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Aristophanes · Frogs Βάτραχοι

Aristophanes, Frogs 1404–1447: Agon: the last weighing; what would save the city

Ancient Sources / Aristophanes / Frogs / 1404–1447

Aeschylus offers to meet his rival's whole household and all his books in the scales, with two of his own lines to outweigh them. Dionysus says that he cannot decide, since one poet is clever and the other delights him. Pluto reminds him that he must choose, and Dionysus asks each poet what advice he would give for the city.

Lines 1404–1447 · 385 words · click a number to copy its link
1404–1417
Διόνυσος 1404ἐξηπάτηκεν αὖ σὲ καὶ νῦν. Εὐριπίδης τῷ τρόπῳ; Διόνυσος 1405δύʼ ἅρματʼ εἰσέθηκε καὶ νεκρὼ δύο, οὓς οὐκ ἂν ἄραιντʼ οὐδʼ ἑκατὸν Αἰγύπτιοι. Αἰσχύλος καὶ μηκέτʼ ἔμοιγε κατʼ ἔπος, ἀλλʼ ἐς τὸν σταθμὸν αὐτὸς τὰ παιδίʼ ἡ γυνὴ Κηφισοφῶν ἐμβὰς καθήσθω, συλλαβὼν τὰ βιβλία· 1410ἐγὼ δὲ δύʼ ἔπη τῶν ἐμῶν ἐρῶ μόνον. Διόνυσος ἅνδρες φίλοι, κἀγὼ μὲν αὐτοὺς οὐ κρινῶ. οὐ γὰρ διʼ ἔχθρας οὐδετέρῳ γενήσομαι. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι σοφὸν τῷ δʼ ἥδομαι. Πλούτων οὐδὲν ἄρα πράξεις ὧνπερ ἦλθες οὕνεκα; Διόνυσος 1415ἐὰν δὲ κρίνω; Πλούτων τὸν ἕτερον λαβὼν ἄπει, ὁπότερον ἂν κρίνῃς, ἵνʼ ἔλθῃς μὴ μάτην. Διόνυσος εὐδαιμονοίης. φέρε πύθεσθέ μου ταδί.

DIONYSUS Five-score Egyptians could not lift that weight.

AESCHYLUS No more of “line for line”; let him—himself, His children, wife, Cephisophon—get in, With all his books collected in his arms, Two lines of mine shall overweigh the lot.

DIONYSUS Both are my friends; I can’t decide between them: I don’t desire to be at odds with either: One is so clever, one delights me so.

PLUTO Then you’ll effect nothing for which you came?

DIONYSUS And how, if I decide?

PLUTO Then take the winner; So will your journey not be made in vain.

DIONYSUS Heaven bless your Highness! Listen, I came down After a poet.

EURIPIDES To what end?

DIONYSUS That so The city, saved, may keep her choral games.

1418–1428
Διόνυσος 1418ἐγὼ κατῆλθον ἐπὶ ποιητήν. τοῦ χάριν; ἵνʼ ἡ πόλις σωθεῖσα τοὺς χοροὺς ἄγῃ. 1420ὁπότερος οὖν ἂν τῇ πόλει παραινέσῃ μᾶλλόν τι χρηστόν, τοῦτον ἄξειν μοι δοκῶ. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν περὶ Ἀλκιβιάδου τίνʼ ἔχετον γνώμην ἑκάτερος; ἡ πόλις γὰρ δυστοκεῖ. Εὐριπίδης ἔχει δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ τίνα γνώμην; Διόνυσος τίνα; 1425ποθεῖ μέν, ἐχθαίρει δέ, βούλεται δʼ ἔχειν. ἀλλʼ ὅ τι νοεῖτον εἴπατον τούτου πέρι. Εὐριπίδης μισῶ πολίτην, ὅστις ὠφελεῖν πάτραν βραδὺς πέφυκε μεγάλα δὲ βλάπτειν ταχύς,

DIONYSUS Now then, whichever of you two shall best Advise the city, he shall come with me. And first of Alcibiades, let each Say what he thinks; the city travails sore.

EURIPIDES What does she think herself about him?

DIONYSUS What? She loves, and hates, and longs to have him back. But give me your advice about the man.

EURIPIDES I loathe a townsman who is slow to aid, And swift to hurt, his town: who ways and means Finds for himself, but finds not for the state.

DIONYSUS Poseidon, but that’s smart! (To Aesch.) And what say you?

AESCHYLUS T’were best to rear no lion in the state:

1429–1447
Εὐριπίδης 1429καὶ πόριμον αὑτῷ τῇ πόλει δʼ ἀμήχανον. Διόνυσος 1430εὖ γʼ ὦ Πόσειδον· σὺ δὲ τίνα γνώμην ἔχεις; Αἰσχύλος οὐ χρὴ λέοντος σκύμνον ἐν πόλει τρέφειν, ἢν δʼ ἐκτραφῇ τις, τοῖς τρόποις ὑπηρετεῖν. Διόνυσος νὴ τὸν Δία τὸν σωτῆρα δυσκρίτως γʼ ἔχω· ὁ μὲν σοφῶς γὰρ εἶπεν, ὁ δʼ ἕτερος σαφῶς. 1435ἀλλʼ ἔτι μίαν γνώμην ἑκάτερος εἴπατον περὶ τῆς πόλεως ἥντινʼ ἔχετον σωτηρίαν. Εὐριπίδης εἴ τις πτερώσας Κλεόκριτον Κινησίᾳ, αἴροιεν αὖραι πελαγίαν ὑπὲρ πλάκα. Διόνυσος γέλοιον ἂν φαίνοιτο· νοῦν δʼ ἔχει τίνα; Εὐριπίδης 1440εἰ ναυμαχοῖεν κᾆτʼ ἔχοντες ὀξίδας ῥαίνοιεν ἐς τὰ βλέφαρα τῶν ἐναντίων. ἐγὼ μὲν οἶδα καὶ θέλω φράζειν. Διόνυσος λέγε. Εὐριπίδης ὅταν τὰ νῦν ἄπιστα πίσθʼ ἡγώμεθα, τὰ δʼ ὄντα πίστʼ ἄπιστα. Διόνυσος πῶς; οὐ μανθάνω. 1445ἀμαθέστερόν πως εἰπὲ καὶ σαφέστερον. Εὐριπίδης εἰ τῶν πολιτῶν οἷσι νῦν πιστεύομεν, τούτοις ἀπιστήσαιμεν, οἷς δʼ οὐ χρώμεθα,

AESCHYLUS But having reared, ’tis best to humour him.

DIONYSUS By Zeus the Saviour, still I can’t decide. One is so clever, and so clear the other. But once again. Let each in turn declare What plan of safety for the state ye’ve got.

EURIPIDES [First with Cinesias wing Cleocritus, Then zephyrs waft them o’er the watery plain.

DIONYSUS A funny sight, I own: but where’s the sense

EURIPIDES If, when the fleets engage, they holding cruets Should rain down vinegar in the foemen’s eyes,] I know, and I can tell you.

DIONYSUS Tell away.

EURIPIDES When things, mistrusted now, shall trusted be, And trusted things, mistrusted.

DIONYSUS How! I don’t Quite comprehend. Be clear, and not so clever.

EURIPIDES If we mistrust those citizens of ours Whom now we trust, and those employ whom now We don’t employ, the city will be saved. If on our present tack we fail, we surely

People and places in this passage

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

  1. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 31.0–69Book 31: Hera appeals to Persephone against Dionysos
  2. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.811–978Book 48: Aura's twins; her transformation; Iacchos and the end of Dionysos' wanderings

English translation by Benjamin Bickley Rogers (1919). 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 Frogs of Aristophanes, second edition, London: G. Bell and Sons, 1919.

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.