Tag: Battle of Frogs and mice

Commentary on Batrakhomuomakhia, Part 3: 24-41

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This is the third installment of our commentary on the Homeric “Battle of Frogs and Mice”

24 Τὸν δ’ αὖ Ψιχάρπαξ ἀπαμείβετο φώνησέν τε•
25 τίπτε γένος τοὐμὸν ζητεῖς; δῆλον δ’ ἐν ἅπασιν
26 ἀνθρώποις τε θεοῖς τε καὶ οὐρανίοις πετεηνοῖς.
27 Ψιχάρπαξ μὲν ἐγὼ κικλήσκομαι• εἰμὶ δὲ κοῦρος
28 Τρωξάρταο πατρὸς μεγαλήτορος• ἡ δέ νυ μήτηρ
29 Λειχομύλη, θυγάτηρ Πτερνοτρώκτου βασιλῆος.
30 γείνατο δ’ ἐν καλύβῃ με καὶ ἐξεθρέψατο βρωτοῖς
31 σύκοις καὶ καρύοις καὶ ἐδέσμασι παντοδαποῖσιν.
32 πῶς δὲ φίλον ποιῇ με, τὸν ἐς φύσιν οὐδὲν ὁμοῖον;
33 σοὶ μὲν γὰρ βίος ἐστὶν ἐν ὕδασιν• αὐτὰρ ἔμοιγε
34 ὅσσα παρ’ ἀνθρώποις τρώγειν ἔθος• οὐδέ με λήθει
35 ἄρτος τρισκοπάνιστος ἀπ’ εὐκύκλου κανέοιο,
36 οὐδὲ πλακοῦς τανύπεπλος ἔχων πολὺ σησαμότυρον,
37 οὐ τόμος ἐκ πτέρνης, οὐχ ἥπατα λευκοχίτωνα,
38 οὐ τυρὸς νεόπηκτος ἀπὸ γλυκεροῖο γάλακτος,
39 οὐ χρηστὸν μελίτωμα, τὸ καὶ μάκαρες ποθέουσιν,
40 οὐδ’ ὅσα πρὸς θοίνας μερόπων τεύχουσι μάγειροι,
41 κοσμοῦντες χύτρας ἀρτύμασι παντοδαποῖσιν.

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Once, All the Animals Spoke the Same Language: Aesop’s Frog and Mouse Tales

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We’ve been working on a text, translation and commentary of the Homeric Batrakhomuomakhia (“Battle of Frog and Mice”). Some of the themes, part of the plot, and even some specific instances of diction are shared with the Aesopic fable of the mouse and the frog. Below are two versions:

Continue reading “Once, All the Animals Spoke the Same Language: Aesop’s Frog and Mouse Tales” →

The Battle of Frogs and Mice, Part 11: Zeus Gives the Frogs Crabs to Counter the Mouse Menace

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In the last installment, the mice were about to accomplish their dream of frog extinction. Zeus, however, has different ideas

So he spoke and the son of Kronos threw down shining lightning
as thundered first and shook great Olympos.
He frightened all the frogs and mice with his bolt.
The army of the mice did not let up, but still
hoped to eradicate the race of spear-bearing frogs.
Just then Kronos’ son took pity on the frogs from Olympos
and sent helpers straight away to the frogs.

Immediately, the armor-backed, crooked-clawed
Bow-waling, twisted, shear-mouthed, pottery-skinned
Bone-built, broad-backed, with shining shoulders
Crooked-legged, lip-stretching with eyes set in their chest,
Eight-footed, two-headed, spastic creatures who are called
Crabs, who easily cut off the ears from the mice’s faces
along with their feet and hands went forth. The spears sprang back from
the cowardly mice who were frightened and waited no longer
but turned to flight. The sun went down
And the end of this war was accomplished in a day.

284 ῝Ως ἄρ’ ἔφη• Κρονίδης δὲ βαλὼν ἀργῆτα κεραυνὸν
285 πρῶτα μὲν ἐβρόντησε, μέγαν δ’ ἐλέλιξεν ῎Ολυμπον.
286 πάντας μέν ῥ’ ἐφόβησε βαλὼν βατράχους τε μύας τε•
287 ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ὣς ἀπέληγε μυῶν στρατός, ἀλλ’ ἔτι μᾶλλον
288 ἔλπετο πορθήσειν βατράχων γένος αἰχμητάων,
289 εἰ μὴ ἀπ’ Οὐλύμπου βατράχους ἐλέησε Κρονίων,
290 ὅς ῥα τότ’ ἐν βατράχοισιν ἀρωγοὺς εὐθὺς ἔπεμψεν.
291 ῏Ηλθον δ’ ἐξαίφνης νωτάκμονες, ἀγκυλοχεῖλαι,
292 λοξοβάται, στρεβλοί, ψαλιδόστομοι, ὀστρακόδερμοι,
293 ὀστοφυεῖς, πλατύνωτοι, ἀποστίλβοντες ἐν ὤμοις,
294 βλαισοί, χειλοτένοντες, ἀπὸ στέρνων ἐσορῶντες,
295 ὀκτάποδες, δικάρηνοι, ἀχειρέες, οἱ δὲ καλεῦνται
296 καρκίνοι, οἵ ῥα μυῶν οὐρὰς στομάτεσσιν ἔκοπτον
297 ἠδὲ πόδας καὶ χεῖρας• ἀνεγνάμπτοντο δὲ λόγχαι.
298 τοὺς δὴ ὑπέδεισαν δειλοὶ μύες οὐδ’ ἔτ’ ἔμειναν,
299 ἐς δὲ φυγὴν ἐτράποντο• ἐδύετο δ’ ἥλιος ἤδη,
300 καὶ πολέμου τελετὴ μονοήμερος ἐξετελέσθη.

And so the battle of frogs and mice has ended?
Don’t fear
for in the New Year
we’ll be posting a commentary to keep you contented.

The ‘Homeric’ War of Frogs and Mice, Part 1: The Proem (1-8)

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As I begin from the first page, I pray that the chorus
comes from Helikon for the sake of the song
I have just set down on the tablets at my knees;
a song of limitless strife–the war-rousing work of Ares–
because I hope to send to the ears of all mortal men
how the mice went forth to best the frogs
in imitation of the deeds of the earth born men, the giants.
Or so the tale went among men. It has this kind of beginning.

1 ᾿Αρχόμενος πρώτης σελίδος χορὸν ἐξ ῾Ελικῶνος
2 ἐλθεῖν εἰς ἐμὸν ἦτορ ἐπεύχομαι εἵνεκ’ ἀοιδῆς
3 ἣν νέον ἐν δέλτοισιν ἐμοῖς ἐπὶ γούνασι θῆκα,
4 δῆριν ἀπειρεσίην, πολεμόκλονον ἔργον ῎Αρηος,
5 εὐχόμενος μερόπεσσιν ἐς οὔατα πᾶσι βαλέσθαι
6 πῶς μύες ἐν βατράχοισιν ἀριστεύσαντες ἔβησαν,
7 γηγενέων ἀνδρῶν μιμούμενοι ἔργα Γιγάντων,
8 ὡς λόγος ἐν θνητοῖσιν ἔην• τοίην δ’ ἔχεν ἀρχήν.

The Batrakhomuomakhia is a mock-epic from antiquity–dated variously from the late Archaic age to the Hellenistic period. Using a pastiche of Homeric style and surprising subject (a battle between tribes of frog and mice), this parody is at once highly ‘literary’ and baldly silly. Of course, we love it.

We love it so much that we’ve been working on the text, a translation, and something of a commentary.  Since we’re already having fun with other oddities and obscurities like the history of Apollonius of Tyre, it made sense to start putting some of the work on the Batrakhomuomakhia here.  Look for more fun as the friendship of a mouse and frog ends in a sudden tragedy compounded by an interspecies blood-feud and the callous machinations of the gods.

A limerick in the spirit of Palaiophron:

The Homeric Battle of Frogs and Mice
is not really Homer but it’s still quite nice.
You needn’t suffer to learn
that there’s kleos to earn
And you may find yourself reading it twice.