Frogs 990–1013: Agon: what a poet should do

Aristophanes, Frogs 990–1013: Agon: what a poet should do

The Chorus tell Aeschylus to hold in his temper and to answer without anger. Aeschylus says that he is angry at having to bandy words with such a man and asks Euripides what makes a poet worthy of praise. Euripides answers that he improves the citizens, and Aeschylus replies that he found them noble and has made them worse.

990–998

Διόνυσος
990κεχηνότες Μαμμάκυθοι
Μελιτίδαι καθῆντο.
Χορός
τάδε μὲν λεύσσεις φαίδιμʼ Ἀχιλλεῦ·
σὺ δὲ τί φέρε πρὸς ταῦτα λέξεις;
μόνον ὅπως […]
μή σʼ ὁ θυμὸς ἁρπάσας
995ἐκτὸς οἴσει τῶν ἐλαῶν·
δεινὰ γὰρ κατηγόρηκεν.
ἀλλʼ ὅπως ὦ γεννάδα
μὴ πρὸς ὀργὴν ἀντιλέξεις,

CHORUS “All this thou beholdest, Achilles our boldest.’ And what wilt thou reply? Draw tight the rein Lest that fiery soul of thine Whirl thee out of the listed plain, Past the olives, and o’er the line. Dire and grievous the charge he brings. See thou answer him, noble heart, Not with passionate bickerings. Shape thy course with a sailor’s art, Reef the canvas, shorten the sails, Shift them edgewise to shun the gales.

999–1013

Χορός 999ἀλλὰ συστείλας ἄκροισι 1000χρώμενος τοῖς ἱστίοις, εἶτα μᾶλλον μᾶλλον ἄξεις καὶ φυλάξεις, ἡνίκʼ ἂν τὸ πνεῦμα λεῖον καὶ καθεστηκὸς λάβῃς. Διόνυσος ἀλλʼ ὦ πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων πυργώσας ῥήματα σεμνὰ 1005καὶ κοσμήσας τραγικὸν λῆρον, θαρρῶν τὸν κρουνὸν ἀφίει. Αἰσχύλος θυμοῦμαι μὲν τῇ ξυντυχίᾳ, καὶ μου τὰ σπλάγχνʼ ἀγανακτεῖ, εἰ πρὸς τοῦτον δεῖ μʼ ἀντιλέγειν· ἵνα μὴ φάσκῃ δʼ ἀπορεῖν με, ἀπόκριναί μοι, τίνος οὕνεκα χρὴ θαυμάζειν ἄνδρα ποιητήν; Εὐριπίδης δεξιότητος καὶ νουθεσίας, ὅτι βελτίους τε ποιοῦμεν 1010τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν. Αἰσχύλος τοῦτʼ οὖν εἰ μὴ πεποίηκας, ἀλλʼ ἐκ χρηστῶν καὶ γενναίων μοχθηροτάτους ἀπέδειξας, τί παθεῖν φήσεις ἄξιος εἶναι; Διόνυσος τεθνάναι· μὴ τοῦτον ἐρώτα. Αἰσχύλος σκέψαι τοίνυν οἵους αὐτοὺς παρʼ ἐμοῦ παρεδέξατο πρῶτον,

CHORUS When. the breezes are soft and low, Then, well under control, you’ll go Quick and quicker to strike the foe. O first of all the Hellenic bards high loftily-towering verse to rear, And tragic phrase from the dust to raise, pour forth thy fountain with right good cheer.

AESCHYLUS My wrath is hot at this vile mischance, and my spirit revolts at the thought that I Must bandy words with a fellow like him: but lest he should vaunt that I can’t reply— Come, tell me what are the points for which a noble poet our praise obtains.

EURIPIDES For his ready wit, and his counsels sage, and because the citizen folk he trains To be better townsmen and worthier men.

AESCHYLUS If then you have done the very reverse, Found noble-hearted and virtuous men, and altered them, each and all, for the worse, Pray what is the meed you deserve to get?

DIONYSUS Nay, ask not him. He deserves to die.

AESCHYLUS For just consider what style of men he received from me, great six-foot-high Heroical souls, who never would blench from a townsman’s duties in peace or war; Not idle loafers, or low buffoons, or rascally seamps such as now they are.

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.

Aristophanes, Frogs 990–1013: Agon: what a poet should do

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