- Source
- Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg003.humanitext-grc2:698b-786
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Strepsiades, suffering from the attack of bugs, is urged by Socrates to think of absurd ways to avoid his debts and lawsuits. Eventually, his ridiculous proposals and immediate forgetfulness exasperate Socrates, who refuses to teach him any longer.
κακοδαίμων ἐγώ,
Strepsiades: Unfortunate me,
οἵαν δίκην τοῖς κόρεσι δώσω τήμερον.
what a penalty I shall pay to the bugs today.
φρόντιζε δὴ καὶ διάθρει πάντα τρόπον τε σαυτὸν
Chorus: Think now and examine in every way, and spin yourself round,
στρόβει πυκνώσας.
having packed yourself tight.
ταχὺς δʼ, ὅταν εἰς ἄπορον πέσῃς,
And quickly, whenever you fall into difficulty,
ἐπʼ ἄλλο πήδα
leap to another
νόημα φρενός· ὕπνος δʼ ἀπέστω γλυκύθυμος ὀμμάτων.
thought of mind; and let sweet-tempered sleep be absent from your eyes.
ἀτταταῖ ἀτταταῖ.
Strepsiades: Attatai, attatai!
τί πάσχεις; τί κάμνεις;
Socrates: What are you suffering? What is troubling you?
ἀπόλλυμαι δείλαιος· ἐκ τοῦ σκίμποδος
Strepsiades: I am dying, wretch that I am! Out of the bed
δάκνουσί μʼ ἐξέρποντες οἱ Κορίνθιοι,
crawling out, the “Corinthians” are biting me,
καὶ τὰς πλευρὰς δαρδάπτουσιν
and they are devouring my sides,
καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκπίνουσιν
and drinking dry my life,
καὶ τοὺς ὄρχεις ἐξέλκουσιν
and dragging out my testicles,
καὶ τὸν πρωκτὸν διορύττουσιν,
and digging through my anus,
καί μʼ ἀπολοῦσιν.
and they will destroy me.
μή νυν βαρέως ἄλγει λίαν.
Socrates: Do not then grieve too heavily.
καὶ πῶς; ὅτε μου
Strepsiades: And how? When my
φροῦδα τὰ χρήματα, φρούδη χροιά,
money is gone, my complexion is gone,
φρούδη ψυχή, φρούδη δʼ ἐμβάς·
my life is gone, and my shoe is gone;
καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι τοῖσι κακοῖς
and besides these evils still,
φρουρᾶς ᾄδων
while singing on guard duty,
ὀλίγου1 φροῦδος γεγένημαι.
I have almost become gone.
οὗτος τί ποιεῖς; οὐχὶ φροντίζεις;
Socrates: Hey you, what are you doing? Are you not thinking?
ἐγώ;
Strepsiades: I?
νὴ τὸν Ποσειδῶ.
Socrates: Yes, by Poseidon.
καὶ τί δῆτʼ ἐφρόντισας;
Socrates: And what then did you think?
ὑπὸ τῶν κόρεων εἴ μού τι περιλειφθήσεται.
Strepsiades: Whether any part of me will be left behind by the bugs.
ἀπολεῖ κάκιστʼ.
Socrates: Go to worst ruin!
ἀλλʼ ὦγάθʼ ἀπόλωλʼ ἀρτίως.
Strepsiades: But, my good sir, I have just now been ruined.
οὐ μαλθακιστέʼ ἀλλὰ περικαλυπτέα.
Socrates: You must not be soft, but cover yourself up.
ἐξευρετέος γὰρ νοῦς ἀποστερητικὸς
For a depriving mind and
κἀπαιόλημʼ.
a trick must be found out.
οἴμοι τίς ἂν δῆτʼ ἐπιβάλοι
Strepsiades: Oh, who then would cast over me
ἐξ ἀρνακίδων γνώμην ἀποστερητρίδα;
a depriving thought from sheepskins?
φέρε νυν ἀθρήσω πρῶτον ὅ τι δρᾷ τουτονί.
Socrates: Come now, let me first see what this fellow is doing.
οὗτος καθεύδεις;
Hey, are you sleeping?
μὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλω ʼγὼ μὲν οὔ.
Strepsiades: No, indeed, by Apollo, not I.
ἔχεις τι;
Socrates: Do you have anything?
μὰ Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ ἔγωγʼ.
Strepsiades: No, by Zeus, certainly not I.
οὐδὲν πάνυ;
Socrates: Nothing at all?
οὐδέν γε πλὴν ἢ τὸ πέος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ.
Strepsiades: Nothing indeed, except my penis in my right hand.
οὐκ ἐγκαλυψάμενος ταχέως τι φροντιεῖς;
Socrates: Will you not cover yourself up quickly and think of something?
περὶ τοῦ; σὺ γάρ μοι τοῦτο φράσον ὦ Σώκρατες.
Strepsiades: About what? Tell me this, Socrates.
αὐτὸς ὅ τι βούλει πρῶτος ἐξευρὼν λέγε.
Socrates: Yourself find out first what you wish, and speak.
ἀκήκοας μυριάκις ἁγὼ βούλομαι,
Strepsiades: You have heard ten thousand times what I wish:
περὶ τῶν τόκων, ὅπως ἂν ἀποδῶ μηδενί.
about the interest, how I might pay it to no one.
ἴθι νῦν καλύπτου καὶ σχάσας τὴν φροντίδα
Socrates: Go now, cover yourself, and having split your thought
λεπτὴν κατὰ μικρὸν περιφρόνει τὰ πράγματα,
finely, ponder your affairs little by little,
ὀρθῶς διαιρῶν καὶ σκοπῶν.
dividing and examining correctly.
οἴμοι τάλας.
Strepsiades: Oh, wretched me!
ἔχʼ ἀτρέμα· κἂν ἀπορῇς τι τῶν νοημάτων,
Socrates: Keep still; and if you are at a loss for any of your thoughts,
ἀφεὶς ἄπελθε, κατὰ τὴν γνώμην πάλιν
dismiss it and go away, and in your mind again
κίνησον αὖθις αὐτὸ καὶ ζυγώθρισον.
move it once more and examine it closely.
ὦ Σωκρατίδιον φίλτατον.
Strepsiades: O dearest little Socrates!
τί ὦ γέρον;
Socrates: What is it, old man?
ἔχω τόκου γνώμην ἀποστερητικήν.
Strepsiades: I have a depriving thought for the interest.
ἐπίδειξον αὐτήν.
Socrates: Show it.
εἰπὲ δή νύν μοι —
Strepsiades: Tell me now —
τὸ τί;
Socrates: What?
γυναῖκα φαρμακίδʼ εἰ πριάμενος Θετταλὴν
Strepsiades: If, having bought a Thessalian witch,
καθέλοιμι2 νύκτωρ τὴν σελήνην, εἶτα δὴ
I should pull down the moon by night, and then indeed
αὐτὴν καθείρξαιμʼ ἐς λοφεῖον στρογγύλον,
shut it up in a round case,
ὥσπερ κάτοπτρον, κᾆτα τηροίην ἔχων —
like a mirror, and then keep it under watch?
τί δῆτα τοῦτʼ ἂν ὠφελήσειέν σʼ;
Socrates: What then would this benefit you?
ὅ τι;
Strepsiades: What?
εἰ μηκέτʼ ἀνατέλλοι σελήνη μηδαμοῦ,
If the moon should no longer rise anywhere,
οὐκ ἂν ἀποδοίην τοὺς τόκους.
I would not pay the interest.
ὁτιὴ τί δή;
Socrates: Why is that?
ὁτιὴ κατὰ μῆνα τἀγύριον δανείζεται.
Strepsiades: Because money is loaned by the month.
εὖ γʼ· ἀλλʼ ἕτερον αὖ σοι προβαλῶ τι δεξιόν.
Socrates: Excellent! But again I will propose another clever thing to you.
εἴ σοι γράφοιτο πεντετάλαντός τις δίκη,
If some five-talent lawsuit should be written against you,
ὅπως ἂν αὐτὴν ἀφανίσειας εἰπέ μοι.
tell me how you would make it disappear.
ὅπως; ὅπως; οὐκ οἶδʼ· ἀτὰρ ζητητέον.
Strepsiades: How? How? I do not know; but it must be sought.
μή νυν περὶ σαυτὸν εἶλλε τὴν γνώμην ἀεί,
Socrates: Do not then always wind your thought about yourself,
ἀλλʼ ἀποχάλα τὴν φροντίδʼ ἐς τὸν ἀέρα
but slacken your thought into the air,
λινόδετον ὥσπερ μηλολόνθην τοῦ ποδός.
like a cockchafer tied by its foot with a thread.
ηὕρηκʼ ἀφάνισιν τῆς δίκης σοφωτάτην,
Strepsiades: I have found a most clever disappearance of the lawsuit,
ὥστʼ αὐτὸν ὁμολογεῖν σʼ ἐμοί.
so that you yourself will agree with me.
ποίαν τινά;
Socrates: What kind of thing?
ἤδη παρὰ τοῖσι φαρμακοπώλαις τὴν λίθον
Strepsiades: Have you already seen at the druggists’ that stone,
ταύτην ἑόρακας τὴν καλήν, τὴν διαφανῆ,
that beautiful, transparent one,
ἀφʼ ἧς τὸ πῦρ ἅπτουσι;
from which they kindle fire?
τὴν ὕαλον λέγεις;
Socrates: Do you mean glass?
ἔγωγε. φέρε τί δῆτʼ ἄν, εἰ ταύτην λαβών,
Strepsiades: I do. Come, what then if, having taken this,
ὁπότε γράφοιτο τὴν δίκην ὁ γραμματεύς,
whenever the clerk should write down the lawsuit,
ἀπωτέρω στὰς ὧδε πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον
standing further off, thus toward the sun,
τὰ γράμματʼ ἐκτήξαιμι3 τῆς ἐμῆς δίκης;
I should melt away the letters of my lawsuit?
σοφῶς γε νὴ τὰς Χάριτας.
Socrates: Clever indeed, by the Graces!
οἴμʼ ὡς ἥδομαι
Strepsiades: Oh, how I am pleased
ὅτι πεντετάλαντος διαγέγραπταί μοι δίκη.
that a five-talent lawsuit has been wiped out for me.
ἄγε δὴ ταχέως τουτὶ ξυνάρπασον.
Socrates: Come now, quickly seize this.
τὸ τί;
Strepsiades: What?
ὅπως ἀποστρέψαιʼ ἂν ἀντιδικῶν δίκην
Socrates: How you might avert a lawsuit when defending yourself,
μέλλων ὀφλήσειν μὴ παρόντων μαρτύρων.
being about to lose, with no witnesses present.
φαυλότατα καὶ ῥᾷστʼ.
Strepsiades: Very easily and most simply.
εἰπὲ δή.
Socrates: Tell me then.
καὶ δὴ λέγω.
Strepsiades: And indeed I am speaking.
εἰ πρόσθεν ἔτι μιᾶς ἐνεστώσης δίκης,
If, while one lawsuit was still pending before mine,
πρὶν τὴν ἐμὴν καλεῖσθʼ, ἀπαγξαίμην τρέχων.
before mine was called, I should run off and hang myself.
οὐδὲν λέγεις.
Socrates: You are speaking nonsense.
νὴ τοὺς θεοὺς ἔγωγʼ, ἐπεὶ
Strepsiades: By the gods, indeed I am, since
οὐδεὶς κατʼ ἐμοῦ τεθνεῶτος εἰσάξει δίκην.
no one will bring a lawsuit against me once I am dead.
ὑθλεῖς· ἄπερρʼ, οὐκ ἂν διδάξαιμʼ ἄν σʼ ἔτι.
Socrates: You are talking rot! Be gone, I will not teach you anymore.
ὁτιὴ τί; ναὶ πρὸς τῶν θεῶν ὦ Σώκρατες.
Strepsiades: Why is that? Yes, by the gods, Socrates!
ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ἐπιλήθει σύ γʼ ἅττʼ ἂν καὶ μάθῃς·
Socrates: Because you immediately forget whatever you learn.
ἐπεὶ τί νυνὶ πρῶτον ἐδιδάχθης; λέγε.
Since what was the first thing you were taught just now? Speak!
- 722ὀλίγου
Derived from the genitive neuter singular of the adjective ὀλίγος, used adverbially as an elliptical expression for ὀλίγου δεῖν ("almost", "within a little of"), modifying the perfect verb γεγένημαι to mean "I have almost vanished."
- 749εἰ πριάμενος Θετταλὴν καθέλοιμι
The participle πριάμενος is a nominative participle accompanying the optative verb καθέλοιμι in the condition protasis, contributing to the hypothetical condition ("if, having bought..., I should pull down..."). It corresponds with the potential optative with ἄν in the apodosis at §755 (οὐκ ἂν ἀποδοίην), representing a future less vivid or potential condition.
- 770τί δῆτʼ ἄν, εἰ ... ἐκτήξαιμι
To the optative ἐκτήξαιμι in the condition clause introduced by εἰ, the phrase τί δῆτʼ ἄν at the beginning functions with an omitted apodosis verb (such as γένοιτο, "what would happen?"), forming a potential question: "What indeed would happen if... I should melt away?"