by Aristophanes
98. Polemarch: An official (the third most important of the nine archons) who presided over lawsuits involving non-citizens.
99. There never was a better comedy: The play Aristophanes is referring to here is his Clouds, produced at the Dionysia of 423. The Clouds we possess is the revised version of the play. Clearly Aristophanes felt that the play, which came in third place, was not properly understood by the judges.
100. barbarians… with flame: A reference to the Persians who invaded in 490 BC and fought the allied Greeks until their conclusive defeat and withdrawal in 479.
101. So thick with arrows… on the run: Possibly an allusion to Herodotus’ description of the battle of Thermopylae (480). The Spartans were warned prior to the battle that when the Persians fired arrows they were so numerous that they blocked out the sun, to which one of them replied, laconically, that it would be nice to fight in the shade (Herodotus 7.226).
102. breeks: Breeches or trousers.
103. Our gallant three-tiered ships… hammered them at sea: At the battle of Salamis (480), under the leadership of Themistocles.
104. the Odeon: A large hall built by Pericles for musical performances which lay just to the southeast of the Acropolis (east of the Theatre of Dionysus). The suggestion here is that it was also used as a lawcourt. Plays entered for the dramatic festivals were previewed at the Odeon; thus it may have been the fictional setting for Preview, the other play entered by Aristophanes in the Lenaea of 422 (produced by Philonides), which won first prize.
105. Sardis: The former capital of Lydia, the kingdom where the proverbially rich Croesus once ruled. Bdelycleon’s point is that if Philocleon were wealthy or important, he may have visited Sardis on an embassy or, perhaps, as a tourist.
106. Ecbatana: Capital of Media and summer residence of the kings of Persia.
107. Spartans: Type of man’s shoe with leather straps. The jokes that follow turn on Philocleon’s refusal to have anything to do with shoes named after Athens’ enemy Sparta.
108. that story about Lamia farting: Mentioned in Assemblywomen and elsewhere in Old Comedy. Lamia, when faced with possible capture, broke wind in the hope of repelling, and so evading, her would-be captors. The context for this story is not known. Euripides wrote a play called Lamia, but it may have been a satyr-play.
109. Cardopion: Unknown. He may, like Lamia, have belonged to one of the less dignified echelons of myth.
110. Theogenes: Prominent politician and merchant. He was satirized by comic playwrights as fat and boorish, personally vile, and a vain boaster. The reason for mentioning him here is unclear. Bdelycleon is perhaps making light of his insult to his father by suggesting that it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
111. Androcles: A demagogue. He came to prominence in the 430s and was quickly mocked by comic playwrights as being of low birth and poor or nouveau riche. Regarded as a vindictive prosecutor, he was accused of various kinds of immorality including having formerly been a male prostitute.
112. Cleisthenes: Well known for his effeminacy; he appears dressed as a woman in Women. He and Androcles seem to be mentioned here ironically; it would not be a good thing, in Bdelycleon’s eyes, to claim to be a friend or colleague of either. Philocleon’s point is that he went to Paros not as an Athenian dignitary but in the humble capacity of an oarsman, for which the pay was only two obols a day (less than jury pay).
113. Ephudion… his arms: Ephudion was a well-known exponent of pankration, or freestyle wrestling, an extraordinarily violent incarnation of the sport, which permitted punching (or hitting), kicking, jumping (or hurling oneself) and strangling. He won at the 79th Olympic games (in 464) and probably at others. Nothing is known of Ascondas (although his name sounds Boeotian).
114. Phanos: Associate of Cleon; also mentioned in Knights.
115. Acestor: Tragedian who was accused of foreign birth despite being an Athenian citizen; elsewhere in Old Comedy he is portrayed as a flatterer and parasite who seeks dinner invitations.
116. take up the singing… your turn: The songs being sung here are examples of scolia or drinking songs. The custom at symposia was for one guest to sing a couple of lines from a traditional or improvised song, holding a myrtle branch which he then passed to the next guest, who had either to continue the song or reply with another song on a related theme. The scolion about Harmodius was well known (several versions survive). Harmodius and his lover Aristogeiton were honoured as heroes for killing Hipparchus, the brother of the tyrant Hippias, in 514.
117. Take care… capsize: Adapted from the poet Alcaeus (of Lesbos). The original is probably about Pittacus, a tyrant of Mytilene (the main city of Lesbos).
118. It’s wise… best friend: From another well-known scolion, probably by Praxilla of Sicyon. Admetus was king of Pherae, and his ‘courageous’ friend was Heracles, who rescued the widowed Admetus’ wife, Alcestis, from the underworld.
119. It isn’t as easy… hounds: A jibe at Theorus for being an opportunist as well as a flatterer.
120. Philoctemon’s… get drunk: Philoctemon (literally, ‘lover of possessions’) is probably a made-up name; the only evidence of real Athenians with this name is from a much later date. It was customary at symposia for guests to bring food while the host provided the wine.
121. Sybarites: Natives of Sybaris, an ancient Greek town in South Italy, famed for the luxurious lifestyle of its inhabitants.
122. addressing the audience: Barrett arbitrarily moves this passage, the second parabasis, to later in the play (lines 145off.), after the scenes between Philocleon and those he has abused. Here I have restored the order of the Oxford Classical Text of Hall and Geldart (1901), and of all major editions of Wasps, including MacDowell (1971), Sommerstein (1983) and Henderson (1998).
123. Penestae: A name, generally used of the poor, given specifically to the serf-class in Thessaly. The joke is that, although Amynias went on a diplomatic mission to aristocratic Thessaly, he still managed to end up where he belongs.
124. Automenes: Not mentioned elsewhere.
125. Some people have been saying… subside: This seems to refer to some kind of retaliatory action taken after Aristophanes’ attack on Cleon in his Knights. There are hints that the retaliation was legal, but no evidence of an actual trial. Possibly action was threatened but not undertaken, the most likely reason being some kind of apology on Aristophanes’ part, or an undertaking to stop trouncing Cleon onstage. Wasps represents a breach of any such agreement, despite the suggestion in the prologue (62–3) that Cleon would be spared.
126. O happy tortoises… stick: Xanthias’ opening utterance involves mock-elevation. The Chorus-Leader’s subsequent query is tragic in language and style. The speech that follows, insofar as it informs the Chorus (and us) of events that have taken place offstage, resembles a tragic messenger-speech, but it differs inasmuch as the events being described, namely Philocleon’s rampage, will very soon impinge on the action onstage.
127. Hypillus… Phrynichus: It is not clear who Hypillus or Thuphrastus were. Antiphon was a celebrated rhetorician and speech-writer, who had a reputation for avarice. Lycon was a politician in the 420s. He was well known partly on account of his wife, Rhodia, who seems to have been blatantly promiscuous. He had a handsome, athletic son, Autolycus, but was mocked by comic playwrights for being poor, unmanly and of foreign birth. This Phrynichus was a politician and an ardent prosecutor. He later took part in the oligarchic revolution in 411 and was assassinated in late summer of the same year. He is not to be confused with the contemporary comic playwright or the much earlier tragedian of the same name.
128. Sthenelus: Tragic dramatist whose writing was thought to be bland. Philocleon’s remark implies that he relies heavily on ‘stage props’.
129. Come here… it can stand: There is a double entendre and a visual joke here. The ‘bit of rope’ that Philocleon wants the flute-girl to take in her hand is the phallus that forms part of his comic costume, and it may well have been a de
liberately frayed specimen.
130. wind him up… Mysteries: This may refer to a practice whereby candidates for initiation into the religious cult of the Mysteries were teased by those already initiated.
131. Dardanis: The name suggests that she is from the Troad, a region containing the cities of Troy and Dardanus, bound to the northwest by the Dardanelle straits.
132. Chaerephon: Friend and follower of Socrates. He is mentioned in the surviving, second version of Clouds (never performed) and may well have been a character in the first version, performed a year before Wasps in 423. Here, as in Clouds, he is mocked for his lifeless, sallow appearance.
133. Lasus: Lasus of Hermione (near Argos) was a sixth-century dithyrambic poet.
134. Simonides: Simonides of Ceos was one of the finest Greek lyric poets. He claims, in an epigram, to have won fifty-six prizes in dithyrambic contests.
135. Ino… Euripides: Ino was one of the daughters of Cadmus. Euripides wrote a play named after her, which presumably involved a scene with Ino pitifully supplicating another character; here Philocleon substitutes Euripides for the character whom Ino entreats.
136. assault and battery: A serious offence (hubris in Greek), for which the penalty would be set by a jury.
137. Pittalus: A doctor who seems to have been paid by the state to treat citizens for free.
138. story of the dung-beetle: This fable about the dung-beetle, which was wronged by an eagle but ascended to heaven to take revenge, is reworked in the plot of Peace, produced the year after Wasps.
139. At last… affection: Barrett places these two stanzas earlier, at 1264ff. (see note 122).
140. Thespis: The traditional founder of tragedy, according to the Athenians (in 534 BC).
141. What ho… portals: Philocleon’s words here are tragic and may be quotations.
142. hellebore: Extract of hellebore was supposedly a cure for insanity.
143. Phrynichus… cock: The early tragedian Phrynichus, of whom Philocleon was a devotee (see 268–9), was renowned for his dances; the phrase ‘cowers like a strutting cock’ is probably adapted from a well-known line of his.
144. sons of Carcinus the Crab: Carcinus was a tragic dramatist. His career dates back at least to the mid 440s. He was elected general in 432 and was subsequently one of three commanders of the Athenian fleet, a role which seems to have earned him the soubriquet Thalattios (‘Lord of the Sea’); his name also means ‘Crab’. These two things account for various puns in the present scene. Carcinus had either three or four sons (the implication here is either that there were three or that only three were generally known in 422), all of whom seem to have been dancers of small stature. The name of the middle son may have been Xenarchus.
145. crab-tragedian – his brother: Carcinus’ eldest son, Xenotimus, served in the cavalry and was involved in trading overseas. He probably wrote tragedies (as well as being a dancer) since his younger brother Xenocles, who appears next, is described as ‘also’ writing tragedies.
146. the Little Nipper: Carcinus’ youngest son, Xenocles, is described as a bad playwright by Aristophanes (see Women 169 and Frogs 86), even though in 415 he defeated Euripides’ trilogy that included Trojan Women.
147. shuttles: It is possible that a figure representing Carcinus would have entered at this point.
148. No comic poet… his Chorus: The claim is either that this is the first time a chorus has left the stage dancing or that this is the first time a troupe of dancers has come on specifically to lead the Chorus off.
WOMEN AT THE THESMOPHORIA
1. Mnesilochus: The character I have called Mnesilochus (in keeping with Barrett) is not actually named in the text; he is merely described as a relative of Euripides. The tradition of calling him Mnesilochus goes back to ancient scholars identifying him with a man of this name thought to be the father of Euripides’ first wife.
2. how all these things are arranged: The ensuing explanation combines an account of vision and hearing with a rationalized version of the myth of Uranus (Sky/Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Its language is similar to that found both in philosophical writing and in fragments of Euripides, but it especially resembles a speech by the heroine of his Melanippe the Wise (fr. 484). In Frogs (892) Euripides prays to ‘Ether’ before his contest with Aeschylus.
3. What joy… men of wisdom: Possibly adapted from a line of tragedy but the exact source is unclear.
4. lame after all this exertion: Aristophanes regularly jokes about Euripides’ fondness for presenting heroes in various states of lameness, injury or distress (see, e.g., Frogs 846ff.).
5. Agathon: Well-known tragedian of the generation after Euripides. He won his first victory in 416 (Plato’s Symposium is set during a celebration of this event). He was noted for his physical beauty, effeminacy and passive homosexuality. Aristotle says that Agathon was the first tragedian to use plots and characters that were freely devised rather than based on myth or history and that he was the first to compose odes wholly unconnected with the action of his plays (Poetics 1451b and 1456a). The few surviving fragments of his work show a fondness for elaborate language and antithetical expression. In 411, when Women at the Thesmophoria was produced, Agathon would have been about forty.
In the exchange that follows Barrett changes line order; here the original order is restored.
6. buggered him… without knowing it: This crude remark seems out of character for the otherwise earnest and restrained Euripides, but characterization in Aristophanes accommodates such inconsistency without undermining the personality of the character in question. Thus the similarly earnest heroine of Lysistrata can describe the abstinent women of Athens as being ‘desperate for a shag’.
7. pompous, elevated tones: Much of the language in the Servant’s prayer and the exchange with Mnesilochus is tragic in style.
8. O Zeus… this day: Euripides’ expression of apprehension is the first clear sign that he is in a dire predicament.
9. Why do you weep… I am your kin: Mnesilochus’ concerned questions, and his reminder that Euripides should share his distress with those close to him, are imitative of tragedy.
10. middle day of the Thesmophoria: The second day, the ‘middle’ day (mesē), was a day of fasting.
11. Disguised… attire: The line may be tragic. Mnesilochus’ subsequent suggestion that Euripides’ plan is very much in the style of his tragedies alludes to the fact that it is modelled on the Euripidean hero Telephus in the play of the same name (produced in 438). The action of Telephus informs much of the action of the first half of Women. Telephus, a son of Heracles and king of Mysia (in Asia Minor), had successfully repelled an attack by the Greek army on its way to Troy under Agamemnon, despite sustaining an injury from Achilles. The Greeks were planning to attack again and destroy him utterly (just as the women plan to destroy Euripides). Telephus therefore tried to change their minds by disguising himself and infiltrating a meeting of the Greek leaders in Agamemnon’s palace at Argos. Here Euripides intends to do likewise but using Agathon rather than going in person.
12. revolving platform: The eccyclema was a device for showing interior scenes onstage in tragedy. It would probably have been wheeled out through the main central doors at the back of the stage. Aristophanic comedy frequently comments directly on itself as a theatrical performance. In Acharnians, the hero Dicaeopolis also draws attention to the revolving platform in a scene that has close parallels with the present one; except that in Acharnians, Dicaeopolis takes the role played here by Euripides (i.e., the beleaguered character imploring a tragedian for help) while Euripides takes the role played here by Agathon (i.e., the tragedian at home).
13. Cyrene: Well-known courtesan of the day.
14. AGATHON sings: The song that follows almost certainly involves a parody of the linguistic, metrical and musical characteristics of Agathon’s lyrics, although the lack of fragments by Agathon makes it difficult to assess.
15. infernal twain: Goddesses Demeter and Persephone, the mai
n deities worshipped in the Thesmophoria festival.
16. Simoïs: River near Troy often mentioned by Homer in the Iliad.
17. Child of Leto: Artemis, the virgin goddess of hunting and sister of Apollo.
18. Phrygian rhythm: A musical mode (not to be confused with the later medieval mode of the same name) whose use in tragedy was considered innovative and controversial; Euripides, in his Orestes (written in 408, a few years after Women), made daring use of this mode in a long aria by a Phrygian slave.
19. Whence art thou… what thy country: From Aeschylus’ lost play Edonians, in which Dionysus was dressed in similarly feminine garb (the same passage is alluded to in Frogs 46–7).
20. Old man … soul: Agathon’s speech here is quasi-tragic in rhythm. Its language mixes poetic and technical vocabulary, and the overall tone is one of earnestness tinged with mock-hauteur (not unlike that of Euripides).
21. Phaedra … straddling position: Phaedra, who appears in Euripides’ Hippolytus where she is struck by uncontrollable desire for her stepson, is often cited by Aristophanes as an example of Euripides’ fondness for portraying immoral women (see also Frogs 1043). The joke here involves a play on the verb kēletizein, which means to ‘ride’, but also refers to a particular sexual position, and exploits the fact that Phaedra’s love for Hippolytus is initially hinted at through her strange longing for horse-riding, one of Hippolytus’ favourite pastimes. It is not known whether Agathon actually wrote a play about Phaedra.
22. lbycus … Alcaeus: Ibycus of Rhegium (South Italy) flourished c. 530. Anacreon of Teos (on the coast of Asia Minor between Chios and Samos) wrote between c. 530–490. Alcaeus of Mytilene (Lesbos) was a contemporary of Sappho and flourished c. 600. They were all lyric poets, and their fastidious dress is evident from vase-painting.
23. Phrynichus: Tragedian and older contemporary of Aeschylus. He was renowned for the sweetness of his lyrics and for his choreography (in Wasps, Philocleon and the Chorus are devotees of Phrynichean song). Mnesilochus would need to have been fairly old to have seen Phrynichus’ plays, as he died in 472 (when Euripides was about twelve).