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Μνησίλοχος

τὸ μὲν ὦ γυναῖκες ὀξυθυμεῖσθαι σφόδρα

Εὐριπίδῃ, τοιαῦτʼ ἀκουούσας κακά,

οὐ θαυμάσιόν ἐστʼ, οὐδʼ ἐπιζεῖν τὴν χολήν.

καὐτὴ γὰρ ἔγωγʼ, οὕτως ὀναίμην τῶν τέκνων,

μισῶ τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἐκεῖνον, εἰ μὴ μαίνομαι.
470

ὅμως δʼ ἐν ἀλλήλαισι χρὴ δοῦναι λόγον·

αὐταὶ γάρ ἐσμεν, κοὐδεμίʼ ἔκφορος λόγου.

τί ταῦτʼ ἔχουσαι ʼκεῖνον αἰτιώμεθα

βαρέως τε φέρομεν, εἰ δύʼ ἡμῶν ἢ τρία

κακὰ ξυνειδὼς εἶπε δρώσας μυρία;
475

ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτὴ πρῶτον, ἵνα μἄλλην λέγω,

ξύνοιδʼ ἐμαυτῇ πολλὰ δείνʼ· ἐκεῖνο δʼ οὖν

δεινότατον, ὅτε νύμφη μὲν ἦν τρεῖς ἡμέρας,

ὁ δʼ ἀνὴρ παρʼ ἐμοὶ καθηῦδεν· ἦν δέ μοι φίλος,

ὅσπερ με διεκόρησεν οὖσαν ἑπτέτιν.
480

οὖτος πόθῳ μου ʼκνυεν ἐλθὼν τὴν θύραν·

κᾆτʼ εὐφὺς ἔγνων· εἶτα καταβαίνω λάθρᾳ.

ὁ δʼ ἀνὴρ ἐρωτᾷ ποῖ σὺ καταβαίνεις; ὅποι;

στρόφος μʼ ἔχει τὴν γαστέρ ὦνερ κὠδύνη·

ἐς τὸν κοπρῶνʼ οὖν ἔρχομαι. βάδιζέ νυν·
485

κᾆθʼ ὁ μὲν ἔτριβε κεδρίδας ἄννηθον σφάκον·

ἐγὼ δὲ καταχέασα τοῦ στροφέως ὕδωρ

ἐξῆλθον ὡς τὸν μοιχόν· εἶτʼ ἠρειδόμην

παρὰ τὸν Ἀγυιᾶ κύβδʼ ἐχομένη τῆς δάφνης.

ταῦτʼ οὐδεπώποτʼ εἶφʼ, ὁρᾶτʼ, Εὐριπίδης·
490

οὐδʼ ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν δούλων τε κὠρεωκόμων

σποδούμεθʼ, ἢν μὴ ʼχωμεν ἕτερον, οὐ λέγει·

οὐδʼ ὡς ὅταν μάλισθʼ ὑπό του ληκώμεθα

τὴν νύχθʼ, ἕωθεν σκόροδα διαμασώμεθα,

ἵνʼ ὀσφρόμενος ἁνὴρ ἀπὸ τείχους εἰσιὼν
495

μηδὲν κακὸν δρᾶν ὑποτοπῆται. ταῦθʼ, ὁρᾷς,

οὐπώποτʼ εἶπεν. εἰ δὲ Φαίδραν λοιδορεῖ,

ἡμῖν τί τοῦτʼ ἔστʼ; οὐδʼ ἐκεῖνʼ εἴρηκέ πω,

ὡς ἡ γυνὴ δεικνῦσα τἀνδρὶ τοὔγκυκλον

†ὑπʼ αὐγὰς † οἷόν ἐστιν, ἐγκεκαλυμμένον
500

τὸν μοιχὸν ἐξέπεμψεν, οὐκ εἴρηκέ πω.

ἑτέραν δʼ ἐγᾦδʼ ἣ ʼφασκεν ὠδίνειν γυνὴ

δέχʼ ἡμέρας, ἔως ἐπρίατο παιδίον·

ὁ δʼ ἀνὴρ περιέτρεχʼ ὠκυτόκιʼ ὠνούμενος·

τὸ δʼ εἰσέφερε γραῦς ἐν χύτρᾳ τὸ παιδίον,
505

ἵνα μὴ βό η, κηρίῳ βεβυσμένον·

εἶθʼ ὡς ἔνευσεν ἡ φέρουσʼ, εὐθὺς βοᾷ,

ἄπελθʼ ἄπελθʼ, ἤδη γὰρ ὦνέρ μοι δοκῶ

τέξειν. τὸ γὰρ ἦτρον τῆς χύτρας ἐλάκτισεν·

χὠ μὲν γεγηθὼς ἔτρεχεν, ἡ δʼ ἐξέσπασεν
510

ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ παιδίου, τὸ δʼ ἀνέκραγεν.

εἶθʼ ἡ μιαρὰ γραῦς, ἣ ʼφερεν τὸ παιδίον,

θεῖ μειδιῶσα πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ λέγει,

λέων λέων σοι γέγονεν, αὔτʼ ἔκμαγμα σόν,

τά τʼ ἄλλʼ ἁπαξάπαντα καὶ τὸ πόσθιον
515

τῷ σῷ προσόμοιον, στρεβλὸν ὥσπερ κύτταρον.

ταῦτʼ οὐ ποιοῦμεν τὰ κακά; νὴ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν

ἡμεῖς γε. κᾆτʼ Εὐριπίδῃ θυμούμεθα,

οὐδὲν παθοῦσαι μεῖζον ἢ δεδράκαμεν;

Thesmophoriazusae. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.)

Translations (2)

Thesmophoriazusae (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 466 focus

Mnesilochus

Oh, women! I am not astonished at these outbursts of fiery rage; how could your bile not get inflamed against Euripides, who has spoken so ill of you? As for myself, 470 I hate the man, I swear it by my children; it would be madness not to hate him! Yet, let us reflect a little; we are alone and our words will not be repeated outside. Why be so bent on his ruin? 475 Because he has known and shown up two or three of our faults, when we have a thousand? As for myself, not to speak of other women, I have more than one great sin upon my conscience, but this is the blackest of them. I had been married three days and my husband was asleep by my side; I had a lover, 480 who had seduced me when I was seven years old; impelled by his passion, he came scratching at the door; I understood at once he was there and was going down noiselessly. “Where are you going?” asked my husband. “I am suffering terribly with colic,” I told him, 485 “and am going to the can.” “Go ahead,” he replied, and started pounding together juniper berries, aniseed, and sage. As for myself, I moistened the door-hinge and went to find my lover, who laid me, half-reclining upon Apollo's altar and holding on to the sacred laurel with one hand. 490 Well now! Consider! that is a thing of which Euripides has never spoken. And when we bestow our favours on slaves and muleteers for want of better, does he mention this? And when we eat garlic early in the morning after a night of wantonness, 495 so that our husband, who has been keeping guard upon the city wall, may be reassured by the smell and suspect nothing, has Euripides ever breathed a word of this? Tell me. Neither has he spoken of the woman who spreads open a large cloak before her husband's eyes 500 to make him admire it in full daylight to conceal her lover by so doing and afford him the means of making his escape. I know another, who for ten whole days pretended to be suffering the pains of labour until she had secured a child; the husband hurried in all directions to buy drugs to hasten her deliverance, 505 and meanwhile an old woman brought the infant in a stew-pot; to prevent its crying she had stopped up its mouth with honey. With a sign she told the wife that she was bringing a child for her, who at once began exclaiming, “Go away, friend, go away, I think I am going to be delivered; I can feel him kicking his heels in the belly ... of the stew-pot.” 510 The husband goes off full of joy, and the old wretch quickly takes the honey out of the child's mouth, which starts crying; then she seizes the baby, runs to the father and tells him with a smile on her face, “It's a lion, a lion, that is born to you; it's your very image. 515 Everything about it is like you, even his little tool, curved like the sky.” Are these not our everyday tricks? Why certainly, by Artemis, and we are angry with Euripides, who assuredly treats us no worse than we deserve!

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.) — 466 focus

Mnesilochus: Well, women, to be very quick-tempered

Mnesilochus: "Euripides, having heard such evils,"

Mnesilochus: It is not surprising, nor to be boiled, the gall.

Mnesilochus: For I too, so may I live, of the children,

Mnesilochus: I hate that man, unless I am out of my mind.

470

Mnesilochus: Still, one must give an account of it in mutual exchanges;

Mnesilochus: For we are those women, and no one has reported it.

Mnesilochus: Why do we accuse him when they have these things?

Mnesilochus: we take it hard, if two of us or three

Mnesilochus: Having done and heard many evil things, did you say this?

475

Mnesilochus: for I myself first, so that I may speak again,

Mnesilochus: I am well aware of many terrible things; but that, however...

Mnesilochus: It is most terrible, when she was a bride for three days,

Mnesilochus: But the man was sleeping with me; for he was a friend of mine,

Mnesilochus: just as he ravaged me when I was seven years old.

480

Mnesilochus: This fellow, coming with longing for me, bit my door;

Mnesilochus: And then I understood clearly. So I went down secretly.

Mnesilochus: But the man asks where you are going down? Where?

Mnesilochus: The rope has me in a stranglehold, my belly, like a nightmare and a pain.

Mnesilochus: So I am going into the manure. Come on, then.

485

Mnesilochus: and then he rubbed cedar shavings and fennel stalks.

Mnesilochus: I, however, poured out the water from the mill.

Mnesilochus: I went out in order to catch the adulterer; then I was pushed around.

Mnesilochus: I am holding onto the laurel near the Agias.

Mnesilochus: Euripides has never said this, look!

490

Mnesilochus: Not even as [being] under the slaves and the wine-pourers

Mnesilochus: let us ash, unless we have another, he will not speak;

Mnesilochus: Not even when we are most completely mastered by him.

Mnesilochus: Let us chew garlic all night long until dawn.

Mnesilochus: so that a man, coming from the wall while sniffing,

495

Mnesilochus: may he be thought to do nothing evil. "You see, these things,"

Mnesilochus: He has never said it. But if he abuses Phaedra,

Mnesilochus: What is this for us? He has not yet said that either,

Mnesilochus: as the woman shows the husband the round object

Mnesilochus: In the sunlight, as it is, covered up.

500

Mnesilochus: He sent the adulterer away, but he has not yet spoken.

Mnesilochus: But I saw another woman, who said she was in labor.

Mnesilochus: Accept [him] for the day, until he has bought a child;

Mnesilochus: But the man was running about, buying quick-bearing.

Mnesilochus: But an old woman brought the child in a cooking-pot,

505

Mnesilochus: in order that it may not be a bull, but a bee, dipped in wax;

Mnesilochus: 'Then, as soon as she who is carrying [the basket] nods, immediately she shouts,'

Mnesilochus: Go, go, for I now think I am a man.

Mnesilochus: to give birth. For the potter's heart was kicked.

Mnesilochus: And he was running with joy, but she tore it out.

510

Mnesilochus: from the mouth of the child, but she screamed out.

Mnesilochus: 'Well then, the filthy old woman, who brought the child,'

Mnesilochus: She smiles at the man and says,

Mnesilochus: A lion, a lion has become yours, even your very own imprint,

Mnesilochus: all the rest and the penis

515

Mnesilochus: Just like your nose, crooked like a quince.

Mnesilochus: Are we not doing these evils? By Artemis!

Mnesilochus: We certainly do. And then we are angry at Euripides,

Mnesilochus: Did we suffer nothing greater than what we have done?

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

480. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-7

Line 480

ὅσπερ με διεκόρησεν οὖσαν ἑπτέτιν.

The verb διεκόρησεν (from κοράζω, 'to ravish' or 'to deflower') is a hapax legomenon in this specific transitive form with the accusative of the person and the accusative of the age (ἑπτέτιν) as a predicative complement. While κοράζω appears elsewhere in comedy (e.g., Aristophanes, *Thesmophoriazusae* 376, 381), the construction here—treating the age as a direct object of the act of deflowering—is syntactically marked and reflects the colloquial, hyperbolic register of the character's complaint. The accusative ἑπτέτιν (seven-year-old) functions as an accusative of respect (or 'accusative of the state') rather than a standard direct object, emphasizing the specific condition at the time of the act, a usage that requires careful parsing to avoid misinterpreting the grammatical relationship between the verb and the age.

486. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-8

Line 486

κᾆθʼ ὁ μὲν ἔτριβε κεδρίδας ἄννηθον σφάκον·

The phrase ἄννηθον σφάκον presents a significant lexical and textual crux. While σφάκον generally denotes 'hemp' or 'hemp fiber,' the modifier ἄννηθον is rare and likely a corruption or a specialized technical term for a specific type of hemp used in dyeing or weaving, possibly related to the Attic dialect or a specific trade jargon of the time. The combination is otherwise unattested in this exact form, and its precise meaning affects the understanding of the stage direction regarding the preparation of materials.

500. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-9

Line 500

†ὑπʼ αὐγὰς † οἷόν ἐστιν, ἐγκεκαλυμμένον

The text exhibits a significant crux in the form of the phrase '†ὑπʼ αὐγὰς †'. The symbol αὐγαί (rays of light) is metrically impossible in this iambic trimeter context (a short syllable required where a long is needed, or vice versa depending on the specific metrical resolution of the line in the manuscript tradition). While some editors (e.g., Nauck) have conjectured 'ὑπʼ ἄστρα' (under the stars) or 'ὑπʼ αὐλάς' (under the doors/porches) to restore the meter and sense, the manuscript reading 'αὐγὰς' is widely regarded as a corruption, likely stemming from a scribe's error or a gloss intrusion, as the phrase 'under the rays' makes little sense for someone hiding or being concealed ('ἐγκεκαλυμμένον') in a comedic context. This represents a genuine textual difficulty requiring emendation.

506. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-10

Line 506

ἵνα μὴ βό η, κηρίῳ βεβυσμένον·

The verb βό (from βάω, 'to swim') is here used intransitively with the dative βόη, a rare construction where the dative indicates the medium or substance in which one is immersed. While the participle βεβυσμένον (perfect passive of βύω, 'to dip') is standard, the combination with the intransitive use of βόη creates a vivid, albeit unusual, image of a figure submerged in honey. This syntactic choice emphasizes the entrapment rather than the action of dipping, aligning with the comedic exaggeration of the scene.

Aristophanes Thesmophoriazusae 466

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart