Aristophanes Birds 256

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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.) — 263 focus
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.) — 263 focus
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.) — 263 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

256. mvp-tlg0019-tlg006-sanjaya-com-eng1-3

Line 256

καινὸς γνώμην
The phrase καινὸς γνώμην presents a significant syntactic anomaly. While γνώμη is typically abstract (meaning 'opinion', 'judgment', or 'policy') and governs the genitive, here it is modified by the nominative masculine adjective καινός. This construction relies on the rare elliptical understanding of a masculine substantive like ἄνθρωπος or ἄρχων (implying 'a man of new counsel' or 'a new advisor'), a metonymy characteristic of Aristophanic comedy where abstract nouns are treated as concrete agents of policy. The lack of a clear antecedent in the immediate context forces the reader to reconstruct the implied subject from the dramatic situation, where the chorus is proposing a radical new political order.