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Aristophanes >> Peace
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PEACE
by Aristophanes
[Translator uncredited. Footnotes have been retained because they
provide the meanings of Greek names, terms and ceremonies and explain
puns and references otherwise lost in translation. Occasional Greek words
in the footnotes have not been included. Footnote numbers, in brackets,
start anew at [1] for each piece of dialogue, and each footnote follows
immediately the dialogue to which it refers, labeled thus: f[1].
INTRODUCTION
The 'Peace' was brought out four years after 'The Acharnians' (422 B.C.),
when the War had already lasted ten years. The leading motive is the
same as in the former play--the intense desire of the less excitable and
more moderate-minded citizens for relief from the miseries of war.
Trygaeus, a rustic patriot, finding no help in men, resolves to ascend
to heaven to expostulate personally with Zeus for allowing this wretched
state of things to continue. With this object he has fed and trained a
gigantic dung-beetle, which he mounts, and is carried, like Bellerophon
on Pegasus, on an aerial journey. Eventually he reaches Olympus, only
to find that the gods have gone elsewhere, and that the heavenly abode
is occupied solely by the demon of War, who is busy pounding up the
Greek States in a huge mortar. However, his benevolent purpose is not in
vain; for learning from Hermes that the goddess Peace has been cast into
a pit, where she is kept a fast prisoner, he calls upon the different peoples
of Hellas to make a united effort and rescue her, and with their help drags
her out and brings her back in triumph to earth. The play concludes
with the restoration of the goddess to her ancient honours, the festivities
of the rustic population and the nuptials of Trygaeus with Opora (Harvest),
handmaiden of Peace, represented as a pretty courtesan.
Such references as there are to Cleon in this play are noteworthy.
The great Demagogue was now dead, having fallen in the same action as
the rival Spartan general, the renowned Brasidas, before Amphipolis,
and whatever Aristophanes says here of his old enemy is conceived in
the spirit of 'de mortuis nil nisi bonum.' In one scene Hermes is descanting
on the evils which had nearly ruined Athens and declares that
'The Tanner' was the cause of them all. But Trygaeus interrupts him
with the words:
"Hold-say not so, good master Hermes;
Let the man rest in peace where now he lies.
He is no longer of our world, but yours."
Here surely we have a trait of magnanimity on the author's part as
admirable in its way as the wit and boldness of his former attacks
had been in theirs.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
TRYGAEUS
TWO SERVANTS OF TRYGAEUS
MAIDENS, DAUGHTERS OF TRYGAEUS
HERMES
WAR
TUMULT
HIEROCLES, a Soothsayer
A SICKLE-MAKER
A CREST-MAKER
A TRUMPET-MAKER
A HELMET-MAKER
A SPEAR-MAKER
SON OF LAMACHUS
SON OF CLEONYMUS
CHORUS OF HUSBANDMEN
SCENE: A farmyard, two slaves busy beside a dungheap; afterwards,
in Olympus.
FIRST SERVANT
Quick, quick, bring the dung-beetle his cake.
SECOND SERVANT
Coming, coming.
FIRST SERVANT
Give it to him, and may it kill him!
SECOND SERVANT
May he never eat a better.
FIRST SERVANT
Now give him this other one kneaded up with ass's dung.
SECOND SERVANT
There! I've done that too.
FIRST SERVANT
And where's what you gave him just now; surely he can't have devoured
it yet!
SECOND SERVANT
Indeed he has; he snatched it, rolled it between his feet and
bolted it.
FIRST SERVANT
Come, hurry up, knead up a lot and knead them stiffly.
SECOND SERVANT
Oh, scavengers, help me in the name of the gods, if you do not
wish to see me fall down choked.
FIRST SERVANT
Come, come, another made from the stool of a young scapegrace catamite.
'Twill be to the beetle's taste; he likes it well ground.
SECOND SERVANT
There! I am free at least from suspicion; none will accuse me of
tasting what I mix.
FIRST SERVANT
Faugh! come, now another! keep on mixing with all your might.
SECOND SERVANT
I' faith, no. I can stand this awful cesspool stench no longer, so I
bring you the whole ill-smelling gear.
FIRST SERVANT
Pitch it down the sewer sooner, and yourself with it.
SECOND SERVANT
Maybe, one of you can tell me where I can buy a stopped-up nose,
for there is no work more disgusting than to mix food for a
beetle and to carry it to him. A pig or a dog will at least pounce
upon our excrement without more ado, but this foul wretch
affects the disdainful, the spoilt mistress, and won't eat unless I
offer him a cake that has been kneaded for an entire day.... But let
us open the door a bit ajar without his seeing it. Has he done eating?
Come, pluck up courage, cram yourself till you burst! The cursed
creature! It wallows in its food! It grips it between its claws like a
wrestler clutching his opponent, and with head and feet together rolls
up its paste like a rope-maker twisting a hawser. What an indecent,
stinking, gluttonous beast! I know not what angry god let this
monster loose upon us, but of a certainty it was neither Aphrodite nor
the Graces.
FIRST SERVANT
Who was it then?
SECOND SERVANT
No doubt the Thunderer, Zeus.
FIRST SERVANT
But perhaps some spectator, some beardless youth, who thinks
himself a sage, will say, "What is this? What does the beetle mean?"
And then an Ionian,[1] sitting next him, will add, "I think 'tis an
allusion to Cleon, who so shamelessly feeds on filth all by
himself."--But now I'm going indoors to fetch the beetle a drink.
f[1] 'Peace' was no doubt produced at the festival of the Apaturia, which
was kept at the end of October, a period when strangers were numerous in
Athens.
SECOND SERVANT
As for me, I will explain the matter to you all, children, youths,
grownups and old men, aye, even to the decrepit dotards. My master
is mad, not as you are, but with another sort of madness, quite a
new kind. The livelong day he looks open-mouthed towards heaven and
never stops addressing Zeus. "Ah! Zeus," he cries, "what are thy
intentions? Lay aside thy besom; do not sweep Greece away!"
TRYGAEUS
Ah! ah! ah!
SECOND SERVANT
Hush, hush! Mehinks I hear his voice!
TRYGAEUS
Oh! Zeus, what art thou going to do for our people? Dost thou
not see this, that our cities will soon be but empty husks?
SECOND SERVANT
As I told you, that is his form of madness. There you have a
sample of his follies. When his trouble first began to seize him, he
said to himself, "By what means could I go straight to Zeus?" Then he
made himself very slender little ladders and so clambered up towards
heaven; but he soon came hurtling down again and broke his head.
Yesterday, to our misfortune, he went out and brought us back this
thoroughbred, but from where I know not, this great beetle, whose
groom he has forced me to become. He himself caresses it as though
it were a horse, saying, "Oh! my little Pegasus,[1] my noble aerial
steed, may your wings soon bear me straight to Zeus!" But what is my
master doing? I must stoop down to look through this hole. Oh! great
gods! Here! neighbours, run here quick! here is my master flying off
mounted on his beetle as if on horseback.
f[1] The winged steed of Perseus--an allusion to a lost tragedy of Euripides,
in which Bellerophon was introduced riding on Pegasus.
TRYGAEUS
Gently, gently, go easy, beetle; don't start off so proudly, or
trust at first too greatly to your powers; wait till you have sweated,
till the beating of your wings shall make your limb joints supple.
Above all things, don't let off some foul smell, I adjure you; else
I would rather have you stop in the stable altogether.
SECOND SERVANT
Poor master! Is he crazy?
TRYGAEUS
Silence! silence!
SECOND SERVANT (TO TRYGAEUS)
But why start up into the air on chance?
TRYGAEUS
'Tis for the weal of all the Greeks; I am attempting a daring
and novel feat.
SECOND SERVANT
But what is your purpose? What useless folly!
TRYGAEUS
No words of ill omen! Give vent to joy and command all men to keep
silence, to close down their drains and privies with new tiles and
to stop up their own vent-holes.[1]
f[1] Fearing that if it caught a whiff from earth to its liking, the beetle
might descend from the highest heaven to satisfy itself.
FIRST SERVANT
No, I shall not be silent, unless you tell me where you are going.
TRYGAEUS
Why, where am I likely to be going across the sky, if it be not to
visit Zeus?
FIRST SERVANT
For what purpose?
TRYGAEUS
I want to ask him what he reckons to do for all the Greeks.
SECOND SERVANT
And if he doesn't tell you?
TRYGAEUS
I shall pursue him at law as a traitor who sells Greece to the Medes.[1]
f[1] The Persians and the Spartans were not then allied as the scholiast
states, since a treaty between them was only concluded in 412 B.C., i.e.
eight years after the production of 'Peace'; the great king, however, was
trying to derive advantages out of the dissensions in Greece.
SECOND SERVANT
Death seize me, if I let you go.
TRYGAEUS
It is absolutely necessary.
SECOND SERVANT
Alas! alas! dear little girls, your father is deserting you secretly to go
to heaven. Ah! poor orphans, entreat him, beseech him.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
Father! father! what is this I hear? Is it true? What! you would
leave me, you would vanish into the sky, you would go to the crows?[1]
'Tis impossible! Answer, father, an you love me.
f[1] "Go to the crows," a proverbial expression equivalent to our "Go
to the devil."
TRYGAEUS
Yes, I am going. You hurt me too sorely, my daughters, when you
ask me for bread, calling me your daddy, and there is not the ghost of
an obolus in the house; if I succeed and come back, you will have a
barley loaf every morning--and a punch in the eye for sauce!
LITTLE DAUGHTER
But how will you make the journey? 'Tis not a ship that will
carry you thither.
TRYGAEUS
No, but this winged steed will.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
But what an idea, daddy, to harness a beetle, on which to fly to the gods.
TRYGAEUS
We see from Aesop's fables that they alone can fly to the abode of
the Immortals.[1]
f[1] Aesop tells us that the eagle and the beetle were at war; the eagle
devoured the beetle's young and the latter got into its nest and tumbled
out its eggs. On this the eagle complained to Zeus, who advised it to lay its
eggs in his bosom; but the beetle flew up to the abode of Zeus, who,
forgetful of the eagle's eggs, at once rose to chase off the objectionable
insect. The eggs fell to earth and were smashed to bits.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
Father, father, 'tis a tale nobody can believe! that such a stinking
creature can have gone to the gods.
TRYGAEUS
It went to have vengeance on the eagle and break its eggs.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
Why not saddle Pegasus? you would have a more TRAGIC[1] appearance
in
the eyes of the gods.
f[1] Pegasus is introduced by Euripides both in his 'Andromeda' and his
'Bellerophon.'
TRYGAEUS
Eh! don't you see, little fool, that then twice the food would
be wanted? Whereas my beetle devours again as filth what I have
eaten myself.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
And if it fell into the watery depths of the sea, could it
escape with its wings?
TRYGAEUS (EXPOSING HIMSELF)
I am fitted with a rudder in case of need, and my Naxos beetle
will serve me as a boat.[1]
f[1] Boats, called 'beetles,' doubtless because in form they resembled these
insects, were built at Naxos.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
And what harbour will you put in at?
TRYGAEUS
Why is there not the harbour of Cantharos at the Piraeus?[1]
f[1] Nature had divided the Piraeus into three basins--Cantharos,
Aphrodisium and Zea. [Cantharos] is Greek for dung-beetle.
LITTLE DAUGHTER
Take care not to knock against anything and so fall off into
space; once a cripple, you would be a fit subject for Euripides, who
would put you into a tragedy.[1]
f[1] In allusion to Euripides' fondness for introducing lame heroes in
his plays.
TRYGAEUS
I'll see to it. Good-bye! (TO THE ATHENIANS.) You, for love of whom
I brave these dangers, do ye neither let wind nor go to stool for the
space of three days, for, if, while cleaving the air, my steed should scent
anything, he would fling me head foremost from the summit of my hopes.
Now come, my Pegasus, get a-going with up-pricked ears and make
your golden bridle resound gaily. Eh! what are you doing? What are you
up to? Do you turn your nose towards the cesspools? Come, pluck up a
spirit; rush upwards from the earth, stretch out your speedy wings and
make straight for the palace of Zeus; for once give up foraging in
your daily food.--Hi! you down there, what are you after now? Oh! my
god! 'tis a man emptying his belly in the Piraeus, close to the house
where the bad girls are. But is it my death you seek then, my death?
Will you not bury that right away and pile a great heap of earth upon
it and plant wild thyme therein and pour perfumes on it? If I were to fall
from up here and misfortune happened to me, the town of Chios[1] would
owe a fine of five talents for my death, all along of your cursed rump.
Alas! how frightened I am! oh! I have no heart for jests. Ah!
machinist, take great care of me. There is already a wind whirling
round my navel; take great care or, from sheer fright, I shall form
food for my beetle.... But I think I am no longer far from the gods;
aye, that is the dwelling of Zeus, I perceive. Hullo! Hi! where is the
doorkeeper? Will no one open?
f[1] An allusion to the proverbial nickname applied to the Chians [in
Greek]--'crapping Chian.' There is a further joke, of course, in connection
with the hundred and one frivolous pretexts which the Athenians invented
for exacting contributions from the maritime allies.
(THE SCENE CHANGES AND HEAVEN IS PRESENTED.)
HERMES
Meseems I can sniff a man. (HE PERCEIVES TRYGAEUS ASTRIDE HIS
BEETLE.) Why, what plague is this?
TRYGAEUS
A horse-beetle.
HERMES
Oh! impudent, shameless rascal! oh! scoundrel! triple scoundrel!
the greatest scoundrel in the world! how did you come here? Oh!
scoundrel of all scoundrels! your name? Reply.
TRYGAEUS
Triple scoundrel.
HERMES
Your country?
TRYGAEUS
Triple scoundrel.
HERMES
Your father?
TRYGAEUS
My father? Triple scoundrel.
HERMES
By the Earth, you shall die, unless you tell me your name.
TRYGAEUS
I am Trygaeus of the Athmonian deme, a good vine-dresser, little
addicted to quibbling and not at all an informer.
HERMES
Why do you come?
TRYGAEUS
I come to bring you this meat.
HERMES
Ah! my good friend, did you have a good journey?
TRYGAEUS
Glutton, be off! I no longer seem a triple scoundrel to you. Come,
call Zeus.
HERMES
Ah! ah! you are a long way yet from reaching the gods, for they
moved yesterday.
TRYGAEUS
To what part of the earth?
HERMES
Eh! of the earth, did you say?
TRYGAEUS
In short, where are they then?
HERMES
Very far, very far, right at the furthest end of the dome of heaven.
TRYGAEUS
But why have they left you all alone here?
HERMES
I am watching what remains of the furniture, the little pots and
pans, the bits of chairs and tables, and odd wine-jars.
TRYGAEUS
And why have the gods moved away?
HERMES
Because of their wrath against the Greeks. They have located War
in the house they occupied themselves and have given him full power
to do with you exactly as he pleases; then they went as high up as ever
they could, so as to see no more of your fights and to hear no more of
your prayers.
TRYGAEUS
What reason have they for treating us so?
HERMES
Because they have afforded you an opportunity for peace more
than once, but you have always preferred war. If the Laconians got
the very slightest advantage, they would exclaim, "By the Twin Brethren!
the Athenians shall smart for this." If, on the contrary, the latter
triumphed and the Laconians came with peace proposals, you would
say, "By Demeter, they want to deceive us. No, by Zeus, we will not
hear a word; they will always be coming as long as we hold Pylos."[1]
f[1] Masters of Pylos and Sphacteria, the Athenians had brought home
the three hundred prisoners taken in the latter place in 425 B.C.; the Spartans
had several times sent envoys to offer peace and to demand back both
Pylos and the prisoners, but the Athenian pride had caused these
proposals to be long refused. Finally the prisoners had been given up
in 423 B.C., but the War was continued nevertheless.
TRYGAEUS
Yes, that is quite the style our folk do talk in.
HERMES
So that I don't know whether you will ever see Peace again.
TRYGAEUS
Why, where has she gone to then?
HERMES
War has cast her into a deep pit.
TRYGAEUS
Where?
HERMES
Down there, at the very bottom. And you see what heaps of stones
he has piled over the top, so that you should never pull her out again.
TRYGAEUS
Tell me, what is War preparing against us?
HERMES
All I know is that last evening he brought along a huge mortar.
TRYGAEUS
And what is he going to do with his mortar?
HERMES
He wants to pound up all the cities of Greece in it.... But I must say
good-bye, for I think he is coming out; what an uproar he is making!
TRYGAEUS
Ah! great gods! let us seek safety; meseems I already hear the
noise of this fearful war mortar.
WAR (ENTERS, CARRYING A HUGE MORTAR)
Oh! mortals, mortals, wretched mortals, how your jaws will snap!
TRYGAEUS
Oh! divine Apollo! what a prodigious big mortar! Oh, what misery
the very sight of War causes me! This then is the foe from whom I fly,
who is so cruel, so formidable, so stalwart, so solid on his legs!
WAR
Oh! Prasiae![1] thrice wretched, five times, aye, a thousand times
wretched! for thou shalt be destroyed this day.
f[1] An important town in Eastern Laconia on the Argolic gulf, celebrated
for a temple where a festival was held annually in honour of Achilles.
It had been taken and pillaged by the Athenians in the second year of
the Peloponnesian War, 430 B.C. As he utters this imprecation, War
throws some leeks, the root-word of the name Praisae, into his mortar.
TRYGAEUS
This does not concern us over much; 'tis only so much the worse for
the Laconians.
WAR
Oh! Megara! Megara! how utterly are you going to be ground up! what
fine mincemeat[1] are you to be made into!
f[1] War throws some garlic into his mortar as emblematical of the city of
Megara, where it was grown in abundance.
TRYGAEUS
Alas! alas! what bitter tears there will be among the Megarians![1]
f[1] Because the smell of bruised garlic causes the eyes to water.
WAR
Oh, Sicily! you too must perish! Your wretched towns shall be grated
like this cheese.[1] Now let us pour some Attic honey[2] into the mortar.
f[1] He throws cheese into the mortar as emblematical of Sicily, on account
of its rich pastures.
f[2] Emblematical of Athens. They honey of Mount Hymettus was famous.
TRYGAEUS
Oh! I beseech you! use some other honey; this kind is worth four obols;
be careful, oh! be careful of our Attic honey.
WAR
Hi! Tumult, you slave there!
TUMULT
What do you want?
WAR
Out upon you! Standing there with folded arms! Take this cuff o' the head
for your pains.
TUMULT
Oh! how it stings! Master, have you got garlic in your fist, I wonder?
WAR
Run and fetch me a pestle.
TUMULT
But we haven't got one; 'twas only yesterday we moved.
WAR
Go and fetch me one from Athens, and hurry, hurry!
TUMULT
Aye, I hasten there; if I return without one, I shall have no cause
for laughing. (EXIT.)
TRYGAEUS
Ah! what is to become of us, wretched mortals that we are? See the
danger that threatens if he returns with the pestle, for War will
quietly amuse himself with pounding all the towns of Hellas to pieces.
Ah! Bacchus! cause this herald of evil to perish on his road!
WAR
Well?
TUMULT (WHO HAS RETURNED)
Well, what?
WAR
You have brought back nothing?
TUMULT
Alas! the Athenians have lost their pestle--the tanner, who ground Greece
to powder.[1]
f[1] Cleon, who had lately fallen before Amphipolis, in 422 B.C.
TRYGAEUS
Oh! Athene, venerable mistress! 'tis well for our city he is dead,
and before he could serve us with this hash.
WAR
Then go and seek one at Sparta and have done with it!
TUMULT
Aye, aye, master!
WAR
Be back as quick as ever you can.
TRYGAEUS (TO THE AUDIENCE)
What is going to happen, friends? 'Tis the critical hour. Ah! if there
is some initiate of Samothrace[1] among you, 'tis surely the moment
to wish this messenger some accident--some sprain or strain.
f[1] An island in the Aegean Sea, on the coast of Thrace and opposite
the mouth of the Hebrus; the Mysteries are said to have found their first
home in this island, where the Cabirian gods were worshipped; this cult,
shrouded in deep mystery to even the initiates themselves, has remained
an almost insoluble problem for the modern critic. It was said that
the wishes of the initiates were always granted, and they were feared as
to-day the 'jettatori' (spell-throwers, casters of the evil eye) in Sicily
are feared.
TUMULT (WHO RETURNS)
Alas! alas! thrice again, alas!
WAR
What is it? Again you come back without it?
TUMULT
The Spartans too have lost their pestle.
WAR
How, varlet?
TUMULT
They had lent it to their allies in Thrace,[1] who have lost it for them.
f[1] Brasidas perished in Thrace in the same battle as Cleon at Amphipolis,
422 B.C.
TRYGAEUS
Long life to you, Thracians! My hopes revive, pluck up courage,
mortals!
WAR
Take all this stuff away; I am going in to make a pestle for myself.
TRYGAEUS
'Tis now the time to sing as Datis did, as he abused himself at high
noon, "Oh pleasure! oh enjoyment! oh delights!" 'Tis now, oh Greeks!
the moment when freed of quarrels and fighting, we should rescue sweet
Peace and draw her out of this pit, before some other pestle
prevents us. Come, labourers, merchants, workmen, artisans, strangers,
whether you be domiciled or not, islanders, come here, Greeks of all
countries, come hurrying here with picks and levers and ropes!
'Tis the moment to drain a cup in honour of the Good Genius.
CHORUS
Come hither all! quick, hasten to the rescue! All peoples of Greece, now is
the time or never, for you to help each other. You see yourselves
freed from battles and all their horrors of bloodshed. The day, hateful
to Lamachus[1], has come. Come then, what must be done? Give your
orders, direct us, for I swear to work this day without ceasing, until
with the help of our levers and our engines we have drawn back into light
the greatest of all goddesses, her to whom the olive is so dear.
f[1] An Athenian general as ambitious as he was brave. In 423 B.C. he
had failed in an enterprise against Heracles, a storm having destroyed
his fleet. Since then he had distingued himself in several actions, and
was destined, some years later, to share the command of the expedition
to Sicily with Alcibiades and Nicias.
TRYGAEUS
Silence! if War should hear your shouts of joy he would bound
forth from his retreat in fury.
CHORUS
Such a decree overwhelms us with joy; how different to the
edict, which bade us muster with provisions for three days.[1]
f[1] Meaning, to start a military expedition.
TRYGAEUS
Let us beware lest the cursed Cerberus[1] prevent us even from
the nethermost hell from delivering the goddess by his furious howling,
just as he did when on earth.
f[1] Cleon.
CHORUS
Once we have hold of her, none in the world will be able to take her
from us. Huzza! huzza![1]
f[1] The Chorus insist on the conventional choric dance.
TRYGAEUS
You will work my death if you don't subdue your shouts. War will
come running out and trample everything beneath his feet.
CHORUS
Well then! LET him confound, let him trample, let him overturn
everything! We cannot help giving vent to our joy.
TRYGAEUS
Oh! cruel fate! My friends! in the name of the gods, what possesses
you? Your dancing will wreck the success of a fine undertaking.
CHORUS
'Tis not I who want to dance; 'tis my legs that bound with delight.
TRYGAEUS
Enough, an you love me, cease your gambols.
CHORUS
There! 'Tis over.
TRYGAEUS
You say so, and nevertheless you go on.
CHORUS
Yet one more figure and 'tis done.
TRYGAEUS
Well, just this one; then you must dance no more.
CHORUS
No, no more dancing, if we can help you.
TRYGAEUS
But look, you are not stopping even now.
CHORUS
By Zeus, I am only throwing up my right leg, that's all.
TRYGAEUS
Come, I grant you that, but pray, annoy me no further.
CHORUS
Ah! the left leg too will have its fling; well, 'tis but its right.
I am so happy,
so delighted at not having to carry my buckler any more. I sing and
I laugh more than if I had cast my old age, as a serpent does its skin.
TRYGAEUS
No, 'tis not time for joy yet, for you are not sure of success.
But when you have got the goddess, then rejoice, shout and laugh;
thenceforward you will be able to sail or stay at home, to make love
or sleep, to attend festivals and processions, to play at cottabos,[1]
live like true Sybarites and to shout, Io, io!
f[1] One of the most favourite games with the Greeks. A stick was set
upright in the ground and to this the beam of a balance was attached
by its centre. Two vessels were hung from the extremities of the beam
so as to balance; beneath these two other and larger dishes were placed
and filled with water, and in the middle of each a brazen figure, called
Manes, was stood. The game consisted in throwing drops of wine from
an agreed distance into one or the other vessel, so that, dragged
downwards by the weight of the liquor, it bumped against Manes.