Saturday, August 04, 2018
Our Forebears
Aristophanes, Knights 565-568 (tr. Jeffrey Henderson):
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We want to praise our forebears forA.H. Sommerstein, commentary on line 566:
being gentlemen worthy of this land and the Robe,
who in infantry battles and naval expeditions
were always victorious everywhere and adorned our city.
εὐλογῆσαι βουλόμεσθα τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν, ὅτι
ἄνδρες ἦσαν τῆσδε τῆς γῆς ἄξιοι καὶ τοῦ πέπλου,
οἵτινες πεζαῖς μάχαισιν ἔν τε ναυφάρκτῳ στρατῷ
πανταχοῦ νικῶντες ἀεὶ τήνδ᾿ ἐκόσμησαν πόλιν.
[T]he robe (peplos) which was borne in procession and offered to Athena at the annual festival of the Panathenaea was embroidered with mythological scenes such as the battle of the gods and Titans (cf. Eur. Hec. 466-474, Pl. Euthph. 6b-c); thus "worthy of <being depicted on> the peplos" means "superhuman, heroic".
