Aristophanes Frogs 460

Matthew Dillon (Translator)

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Frogs. Aristophanes. Matthew Dillon (Translator). . 2026-09-08.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Frogs (OCR draft) (English) (English (Matthew Dillon). 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)
Βάτραχοι Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.) — 460 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.) — 460 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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ἡβυλλιῶσαι κἄρτι παρατετιλμέναι.
The participle παρατετιλμέναι (perfect passive of παρατελῶ, 'to have been led out' or 'to have been exposed') is rare in this specific perfect form with the augment and reduplication in the feminine plural nominative, appearing here to describe the frogs as 'just now led out' or 'exposed' to the chorus. The prefix παρα- adds a sense of 'standing forth' or 'presented,' and the perfect tense emphasizes the state resulting from the action of being led out onto the stage, a nuance critical for understanding the frogs' sudden appearance and their role as a chorus entering the scene.

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ὡς δοῦλος ὢν καὶ θνητὸς Ἀλκμήνης ἔσει;
The participle ὢν (being) is in the nominative masculine singular, agreeing with the implied subject 'you' (Hermes, addressing Heracles). However, the phrase ὡς δοῦλος ὢν καὶ θνητὸς creates a complex predicative structure where 'slave' and 'mortal' are both predicated of the addressee. The construction ὡς + participle here functions adverbially ('as being...'), emphasizing the contrast between Heracles' current humble state in Hades (as a slave) and his former divine status, while θνητὸς reinforces his mortality, a key irony given Heracles' deification. The phrase Ἀλκμήνης ἔσει (you will be the son of Alcmene) is in the future tense, projecting the addressee's identity back to his mortal origins despite his current situation. This juxtaposition of present participle and future verb highlights the tension between Heracles' present condition and his eternal identity.

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οὐκ ἂν γενοίμην Ἡρακλῆς ἄν.
The sentence presents a striking syntactic anomaly: the personal pronoun Ἡρακλῆς (Hēraklēs) functions as a vocative or appositional noun directly following the first-person verb form γενοίμην (genoímēn), creating a self-addressed paradox where the speaker (Dionysus) denies the possibility of becoming the very figure he is imitating. While the optative γενοίμην with ἂν marks a potential condition, the juxtaposition with the proper name in the nominative/vocative case creates a dramatic irony central to the play's metatheatrical critique of tragedy, as Dionysus simultaneously claims and disavows the identity of Heracles, a hero he is currently impersonating on stage.