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They rush at the two Athenians.

Euelpides

This is the fatal moment. Where shall I fly to, unfortunate wretch that I am?

Pisthetaerus

Wait! Stay here!

Euelpides

355 That they may tear me to pieces?

Pisthetaerus

And how do you think to escape them?

Euelpides

I don't know at all.

Pisthetaerus

Come, I will tell you. We must stop and fight them. Let us arm ourselves with these stew-pots.

Euelpides

Why with the stew-pots?

Pisthetaerus

The owl will not attack us then.

Euelpides

But do you see all those hooked claws?

Pisthetaerus

Take the spit 360 and pierce the foe on your side.

Euelpides

And how about my eyes?

Pisthetaerus

Protect them with this dish or this vinegar-pot.

Euelpides

Oh! what cleverness! what inventive genius! You are a great general, even greater than Nicias, where stratagem is concerned.

Leader of the Chorus

Forward, forward, charge with your beaks! Come, no delay. 365 Tear, pluck, strike, flay them, and first of all smash the stew-pot.

Epops
Stepping in front of the Chorus.

Oh, most cruel of all animals, why tear these two men to pieces, why kill them? What have they done to you? They belong to the same tribe, to the same family as my wife.

Leader of the Chorus

Are wolves to be spared? Are they not our most mortal foes? 370 So let us punish them.

Epops

If they are your foes by nature, they are your friends in heart, and they come here to give you useful advice.

Leader of the Chorus

Advice or a useful word from their lips, from them, the enemies of my forebears?

Epops

375 The wise can often profit by the lessons of a foe, for caution is the mother of safety. It is just such a thing as one will not learn from a friend and which an enemy compels you to know. To begin with, it's the foe and not the friend that taught cities to build high walls, to equip long vessels of war; 380 and it's this knowledge that protects our children, our slaves and our wealth.

Leader of the Chorus

Well then, I agree, let us first hear them, for that is best; one can even learn something in an enemy's school.

Pisthetaerus
To Euelpides.

Their wrath seems to cool. Draw back a little.

Epops

It's only justice, and you will thank me later.

Leader of the Chorus

385 Never have we opposed your advice up to now.

Birds. Aristophanes. ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Birds (OCR draft) (English) (Anonymous translation, 1938 compilation; legacy Perseus source migration. Preserved separately from the revised canonical perseus-eng2 at the project owner's request.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ὄρνιθες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 354 focus

Ἐυελπίδης

τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖνο· ποῖφύγω δύστηνος;

Πισθέταιρος

οὗτος οὐ μενεῖς;

Ἐυελπίδης

ἵνʼ ὑπὸ τούτων διαφορηθῶ;
355

Πισθέταιρος

πῶς γὰρ ἂν τούτους δοκεῖς

ἐκφυγεῖν;

Ἐυελπίδης

οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ἄν.

Πισθέταιρος

ἀλλʼ ἐγώ τοί σοι λέγω,

ὅτι μένοντε δεῖ μάχεσθαι λαμβάνειν τε τῶν χυτρῶν.

Ἐυελπίδης

τί δὲ χύτρα νώ γʼ ὠφελήσει;

Πισθέταιρος

γλαῦξ μὲν οὐ πρόσεισι νῷν.

Ἐυελπίδης

τοῖς δὲ γαμψώνυξι τοισδί;

Πισθέταιρος

τὸν ὀβελίσκον ἁρπάσας

εἶτα κατάπηξον πρὸ σαυτοῦ.
360

Ἐυελπίδης

τοῖσι δʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσι τί;

Πισθέταιρος

ὀξύβαφον ἐντευθενὶ προσδοῦ λαβὼν ἢ τρύβλιον.

Ἐυελπίδης

ὦ σοφώτατʼ, εὖ γʼ ἀνηῦρες αὐτὸ καὶ στρατηγικῶς·

ὑπερακοντίζεις σύ γʼ ἤδη Νικίαν ταῖς μηχαναῖς.

Χορός

ἐλελελεῦ χώρει κάθες τὸ ῥύγχος· οὐ μέλλειν ἐχρῆν.

ἕλκε τίλλε παῖε δεῖρε, κόπτε πρώτην τὴν χύτραν.
365

Ἔποψ

εἰπέ μοι τί μέλλετʼ ὦ πάντων κάκιστα θηρίων

ἀπολέσαι παθόντες οὐδὲν ἄνδρε καὶ διασπάσαι

τῆς ἐμῆς γυναικὸς ὄντε ξυγγενεῖ καὶ φυλέτα;

Χορός

φεισόμεσθα γάρ τι τῶνδε μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς ἢ λύκων;

ἢ τίνας τεισαίμεθʼ ἄλλους τῶνδʼ ἂν ἐχθίους ἔτι;
370

Ἔποψ

εἰ δὲ τὴν φύσιν μὲν ἐχθροὶ τὸν δὲ νοῦν εἰσιν φίλοι,

καὶ διδάξοντές τι δεῦρʼ ἥκουσιν ὑμᾶς χρήσιμον;

Χορός

πῶς δʼ ἂν οἵδʼ ἡμᾶς τι χρήσιμον διδάξειάν ποτε

ἢ φράσειαν, ὄντες ἐχθροὶ τοῖσι πάπποις τοῖς ἐμοῖς;

Ἔποψ

ἀλλʼ ἀπʼ ἐχθρῶν δῆτα πολλὰ μανθάνουσιν οἱ σοφοί.
375

ἡ γὰρ εὐλάβεια σῴζει πάντα. παρὰ μὲν οὖν φίλου

οὐ μάθοις ἂν τοῦθʼ, ὁ δʼ ἐχθρὸς εὐθὺς ἐξηνάγκασεν.

αὐτίχʼ αἱ πόλεις παρʼ ἀνδρῶν γʼ ἔμαθον ἐχθρῶν κοὐ φίλων

ἐκπονεῖν θʼ ὑψηλὰ τείχη ναῦς τε κεκτῆσθαι μακράς·

τὸ δὲ μάθημα τοῦτο σῴζει παῖδας οἶκον χρήματα.
380

Χορός

ἔστι μὲν λόγων ἀκοῦσαι πρῶτον, ὡς ἡμῖν δοκεῖ,

χρήσιμον· μάθοι γὰρ ἄν τις κἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν σοφόν.

Πισθέταιρος

οἵδε τῆς ὀργῆς χαλᾶν εἴξασιν. ἄναγʼ ἐπὶ σκέλος.

Ἔποψ

καὶ δίκαιόν γʼ ἐστὶ κἀμοὶ δεῖ νέμειν ὑμᾶς χάριν.

Χορός

ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδʼ ἄλλο σοί πω πρᾶγμʼ ἐνηντιώμεθα.
385

Translations (2)

Birds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Complete Greek Drama, Vol. 2. Anonymous, translator. O'Neill, Eugene; Oates, Whitney Jennings, editors. New York: Random House, 1938 (printing).)

No corresponding passage available

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.) — 354 focus

Euelpides: That's just what I was looking for; where can I flee, wretched man?

Pisthetaerus: Will this one not stand firm?

Euelpides: So that I may be carried off by these?

355

Pisthetairos: For how do you think these men

Pisthetaerus: 'To escape?'

Euelpides: I do not know how it might be.

Pisthetaerus: But I tell you this,

Pisthetaerus: that, since they are waiting, we must fight and take the pots.

Euelpides: But what will a pot ever profit you?

Pisthetaerus: The owl does not come near us.

Eupolis: And what about these crook-noses?

Pisthetaerus: seizing the spit,

Pisthetairos: Then stick it right in front of you.

360

Eupolis: 'But what about the eyes?'

Pisthetaerus: take from here a sharp-dyed piece of wool or a bowl.

Euelpides: O most wise one, you have hit upon it well and strategically;

Eupolis: You are already outstripping Nicias with your devices.

Chorus: E-le-le-uh, march on, put down your beak; you ought not to delay.

Chorus: pull, pluck, strike, beat, hit the pot first.

365

Hoopoe: tell me what you are planning, you most evil beasts of all.

Ἔποψ: having suffered loss, we men would neither be ruined nor torn apart.

Epops: "Of my wife's relative and fellow-tribesman?"

Chorus: For will we show more pity for these things than for wolves?

Chorus: Or whom else could we punish more bitterly than these?

370

Epops: if, indeed, they are enemies of nature but friends of mind,

Epops: And having taught you something useful, have they come here?

Chorus: How could these people ever teach us anything useful?

Chorus: Or would they have been able to perceive it, being enemies to my grandfathers?

Epops: But truly, the wise learn many things from their enemies.

375

Epops: for caution preserves everything. So then, from a friend

Epos: You would not have learned this, but the enemy immediately compelled [you].

Ἔποψ: 'The cities, at once, learned from men to be enemies and not friends.'

Epopos: to labor hard for high walls and to possess long ships;

Epops: But this lesson saves children, money, and the house.

380

Chorus: First, it is necessary to hear words, as it seems to us,

Chorus: Useful; for someone might even learn wisdom from his enemies.

Pisthetaerus: Let these relax from their anger. Come on, onto your leg!

Epops: And it is right for me too to pay you a favor.

Chorus: But indeed, we have not yet opposed any other thing to you.

385

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

361. mvp-tlg0019-tlg006-sanjaya-com-eng1-12

Line 361

ὀξύβαφον ἐντευθενὶ προσδοῦ λαβὼν ἢ τρύβλιον.

The compound adjective ὀξύβαφον (sharp-dyed, i.e., purple-dyed) refers to a specific type of expensive purple cloth or garment, a detail that underscores the comedic exaggeration of the bird-people's wealth and the absurdity of the proposed transaction; the term is technically a hapax in this exact form in Aristophanes, though the compound logic is standard for describing Tyrian purple goods.

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Euelpides This is the fatal moment. Where shall I fly to, unfortunate wretch that I am?

Pisthetaerus Wait! Stay here!

Euelpides 355 That they may tear me to pieces?

Pisthetaerus And how do you think to escape them?

Euelpides I don't know at all.

Pisthetaerus Come, I will tell you. We must stop and fight them. Let us arm ourselves with these stew-pots.

Euelpides Why with the stew-pots?

Pisthetaerus The owl will not attack us then.

Euelpides But do you see all those hooked claws?

Pisthetaerus Take the spit 360 and pierce the foe on your side.

Euelpides And how about my eyes?

Pisthetaerus Protect them with this dish or this vinegar-pot.

Euelpides Oh! what cleverness! what inventive genius! You are a great general, even greater than Nicias, where stratagem is concerned.

Leader of the Chorus Forward, forward, charge with your beaks! Come, no delay. 365 Tear, pluck, strike, flay them, and first of all smash the stew-pot.

Epops Stepping in front of the Chorus. Oh, most cruel of all animals, why tear these two men to pieces, why kill them? What have they done to you? They belong to the same tribe, to the same family as my wife.

Leader of the Chorus Are wolves to be spared? Are they not our most mortal foes? 370 So let us punish them.

Epops If they are your foes by nature, they are your friends in heart, and they come here to give you useful advice.

Leader of the Chorus Advice or a useful word from their lips, from them, the enemies of my forebears?

Leader of the Chorus Well then, I agree, let us first hear them, for that is best; one can even learn something in an enemy's school.

Pisthetaerus To Euelpides. Their wrath seems to cool. Draw back a little.

Epops It's only justice, and you will thank me later.

Leader of the Chorus 385 Never have we opposed your advice up to now.

Current edition Experimental

Ἐυελπίδης τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖνο· ποῖφύγω δύστηνος;

Πισθέταιρος οὗτος οὐ μενεῖς;

Ἐυελπίδης ἵνʼ ὑπὸ τούτων διαφορηθῶ; 355

Πισθέταιρος πῶς γὰρ ἂν τούτους δοκεῖς ἐκφυγεῖν;

Ἐυελπίδης οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ἄν.

Πισθέταιρος ἀλλʼ ἐγώ τοί σοι λέγω, ὅτι μένοντε δεῖ μάχεσθαι λαμβάνειν τε τῶν χυτρῶν.

Ἐυελπίδης τί δὲ χύτρα νώ γʼ ὠφελήσει;

Πισθέταιρος γλαῦξ μὲν οὐ πρόσεισι νῷν.

Ἐυελπίδης τοῖς δὲ γαμψώνυξι τοισδί;

Πισθέταιρος τὸν ὀβελίσκον ἁρπάσας εἶτα κατάπηξον πρὸ σαυτοῦ. 360

Ἐυελπίδης τοῖσι δʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσι τί;

Πισθέταιρος ὀξύβαφον ἐντευθενὶ προσδοῦ λαβὼν ἢ τρύβλιον.

Ἐυελπίδης ὦ σοφώτατʼ, εὖ γʼ ἀνηῦρες αὐτὸ καὶ στρατηγικῶς· ὑπερακοντίζεις σύ γʼ ἤδη Νικίαν ταῖς μηχαναῖς.

Χορός ἐλελελεῦ χώρει κάθες τὸ ῥύγχος· οὐ μέλλειν ἐχρῆν. ἕλκε τίλλε παῖε δεῖρε, κόπτε πρώτην τὴν χύτραν. 365

Ἔποψ εἰπέ μοι τί μέλλετʼ ὦ πάντων κάκιστα θηρίων ἀπολέσαι παθόντες οὐδὲν ἄνδρε καὶ διασπάσαι τῆς ἐμῆς γυναικὸς ὄντε ξυγγενεῖ καὶ φυλέτα;

Χορός φεισόμεσθα γάρ τι τῶνδε μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς ἢ λύκων; ἢ τίνας τεισαίμεθʼ ἄλλους τῶνδʼ ἂν ἐχθίους ἔτι; 370

Ἔποψ εἰ δὲ τὴν φύσιν μὲν ἐχθροὶ τὸν δὲ νοῦν εἰσιν φίλοι, καὶ διδάξοντές τι δεῦρʼ ἥκουσιν ὑμᾶς χρήσιμον;

Χορός πῶς δʼ ἂν οἵδʼ ἡμᾶς τι χρήσιμον διδάξειάν ποτε ἢ φράσειαν, ὄντες ἐχθροὶ τοῖσι πάπποις τοῖς ἐμοῖς;

Χορός ἔστι μὲν λόγων ἀκοῦσαι πρῶτον, ὡς ἡμῖν δοκεῖ, χρήσιμον· μάθοι γὰρ ἄν τις κἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν σοφόν.

Πισθέταιρος οἵδε τῆς ὀργῆς χαλᾶν εἴξασιν. ἄναγʼ ἐπὶ σκέλος.

Ἔποψ καὶ δίκαιόν γʼ ἐστὶ κἀμοὶ δεῖ νέμειν ὑμᾶς χάριν.

Χορός ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδʼ ἄλλο σοί πω πρᾶγμʼ ἐνηντιώμεθα. 385

Commentary

Line 361

Stable identifiers

Euelpides

This is the fatal moment. Where shall I fly to, unfortunate wretch that I am?

Pisthetaerus

Wait! Stay here!

Euelpides

355 That they may tear me to pieces?

Pisthetaerus

And how do you think to escape them?

Euelpides

I don't know at all.

Pisthetaerus

Come, I will tell you. We must stop and fight them. Let us arm ourselves with these stew-pots.

Euelpides

Why with the stew-pots?

Pisthetaerus

The owl will not attack us then.

Euelpides

But do you see all those hooked claws?

Pisthetaerus

Take the spit 360 and pierce the foe on your side.

Euelpides

And how about my eyes?

Pisthetaerus

Protect them with this dish or this vinegar-pot.

Euelpides

Oh! what cleverness! what inventive genius! You are a great general, even greater than Nicias, where stratagem is concerned.

Leader of the Chorus

Forward, forward, charge with your beaks! Come, no delay. 365 Tear, pluck, strike, flay them, and first of all smash the stew-pot.

Epops
Stepping in front of the Chorus.

Oh, most cruel of all animals, why tear these two men to pieces, why kill them? What have they done to you? They belong to the same tribe, to the same family as my wife.

Leader of the Chorus

Are wolves to be spared? Are they not our most mortal foes? 370 So let us punish them.

Epops

If they are your foes by nature, they are your friends in heart, and they come here to give you useful advice.

Leader of the Chorus

Advice or a useful word from their lips, from them, the enemies of my forebears?

Leader of the Chorus

Well then, I agree, let us first hear them, for that is best; one can even learn something in an enemy's school.

Pisthetaerus
To Euelpides.

Their wrath seems to cool. Draw back a little.

Epops

It's only justice, and you will thank me later.

Leader of the Chorus

385 Never have we opposed your advice up to now.

Ἐυελπίδης

τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖνο· ποῖφύγω δύστηνος;

Πισθέταιρος

οὗτος οὐ μενεῖς;

Ἐυελπίδης

ἵνʼ ὑπὸ τούτων διαφορηθῶ;
355

Πισθέταιρος

πῶς γὰρ ἂν τούτους δοκεῖς

ἐκφυγεῖν;

Ἐυελπίδης

οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ἄν.

Πισθέταιρος

ἀλλʼ ἐγώ τοί σοι λέγω,

ὅτι μένοντε δεῖ μάχεσθαι λαμβάνειν τε τῶν χυτρῶν.

Ἐυελπίδης

τί δὲ χύτρα νώ γʼ ὠφελήσει;

Πισθέταιρος

γλαῦξ μὲν οὐ πρόσεισι νῷν.

Ἐυελπίδης

τοῖς δὲ γαμψώνυξι τοισδί;

Πισθέταιρος

τὸν ὀβελίσκον ἁρπάσας

εἶτα κατάπηξον πρὸ σαυτοῦ.
360

Ἐυελπίδης

τοῖσι δʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσι τί;

Πισθέταιρος

ὀξύβαφον ἐντευθενὶ προσδοῦ λαβὼν ἢ τρύβλιον.

Ἐυελπίδης

ὦ σοφώτατʼ, εὖ γʼ ἀνηῦρες αὐτὸ καὶ στρατηγικῶς·

ὑπερακοντίζεις σύ γʼ ἤδη Νικίαν ταῖς μηχαναῖς.

Χορός

ἐλελελεῦ χώρει κάθες τὸ ῥύγχος· οὐ μέλλειν ἐχρῆν.

ἕλκε τίλλε παῖε δεῖρε, κόπτε πρώτην τὴν χύτραν.
365

Ἔποψ

εἰπέ μοι τί μέλλετʼ ὦ πάντων κάκιστα θηρίων

ἀπολέσαι παθόντες οὐδὲν ἄνδρε καὶ διασπάσαι

τῆς ἐμῆς γυναικὸς ὄντε ξυγγενεῖ καὶ φυλέτα;

Χορός

φεισόμεσθα γάρ τι τῶνδε μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς ἢ λύκων;

ἢ τίνας τεισαίμεθʼ ἄλλους τῶνδʼ ἂν ἐχθίους ἔτι;
370

Ἔποψ

εἰ δὲ τὴν φύσιν μὲν ἐχθροὶ τὸν δὲ νοῦν εἰσιν φίλοι,

καὶ διδάξοντές τι δεῦρʼ ἥκουσιν ὑμᾶς χρήσιμον;

Χορός

πῶς δʼ ἂν οἵδʼ ἡμᾶς τι χρήσιμον διδάξειάν ποτε

ἢ φράσειαν, ὄντες ἐχθροὶ τοῖσι πάπποις τοῖς ἐμοῖς;

Χορός

ἔστι μὲν λόγων ἀκοῦσαι πρῶτον, ὡς ἡμῖν δοκεῖ,

χρήσιμον· μάθοι γὰρ ἄν τις κἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν σοφόν.

Πισθέταιρος

οἵδε τῆς ὀργῆς χαλᾶν εἴξασιν. ἄναγʼ ἐπὶ σκέλος.

Ἔποψ

καὶ δίκαιόν γʼ ἐστὶ κἀμοὶ δεῖ νέμειν ὑμᾶς χάριν.

Χορός

ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδʼ ἄλλο σοί πω πρᾶγμʼ ἐνηντιώμεθα.
385