Aristophanes
Sixth Episode
Ἱερεύς
τίς ἂν φράσειε ποῦ ʼστι Χρεμύλος μοι σαφῶς;
Χρεμύλος
τί δʼ ἔστιν ὦ βέλτιστε;
τί γὰρ ἀλλʼ ἢ κακῶς;
Ἱερεύς
ἀφʼ οὗ γὰρ ὁ Πλοῦτος οὗτος ἤρξατο βλέπειν,
ἀπόλωλʼ ὑπὸ λιμοῦ. καταφαγεῖν γὰρ οὐκ ἔχω,
1175 καὶ ταῦτα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἱερεὺς ὢν Διός.
Χρεμύλος
ἡ δʼ αἰτία τίς ἐστιν ὦ πρὸς τῶν θεῶν;
Ἱερεύς
θύειν ἔτʼ οὐδεὶς ἀξιοῖ.
τίνος οὕνεκα;
ὅτι πάντες εἰσὶ πλούσιοι· καίτοι τότε,
ὅτʼ εἶχον οὐδέν, ὁ μὲν ἂν ἥκων ἔμπορος
1180 ἔθυσεν ἱερεῖόν τι σωθείς, ὁ δέ τις ἂν
δίκην ἀποφυγών, ὁ δʼ ἂν ἐκαλλιερεῖτό τις
κἀμέ γʼ ἐκάλει τὸν ἱερέα· νῦν δʼ οὐδὲ εἷς
θύει τὸ παράπαν οὐδὲν οὐδʼ εἰσέρχεται,
πλὴν ἀποπατησόμενοί γε πλεῖν ἢ μύριοι.
Χρεμύλος
1185 οὔκουν τὰ νομιζόμενα σὺ τούτων λαμβάνεις;
Ἱερεύς
τὸν οὖν Δία τὸν σωτῆρα καὐτός μοι δοκῶ
χαίρειν ἐάσας ἐνθάδʼ αὐτοῦ καταμένειν.
Χρεμύλος
θάρρει· καλῶς ἔσται γάρ, ἢν θεὸς θέλῃ.
ὁ Ζεὺς ὁ σωτὴρ γὰρ πάρεστιν ἐνθάδε,
1190 αὐτόματος ἥκων.
1190 πάντʼ ἀγαθὰ τοίνυν λέγεις.
ἱδρυσόμεθʼ οὖν αὐτίκα μάλʼ, ἀλλὰ περίμενε
τὸν Πλοῦτον, οὗπερ πρότερον ἦν ἱδρυμένος
τὸν ὀπισθόδομον ἀεὶ φυλάττων τῆς θεοῦ.
ἀλλʼ ἐκδότω τις δεῦρο δᾷδας ἡμμένας,
1195 ἵνʼ ἔχων προηγῇ τῷ θεῷ σύ.
1195 πάνυ μὲν οὖν
Ἱερεύς
δρᾶν ταῦτα χρή.
1187–1196

By the gods, Blepsidemus, I will hide nothing from you. To-day things are better than yesterday; let us share, for are you not my friend?

τὸν Πλοῦτον ἔξω τις κάλει.
Γραῦς
ἐγὼ δὲ τί ποιῶ;
1197–1205

Have you really grown rich as they say? CHREMYLUS I shall be soon, if the god agrees to it. But there is still some risk to run.

τὰς χύτρας, αἷς τὸν θεὸν
Χρεμύλος
ἱδρυσόμεθα, λαβοῦσʼ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς φέρε
σεμνῶς· ἔχουσα δʼ ἦλθες αὐτὴ ποικίλα.
Γραῦς
1200 ὧν δʼ οὕνεκʼ ἦλθον;
1200 πάντα σοι πεπράξεται.
Χρεμύλος
ἥξει γὰρ ὁ νεανίσκος ὡς σʼ εἰς ἑσπέραν.
Γραῦς
ἀλλʼ εἴ γε μέντοι νὴ Δίʼ ἐγγυᾷ σύ μοι
ἥξειν ἐκεῖνον ὡς ἔμʼ, οἴσω τὰς χύτρας.
Χρεμύλος
καὶ μὴν πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων χυτρῶν τἀναντία
1205 αὗται ποιοῦσι· ταῖς μὲν ἄλλαις γὰρ χύτραις
1197–1205

Have you really grown rich as they say? CHREMYLUS I shall be soon, if the god agrees to it. But there is still some risk to run.

ἡ γραῦς ἔπεστʼ ἀνωτάτω, ταύτης δὲ νῦν
τῆς γραὸς ἐπιπολῆς ἔπεισιν αἱ χύτραι.
1206–1216

What risk?

CHREMYLUS: What risk?

BLEPSIDEMUS: What do you mean? Explain.

CHREMYLUS: If we succeed, we are happy for ever, but if we fail, it is all over with us.

The Athenian Society, "The Eleven Comedies" (1912)
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An open-access project
Hall 1907
OCT
Hall & Geldart, OCT, 1907 · 1907
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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