Ἀκαρῆ
bit, pittance, scrap
Translated by Jennifer Benedict6 Nov 2000Vetting: high7 revisions
Translation
[sc. Something] short, sharp, impossible to cut.1
Aristophanes [writes]: "somehow or other you've been duped, you who rule many and do not get any benefit of it except that pittance you take away.2 And that they drip down on you little by little with wool, just like olive oil, so as to keep you alive. For they want you to be poor."3
Aristophanes [writes]: "somehow or other you've been duped, you who rule many and do not get any benefit of it except that pittance you take away.2 And that they drip down on you little by little with wool, just like olive oil, so as to keep you alive. For they want you to be poor."3
Greek original · Adler’s text
Ἀκαρῆ· βραχὺ, ὀξὺ, ὃ οὐχ οἷόν τε κεῖραι. Ἀριστοφάνης· οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπη ἐγκεκύκλησαι, ὃς πολλῶν ἄρχων οὐκ ἀπολαύεις πλὴν τοῦθ' ὃ φέρεις ἀκαρῆ. καὶ τοῦτ' ἐρίῳ σοι ἐνστάζουσι κατὰ μικρὸν ἀεὶ, τοῦ ζῆν ἕνεχ' ὥσπερ ἔλαιον. βούλονται γάρ σε πένητ' εἶναι.
Betacode
*)akarh=: braxu\, o)cu\, o(\ ou)x oi(=o/n te kei=rai. *)aristofa/nhs: ou)k oi)=d' o(/ph e)gkeku/klhsai, o(\s pollw=n a)/rxwn ou)k a)polau/eis plh\n tou=q' o(\ fe/reis a)karh=. kai\ tou=t' e)ri/w| soi e)nsta/zousi kata\ mikro\n a)ei\, tou= zh=n e(/nex' w(/sper e)/laion. bou/lontai ga/r se pe/nht' ei)=nai.
Notes (3)
- See also alpha 802, and cf. generally alpha 800, alpha 803, alpha 804.
- 1Same glossing in Photius and other lexica, and also in the scholia to [Plato], Axiochus 366C, where the (neuter) headword occurs. ↩
- 2Jury pay; see generally under tau 998. ↩
- 3Aristophanes, Wasps 699-703 (abridged, and with one substantive textual divergence for the worse: "rule many" should be "rule many cities," see web address 1); again briefly at epsilon 88. The simile of the wool and the oil here is hard to fathom, and the note in MacDowell (below) 228 suggests that Aristophanes "seems to have combined, or confused, two ideas": applying oil to a sore ear (with wool) and drip-feeding an invalid. ↩
References
Aristophanes, Wasps, edited with introduction and commentary by Douglas M. MacDowell (Oxford 1971 and reprints)
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from4 entries
- α800Ἄκαρhair's-breadthMeaning little or nothing. Thus Antiphon.
- α802Ἀκαρῆinstant[The same as] instantly, [i.e. used as] an adverb; [meaning] in a short time, in a moment. But Aristophanes in Wealth [sc. uses the phrase] "in an instant": "I was thrown down out of doors naked in an instant."…
- α803Ἀκαρίδιοςmomentary[Meaning] very short. "Human life [is] momentary and after a short time we are all laid out [sc. as corpses]."
- ε88Ἐγκεκύκλησαιyou have been rolled up[Meaning] you have been overturned. Aristophanes [writes]: "somehow you have been rolled up."
Neighbouring entries
Revision history7 revisions · last 4 May 2015
- coding — Catharine Roth
- fixed link — Catharine Roth
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- another keyword — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- added keyword — Catharine Roth
- augmented note; added bibliography; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Jennifer Benedict