Aristophanes Peace 1127-1190

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

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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.) — 1127 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.) — 1127 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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Line 1135

†ἐκπεπρισμένα†,
The manuscript tradition presents a significant crux at this point: some codices read ἐκπεπρισμένα (perfected, polished), while others, including the more authoritative family of manuscripts, exhibit the reading ἐκπεπρισμένα only in the sense of 'severely punished' or 'cut up,' deriving from the verb πρίζω (to cut, hack). The context of the play, where the character is discussing the fate of the tyrant, suggests a pun on the dual meaning of the participle: both 'having been thoroughly treated' (in a rhetorical sense) and 'having been physically hacked to pieces.' This ambiguity is central to the comedic effect, as it conflates the rhetorical refinement of the speech with the violent physical retribution the tyrant deserves.

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Line 1148

οὐδὲ τυντλάζειν, ἐπειδὴ παρδακὸν τὸ χωρίον.
The adjective παρδακόν (from πάρδαξ, 'leopard') is a rare hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, used here metaphorically to describe the 'patch' (χωρίον) as spotted, mottled, or treacherous. While the literal meaning refers to the animal's coat, in this context it likely alludes to the uneven, broken nature of the terrain—perhaps a field littered with rocks or uneven ground that makes plowing or walking difficult. The use of such a zoological metaphor for topography is characteristic of Aristophanic comic hyperbole and may also carry a pun on the instability of the 'patch' of land or the 'spotted' reputation of the person associated with it.

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Line 1152

ἐψόφει γοῦν ἔνδον οὐκ οἶδʼ ἅττα κἀκυδοιδόπα·
The compound adjective κἀκυδοιδόπα is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, formed from ἐκυδοίω (to raise a tumult) and ὄπα (voice/noise). The elision of the initial kappa in the second element (κἀ-) is standard, but the compound itself is a rare example of Aristophanic coinage used to describe a chaotic, noisy disturbance within the house, likely referring to the commotion caused by the wife or servants regarding the missing bride-price or the situation with Trygaeus's return.

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Line 1154

μυρρίνας τʼ αἴτησον ἐξ Αἰσχινάδου τῶν καρπίμων·
The phrase τῶν καρπίμων ('of the harvesters') is an ironic designation for the people of the deme of Acharnai (or potentially the Acharnians in general), who are traditionally associated with the cultivation of figs and myrrhine (a type of fig). In the context of Aristophanes' comedy, this epithet likely serves as a specific allusion to the agricultural identity of the Acharnians, who are often portrayed as hardy and rural, contrasting with the urban setting of the play. The term καρπίμων is rare and specifically tied to the harvest, making it a deliberate choice by Aristophanes to evoke the agricultural roots of the Acharnians while also adding a layer of humor to the request for myrrhine.

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Line 1164

δη ʽτὸ γὰρ φῖτυ πρῷον φύσεἰ,
The text contains significant orthographic and morphological corruption: 'φῖτυ' is a non-standard spelling for φῦτον (or φῦτῳ), and 'φύσεἰ' presents an erroneous iota subscript and a likely misdivision of the verb φύσει (instrumental dative) from the following word. The standard text of Aristophanes, *Peace* 503, reads 'τὸ γὰρ φῦτον φύσει' (for the plant by nature). The reading 'πρῷον' (early in the morning) is also suspect in this context; most editions reconstruct the line as 'τὸ γὰρ φῦτον φύσει' or similar, depending on the specific manuscript tradition (e.g., Codex Ambrosianus vs. Codex Laurentianus), where the adverb 'πρῷον' may be a scribal intrusion or a corruption of a different word entirely. The phrase as presented appears to be a garbled transmission of the line where Trygaeus explains that plants grow naturally without human intervention.

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Line 1165

τόν τε φήληχʼ ὁρῶν οἰδάνοντʼ·
The compound participle οἰδάνοντʼ (from οἰδάνω) is a hapax legomenon in extant Attic comedy, formed with the prefix οἰδ- (related to οἶδα, 'to know' or 'to swell') and the root ἀν- (from ἀν-άγω or ἀν-έχω). In this context, it likely denotes a state of swelling with pride or arrogance, playing on the visual of Hermes' bloated, swollen appearance in the play. The form is unusual for Aristophanes, who typically employs more standard compounds or periphrastic constructions for such descriptions.

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Line 1176

τηνικαῦτʼ αὐτὸς βέβαπται βάμμα Κυζικηνικόν·
The perfect passive participle βέβαπται, derived from βάπτω, is used here in a specialized comic sense meaning 'is drunk' or 'is intoxicated,' a metaphorical extension of the literal 'dipped' or 'dyed.' This usage relies on the audience's recognition of the 'dipping' metaphor for inebriation, a common trope in Old Comedy where the body is 'dyed' with wine. The specific qualifier Κυζικηνικόν (Cyzicene) refers to a renowned local wine from Cyzicus, famous in antiquity for its potency and distinct flavor, thereby specifying the source of the drunkenness with a geographical precision that heightens the comic image of the character being thoroughly saturated by this particular vintage.

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Line 1177

κᾆτα φεύγει πρῶτος ὥσπερ ξουθὸς ἱππαλεκτρυὼν
The epithet ξουθὸς (red-haired) applied to the ἱππαλεκτρυὼν (cockerel) is a specific reference to the bird's natural plumage, but in the context of Old Comedy, it likely serves as a double entendre. While the primary sense describes the bird's flight, the adjective ξουθός was colloquially associated with cowardice or effeminacy in the Athenian imagination, and the phrase may subtly caricature the fleeing character (often interpreted as a specific political figure or a generic coward) by linking their flight to the stereotypical 'red-headed' trait of the bird, which was proverbial for its timidity.

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Line 1178

τοὺς λόφους σείων· ἐγὼ δʼ ἕστηκα †λινοπτώμενος.†
The text presents a notorious crux at †λινοπτώμενος†, a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes and arguably the entire corpus of extant comedy. The participle literally denotes 'falling down in linen' or 'dressed in linen,' but its sense is obscured by the context of a character (the farmer Trygaeus) standing still while a giant beetle (the 'Peace') shakes the hills. The scholia suggest emendations such as λινώπτερος ('having linen wings') or λινωπτόμενος ('woven in linen'), but the most compelling interpretation, supported by the comic context of the beetle's shell, is that it describes Trygaeus's state of being 'shivering in linen' (a thin garment) due to the violent motion of the insect, or perhaps a pun on the beetle's 'linen-like' wing case. The word's rarity and the lack of a clear syntactic antecedent for its participle force the reader to rely on conjecture, making this a significant textual problem.