Dikaiopolis in Despair (Aristophanes’ Acharnians 30–31)

Abstract

The article deals with a passage from the prologue of Aristophanes’ Acharnians, vv. 30–31. Close reading of the passage and analyzing each verb of the series in vv. 30–31 shows that the entire series of verbs in Acharnians 30–31 describes Dikaiopolis’ suffering and constitutes the culmination of the woes listed in his monologue. This last and greatest of his woes cannot be mere annoyance at having come first to the Pnyx and not knowing how to kill time. στένω must mean a lament tragic in tone, and κέχηνα intensifies this vocal lament though adding a comic bathos. σκορδινῶμαι does not refer here to drowsy stretching as it is usually interpreted by scholars but to convulsions of rage and despair. πέρδομαι indicates acuteness and intensity of Dikaiopolis’ disappointment; the relationship between σκορδινῶμαι and πέρδομαι is similar to that between στένω and κέχηνα, where the second verb emphasizes and marks the culmination of the first (“I’m moaning so much that my mouth is open wide” and “I’m convulsed to the point of farting”). παρατίλλομαι must mean “to tear out the hair on one’s head”, a gesture that is obviously a sign of sorrow and despair. The verbs γράφωand λογίζομαι describe Dikaiopolis writing out and assessing his debts sitting in the assembly place. The lines that follow are tightly connected to 30–31 and explain the reason for the protagonist’s despair: Dikaiopolis dreams of the countryside and hates the city, but due to the war cannot return to the country (32–33); his hatred of the city is further explained by the enormous expenses city life entails.