Πρεσβεύεσθε
conduct your embassies
Translated by Ronald Allen29 Oct 2010Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
Greek original · Adler’s text
Πρεσβεύεσθε· πρέσβεις πέμπετε. καὶ Πρεσβεύω. παρὰ Σοφοκλεῖ· ὦ παῖ, γενοῦ μοι παῖς ἐτήτυμος γεγώς, καὶ μὴ τὸ μητρὸς ὄνομα πρεσβεύσῃς πλέον. ὁ Ἡρακλῆς φησι ψυχορραγῶν.
Betacode
*presbeu/esqe: pre/sbeis pe/mpete. kai\ *presbeu/w. para\ *sofoklei=: w)= pai=, genou= moi pai=s e)th/tumos gegw/s, kai\ mh\ to\ mhtro\s o)/noma presbeu/sh|s ple/on. o( *(hraklh=s fhsi yuxorragw=n.
Notes (2)
- The headword is the second person plural, middle/passive imperative (and indicative and imperfect), of the verb
presbeu/w (I am the elder, serve as ambassador, pay honor to, but in the middle voice, I go as ambassador); see generally LSJ s.v. It is quoted from Aristophanes, Acharnians 133 (web address 1; see next note), where Dicaeopolis sends Amphitheus away to make a treaty with the Spartans. The scene takes place in the Athenian agora, more specifically the Prytaneum (pi 2999), a public building where ambassadors, both Athenian and foreign, were entertained and honored (Miller, pp. 4-5). The play's hero then tells gawking onlookers -- or, as Henderson (p. 75) suggests, perhaps the very audience itself -- to go away and conduct their embassies. - 1From the scholia to this Aristophanic passage. ↩
- 2Sophocles, Trachiniae 1064-5 (web address 2): Heracles, accidentally poisoned by his wife Deianeira, implores his son Hyllus to disown her. ↩
References
J. Henderson, ed. and trans., Aristophanes: Acharnians, Knights, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998
S.G. Miller, The Prytaneion: Its Function and Architectural Form, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978
S.G. Miller, The Prytaneion: Its Function and Architectural Form, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
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Revision history3 revisions · last 13 Oct 2013
- Revised — David Whitehead
- another keyword — David Whitehead
- more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen