Perseus · Tufts
All Greek and Roman Materials
Collections: Classics · Papyri · Renaissance · London · California · Upper Midwest · Chesapeake · Boyle · Tufts History
Configure display · Help · Tools · Copyright · FAQ · Publications · Collaborations · Support Perseus
Classics:
Classics collection contents
About the Classics collection
Greek Hist. Overview
Art & Arch. Catalogs

Other Tools & Lexica
Plot:
  • sites in this document
    Contents:
  • Prologue 1
  • Parodos 1
  • Lyric-scene 1
  • Parabasis 1
  • Episode 1
  • Choral 1
  • Lyric-scene 2
  • Agon 1
  • Choral 2
  • Lyric-scene 3
  • Episode 2
  • Exodus 1
    		•

    Aristophanes, Frogs (ed. Matthew Dillon)

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. F.W. Hall and W.M. Geldart) | English (ed. Matthew Dillon)
    Your current position in the text is marked in red. Click anywhere on the line to jump to another position.
    line=1 line=1 line=1 line=38 line=38 line=38 line=60 line=60 line=60 line=89 line=89 line=116 line=116 line=116 line=152 line=152 line=175 line=185 line=185 line=185 line=185 line=225 line=225 line=225 line=268 line=268 line=268 line=268 line=268 line=268 line=316 line=340 line=354 line=384 line=399 line=417 line=429 line=438 line=455 line=460 line=460 line=460 line=503 line=503 line=549 line=549 line=549 line=549 line=590 line=605 line=605 line=605 line=605 line=605 line=605 line=605 line=686 line=706 line=738 line=738 line=738 line=738 line=738 line=788 line=788 line=818 line=830 line=830 line=860 line=860 line=895 line=907 line=907 line=907 line=937 line=937 line=971 line=992 line=1006 line=1006 line=1045 line=1045 line=1045 line=1078 line=1110 line=1119 line=1119 line=1119 line=1158 line=1158 line=1158 line=1158 line=1206 line=1206 line=1206 line=1206 line=1251 line=1251 line=1296 line=1309 line=1309 line=1378 line=1378 line=1378 line=1414 line=1414 line=1414 line=1414 line=1460 line=1460 line=1500

    Table of ContentsGo to Next

    Enter Dionysus on foot dressed in the skin of the Nemean Lion, and the club of Heracles in his hand, and Xanthias heavily laden on a donkey.
    Xanthias
    Master, should I tell one of those usual jokes
    which always make the audience laugh?
    Dionysus
    By Zeus, say what you want--except “I'm hard pressed”
    Forget that one, it's really quite annoying.
    Xanthias
    Nothing else witty either?
    Dionysus
    Anything but “What a strain!”
    Xanthias
    What then? Can I say the really funny one?
    Dionysus
    Of course,
    Go right ahead--but don't let me catch you saying this.
    Xanthias
    What's that?
    Dionysus
    That you must shift your pack to ease yourself.
    Xanthias
    Well, can't I say I've got such a load on me,
    unless someone takes it off, I'll bust a gut?
    Dionysus
    Please don't, unless you wish to make me sick.
    Xanthias
    So why should I have to carry all this stuff,
    without doing any of the jokes that Phrynichus
    and Lycis and Ameipsias always make
    the baggage-carriers say in all their comedies?
    Dionysus
    Just don't. Since when I'm in the theater
    and hear any of these stupid jokes,
    I go away just older by a year.
    Xanthias
    Alas, poor wretched me! My neck
    is really strained, but can't crack the joke.
    Dionysus
    Now is this not outrage and utter insolence,
    That I myself, Dionysos, son of Winejug,
    must walk, and let this fellow ride,
    so he might feel no pain and bear no burden?
    Xanthias
    What? I bear no burden?
    Dionysus
    How can you bear anything? You're riding.
    Xanthias
    But I've got all this!
    Dionysus
    How so?
    Xanthias
    Most heavily!
    Dionysus
    The weight you carry- isn't it carried by the donkey?
    Xanthias
    Absolutely not; not what I'm holding and carrying.
    Dionysus
    How can you carry, for God's sake, when you
    yourself are carried by another?
    Xanthias
    I don't know, but my shoulder's sure hard pressed.
    Dionysus
    Well, since you say the donkey doesn't help,
    Suppose you take your turn, and carry him.
    Xanthias
    Unhappy wretch! Why didn't I join the navy?
    Then I'd tell you to whistle a different tune!
    Dionysus
    You scoundrel, get on down! Here's the door
    I'm walking to, the first place
    I must stop.--Ho, porter! porter there, I say.

    There are a total of 2 comments on and cross references to this page.

    Cross references from William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb:
    287 [Interrogative Subjunctive.]

    Cross references from Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek:
    36 [Adjectives]: tôn eiôthotôn

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

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

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Aristophanes. Frogs. Matthew Dillon.


    Next