Aristophanes Wasps 1270

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

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.) — 1265-1291 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.) — 1265 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.) — 1265 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

1270. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-70

Line 1270

πεινῇ γὰρ ᾗπερ Ἀντιφῶν·
The name Ἀντιφῶν (Antiphon) is the crucial crux here. The text likely refers to Antiphon of Rhamnus (the orator and sophist, executed in 411 BCE), whose reputation for extreme frugality and rigorous self-denial was proverbial in Athens. The comedy relies on the audience recognizing that the character Philocleon (the 'old man' suffering from his obsession with jury duty) is being compared to a man known for his severe, almost pathological, poverty and hunger. This identification is essential because the joke is not merely that someone is hungry, but that they are hungry in the specific, notorious manner associated with this specific historical figure, whose very name had become a byword for ascetic deprivation.