Aristophanes Birds 753

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.) — 752 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.) — 752 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.) — 752 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

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.