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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)

    Chorus

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. F.W. Hall and W.M. Geldart) | English (ed. Matthew Dillon)
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    Table of ContentsGo to Previous Next

    Euripides
    All right then, I'll turn to your prologues themselves,
    so that first of all I can test the first section
    of this clever poet's tragedy.
    For he was unclear in the explanation of events.
    Dionysus
    Which one of his will you test?
    Euripides
    Quite a lot.
    First, recite to me the start of the Oresteia.
    Dionysus
    Now silence, every one! Speak, Aeschylus.
    Aeschylus
    “Subterranean Hermes, guardian of my father's realms,
    Become my savior and my ally, in answer to my prayer.
    For I am come and do return to this my land.”
    Dionysus
    Do you have something to criticize in this?
    Euripides
    More than a dozen.
    Dionysus
    But the whole thing wasn't more than three lines.
    Euripides
    And each one has twenty mistakes.
    Dionysus
    I warn you to keep quiet, Aeschylus--if not,
    on top of these three verses you'll wind up owing more.
    Aeschylus
    ME be quiet for HIM?
    Dionysus
    If you take my advice.
    Euripides
    Right off he made mistakes as high as heaven.
    Aeschylus
    You see that you're ranting!
    Euripides
    Doesn't bother me in the least.
    Aeschylus
    What mistakes do you claim I make?
    Euripides
    Repeat it from the start one more time.
    Aeschylus
    “Subterranean Hermes, guardian of my father's realms,”--
    Euripides
    Doesn't Orestes say this at the grave
    Of his dead father?
    Aeschylus
    I grant that much.
    Euripides
    Well, seeing that his father died a death
    of violence, slain by a woman's hand,
    in a secret plot, how can he say that Hermes guarded anything?
    Dionysus
    Not that one, but the Luck-Bringer
    Hermes he called “Subterranean”, and he made it clear by saying
    that he has this function from his father.
    Euripides
    You made an even bigger mistake than I imagined.
    For if he has this underground junction from his father--
    Dionysus
    Then he'd be a grave robber on his father's side.
    Aeschylus
    Dionysus, the wine you drink doesn't smell too good.
    Dionysus
    Recite another for him. And you watch out for damage.
    Aeschylus
    “Become my savior and my ally, in answer to my prayer.
    For I am come and do return to this my land.”
    Euripides
    Sage Aeschylus has said the same thing twice.
    Dionysus
    How twice?
    Euripides
    Look at his words and I'll tell you.
    “I am come to this my land”, he says, “and do return.”
    To come is the same thing as to return.

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

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


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