Aristophanes Wasps 85

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

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Ξανθίας

ἄλλως φλυαρεῖτʼ· οὐ γὰρ ἐξευρήσετε.
85

εἰ δὴ ʼπιθυμεῖτʼ εἰδέναι, σιγᾶτε νῦν.

φράσω γὰρ ἤδη τὴν νόσον τοῦ δεσπότου.

φιληλιαστής ἐστιν ὡς οὐδεὶς ἀνήρ,

ἐρᾷ τε τούτου, τοῦ δικάζειν, καὶ στένει

ἢν μὴ ʼπὶ τοῦ πρώτου καθίζηται ξύλου.
90

ὕπνου δʼ ὁρᾷ τῆς νυκτὸς οὐδὲ πασπάλην.

ἢν δʼ οὖν καταμύσῃ κἂν ἄχνην, ὅμως ἐκεῖ

ὁ νοῦς πέτεται τὴν νύκτα περὶ τὴν κλεψύδραν.

ὑπὸ τοῦ δὲ τὴν ψῆφόν γʼ ἔχειν εἰωθέναι

τοὺς τρεῖς ξυνέχων τῶν δακτύλων ἀνίσταται,
95

ὥσπερ λιβανωτὸν ἐπιτιθεὶς νουμηνίᾳ.

καὶ νὴ Δίʼ ἢν ἴδῃ γέ που γεγραμμένον

υἱὸν Πυριλάμπους ἐν θύρᾳ Δῆμον καλόν,

ἰὼν παρέγραψε πλησίον κημὸς καλός.

τὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα δʼ, ὃς ᾖδʼ ἀφʼ ἑσπέρας, ἔφη
100

ὄψʼ ἐξεγείρειν αὐτὸν ἀναπεπεισμένον,

παρὰ τῶν ὑπευθύνων ἔχοντα χρήματα.

εὐθὺς δʼ ἀπὸ δορπηστοῦ κέκραγεν ἐμβάδας,

κἄπειτʼ ἐκεῖσʼ ἐλθὼν προκαθεύδει πρῲ πάνυ,

ὥσπερ λεπὰς προσεχόμενος τῷ κίονι.
105

ὑπὸ δυσκολίας δʼ ἅπασι τιμῶν τὴν μακρὰν

ὥσπερ μέλιττʼ ἢ βομβυλιὸς εἰσέρχεται

ὑπὸ τοῖς ὄνυξι κηρὸν ἀναπεπλασμένος.

ψήφων δὲ δείσας μὴ δεηθείη ποτέ,

ἵνʼ ἔχοι δικάζειν, αἰγιαλὸν ἔνδον τρέφει.
110

τοιαῦτʼ ἀλύει· νουθετούμενος δʼ ἀεὶ

μᾶλλον δικάζει. τοῦτον οὖν φυλάττομεν

μοχλοῖσιν ἐνδήσαντες, ὡς ἂν μὴ ʼξίῃ.

ὁ γὰρ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ τὴν νόσον βαρέως φέρει.

καὶ πρῶτα μὲν λόγοισι παραμυθούμενος
115

ἀνέπειθεν αὐτὸν μὴ φορεῖν τριβώνιον

μηδʼ ἐξιέναι θύραζʼ, ὁ δʼ οὐκ ἐπείθετο.

εἶτʼ αὐτὸν ἀπέλου κἀκάθαιρʼ, ὁ δʼ οὐ μάλα.

μετὰ τοῦτʼ ἐκορυβάντιζʼ, ὁ δʼ αὐτῷ τυμπάνῳ

ᾄξας ἐδίκαζεν ἐς τὸ καινὸν ἐμπεσών.
120

ὅτε δῆτα ταύταις ταῖς τελεταῖς οὐκ ὠφέλει,

διέπλευσεν εἰς Αἴγιναν, εἶτα ξυλλαβὼν

νύκτωρ κατέκλινεν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἀσκληπιοῦ,

ὁ δʼ ἀνεφάνη κνεφαῖος ἐπὶ τῇ κιγκλίδι.

ἐντεῦθεν οὐκέτʼ αὐτὸν ἐξεφρίεμεν,
125

ὁ δʼ ἐξεδίδρασκε διά τε τῶν ὑδρορροῶν

καὶ τῶν ὀπῶν· ἡμεῖς δʼ ὅσʼ ἦν τετρημένα

ἐνεβύσαμεν ῥακίοισι κἀπακτώσαμεν,

ὁ δʼ ὡσπερεὶ κολοιὸς αὑτῷ παττάλους

ἐνέκρουεν ἐς τὸν τοῖχον, εἶτʼ ἐξήλλετο.
130

ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν αὐλὴν ἅπασαν δικτύοις

καταπετάσαντες ἐν κύκλῳ φυλάττομεν.

ἔστιν δʼ ὄνομα τῷ μὲν γέροντι Φιλοκλέων

ναὶ μὰ Δία, τῷ δʼ υἱεῖ γε τῳδὶ Βδελυκλέων,

ἔχων τρόπους φρυαγμοσεμνάκους τίνας.
135

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 (1)

Wasps (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 85 focus

Xanthias

85 It's mere waste of time, you will not find it out. If you want to know it, keep silence! I will tell your our master's complaint; of all men, it is he who is fondest of the Heliaea. Thus, to be judging is his hobby, and he groans 90 if he is not sitting on the first seat. He does not close an eye at night, and if he dozes off for an instant his mind flies instantly to the clepsydra. He is so accustomed to hold the balloting pebble, 95 that he awakes with his three fingers pinched together as if he were offering incense to the new moon. If he sees scribbled on some doorway, "How charming is Demos, the son of Pyrilampes!" he will write beneath it, "How charming is Cemos!" 100 His cock crowed one evening; said he, "He has had money from the accused to awaken me too late. As soon as he rises from supper he bawls for his shoes and away he rushes down there before dawn to sleep beforehand, 105 glued fast to the column like an oyster. He is a merciless judge, never failing to draw the convicting line and return home with his nails full of wax like a bumble-bee. Fearing he might run short of pebbles 110 he keeps enough at home to cover a sea-beach, so that he may have the means of recording his sentence. Such is his madness, and all advice is useless; he only judges the more each day. So we keep him under lock and key, to prevent his going out; for his son is broken-hearted over this mania. 115 At first he tried him with gentleness, wanted to persuade him to wear the cloak no longer, to go out no more; unable to convince him, he had him bathed and purified according to the ritual without any greater success, and then handed him over to the Corybantes; but the old man escaped them, and carrying off the kettledrum, 120 rushed right into the midst of the Heliasts. As Cybele could do nothing with her rites, his son took him to Aegina and forcibly made him lie one night in the temple of Asclepius, the God of Healing, but before daylight there he was to be seen at the gate of the tribunal. 125 Since then we let him go out no more, but he escaped us by the drains or by the skylight, so we stuffed up every opening with old rags and made all secure; 130 then he drove short sticks into the wall and sprang from rung to rung like a magpie. Now we have stretched nets all around the court and we keep watch and ward. The old man's name is Philocleon, it's the best name he could have, and the son is called Bdelycleon, 135 for he is a man very fit to cure an insolent fellow of his boasting.