Aristophanes Wasps 1122-1264

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

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Card
← Previous Next →

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.) — 1122 focus
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.) — 1122 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

1127. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-60

Line 1127

καὶ γὰρ πρότερον ἐπανθρακίδων ἐμπλήμενος
The genitive plural ἐπανθρακίδων is a hapax legomenon in the Aristophanic corpus (and rare in general Attic), deriving from the adjective ἐπανθρακίτης (a 'soot-seller' or one who deals in charcoal). Here it functions as a substantive in the genitive of content (or measure), paralleling constructions like πλήρης ὕδατος. The term is significant for the comedic context of Philocleon's delirious transformation into a wasp, where he imagines himself as a creature of the earth or perhaps alludes to the soot-stained, subterranean conditions of the wasps' nest or the underworld, contrasting with the 'bright' civic life of the jury courts. The form is morphologically regular but semantically opaque without the specific lexical knowledge of the compound.

1144. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-61

Line 1144

ἐν Ἐκβατάνοισι γίγνεται κρόκης χόλιξ;
The phrase ἐν Ἐκβατάνοισι (in Ecbatana) is a hyperbolic geographical marker rather than a literal claim of agricultural practice. Ecbatana, the capital of Media, was famous in Greek literature for its cold climate and distance from Attica, making the cultivation of χόλιξ (a type of wild lettuce or thistle) there absurd. Aristophanes uses this impossible pairing to satirize the obsessive nature of the juror Philocleon, suggesting that his desire to judge cases is so intense that he imagines it occurring even in the most remote and unsuitable locations, thereby exaggerating the ubiquity of the legal process.

1151. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-62

Line 1151

ὡς θερμὸν ἡ μιαρά τί μου κατήρυγεν.
The verb κατήρυγεν (aorist of κατάρωμαι) here takes a direct object in the accusative (μου) with a predicate adjective in the nominative (θερμὸν ἡ μιαρά), a construction that reflects the specific syntax of curses in Attic comedy: the curse is not merely 'upon' someone but 'to be' something, effectively predicating the quality of the curse itself onto the addressee. While the aorist participle ὡς θερμὸν might suggest a temporal or causal clause ('as soon as the wretched one cursed me to be hot'), the context of Bdelycleon's speech suggests a rhetorical inversion where the 'heat' is the result of the curse, a syntactic ambiguity that Aristophanes exploits for comic effect, contrasting the literal heat of the fever with the metaphorical heat of the curse.

1158. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-63

Line 1158

τασδὶ δʼ ἀνύσας † ὑπόδυθι † τὰς Λακωνικάς.
The phrase '† ὑπόδυθι †' is a textual crux; the verb ὑπόδυθι (aorist imperative of ὑποδύω, 'to put on') is metrically impossible in this position within the iambic trimeter and creates a sense of 'putting on' the 'Laconics' that is semantically awkward. Editors have variously conjectured the text, with most accepting the emendation ὑπόδυθι for the transmitted reading or suggesting a corruption where the verb should be something like ὑποδύου (present) or a different verb entirely, such as ὑποδύειν (to undergo) or perhaps a reference to the 'Laconian' style of speech or dress which the character is being told to adopt. The specific issue is the lack of a clear antecedent for what 'Laconics' refers to in this context, leading to the emendation of the verb to make sense of the action.

1177. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-64

Line 1177

πρῶτον μὲν ὡς ἡ Λάμιʼ ἁλοῦσʼ ἐπέρδετο,
The phrase 'ὡς ἡ Λάμιʼ ἁλοῦσʼ ἐπέρδετο' functions as a proverbial allusion to the fall of Lamia in 323 BCE, where the city was captured by Antipater and subsequently subjected to a humiliating defeat. Aristophanes employs this historical reference metaphorically to describe the state of the defendant or the situation in the courtroom, suggesting a moment of disgrace or defeat. The use of the aorist participle 'ἁλοῦσʼ' followed by the aorist verb 'ἐπέρδετο' (a vulgar term for 'farted') creates a comic juxtaposition of a serious historical event with bodily functions, characteristic of Old Comedy's tendency to debase high concepts.

1178. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-65

Line 1178

ἔπειτα δʼ ὡς ὁ Καρδοπίων τὴν μητέρα.
The phrase ὡς ὁ Καρδοπίων functions as a comparative clause introducing a simile, yet it lacks an explicit main clause or verb of saying/thinking in the immediate text. This ellipsis is characteristic of Aristophanic comedy, where the dramatic action (the judge's reaction or the chorus's interjection) is implied by the preceding context rather than stated, forcing the audience to supply the missing predicate (e.g., 'he was like' or 'he became') to understand the comparison being drawn between the judge and Cardopion's mother.

1191. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-66

Line 1191

Ἐφουδίων παγκράτιον Ἀσκώνδᾳ καλῶς,
The proper noun Ἀσκώνδᾳ (Askōnda) refers to a specific individual, likely a reference to a real person known for his prowess or perhaps a specific anecdote involving the pankration. In the context of Aristophanes, such names often serve as targets of satire or allusions to contemporary figures whose reputations were well-known to the original audience but are obscure to modern readers without specific prosopographical research. The dative case here may indicate the person to whom the action is directed or the person being addressed in a boastful or ironic manner.

1201. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-67

Line 1201

ὅτʼ Ἐργασίωνος τὰς χάρακας ὑφειλόμην.
The phrase τὰς χάρακας refers to the wooden palisades or fortifications of the workshop (ergasterion) of Ergasios, a specific location in Athens. The verb ὑφειλόμην (aorist passive of ὑφίημι) here carries the technical sense of 'borrowing' or 'taking on a debt' in a commercial context, but the object τὰς χάρακας suggests a physical act of taking possession of or perhaps damaging the structures as a form of security or theft, a detail crucial for understanding the comic exaggeration of the character's financial desperation and the specific legal or social friction regarding property in the workshop district.