Aristophane citations
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Aristophane est un poète comique grec du Ve siècle av. J.-C., né dans le dème de Cydathénéon vers 445 av. J.-C. et mort entre 385 et 375 av. J.-C.. Son œuvre à elle seule représente ce qui nous reste de l'Ancienne Comédie, et coïncide avec les années glorieuses d'Athènes sous l'administration de Périclès et la longue et sombre période de la Guerre du Péloponnèse. Au tournant du Ve et du IVe siècle, alors qu'Athènes voit éclore des modes de pensée nouveaux dans tous les domaines, et que les mœurs politiques et sociales se transforment ou se dégradent, Aristophane cloue au pilori par de grands éclats de rire les politiciens démagogues et va-t-en-guerre, les citoyens en proie à une « judicardite » aiguë, cette pernicieuse manie des procès, ou les maîtres d'incivisme et de décadence. Wikipedia  

✵ 448 av. J.-C. – 386 av. J.-C.
Aristophane photo
Aristophane: 63   citations 0   J'aime

Aristophane citations célèbres

“Brékékékex, coax, coax!”

Les Grenouilles

“Messieurs les Spectateurs, Ah! ne nourrissez point d'aigreur à mon endroit, si, pauvre besacier, je me mêle pourtant devant les Athéniens d'opiner sur les affaires d'État, dans cette farce que je trousse : s'il s'agit de parler juste, elle a son mot à dire elle aussi, la farce! mes propos seront sévères, mais justes.”

Δικαιόπολις.
Mή μοι φθονήσητ᾽ ἄνδρες οἱ θεώμενοι,
εἰ πτωχὸς ὢν ἔπειτ᾽ ἐν Ἀθηναίοις λέγειν
μέλλω περὶ τῆς πόλεως, τρυγῳδίαν ποιῶν.
τὸ γὰρ δίκαιον οἶδε καὶ τρυγῳδία.
ἐγὼ δὲ λέξω δεινὰ μὲν δίκαια δέ.
grc
Justinet (Dicaiopolis).
Les Acharniens

“Refrain du Chœur des grenouilles du Styx.”

Brékékékex, coax, coax !
βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ
grc
Les Grenouilles

Aristophane: Citations en anglais

“Sosias: The love of wine is a good man's failing.”

Aristophanés The Wasps

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Wasps+80
Wasps, line 80
Wasps (422 BC)

“Chorus: Under every stone lurks a politician.”

Aristophanés Les Thesmophories

tr. in Bartlett 1968, p. 91 http://books.google.com/books?q=inauthor%3A%22John+Bartlett%22+date%3A1968-1968+%22Under+every+stone+lurks+a+politician%22 or Archive.org http://www.archive.org/stream/familiarquotatio017007mbp/familiarquotatio017007mbp_djvu.txt
Thesmophoriazusae, line 529-530
A play on the Greek proverb "Under every stone lurks a scorpion". In context, "orator" was a synonym for "politician".
Thesmophoriazusae (411 BC)

“[Choir of] Men: O botheration take you all! How you cajole and flatter.
A hell it is to live with you; to live without, a hell:”

Aristophanés Lysistrata

tr. Lindsay 1925, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Lys.+1014
Lysistrata, line 1038-1039
Lysistrata (411 BC)

“Agathon: One must not try to trick misfortune, but resign oneself to it with good grace.”

Aristophanés Les Thesmophories

tr. Athen. 1912, vol. 2, p. 278 http://books.google.com/books?id=6fxxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22one+must+not+try+to+trick+misfortune,+but+resign+oneself+to+it+with+good+grace%22
tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Thes.+198
Thesmophoriazusae, line 198-199
Thesmophoriazusae (411 BC)

“Chremylus: And what good thing can [Poverty] give us, unless it be burns in the bath, and swarms of brats and old women who cry with hunger, and clouds uncountable of lice, gnats and flies, which hover about the wretch's head, trouble him, awake him and say, “You will be hungry, but get up!” […]
Poverty: It's not my life that you describe; you are attacking the existence beggars lead. […] The beggar, whom you have depicted to us, never possesses anything. The poor man lives thriftily and attentive to his work; he has not got too much, but he does not lack what he really needs. […] But what you don't know is this, that men with me are worth more, both in mind and body, than with [Wealth]. With him they are gouty, big-bellied, heavy of limb and scandalously stout; with me they are thin, wasp-waisted, and terrible to the foe. […] As for behavior, I will prove to you that modesty dwells with me and insolence with [Wealth]. […] Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy. […]
Chremylus: Then tell me this, why does all mankind flee from you?
Poverty: Because I make them better. Children do the very same; they flee from the wise counsels of their fathers. So difficult is it to see one's true interest.”

Aristophanés Plutus

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Pl.+535
Plutus, line 535-539 & 548 & 552-554 & 558-561 & 563-564 & 567-570 & 575-578
Plutus (388 BC)

“Strepsiades: Whirl is King, having driven out Zeus.”

Aristophanés Les Nuées

tr. in Lippmann 1929, p. 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=-E4WFG-G30sC&pg=PA1 and 4 http://books.google.com/books?id=-E4WFG-G30sC&pg=PA4
Clouds, line 828
Clouds (423 BC)

“Man is a truly cunning creature.”

Aristophanés The Birds

(abridged tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Birds+451)
Birds (414 BC)

“Bdelycleon: It is so that you may know only those who nourish you”

Aristophanés The Wasps

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Wasps+704
Wasps (422 BC)

“Phobokleon: Hunger knows no friend but its feeder.”

Aristophanés The Wasps

embellished tr. Parker 1962, p. 55 http://books.google.com/books?id=EdpxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Hunger+knows+no+friend+but+its+feeder%22
Wasps, line 704
Wasps (422 BC)

“Chorus: [We] must look beneath every stone, lest it conceal some orator ready to sting us.”

Aristophanés Les Thesmophories

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Thes.+529
Thesmophoriazusae (411 BC)

“Chorus [of Birds]: Full of wiles, full of guile, at all times, in all ways, are the children of Men.”

Aristophanés The Birds

tr. in Bartlett 1968, p. 91 http://books.google.com/books?q=inauthor%3A%22John+Bartlett%22+date%3A1968-1968+%22Full+of+wiles%2C+full+of+guile%2C+at+all+times%2C+in+all+ways%2C+are+the+children+of+Men%22 or Archive.org http://www.archive.org/stream/familiarquotatio017007mbp/familiarquotatio017007mbp_djvu.txt
Birds, line 451-452
Compare the earlier-written but later-known: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked", Jeremiah, 17:9 KJV Bible http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+17:9&version=9.
Birds (414 BC)

“Blepsidemus: There is no honest man! not one, that can resist the attraction of gold!”

Aristophanés Plutus

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Pl.+362
Plutus, line 362-363
Plutus (388 BC)

“Strepsiades: But come, by the Earth, is not Zeus, the Olympian, a god?
Socrates: What Zeus? Do not trifle. There is no Zeus.”

Aristophanés Les Nuées

tr. Hickie 1853, vol. 1, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristoph.+Cl.+366
Clouds, line 366-367 (our emphasis on 367)
The Greek-mythology equivalent of "There is no God."
Clouds (423 BC)

“Chremylus: [Wealth], the most excellent of all the gods.”

Aristophanés Plutus

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Pl.+230
Plutus, line 230
Plutus (388 BC)

“Just Cause: [Learn] not to contradict your father in anything; nor by calling him Iapetus, to reproach him with the ills of age, by which you were reared in your infancy.”

Aristophanés Les Nuées

tr. Hickie 1853, vol. 1, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Cl.+998
Clouds (423 BC)

“Strepsiades: ‘Tis the Whirlwind, that has driven out Zeus and is King now.”

Aristophanés Les Nuées

tr. Athen. 1912, vol. 1, p. 350 http://books.google.com/books?id=9vpxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Tis+the+Whirlwind%2C+that+has+driven+out+Jupiter+and+is+King+now%22
Clouds (423 BC)

“Strepsiades: Vortex reigns, having expelled Zeus.”

Aristophanés Les Nuées

tr. Hickie 1853, vol. 1, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Cl.+828
Clouds (423 BC)

“Chorus [leader]: Ye Children of Man! whose life is a span, / Protracted with sorrow from day to day, / Naked and featherless, feeble and querulous, / Sickly, calamitous creatures of clay!”

Aristophanés The Birds

heavily rewritten tr. Frere 1839, p. 38 http://books.google.com/books?id=Bk8JAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Sickly%2C+calamitous+creatures+of+clay%22
Birds (414 BC)

“Leader of the Chorus: Weak mortals, chained to the earth, creatures of clay as frail as the foliage of the woods, you unfortunate race, whose life is but darkness, as unreal as a shadow, the illusion of a dream.”

Aristophanés The Birds

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Birds+685
Birds, line 685-687
Birds (414 BC)

“Leader of the Chorus: Let's see. What shall our city be called? […]
Euelpides: Some name borrowed from the clouds, from these lofty regions in which we dwell — in short, some well-known name.
Pisthetaerus: Do you like Nephelococcygia?”

Aristophanés The Birds

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Birds+812
Birds, line 812 & 817-819 (our emphasis on 819)
Birds (414 BC)

“Aeschylus: It is the compelling power of great thoughts and ideas to engender phrases of equal size.”

Aristophanés Les Grenouilles

tr. Dillon 1995, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Frogs+1058
Frogs, line 1058-1059
Frogs (405 BC)

“[Choir of] Women: It should not prejudice my voice that I'm not born a man, if I say something advantageous to the present situation. For I'm taxed too, and as a toll provide men for the nation.”

Aristophanés Lysistrata

tr. Lindsay 1925, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Lys.+649
Lysistrata, line 649-651
Lysistrata (411 BC)

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