Aristophanes Frogs 605

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.) — 605 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.) — 605 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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Line 682

†ἐπὶ βάρβαρον ἑζομένη πέταλον· †
The text contains the critical symbol † (obelus) before both words, indicating that the phrase 'ἐπὶ βάρβαρον ἑζομένη πέταλον' is widely regarded by scholars as a corruption or interpolation. The phrase is syntactically awkward and semantically obscure in its current form; most editors, following the lead of ancient scholia and modern critics like Denniston and Page, suggest that 'πέταλον' (a flat cake or coin) does not fit the context of the scene, where a character (likely the Chorus or a specific character like Xanthias) is describing someone sitting. A common conjecture is that the text should be emended to read 'ἐπὶ βάρβαρον ἑζομένη πέταλον' as a corruption of 'ἐπὶ βάρβαρον ἑζομένη πέταλον' (though this is circular) or more likely, that 'πέταλον' is a dittography or corruption of 'πέταλον' (a specific type of bread) or perhaps 'πέταλον' refers to a specific object in a different context. However, the most accepted view is that the line is corrupt and requires significant emendation to make sense, possibly involving the omission of 'πέταλον' or a complete reordering. The presence of the obelus signals that the sentence as it stands is not to be taken as authoritative text but as a crux requiring editorial intervention.

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Line 689

κεἴ τις ἥμαρτε σφαλείς τι Φρυνίχου παλαίσμασιν,
The participle σφαλείς (aorist passive of σφάλλω, 'to trip' or 'to deceive') is used here with a dative of instrument (τι Φρυνίχου παλαίσμασιν) rather than the more common prepositional construction or genitive. This usage reflects a specific comic metaphor where 'tricks' (παλαίσματα, literally 'wrestling holds') are treated as the physical means of deception, a semantic shift common in Attic comedy but requiring attention to the dative's instrumental force here.

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Line 698

χοἰ πατέρες ἐναυμάχησαν καὶ προσήκουσιν γένει,
The verb προσήκουσιν is a present indicative form meaning 'they belong' or 'they are related to', which here functions as a technical term in prosopographical or legal contexts to assert kinship. In this specific context of the Frogs, where the characters are debating the lineage of the Athenian citizens, this construction implies a formal claim of belonging to a specific family or clan, a concept central to the political satire regarding the qualifications for citizenship and military service during the Peloponnesian War.

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Line 797

καὶ γὰρ ταλάντῳ μουσικὴ σταθμήσεται—
The verb σταθμήσεται (future middle/passive of σταθμέω) is a rare hapax in this specific metrical and syntactic configuration within Aristophanes, meaning 'will be weighed out' or 'will be measured out' (specifically in the sense of a payment or allocation). Here, it functions as a technical financial term applied metaphorically to music, implying that the quality of the music will be objectively quantified against a talent's worth. The construction with the dative ταλάντῳ (instrumental dative of value/measure) is syntactically precise, indicating the standard against which the weighing occurs, rather than the object being weighed. This usage relies on the audience's familiarity with the specific financial procedures of the Athenian treasury or the metaphorical 'weighing' of poets in the trial scene, distinguishing it from generic verbs of comparison.