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    Contents:
  • Prologue 1
  • Parodos 1
  • Agon 1
  • Episode 1
  • Parabasis 1
  • Lyric-scene 1
  • Agon 2
  • Episode 2
  • Choral 1
  • Episode 3
  • Choral 2
  • Episode 4
  • Parabasis 3
  • Choral 3
  • Episode 5
    		•

    Aristophanes, Knights (ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.)

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. F.W. Hall and W.M. Geldart) | English (ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.)
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    Table of ContentsGo to Next

    Demosthenes
    SCENE: --The Orchestra represents the Pnyx at Athens; in the background is the house of Demos.

    Oh! alas! alas! Oh! woe! oh! woe! Miserable Paphlagonian! may the gods destroy both him and his cursed advice! Since that evil day when this new slave entered the house [5] he has never ceased belaboring us with blows.

    Nicias

    May the plague seize him, the arch-fiend --him and his lying tales!

    Demosthenes

    Hah! my poor fellow, what is your condition?

    Nicias

    Very wretched, just like your own.

    Demosthenes

    Then come, let us sing a duet of groans in the style of Olympus.

    Demosthenes and Nicias

    [10] Boo, hoo! boo, hoo! boo, hoo! boo, hoo! boo, hoo! boo, hoo!!

    Demosthenes

    Bah! it's lost labour to weep! Enough of groaning! Let us consider how to save our pelts.

    Nicias

    But how to do it! Can you suggest anything?

    Demosthenes

    No, you begin.

    Nicias

    I cede you the honor.

    Demosthenes

    By Apollo! no, not I

    Nicias
    in tragic style

    “Ah! would you but tell me what I should tell you!”

    Demosthenes

    [15] Come, have courage! Speak, and then I will say what I think.

    Nicias

    I dare not. How could I express my thoughts with the pomp of Euripides?

    Demosthenes

    Oh! please spare me! Do not pelt me with those vegetables, [20] but find some way of leaving our master.

    Nicias

    Well, then! Say “Let-us-bolt,” like this, in one breath.

    Demosthenes

    I follow you --“Let-us-bolt.”

    Nicias

    Now after “Let-us-bolt” say “at-top-speed!”

    Demosthenes

    “At-top-speed!”

    Nicias

    Splendid! Just as if you were masturbating; first slowly, [25] “Let-us-bolt”; then quick and firmly, “at-top-speed!”

    Demosthenes

    Let-us-bolt, let-us-bolt-at-top-speed!

    Nicias

    Hah! does that not please you?

    Demosthenes

    Yes, indeed, yet I fear your omen bodes no good to my hide.

    Nicias

    How so?

    Demosthenes

    Because masturbation chafes the skin.

    Nicias

    [30] The best thing we can do for the moment is to throw ourselves at the feet of the statue of some god.

    Demosthenes

    Of which statue? Any statue? Do you then believe there are gods?

    Nicias

    Certainly.

    Demosthenes

    What proof have you?

    Nicias

    The proof that they have taken a grudge against me. Is that not enough?

    Demosthenes

    [35] I'm convinced it is. But to pass on. Do you consent to my telling the spectators of our troubles?

    Nicias

    There's nothing wrong with that, and we might ask them to show us by their manner, whether our facts and actions are to their liking.


    There are a total of 3 comments on and cross references to this page.

    Cross references from Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache (ed. Ildar Ibraguimov):
    398 [Bemerkungen über die Modaladverbien an und ken.]

    Cross references from Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns:
    * [HYMN TO HERMES]

    Cross references from Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek:
    37 [Neuter plural of adjectives and verbals in -tos and -teos.]: kratista

    Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Aristoph.+Kn.+1

    The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Aristophanes. Knights. The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938.
    OCLC: 32280428


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