescue! all you, who are going to have lawsuits this year —Smicythion, Tisiades, Chremon and Pheredipnus. It's now or never, before they force me to return, that you must help.