Aristophanes Peace 974

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Peace. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

English (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)
Εἰρήνη Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 922-1126 focus
Translations (1)
Peace (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 974 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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τένθαις πολλοῖς· κᾆτα Μελάνθιον
The text presents a significant crux regarding the reading of the first word. While the transmitted text reads τένθαις (tenthais, 'with many tenons/pegs'), some scholars, following the logic of the context (a discussion of a trap or mechanism), have conjectured τένθαις (with the accent on the first syllable) or even questioned the lexical identity entirely, as the plural dative of τέθνη (a rare form or variant of τέθνη/τένθη meaning a peg or pin) is exceptionally rare in Attic comedy. The phrase likely refers to the mechanism of the 'Trap' (ἡ παγίς) in the play's allegory, where the number of pegs is a specific detail of the trap's construction that Melanthius (the goatherd) is meant to operate or inspect. The ambiguity of the noun's form and the specific mechanical reference warrants scrutiny against the manuscript tradition.

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τὰς δὲ πεπρᾶσθαι, τὸν δʼ ὀτοτύζειν,
The construction τὰς δὲ πεπρᾶσθαι (feminine plural accusative participle) followed by τὸν δʼ ὀτοτύζειν (masculine singular accusative participle) presents a striking case of the 'sympathetic' or 'attracted' accusative in indirect discourse or a dependent clause where the subjects differ in gender and number from the implied governing verb (likely ἔφη or ἔλεγον, 'he/she said'). Here, Aristophanes juxtaposes the fate of the women (ἔθνεσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων πεπρᾶσθαι, 'to be sold') with that of the man (ὀτοτύζειν, 'to be beaten'), compressing two distinct accusative subjects into a single syntactic frame. While the accusative + infinitive is standard, the attraction of the participle to the gender/number of the object it describes (the women being sold, the man being beaten) without a clear governing verb in the immediate context is a marked rhetorical device, emphasizing the parallel suffering of the two groups. This is not a routine accusative-infinitive but a deliberate syntactic compression to heighten the comic contrast.