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Line 1149

ἐπλινθοφόρουν· ἄνω δὲ τὸν ὑπαγωγέα

The verb ἐπλινθοφόρουν is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes, formed with the prefix ἐπι- and the noun λινθοφόρος (brick-carrier). While the literal meaning 'to be carrying bricks upon' is clear from context, the specific prefix usage here implies an ongoing, perhaps burdensome or laborious action directed towards the construction of the Cloudcuckooland, reflecting the play's theme of laborious urban planning. The construction of the verb itself, combining a noun and a verb in a compound form to denote a specific, repetitive labor, is characteristic of Aristophanes' comic neologisms designed to evoke the absurdity of the birds' grand architectural project.

Birds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

Commentary (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)

Ὄρνιθες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 1148 focus

Ἄγγελος Α

καὶ νὴ Δίʼ αἱ νῆτταί γε περιεζωσμέναι

ἐπλινθοφόρουν· ἄνω δὲ τὸν ὑπαγωγέα

ἐπέτοντʼ ἔχουσαι κατόπιν †ὥσπερ παιδία
1150

τὸν πηλὸν ἐν τοῖς στόμασιν† αἱ χελιδόνες.

Πισθέταιρος

τί δῆτα μισθωτοὺς ἂν ἔτι μισθοῖτό τις;

φέρʼ ἴδω, τί δαί; τὰ ξύλινα τοῦ τείχους τίνες

ἀπηργάσαντʼ;

Ἄγγελος Α

ὄρνιθες ἦσαν τέκτονες

σοφώτατοι πελεκᾶντες, οἳ τοῖς ῥύγχεσιν
1155

ἀπεπελέκησαν τὰς πύλας· ἦν δʼ ὁ κτύπος

αὐτῶν πελεκώντων ὥσπερ ἐν ναυπηγίῳ.

καὶ νῦν ἅπαντʼ ἐκεῖνα πεπύλωται πύλαις

καὶ βεβαλάνωται καὶ φυλάττεται κύκλῳ,

ἐφοδεύεται, κωδωνοφορεῖται, πανταχῇ,
1160

φυλακαὶ καθεστήκασι καὶ φρυκτωρίαι

ἐν τοῖσι πύργοις. ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ μὲν ἀποτρέχων

ἀπονίψομαι· σὺ δʼ αὐτὸς ἤδη τἄλλα δρᾶ.

Χορός

οὗτος τί ποιεῖς; ἆρα θαυμάζεις ὅτι

οὕτω τὸ τεῖχος ἐκτετείχισται ταχύ;
1165

Πισθέταιρος

νὴ τοὺς θεοὺς ἔγωγε· καὶ γὰρ ἄξιον·

ἴσα γὰρ ἀληθῶς φαίνεταί μοι ψεύδεσιν.

ἀλλʼ ὅδε φύλαξ γὰρ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἄγγελος

ἐσθεῖ πρὸς ἡμᾶς δεῦρο πυρρίχην βλέπων.

Ἄγγελος Β

ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού.
1170

Πισθέταιρος

τί τὸ πρᾶγμα τουτί;

Ἄγγελος Β

δεινότατα πεπόνθαμεν.

τῶν γὰρ θεῶν τις ἄρτι τῶν παρὰ τοῦ Διὸς

διὰ τῶν πυλῶν εἰσέπτετʼ ἐς τὸν ἀέρα,

λαθὼν κολοιοὺς φύλακας ἡμεροσκόπους.

Πισθέταιρος

ὦ δεινὸν ἔργον καὶ σχέτλιον εἰργασμένος.
1175

τίς τῶν θεῶν;

Ἄγγελος Β

οὐκ ἴσμεν· ὅτι δʼ εἶχε πτερά,

τοῦτʼ ἴσμεν.

Πισθέταιρος

οὔκουν δῆτα περιπόλους ἐχρῆν

πέμψαι κατʼ αὐτὸν εὐθύς;

Ἄγγελος Β

ἀλλʼ ἐπέμψαμεν

τρισμυρίους ἱέρακας ἱπποτοξότας,

χωρεῖ δὲ πᾶς τις ὄνυχας ἠγκυλωμένος,
1180

κερχνῂς τριόρχης γὺψ κύμινδις αἰετός·

ῥύμῃ τε καὶ πτεροῖσι καὶ ῥοιζήμασιν

αἰθὴρ δονεῖται τοῦ θεοῦ ζητουμένου·

κἄστʼ οὐ μακρὰν ἄπωθεν, ἀλλʼ ἐνταῦθά που

ἤδη ʼστίν.
1185

Πισθέταιρος

οὔκουν σφενδόνας δεῖ λαμβάνειν

καὶ τόξα; χώρει δεῦρο πᾶς ὑπηρέτης·

τόξευε παῖε, σφενδόνην τίς μοι δότω.

Translations (3)

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

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.) — 1148 focus

Messenger

You should have seen how eagerly the ducks carried bricks. To complete the tale, 1150 the swallows came flying to the work, their beaks full of mortar and their trowels on their backs, just the way little children are carried.

Pisthetaerus

Who would want paid servants after this? But tell me, who did the woodwork?

Messenger

Birds again, 1155 and clever carpenters too, the pelicans, for they squared up the gates with their beaks in such a fashion that one would have thought they were using axes; the noise was just like a dockyard. Now the whole wall is tight everywhere, securely bolted and well guarded; 1160 it is patrolled, bell in hand; the sentinels stand everywhere and beacons burn on the towers. But I must run off to clean myself; the rest is your business.

He departs.

Leader of the Chorus
To Pisthetaerus.

Well! what do you say to it? Are you not astonished 1165 at the wall being completed so quickly?

Pisthetaerus

By the gods, yes, and with good reason. It's really not to be believed. But here comes another messenger from the wall to bring us some further news! What a fighting look he has!

Second Messenger
Rushing in.

1170 Alas! alas! alas! alas! alas! alas!

Pisthetaerus

What's the matter?

Second Messenger

A horrible outrage has occurred; a god sent by Zeus has passed through our gates and has penetrated the realms of the air without the knowledge of the jays, who are on guard in the daytime.

Pisthetaerus

1175 It's a terrible and criminal deed. What god was it?

Second Messenger

We don't know that. All we know is, that he has got wings.

Pisthetaerus

Why were not patrolmen sent against him at once?

Second Messenger

We have despatched thirty thousand hawks of the legion of Mounted Archers. 1180 All the hook-clawed birds are moving against him, the kestrel, the buzzard, the vulture, the great-horned owl; they cleave the air so that it resounds with the flapping of their wings; they are looking everywhere for the god, who cannot be far away; indeed, if I mistake not, 1185 he is coming from yonder side.

Pisthetaerus

To arms, all, with slings and bows! This way, all our soldiers; shoot and strike! Some one give me a sling!

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.) — 1148 focus

Messenger A: And by Zeus, the birds are indeed girded.

Messenger A: We were carrying bricks. And up above the guide.

Angel A: flying with their wings behind, just like children.

1150

Messenger A: the swallows [fill] the mud in their mouths.

Pisthetaerus: So what would anyone hire for wages anymore?

Pisthetaerus: Bring it so I may see, what then? Who are those of the wooden wall?

Pisthetaerus: 'Have they been accomplished?'

Messenger A: The birds were builders.

Messenger A: Most wise woodpeckers, who with your snouts

1155

Messenger A: They hacked at the gates; and the noise was [such].

Messenger A: like they are carpenters in a shipyard.

Messenger A: And now all those things have been walled up with gates.

Messenger A: and he has been thrown down and is being guarded all around,

Messenger A: He is being attacked, a bell is being carried [in alarm], everywhere,

1160

Messenger A: The watchmen have been set up and the signal-fires.

Messenger A: In the towers. But as for me, I am running away

Messenger A: I will wash myself off; but you yourself do the rest now.

Chorus: What are you doing? Do you wonder that

Chorus: Thus has the wall been walled up so quickly?

1165

Pisthetairos: By the gods, I do; for indeed it is fitting;

Pisthetaerus: For truly it seems to me to be equal to lies.

Pisthetaerus: But this man is a messenger from there, for he is a guard.

Pisthetaerus: He will eat a pyrrhic dance looking towards us here.

Messenger B: Io, io, io, io, io, io.

1170

Pisthetaerus: What is this affair?

Messenger B: We have suffered terribly.

Messenger B.: For one of the gods has just now come from Zeus.

Messenger B.: He flew in through the gates into the air,

Messenger B.: Having slipped past the watchful magpie guards.

Pisthetaerus: Oh, what a terrible and outrageous deed I have accomplished.

1175

Pisthetairos: Which of the gods?

Messenger B.: We do not know; but that he had wings,

Messenger B.: We know that.

Pisthetaerus: Surely then we ought not to have sent out patrols.

Pisthetaerus: To send against him immediately?

Messenger B: But we sent [them].

Messenger B.: thirty thousand hawk-archers,

Messenger B.: Let everyone go with his nails hooked,

1180

Messenger B.: a hawk, a trireme commander, a vulture, a cumin, an eagle;

Messenger B.: with force, with wings, and with buzzing

Messenger B.: The air is shaken as the god is sought;

Messenger B.: Not from a distance, but somewhere right here.

Messenger B.: It is already [here].

1185

Pisthetaerus: Shouldn't we then take slings?

Pisthetaerus: And bows? Come here, all the servants!

Pisthetaerus: Shoot, strike, someone throw me a sling.

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

1149. mvp-tlg0019-tlg006-sanjaya-com-eng1-74

Line 1149

ἐπλινθοφόρουν· ἄνω δὲ τὸν ὑπαγωγέα

Aristophanes Birds 1149

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Line 1149

Current edition Experimental

Πισθέταιρος

τί δῆτα μισθωτοὺς ἂν ἔτι μισθοῖτό τις;

φέρʼ ἴδω, τί δαί; τὰ ξύλινα τοῦ τείχους τίνες

ἀπηργάσαντʼ;

Χορός

οὗτος τί ποιεῖς; ἆρα θαυμάζεις ὅτι

οὕτω τὸ τεῖχος ἐκτετείχισται ταχύ;
1165

Ἄγγελος Β

ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού.
1170

Πισθέταιρος

τί τὸ πρᾶγμα τουτί;

Ἄγγελος Β

δεινότατα πεπόνθαμεν.

τῶν γὰρ θεῶν τις ἄρτι τῶν παρὰ τοῦ Διὸς

διὰ τῶν πυλῶν εἰσέπτετʼ ἐς τὸν ἀέρα,

λαθὼν κολοιοὺς φύλακας ἡμεροσκόπους.

Πισθέταιρος

ὦ δεινὸν ἔργον καὶ σχέτλιον εἰργασμένος.
1175

τίς τῶν θεῶν;

Ἄγγελος Β

οὐκ ἴσμεν· ὅτι δʼ εἶχε πτερά,

τοῦτʼ ἴσμεν.

Πισθέταιρος

οὔκουν δῆτα περιπόλους ἐχρῆν

πέμψαι κατʼ αὐτὸν εὐθύς;

Πισθέταιρος

οὔκουν σφενδόνας δεῖ λαμβάνειν

καὶ τόξα; χώρει δεῦρο πᾶς ὑπηρέτης·

τόξευε παῖε, σφενδόνην τίς μοι δότω.

Messenger

You should have seen how eagerly the ducks carried bricks. To complete the tale, 1150 the swallows came flying to the work, their beaks full of mortar and their trowels on their backs, just the way little children are carried.

Pisthetaerus

Who would want paid servants after this? But tell me, who did the woodwork?

Leader of the Chorus
To Pisthetaerus.

Well! what do you say to it? Are you not astonished 1165 at the wall being completed so quickly?

Pisthetaerus

By the gods, yes, and with good reason. It's really not to be believed. But here comes another messenger from the wall to bring us some further news! What a fighting look he has!

Second Messenger
Rushing in.

1170 Alas! alas! alas! alas! alas! alas!

Pisthetaerus

What's the matter?

Second Messenger

A horrible outrage has occurred; a god sent by Zeus has passed through our gates and has penetrated the realms of the air without the knowledge of the jays, who are on guard in the daytime.

Pisthetaerus

1175 It's a terrible and criminal deed. What god was it?

Second Messenger

We don't know that. All we know is, that he has got wings.

Pisthetaerus

Why were not patrolmen sent against him at once?

Pisthetaerus

To arms, all, with slings and bows! This way, all our soldiers; shoot and strike! Some one give me a sling!

Commentary

Line 1149

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Line 1149

Current edition Experimental

Πισθέταιρος τί δῆτα μισθωτοὺς ἂν ἔτι μισθοῖτό τις; φέρʼ ἴδω, τί δαί; τὰ ξύλινα τοῦ τείχους τίνες ἀπηργάσαντʼ;

Χορός οὗτος τί ποιεῖς; ἆρα θαυμάζεις ὅτι οὕτω τὸ τεῖχος ἐκτετείχισται ταχύ; 1165

Ἄγγελος Β ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού. 1170

Πισθέταιρος τί τὸ πρᾶγμα τουτί;

Ἄγγελος Β δεινότατα πεπόνθαμεν. τῶν γὰρ θεῶν τις ἄρτι τῶν παρὰ τοῦ Διὸς διὰ τῶν πυλῶν εἰσέπτετʼ ἐς τὸν ἀέρα, λαθὼν κολοιοὺς φύλακας ἡμεροσκόπους.

Πισθέταιρος ὦ δεινὸν ἔργον καὶ σχέτλιον εἰργασμένος. 1175 τίς τῶν θεῶν;

Ἄγγελος Β οὐκ ἴσμεν· ὅτι δʼ εἶχε πτερά, τοῦτʼ ἴσμεν.

Πισθέταιρος οὔκουν δῆτα περιπόλους ἐχρῆν πέμψαι κατʼ αὐτὸν εὐθύς;

Πισθέταιρος οὔκουν σφενδόνας δεῖ λαμβάνειν καὶ τόξα; χώρει δεῦρο πᾶς ὑπηρέτης· τόξευε παῖε, σφενδόνην τίς μοι δότω.

Messenger You should have seen how eagerly the ducks carried bricks. To complete the tale, 1150 the swallows came flying to the work, their beaks full of mortar and their trowels on their backs, just the way little children are carried.

Pisthetaerus Who would want paid servants after this? But tell me, who did the woodwork?

Leader of the Chorus To Pisthetaerus. Well! what do you say to it? Are you not astonished 1165 at the wall being completed so quickly?

Pisthetaerus By the gods, yes, and with good reason. It's really not to be believed. But here comes another messenger from the wall to bring us some further news! What a fighting look he has!

Second Messenger Rushing in. 1170 Alas! alas! alas! alas! alas! alas!

Pisthetaerus What's the matter?

Second Messenger A horrible outrage has occurred; a god sent by Zeus has passed through our gates and has penetrated the realms of the air without the knowledge of the jays, who are on guard in the daytime.

Pisthetaerus 1175 It's a terrible and criminal deed. What god was it?

Second Messenger We don't know that. All we know is, that he has got wings.

Pisthetaerus Why were not patrolmen sent against him at once?

Pisthetaerus To arms, all, with slings and bows! This way, all our soldiers; shoot and strike! Some one give me a sling!

Commentary

Line 1149

Stable identifiers

Πισθέταιρος

τί δῆτα μισθωτοὺς ἂν ἔτι μισθοῖτό τις;

φέρʼ ἴδω, τί δαί; τὰ ξύλινα τοῦ τείχους τίνες

ἀπηργάσαντʼ;

Χορός

οὗτος τί ποιεῖς; ἆρα θαυμάζεις ὅτι

οὕτω τὸ τεῖχος ἐκτετείχισται ταχύ;
1165

Ἄγγελος Β

ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού, ἰοὺ ἰού.
1170

Πισθέταιρος

τί τὸ πρᾶγμα τουτί;

Ἄγγελος Β

δεινότατα πεπόνθαμεν.

τῶν γὰρ θεῶν τις ἄρτι τῶν παρὰ τοῦ Διὸς

διὰ τῶν πυλῶν εἰσέπτετʼ ἐς τὸν ἀέρα,

λαθὼν κολοιοὺς φύλακας ἡμεροσκόπους.

Πισθέταιρος

ὦ δεινὸν ἔργον καὶ σχέτλιον εἰργασμένος.
1175

τίς τῶν θεῶν;

Ἄγγελος Β

οὐκ ἴσμεν· ὅτι δʼ εἶχε πτερά,

τοῦτʼ ἴσμεν.

Πισθέταιρος

οὔκουν δῆτα περιπόλους ἐχρῆν

πέμψαι κατʼ αὐτὸν εὐθύς;

Πισθέταιρος

οὔκουν σφενδόνας δεῖ λαμβάνειν

καὶ τόξα; χώρει δεῦρο πᾶς ὑπηρέτης·

τόξευε παῖε, σφενδόνην τίς μοι δότω.

Messenger

You should have seen how eagerly the ducks carried bricks. To complete the tale, 1150 the swallows came flying to the work, their beaks full of mortar and their trowels on their backs, just the way little children are carried.

Pisthetaerus

Who would want paid servants after this? But tell me, who did the woodwork?

Leader of the Chorus
To Pisthetaerus.

Well! what do you say to it? Are you not astonished 1165 at the wall being completed so quickly?

Pisthetaerus

By the gods, yes, and with good reason. It's really not to be believed. But here comes another messenger from the wall to bring us some further news! What a fighting look he has!

Second Messenger
Rushing in.

1170 Alas! alas! alas! alas! alas! alas!

Pisthetaerus

What's the matter?

Second Messenger

A horrible outrage has occurred; a god sent by Zeus has passed through our gates and has penetrated the realms of the air without the knowledge of the jays, who are on guard in the daytime.

Pisthetaerus

1175 It's a terrible and criminal deed. What god was it?

Second Messenger

We don't know that. All we know is, that he has got wings.

Pisthetaerus

Why were not patrolmen sent against him at once?

Pisthetaerus

To arms, all, with slings and bows! This way, all our soldiers; shoot and strike! Some one give me a sling!