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τῶν τεθνηκότων ἀποκτείνῃ, τάλαντον λαμβάνειν.
The verb ἀποκτείνῃ is in the present subjunctive, yet it follows the preposition τε after the genitive plural τῶν τεθνηκότων, creating a syntactically anomalous construction where a finite verb appears to function as a substantive or in a periphrastic sense without an explicit governing infinitive or participle. This usage is best understood as a deliberate comic distortion of Attic prose syntax, where Aristophanes collapses a complex conditional or relative clause (e.g., 'if he kills the dead') into a noun phrase to mimic the convoluted, bureaucratic language of the sophists and the Athenian courts, specifically parodying the logic of the 'unjust speech' found in the play's broader argumentation about the absurdity of legal fictions.
Birds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.