1451 καὶ τὸν λόγον τὸν ἥττω. ταυτὶ δι ̓ ὑμᾶς, ὦ Νεφέλαι, πέπονθ ̓ ἐγώ, ΧΟΡ. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν σαυτῷ σὺ τούτων αἴτιος, 1455 στρέψας σεαυτὸν ἐς πονηρὰ πράγματα. ΣΤΡ. τί δῆτα ταῦτ ̓ οὔ μοι τότ ̓ ἀγορεύετε, ἀλλ ̓ ἄνδρ ̓ ἄγροικον καὶ γέροντ ̓ ἐπῄρετε; ΧΟΡ. ἡμεῖς ποιοῦμεν ταῦθ' ἑκάστοθ ̓ ὅντιν ̓ ἂν γνῶμεν πονηρῶν ὄντ ̓ ἐραστὴν πραγμάτων, 1460 ἕως ἂν αὐτὸν ἐμβάλωμεν εἰς κακόν, ὅπως ἂν εἰδῇ τοὺς θεοὺς δεδοικέναι. ΣΤΡ. ὤμοι, πονηρά γ ̓, ὦ Νεφέλαι, δίκαια δέ. οὐ γάρ μ' ἐχρῆν τὰ χρήμαθ ̓ ἃ δανεισάμην ἀποστερεῖν. Νῦν οὖν ὅπως, ὦ φίλτατε, 1465 τὸν Χαιρεφῶντα τὸν μιαρὸν καὶ Σωκράτη ἀπολεῖς, μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ γ ̓ ἔλθ', οἳ σὲ κάμ ̓ ἐξηπάτων ΦΕΙ. ἀλλ ̓ οὐκ ἂν ἀδικήσαιμι τοὺς διδασκάλους. ΣΤΡ. ναὶ ναί, καταιδέσθητι πατρῴον Δία. 1470 Ζεὺς γάρ τις ἔστιν ; 1475 ΣΤΡ. ΦΕΙ. ἔστιν. οὐκ ἔστ ̓ οὔκ' ἐπεὶ Δῖνος βασιλεύει, τὸν Δί ̓ ἐξεληλακώς. ΣΤΡ. οὐκ ἐξελήλακ', ἀλλ ̓ ἐγὼ τοῦτ ̓ ᾠόμην, διὰ τουτονὶ τὸν Δῖνον. Οἴμοι δείλαιος, ὅτε καὶ σὲ χυτρεοῦν ὄντα θεὸν ἡγησάμην. ΦΕΙ. ἐνταῦθα σαυτῷ παραφρόνει καὶ φλη νάφα. ΣΤΡ. οἴμοι παρανοίας ὡς ἐμαινόμην ἄρα, ὅτ ̓ ἐξέβαλλον τοὺς θεοὺς διὰ Σωκράτη. ἀλλ ̓, ὦ φίλ' Ερμή, μηδαμῶς θύμαινέ μοι, μηδέ μ' ἐπιτρίψῃς, ἀλλὰ συγγνώμην ἔχε 1480 ἐμοῦ παρανοήσαντος ἀδολεσχία. καί μοι γενοῦ ξύμβουλος, εἴτ ̓ αὐτοὺς γραφὴν διωκάθω γραψάμενος, εἴθ' ὅ τι σοι δοκεῖ. ὀρθῶς παραινεῖς οὐκ ἐῶν δικοῤῥαφεῖν, ἀλλ ̓ ὡς τάχιστ' ἐμπιμπράναι τὴν οἰκίαν 1485 τῶν ἀδολεσχών. Δεῦρο δεῦρ ̓, ὦ Ξανθία, κλίμακα λαβὼν ἔξελθε καὶ σμινύην φέρων, 1487 κἄπειτ ̓ ἐπαναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸ φροντιστήριον 1490 ἐμοὶ δὲ δᾷδ ̓ ἐνεγκάτω τις ἡμμένην, κἀγώ τιν ̓ αὐτῶν τήμερον δοῦναι δίκην ΣΤΡ. σὸν ἔργον, ὦ δάς, ἱέναι πολλὴν φλόγα. 1495 ΜΑΘ. Α. ἄνθρωπε, τί ποιεῖς; ΣΤΡ. ὅ τι ποιῶ; τί δ ̓ ἄλλο γ ̓ ἢ ΣΤΡ. ἐκεῖνος οὗπερ θοιμάτιον εἰλήφατε. ΣΤΡ. τοῦτ' αὐτὸ γὰρ καὶ βούλομαι, 1500 ἢν ἡ σμινύη μοι μὴ προδῷ τὰς ἐλπίδας, ἢ γὼ πρότερόν πως ἐκτραχηλισθῶ πεσών. ΣΩΚ. οὗτος, τί ποιεῖς ἐτεόν, οὑπὶ τοῦ τέγους; ΣΤΡ. ἀεροβατῶ, καὶ περιφρονῶ τὸν ἥλιον. ΣΩΚ. οἴμοι τάλας, δείλαιος ἀποπνιγήσομαι. ΧΑΙΡΕΦΩΝ. 1505 ἐγὼ δὲ κακοδαίμων γε κατακαυθήσομαι. ΣΤΡ. τί γὰρ μαθόντ ̓ ἐς τοὺς θεοὺς ὑβριζέ 1510 την καὶ τῆς Σελήνης ἐσκοπεῖσθον τὴν ἕδραν; NOTES. 1. THE scene opens in a sleeping apartment of the city mansion of Strepsiades, a rustic land-owner, who had been induced to marry into an aristocratic Athenian family. The wife is a niece of Megacles, the son of Megacles; that is, a lady belonging to the higher circles of Athenian society. The promising son of this ill-starred union has, it seems, run into all the fashionable follies and expensive habits of the young equestrians with whom his mother's rank has brought him into connexion. His foolish old father begins to find himself in embarrassed circumstances; and he is here represented as roused from his bed at early dawn by the anxiety caused by his pecuniary difficulties. The son is sound asleep on his couch, and slaves are snoring around him. A statue of the equestrian Poseidon (line 83) stands near. The young man talks occasionally in his sleep, and his dreaming thoughts are evidently running upon the pursuits and amusements of the day. 2, 3. τὸ χρῆμα . . . . ἀπέραντον. A common pleonasm. Herodotus has ovog μeya xeñμa, a great thing of a boar, a huge boar. Translate here, these nights (or, these hours of the night; vúKTES has sometimes this meaning), how endless they are! 4. Kai μnv, atqui, and yet forsooth. Cf. Gr. 1482 (1053) § 728, c. —πάλαι . . . . Kovo. The aorist of the verb, with the adverb referring to the past, describes a single act completed at the time indicated by the adverb. The present tense, similarly constructed, indicates that the action, though commenced in the past, is still continued. 5. οὐκ . . τοῦ, very common for τούτου, but they would not have done it before this. The particle av qualifies some verb to be supplied. Gr. 1302 (948) § 860. 6, 7. ἀπόλοιο .... οἰκέτας. The Peloponnesian war had already raged eight years. The farmers of Attica had been compelled to exchange the country for the city, and to bring in their slaves with them. The dangers of their situation, in the midst of a slave population that outnumbered the freeborn Athenian citizens in the ratio of nearly four to one, were increased by the opportunities of escape in the time of the war, and the masters had to relax the usual severities of their treatment. As it was, the slaves absconded in great numbers, and caused the Athenians not a little harm. Strepsiades is therefore naturally represented as cursing the war because he cannot safely flog his slaves. See Thucyd. vii. 27.-ST'. For the force of this particle, cf. Gr. 1463 (1052, b) § 725. 11. péуkwμev, let us snore. The old man throws himself on the bed and tries to get a nap, but without success. 12. Sakvóμevos, bitten. He compares his son's extravagance, and the expense of the stable, and his debts, to fleas, which bite him so that he cannot get to sleep. The word dákvw is also used metaphorically for to tex. 14. 8.... exwv, and he with his long hair. The custom of wearing the hair long was prevalent among young men of equestrian rank at Athens, especially the fops who spent their time with horses. See Aristoph., Equites, 537: un plovεï0' ýμìv кoμwo. Upon which a Scholiast remarks: τὸ γὰρ κομᾶν ἐπὶ τοῦ τρυφᾶν λέγεται, καὶ γαυροῦσθαι, καὶ μέγα φρονεῖν. See Mitchell's note upon the passage (1. 562 in his edition). 15. ἱππάζεται . . . . ξυνωρικεύεται. The former refers to riding, the latter to driving, especially a span 1, ovvwpic. 16. ὀνειροπολεῖ θ ̓ ἵππους, and he dreams horses. 17. ὁρῶν . . . . εἰκάδας, seeing the moon bringing on the twenties. The Eikades were the last ten days of the month. The Attic month was divided into three portions of ten days each, called decades, dekádɛç. Money was lent at a daily or a monthly rate of interest, usually the latter. Sometimes the interest was paid annually. (See Boeckh, Public Econ. of Athens, p. 127, seqq.) The ordinary rate on loans was one per cent. a month. In cases of great risk, as commercial voyages, it sometimes went up as high as thirty-six per cent. per annum. Strepsiades sees the last part of the month approaching, when the interest on his debts must be provided for. In his anxiety, he orders his servant to light the lamp and bring him his memorandum-book (1. 19, ypaμμarεiov), out of which he reads the various items of his debts. 18. Tókol, interest moneys. The etymology of the word, and the analogy by which it is applied to the produce of money lent, are obvious. Aristotle, Pol. i. 10, says: ò de Tóros avrò (i. e. money) ποιεῖ πλέον, ὅθεν καὶ τοὔνομα τοῦτ ̓ εἴληφεν. Shylock (Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 3) says of his gold, "I make it breed as fast." 22. τοῦ .... Πασίᾳ ; uhy twelve minæ to Pasias ? Τοῦ,=τίνος; Eveka or xápiv may be supplied: but cf. 1. 31. Cf. Gr. 699, 4 (562) § 444. 5, b. 66 23. OT'.... KOTπаTíaν, when I bought the koppa horse. It was the custom to mark or brand horses of pure breed on the haunch, generally with the character koppa or san. The former was the κοππατίας, the latter σαμφόρας. Among domestic animals, horses were, in Attica, sold for comparatively high prices, not only on account of their utility and the difficulty of keeping them, but from the disposition of the Athenians to extravagance and display; while the knights kept expensive horses for military service and processions at the festivals, and while men of ambition and high rank trained them for the games and races, there arose, particularly among the young men, that excessive passion for horses of which Aristophanes gives an example in the Clouds, and which is recorded by several ancient writers; so that many were impoverished by keeping horses, although it is true that others were enriched by the same means. In early times, also, technical principles had been laid down concerning the management of horses, and rules of this kind had been published before the time of Xenophon, by Simon, a celebrated 1 [An American term for a pair of horses, resembling each other in colour.] rider. The price of a common horse, such as a countryman used, was three minas. You have not squandered your property,' says the client of Isæus, by keeping horses, for never were you in possession of a horse which was worth more than three minas.' But a good saddle horse, or a horse for running in chariot-races, according to Aristophanes, cost twelve minas; and since this sum was lent upon a horse in pawn, it must have been a common price. But fashion or fancy for horses raised their price beyond all limits. Thus thirteen talents were given for Bucephalus." Boeckh's Public Economy of Athens, pp. 73, 74. A mina was nearly eighteen dollars of our money: [in English money=£4 1. 3. (Liddell and Scott)]. The price of the koppa horse, then, was equal to two hundred and sixteen dollars, or thereabouts: [£73. 2. 6. English]. For a further account of the колπатíaç and σaμpópaç, see Becker's Charicles, p. 63, n. 5, English translation. For an account of the ancient race-horses and their names and marks, see Krause, Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen, Vol. i. pp. 594-599. 66 24. eĭ0' ¿¿ekóπη Kuster, Duker, Welcker, Beck, Hermann, and others, have ¿žɛкóπŋ, referring to the koppa horse for the subject. The common reading is ɛkóny. Some have discerned a play upon the similarity of sound between κοππατίας and ἐξεκόπη. It was when I bought the koppa horse; ah! I wish he had had his eye koppaed out first. "Ita," says Hermann, et sententia aptissima est, et lepor manet dicacitatis. Id unum optat Strepsiades, ne necessarium fuisset istum equum emere. Atqui si oculus ei antea excussus fuisset, noluisset eum emi Phidippides. Facete igitur optat Strepsiades, equum ipsum, qui róμμa habebat, quo in hippotropheis genus equorum designatur, quæ res haud parvum habet in emendis equis momentum, aliud ante accepisse kóμμa, quo emptores deterruisset." 25. Φίλων . . . . δρόμον. The young man, dreaming of the raceground, and imagining that his rival is cutting across his track, murmurs, Philo, you are not fair, drive on your own course. 28. πόσους πολεμιστήρια (sc. ἅρματα); how many courses will the war-chariots run? Hermann, however, observes,-"Ambiguum est, πολεμιστήρια sintne ἅρματα an ἁμιλλήματα intelligenda, sitque hoc nomen accusativo casu an nominativo dictum. Illud quidem non dubitandum videtur, quin aurigatio potius vel equitatio, quam currus eo nomine designetur. Quod nominativo si est positum, quærere putandus est Phidippides ante cursus initium, quot gyros facturi sint. Verisimilius est tamen accusativum esse πολεμιστήρια.” 30. ἀτὰρ . . . . Πασίαν ; The old man after this interruption returns to his accounts. The words τί χρέος ἔβα με are quoted from a lost play of Euripides, for the purpose of burlesque. The poet seizes every opportunity of ridiculing the tragic style of that great poet. In Euripides (Herc. Furens, 494) we find ri kaivov ÿλ0ε xpέos; what new event has come? Aristophanes plays with the double meaning of χρέος. In this passage, what debt has come upon me? 31. τρεῖς . . . . ̓Αμυνίᾳ. Another item in the account. Three mince for a little chariot and a pair of wheels to Amynias. [The gen. is used because it was the price of the chariot and pair of wheels; belonged, as it were, to them.] |