Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazousae 136-68

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M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
 

• • [Κηδεστής:]**

ποδαπὸς ὁ γύννις; τίς πάτρα; τίς ἡ στολή;
τίς ἡ τάραξις τοῦ βίου; τί βάρβιτος
λαλεῖ κροκωτῷ; τί δὲ λύρα κεκρυφάλῳ;
τί λήκυθος καὶ στρόφιον; ὡς οὐ ξύμφορον οὐ ξύμφορον M  : ἀξύμφορον, ὀξύμφορον vel al. Suda codd. (β 110) : οὐ ξύμφορα Gannon.
τίς δαὶ κατρόπτου κατρόπτου Austin-Olson, Wilson : κατόπτρου M καὶ ξίφους κοινωνία;
σύ τ' σύ τ' Cannon, Austin-Olson, Wilson (cf. P, schol.)  : τίς δ’ M αὐτός, ὦ παῖ, πότερον ὡς ἀνὴρ τρέφει;
καὶ ποῦ πέος; ποῦ χλαῖνα; ποῦ Λακωνικαί;
ἀλλ' ὡς γυνὴ δῆτ'; εἶτα ποῦ τὰ τιτθία;
τί φῄς; τί σιγᾷς; ἀλλὰ δῆτ' ἐκ τοῦ μέλους
ζητῶ σ', ἐπειδή γ' αὐτὸς οὐ βούλει φράσαι;

• Ἀγάθων:*

ὦ πρέσβυ πρέσβυ, τοῦ φθόνου μὲν τὸν ψόγον ἤκουσα, τὴν δ' ἄλγησιν οὐ παρεσχόμην· ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν ἐσθῆθ' ἅμα γνώμῃ φορῶ. χρὴ γὰρ ποιητὴν ἄνδρα πρὸς τὰ δράματα ἃ δεῖ ποιεῖν, πρὸς ταῦτα τοὺς τρόπους ἔχειν. αὐτίκα γυναικεῖ' ἢν ποιῇ τις δράματα, μετουσίαν δεῖ τῶν τρόπων τὸ σῶμ' ἔχειν.

• Κηδεστής:*

οὐκοῦν κελητίζεις, ὅταν Φαίδραν ποιῇς;

• Ἀγάθων:*

ἀνδρεῖα δ' ἢν ποιῇ τις, ἐν τῷ σώματι ἔνεσθ' ὑπάρχον τοῦθ'. ἅ δ' οὐ κεκτήμεθα, μίμησις ἤδη ταῦτα συνθηρεύεται.

• Κηδεστής:*

ὅταν σατύρους τοίνυν ποιῇς, καλεῖν ἐμέ, ἵνα συμποιῶ σοὔπισθεν ἐστυκὼς ἐγώ.

• Ἀγάθων:*

ἄλλως τ' ἄμουσόν ἐστι ποιητὴν ἰδεῖν ἀγρεῖον ὄντα καὶ δασύν. σκέψαι δ' ὅτι Ἴβυκος ἐκεῖνος κἀνακρέων ὁ Τήιος κἀλκαῖος, οἵπερ ἁρμονίαν ἐχύμισαν, ἐμιτροφόρουν τε καὶ διεκλῶντ΄ Ἰωνικῶς. καὶ Φρύνιχος, – τοῦτον γὰρ οὖν ἀκήκοας, – αὐτός τε καλὸς ἦν καὶ καλῶς ἠμπίσχετο· διὰ τοῦτ' ἄρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ κάλ' ἦν τὰ δράματα. ὅμοια γὰρ ποιεῖν ἀνάγκη τῇ φύσει.

• [In-law:]*

Where did this lady-boy come from? What’s his fatherland? What are these clothes? What’s this way of living? What does a lyre have to say to that saffron-yellow dress? What can it say to that hair-net? And the athletic oil-bottle and lady’s girdle? Not exactly a practical combination! What do a mirror and a sword have in common? Hey you, my boy, have you been brought up as a man? And where’s your cock? Where’s your cloak and your Spartan shoes? What, then, have you been brough up as a woman? Then where are your tits? What do you say for yourself? Aren’t you going to speak? But I can work you out from your limbs, since you don’t wish to talk.

• Agathon:*

O old man, old man, I heard the censure of envy, but I did not allow it to harm me. I wear clothes according to the tenor of my thoughts. For a poet must adjust his manner to the dramas he has to do. As such, should he write plays about women, his body must adopt the sum of their habits.

• In-law:*

Do you then mount a horse when writing a Phaedra?

• Agathon:*

And if he is writing something about men, he must be entirely manly in body. That wherewith we were not born is to be achieved through imitation.

• In-law:*

Well then, when you’re writing Satyrs, call me, so that I can be a firm support for you from behind.

• Agathon:*

And besides, it is inharmonious for a poet to appear shaggy and rustic. Consider that Ibycus, and Anacreon of Teos and Alcaeus, who all wrote such soft harmonies: they all wore a mitra, and lived in a soft manner in the Ionian style. And Phrynichus – for you surely have heard him – he was beautiful in both body and comportment, wherefore his dramas were beautiful also. For by necessity a poet’s nature is at one with his verse.

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