Fifth Episode
Στρεψιάδης
ἰοὺ ἰού.
γείτονες καὶ ξυγγενεῖς καὶ δημόται,
ἀμυνάθετέ μοι τυπτομένῳ πάσῃ τέχνῃ.
οἴμοι κακοδαίμων τῆς κεφαλῆς καὶ τῆς γνάθου.
1325 μιαρὲ τύπτεις τὸν πατέρα;
1325 φήμʼ πάτερ.
ὁρᾶθʼ ὁμολογοῦνθʼ ὅτι με τύπτει.
καὶ μάλα.
μιαρὲ καὶ πατραλοῖα καὶ τοιχωρύχε.
Φειδιππίδης
αὖθίς με ταὐτὰ ταῦτα καὶ πλείω λέγε.
ἆρʼ οἶσθʼ ὅτι χαίρω πόλλʼ ἀκούων καὶ κακά;
Στρεψιάδης
1330 λακκόπρωκτε.
1330–1349

Keep pelting me with roses!!

STREPSIADES

You’d hit your father?

PHEIDIPPIDES

Yes, and by the gods I’ll now demonstrate how I was right to hit you.

STREPSIADES

You total wretch, how can it be right to strike one’s father?

PHEIDIPPIDES

I'll prove that to you—and win the argument.

STREPSIADES

You’ll beat me on this point?

PHEIDIPPIDES

Indeed, I will. It’s easy. So of the two arguments choose which one you want.

STREPSIADES

What two arguments?

PHEIDIPPIDES

The Better or the Worse.

STREPSIADES

By god, my lad, I really did have you taught to argue against what’s just, if you succeed in this— and make the case it’s fine and justified for a father to be beaten by his son.

PHEIDIPPIDES

Well, I think I’ll manage to convince you,

so that once you’ve heard my arguments, you won’t say a word.

STREPSIADES

Well, to tell the truth, I do want to hear what you have to say.

CHORUS

You’ve some work to do, old man. Think how to get the upper hand. He’s got something he thinks will work, or he’d not act like such a jerk. There’s something makes him confident— his arrogance is evident.

1330 πάττε πολλοῖς τοῖς ῥόδοις.
τὸν πατέρα τύπτεις;
κἀποφανῶ γε νὴ Δία
Φειδιππίδης
ὡς ἐν δίκῃ σʼ ἔτυπτον.
μιαρώτατε,
Στρεψιάδης
καὶ πῶς γένοιτʼ ἂν πατέρα τύπτειν ἐν δίκῃ;
Φειδιππίδης
ἔγωγʼ ἀποδείξω καί σε νικήσω λέγων.
Στρεψιάδης
1335 τουτὶ σὺ νικήσεις;
1335 πολύ γε καὶ ῥᾳδίως.
Φειδιππίδης
ἑλοῦ δʼ ὁπότερον τοῖν λόγοιν βούλει λέγειν.
Στρεψιάδης
ποίοιν λόγοιν;
τὸν κρείττονʼ τὸν ἥττονα.
ἐδιδαξάμην μέντοι σε νὴ Δίʼ μέλε
τοῖσιν δικαίοις ἀντιλέγειν, εἰ ταῦτά γε
1340 μέλλεις ἀναπείσειν, ὡς δίκαιον καὶ καλὸν
τὸν πατέρα τύπτεσθʼ ἐστὶν ὑπὸ τῶν υἱέων.
Φειδιππίδης
ἀλλʼ οἴομαι μέντοι σʼ ἀναπείσειν, ὥστε γε
οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ἀκροασάμενος οὐδὲν ἀντερεῖς.
Στρεψιάδης
καὶ μὴν τι καὶ λέξεις ἀκοῦσαι βούλομαι.
1330–1349

Keep pelting me with roses!!

STREPSIADES

You’d hit your father?

PHEIDIPPIDES

Yes, and by the gods I’ll now demonstrate how I was right to hit you.

STREPSIADES

You total wretch, how can it be right to strike one’s father?

PHEIDIPPIDES

I'll prove that to you—and win the argument.

STREPSIADES

You’ll beat me on this point?

PHEIDIPPIDES

Indeed, I will. It’s easy. So of the two arguments choose which one you want.

STREPSIADES

What two arguments?

PHEIDIPPIDES

The Better or the Worse.

STREPSIADES

By god, my lad, I really did have you taught to argue against what’s just, if you succeed in this— and make the case it’s fine and justified for a father to be beaten by his son.

PHEIDIPPIDES

Well, I think I’ll manage to convince you,

so that once you’ve heard my arguments, you won’t say a word.

STREPSIADES

Well, to tell the truth, I do want to hear what you have to say.

CHORUS

You’ve some work to do, old man. Think how to get the upper hand. He’s got something he thinks will work, or he’d not act like such a jerk. There’s something makes him confident— his arrogance is evident.

Translation by Ian Johnston, Vancouver Island University
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An open-access project
Hall 1906
OCT
Hall & Geldart, OCT, 1906 · 1906
The Editor

Frederick William Hall (1865–1948) was a classical scholar and Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. Together with William Martin Geldart, he produced the Oxford Classical Text of several authors. Hall was a careful editor known for his thorough collation of manuscripts and his conservative approach to textual criticism.

About This Edition

The Hall–Geldart editions in the Oxford Classical Texts series provide reliable critical texts with selective apparatus criticus. The OCT series, established in 1894 as the Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, aims to present the best available Greek and Latin texts in a format suitable for both scholarly use and teaching. Each volume provides a clean text with the most significant manuscript variants recorded at the foot of each page.

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