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Aristophanes · Birds Ὄρνιθες

Aristophanes, Birds 959–1019b: Episode: the Oracle-monger and Meton

Ancient Sources / Aristophanes / Birds / 959–1019b

An Oracle-monger tries to stop the sacrifice and quotes an oracle of Bakis that promises him sandals, a cloke and a share of the inwards. Peisthetaerus answers by reading from his own oracle of Apollo, which tells him to hit any impostor between the ribs, and he beats him away. Meton then comes with rods and compasses to measure the air and lay out a market-place and streets like the rays of a star, and Peisthetaerus gets rid of him by saying that the people are about to beat every quack.

Lines 959–1019b · 607 words · click a number to copy its link
959–971
Πισθέταιρος 959εὐφημία ʼστω. Χρησμολόγος μὴ κατάρξῃ τοῦ τράγου. Πισθέταιρος 960σὺ δʼ εἶ τίς; Χρησμολόγος ὅστις; χρησμολόγος. Πισθέταιρος οἴμωζέ νυν. Χρησμολόγος ὦ δαιμόνιε τὰ θεῖα μὴ φαύλως φέρε· ὡς ἔστι Βάκιδος χρησμὸς ἄντικρυς λέγων ἐς τὰς Νεφελοκοκκυγίας. Πισθέταιρος κὔπειτα πῶς ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἐχρησμολόγεις σὺ πρὶν ἐμὲ τὴν πόλιν 965τήνδʼ οἰκίσαι; Χρησμολόγος τὸ θεῖον ἐνεπόδιζέ με. Πισθέταιρος ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν οἷόν ἐστʼ ἀκοῦσαι τῶν ἐπῶν. Χρησμολόγος ἀλλʼ ὅταν οἰκήσωσι λύκοι πολιαί τε κορῶναι ἐν ταὐτῷ τὸ μεταξὺ Κορίνθου καὶ Σικυῶνος, — Πισθέταιρος τί οὖν προσήκει δῆτʼ ἐμοὶ Κορινθίων; Χρησμολόγος 970ᾐνίξαθʼ ὁ Βάκις τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα. πρῶτον Πανδώρᾳ θῦσαι λευκότριχα κριόν·

ORACLE-MONGER Forbear! touch not the goat awhile.

PEISTHETAERUS Eh? Who are you?

ORACLE-MONGER A soothsayer.

PEISTHETAERUS You be hanged!

ORACLE-MONGER O think not lightly, friend, of things divine; Know I’ve an oracle of Bakis, bearing On your Cloudcuckooburies.

PEISTHETAERUS Eh? then why Did you not soothsay that before I founded My city here?

ORACLE-MONGER The Power within forbade me.

PEISTHETAERUS Well, well, there’s nought like hearing what it says.

ORACLE-MONGER Nay but if once grey crows and wolves shall be banding together, Out in the midway space,’twixt Corinth and Sicyon, dwelling,—

PEISTHETAERUS But what in the world have I to do with Corinth?

ORACLE-MONGER Bakis is riddling: Bakis means the Air. First to Pandora offer a white-fleeced ram for a victim.

972–990b
Χρησμολόγος 972ὃς δέ κʼ ἐμῶν ἐπέων ἔλθῃ πρώτιστα προφήτης, τῷ δόμεν ἱμάτιον καθαρὸν καὶ καινὰ πέδιλα — Πισθέταιρος ἔνεστι καὶ τὰ πέδιλα; Χρησμολόγος λαβὲ τὸ βιβλίον. 975καὶ φιάλην δοῦναι, καὶ σπλάγχνων χεῖρʼ ἐπιπλῆσαι. Πισθέταιρος καὶ σπλάγχνα διδόνʼ ἔνεστι; Χρησμολόγος λαβὲ τὸ βιβλίον. κἂν μὲν θέσπιε κοῦρε ποιῇς ταῦθʼ ὡς ἐπιτέλλω, αἰετὸς ἐν νεφέλῃσι γενήσεαι· αιʼ δέ κε μὴ δῷς, οὐκ ἔσει οὐ τρυγὼν οὐδʼ αἰετὸς οὐ δρυκολάπτης. Πισθέταιρος 980καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔνεστʼ ἐνταῦθα; Χρησμολόγος λαβὲ τὸ βιβλίον. Πισθέταιρος οὐδὲν ἄρʼ ὅμοιός ἐσθʼ ὁ χρησμὸς τουτῳί, ὃν ἐγὼ παρὰ τἀπόλλωνος ἐξεγραψάμην· αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν ἄκλητος ἰὼν ἄνθρωπος ἀλαζὼν λυπῇ θύοντας καὶ σπλαγχνεύειν ἐπιθυμῇ, 985δὴ τότε χρὴ τύπτειν αὐτὸν πλευρῶν τὸ μεταξὺ — Χρησμολόγος οὐδὲν λέγειν οἶμαί σε. Πισθέταιρος λαβὲ τὸ βιβλίον. καὶ φείδου μηδὲν μηδʼ αἰετοῦ ἐν νεφέλῃσιν, μήτʼ ἢν Λάμπων ᾖ μήτʼ ἢν ὁ μέγας Διοπείθης. Χρησμολόγος καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔνεστʼ ἐνταῦθα; Πισθέταιρος λαβὲ τὸ βιβλίον. 990οὐκ εἶ θύραζʼ; ἐς κόρακας. Χρησμολόγος οἴμοι δείλαιος.

ORACLE-MONGER Next, who first shall arrive my verses prophetic expounding, Give him a brand-new cloke and a pair of excellent sandals.

PEISTHETAERUS Are sandals in it?

ORACLE-MONGER Take the book and see. Give him moreover a cup, and fill his hands with the inwards,

PEISTHETAERUS Are inwards in it?

ORACLE-MONGER Take the book and see. Youth, divinely inspired, if thou dost as I bid, thou shalt surely Soar in the clouds as an Eagle; refuse, and thou ne’er shalt become an Eagle, or even a dove, or a wood-pecker tapping the oak-tree.

PEISTHETAERUS Is all that in it?

ORACLE-MONGER Take the book and see.

PEISTHETAERUS O how unlike your oracle to mine, Which from Apollo’s words I copied out; But if a cheat, an impostor, presume to appear uninvited, Troubling the sacred rites, and lusting to taste of the inwards, Hit him betwixt the ribs with all your force and your fury.

ORACLE-MONGER You’re jesting surely.

PEISTHETAERUS Take the book and see. See that ye spare not the rogue, though he soar in the clouds as an Eagle, Yea, be he Lampon himself or even the great Diopeithes.

ORACLE-MONGER Is all that in it?

PEISTHETAERUS Take the book and see. Get out! be off, confound you! (Smiting him.)

ORACLE-MONGER O! O! O!

PEISTHETAERUS There, run away and soothsay somewhere else.

METON I come amongst you—

PEISTHETAERUS Some new misery this!

991–998b
Πισθέταιρος 991οὔκουν ἑτέρωσε χρησμολογήσεις ἐκτρέχων; Μέτων ἥκω παρʼ ὑμᾶς — Πισθέταιρος ἕτερον αὖ τουτὶ κακόν. τί δʼ αὖ σὺ δράσων; τίς δʼ ἰδέα βουλεύματος; τίς ἡ ʼπίνοια, τίς ὁ κόθορνος τῆς ὁδοῦ; Μέτων 995γεωμετρῆσαι βούλομαι τὸν ἀέρα ὑμῖν διελεῖν τε κατὰ γύας. Πισθέταιρος πρὸς τῶν θεῶν σὺ δʼ εἶ τίς ἀνδρῶν; Μέτων ὅστις εἴμʼ ἐγώ; Μέτων, ὃν οἶδεν Ἑλλὰς χὠ Κολωνός. Πισθέταιρος εἰπέ μοι,

PEISTHETAERUS Come to do what? What’s your scheme’s form and outline? What’s your design? What buskin’s on your foot?

METON I come to land-survey this Air of yours, And mete it out by acres.

PEISTHETAERUS Heaven and Earth! Whoever are you?

METON (Scandalized.) Whoever am I! I’m Meton, Known throughout Hellas and Colonus.

PEISTHETAERUS Aye, And what are these?

METON They’re rods for Air-surveying. I’ll just explain. The Air’s, in outline, like

999–1019b
Πισθέταιρος 999ταυτὶ δέ σοι τί ἔστι; Μέτων κανόνες ἀέρος. 1000αὐτίκα γὰρ ἀήρ ἐστι τὴν ἰδέαν ὅλος κατὰ πνιγέα μάλιστα. προσθεὶς οὖν ἐγὼ τὸν κανόνʼ, ἄνωθεν τουτονὶ τὸν καμπύλον ἐνθεὶς διαβήτην — μανθάνεις; Πισθέταιρος οὐ μανθάνω. Μέτων ὀρθῷ μετρήσω κανόνι προστιθείς, ἵνα 1005ὁ κύκλος γένηται σοι τετράγωνος κἀν μέσῳ ἀγορά, φέρουσαι δʼ ὦσιν εἰς αὐτὴν ὁδοὶ ὀρθαὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ μέσον, ὥσπερ δʼ ἀστέρος αὐτοῦ κυκλοτεροῦς ὄντος ὀρθαὶ πανταχῇ ἀκτῖνες ἀπολάμπωσιν. Πισθέταιρος ἅνθρωπος Θαλῆς. 1010Μέτων — Μέτων τί ἔστιν; Πισθέταιρος οἶσθʼ ὁτιὴ φιλῶ σʼ ἐγώ, κἀμοὶ πιθόμενος ὑπαποκίνει τῆς ὁδοῦ. Μέτων τί δʼ ἐστὶ δεινόν; Πισθέταιρος ὥσπερ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ξενηλατοῦνται καὶ κεκίνηνταί τινες· πληγαὶ συχναὶ κατʼ ἄστυ. Μέτων μῶν στασιάζετε; Πισθέταιρος 1015μὰ τὸν Δίʼ οὐ δῆτʼ. Μέτων ἀλλὰ πῶς; Πισθέταιρος ὁμοθυμαδὸν σποδεῖν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἀλαζόνας δοκεῖ. Μέτων ὑπάγοιμί τἄρʼ ἄν. Πισθέταιρος νὴ Δίʼ ὡς οὐκ οἶδʼ ἂν εἰ φθαίης ἄν· ἐπίκεινται γὰρ ἐγγὺς αὑταιί. Μέτων οἴμοι κακοδαίμων. Πισθέταιρος οὐκ ἔλεγον ἐγὼ πάλαι;

PEISTHETAERUS One vast extinguisher; so then, observe, Applying here my flexible rod, and fixing My compass there,—you understand?

PEISTHETAERUS I don’t.

METON With the straight rod I measure out, that so The circle may be squared; and in the centre A market-place; and streets be leading to it Straight to the very centre; just as from A star, though circular, straight rays flash out In all directions.

PEISTHETAERUS Why, the man’s a Thales! Meton!

METON Yes, what?

PEISTHETAERUS You know I love you, Meton, Take my advice, and slip away unnoticed.

METON Why, what’s the matter?

PEISTHETAERUS As in Lacedaemon There’s stranger-hunting; and a great disturbance; And blows in plenty.

METON What, a Revolution?

PEISTHETAERUS No, no, not that.

METON What then?

PEISTHETAERUS They’ve all resolved With one consent to wallop every quack.

METON I’d best be going.

PEISTHETAERUS Faith, I’m not quite certain If you’re in time; see, see the blows are coming! (Striking him.)

METON O, murder! help!

PEISTHETAERUS I told you how ’twould be. Come, measure off your steps some other way.

COMMISSIONER Ho! consuls, ho!

PEISTHETAERUS Sardanapalus, surely!

People and places in this passage

Passages in other works that tell of the same people and places, oldest and closest first.

  1. Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 911–998Fourth episode: the Corinthian messenger
  2. Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.5.1–13From Daulis to Delphi: the Phocicum, the Cleft Way and the early oracle and temples of Apollo
  3. Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.18.1–8Olympia: the Chest of Cypselus, second and third fields
  4. Euripides, Medea 627–758Second choral song; Aegeus promises Medea refuge in Athens
  5. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.7.1–7Creon, Antigone, the Epigoni and Alcmaeon

English translation by Benjamin Bickley Rogers (1906). Original text: Greek text: F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds.), Aristophanis Comoediae, Oxford Classical Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906-1907, as digitised by Perseus. English: Benjamin Bickley Rogers, The Birds of Aristophanes, London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Greek: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain (Rogers). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.