Aristophanes Wealth 666

Wealth. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (English) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Πλοῦτος Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.) — 651 focus
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.) — 651 focus
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.) — 651 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

666. mvp-tlg0019-tlg011-sanjaya-com-eng1-14

Line 666

κλέπτων δὲ τοὺς βλέποντας ὑπερηκόντικεν·
The verb ὑπερηκόντικεν (aorist active indicative 3rd sg. of ὑπερηκοντίζω) is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes and one of the few attested instances of this verb in all of Greek literature. The compound ὑπερηκοντίζω (to steal from a distance, or metaphorically 'to swindle from afar') is formed on the root ἠκοντίζω (to hit, strike, or shoot), with the prefix ὑπερ- suggesting an action performed beyond the usual reach. In this context, it creates a vivid comic image of Wealth (Πλοῦτος) stealing from the sighted not through proximity, but by some metaphorical or magical distance, playing on the irony that the blind are now seeing and the sighted are being robbed. The usage here is uniquely Aristophanic in its lexical invention and semantic play.