Two Servants Lament the Paphlagonian's Tyranny — Aristophanes, Knights, lines 1–82, Greek & English

ἰατταταιὰξ τῶν κακῶν, ἰατταταῖ.

Iattataiax! What misfortunes! Iattatai!

κακῶς Παφλαγόνα τὸν νεώνητον κακὸν

May the gods miserably destroy that newly-bought scoundrel of a Paphlagonian,

αὐταῖσι βουλαῖς¹ ἀπολέσειαν οἱ θεοί.

plans and all!

ἐξ οὗ γὰρ εἰσήρρησεν ἐς τὴν οἰκίαν

For since he forced his way into the house,

πληγὰς ἀεὶ προστρίβεται τοῖς οἰκέταις.

he is always inflicting beatings on the servants.

κάκιστα δῆθʼ οὗτός γε πρῶτος Παφλαγόνων

Most miserably indeed, this worst of Paphlagonians,

αὐταῖς διαβολαῖς.

along with his very slanders!

ὦ κακόδαιμον πῶς ἔχεις;

O luckless man, how are you faring?

κακῶς καθάπερ σύ.

Badly, just like you.

δεῦρο δὴ πρόσελθʼ, ἵνα

Come over here then, so that

ξυναυλίαν κλαύσωμεν Οὐλύμπου νόμον.

we may weep a duet to the tune of Olympus.

μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ μυμῦ.

Mumu, mumu, mumu, mumu, mumu, mumu.

τί κινυρόμεθʼ ἄλλως; οὐκ ἐχρῆν ζητεῖν τινα

Why do we wail in vain? Shouldn’t we seek some

σωτηρίαν νῷν, ἀλλὰ μὴ κλάειν ἔτι;

salvation for the two of us, instead of weeping any longer?

τίς οὖν γένοιτʼ ἄν;

What then could that be?

λέγε σύ.

You tell me.

σὺ μὲν οὖν μοι λέγε,

No, you tell me,

ἵνα μὴ μάχωμαι.

so that I won’t pick a quarrel with you.

μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ʼγὼ μὲν οὔ.

By Apollo, not I indeed!

πῶς ἂν σύ μοι λέξειας ἁμὲ² χρὴ λέγειν;

How could you say to me what I ought to say?

ἀλλʼ εἰπὲ θαρρῶν, εἶτα κἀγὼ σοὶ φράσω.

But speak boldly, and then I will tell you too.

ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἔνι μοι τὸ θρέττε. πῶς ἂν οὖν ποτε

But I don’t have the ‘pluck’ in me. How then could I ever

εἴποιμʼ ἂν αὐτὸ δῆτα κομψευριπικῶς;

say it in a clever Euripidean way?

μὴ ʼμοί γε, μὴ ʼμοί, μὴ διασκανδικίσῃς·

Not to me, please, not to me! Don’t sprinkle me with wild chervil!

ἀλλʼ εὑρέ τινʼ ἀπόκινον ἀπὸ τοῦ δεσπότου.

But find some way to ‘dance away’ from our master.

λέγε δὴ μόλωμεν ξυνεχὲς ὡδὶ ξυλλαβών.

Say then ‘let us desert’, joining it together continuously like this.

καὶ δὴ λέγω μόλωμεν.

And indeed I say, ‘let us desert’.

ἐξόπισθε νῦν

Now right after

αὐτὸ φάθι τοῦ μόλωμεν.

say ‘it’ to that ‘let us desert’.

αὐτό.

’it’.

πάνυ καλῶς.

Very well.

ὥσπερ δεφόμενος νῦν ἀτρέμα πρῶτον λέγε

Now, as if masturbating, say first gently

τὸ μόλωμεν, εἶτα δʼ αὐτό, κᾆτʼ ἐπάγων πυκνόν.

’let us desert’, and then ‘it’, and then repeating them in rapid succession.

μόλωμεν αὐτὸ μόλωμεν αὐτομολῶμεν.³

let us desert-it, let us desert-it, let-us-desert!

ἢν

Look!

οὐχ ἡδύ;

Isn’t that sweet?

νὴ Δία· πλήν γε περὶ τῷ δέρματι

Yes, by Zeus! Except that I fear this omen

δέδοικα τουτονὶ τὸν οἰωνόν.

for my skin.

τί δαί;

Why so?

ὁτιὴ τὸ δέρμα δεφομένων ἀπέρχεται.

Because the skin of those who masturbate comes off.

κράτιστα τοίνυν τῶν παρόντων ἐστὶ νῷν,

Therefore, the best of the present choices for the two of us is

θεῶν ἰόντε προσπεσεῖν του πρὸς βρέτας.

to go and prostrate ourselves before the image of some god.

† ποῖον βρέτας †; ἐτεὸν ἡγεῖ γὰρ θεούς;

What statue? Do you really believe there are gods?

ἔγωγε.

I do indeed.

ποίῳ χρώμενος τεκμηρίῳ;

Using what proof?

ὁτιὴ θεοῖσιν ἐχθρός⁴ εἰμʼ. οὐκ εἰκότως;

Because I am hated by the gods. Is that not reasonable?

εὖ προσβιβάζεις μʼ. ἀλλʼ ἑτέρᾳ πῃ σκεπτέον.

You persuade me well. But we must look in some other way.

βούλει τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῖς θεαταῖσιν φράσω;

Do you want me to explain the matter to the spectators?

οὐ χεῖρον· ἓν δʼ αὐτοὺς παραιτησώμεθα,

Not a bad idea. But let’s ask one thing of them:

ἐπίδηλον ἡμῖν τοῖς προσώποισιν ποιεῖν,

to make it plain to us by their faces

ἢν τοῖς ἔπεσι χαίρωσι καὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν.

if they are pleased with our words and our plot.

λέγοιμʼ ἂν ἤδη. νῷν γάρ ἐστι δεσπότης

I shall speak now. For we have a master,

ἄγροικος ὀργὴν κυαμοτρὼξ ἀκράχολος,

rustic in temper, a bean-muncher, quick-tempered,

Δῆμος πυκνίτης, δύσκολον γερόντιον

Demos of the Pnyx, a grumpy little old man,

ὑπόκωφον. οὗτος τῇ προτέρᾳ νουμηνίᾳ

somehat deaf. This man, on the last new moon,

ἐπρίατο δοῦλον, βυρσοδέψην Παφλαγόνα,

bought a slave, a tanner of a Paphlagonian,

πανουργότατον καὶ διαβολώτατόν τινα.

an utterly villainous and most slanderous fellow.

οὗτος καταγνοὺς τοῦ γέροντος τοὺς τρόπους,⁵

This leather-Paphlagonian, having sized up the old man’s habits,

ὁ βυρσοπαφλαγών, ὑποπεσὼν τὸν δεσπότην

grovelling before our master,

ᾔκαλλʼ ἐθώπευʼ ἐκολάκευʼ ἐξηπάτα

fawned, flattered, wheedled,

κοσκυλματίοις ἄκροισι τοιαυτὶ λέγων·

and deceived him with scraps of leather-clippings, saying things like this:

ὦ Δῆμε λοῦσαι πρῶτον ἐκδικάσας μίαν,

’O Demos, take a bath first, having judged just one lawsuit;

ἐνθοῦ ῥόφησον ἔντραγʼ ἔχε τριώβολον.

pop this in, gulp it down, chew, and take your three obols.

βούλει παραθῶ σοι δόρπον; εἶτʼ ἀναρπάσας

Do you want me to serve you supper?’ Then, snatching away

ὅ τι ἄν τις ἡμῶν σκευάσῃ, τῷ δεσπότῃ

whatever any of us has prepared,

Παφλαγὼν κεχάρισται τοῦτο. καὶ πρώην γʼ ἐμοῦ

the Paphlagonian presents this to the master as his own favor. And just the other day,

μᾶζαν μεμαχότος ἐν Πύλῳ Λακωνικήν,

when I had kneaded a Laconian barley-cake at Pylos,

πανουργότατά πως περιδραμὼν ὑφαρπάσας

he somehow ran around most villainously, snatched it away,

αὐτὸς παρέθηκε τὴν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ μεμαγμένην,

and served up himself the very cake kneaded by me.

ἡμᾶς δʼ ἀπελαύνει κοὐκ ἐᾷ τὸν δεσπότην

And he drives us away and does not allow anyone else to serve the master,

ἄλλον θεραπεύειν, ἀλλὰ βυρσίνην ἔχων

but standing there with a leather fly-whisk

δειπνοῦντος ἑστὼς ἀποσοβεῖ τοὺς ῥήτορας.

while the master dines, he shooes away the orators.

ᾄδει δὲ χρησμούς· ὁ δὲ γέρων σιβυλλιᾷ.

And he chants oracles; and the old man is crazed with Sibyl-mania.

ὁ δʼ αὐτὸν ὡς ὁρᾷ μεμακκοακότα,

And when he sees him gaping like a fool,

τέχνην πεποίηται. τοὺς γὰρ ἔνδον ἄντικρυς

he plays his trick. For he outright slanders the household

ψευδῆ διαβάλλει· κᾆτα μαστιγούμεθα

with lies; and then we get

ἡμεῖς· Παφλαγὼν δὲ περιθέων τοὺς οἰκέτας

flogged. While the Paphlagonian, running around the servants,

αἰτεῖ ταράττει δωροδοκεῖ λέγων τάδε·

demands, extorts, takes bribes, saying things like this:

ὁρᾶτε τὸν Ὕλαν διʼ ἐμὲ μαστιγούμενον;

’Do you see Hylas being whipped because of me?

εἰ μή μʼ ἀναπείσετʼ, ἀποθανεῖσθε τήμερον.

If you don’t bribe me, you will die today.’

ἡμεῖς δὲ δίδομεν· εἰ δὲ μή, πατούμενοι

So we give; otherwise, trampled by the old man,

ὑπὸ τοῦ γέροντος ὀκταπλάσιον χέζομεν.

we shit eightfold.

νῦν οὖν ἀνύσαντε φροντίσωμεν ὦγαθέ,

Now therefore, let’s make haste and consider, my good friend,

ποίαν ὁδὸν νὼ τρεπτέον καὶ πρὸς τίνα.

what path we should take and to whom we should turn.

κράτιστʼ ἐκείνην τὴν μόλωμεν ὦγαθέ.

The best is that ‘let us desert’ path, my good friend.

ἀλλʼ οὐχ οἷόν τε τὸν Παφλαγόνʼ οὐδὲν λαθεῖν·

But it’s not possible to escape the Paphlagonian’s notice in anything;

ἐφορᾷ γὰρ οὗτος πάντʼ. ἔχει γὰρ τὸ σκέλος

for he watches over everything. For he has one leg

τὸ μὲν ἐν Πύλῳ, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον ἐν τἠκκλησίᾳ.

in Pylos, and the other in the Assembly.

τοσόνδε δʼ αὐτοῦ βῆμα διαβεβηκότος

And with his stride stretched so wide,

ὁ πρωκτός ἐστιν αὐτόχρημʼ ἐν Χάοσιν,

his arsehole is literally in Chaos,

τὼ χεῖρʼ ἐν Αἰτωλοῖς, ὁ νοῦς δʼ ἐν Κλωπιδῶν.

his two hands among the Aetolians, and his mind in Klopidai.

κράτιστον οὖν νῷν ἀποθανεῖν.

So the best thing for the two of us is to die.

ἀλλὰ σκόπει,

But consider,

ὅπως ἂν ἀποθάνοιμεν ἀνδρικώτατα.

how we might die most manfully.

πῶς δῆτα πῶς γένοιτʼ ἂν ἀνδρικώτατα;

How indeed, how could it be done most manfully?

Syntax notes5 items

3αὐταῖσι βουλαῖς
The dative of the pronoun αὐτός (here feminine plural dative αὐταῖσι) used without a preposition with a dative noun (βουλαῖς) to express accompaniment or complete inclusion ("together with", "along with"). Here it means destroying the Paphlagonian "along with his very plans/counsels."
16ἁμὲ
A crasis (vowel contraction) of the relative pronoun ἅ (neuter plural accusative, serving as the object of λέγειν) and the personal pronoun ἐμέ (accusative, functioning as the subject of the impersonal verb χρή). The combined phrase means "the things which it is necessary for me to say" (what I ought to say).
26αὐτομολῶμεν
A punning wordplay. By instructing the speaker to say first μόλωμεν ("let us go", first-person plural hortatory subjunctive) and then αὐτό ("it") in rapid succession, the text produces the sound of αὐτομολῶμεν ("let us desert", first-person plural hortatory subjunctive of αὐτομολέω).
34θεοῖσιν ἐχθρός
The dative θεοῖσιν (an archaic epic/Ionic dative plural form) depends on the adjective ἐχθρός. It is used here in a passive sense ("hated by the gods") rather than active ("hostile to the gods"). The following question οὐκ εἰκότως; ("is that not reasonable?") ironically suggests that his very wretchedness, being hated by the gods, is logical proof that the gods exist.
46καταγνοὺς τοῦ γέροντος τοὺς τρόπους
The syntax of the participle καταγνούς (aorist active participle of καταγιγνώσκω). While this verb typically takes a genitive of the person and an accusative of the charge/penalty in the sense of "condemn someone for a crime", here it is used shiftily to mean "having sized up/observed the character/habits (τοὺς τρόπους) of the old man (τοῦ γέροντος)" to turn them to his own advantage.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — source 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg002.humanitext-grc2:1-82