Aristophanes Wasps 1151

Wasps. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (English) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Σφῆκες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 1122-1264 focus
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.) — 1170 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.) — 1170 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

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.