User:Lucretius~enwiki/sandbox4

Aristophanes and the coal basket

ὁ λάρκος δημότης ὅδʹ ἔστʹ ἐμός.

This userbox is a plea for peace. It features a quote from Aristophanes' play 'The Acharnians' where the hero is under attack by a chorus of grumpy old men who don't like his pacifist politics. In desperation, he takes a coal basket as a hostage and threatens to kill it. The chorus is made up of Acharnians (Athenian provincials generally associated with the coal/charcoal industry) and they empathize with the coal basket just as a chorus of Scots might emphathize with a haggis or a chorus of Americans might empathize with a cowboy hat. The quote express their sense of fellowship with the basket and they subsequently agree to a truce with the hero. A Wikisource copy of 'The Acharnians' in Greek is available here:[1] (the quote is from line 333)

Aristophanes and the dung beetle

ὑμεῖς δέ γʹ, ὑπὲρ ὧν τοὺς πόνους ἐγὼ πονῶ, μὴ βδεῖτε μηδὲ χέζεθʹ ἠμερῶν τριῶν.

You for whom I perform these labours, don't fart or shit for three days!

This userbox is a plea for co-operation. It features a quote from Aristophanes' play 'Peace' where the hero is ascending to Olympus on the back of a giant dung beetle, to ask the gods to end the Peloponnesian war, and he pleads with the spectators not to do anything that would distract the beetle from its task.

Aristophanes and the clouds

καὶ σἐβομαι γ', ὦ πολυτίμητοι, καὶ βούλομαι ἀνταποπαρδεῖν - and I honour you so much, oh you Worthies, and it makes me want to fart!

This userbox is an ironic statement of respect. It features a quote from Aristophanes' play 'The Clouds' where Socrates introduces the hero to a new set of gods (the clouds), and the hero is so awestruck he can hardly contain himself.

Aristophanes and the victory song

τήνελλα καλλίνικος
Tra-la hero!

This userbox is a celebration of success. It features a quote taken from the endings to two of Aristophanes' plays - The Acharnians and The Birds. In Old Comedy the conquering hero almost always gets the girl - or a girl, or any girl in fact, because nothing succeeds like success. Hence the reason to celebrate. The quote happens to echo a famous bit of improvisation by Archilochus who invented the word τήνελλα to imitate the twang of the lyre.
A wikisource copy of 'The Acharnians' (in the original Greek) can be found here [2] (quote is taken from line 1227). A copy of Archilochus's poem can be found here:[3].

Aristophanes and the bird feet

τί δῆτα πόδες ἂν οὐκ ἂν ἐργασαίατο ; Is there anything that feet can't do?

This userbox reminds us that anything can be achieved with a little improvisation and originality. It features a quote from Aristophanes' play The Birds where the hero marvels at the novel building techniques employed by the birds in the construction of their new city 'Cloudcuckooland'. The geese used their feet like bricklayer's trowels.

Aristophanes and the umbrella

τουτὶ λαβών μου τὸ σκιάδειον ὑπέρεχε ἄνωθεν, ὡς ἂν μή μʹ ὁρῶσιν οἱ θεοί. - Hold this umbrella over me so the gods won't see me!

This userbox is an appeal for help. It features a quote from Aristophanes' play The Birds where Prometheus (a friend to humankind and an enemy to the gods) asks the hero to keep an umbrella over him so that the gods, looking down from the heavens, won't see him, for he has come with information that will bring an end to Olympian tyranny once and for all!

Aristophanes and Socrates

Translate:πρὸς δὲ τοῖς Σκιάποσιν λίμνη τις ἔστʹ ἄλουτος οὗ ψυχαγωγεῖ Σωκράτης.

This userbox features a quote from Aristophanes' play The Birds. It is the beginning of a comic ditty sung by the chorus while the actors go backstage to change their costumes for the next scene. It says "Near the Parasoles there is a lake where grubby Socrates beckons souls". The Parasoles or 'Shadowfeet' are a mythical folk who shelter from the hot Libyan sun in the shade of their own enormous feet. Socrates is presented as an outlandish, sophistical quack in an earlier play The Clouds and this ditty reinforces that image.

Aristophanes and the liquid posture

γυμναστικῶς ὑγρὸν χύτλασον σεαυτὸν ἐν τοῖς στρώμασιν. - pour yourself with liquid athleticism over the coverings.

This userbox is an injunction to chill out in style. It features a quote from Aristophanes's play The Wasps, where the hero is advised by his son how best to recline at a fashionable dinner party. A sense of a suave, smooth, self-indulgent pretentiousness is nicely captured by the sound of the words. Aristophanes wasn't just a comic dramatist but a comic poet.

Aristophanes and the Medusa

ἑκατὸν δὲ κύκλῳ κεφαλαὶ κολάκων οἰμωξομένων ἑλιχμῶντο περὶ τὴν κεφαλήν - a hundred heads of doomed stooges licked around his head.

This userbox recognizes a dangerous foe. It features a quote from Aristophanes's play The Wasps where the chorus speaks for Aristophanes, describing his powerful enemy, the rabble rowsing Cleon. Aristophanes liked the line so much that he repeated it again in a later play Peace. Aristophanes attacks Cleon savagely in a number of his early plays. Cleon took him to court on one occasion. The language used in this quote nicely captures the sound of something disgusting.

Aristophanes and Bacchus

ὦ δαῖμον ἄγαθὲ σὸν τὸ βούλευμʹ, οὐκ ἐμόν. - Oh noble Genius, the idea is yours, not mine.

This userbox attributes a great idea to somebody else. It features a quote from Aristophanes' play The Knights where one of the characters (a household slave) has a few quick drinks and then dreams up a good idea how to get rid of Cleon, the villain of the play. The genius of the wine is the author of the idea.