Φιλοτιμότεραι Κλεοφῶντος
more honor-bound than Kleophon
Translated by Ronald Allen30 Jul 2007Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
["(accomplishments) more honor-bound than Kleophon], upon whose [bilingual] lips [formidably] roars a Thracian swallow." Meaning unsophisticated. He is mocking him as a Thracian, a Thracian woman's son; [it is he] who used to be called a cheesemaker;1 and he used to be ridiculed for low birth. He used to pursue the city's positions of primacy, as general of the Athenians.2 It was against this demagogue that an (?)entire3 drama of Plato4 is transmitted and was homonymously entitled Kleophon.5 He is slandered as a foreigner and unlearned and a babbler.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Φιλοτιμότεραι Κλεοφῶντος, ἐφ' οὗ δὴ χείλεσιν ἐπιβρέμεται Θρηϊκία χελιδών· ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀπαιδευσία. σκώπτει δὲ αὐτὸν ὡς Θρᾷκα, υἱὸν Θρᾴσσης· ὃς ἐκαλεῖτο τυροποιός· ἐκωμῳδεῖτο δὲ εἰς δυσγένειαν. ἀντεποιεῖτο δὲ τῶν πρωτείων τῆς πόλεως, στρατηγὸς Ἀθηναίων. εἰς ὃν δημαγωγὸν λόγον δρᾶμα φέρεται Πλάτωνος καὶ ἐπιγράφεται ὁμωνύμως Κλεοφῶν. διαβάλλεται δὲ ὡς ξένος καὶ ἀμαθὴς καὶ φλύαρος.
Betacode
*filotimo/terai *kleofw=ntos, e)f' ou(= dh\ xei/lesin e)pibre/metai *qrhi+ki/a xelidw/n: a)nti\ tou= a)paideusi/a. skw/ptei de\ au)to\n w(s *qra=|ka, ui(o\n *qra/|sshs: o(\s e)kalei=to turopoio/s: e)kwmw|dei=to de\ ei)s dusge/neian. a)ntepoiei=to de\ tw=n prwtei/wn th=s po/lews, strathgo\s *)aqhnai/wn. ei)s o(\n dhmagwgo\n lo/gon dra=ma fe/retai *pla/twnos kai\ e)pigra/fetai o(mwnu/mws *kleofw=n. diaba/lletai de\ w(s ce/nos kai\ a)maqh\s kai\ flu/aros.
Notes (5)
- An approximation of Aristophanes, Frogs 679-681 (web address 1), with scholion. (Adler prints the whole passage in headword format.)
See generally on this lyric passage, and how to capture its nuances in translation, Dover, Aristophanic Comedy 233-237.
On the concept of philotimia -- literally the love of honour, and something good or bad depending on the context -- see phi 431, and generally D. Whitehead in OCD(4) s.v.
Kleophon, son of Kleippides (Develin, person no.1672), was one of Athens' leading pro-democracy politicians in the period 410-405 BCE, associated especially and increasingly with a belligerent stand against peace with Sparta. See generally P.J. Rhodes in OCD4 s.v. Cleophon(1). (There was possibly a tragic poet of the same name, but see under kappa 1730, and A.L. Brown in OCD4 Cleophon[2].) - 1So the Suda mss, tyropoios, but by changing the initial letter this becomes the lyropoios ('lyre-maker') attested elsewhere. See Andokides 1.146 (web address 2) and Aeschines 2.76 (web address 3). ↩
- 2Tentatively accepted by Connor (p.145), Develin (p.187) and others. ↩
- 3Reading
o(/lon forlo/gon with the scholia (and Bernhardy). ↩ - 4Athenian comic poet (pi 1708). ↩
- 5Entered at the Lenaia (lambda 456) in 405 BCE against Frogs and the Muses of Phrynichos (phi 763). Aristophanes won the competition, and Plato's Kleophon placed third (Edmonds, pp. 507-9). ↩
References
K.J. Dover, Aristophanes Frogs, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993
R. Develin, Athenian Officials 684-321 BC, Cambridge: Cambridge Unversity Press, 1989
W.R. Connor, The New Politicians of Fifth-Century Athens, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971
K.J. Dover, Aristophanic Comedy, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972
J.M. Edmonds, The Fragments of Attic Comedy, vol. I, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1957
R. Develin, Athenian Officials 684-321 BC, Cambridge: Cambridge Unversity Press, 1989
W.R. Connor, The New Politicians of Fifth-Century Athens, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971
K.J. Dover, Aristophanic Comedy, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972
J.M. Edmonds, The Fragments of Attic Comedy, vol. I, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1957
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 3 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from3 entries
- φ430Φιλοτιμεῖταιloves honor, pursues honor[Meaning he/she/it] bestows freely, is generous, is earnest, loves.
- φ434ΦιλοτιμοῦμαιI love honor, I am ambitious, I present [with something][Used] with a dative.
- φ435Φιλοτίμωςambitiously, with a love of honor[Meaning] munificently, excessively, attentively. But when the Theologian says, "for those who have abolished the love of honor," some say [he means] philosophy and rhetoric, "not to mention for us who have set these…
Neighbouring entries
Revision history6 revisions · last 31 May 2016
- coding; typo — David Whitehead
- updated one ref, added others — David Whitehead
- another keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- further tweaks to primary note — David Whitehead
- cosmetics — Catharine Roth
- augmented and rearranged notes; more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen