Quotes from Peace
9 notable lines from Aristophanes · 421 BCE
Gently, gently, go easy, beetle; don't start off so proudly, or trust at first too greatly to your powers; wait till you have sweated, till the beating of your wings shall make your limb joints supple. Above all things, don't let off some foul smell. I adjure you; else I would rather have you stay right in the stable.
Quotations follow the Jeffrey Henderson translation (Harvard University Press, 1998) — our recommended edition.
Allegiance to the cause of Peace — that is my politics!
Trygaeus You will never make the crab walk straight.
Hierocles, the oracle-monger · trans. O'Neill Oh! Zeus, what art thou going to do for our people? Dost thou not see this, that our cities will soon be but empty husks?
Trygaeus, crying out to Zeus over war-ravaged Greece · trans. O'Neill I pained folk but little and caused them much amusement; my conscience rebuked me for nothing.
Chorus, in the parabasis (Aristophanes' own defense) · trans. O'Neill War has cast her into a deep pit.
Hermes, explaining where the goddess Peace has gone · trans. O'Neill Oh! venerated goddess, who givest us our grapes, where am I to find the ten-thousand-gallon words wherewith to greet thee?
Trygaeus, hailing the rescued goddess Peace · trans. O'Neill I am Trygaeus of the Athmonian deme, a good vine-dresser, little addicted to quibbling and not at all an informer.
Trygaeus, introducing himself to Hermes · trans. O'Neill Farewell, farewell, my friends. All who come with me shall have cakes galore.
Trygaeus, in the wedding finale · trans. O'Neill