Aristophanes Lysistrata 980

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Lysistrata. Aristophanes. . Publication date not supplied in legacy source.

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Current edition Experimental

Lysistrata (OCR draft) (English) (English (Jack Lindsay). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Λυσιστράτη Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.) — 980 focus
Translations (1)
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.) — 980 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

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οὐχ ὁρᾷς; οὐκ ἐμπίς ἐστιν ἥδε Τρικορυσία;
The term Τρικορυσία (Tricorythus) is a specific deme of Attica located in the northern region, near the border with Euboea. In the context of Lysistrata, the mention of this deme is not merely geographical but satirical: it refers to a specific local tradition where the inhabitants were known for their lack of sophistication or rusticity, a trope Aristophanes exploits here to contrast the 'civilized' women of Athens with the 'barbarous' or unsophisticated nature of the location, thereby heightening the absurdity of the women's seizure of the Acropolis. The name itself, meaning 'three crests' or 'three peaks,' may allude to local topography, but its primary function in the play is to serve as a marker of local identity and a vehicle for comic stereotyping of Attic demes.

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ὡς † πόλλʼ ἔσω ʼστὶν†
The sentence contains a textual crux marked by the editorial dagger (†) around πόλλʼ ἔσω. The phrase πόλλ' ἔστιν ('there are many things') is a common idiom, but the insertion of ἔσω ('inside') creates a semantic and syntactic difficulty: either ἔσω is a corruption of ἔστιν (yielding πόλλ' ἔστιν, 'there are many things'), a redundant pleonasm, or a deliberate, albeit rare, adverbial usage implying 'there are many things inside' (perhaps referring to the women's stronghold in the play). Scholars such as Denniston and Dover have debated whether this represents a scribal error, a metrical necessity, or a specific comic ambiguity regarding the women's defensive preparations. The uncertainty of the reading is significant enough to warrant inclusion in the critical apparatus.

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ἄφατα. τί κα λέγοι τις; ἀλλʼ ὅπᾳ σέλει
The verb σέλει is an aorist optative of μέλω, used here with a dative subject (implied ἡμῖν or ἡμῖν) in the sense of 'to be pleasing' or 'to be agreeable,' a usage distinct from its more common meaning 'to care for' or 'to be a burden.' The construction ὅπᾳ σέλει (wherever it is pleasing) functions as a concessive or permissive clause, effectively meaning 'but whatever happens to be agreeable' or 'but let it be as it pleases,' reflecting the speaker's resignation to the unpredictable nature of the situation. This optative usage with a dative of person is relatively rare in Aristophanes and requires careful parsing to avoid confusion with the more standard accusative constructions.

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παντᾷ τις ἐλσὼν ἁμὶν εἰράναν σέτω.
The verb σέτω is an imperative of σήω (to sow), but the spelling σέτω with an epsilon reflects a common Attic comic variant for the Attic future indicative σέσει or the imperative σέσαι, where the digamma of the root *s-eh- is lost and the vowel contracts. More critically, the form εἰράναν is the accusative singular of εἰρήνη (peace), but here it functions as a direct object with the transitive verb 'to sow' in a highly metaphorical sense ('to sow peace'), a usage that requires understanding the agricultural metaphor of sowing peace as a political act of reconciliation, distinct from the abstract noun usage elsewhere in the play.

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ἀσκητικὸν τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ νοσήματος.
The adjective ἀσκητικὸν is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes and is here used in a specific comedic sense, deriving from the verb ἀσκέω (to exercise, train, or practice). In the context of the 'disease' (the sexual frustration of the women), it does not mean 'ascetic' in the later religious sense, nor merely 'habitual,' but rather 'something that requires practice' or 'a matter of training.' This creates a deliberate pun: the 'training' (ἀσκησις) of the body for athletics is contrasted with the 'training' required to endure or manage the sexual abstinence imposed by the peace treaty, while also hinting at the 'exercise' (physical exertion) the women must now undergo to suppress their desires. The term is rare in comedy and represents a sophisticated lexical play on the dual meanings of physical exertion and disciplined restraint.

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στρατιὰν προσαιτῶν; ἡ δὲ Μεσσήνη τότε
The phrase στρατιὰν προσαιτῶν ('begging for an army') is a striking example of Aristophanic hyperbole and irony. Lysistrata is not literally petitioning for troops; rather, she is satirizing the Athenian desperation for military support during the Peloponnesian War, specifically alluding to the failed Sicilian Expedition or the general reliance on mercenaries. The verb προσαιτέω, typically used for begging bread or alms, is repurposed here to degrade the state's military posture to that of a destitute supplicant, highlighting the absurdity of their situation.

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ἐγὼ δὲ κοπραγωγεῖν γα †πρῶτα† ναὶ τὼ σιώ.
The text exhibits a well-known crux at the word πρῶτα, which is marked with obeloi (†) in critical editions. The manuscript tradition is divided: some read πρῶτα (first), others πρῶτον, while the sense of the line ('I, by Zeus, would rather be a butcher's assistant than a citizen') suggests a comparative or superlative construction that is syntactically awkward with the infinitive κοπραγωγεῖν. The most likely original reading, supported by the sense of 'rather' (ναὶ τὼ σιώ) and the context of Lysistrata's hyperbolic refusal to engage in politics, is πρῶτα as an adverbial accusative of degree ('first and foremost' or 'above all'), though some editors have conjectured πρῶτον or even emended to πρῶτον with a different sense. The presence of the crux indicates a significant textual problem affecting the interpretation of Lysistrata's priorities.

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Line 1180b

τοῖσι γῶν ναὶ τὼ σιὼ
The sentence is a colloquial oath and vocative address in the Laconian (Spartan) dialect, distinct from the standard Attic Greek of the rest of the play. Key features include the Doric dative plural article τοῖσι (Attic τοῖς), the Doric vocative form ναὶ (often Attic ναί), and the specific Laconian forms γῶν (for γῶν or γῶν = γυνή/γυναικῶν contextually, here likely a dialectal contraction or form for 'women' or 'ladies' as a vocative plural) and σιὼ (the Laconian vocative plural of σύ, meaning 'you', contrasting with Attic σῶς or σῦν). This represents a deliberate stylistic choice by Aristophanes to characterize the Spartan women's distinct linguistic identity and to parody their perceived roughness or archaic speech patterns.

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ὁ δʼ ἄρτος ἀπὸ χοίνικος ἰδεῖν μάλα νεανίας.
The phrase 'ἀπὸ χοίνικος' presents a syntactical crux: the preposition ἀπό normally governs the genitive, yet χοίνιξ (a unit of measure) typically appears in the accusative in constructions denoting quantity (e.g., 'a loaf of a choinix' or 'a loaf weighing a choinix'). Here, the genitive χοίνικος suggests either a rare idiomatic usage implying 'from the measure of a choinix' or a textual corruption where the accusative χοίνικον was intended. The construction is unusual enough to warrant noting the tension between standard metric usage and the attested genitive form in this comic context, where Aristophanes may be playing on the ambiguity of 'from' (origin/measure) versus 'by' (quantity).

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ᾄδοι Τελαμῶνος, Κλειταγόρας ᾄδειν δέον,
The syntax here presents a marked ellipsis of the infinitive phrase expected after ᾄδειν. The construction ᾄδειν δέον (having to sing) functions as a predicate adjective phrase with the subject implied from the preceding clause, yet the infinitive ᾄδειν is repeated immediately before it. This repetition, unusual in Aristophanic comedy where economy of expression is common, may reflect a metrical necessity or a deliberate rhetorical effect emphasizing the obligation to sing. Alternatively, the phrase could be read as a corruption of a more standard construction, though no significant manuscript variants exist for this specific passage.