Aristophanes Wasps 526-728

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

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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.) — 526 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.) — 526 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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ἐμβάλλει μοι τὴν χεῖρʼ ἁπαλὴν τῶν δημοσίων κεκλοφυῖαν·
The phrase τῶν δημοσίων κεκλοφυῖαν represents a striking and highly irregular use of the genitive plural with the adjective κεκλοφυῖαν (meaning 'soft' or 'delicate', derived from κηλέω 'to soften'). Here, it functions not as a standard attributive genitive modifying a noun, but as a substantive genitive of origin or possession, effectively meaning 'the softness belonging to the public [fingers/hands]'. This construction is rare in Aristophanes, who typically favors more direct apposition or simple adjectival agreement, and it creates a deliberate synecdoche where the abstract quality of 'softness' (associated with the leisurely, non-manual labor of the elite) is transferred to the physical act of the chorus leader (the 'public' figure) reaching out. The use of the genitive τῶν δημοσίων to modify an implied 'χέρι' (hand) is syntactically elliptical but semantically charged, contrasting the physical 'hand' (χεῖρ') with the abstract 'softness' (ἁπαλὴν) in a way that highlights the social satire of the 'public' man's lack of physical labor.

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κακὰ πρὸς τοῖς οὖσιν, † ἕως ἀνιῶν ἂν ἰσώσῃ τοῖσιν ἐμοῖσιν· †
The text contains a critical crux marked by the dagger symbols (†). The phrase 'ἕως ἀνιῶν ἂν ἰσώσῃ' is syntactically and semantically problematic in its transmitted form. The participle 'ἀνιῶν' (being angry) combined with the future subjunctive 'ἰσώσῃ' (he will make equal) lacks a clear antecedent or logical connection to the preceding 'κακὰ πρὸς τοῖς οὖσιν' (evil things alongside the ears). Many editors, following the conjecture of Hermann or others, suggest a corruption where 'ἀνιῶν' may be a scribal error for 'ἀνύων' (accomplishing) or that the entire phrase requires emendation to restore the sense of 'until he has balanced the scales with my interests.' The variant reading or the necessity of conjecture here is significant because it alters the understanding of the character's threat regarding the balance of justice or retribution.

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ὥσπερ θεὸν ἀντιβολεῖ με τρέμων τῆς εὐθύνης ἀπολῦσαι·
The phrase τῆς εὐθύνης ἀπολῦσαι presents a syntactically irregular genitive construction. While the verb ἀπολύω typically governs the genitive of the person or thing being released (e.g., ἀπολύειν τινος), the use of the genitive τῆς εὐθύνης (of the responsibility/indictment) with ἀπολῦσαι (to release from) creates a semantic tension: one is released from a person or a charge, but here the abstract 'responsibility' itself is the object of release. This construction likely reflects the specific legal idiom of the Athenian courts where εὐθύνη referred to the accountability of a magistrate or official, and the phrase implies 'to release me from the liability of the εὐθύνη' rather than a simple 'release from a charge.' The genitive here is not a standard partitive or objective genitive but a specific legal technicality where the abstract noun functions as the source of the obligation from which the subject is freed.

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δεύτερον αὖ σου τουτὶ γράφομαι, τὴν τοῦ πλούτου καταχήνην·
The verb καταχήνην (katakḗnēn) is a hapax legomenon in this form, derived from the rare noun χήνη (goose) with the intensive prefix κατα-. Here it functions as a substantive metaphor for 'the goose of wealth' or 'the fattening of wealth,' a comic neologism unique to this passage where the chorus of wasps, acting as a jury, equates their judicial activity with fattening themselves on the spoils of the wealthy. The term relies on the audience's familiarity with the association of geese with gluttony and the specific Athenian context of 'fattening' the state or oneself through public funds, a metaphor Aristophanes extends to the jury's exploitation of the city's treasury.

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ἐκ τῆς Νιόβης εἴπῃ ῥῆσιν τὴν καλλίστην ἀπολέξας.
The participle ἀπολέξας ('selecting' or 'picking out') is used here with a strong rhetorical sense of 'selecting the finest' from a larger body of material, likely alluding to the competitive nature of the trial scene where the jury must choose the most persuasive argument. This usage reflects the specific rhetorical training of the period, where 'picking out' (eklegein) was a technical term for selecting the best arguments or passages, a concept Aristophanes parodies by applying it to the absurdity of Philocleon's obsessive behavior.

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κλάειν ἡμεῖς μακρὰ τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰπόντες τῇ διαθήκῃ
The phrase τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰπόντες is a striking instance of personification where an inanimate object (the will) is the implied agent of the speech act, while the human subjects are described as 'saying with the head.' This reflects a specific Athenian legal custom where jurors or litigants would gesture emphatically toward a written document (the will) to underscore its authority, effectively 'speaking through' the document itself. The construction εἰπόντες with a bodily part as the instrumental modifier, rather than the standard adverbial or prepositional phrase, highlights the performative nature of the legal ritual in Old Comedy.

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τῆς δʼ ἐπικλήρου τὴν διαθήκην ἀδικεῖς ἀνακογχυλιάζων.
The verb ἀνακογχυλιάζων is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes (and arguably in the entire extant corpus), formed from ἀνα- + κογχυλιάζω (to confuse or muddle, literally 'to mix with shells'). Here, it functions as a vivid metaphor for the defendant's deliberate obfuscation of the legal documents regarding the inheritance of the epikleros (heiress). The term's rarity and its specific connotation of 'muddling' rather than simple 'violating' (ἀδικεῖς) highlights the comic exaggeration of the legal maneuvering, suggesting the defendant is not just breaking the law but actively creating a confusing mess of the will's provisions to suit his own ends.

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καὶ παππίζουσʼ ἅμα τῇ γλώττῃ τὸ τριώβολον ἐκκαλαμᾶται,
The verb ἐκκαλαμᾶται (from ἐκκαλαμίζω) is a technical term of forensic rhetoric meaning 'to sharpen a speech' or 'to make a speech more biting/pointed,' literally 'to sharpen like a reed pen.' Here, Aristophanes uses it in a comic, literal sense to describe the physical act of a dog sharpening its tongue against a stone (or the ground) while eating the drachma, creating a pun that equates the dog's hunger with the lawyer's rhetorical aggression. This dual usage is a specific instance of the playwright's characteristic wordplay on legal terminology.

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βρωμησάμενος τοῦ σοῦ δίνου μέγα καὶ στράτιον κατέπαρδεν.
The verb καταπαρδέω (here καταπαρδεν) is a hapax legomenon in extant literature, formed with the prefix κατα- on the verb παρδέω (to fart), creating a hyperbolic meaning 'to fart violently' or 'to blow a massive fart.' In this context, the chorus of the Wasps, led by Bdelycleon's father Philocleon, uses this grotesque imagery to describe the effect of a large meal on his digestion, serving as a comedic climax to his gluttony. The construction is a prime example of Aristophanic scatological humor, where the physical expulsion of gas is conflated with the military metaphor of a 'farting army' (στράτιον) to mock the aggressive, bloated nature of the elderly juror.

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εἰς ἀπόφυξιν παλάμας.
The phrase εἰς ἀπόφυξιν παλάμας is an elliptical construction where the verb is supplied from the immediate context (likely a verb of 'stretching' or 'raising', such as ἐπιτείνω or ἀνέχω). The noun ἀπόφυξιν here functions not merely as 'escape' in the abstract, but specifically as a technical reference to the 'palm' (palma) gesture used in the context of the law courts or theatrical performance, where the raising of palms signifies a specific stance of defense or appeal. The use of the accusative of respect (or perhaps a peculiar accusative of the end with εἰς) to denote the specific physical action of the hands is a marked syntactic feature of Aristophanic comedy, compressing a complex physical description into a brief idiom that relies on the audience's familiarity with the physical gestures of the dikasteria.

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ἐς τούτους τοὺς οὐχὶ προδώσω τὸν Ἀθηναίων κολοσυρτόν,
The noun κολοσυρτόν (kolosurtón) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, and the only certain attestation of this specific form in extant Greek literature. Derived from κολοσύρτω (to steal or pilfer), it denotes a 'robbery' or 'plunder,' but here functions as a specific metonymy for the Athenian people themselves, whom the speaker treats as a collective loot to be betrayed or protected. The compound structure and its usage here reflect Aristophanes' characteristic coinage of abstract nouns for concrete political entities, a technique used to satirize the perceived vulnerability of the polis during the Peloponnesian War.

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ἐκ κηθαρίον λαγαριζόμενον καὶ τραγαλιζοντα τὸ μηδέν,
The adjectives λαγαριζόμενον and τραγαλιζοντα are coined by Aristophanes to satirize the pretensions of the new 'poetic' diction and the affectations of the Sophistic movement. They are formed from the nouns κηθαρίον (a small lyre) and τραγῳδία (tragedy), functioning as present participles with the suffix -ίζω to denote 'acting like a lyre-player' or 'acting like a tragedian.' The phrase mocks the chorus of the play, the Wasps, for being distracted by trivial, performative distractions ('playing at lyre' and 'playing at tragedy') while neglecting their actual duty of judging the legal cases, a central theme of the satire on the Athenian jury system.

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σοὶ δʼ ὧν ἄρχεις, πολλὰ μὲν ἐν γῇ πολλὰ δʼ ἐφʼ ὑγρᾷ πιτυλεύσας,
The participle πιτυλεύσας (from πιτυλεύω) is a hapax legomenon in extant Attic comedy and is almost certainly a coinage by Aristophanes, derived from πίτυς (pine). In this context, it functions as a metaphor for 'picking at' or 'picking over' legal documents or cases, evoking the image of a bird pecking at pine cones, thereby satirizing the jurors' tendency to obsess over trivial procedural details or the minutiae of the law rather than the substance of the case.

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ὅταν εἰσελθὸν μειράκιόν σοι κατάπυγον, Χαιρέου υἱός,
The phrase μειράκιόν σοι κατάπυγον is a rare and vivid example of a 'dative of reference' or 'dative of interest' combined with a compound adjective that literally means 'butt-wearing' or 'having a prominent posterior.' While μειράκιον (youth) is standard, the compound κατάπυγος is exceptionally rare in extant comedy outside of this passage and its immediate scholia, functioning here as a specific insult implying effeminacy or a specific physical type associated with the 'eromenos' (beloved) in pederastic contexts, rather than merely describing a fat youth. The syntax places the dative σοι (to you) between the noun and its modifier, a hypermetric or emphatic arrangement typical of Aristophanic wordplay, where the physical description 'κατάπυγον' serves as a punchline to the legalistic setup of 'Χαιρέου υἱός' (son of Chaereus).

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ἤν τίς τι διδῷ τῶν φευγόντων, ξυνθέντε τὸ πρᾶγμα δύʼ ὄντε
The phrase δύʼ ὄντε is a striking example of the 'dative of the participle' functioning as a predicative dative, agreeing with the dative plural subject of the main clause (implied 'you two' or the addressees). While the participle ὄντε is in the dative plural, the numeral δύʼ is in the accusative neuter dual, creating a syntactic tension where the numeral agrees with the implied number of the subject rather than the case of the participle. This construction, where the numeral stands in the accusative to denote the 'amount' or 'number' of the subject while the participle agrees in case with the subject, is a marked feature of comic Greek that compresses the logic of 'being two' into a dative absolute-like construction without the explicit 'with' preposition, emphasizing the shared state of the two men as the condition for the action.

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ἐσπουδάκατον, κᾆθʼ ὡς πρίονθʼ ὁ μὲν ἕλκει ὁ δʼ ἀντενέδωκε·
The verb ἐσπουδάκατον is a rare, non-standard first-person plural aorist indicative form of σπουδάζω, appearing here with the augment and the specific ending -ατον (parallel to ἐφρόνηκατον in other comic usages) rather than the more common ἐσπουδάσαμεν. This morphological anomaly reflects the comic poet's license to manipulate verbal morphology for metrical convenience or to evoke a colloquial, rustic tone appropriate to the character Philocleon, while simultaneously adhering to the strict quantitative meter of the iambic trimeter.

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καὶ στεφάνοισιν παντοδαποῖσιν καὶ πυριάτῃ,
The phrase πυριάτῃ (dative singular of πυριάτης) refers to a specific type of wreath woven from the fruit of the wild pear (Pyrus pyraster), a plant often associated with rustic or humble offerings, contrasting with the more common olive or laurel wreaths. Its inclusion here, alongside 'wreaths of every kind' (στεφάνοισιν παντοδαποῖσιν), likely serves a satirical function in Aristophanes' critique of the extravagant or indiscriminate rewards bestowed upon the jury-dog (Bdelycleon's father) in the play, highlighting the absurdity of honoring him with such varied, even lowly, tokens.

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πλὴν κωλακρέτου γάλα πίνειν.
The compound adjective κωλακρέτης (here in the genitive κωλακρέτου) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, constructed from κῶλον ('limb, joint') and κρέω ('to rub'), literally 'rubbing the joints.' In this context, it describes a dog that is rubbed down or anointed, a practice associated with pampered pets or hunting dogs. The term is semantically opaque without knowing the specific colloquialism of the time regarding the care of dogs in the Athenian household, where such anointing was a sign of excessive luxury or a specific training ritual for hunting dogs, contrasting with the wild nature of the 'wasps' (the chorus) who are otherwise associated with biting and fighting.