Frogs and Other Plays

by Aristophanes

  93. Cithaeron’s fountains: Cithaeron, a mountain close to Thebes, was where the infant Oedipus was exposed on his parents’ orders, although the shepherd to whom the task was entrusted subsequently rescued him. Dionysus was also closely associated with Mount Cithaeron. His mother, Semele, was the daughter of Cadmus, a king of Thebes.

  94. shout in da sky: The character of the Scythian is the fullest surviving example of the portrayal of a ‘barbarian’ in Old Comedy. In the Greek text his speech is defective both in terms of pronunciation and grammar; this is only reflected approximately in the translation.

  95. Euripides appears: While it is possible that Euripides at this point makes a trial run on the stage-crane (mēchanē) it seems much more likely that he just appears momentarily in the wings. Not only does the text suggest that he emerges briefly and furtively – the crane was not suitable for brevity or furtiveness – but the use of the crane at this point would undermine Euripides’ spectacular aerial appearance as Perseus later in the scene (1098). The stage-crane, a device used in tragedy, was probably invented fairly late in the fifth century. Evidence for its use is somewhat limited. It seems likely that it was associated specifically with Euripidean tragedy; there is no conclusive evidence for its use by Sophocles (or Aeschylus). Its main purpose, it seems, was for presenting gods descending from Olympus (e.g., Iris in Euripides’ Heracles) or heroes in flight, such as Bellerophon on Pegasus in Euripides’ Bellerophon (a spectacle parodied by Aristophanes’ hero Try-gaeus in Peace) and Perseus in Andromeda.

  96. As Andromeda: What follows is an extended parody of Euripides’ lost play Andromeda. Like Helen, Andromeda was a play of rescue and romance produced in 412. One of Andromeda’s parents – either Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, or his wife Cassiopeia – had offended Poseidon, who sent a flood and a sea-monster to destroy their land. Cepheus learnt that Poseidon’s anger could only be appeased by leaving his daughter Andromeda chained on the shore as a victim for the monster. She awaited her fate accompanied by her own voice, echoing from a nearby cave, and a sympathetic chorus of maidens. Perseus, however, returning (in the winged sandals given to him by Hermes) from slaying Medusa, saw Andromeda and fell in love with her. He killed the monster, using Medusa’s head, and saved Andromeda in return for her hand in marriage. After this, the play’s action is unclear, but there seems to have been some conflict between the would-be-weds and Andromeda’s parents. Aristophanes’ parody uses two scenes out of their original sequence: the first involved heroine and chorus; the second, the tragedy’s opening scene, comprised Andromeda’s voice being echoed.

  The opening of Mnesilochus’ lyrics, adapted from Andromeda (fr. 117), is probably modelled on Andromeda’s first words to the Chorus. In the rest of the monody, some lines, whether quoted (or adapted) from Andromeda or a patchwork of tragic language, are suited to the tragic Andromeda; others are pertinent to Mnesilochus’ own situation (e.g., ‘With that Scythian watching me’, ‘I must get back to my wife’); others still are applicable both to Andromeda and Mnesilochus (e.g., ‘Pitiless, ah me, / Was the hand that bound me’).

  97. Glaucetes: A glutton who was regularly satirized in comedy. His name may also be appropriate here because of its marine connotations (glaukos can mean ‘grey-green’ or ‘sea-coloured’).

  98. ECHO: Probably not an actual character in Euripides’ Andromeda. Here, however, the way in which Mnesilochus greets her – as if they are face to face, and without undue surprise – suggests that she is present onstage, although she does speak to the Scythian from offstage later on in the scene. It seems unlikely that the part of Echo was played by the character of Euripides. Unlike Euripides when he is disguised as Menelaus and Perseus, Echo offers no assistance or encouragement whatsoever to Mnesilochus; in fact, quite the reverse. It is also unlikely that Echo was played by the actor playing Euripides, as he would already be in the costume of Perseus at this point. It is improbable that he would be able, or expected, to change into the costume of Echo only to have to make an almost instant change back into the Perseus costume, as well as being attached to the stage-crane – not an easy task, as the device required its own special operator – for his aerial appearance.

  99. I worked together with Euripides: Echo is referring openly to the production of Andromeda in 412.

  100. Gods… I bear: Euripides’ speech is largely quoted (and adapted) from a monologue by Perseus in Andromeda (fr. 123–5). In the exchange that follows he uses some quotation, some general tragic pastiche and some contrastingly blunt comic language.

  101. Gorgas da writer: It is not clear to whom the Scythian is referring. The Greek word for ‘writer’ (grammateos) properly means ‘secretary’. There was a man named Gorgus who died in a naval battle in 411 and who may have held the position of grammateos to some state body or other. It is, however, possible that the Scythian means Gorgias, the famous sophist (memorably portrayed by Plato in the dialogue named after him), although this would require him to use the word grammateos to mean rhetorician, which is not all that likely.

  102. To use new schemes upon a witless fool: Quoted from Euripides’ Medea 298.

  103. a serious offer: The women (in the form of the Chorus) accept Euripides’ offer of a truce readily, despite being so implacably hostile to him earlier. Such inconsistency is not uncommon in Aristophanes (compare Dionysus in Frogs 1471).

  104. stay inside dem clothes: He warns Mnesilochus not to develop an erection at the sight of the dancing-girl. Presumably in the original performance there would have been humorous use of the phallus worn by comic actors (as there is at 643ff., when Mnesilochus is being exposed as a man), not only in the case of Mnesilochus but also the Scythian.

  105. pointing the wrong way: This misdirection of the ‘barbarian’ Scythian is loosely comparable to a scene in Euripides’ Iphigenia among the Taurians, produced in 413 or 412, in which the (Greek) Chorus-Leader misinforms a barbarian messenger – he has come to inform his master, King Thoas, about the escape of Iphigenia, Orestes and Pylades – of the king’s whereabouts. There is also a resemblance to the scene in Euripides’ Cyclops in which the Chorus of Satyrs plays ‘blind man’s buff with the blinded Cyclops while Odysseus escapes.

  FROGS

  1. buskins: High laced-up boots worn by tragic actors.

  2. Phrynichus… Ameipsias: Contemporaries of Aristophanes. Phrynichus’ Muses came second to Frogs. Ameipsias’ Revellers won first prize over Aristophanes’ Birds in 414; he also competed favourably against Clouds in 423. Little is known of Lycis.

  3. comic porter scene… one in every comedy: Frogs itself is no exception: the action until 627 is, among other things, an extended comic routine involving luggage carrying and role swapping between master and slave.

  4. Juice: Instead of the expected ‘Zeus’. ‘Juice’ also links Dionysus to wine (the joke in the Greek text refers to a drinking festival in Dionysus’ honour).

  5. sea-battle… I’d be a free man now: All slaves who took part in the Athenian victory at Arginusae (406 BC) were subsequently freed and granted full citizen’s rights.

  6. lion-skin … regiment: Heracles’ string of questions about Dionysus’ effeminate dress resembles Mnesilochus’ questioning of Agathon in Women (136ff.). Both passages are adapted from Aeschylus’ Edonians (fr. 61), in which Dionysus is questioned by Lycurgus.

  7. Cleisthenes: An effeminate, apparently beardless man, regularly mocked for being cowardly and a passive homosexual. He appears in Women, dressed in women’s clothing, to expose the disguised Mnesilochus.

  8. Andromeda: Exotic, romantic play by Euripides, in which the hero Perseus rescues Andromeda from a sea-monster and wins her for his bride; it is parodied extensively in Women. Dionysus’ remark is one of the very first references to solitary, recreational reading in the ancient world.

  9. Molon’s size: Molon, a well-known actor, was a very large man.

  10. Please!: The ancient Greeks saw sexual relations between men and boys as permissible in certain circumstances,
but frowned on them between men. They particularly reviled men who adopted a passive role in homosexual relationships.

  11. little brother: Heracles and Dionysus are half-brothers; both are sons of Zeus by mortal women.

  12. many are gone… bad: Dionysus quotes Euripides’ Oeneus (fr. 565).

  13. Sophocles’ son, Iophon: Little is known about the work of Iophon. Tragedians often belonged to theatrical families, e.g., Aeschylus and Euripides.

  14. slippery customer: Euripides’ slipperiness is probably inferred from the wiliness of his heroes such as Telephus and Palamedes.

  15. took life in his stride: Sophocles was known for his affable and sociable nature.

  16. Agathon: He won the tragic competition in 416, possibly at his first attempt. He was noted for his effeminacy and homosexuality; his work was known for its distinctive stylistic innovations. He appears as a character in Women and in Plato’s Symposium.

  17. king of Macedon: At some time prior to 405, Agathon followed Euripides to the court of King Archelaus of Macedon.

  18. Xenocles… Pythangelus: Two tragedians; nothing is known of Pythangelus but Xenocles was from a well-known theatrical family. His father, Carcinus, is regularly mocked by Aristophanes, including in the finale of Wasps, where Xenocles and his brothers perform a ridiculous tragic dance routine.

  19. choir of swallows: From Euripides’ Alcmene (fr. 89).

  20. Ether, bedsit of Zeus: Parody of Euripides’ Melanippe the Wise (fr. 487) with ‘bedsit’ replacing ‘abode’.

  21. the tread of Time: Occurring in Euripides’ Bacchae (889), produced posthumously in 405, but a similar phrase occurs in his earlier Alexandros (fr. 42).

  22. tongue… committed: Clumsy paraphrase of Euripides’ Hippolytus 612: ‘My tongue did swear, but my heart is not under oath.’ The line was well known; see Frogs 1471 and Women 275–6.

  23. Seek not… your own: The line resembles a number of Euripidean lines without being obviously linked to any one (although it may be from an unknown source).

  24. cold feet: Hemlock supposedly drains the body’s warmth, starting with the extremities.

  25. torch race: An event in the Panathenaea and other Athenian festivals.

  26. ferryman… two obols: The ferryman is Charon. His fare was usually one obol but here Aristophanes has doubled it, either because of the return fare or to reflect wartime inflation.

  27. Theseus introduced the idea: Probably a reference to Theseus’ journey to the underworld with Pirithous. Pirithous had wanted to wrest Persephone from Hades, but was punished for his presumption by being kept captive in the underworld; Theseus remained with him out of loyalty. The two were later rescued by Heracles when he came to capture Cerberus (his final labour). The rescue was the subject of a (lost) play Pirithous either by Euripides or Critias.

  28. Morsimus: Son of the tragedian Philocles and great-nephew of Aeschylus. A tragedian himself, he was the butt of several critical remarks by Aristophanes.

  29. Cinesias: Dithyrambic poet, regularly mocked by Aristophanes for using pretentious polysyllables and being gaunt and incontinent (possibly due to disease).

  30. People initiated into the rites of the Mysteries: The Chorus comprises initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries, who were believed to lead a blissful, toil-free existence in the afterlife in a special part of the underworld which had daylight like that of the upper world.

  31. two drachmas: One drachma equalled six obols.

  32. Charon… couldn’t care less: Dionysus calls Charon three times, imitating the custom of calling upon the dead three times as a final farewell. He then complains that Charon, whose name is linked to the word chaire meaning ‘welcome’ or ‘farewell’, is not very welcoming.

  33. FROG-CHORUS: Frogs is unique among Aristophanes’ plays in having two separate choruses, the Frog-Chorus and the Initiate-Chorus (Lysistrata has semi-choruses of old men and women but these appear together, and collectively comprise a single chorus). The Frog-Chorus may only have been audible and not visible (see 205), but equally it may have appeared onstage; the difficulty of hearing offstage singers also counts against their nonappearance. When Frogs was produced, strained finances made it hard to find people willing, or able, to serve as chorēgos; as a result, each competitor was assigned two chorēgoi. While this makes it seem unlikely that Aristophanes could have asked for two choruses, the fact that the Initiate-Chorus, dressed in rags, was inexpensive to fit out – the Chorus themselves refer to this (see 406ff.) – means it may have been possible to present a second chorus without exceeding budget.

  34. festival days: The festival is the Anthesteria, celebrated in the sanctuary of Dionysus-in-the-Marshes (south of the Acropolis, possibly by the river Ilissus). The sounds of the Frog-Chorus are closest to those of the marsh frog (Rana ridibunda).

  35. Empusa: Female creature that could change form at will. She was associated with Hecate, the divine patroness of witchcraft.

  36. appealing… front row: Here Dionysus appeals directly to the priest of Dionysus Eleuthereus (‘the Liberator’), who sat in the front row of the theatre.

  37. Lord Heracles… my name: Heracles was often invoked in distress as an averter of evil. Here Dionysus supposes that Xanthias is referring to him as Heracles because of his disguise. He warns him not to do so, possibly because of the Greek belief that if an evil spirit or creature knows an individual’s name, its power over that person is greater.

  38. Hegelochus… heave no more: Hegelochus was a tragic actor, who famously accentuated the Greek word galên – from a line of Euripides’ Orestes (279) – incorrectly, so that instead of meaning ‘tranquil’ it meant ‘weasel’. Since the joke belies exact translation, I have kept Barrett’s alternative.

  39. Oh dear… brought me down: Dionysus’ sentiments are tragic but the language and metre are not. Xanthias, in his subsequent reply, uses the Euripidean phrases Dionysus quoted earlier (iooff.).

  40. Diagoras: Confirmed atheist who mocked religious practice; he was prosecuted for divulging the closely guarded secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries. He may be mentioned here to defuse any danger of Aristophanes’ comic version of Eleusinian hymns seeming sacrilegious or disrespectful.

  41. CHORUS: What follows is the parodos, or Entry-Song, of the play’s main Chorus (as distinct from the subsidiary Frog-Chorus). Their hymn to Iacchus (a deity who had come to be identified with Bacchus/Dionysus) has metrical and stylistic similarities with the hymns to Dionysus sung by the Maenad-Chorus in Euripides’ Bacchae.

  42. Persephone… daughter of Demeter: Demeter and Persephone were the other main deities (besides Bacchus/Dionysus) connected with the Eleusinian Mysteries.

  43. wonderful smell of pork: Xanthias’ exclamation refers to the smell of suckling pigs, which were sacrificed during the initiation ritual; but the Greek word choiros is also – invariably in Aristophanes – a double-entendre for the female genitalia (like English ‘pussy’).

  44. noble and grand: The original specifically mentions the comic playwright Cratinus, an older contemporary of Aristophanes. Aristophanes mocked Cratinus (as a drunken incontinent) while he was alive, but treated him with deference after his death. The description of him in the original Greek as ‘Cratinus of the bull-devouring tongue’, on account of his grand style, is complimentary; ‘bull-devourer’ was a title of Dionysus, the god of drama.

  45. customs inspectors… on the sly: The original refers to one Thorycion, who was accused of illicit trade.

  46. Some people… cutting his pay: Dramatists were paid honoraria for being selected to compete in the Dionysiac festivals. Here Aristophanes alludes to certain unnamed politicians who proposed cuts, possibly due to wartime financial pressures.

  47. persons caught short… chorus: The original, which contains crude scatological imagery (omitted here), refers to the dithyrambic poet Cinesias, who was regularly accused of incontinence.

  48. Princess of Spring: Persephone, whom Pluto abducted to make queen of the underworld. Her mother
, Demeter, unaware of her fate, mourned her so much that she neglected her duty as goddess of the crops. In the ensuing crisis, the truth emerged and Persephone was allowed to return to the upper world, but only for part of the year as she had tasted food (pomegranate) from the underworld. Winter represents the part of the year Persephone spent in the underworld, during which Demeter continued to be mournful, while the coming of spring represents Persephone’s yearly return to the upper world.

  49. the shrine: The Temple of Demeter at Eleusis, about twelve miles northwest of Athens. Initiates into the Mysteries took an image of Iacchus in a procession from Athens to Eleusis.

  50. My clothes… cuts down on expenses: Initiates traditionally wore old or torn clothes. Here the Chorus joke that their ragged costume has helped the play’s choregos save money.

  51. Archedemus: Key political figure in 406/5. He prosecuted one of the generals at the battle of Arginusae and may have been instrumental in condemning the other generals to death. He was known by the soubriquet ‘Bleary Eyes’.

  52. Cleisthenes… hair: The translation plays down the crudeness of these lines, in which Cleisthenes (see note 7) is described as depilating his rectum, grieving over the loss of a male lover, whose name and home town are altered to something like ‘Shaftus of Stiffwick’.

  53. Callias: Wealthy patron of intellectuals and womanizer, who allegedly ran a menage a trois with his wife and mother-in-law. The translation plays down the coarseness of the original, in which Callias is called the son of Hippocinus (changed from Hipponicus), suggesting the sexual urges, or endowment, of a horse.

  54. doorkeeper of Hades: This character is usually called Aeacus, although he is not named in the text. Aeacus, a son of Zeus, was a hero of exemplary standing; he fathered the two heroes, Peleus and Telamon, who in turn fathered Achilles and Ajax respectively. He is usually described as sitting with Minos and Rhadamanthys, and judging the souls of the dead. His role as doorkeeper may be traceable to a lost tragedy, Pirithous, in which he challenges Heracles on his descent to the underworld.