some old man's[1] song, imitating the manner of the country people.
2nd Wom. You say well. But let us [to those next her] go before them; for I fancy other women also[2] will come forthwith[3] from the country to the Pnyx.
Prax. Come, hasten! for it is the custom there for those who are not present at the Pnyx at day-break,[4] to skulk away, having not even a doit.[5] [The women advance into the orchestra, and there form themselves into a chorus.]
Chorus. It is time for us to advance, O men,—for this[6] we ought mindfully to be always repeating, so that it may never escape[7] our memories. For the danger is not trifling, if we be caught entering upon so great an enterprise in secret. Let us go to the Assembly, O men; for the Thesmothetes threatened, that whoever should not come at dawn very early, in haste, looking sharp and sour, content[8] with garlic-pickle, he would not give him the three obols.
- ↑ "Ein Lied aus alten Zeiten." Droysen. Cf. Vesp. 269.
- ↑ See Krüger, Gr. Gr. §69, 32, obs. 21.
- ↑ "Grades Wegs." Droysen. "Ex advorsum." Brunck. But Brunck's version would require ἀντικρύ, The adverbs in -υς generally refer to time, and their corresponding forms in -υ to place. Compare εὐϑὺς and εὐθύ.
- ↑ See Porson, Hec. 979. Opusc. p. xciii.
- ↑ "By all means make good speed, remembering that
Who gets not to the Pnyx at earliest dawn,
Must home again return without a doit." Smith.
"It appears to have been a proverbial expression, or an allusion to the proverb παττάλου γυμνότερος, which occurs ap. Aristænet. Ep. xviii. lib. ii." Bergler. - ↑ τοῦτο refers to the word ἄνδρες. They are to remember always to call themselves men. See note on Lys. 134.
- ↑ Elmsley (Mus. Crit. i. p. 483) alters this to καὶ μήποτ᾽ ἐξολίσθῃ, i. e. ἐξολισθέτω as Aristophanes does not join ὡς = ita ut with a conjunctive without ἄν. The usage in prose writers is just the reverse. See Harper, Powers of the Greek Tenses, p. 125. "The pronoun ἡμᾶς does not depend on ἐξολίσθῃ. The ordo is: τοῦτο γὰρ χρὴ μεμνημένας ἡμᾶς ἀεὶ λέγειν, ὡς μή ποτ᾽ ἐξολίσθῃ." Brunck.
"Time now 'tis, my merry men, time now for us to start,
That we are men repeating oft, lest we belie our part.
Not slight would be the peril, if any prying eyes,
In secret while we plot should pierce through our disguise.
Then on, my merry men, for the council let us start." Smith. - ↑ See Bernhardy, W. S. p. 104.
Theb. 81. Prom. V. 860. Bernhardy, W. S. p. 312. Mus. Crit. i. p. 488. Kön, Greg. Cor. p. 239.
