Come, my treasures, give me
voluptuous
kisses!
Aristophanes
Take back, take back your viands; for a thousand drachmae I
would not give a drop of peace; but who are you, pray?
BRIDESMAID. I am the bridesmaid; she wants to say something to you from
the bride privately.
DICAEOPOLIS. Come, what do you wish to say? (_The bridesmaid whispers in
his ear. _) _Ah! _ what a ridiculous demand! The bride burns with longing
to keep by her her husband's weapon. Come! bring hither my truce; to her
alone will I give some of it, for she is a woman, and, as such, should
not suffer under the war. Here, friend, reach hither your vial. And as to
the manner of applying this balm, tell the bride, when a levy of soldiers
is made to rub some in bed on her husband, where most needed. There,
slave, take away my truce! Now, quick hither with the wine-flagon, that I
may fill up the drinking bowls!
CHORUS. I see a man, striding along apace, with knitted brows; he seems
to us the bearer of terrible tidings.
HERALD. Oh! toils and battles! 'tis Lamachus!
LAMACHUS. What noise resounds around my dwelling, where shines the glint
of arms.
HERALD. The Generals order you forthwith to take your battalions and your
plumes, and, despite the snow, to go and guard our borders. They have
learnt that a band of Boeotians intend taking advantage of the feast of
Cups to invade our country.
LAMACHUS. Ah! the Generals! they are numerous, but not good for much!
It's cruel, not to be able to enjoy the feast!
DICAEOPOLIS. Oh! warlike host of Lamachus!
LAMACHUS. Wretch! do you dare to jeer me?
DICAEOPOLIS. Do you want to fight this four-winged Geryon?
LAMACHUS. Oh! oh! what fearful tidings!
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! ah! I see another herald running up; what news does he
bring me?
HERALD. Dicaeopolis!
DICAEOPOLIS. What is the matter?
HERALD. Come quickly to the feast and bring your basket and your cup;
'tis the priest of Bacchus who invites you. But hasten, the guests have
been waiting for you a long while. All is ready--couches, tables,
cushions, chaplets, perfumes, dainties and courtesans to boot; biscuits,
cakes, sesame-bread, tarts, and--lovely dancing women, the sweetest charm
of the festivity. But come with all haste.
LAMACHUS. Oh! hostile gods!
DICAEOPOLIS. This is not astounding; you have chosen this huge, great
ugly Gorgon's head for your patron. You, shut the door, and let someone
get ready the meal.
LAMACHUS. Slave! slave! my knapsack!
DICAEOPOLIS. Slave! slave! a basket!
LAMACHUS. Take salt and thyme, slave, and don't forget the onions.
DICAEOPOLIS. Get some fish for me; I cannot bear onions.
LAMACHUS. Slave, wrap me up a little stale salt meat in a fig-leaf.
DICAEOPOLIS. And for me some good greasy tripe in a fig-leaf; I will have
it cooked here.
LAMACHUS. Bring me the plumes for my helmet.
DICAEOPOLIS. Bring me wild pigeons and thrushes.
LAMACHUS. How white and beautiful are these ostrich feathers!
DICAEOPOLIS. How fat and well browned is the flesh of this wood-pigeon!
LAMACHUS. Bring me the case for my triple plume.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pass me over that dish of hare.
LAMACHUS. _Oh! _ the moths have eaten the hair of my crest!
DICAEOPOLIS. I shall always eat hare before dinner.
LAMACHUS. Hi! friend! try not to scoff at my armour.
DICAEOPOLIS. Hi! friend! will you kindly not stare at my thrushes.
LAMACHUS. Hi! friend! will you kindly not address me.
DICAEOPOLIS. I do not address you; I am scolding my slave. Shall we wager
and submit the matter to Lamachus, which of the two is the best to eat, a
locust or a thrush?
LAMACHUS. Insolent hound!
DICAEOPOLIS. He much prefers the locusts.
LAMACHUS. Slave, unhook my spear and bring it to me.
DICAEOPOLIS. Slave, slave, take the sausage from the fire and bring it to
me.
LAMACHUS. Come, let me draw my spear from its sheath. Hold it, slave,
hold it tight.
DICAEOPOLIS. And you, slave, grip, grip well hold of the skewer.
LAMACHUS. Slave, the bracings for my shield.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pull the loaves out of the oven and bring me these bracings
of my stomach.
LAMACHUS. My round buckler with the Gorgon's head.
DICAEOPOLIS. My round cheese-cake.
LAMACHUS. What clumsy wit!
DICAEOPOLIS. What delicious cheese-cake!
LAMACHUS. Pour oil on the buckler. Hah! hah! I can see an old man who
will be accused of cowardice.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pour honey on the cake. Hah! hah! I can see an old man who
makes Lamachus of the Gorgon's head weep with rage.
LAMACHUS. Slave, full war armour.
DICAEOPOLIS. Slave, my beaker; that is _my_ armour.
LAMACHUS. With this I hold my ground with any foe.
DICAEOPOLIS. And I with this with any tosspot.
LAMACHUS. Fasten the strappings to the buckler; personally I shall carry
the knapsack.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pack the dinner well into the basket; personally I shall
carry the cloak.
LAMACHUS. Slave, take up the buckler and let's be off. It is snowing! Ah!
'tis a question of facing the winter.
DICAEOPOLIS. Take up the basket, 'tis a question of getting to the feast.
CHORUS. We wish you both joy on your journeys, which differ so much. One
goes to mount guard and freeze, while the other will drink, crowned with
flowers, and then sleep with a young beauty, who will rub his tool for
him.
I say it freely; may Zeus confound Antimachus, the poet-historian, the
son of Psacas! When Choregus at the Lenaea, alas! alas! he dismissed me
dinnerless. May I see him devouring with his eyes a cuttle-fish, just
served, well cooked, hot and properly salted; and the moment that he
stretches his hand to help himself, may a dog seize it and run off with
it. Such is my first wish. I also hope for him a misfortune at night.
That returning all-fevered from horse practice, he may meet an
Orestes,[259] mad with drink, who breaks open his head; that wishing to
seize a stone, he, in the dark, may pick up a fresh stool, hurl his
missile, miss aim and hit Cratinus. [260]
SLAVE OF LAMACHUS. Slaves of Lamachus! Water, water in a little pot! Make
it warm, get ready cloths, cerate, greasy wool and bandages for his
ankle. In leaping a ditch, the master has hurt himself against a stake;
he has dislocated and twisted his ankle, broken his head by falling on a
stone, while his Gorgon shot far away from his buckler. His mighty
braggadocio plume rolled on the ground; at this sight he uttered these
doleful words, "Radiant star, I gaze on thee for the last time; my eyes
close to all light, I die. " Having said this, he falls into the water,
gets out again, meets some runaways and pursues the robbers with his
spear at their backsides. [261] But here he comes, himself. Get the door
open.
LAMACHUS. Oh! heavens! oh! heavens! What cruel pain! I faint, I tremble!
Alas! I die! the foe's lance has struck me! But what would hurt me most
would be for Dicaeopolis to see me wounded thus and laugh at my
ill-fortune.
DICAEOPOLIS (_enters with two courtesans_). Oh! my gods! what bosoms!
Hard as a quince!
Come, my treasures, give me voluptuous kisses! Glue
your lips to mine. Haha! I was the first to empty my cup.
LAMACHUS. Oh! cruel fate! how I suffer! accursed wounds!
DICAEOPOLIS. Hah! hah! hail! Knight Lamachus! (_Embraces Lamachus. _)
LAMACHUS. By the hostile gods! _(Bites Dicaeopolis. )_
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! great gods!
LAMACHUS. Why do you embrace me?
DICAEOPOLIS. And why do you bite me?
LAMACHUS. 'Twas a cruel score I was paying back!
DICAEOPOLIS. Scores are not evened at the feast of Cups!
LAMACHUS. Oh! Paean, Paean!
DICAEOPOLIS. But to-day is not the feast of Paean.
LAMACHUS. Oh! support my leg, do; ah! hold it tenderly, my friends!
DICAEOPOLIS. And you, my darlings, take hold of my tool both of you!
LAMACHUS. This blow with the stone makes me dizzy; my sight grows dim.
DICAEOPOLIS. For myself, I want to get to bed; I am bursting with
lustfulness, I want to be fucking in the dark.
LAMACHUS. Carry me to the surgeon Pittalus.
DICAEOPOLIS. Take me to the judges. Where is the king of the feast? The
wine-skin is mine!
LAMACHUS. That spear has pierced my bones; what torture I endure!
DICAEOPOLIS. You see this empty cup! I triumph! I triumph!
CHORUS. Old man, I come at your bidding! You triumph! you triumph!
DICAEOPOLIS. Again I have brimmed my cup with unmixed wine and drained it
at a draught!
CHORUS. You triumph then, brave champion; thine is the wine-skin!
DICAEOPOLIS. Follow me, singing "Triumph! Triumph! "
CHORUS. Aye! we will sing of thee, thee and thy sacred wine-skin, and we
all, as we follow thee, will repeat in thine honour, "Triumph, Triumph! "
* * * * *
FINIS OF "THE ACHARNIANS"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[147] A name invented by Aristophanes and signifying 'a just citizen. '
[148] Cleon had received five talents from the islanders subject to
Athens, on condition that he should get the tribute payable by them
reduced; when informed of this transaction, the Knights compelled him to
return the money.
[149] A hemistich borrowed from Euripides' 'Telephus. '
[150] The tragedies of Aeschylus continued to be played even after the
poet's death, which occurred in 436 B. C. , ten years before the production
of the Acharnians.
[151] A tragic poet, whose pieces were so devoid of warmth and life that
he was nicknamed [Greek: chi_on], i. e. _snow_.
[152] A bad musician, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes; he played
both the lyre and the flute.
[153] A lively and elevated method.
[154] A hill near the Acropolis, where the Assemblies were held.
[155] Several means were used to force citizens to attend the assemblies;
the shops were closed; circulation was only permitted in those streets
which led to the Pnyx; finally, a rope covered with vermilion was drawn
round those who dallied in the Agora (the marketplace), and the
late-comers, ear-marked by the imprint of the rope, were fined.
[156] Magistrates who, with the Archons and the Epistatae, shared the
care of holding and directing the assemblies of the people; they were
fifty in number.
[157] The Peloponnesian War had already, at the date of the
representation of the 'Acharnians,' lasted five years, 431-426 B. C. ;
driven from their lands by the successive Lacedaemonian invasions, the
people throughout the country had been compelled to seek shelter behind
the walls of Athens.
[158] Shortly before the meeting of the Assembly, a number of young pigs
were immolated and a few drops of their blood were sprinkled on the seats
of the Prytanes; this sacrifice was in honour of Ceres.
[159] The name, Amphitheus, contains the word, [Greek: Theos], _god_.
[160] Amongst other duties, it was the office of the Prytanes to look
after the wants of the poor.
[161] The summer residence of the Great King.
[162] Referring to the hardships he had endured garrisoning the walls of
Athens during the Lacedaemonian invasions early in the War.
[163] Cranaus, the second king of Athens, the successor of Cecrops.
[164] Lucian, in his 'Hermotimus,' speaks of these golden mountains as an
apocryphal land of wonders and prodigies.
[165] Cleonymus was an Athenian general of exceptionally tall stature;
Aristophanes incessantly rallies him for his cowardice; he had cast away
his buckler in a fight.
[166] A name borne by certain officials of the King of Persia. The actor
of this part wore a mask, fitted with a single eye of great size.
[167] Jargon, no doubt meaningless in all languages.
[168] The Persians styled all Greeks 'Ionians' without distinction; here
the Athenians are intended.
[169] A Greek measure, containing about six modii.
[170] Noted for his extreme ugliness and his obscenity. Aristophanes
frequently holds him to scorn in his comedies.
[171] Ambassadors were entertained there at the public expense.
[172] King of Thrace.
[173] The tragic poet.
[174] A feast lasting three days and celebrated during the month
Pyanepsion (November). The Greek word contains the suggestion of fraud
([Greek: apat_e]).
[175] A Thracian tribe from the right bank of the Strymon.
[176] The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.
[177] Dicaeopolis had brought a clove of garlic with him to eat during
the Assembly.
[178] Garlic was given to game-cocks, before setting them at each other,
to give them pluck for the fight.
[179] At the least unfavourable omen, the sitting of the Assembly was
declared at an end.
[180] The deme of Acharnae was largely inhabited by charcoal-burners, who
supplied the city with fuel.
[181] He presents them in the form of wines contained in three separate
skins.
[182] Meaning, preparations for war.
[183] Meaning, securing allies for the continuance of the war.
[184] When Athens sent forth an army, the soldiers were usually ordered
to assemble at some particular spot with provisions for three days.
[185] These feasts were also called the Anthesteria or Lenaea; the
Lenaeum was a temple to Bacchus, erected outside the city. They took
place during the month Anthesterion (February).
[186] A celebrated athlete from Croton and a victor at Olympia; he was
equally good as a runner and at the 'five exercises' ([Greek:
pentathlon. ]).
[187] He had been Archon at the time of the battle of Marathon.
[188] A sacred formula, pronounced by the priest before offering the
sacrifice ([Greek: kan_ephoria]).
[189] The maiden who carried the basket filled with fruits at the
Dionysia in honour of Bacchus.
[190] The emblem of the fecundity of nature; it consisted of a
representation, generally grotesquely exaggerated, of the male genital
organs; the phallophori crowned with violets and ivy and their faces
shaded with green foliage, sang improvised airs, called 'Phallics,' full
of obscenity and suggestive 'double entendres. '
[191] The most propitious moment for Love's gambols, observes the
scholiast.
[192] Married women did not join in the processions.
[193] The god of generation, worshipped in the form of a phallus.
[194] A remark, which fixes the date of the production of the
'Acharnians,' viz. the sixth year of the Peloponnesian War, 426 B. C.
[195] Lamachus was an Athenian general, who figures later in this comedy.
[196] At the rural Dionysia a pot of kitchen vegetables was borne in the
procession along with other emblems.
[197] Cleon the Demagogue was a currier originally by trade. He was the
sworn foe and particular detestation of the Knights or aristocratic party
generally.
[198] That is, the baskets of charcoal.
[199] The stage of the Greek theatre was much broader, and at the same
time shallower, than in a modern playhouse.
[200] A mountain in Attica, in the neighbourhood of Acharnae.
[201] Orators in the pay of the enemy.
[202] Satire on the Athenians' addiction to lawsuits.
[203] 'The Babylonians. ' Cleon had denounced Aristophanes to the senate
for having scoffed at Athens before strangers, many of whom were present
at the performance. The play is now lost.
[204] A tragic poet; we know next to nothing of him or his works.
[205] Son of Aeolus, renowned in fable for his robberies, and for the
tortures to which he was put by Pluto. He was cunning enough to break
loose out of hell, but Hermes brought him back again.
[206] This whole scene is directed at Euripides; Aristophanes ridicules
the subtleties of his poetry and the trickeries of his staging, which,
according to him, he only used to attract the less refined among his
audience.
[207] "Wheeled out"--that is, by means of the [Greek: ekkukl_ema], a
mechanical contrivance of the Greek stage, by which an interior was
shown, the set scene with performers, etc. , all complete, being in some
way, which cannot be clearly made out from the descriptions, swung out or
wheeled out on to the main stage.
[208] Having been lamed, it is of course implied, by tumbling from the
lofty apparatus on which the Author sat perched to write his tragedies.
[209] Euripides delighted, or was supposed by his critic Aristophanes to
delight, in the representation of misery and wretchedness on the stage.
'Aeneus,' 'Phoenix,' 'Philoctetes,' 'Bellerophon,' 'Telephus,' 'Ino' are
titles of six tragedies of his in this _genre_ of which fragments are
extant.
[210] Line borrowed from Euripides. A great number of verses are
similarly parodied in this scene.
[211] Report said that Euripides' mother had sold vegetables on the
market.
[212] Aristophanes means, of course, to imply that the whole talent of
Euripides lay in these petty details of stage property.
[213] 'The Babylonians' had been produced at a time of year when Athens
was crowded with strangers; 'The Acharnians,' on the contrary, was played
in December.
[214] Sparta had been menaced with an earthquake in 427 B. C. Posidon was
'The Earthshaker,' god of earthquakes, as well as of the sea.
[215] A song by Timocreon the Rhodian, the words of which were
practically identical with Pericles' decree.
[216] A small and insignificant island, one of the Cyclades, allied with
the Athenians, like most of these islands previous to and during the
first part of the Peloponnesian War.
[217] A figure of Medusa's head, forming the centre of Lamachus' shield.
[218] Indicates the character of his election, which was arranged, so
Aristophanes implies, by his partisans.
[219] Towns in Sicily. There is a pun on the name Gela--[Greek: Gela] and
[Greek: Katagela] (ridiculous)--which it is impossible to keep in
English. Apparently the Athenians had sent embassies to all parts of the
Greek world to arrange treaties of alliance in view of the struggle with
the Lacedaemonians; but only young debauchees of aristocratic connections
had been chosen as envoys.
[220] A contemporary orator apparently, otherwise unknown.
[221] The _parabasis_ in the Old Comedy was a sort of address or topical
harangue addressed directly by the poet, speaking by the Chorus, to the
audience. It was nearly always political in bearing, and the subject of
the particular piece was for the time being set aside altogether.
[222] It will be remembered that Aristophanes owned land in Aegina.
[223] Everything was made the object of a law-suit at Athens. The old
soldiers, inexpert at speaking, often lost the day.
[224] A water-clock used to limit the length of speeches in the courts.
[225] A braggart speaker, fiery and pugnacious.
[226] Cephisodemus was an Athenian, but through his mother possessed
Scythian blood.
[227] The city of Athens was policed by Scythian archers.
[228] Alcibiades.
[229] The leather market was held at Lepros, outside the city.
[230] Meaning an informer ([Greek: phain_o], to denounce).
[231] According to the Athenian custom.
[232] Megara was allied to Sparta and suffered during the war more than
any other city, because of its proximity to Athens.
[233]: Throughout this whole scene there is an obscene play upon the word
[Greek: choiros], which means in Greek both 'sow' and 'a woman's organs
of generation. '
[234] Sacrificial victims were bound to be perfect in every part; an
animal, therefore, without a tail could not be offered.
[235] The Greek word, [Greek: erebinthos], also means the male sexual
organ. Observe the little pig-girl greets this question with _three_
affirmative squeaks!
[236] The Megarians used the Doric dialect.
[237] A play upon the word [Greek: phainein], which both means _to light_
and _to denounce_.
[238] An informer (sycophant), otherwise unknown.
[239] A debauchee of vile habits; a pathic.
[240] Mentioned above; he was as proud as he was cowardly.
[241] An Athenian general, quarrelsome and litigious, and an Informer
into the bargain.
[242] A comic poet of vile habits.
[243] A painter.
[244] A debauchee, a gambler, and always in extreme poverty.
[245] This kind of flute had a bellows, made of dog-skin, much like the
bagpipes of to-day.
[246] A flute-player, mentioned above.
[247] A hero, much honoured in Thebes; nephew of Heracles.
[248] A form of bread peculiar to Boeotia.
[249] A lake in Boeotia.
[250] He was the Lucullus of Athens.
would not give a drop of peace; but who are you, pray?
BRIDESMAID. I am the bridesmaid; she wants to say something to you from
the bride privately.
DICAEOPOLIS. Come, what do you wish to say? (_The bridesmaid whispers in
his ear. _) _Ah! _ what a ridiculous demand! The bride burns with longing
to keep by her her husband's weapon. Come! bring hither my truce; to her
alone will I give some of it, for she is a woman, and, as such, should
not suffer under the war. Here, friend, reach hither your vial. And as to
the manner of applying this balm, tell the bride, when a levy of soldiers
is made to rub some in bed on her husband, where most needed. There,
slave, take away my truce! Now, quick hither with the wine-flagon, that I
may fill up the drinking bowls!
CHORUS. I see a man, striding along apace, with knitted brows; he seems
to us the bearer of terrible tidings.
HERALD. Oh! toils and battles! 'tis Lamachus!
LAMACHUS. What noise resounds around my dwelling, where shines the glint
of arms.
HERALD. The Generals order you forthwith to take your battalions and your
plumes, and, despite the snow, to go and guard our borders. They have
learnt that a band of Boeotians intend taking advantage of the feast of
Cups to invade our country.
LAMACHUS. Ah! the Generals! they are numerous, but not good for much!
It's cruel, not to be able to enjoy the feast!
DICAEOPOLIS. Oh! warlike host of Lamachus!
LAMACHUS. Wretch! do you dare to jeer me?
DICAEOPOLIS. Do you want to fight this four-winged Geryon?
LAMACHUS. Oh! oh! what fearful tidings!
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! ah! I see another herald running up; what news does he
bring me?
HERALD. Dicaeopolis!
DICAEOPOLIS. What is the matter?
HERALD. Come quickly to the feast and bring your basket and your cup;
'tis the priest of Bacchus who invites you. But hasten, the guests have
been waiting for you a long while. All is ready--couches, tables,
cushions, chaplets, perfumes, dainties and courtesans to boot; biscuits,
cakes, sesame-bread, tarts, and--lovely dancing women, the sweetest charm
of the festivity. But come with all haste.
LAMACHUS. Oh! hostile gods!
DICAEOPOLIS. This is not astounding; you have chosen this huge, great
ugly Gorgon's head for your patron. You, shut the door, and let someone
get ready the meal.
LAMACHUS. Slave! slave! my knapsack!
DICAEOPOLIS. Slave! slave! a basket!
LAMACHUS. Take salt and thyme, slave, and don't forget the onions.
DICAEOPOLIS. Get some fish for me; I cannot bear onions.
LAMACHUS. Slave, wrap me up a little stale salt meat in a fig-leaf.
DICAEOPOLIS. And for me some good greasy tripe in a fig-leaf; I will have
it cooked here.
LAMACHUS. Bring me the plumes for my helmet.
DICAEOPOLIS. Bring me wild pigeons and thrushes.
LAMACHUS. How white and beautiful are these ostrich feathers!
DICAEOPOLIS. How fat and well browned is the flesh of this wood-pigeon!
LAMACHUS. Bring me the case for my triple plume.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pass me over that dish of hare.
LAMACHUS. _Oh! _ the moths have eaten the hair of my crest!
DICAEOPOLIS. I shall always eat hare before dinner.
LAMACHUS. Hi! friend! try not to scoff at my armour.
DICAEOPOLIS. Hi! friend! will you kindly not stare at my thrushes.
LAMACHUS. Hi! friend! will you kindly not address me.
DICAEOPOLIS. I do not address you; I am scolding my slave. Shall we wager
and submit the matter to Lamachus, which of the two is the best to eat, a
locust or a thrush?
LAMACHUS. Insolent hound!
DICAEOPOLIS. He much prefers the locusts.
LAMACHUS. Slave, unhook my spear and bring it to me.
DICAEOPOLIS. Slave, slave, take the sausage from the fire and bring it to
me.
LAMACHUS. Come, let me draw my spear from its sheath. Hold it, slave,
hold it tight.
DICAEOPOLIS. And you, slave, grip, grip well hold of the skewer.
LAMACHUS. Slave, the bracings for my shield.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pull the loaves out of the oven and bring me these bracings
of my stomach.
LAMACHUS. My round buckler with the Gorgon's head.
DICAEOPOLIS. My round cheese-cake.
LAMACHUS. What clumsy wit!
DICAEOPOLIS. What delicious cheese-cake!
LAMACHUS. Pour oil on the buckler. Hah! hah! I can see an old man who
will be accused of cowardice.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pour honey on the cake. Hah! hah! I can see an old man who
makes Lamachus of the Gorgon's head weep with rage.
LAMACHUS. Slave, full war armour.
DICAEOPOLIS. Slave, my beaker; that is _my_ armour.
LAMACHUS. With this I hold my ground with any foe.
DICAEOPOLIS. And I with this with any tosspot.
LAMACHUS. Fasten the strappings to the buckler; personally I shall carry
the knapsack.
DICAEOPOLIS. Pack the dinner well into the basket; personally I shall
carry the cloak.
LAMACHUS. Slave, take up the buckler and let's be off. It is snowing! Ah!
'tis a question of facing the winter.
DICAEOPOLIS. Take up the basket, 'tis a question of getting to the feast.
CHORUS. We wish you both joy on your journeys, which differ so much. One
goes to mount guard and freeze, while the other will drink, crowned with
flowers, and then sleep with a young beauty, who will rub his tool for
him.
I say it freely; may Zeus confound Antimachus, the poet-historian, the
son of Psacas! When Choregus at the Lenaea, alas! alas! he dismissed me
dinnerless. May I see him devouring with his eyes a cuttle-fish, just
served, well cooked, hot and properly salted; and the moment that he
stretches his hand to help himself, may a dog seize it and run off with
it. Such is my first wish. I also hope for him a misfortune at night.
That returning all-fevered from horse practice, he may meet an
Orestes,[259] mad with drink, who breaks open his head; that wishing to
seize a stone, he, in the dark, may pick up a fresh stool, hurl his
missile, miss aim and hit Cratinus. [260]
SLAVE OF LAMACHUS. Slaves of Lamachus! Water, water in a little pot! Make
it warm, get ready cloths, cerate, greasy wool and bandages for his
ankle. In leaping a ditch, the master has hurt himself against a stake;
he has dislocated and twisted his ankle, broken his head by falling on a
stone, while his Gorgon shot far away from his buckler. His mighty
braggadocio plume rolled on the ground; at this sight he uttered these
doleful words, "Radiant star, I gaze on thee for the last time; my eyes
close to all light, I die. " Having said this, he falls into the water,
gets out again, meets some runaways and pursues the robbers with his
spear at their backsides. [261] But here he comes, himself. Get the door
open.
LAMACHUS. Oh! heavens! oh! heavens! What cruel pain! I faint, I tremble!
Alas! I die! the foe's lance has struck me! But what would hurt me most
would be for Dicaeopolis to see me wounded thus and laugh at my
ill-fortune.
DICAEOPOLIS (_enters with two courtesans_). Oh! my gods! what bosoms!
Hard as a quince!
Come, my treasures, give me voluptuous kisses! Glue
your lips to mine. Haha! I was the first to empty my cup.
LAMACHUS. Oh! cruel fate! how I suffer! accursed wounds!
DICAEOPOLIS. Hah! hah! hail! Knight Lamachus! (_Embraces Lamachus. _)
LAMACHUS. By the hostile gods! _(Bites Dicaeopolis. )_
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! great gods!
LAMACHUS. Why do you embrace me?
DICAEOPOLIS. And why do you bite me?
LAMACHUS. 'Twas a cruel score I was paying back!
DICAEOPOLIS. Scores are not evened at the feast of Cups!
LAMACHUS. Oh! Paean, Paean!
DICAEOPOLIS. But to-day is not the feast of Paean.
LAMACHUS. Oh! support my leg, do; ah! hold it tenderly, my friends!
DICAEOPOLIS. And you, my darlings, take hold of my tool both of you!
LAMACHUS. This blow with the stone makes me dizzy; my sight grows dim.
DICAEOPOLIS. For myself, I want to get to bed; I am bursting with
lustfulness, I want to be fucking in the dark.
LAMACHUS. Carry me to the surgeon Pittalus.
DICAEOPOLIS. Take me to the judges. Where is the king of the feast? The
wine-skin is mine!
LAMACHUS. That spear has pierced my bones; what torture I endure!
DICAEOPOLIS. You see this empty cup! I triumph! I triumph!
CHORUS. Old man, I come at your bidding! You triumph! you triumph!
DICAEOPOLIS. Again I have brimmed my cup with unmixed wine and drained it
at a draught!
CHORUS. You triumph then, brave champion; thine is the wine-skin!
DICAEOPOLIS. Follow me, singing "Triumph! Triumph! "
CHORUS. Aye! we will sing of thee, thee and thy sacred wine-skin, and we
all, as we follow thee, will repeat in thine honour, "Triumph, Triumph! "
* * * * *
FINIS OF "THE ACHARNIANS"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[147] A name invented by Aristophanes and signifying 'a just citizen. '
[148] Cleon had received five talents from the islanders subject to
Athens, on condition that he should get the tribute payable by them
reduced; when informed of this transaction, the Knights compelled him to
return the money.
[149] A hemistich borrowed from Euripides' 'Telephus. '
[150] The tragedies of Aeschylus continued to be played even after the
poet's death, which occurred in 436 B. C. , ten years before the production
of the Acharnians.
[151] A tragic poet, whose pieces were so devoid of warmth and life that
he was nicknamed [Greek: chi_on], i. e. _snow_.
[152] A bad musician, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes; he played
both the lyre and the flute.
[153] A lively and elevated method.
[154] A hill near the Acropolis, where the Assemblies were held.
[155] Several means were used to force citizens to attend the assemblies;
the shops were closed; circulation was only permitted in those streets
which led to the Pnyx; finally, a rope covered with vermilion was drawn
round those who dallied in the Agora (the marketplace), and the
late-comers, ear-marked by the imprint of the rope, were fined.
[156] Magistrates who, with the Archons and the Epistatae, shared the
care of holding and directing the assemblies of the people; they were
fifty in number.
[157] The Peloponnesian War had already, at the date of the
representation of the 'Acharnians,' lasted five years, 431-426 B. C. ;
driven from their lands by the successive Lacedaemonian invasions, the
people throughout the country had been compelled to seek shelter behind
the walls of Athens.
[158] Shortly before the meeting of the Assembly, a number of young pigs
were immolated and a few drops of their blood were sprinkled on the seats
of the Prytanes; this sacrifice was in honour of Ceres.
[159] The name, Amphitheus, contains the word, [Greek: Theos], _god_.
[160] Amongst other duties, it was the office of the Prytanes to look
after the wants of the poor.
[161] The summer residence of the Great King.
[162] Referring to the hardships he had endured garrisoning the walls of
Athens during the Lacedaemonian invasions early in the War.
[163] Cranaus, the second king of Athens, the successor of Cecrops.
[164] Lucian, in his 'Hermotimus,' speaks of these golden mountains as an
apocryphal land of wonders and prodigies.
[165] Cleonymus was an Athenian general of exceptionally tall stature;
Aristophanes incessantly rallies him for his cowardice; he had cast away
his buckler in a fight.
[166] A name borne by certain officials of the King of Persia. The actor
of this part wore a mask, fitted with a single eye of great size.
[167] Jargon, no doubt meaningless in all languages.
[168] The Persians styled all Greeks 'Ionians' without distinction; here
the Athenians are intended.
[169] A Greek measure, containing about six modii.
[170] Noted for his extreme ugliness and his obscenity. Aristophanes
frequently holds him to scorn in his comedies.
[171] Ambassadors were entertained there at the public expense.
[172] King of Thrace.
[173] The tragic poet.
[174] A feast lasting three days and celebrated during the month
Pyanepsion (November). The Greek word contains the suggestion of fraud
([Greek: apat_e]).
[175] A Thracian tribe from the right bank of the Strymon.
[176] The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.
[177] Dicaeopolis had brought a clove of garlic with him to eat during
the Assembly.
[178] Garlic was given to game-cocks, before setting them at each other,
to give them pluck for the fight.
[179] At the least unfavourable omen, the sitting of the Assembly was
declared at an end.
[180] The deme of Acharnae was largely inhabited by charcoal-burners, who
supplied the city with fuel.
[181] He presents them in the form of wines contained in three separate
skins.
[182] Meaning, preparations for war.
[183] Meaning, securing allies for the continuance of the war.
[184] When Athens sent forth an army, the soldiers were usually ordered
to assemble at some particular spot with provisions for three days.
[185] These feasts were also called the Anthesteria or Lenaea; the
Lenaeum was a temple to Bacchus, erected outside the city. They took
place during the month Anthesterion (February).
[186] A celebrated athlete from Croton and a victor at Olympia; he was
equally good as a runner and at the 'five exercises' ([Greek:
pentathlon. ]).
[187] He had been Archon at the time of the battle of Marathon.
[188] A sacred formula, pronounced by the priest before offering the
sacrifice ([Greek: kan_ephoria]).
[189] The maiden who carried the basket filled with fruits at the
Dionysia in honour of Bacchus.
[190] The emblem of the fecundity of nature; it consisted of a
representation, generally grotesquely exaggerated, of the male genital
organs; the phallophori crowned with violets and ivy and their faces
shaded with green foliage, sang improvised airs, called 'Phallics,' full
of obscenity and suggestive 'double entendres. '
[191] The most propitious moment for Love's gambols, observes the
scholiast.
[192] Married women did not join in the processions.
[193] The god of generation, worshipped in the form of a phallus.
[194] A remark, which fixes the date of the production of the
'Acharnians,' viz. the sixth year of the Peloponnesian War, 426 B. C.
[195] Lamachus was an Athenian general, who figures later in this comedy.
[196] At the rural Dionysia a pot of kitchen vegetables was borne in the
procession along with other emblems.
[197] Cleon the Demagogue was a currier originally by trade. He was the
sworn foe and particular detestation of the Knights or aristocratic party
generally.
[198] That is, the baskets of charcoal.
[199] The stage of the Greek theatre was much broader, and at the same
time shallower, than in a modern playhouse.
[200] A mountain in Attica, in the neighbourhood of Acharnae.
[201] Orators in the pay of the enemy.
[202] Satire on the Athenians' addiction to lawsuits.
[203] 'The Babylonians. ' Cleon had denounced Aristophanes to the senate
for having scoffed at Athens before strangers, many of whom were present
at the performance. The play is now lost.
[204] A tragic poet; we know next to nothing of him or his works.
[205] Son of Aeolus, renowned in fable for his robberies, and for the
tortures to which he was put by Pluto. He was cunning enough to break
loose out of hell, but Hermes brought him back again.
[206] This whole scene is directed at Euripides; Aristophanes ridicules
the subtleties of his poetry and the trickeries of his staging, which,
according to him, he only used to attract the less refined among his
audience.
[207] "Wheeled out"--that is, by means of the [Greek: ekkukl_ema], a
mechanical contrivance of the Greek stage, by which an interior was
shown, the set scene with performers, etc. , all complete, being in some
way, which cannot be clearly made out from the descriptions, swung out or
wheeled out on to the main stage.
[208] Having been lamed, it is of course implied, by tumbling from the
lofty apparatus on which the Author sat perched to write his tragedies.
[209] Euripides delighted, or was supposed by his critic Aristophanes to
delight, in the representation of misery and wretchedness on the stage.
'Aeneus,' 'Phoenix,' 'Philoctetes,' 'Bellerophon,' 'Telephus,' 'Ino' are
titles of six tragedies of his in this _genre_ of which fragments are
extant.
[210] Line borrowed from Euripides. A great number of verses are
similarly parodied in this scene.
[211] Report said that Euripides' mother had sold vegetables on the
market.
[212] Aristophanes means, of course, to imply that the whole talent of
Euripides lay in these petty details of stage property.
[213] 'The Babylonians' had been produced at a time of year when Athens
was crowded with strangers; 'The Acharnians,' on the contrary, was played
in December.
[214] Sparta had been menaced with an earthquake in 427 B. C. Posidon was
'The Earthshaker,' god of earthquakes, as well as of the sea.
[215] A song by Timocreon the Rhodian, the words of which were
practically identical with Pericles' decree.
[216] A small and insignificant island, one of the Cyclades, allied with
the Athenians, like most of these islands previous to and during the
first part of the Peloponnesian War.
[217] A figure of Medusa's head, forming the centre of Lamachus' shield.
[218] Indicates the character of his election, which was arranged, so
Aristophanes implies, by his partisans.
[219] Towns in Sicily. There is a pun on the name Gela--[Greek: Gela] and
[Greek: Katagela] (ridiculous)--which it is impossible to keep in
English. Apparently the Athenians had sent embassies to all parts of the
Greek world to arrange treaties of alliance in view of the struggle with
the Lacedaemonians; but only young debauchees of aristocratic connections
had been chosen as envoys.
[220] A contemporary orator apparently, otherwise unknown.
[221] The _parabasis_ in the Old Comedy was a sort of address or topical
harangue addressed directly by the poet, speaking by the Chorus, to the
audience. It was nearly always political in bearing, and the subject of
the particular piece was for the time being set aside altogether.
[222] It will be remembered that Aristophanes owned land in Aegina.
[223] Everything was made the object of a law-suit at Athens. The old
soldiers, inexpert at speaking, often lost the day.
[224] A water-clock used to limit the length of speeches in the courts.
[225] A braggart speaker, fiery and pugnacious.
[226] Cephisodemus was an Athenian, but through his mother possessed
Scythian blood.
[227] The city of Athens was policed by Scythian archers.
[228] Alcibiades.
[229] The leather market was held at Lepros, outside the city.
[230] Meaning an informer ([Greek: phain_o], to denounce).
[231] According to the Athenian custom.
[232] Megara was allied to Sparta and suffered during the war more than
any other city, because of its proximity to Athens.
[233]: Throughout this whole scene there is an obscene play upon the word
[Greek: choiros], which means in Greek both 'sow' and 'a woman's organs
of generation. '
[234] Sacrificial victims were bound to be perfect in every part; an
animal, therefore, without a tail could not be offered.
[235] The Greek word, [Greek: erebinthos], also means the male sexual
organ. Observe the little pig-girl greets this question with _three_
affirmative squeaks!
[236] The Megarians used the Doric dialect.
[237] A play upon the word [Greek: phainein], which both means _to light_
and _to denounce_.
[238] An informer (sycophant), otherwise unknown.
[239] A debauchee of vile habits; a pathic.
[240] Mentioned above; he was as proud as he was cowardly.
[241] An Athenian general, quarrelsome and litigious, and an Informer
into the bargain.
[242] A comic poet of vile habits.
[243] A painter.
[244] A debauchee, a gambler, and always in extreme poverty.
[245] This kind of flute had a bellows, made of dog-skin, much like the
bagpipes of to-day.
[246] A flute-player, mentioned above.
[247] A hero, much honoured in Thebes; nephew of Heracles.
[248] A form of bread peculiar to Boeotia.
[249] A lake in Boeotia.
[250] He was the Lucullus of Athens.
