Wednesday, August 22, 2012
A Very Pleasant Country Life
Aristophanes, Clouds 43-46 (tr. Jeffrey Henderson):
Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. ἀκόρητος, derive the word from κόρις (bed bug, Cimex lectularius) and define it thus: "undisturbed by bugs, Ar.Nu.44 (wrongly expl. by Sch. and Phot.p.63 R. as unswept)." The meaning "unswept" assumes a derivation from κορέω = sweep (cf. κόρημα = broom).
K.J. Dover in his commentary on Clouds (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968; rpt. 2003) has no note on these lines or this word. J. van Leeuwen in his commentary (Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1898) ad loc. (p. 16) accepts the derivation from κορέω and rejects the derivation from κόρις:
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Mine was a very pleasant country life, moldy, unswept, aimlessly leisured, abounding in honey bees, sheep, and olive cakes. Then I married...The rest of this post contains notes to myself on the meaning of ἀκόρητος in line 44.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἦν ἄγροικος ἥδιστος βίος,
εὐρωτιῶν, ἀκόρητος, εἰκῇ κείμενος,
βρύων μελίτταις καὶ προβάτοις καὶ στεμφύλοις.
ἔπειτ᾿ ἔγημα...
Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. ἀκόρητος, derive the word from κόρις (bed bug, Cimex lectularius) and define it thus: "undisturbed by bugs, Ar.Nu.44 (wrongly expl. by Sch. and Phot.p.63 R. as unswept)." The meaning "unswept" assumes a derivation from κορέω = sweep (cf. κόρημα = broom).
K.J. Dover in his commentary on Clouds (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968; rpt. 2003) has no note on these lines or this word. J. van Leeuwen in his commentary (Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1898) ad loc. (p. 16) accepts the derivation from κορέω and rejects the derivation from κόρις:
ἀκόρητος] incomptus, a verbo κορεῖν (-ῆσαι) purgare (cf. Pac. 59 Eup. fr. 157), minime igitur confundendum cum epico adiectivo ἀκόρητος insatiabilis a verbo κορέσαι. Praeterea ad cimices alludi a verbo Holzingeri est opinio parum probabilis.van Leeuwen refers here to Carolus Holzinger, De Verborum Lusu apud Aristophanem (Vienna: A. Hölder, 1876), pp. 43-44, who was apparently the first to propose the meaning "undisturbed by bugs":
Nub. vs. 44.Holzinger sees in ἀκόρητος = "undisturbed by bugs" an idyllic contrast to Strepsiades' troubled life after his marriage. Like his wife, his son has expensive tastes, and they have driven Strepsiades into debt. Asked by his son why he's tossing and turning in bed, Strepsiades answers (line 37, tr. Henderson):
Strepsiades Atheniensis propter aes alienum, quod filius conflavit, gravissimis curis vexatus frustra conatur obdormire. Quem ubi animadvertit huc illuc in lecto se versantem, quae causa sit insomniae, filius expergefactus interrogat. Ac primum quidem benigne filio senex respondet lepideque cum illo a feneratoribus sese veluti cimicibus exagitari conqueritur. Tum vero pronubae, quae fuit quondam, male precatus his pergit Strepsiades in vs. 43:
ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἦν ἄγροικος ἥδιστος βίος,quos versiculos sic vertit Berglerus: Mihi enim rustica vita erat suavissima, squalida, incompta, neglegenter abiecta.
εὐρωτιῶν, ἀκόρητος, εἰκῇ κείμενος...κτλ.
Quodsi ille, quae voluerit intellegi poëta, intellexit, ἀκόρητος adiectivo sordidum, squalidum, impurum, immundum, scopae labore intactum significavit. Atque est profecto haec scholiastarum, Suidae, doctorum virorum omnium sententia. Quorum quamquam nec potuit nec poterit unquam effringere auctoritatem, utrum Hesychius verbi alicuius memoriam nobis prodiderit necne, non tamen vituperabit quisquam, si, quod vocabulum hoc sensu adhibitum est in totius Graecitatis versiculo nullo, ne in Hesychii quidem lexico aliam quam apud Homerum habere notionem meminerimus. Causas vero reputanti mihi, quas insolito ac paene singulari indoctus senex usus esset sermone: 'βίος ἀκόρητος' non poteram non incidere in eum verborum lusum, quem horridiores interdum Musae non semel Aristophanti inspiraverunt. Agedum, paucis rem conficiam! Κόρεις substantivum audiri putabam praeter κορεῖν verbum. Dicit Strepsiades se senem filii gratia obaeratum veluti cimicibus excruciari, ante annos cum caelebs ruri degeret, elegantiore quidem vitae caruisse apparatu (εὐρωτιῶν), sed securum quievisse a cimicum illorum morsibus. An sit forsitan, cui fine quoque huius versus εἰκῇ κείμενος quantum iuvemur pluribus demonstrem? Quid quod senex toto sermone usque ad versum 55 producto prodigam magis rerum omnium uxorem, quam propter alia vitia molestam tristi vultu lamentatur!
There's a bailiff in the bedclothes biting me.Concerning the bailiff, or demarch, K.J. Dover (ad loc.) says "it is a fair inference from this passage that he had the authority to enforce the surrender of securities by a debtor to a private creditor." Aristophanes here puts demarch παρὰ προσδοκίαν for bed bug.
δάκνει μέ τις δήμαρχος ἐκ τῶν στρωμάτων.
