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Τρυγαῖος

ἀκούετε λεῴ· τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀπιέναι

τὰ γεωργικὰ σκεύη λαβόντας εἰς ἀγρὸν

Τρυγαῖος

ὡς τάχιστʼ ἄνευ δορατίου καὶ ξίφους κἀκοντίου·

ὡς ἅπαντʼ ἤδη ʼστὶ μεστὰ τἀνθάδʼ εἰρήνης σαπρᾶς.

ἀλλὰ πᾶς χώρει πρὸς ἔργον εἰς ἀγρὸν παιωνίσας.
555

Χορός

ὦ ποθεινὴ τοῖς δικαίοις καὶ γεωργοῖς ἡμέρα,

ἄσμενός σʼ ἰδὼν προσειπεῖν βούλομαι τὰς ἀμπέλους,

τάς τε συκᾶς, ἃς ἐγὼ ʼφύτευον ὢν νεώτερος,

ἀσπάσασθαι θυμὸς ἡμῖν ἐστι πολλοστῷ χρόνῳ.

Τρυγαῖος

νῦν μὲν οὖν ὦνδρες προσευξώμεσθα πρῶτον τῇ θεῷ,
560

ἥπερ ἡμῶν τοὺς λόφους ἀφεῖλε καὶ τὰς Γοργόνας·

εἶθʼ ὅπως Λιταργιοῦμεν οἴκαδʼ ἐς τὰ χωρία,

ἐμπολήσαντές τι χρηστὸν εἰς ἀγρὸν ταρίχιον.

Ἑρμῆς

ὦ Πόσειδον ὡς καλὸν τὸ στῖφος αὐτῶν φαίνεται

καὶ πυκνὸν καὶ γοργὸν ὥσπερ μᾶζα καὶ πανδαισία.
565

Τρυγαῖος

νὴ Δίʼ ἡ γὰρ σφῦρα λαμπρὸν ἦν ἄρʼ ἐξωπλισμένη,

αἵ τε θρίνακες διαστίλβουσι πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον.

ἦ καλῶς αὐτῶν ἀπαλλάξειεν ἂν μετόρχιον.

ὥστʼ ἔγωγʼ ἤδη ʼπιθυμῶ καὐτὸς ἐλθεῖν εἰς ἀγρὸν

καὶ τριαινοῦν τῇ δικέλλῃ διὰ χρόνου τὸ γῄδιον.
570

Peace. 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

Εἰρήνη (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.)

Translations (2)

Peace (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 551 focus

Trygaeus

Listen, good folk! Let the husbandmen take their farming tools and return to their fields as quickly as possible, but without either sword, spear or javelin. All is as quiet as if Peace had been reigning for a century. 555 Come, let everyone go and till the earth, singing the Paean.

Leader of the Chorus
To Peace.

Oh, thou, whom men of standing desired and who art good to husbandmen, I have gazed upon thee with delight; and now I go to greet my vines, to caress after so long an absence the fig trees I planted in my youth.

Trygaeus

560 Friends, let us first adore the goddess, who has delivered us from crests and Gorgons; then let us hurry to our farms, having first bought a nice little piece of salt fish to eat in the fields.

Hermes

By Poseidon! what a fine crew they make 565 and dense as the crust of a cake; they are as nimble as guests on their way to a feast.

Trygaeus

See, how their iron spades glitter and how beautifully their three-pronged mattocks glisten in the sun! How regularly they align the plants! I also burn to go into the country 570 and to turn over the earth I have so long neglected. —

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.) — 551 focus

Trygaeus: Listen, you people! The farmers are leaving.

Trygaeus: taking the agricultural tools into the field.

Trygaeus: as quickly as possible, without a spear, a sword, or a javelin.

Trygaeus: how everything here is already full of rotten peace.

Trygaeus: But let everyone march off to work in the field, strumming the lyre.

555

Chorus: O day longed for by the just and by the farmers,

Chorus: I wish to address the vines, having seen you with joy,

Chorus: both the fig trees, which I used to plant when I was younger,

Chorus: Our heart longs to embrace after so long a time.

Trygaeus: Now then, men, let us first pray to the goddess,

560

Trygaeus: which took away our hills and the Gorgons;

Trygaeus: Then, so that we may go home to the fields,

Trygaeus: They have bought a good pickle to put in the field.

Hermes: O Poseidon, how beautiful their crowd appears!

Hermes: and thick and swift, like a cake and a feast.

565

Trygaeus: By Zeus, for the mallet was, I suppose, well armed.

Trygaeus: And the reeds sparkle in the sun.

Trygaeus: He would surely get rid of them as a leaseholder.

Trygaeus: So now I myself also desire to go to the country.

Trygaeus: and [he is] piercing the mole with the pitchfork through a long time.

570

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

554. mvp-tlg0019-tlg005-sanjaya-com-eng1-7

Line 554

ὡς ἅπαντʼ ἤδη ʼστὶ μεστὰ τἀνθάδʼ εἰρήνης σαπρᾶς.

The phrase σαπρᾶς εἰρήνης ('rotten peace') is a sharp ironic inversion of the standard heroic or diplomatic ideal of εἰρήνη. Aristophanes uses σαπρός, typically describing decaying food or moral corruption, to characterize the peace as not merely imperfect, but actively putrid and useless, suggesting a peace that has ceased to provide sustenance or order. This lexical choice is deliberate satire, contrasting the audience's expectation of a 'good' peace with the reality of a corrupt settlement.

561. mvp-tlg0019-tlg005-sanjaya-com-eng1-8

Line 561

ἥπερ ἡμῶν τοὺς λόφους ἀφεῖλε καὶ τὰς Γοργόνας·

The phrase 'τὰς Γοργόνας' functions as a comic hyperbole for the Aeginetans. In the context of the play, Aristophanes is satirizing the Aeginetans' martial reputation and their historical piracy; by equating them with the Gorgons (monstrous female figures whose gaze turned men to stone), the poet suggests they are not merely dangerous enemies but mythical monsters. This identification relies on the specific historical rivalry between Athens and Aegina, where Aegina was often depicted as a thorn in the side of the city, and the 'lophous' (crests of enemies) refers to the spoils of war or the heads of defeated foes. The use of the plural 'Gorgons' rather than a singular is a deliberate rhetorical choice to emphasize the collective threat and the monstrous nature of the Aeginetan fleet.

562. mvp-tlg0019-tlg005-sanjaya-com-eng1-9

Line 562

εἶθʼ ὅπως Λιταργιοῦμεν οἴκαδʼ ἐς τὰ χωρία,

The verb Λιταργιοῦμεν is a comic neologism coined by Aristophanes, derived from the name of the minor god Litaios (or a corruption of Lityerses, a figure associated with threshing). It functions as a verb meaning 'to thresh' or 'to trample grain,' here used humorously to suggest returning home to thresh grain in the fields, playing on the agricultural context of the play's conclusion. This is a rare example of Aristophanic wordplay where a proper name is verbalized for comic effect.

563. mvp-tlg0019-tlg005-sanjaya-com-eng1-10

Line 563

ἐμπολήσαντές τι χρηστὸν εἰς ἀγρὸν ταρίχιον.

The phrase ταρίχιον (tarichion) is a diminutive of τάρῑχος (salted fish), here used with a specific comedic effect to describe a meager purchase ('a little salted fish') that the characters have managed to acquire for the farm, contrasting sharply with the grandiose agricultural aspirations implied by the context of the play. This usage highlights the economic desperation of the setting and the triviality of the 'good' (χρηστὸν) they can afford.

Aristophanes Peace 551

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Τρυγαῖος

ἀκούετε λεῴ· τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀπιέναι

τὰ γεωργικὰ σκεύη λαβόντας εἰς ἀγρὸν

Ἑρμῆς

ὦ Πόσειδον ὡς καλὸν τὸ στῖφος αὐτῶν φαίνεται

καὶ πυκνὸν καὶ γοργὸν ὥσπερ μᾶζα καὶ πανδαισία.
565

Current edition Perseus

Trygaeus

Listen, good folk! Let the husbandmen take their farming tools and return to their fields as quickly as possible, but without either sword, spear or javelin. All is as quiet as if Peace had been reigning for a century. 555 Come, let everyone go and till the earth, singing the Paean.

Leader of the Chorus
To Peace.

Oh, thou, whom men of standing desired and who art good to husbandmen, I have gazed upon thee with delight; and now I go to greet my vines, to caress after so long an absence the fig trees I planted in my youth.

Trygaeus

560 Friends, let us first adore the goddess, who has delivered us from crests and Gorgons; then let us hurry to our farms, having first bought a nice little piece of salt fish to eat in the fields.

Hermes

By Poseidon! what a fine crew they make 565 and dense as the crust of a cake; they are as nimble as guests on their way to a feast.

Trygaeus

See, how their iron spades glitter and how beautifully their three-pronged mattocks glisten in the sun! How regularly they align the plants! I also burn to go into the country 570 and to turn over the earth I have so long neglected. —

Commentary

Line 554

Line 561

Line 562

Line 563

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Τρυγαῖος ἀκούετε λεῴ· τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀπιέναι τὰ γεωργικὰ σκεύη λαβόντας εἰς ἀγρὸν

Ἑρμῆς ὦ Πόσειδον ὡς καλὸν τὸ στῖφος αὐτῶν φαίνεται καὶ πυκνὸν καὶ γοργὸν ὥσπερ μᾶζα καὶ πανδαισία. 565

Current edition Perseus

Trygaeus Listen, good folk! Let the husbandmen take their farming tools and return to their fields as quickly as possible, but without either sword, spear or javelin. All is as quiet as if Peace had been reigning for a century. 555 Come, let everyone go and till the earth, singing the Paean.

Leader of the Chorus To Peace. Oh, thou, whom men of standing desired and who art good to husbandmen, I have gazed upon thee with delight; and now I go to greet my vines, to caress after so long an absence the fig trees I planted in my youth.

Trygaeus 560 Friends, let us first adore the goddess, who has delivered us from crests and Gorgons; then let us hurry to our farms, having first bought a nice little piece of salt fish to eat in the fields.

Hermes By Poseidon! what a fine crew they make 565 and dense as the crust of a cake; they are as nimble as guests on their way to a feast.

Trygaeus See, how their iron spades glitter and how beautifully their three-pronged mattocks glisten in the sun! How regularly they align the plants! I also burn to go into the country 570 and to turn over the earth I have so long neglected. —

Commentary

Line 554

Line 561

Line 562

Line 563

Stable identifiers

Τρυγαῖος

ἀκούετε λεῴ· τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀπιέναι

τὰ γεωργικὰ σκεύη λαβόντας εἰς ἀγρὸν

Ἑρμῆς

ὦ Πόσειδον ὡς καλὸν τὸ στῖφος αὐτῶν φαίνεται

καὶ πυκνὸν καὶ γοργὸν ὥσπερ μᾶζα καὶ πανδαισία.
565

Trygaeus

Listen, good folk! Let the husbandmen take their farming tools and return to their fields as quickly as possible, but without either sword, spear or javelin. All is as quiet as if Peace had been reigning for a century. 555 Come, let everyone go and till the earth, singing the Paean.

Leader of the Chorus
To Peace.

Oh, thou, whom men of standing desired and who art good to husbandmen, I have gazed upon thee with delight; and now I go to greet my vines, to caress after so long an absence the fig trees I planted in my youth.

Trygaeus

560 Friends, let us first adore the goddess, who has delivered us from crests and Gorgons; then let us hurry to our farms, having first bought a nice little piece of salt fish to eat in the fields.

Hermes

By Poseidon! what a fine crew they make 565 and dense as the crust of a cake; they are as nimble as guests on their way to a feast.

Trygaeus

See, how their iron spades glitter and how beautifully their three-pronged mattocks glisten in the sun! How regularly they align the plants! I also burn to go into the country 570 and to turn over the earth I have so long neglected. —