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Γραῦς

ἆρʼ ὦ φίλοι γέροντες ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν

ἀφίγμεθʼ ὄντως τοῦ νέου τούτου θεοῦ,
960

ἢ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ παράπαν ἡμαρτήκαμεν;

Χορός

ἀλλʼ ἴσθʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὰς τὰς θύρας ἀφιγμένη

ὦ μειρακίσκη· πυνθάνει γὰρ ὡρικῶς.

Γραῦς

φέρε νυν ἐγὼ τῶν ἔνδοθεν καλέσω τινά.

Χρεμύλος

μὴ δῆτʼ· ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐξελήλυθα.
965

ἀλλʼ ὅ τι μάλιστʼ ἐλήλυθας λέγειν σʼ ἐχρῆν.

Γραῦς

πέπονθα δεινὰ καὶ παράνομʼ ὦ φίλτατε·

ἀφʼ οὗ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς οὗτος ἤρξατο βλέπειν,

ἀβίωτον εἶναί μοι πεποίηκε τὸν βίον.

Χρεμύλος

τί δʼ ἔστιν; ἦ που καὶ σὺ συκοφάντρια
970

εν ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἦσθα;

Γραῦς

μὰ Δίʼ ἐγὼ μὲν οὔ.

Χρεμύλος

ἀλλʼ οὐ λαχοῦσʼ ἔπινες ἐν τῷ γράμματι;

Γραῦς

σκώπτεις· ἐγὼ δὲ κατακέκνισμαι δειλάκρα.

Χρεμύλος

οὔκουν ἐρεῖς ἀνύσασα τὸν κνισμὸν τίνα;

Γραῦς

ἄκουέ νυν. ἦν μοί τι μειράκιον φίλον,
975

πενιχρὸν μέν, ἄλλως δʼ εὐπρόσωπον καὶ καλὸν

καὶ χρηστόν· εἰ γάρ του δεηθείην ἐγώ,

ἅπαντʼ ἐποίει κοσμίως μοι καὶ καλῶς·

ἐγὼ δʼ ἐκείνῳ πάντα ταῦθʼ ὑπηρέτουν.

Χρεμύλος

τί δʼ ἦν ὅ τι σου μάλιστʼ ἐδεῖθʼ ἑκάστοτε;
980

Γραῦς

οὐ πολλά· καὶ γὰρ ἐκνομίως μʼ ᾐσχύνετο.

ἀλλʼ ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ἂν ᾔτησʼ εἴκοσιν

εἰς ἱμάτιον, ὀκτὼ δʼ ἂν εἰς ὑποδήματα·

καὶ ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς ἀγοράσαι χιτώνιον

ἐκέλευσεν ἂν τῇ μητρί θʼ ἱματίδιον·
985

πυρῶν τʼ ἂν ἐδεήθη μεδίμνων τεττάρων.

Χρεμύλος

οὐ πολλὰ τοίνυν μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ταῦτά γε

εἴρηκας, ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὅτι σʼ ᾐσχύνετο.

Γραῦς

καὶ ταῦτα τοίνυν οὐχ ἕνεκα μισητίας

αἰτεῖν μʼ ἔφασκεν, ἀλλὰ φιλίας οὕνεκα,
990

ἵνα τοὐμὸν ἱμάτιον φορῶν μεμνῇτό μου.

Χρεμύλος

λέγεις ἐρῶντʼ ἄνθρωπον ἐκνομιώτατα.

Γραῦς

ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ νῦν ὁ βδελυρὸς ἔτι τὸν νοῦν ἔχει

τὸν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μεθέστηκεν πάνυ.

ἐμοῦ γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸν πλακοῦντα τουτονὶ
995

καὶ τἄλλα τἀπὶ τοῦ πίνακος τραγήματα

ἐπόντα πεμψάσης ὑπειπούσης θʼ ὅτι

εἰς ἑσπέραν ἥξοιμι—

Χρεμύλος

τί σʼ ἔδρασʼ; εἰπέ μοι.

Γραῦς

ἄμητα προσαπέπεμψεν ἡμῖν τουτονί,

ἐφʼ ᾧ τʼ ἐκεῖσε μηδέποτέ μʼ ἐλθεῖν ἔτι,
1000

καὶ πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις εἶπεν ἀποπέμπων ὅτι

πάλαι ποτʼ ἦσαν ἄλκιμοι Μιλήσιοι.

Wealth. 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

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

Translations (2)

Wealth (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 959 focus

Interlude of dancing by the Chorus. An Old Woman enters, dressed as a young girl and trying to walk in a youthful and alluring manner. She carries a plate of food.

Old Woman
coyly

My dear old men, 960 am I near the house where the new god lives, or have I missed the road?

Leader of the Chorus

You are at his door, my pretty little maid, who question us so sweetly.

Old Woman

Then I will summon someone in the house.

Chremylus

965 No need. I am here myself. But what brings you here?

Old Woman

Ah! a cruel, unjust fate! My dear friend, this god has made life unbearable to me through ceasing to be blind.

Chremylus

970 What does this mean? Can you be a female informer?

Old Woman

Most certainly not.

Chremylus

Have you drunk up your money then?

Old Woman

You are mocking me! No! I am being devoured with a consuming fire.

Chremylus

Then tell me what is consuming you so fiercely.

Old Woman

975 Listen! I loved a young man, who was poor, but so handsome, so well-built, so honest! He readily gave way to all I desired and acquitted himself so well! I, for my part, refused him nothing.

Chremylus

980 And what did he generally ask of you?

Old Woman

Very little; he bore himself towards me with astonishing discretion! perchance twenty drachmae for a cloak or eight for footwear; sometimes he begged me to buy tunics for his sisters 985 or a little mantle for his mother; at times he needed four bushels of corn.

Chremylus

That's very little, in truth; I admire his modesty.

Old Woman

And it wasn't as a reward for his complacency 990 that he ever asked me for anything, but as a matter of pure friendship; a cloak I had given would remind him from whom he had got it.

Chremylus

It was a fellow who loved you madly.

Old Woman

But it's no longer so, for the faithless wretch has sadly altered! 995 I had sent him this cake with the sweetmeats you see here on this dish and let him know that I would visit him in the evening ...

Chremylus

Well?

Old Woman

He sent me back my presents and added this tart to them, 1000 on condition that I never set foot in his house again. Besides, he sent me this message, “Once upon a time the Milesians were brave.”

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.) — 959 focus

Old Woman: Come now, friends, old men, to the house.

Old Woman: Indeed, we have come to this new god,

960

Old Woman: Have we gone completely off the road?

Chorus: but know that she has come to these very doors.

Chorus: O young girl, for you will soon learn.

Old Woman: Come then, I will call someone from inside.

Chremylus: No indeed, for I myself have gone out.

965

Chremylus: But whatever you most of all came to say, you ought to have said.

Old Woman: I have suffered terrible and unlawful things, most dear friend;

Granny: for since this god began to see,

Old Woman: She has made my life unlivable for me.

Chremylus: But what is it? Surely you are a slanderer too.

970

Chremylus: Were you among the women?

Old Woman: By Zeus, I say no.

Chremylus: But you did not drink in the lottery?

Old Woman: You are mocking me; but I am thoroughly frightened.

Chremylus: Surely, after you have extinguished the smoke, you will not tell us who it is?

Old Woman: Listen now. I once had a young man as a friend,

975

Old Woman: Poor, but otherwise good-looking and beautiful.

Old Woman: and good; for if I were to be asked by anyone,

Old Woman: She did everything for me in an orderly and beautiful manner.

Gr. But I served all these things for him.

Chremylus: But what was it that you most needed each time?

980

Old Woman: Not much; for he treated me shamefully according to the law.

Old Woman: But I would have asked for twenty drachmas of silver.

Old Woman: into a cloak, but eight [drachmas] into shoes;

Old Woman: and [tell them] to buy a little tunic for the sisters.

Old Woman: He would have ordered a little cloak for his mother;

985

Old Woman: I would have needed four bushels of wheat.

Chremylus: Well then, by Apollo, not many of these things, at least.

Chremylus: You have spoken, but it is clear that he was ashamed of you.

Old Woman: And yet these things, then, are not out of hatred.

Old Woman: She said that she asked me, but for the sake of friendship,

990

Old Woman: So that, wearing my cloak, you might remember me.

Chremylus: You speak of a man who is in love most lawlessly.

Old Woman: But surely now the wretch no longer has his wits about him.

Old Woman: The same, but it has quite changed.

Old Woman: for indeed I myself have given him this cake.

995

Old Woman: And the other snacks from the table.

Old Woman: 'after having sent [him] and after having said this:'

Old Woman: I would come in the evening—

Chremylus: What are you doing? Tell me.

Old Woman: The old man has sent this fellow away from us.

Old Woman: 'on the condition that you never come there again.'

1000

Old Woman: and on top of this, he said, sending her away, that

Old Woman: Long ago, the Milesians were valiant.

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

985. mvp-tlg0019-tlg011-sanjaya-com-eng1-27

Line 985

ἐκέλευσεν ἂν τῇ μητρί θʼ ἱματίδιον·

The particle ἂν here marks the apodosis of a conditional sentence, implying that the protasis has been elided from the preceding context. In the immediate dramatic context, this is not a hypothetical but a rhetorical device (oratio obliqua within a reported speech) where the speaker (Charon) describes what the god would do if the specific circumstances of the scene allowed it. The construction highlights the speaker's irony: the god is commanding a gift that, in the reality of the play's satire, he is incapable of granting effectively.

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Γραῦς ἆρʼ ὦ φίλοι γέροντες ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἀφίγμεθʼ ὄντως τοῦ νέου τούτου θεοῦ, 960 ἢ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ παράπαν ἡμαρτήκαμεν;

Χορός ἀλλʼ ἴσθʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὰς τὰς θύρας ἀφιγμένη ὦ μειρακίσκη· πυνθάνει γὰρ ὡρικῶς.

Γραῦς φέρε νυν ἐγὼ τῶν ἔνδοθεν καλέσω τινά.

Χρεμύλος μὴ δῆτʼ· ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐξελήλυθα. 965 ἀλλʼ ὅ τι μάλιστʼ ἐλήλυθας λέγειν σʼ ἐχρῆν.

Γραῦς πέπονθα δεινὰ καὶ παράνομʼ ὦ φίλτατε· ἀφʼ οὗ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς οὗτος ἤρξατο βλέπειν, ἀβίωτον εἶναί μοι πεποίηκε τὸν βίον.

Χρεμύλος τί δʼ ἔστιν; ἦ που καὶ σὺ συκοφάντρια 970 εν ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἦσθα;

Γραῦς μὰ Δίʼ ἐγὼ μὲν οὔ.

Χρεμύλος ἀλλʼ οὐ λαχοῦσʼ ἔπινες ἐν τῷ γράμματι;

Γραῦς σκώπτεις· ἐγὼ δὲ κατακέκνισμαι δειλάκρα.

Χρεμύλος οὔκουν ἐρεῖς ἀνύσασα τὸν κνισμὸν τίνα;

Χρεμύλος τί δʼ ἦν ὅ τι σου μάλιστʼ ἐδεῖθʼ ἑκάστοτε; 980

Χρεμύλος οὐ πολλὰ τοίνυν μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ταῦτά γε εἴρηκας, ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὅτι σʼ ᾐσχύνετο.

Γραῦς καὶ ταῦτα τοίνυν οὐχ ἕνεκα μισητίας αἰτεῖν μʼ ἔφασκεν, ἀλλὰ φιλίας οὕνεκα, 990 ἵνα τοὐμὸν ἱμάτιον φορῶν μεμνῇτό μου.

Χρεμύλος λέγεις ἐρῶντʼ ἄνθρωπον ἐκνομιώτατα.

Χρεμύλος τί σʼ ἔδρασʼ; εἰπέ μοι.

Current edition Perseus

Old Woman coyly My dear old men, 960 am I near the house where the new god lives, or have I missed the road?

Leader of the Chorus You are at his door, my pretty little maid, who question us so sweetly.

Old Woman Then I will summon someone in the house.

Chremylus 965 No need. I am here myself. But what brings you here?

Old Woman Ah! a cruel, unjust fate! My dear friend, this god has made life unbearable to me through ceasing to be blind.

Chremylus 970 What does this mean? Can you be a female informer?

Old Woman Most certainly not.

Chremylus Have you drunk up your money then?

Old Woman You are mocking me! No! I am being devoured with a consuming fire.

Chremylus Then tell me what is consuming you so fiercely.

Old Woman 975 Listen! I loved a young man, who was poor, but so handsome, so well-built, so honest! He readily gave way to all I desired and acquitted himself so well! I, for my part, refused him nothing.

Chremylus 980 And what did he generally ask of you?

Old Woman Very little; he bore himself towards me with astonishing discretion! perchance twenty drachmae for a cloak or eight for footwear; sometimes he begged me to buy tunics for his sisters 985 or a little mantle for his mother; at times he needed four bushels of corn.

Chremylus That's very little, in truth; I admire his modesty.

Old Woman And it wasn't as a reward for his complacency 990 that he ever asked me for anything, but as a matter of pure friendship; a cloak I had given would remind him from whom he had got it.

Chremylus It was a fellow who loved you madly.

Old Woman But it's no longer so, for the faithless wretch has sadly altered! 995 I had sent him this cake with the sweetmeats you see here on this dish and let him know that I would visit him in the evening ...

Chremylus Well?

Old Woman He sent me back my presents and added this tart to them, 1000 on condition that I never set foot in his house again. Besides, he sent me this message, “Once upon a time the Milesians were brave.”

Commentary

Line 985

Stable identifiers

Γραῦς

ἆρʼ ὦ φίλοι γέροντες ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν

ἀφίγμεθʼ ὄντως τοῦ νέου τούτου θεοῦ,
960

ἢ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ παράπαν ἡμαρτήκαμεν;

Χορός

ἀλλʼ ἴσθʼ ἐπʼ αὐτὰς τὰς θύρας ἀφιγμένη

ὦ μειρακίσκη· πυνθάνει γὰρ ὡρικῶς.

Γραῦς

φέρε νυν ἐγὼ τῶν ἔνδοθεν καλέσω τινά.

Χρεμύλος

μὴ δῆτʼ· ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐξελήλυθα.
965

ἀλλʼ ὅ τι μάλιστʼ ἐλήλυθας λέγειν σʼ ἐχρῆν.

Γραῦς

πέπονθα δεινὰ καὶ παράνομʼ ὦ φίλτατε·

ἀφʼ οὗ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς οὗτος ἤρξατο βλέπειν,

ἀβίωτον εἶναί μοι πεποίηκε τὸν βίον.

Χρεμύλος

τί δʼ ἔστιν; ἦ που καὶ σὺ συκοφάντρια
970

εν ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἦσθα;

Γραῦς

μὰ Δίʼ ἐγὼ μὲν οὔ.

Χρεμύλος

ἀλλʼ οὐ λαχοῦσʼ ἔπινες ἐν τῷ γράμματι;

Γραῦς

σκώπτεις· ἐγὼ δὲ κατακέκνισμαι δειλάκρα.

Χρεμύλος

οὔκουν ἐρεῖς ἀνύσασα τὸν κνισμὸν τίνα;

Χρεμύλος

τί δʼ ἦν ὅ τι σου μάλιστʼ ἐδεῖθʼ ἑκάστοτε;
980

Χρεμύλος

οὐ πολλὰ τοίνυν μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ταῦτά γε

εἴρηκας, ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὅτι σʼ ᾐσχύνετο.

Γραῦς

καὶ ταῦτα τοίνυν οὐχ ἕνεκα μισητίας

αἰτεῖν μʼ ἔφασκεν, ἀλλὰ φιλίας οὕνεκα,
990

ἵνα τοὐμὸν ἱμάτιον φορῶν μεμνῇτό μου.

Χρεμύλος

λέγεις ἐρῶντʼ ἄνθρωπον ἐκνομιώτατα.

Χρεμύλος

τί σʼ ἔδρασʼ; εἰπέ μοι.

Old Woman
coyly

My dear old men, 960 am I near the house where the new god lives, or have I missed the road?

Leader of the Chorus

You are at his door, my pretty little maid, who question us so sweetly.

Old Woman

Then I will summon someone in the house.

Chremylus

965 No need. I am here myself. But what brings you here?

Old Woman

Ah! a cruel, unjust fate! My dear friend, this god has made life unbearable to me through ceasing to be blind.

Chremylus

970 What does this mean? Can you be a female informer?

Old Woman

Most certainly not.

Chremylus

Have you drunk up your money then?

Old Woman

You are mocking me! No! I am being devoured with a consuming fire.

Chremylus

Then tell me what is consuming you so fiercely.

Old Woman

975 Listen! I loved a young man, who was poor, but so handsome, so well-built, so honest! He readily gave way to all I desired and acquitted himself so well! I, for my part, refused him nothing.

Chremylus

980 And what did he generally ask of you?

Old Woman

Very little; he bore himself towards me with astonishing discretion! perchance twenty drachmae for a cloak or eight for footwear; sometimes he begged me to buy tunics for his sisters 985 or a little mantle for his mother; at times he needed four bushels of corn.

Chremylus

That's very little, in truth; I admire his modesty.

Old Woman

And it wasn't as a reward for his complacency 990 that he ever asked me for anything, but as a matter of pure friendship; a cloak I had given would remind him from whom he had got it.

Chremylus

It was a fellow who loved you madly.

Old Woman

But it's no longer so, for the faithless wretch has sadly altered! 995 I had sent him this cake with the sweetmeats you see here on this dish and let him know that I would visit him in the evening ...

Chremylus

Well?

Old Woman

He sent me back my presents and added this tart to them, 1000 on condition that I never set foot in his house again. Besides, he sent me this message, “Once upon a time the Milesians were brave.”