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Χορός

ἀλλʼ ἴθι χαίρων· ἡμεῖς δὲ τέως τάδε τὰ σκεύη παραδόντες

τοῖς ἀκολούθοις δῶμεν σῴζειν, ὡς εἰώθασι μάλιστα
730

περὶ τὰς σκηνὰς πλεῖστοι κλέπται κυπτάζειν καὶ κακοποιεῖν.

ἀλλὰ φυλάττετε ταῦτʼ ἀνδρείως· ἡμεῖς δʼ αὖ τοῖσι θεαταῖς

ἣν ἔχομεν ὁδὸν λόγων εἴπωμεν ὅσα τε νοῦς ἔχει.

734

Χορός

χρῆν μὲν τύπτειν τοὺς ῥαβδούχους, εἴ τις κωμῳδοποιητὴς

αὑτὸν ἐπῄνει πρὸς τὸ θέατρον παραβὰς ἐν τοῖς ἀναπαίστοις·
735

εἰ δʼ οὖν εἰκός τινα τιμῆσαι, θύγατερ Διός, ὅστις ἄριστος

κωμῳδοδιδάσκαλος ἀνθρώπων καὶ κλεινότατος γεγένηται,

ἄξιος εἶναί φησʼ εὐλογίας μεγάλης ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν.

πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἀντιπάλους μόνος ἀνθρώπων κατέπαυσεν

ἐς τὰ ῥάκια σκώπτοντας ἀεὶ καὶ τοῖς φθειρσὶν πολεμοῦντας,
740

τούς θʼ Ἡρακλέας τοὺς μάττοντας καὶ τοὺς πεινῶντας ἐκείνους

ἐξήλασʼ ἀτιμώσας πρῶτος, καὶ τοὺς δούλους παρέλυσεν

τοὺς φεύγοντας κἀξαπατῶντας καὶ τυπτομένους ἐπίτηδες,

οὓς ἐξῆγον κλάοντας ἀεί, καὶ τούτους οὕνεκα τουδί,

ἵνʼ ὁ σύνδουλος σκώψας αὐτοῦ τὰς πληγὰς εἶτʼ ἀνέροιτο,
745

ὦ κακόδαιμον τί τὸ δέρμʼ ἔπαθες; μῶν ὑστριχὶς εἰσέβαλέν σοι

ἐς τὰς πλευρὰς πολλῇ στρατιᾷ κἀδενδροτόμησε τὸ νῶτον;

τοιαῦτʼ ἀφελὼν κακὰ καὶ φόρτον καὶ βωμολοχεύματʼ ἀγεννῆ

ἐποίησε τέχνην μεγάλην ἡμῖν κἀπύργωσʼ οἰκοδομήσας

ἔπεσιν μεγάλοις καὶ διανοίαις καὶ σκώμμασιν οὐκ ἀγοραίοις,
750

οὐκ ἰδιώτας ἀνθρωπίσκους κωμῳδῶν οὐδὲ γυναῖκας,

ἀλλʼ Ἡρακλέους ὀργήν τινʼ ἔχων τοῖσι μεγίστοις ἐπεχείρει,

διαβὰς βυρσῶν ὀσμὰς δεινὰς κἀπειλὰς βορβοροθύμους,

καὶ πρῶτον μὲν μάχομαι πάντων αὐτῷ τῷ καρχαρόδοντι,

οὗ δεινόταται μὲν ἀπʼ ὀφθαλμῶν Κύννης ἀκτῖνες ἔλαμπον,
755

ἑκατὸν δὲ κύκλῳ κεφαλαὶ κολάκων οἰμωξομένων ἐλιχμῶντο

περὶ τὴν κεφαλήν, φωνὴν δʼ εἶχεν χαράδρας ὄλεθρον τετοκυίας,

φώκης δʼ ὀσμήν, Λαμίας ὄρχεις ἀπλύτους, πρωκτὸν δὲ καμήλου.

τοιοῦτον ἰδὼν τέρας οὐ κατέδεισʼ, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν πολεμίζων

ἀντεῖχον ἀεὶ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων νήσων. ὧν οὕνεκα νυνὶ
760

ἀποδοῦναί μοι τὴν χάριν ὑμᾶς εἰκὸς καὶ μνήμονας εἶναι.

καὶ γὰρ πρότερον πράξας κατὰ νοῦν οὐχὶ παλαίστρας περινοστῶν

παῖδας ἐπείρων, ἀλλʼ ἀράμενος τὴν σκευὴν εὐθὺς ἐχώρουν,

παῦρʼ ἀνιάσας, πόλλʼ εὐφράνας, πάντα παρασχὼν τὰ δέοντα.

765

Χορός

πρὸς ταῦτα χρεὼν εἶναι μετʼ ἐμοῦ
765

καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ τοὺς παῖδας·

καὶ τοῖς φαλακροῖσι παραινοῦμεν

ξυσπουδάζειν περὶ τῆς νίκης.

πᾶς γάρ τις ἐρεῖ νικῶντος ἐμοῦ

κἀπὶ τραπέζῃ καὶ ξυμποσίοις,
770

φέρε τῷ φαλακρῷ, δὸς τῷ φαλακρῷ

τῶν τρωγαλίων, καὶ μἀφαίρει

γενναιοτάτου τῶν ποιητῶν

ἀνδρὸς τὸ μέτωπον ἔχοντος.

775

Χορός

Μοῦσα σὺ μὲν πολέμους ἀπωσαμένη μετʼ ἐμοῦ
775

τοῦ φίλου χόρευσον,

κλείουσα θεῶν τε γάμους ἀνδρῶν τε δαῖτας

καὶ θαλίας μακάρων· σοὶ γὰρ τάδʼ ἐξ ἀρχῆς μέλει.
780

ἢν δέ σε Καρκίνος ἐλθὼν

ἀντιβολῇ μετὰ τῶν παίδων χορεῦσαι,

μήθʼ ὑπάκουε μήτʼ ἔλθῃς
785

συνέριθος αὐτοῖς,

ἀλλὰ νόμιζε πάντας

ὄρτυγας οἰκογενεῖς γυλιαύχενας ὀρχηστὰς

ναννοφυεῖς σφυράδων ἀποκνίσματα μηχανοδίφας.
790

καὶ γὰρ ἔφασχʼ ὁ πατὴρ ὃ παρʼ ἐλπίδας

εἶχε τὸ δρᾶμα γαλῆν τῆς ἑσπέρας ἀπάγξαι.
795

797

Χορός

τοιάδε χρὴ Χαρίτων δαμώματα καλλικόμων

τὸν σοφὸν ποιητὴν

ὑμνεῖν, ὅταν ἠρινὰ μὲν φωνῇ χελιδὼν
800

ἑζομένη κελαδῇ, χορὸν δὲ μὴ ʼχῃ Μόρσιμος

μηδὲ Μελάνθιος, οὗ δὴ

πικροτάτην ὄπα γηρύσαντος ἤκουσʼ
805

ἡνίκα τῶν τραγῳδῶν

τὸν χορὸν εἶχον ἁδελφός

τε και αὐτός, ἄμφω

Γοργόνες ὀψοφάγοι βατιδοσκόποι Ἅρπυιαι,
810

γραοσόβαι μιαροὶ τραγομάσχαλοι ἰχθυολῦμαι·

ὧν καταχρεμψαμένη μέγα καὶ πλατὺ
815

Μοῦσα θεὰ μετʼ ἐμοῦ ξύμπαιζε τὴν ἑορτήν.

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.) — 729 focus

Leader of the Chorus

Farewell and good luck be yours! Let us begin by handing over all this gear 730 to the care of our servants, for no place is less safe than a theater; there is always a crowd of thieves prowling around it, seeking to find some mischief to do. Come, keep a good watch over all this. As for ourselves, let us explain to the spectators what we have in our minds, the purpose of our play.

Chorus
The Chorus turns and faces the audience.

Undoubtedly the comic poet who 735 mounted the stage to praise himself in the parabasis would deserve to be handed over to the sticks of the beadles. Nevertheless, oh Muse, if it be right to esteem the most honest and illustrious of our comic writers at his proper value, permit our poet to say that he thinks he has deserved a glorious renown. First of all, he is the one who has compelled his rivals no longer 740 to scoff at rags or to war with lice; and as for those Heracleses, always chewing and ever hungry, he was the first to cover them with ridicule and to chase them from the stage; he has also dismissed that slave, whom one never failed to set weeping before you, 745 so that his comrade might have the chance of jeering at his stripes and might ask, “Wretch, what has happened to your hide? Has the lash rained an army of its thongs on you and laid your back waste?” After having delivered us from all these wearisome ineptitudes and these low buffooneries, he has built up for us a great art, like a palace with high towers, 750 constructed of fine phrases, great thoughts and of jokes not common on the streets. Moreover it's not obscure private persons or women that he stages in his comedies; but, bold as Heracles, it's the very greatest whom he attacks, undeterred by the fetid stink of leather or the threats of hearts of mud. He has the right to say, “I am the first ever dared to go straight for that beast with the sharp teeth 755 and the terrible eyes that flashed lambent fire like those of Cynna, surrounded by a hundred lewd flatterers, who spittle-licked him to his heart's content; it had a voice like a roaring torrent, the stench of a seal, the unwashed balls of a Lamia and the arse of a camel. I did not recoil in horror at the sight of such a monster, but fought him relentlessly to win your deliverance 760 and that of the islanders.” Such are the services which should be graven in your recollection and entitle me to your thanks. Yet I have not been seen frequenting the wrestling school intoxicated with success and trying to seduce young boys; but I took all my theatrical gear and returned straight home. I pained folk but little and caused them much amusement; my conscience rebuked me for nothing.

Chorus
More and more rapidly from here on.

765 Hence both grown men and youths should be on my side and I likewise invite the bald to give me their votes; for, if I triumph, everyone will say, 770 both at table and at festivals, “Carry this to the bald man, give these cakes to the bald one, do not grudge the poet whose talent shines as bright as his own bare skull the share he deserves.”

First Semi-Chorus
Singing.

Oh, Muse! drive the war far from our city 775 and come to preside over our dances, if you love me; come and celebrate the nuptials of the gods, the banquets of us mortals 780 and the festivals of the fortunate; these are the themes that inspire thy most poetic songs. And should Carcinus come to beg thee for admission with his sons to thy chorus, 785 refuse all traffic with them; remember they are but gelded birds, stork-necked dancers, 790 mannikins about as tall as a goat's turd, in fact machine-made poets. Contrary to all expectation, the father 795 has at last managed to finish a piece, but he admits that a cat strangled it one fine evening.

Second Semi-Chorus
Singing.

Such are the songs with which the Muse with the glorious hair 800 inspires the able poet and which enchant the assembled populace, when the spring swallow twitters beneath the foliage; but the god spare us from the chorus of Morsimus and that of Melanthius! 805 Oh! what a bitter discordancy grated upon my ears that day when the tragic chorus was directed by this same Melanthius and his brother, these two 810 Gorgons, these two Harpies, the plague of the seas, whose gluttonous bellies devour the entire race of fishes, these followers of old women, these goats with their stinking arm-pits. 815 Oh! Muse, spit upon them abundantly and keep the feast gaily with me.

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.) — 729 focus

Chorus: But go on, rejoicing; but we, for the present, having handed over these utensils,

Chorus: Let us give the followers the task of saving, as they are accustomed to do above all.

730

Chorus: around the scenes the greatest number of thieves are prowling and doing evil.

Chorus: But watch these things bravely; but we, in turn, to the spectators

Chorus: Let us say the way we have of speaking whatever thought we have.

Chorus: The rod-bearers ought indeed to have been struck, if any comic poet.

Chorus: He praised himself after stepping forward during the anapaests;

735

Chorus: But if it is fitting to honor someone, daughter of Zeus, whoever is the best,

Chorus: he has become a teacher of comedy of men and most renowned,

Chorus: Our teacher, they say, is worthy of great praise.

Chorus: for first of all, he alone among men stopped his opponents

Chorus: to the rags, always mocking and fighting with the lice,

740

Chorus: the tenth Heracleses who are beating and those who are hungry

Chorus: having driven him out, he first punished him, and he set the slaves free

Chorus: the fugitives and the deceivers and the ones being struck on purpose,

Chorus: whom they led out weeping always, and these because of this,

Chorus: so that the fellow-slave, having mocked his blows, then might inquire,

745

Chorus: O wretch, what has happened to your skin? Did a hedgehog get inside you?

Chorus: Did he cut off the back with a great army to the sides?

Chorus: Having removed such evils, and a burden, and ignoble clownings.

Chorus: He made a great art for us and fortified it, having built it.

Chorus: with weighty words, thoughts, and jokes not of the marketplace,

750

Chorus: not making fun of uneducated little men, nor of women,

Chorus: but having some anger of Heracles, he attempted against the greatest ones,

Chorus: having passed through the terrible and foul smells of tanned leather, smelling of mud,

Chorus: And first of all I fight with that very saw-toothed one,

Chorus: But from the eyes of Cynna the most dazzling rays were shining,

755

Chorus: And a hundred heads of flatterers wailing rolled round in a circle.

Chorus: around the head, and she had the voice of a ravine that gave birth to destruction,

Chorus: and the smell of a seal, the unclean testicles of Lamia, and the buttocks of a camel.

Chorus: Such a monster seeing, you were not terrified, but fighting on behalf of you

Chorus: They always held out against the other islands too. For this reason, now...

760

Chorus: It is fitting for you to repay me your gratitude and to be mindful.

Chorus: For having acted before as you wished, not wandering around the wrestling-schools,

Chorus: I was testing the boys, but lifting the gear, I immediately set out,

Chorus: having suffered little pain, having given much joy, having provided all that was necessary.

Chorus: In light of this, it is necessary for me to be with you.

765

Chorus: both the men and the boys;

Chorus: And we give advice to the bald men.

Chorus: to strive hard for the victory.

Chorus: for someone will say that I am winning.

Chorus: and at the table and at the drinking parties,

770

Chorus: Bring it to the bald man, give it to the bald man.

Chorus: of the ground-hogs, and he would kill them

Chorus: of the most noble of the poets

Chorus: having the forehead of a man.

Chorus: Muse, you having repelled wars with me

775

Chorus: dance for your friend,

Chorus: closing the weddings of the gods and the banquets of men

Chorus: and the feasts of the blessed ones; for this is your concern from the beginning.

780

Chorus: And if Cancer comes to you,

Chorus: may I dance with the children,

Chorus: Do not obey, nor come.

785

Chorus: a fellow traveler with them,

Chorus: but think that everyone...

Chorus: quails, domestic, with necks that glisten, dancers

Chorus: dwarf-born scraps of the bellows-smiths.

790

Chorus: For the father used to say that, beyond expectation,

Chorus: The play should have strangled the polecat in the evening.

795

Chorus: Such are the charms of the Fair-Haired Graces.

Chorus: the wise poet.

Chorus: to sing, when the swallow calls in the spring

800

Chorus: May she sit and sing, but may Morsimus not have the chorus.

Chorus: and not even Melanthius, he indeed

Chorus: I heard the bitterest cry of the one who cried out.

805

Chorus: when the tragedies

Chorus: the brother had the chorus.

Chorus: and he himself, both of them

Chorus: Gorgons, fish-eaters, cod-watchers, Harpies,

810

Chorus: dirty old women, goat-bearded, fish-eaters;

Chorus: having fallen headlong, greatly and broadly

815

Chorus: Muse, goddess, play with me throughout the festival.

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

753. mvp-tlg0019-tlg005-sanjaya-com-eng1-20

Line 753

διαβὰς βυρσῶν ὀσμὰς δεινὰς κἀπειλὰς βορβοροθύμους,

The compound adjective δεινὰς κἀπειλὰς is a rare hendiadys (or close variant) where 'terrible' and 'threatening' are conjoined to intensify the sensory assault of the tanning vats. The epithet βορβοροθύμους (mud-hearted or mud-breathing) is a strikingly vivid, almost comic, synecdoche for the smell of the tannery itself, attributing a physical substance (mud) to the abstract concept of breath or spirit, thereby personifying the noxious fumes as a living, choking entity. This usage reflects Aristophanes' tendency to transform mundane industrial processes into grotesque mythological monsters, a technique seen elsewhere in his comedies when depicting the underworld or the lower classes.

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Line 755

οὗ δεινόταται μὲν ἀπʼ ὀφθαλμῶν Κύννης ἀκτῖνες ἔλαμπον,

The noun Κύννης is the genitive singular of Κύννα, a proper name referring to the Egyptian city of Canopus (Greek: Κάνωβος). In this passage, Aristophanes uses the local toponym in the genitive to denote 'rays from the eyes of Canopus,' a metonymy where the city stands for its patron goddess Isis (often associated with the star Sirius or the moon in comic exaggeration). The choice of the rare form Κύννης rather than the more common Κάνωπος reflects the poet's preference for archaic or poetic variants to fit the meter and his specific allusion to the 'Canopic' light, which the scholiasts explain as a reference to the brightness of the eyes of the goddess Isis, whose cult was centered at Canopus. This usage is a deliberate comic hyperbole, equating the brightness of the eyes of the character Hermes (or the goddess in the context of the play) with the celestial radiance of the Canopic star.

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Line 795

εἶχε τὸ δρᾶμα γαλῆν τῆς ἑσπέρας ἀπάγξαι.

The phrase τῆς ἑσπέρας (genitive of time) functions adverbially with the infinitive ἀπάγξαι, indicating the specific time of the action ('at evening'). While the genitive of time is common, its use here with an infinitive in a comic context, where the subject 'the drama' is personified as the agent of strangling the polecat, creates a syntactic ambiguity: is the drama the agent performing the action at evening, or is the drama the object being acted upon? The context of Aristophanes' play suggests the former, with the drama itself as the absurd agent, a rare instance of personification in this syntactic construction.

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Line 807

τὸν χορὸν εἶχον ἁδελφός

The manuscript tradition preserves the reading ἁδελφός ('brother') here, but this creates an insurmountable grammatical and semantic difficulty: the verb ἔχω ('had') requires an accusative object, yet ἁδελφός is nominative, and the notion of 'holding a brother' as a choreographer holds no sense in the context of the play's plot. The consensus among scholars is that ἁδελφός is a corruption of ἁδελφός in the sense of 'the chorus' (a rare metonymy) or, more likely, a dittography or corruption of ἁπλοῦς ('simple') or a specific technical term for a chorus leader, though the exact restoration remains a crux. Some editors have conjectured ἁδελφός for ἁδελφός, but the most compelling solution, supported by the context of the play's satire on the chorus's role, is to read the text as a corruption of ἁπλοῦς or a similar term, with the current reading representing a scribal error that has persisted in the transmission.

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Line 811

γραοσόβαι μιαροὶ τραγομάσχαλοι ἰχθυολῦμαι·

The adjective τραγομάσχαλοι ('goat-axillary' or 'goat-ribbed') is a rare, Aristophanic coinage describing the coarse, hairy underarms of the rustic chorus members, evoking the satyr-like appearance of the 'goat-men' associated with rural festivals and Dionysiac rites. The compound's novelty underscores the grotesque, comic dehumanization of the farmers in this scene.

Aristophanes Peace 729-816

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