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Leader of First Semi-Chorus

If there is one of you spectators who wishes to spend the rest of his life quietly among the birds, let him come to us.

All that is disgraceful and forbidden by law on earth is on the contrary honorable among us, the birds. For instance, among you it's a crime to beat your father, but with us it's an estimable deed; it's considered fine to run straight at your father and hit him, saying, Come, lift your spur if you want to fight.
755

The runaway slave, whom you brand, is only a spotted francolin with us. Are you Phrygian like Spintharus? Among us you would be the Phrygian bird, the goldfinch, of the race of Philemon. Are you a slave and a Carian like Execestides?
760

Among us you can create yourself forefathers; you can always find relations. Does the son of Pisias want to betray the gates of the city to the foe? Let him become a partridge, the fitting offspring of his father; among us there is no shame in escaping as cleverly as a partridge.
765

Birds. Aristophanes. Anonymous (Translator), ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., ed. Whitney J. Oates, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Ὄρνιθες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 752 focus

Χορός

εἰ μετʼ ὀρνίθων τις ὑμῶν ὦ θεαταὶ βούλεται

διαπλέκειν ζῶν ἡδέως τὸ λοιπόν, ὡς ἡμᾶς ἴτω.

ὅσα γάρ ἐστιν ἐνθάδʼ αἰσχρὰ τῷ νόμῳ κρατούμενα,
755

ταῦτα πάντʼ ἐστὶν παρʼ ἡμῖν τοῖσιν ὄρνισιν καλά.

εἰ γὰρ ἐνθάδʼ ἐστὶν αἰσχρὸν τὸν πατέρα τύπτειν νόμῳ,

τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖ καλὸν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ἤν τις τῷ πατρὶ

προσδραμὼν εἴπῃ πατάξας, αἶρε πλῆκτρον, εἰ μαχεῖ.

εἰ δὲ τυγχάνει τις ὑμῶν δραπέτης ἐστιγμένος,
760

ἀτταγᾶς οὗτος παρʼ ἡμῖν ποικίλος κεκλήσεται.

εἰ δὲ τυγχάνει τις ὢν Φρὺξ μηδὲν ἦττον Σπινθάρου,

φρυγίλος ὄρνις ἐνθάδʼ ἔσται, τοῦ Φιλήμονος γένους.

εἰ δὲ δοῦλός ἐστι καὶ Κὰρ ὥσπερ Ἐξηκεστίδης,

φυσάτω πάππους παρʼ ἡμῖν, καὶ φανοῦνται φράτερες.
765

εἰ δʼ ὁ Πεισίου προδοῦναι τοῖς ἀτίμοις τὰς πύλας

βούλεται, πέρδιξ γενέσθω, τοῦ πατρὸς νεοττίον·

ὡς παρʼ ἡμῖν οὐδὲν αἰσχρόν ἐστιν ἐκπερδικίσαι.

Translations (2)

Birds (OCR draft) Experimental (Anonymous translation, 1938 compilation; legacy Perseus source migration. Preserved separately from the revised canonical perseus-eng2 at the project owner's request.) — 752 focus

Leader of First Semi-Chorus

If there is one of you spectators who wishes to spend the rest of his life quietly among the birds, let him come to us. 755 All that is disgraceful and forbidden by law on earth is on the contrary honorable among us, the birds. For instance, among you it's a crime to beat your father, but with us it's an estimable deed; it's considered fine to run straight at your father and hit him, saying, “Come, lift your spur if you want to fight.” 760 The runaway slave, whom you brand, is only a spotted francolin with us. Are you Phrygian like Spintharus? Among us you would be the Phrygian bird, the goldfinch, of the race of Philemon. Are you a slave and a Carian like Execestides? 765 Among us you can create yourself forefathers; you can always find relations. Does the son of Pisias want to betray the gates of the city to the foe? Let him become a partridge, the fitting offspring of his father; among us there is no shame in escaping as cleverly as a partridge.

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.) — 752 focus

Chorus: if any one of you, spectators, wishes to be with the birds.

Chorus: from now on, let us weave together with pleasure, so that they may come to us.

Chorus: for whatever shameful things are ruled by the law here,

755

Chorus: All these things are fine with us, the birds.

Chorus: for if it is shameful here to beat one's father by law,

Chorus: That is fine among us, if one [does it] for his father.

Chorus: having run up and having struck, say, "Take the plectrum, if you are to fight."

Chorus: but if anyone of you happens to be a branded runaway,

760

Chorus: This quail will be called a colorful one among us.

Chorus: but if anyone happens to be a Phryx no less than Spintharus,

Chorus: a fringilla-bird will be here, of the family of Philémon.

Chorus: if he is a slave and a Carian like Exekestides,

Chorus: Let someone blow the pipes here with us, and the clan members will appear.

765

Chorus: but if Peisander's son is to betray the gates to the disfranchised

Chorus: he wishes to become a partridge, the chick of his father;

Chorus: There is nothing shameful about cuckolding among us.

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-tlg006-sanjaya-com-eng1-41

Line 753

διαπλέκειν ζῶν ἡδέως τὸ λοιπόν, ὡς ἡμᾶς ἴτω.

The imperative διαπλέκειν is a future middle imperative (second aorist middle of διαπλέκω) functioning as a periphrastic construction with the infinitive ἡδέως (understood as ἡδέως διαπλέκειν or a similar elliptical structure), though the more likely reading in this context is that ἡδέως modifies the infinitive διαπλέκειν, which is used as a finite verb in the second person plural future middle imperative, a rare construction in Aristophanes. The verb διαπλέκειν, meaning 'to weave together' or 'to interweave', is used metaphorically here to mean 'to live together' or 'to dwell in harmony', a usage that reflects the play's theme of the birds establishing a new city in the sky.

The phrase ὡς ἡμᾶς ἴτω is a rare and elliptical construction where ὡς introduces a purpose clause with the subjunctive ἴτω (third person singular aorist active subjunctive of ἵμι, 'to go'), which is unusual because the subject of the main clause is plural (ἡμεῖς, implied in the imperative), while the subordinate clause has a singular subject. This construction is likely a case of the 'subjunctive of purpose' with a shift in number, which is not common in Attic Greek and may reflect a colloquial or dialectal feature of the play.

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Line 760

εἰ δὲ τυγχάνει τις ὑμῶν δραπέτης ἐστιγμένος,

The participle ἐστιγμένος (from στίζω, to brand) refers specifically to the practice of branding slaves with a mark (often the name of the owner or a warning) to prevent them from being hired elsewhere or to identify them as fugitives. In the context of Aristophanes' Birds, this detail is not merely descriptive of a slave's status but sets up the specific legal and social mechanism by which the character Euelpides and Peisthetaerus intend to exploit this status: they will offer the branded fugitive a new 'identity' by incorporating him into their avian city, effectively erasing his previous legal standing as a branded runaway. The choice of this specific participle over a more generic term for 'slave' or 'fugitive' highlights the commodification of human bodies in classical Athens and the specific anxiety regarding slave mobility that Aristophanes satirizes.

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Line 764

εἰ δὲ δοῦλός ἐστι καὶ Κὰρ ὥσπερ Ἐξηκεστίδης,

The phrase Κὰρ ὥσπερ Ἐξηκεστίδης presents a specific prosopographical crux. Ἐξηκεστίδης is a real, albeit obscure, historical figure mentioned in Athenian sources as a 'Carian' (or of Carian origin) who served as a general or military commander, possibly under Alcibiades or during the Sicilian Expedition. The comedy relies on the audience recognizing this specific individual as a notorious example of a Carian slave or a Carian of low status, using him as a benchmark for the character's supposed servile nature. The syntax treats 'Kār' (the adjective/noun for 'Carian') as a predicate adjective modifying the subject 'doulos', linked by the comparative 'hōsper' to the proper name, creating a simile that equates the subject's status with that of Exekestides. Without knowledge of Exekestides, the specific satirical force of the comparison is lost, as 'Carian' alone was a common ethnic marker, but 'Carian like Exekestides' targets a specific cultural stereotype of the time.

Aristophanes Birds 752

Anonymous (Translator), ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., ed. Whitney J. Oates, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.