The Battle of Frogs and Mice

A digital edition by George Grimbilas and Phillip Mitsis,
illustrations by David Beck and readings by David Starr.
Text under construction - send comments and observations to
phillip.mitsis@nyu.edu

The Battle Part 1

πάντες δ’ αὖτ’ εἰσῆλθον ἀολλέες εἰς ἕνα χῶρον.

καὶ τότε κώνωπες μεγάλας σάλπιγγας ἔχοντες

δεινὸν ἐσάλπιγξαν πολέμου κτύπον· οὐρανόθεν δὲ

Ζὲυς Κρονίδης βρόντησε, τέρας πολέμοιο κακοῖο.

πρῶτος δ’ Ὑψιβόας Λειχήνορα οὔτασε δουρὶ*

ἑσταότ’ ἐν προμάχοις κατὰ γαστέρα ἐς μέσον ἧπαρ·

κὰδ δ’ ἔπεσεν πρηνής, ἁπαλὰς δ’ ἐκόνισεν ἐθείρας.*

Τρωγλοδύτης δὲ μετ’ αὐτὸν ἀκόντισε Πηλείωνος,

πῆξεν δ’ ἐν στέρνῳ στιβαρὸν δόρυ· τὸν δὲ πεσόντα
εἷλε μέλας θάνατος, ψυχὴ δ’ ἐκ σώματος ἔπτη.

Σευτλαῖον δ’ ἄρ’ ἔπεφνε βαλὼν κέαρ Ἐμβασίχυτρος,*

Ὠκιμίδην δ’ ἄχος εἷλε καὶ ἤλασεν ὀξυσχοίνῳ

Τρωγλοδύτην ἁπαλοῖο δι’ αὐχένος, ἤριπε δ’ εὐθύς.

οὐδ’ ἐξέσπασεν ἔγχος ἐναντίον·* ὡς δ’ ἐνόησε

Κοστοφάγον* φεύγοντα, βαθείαις ἔμπεσεν ὄχθαις,

ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ὣς ἀπέληγεν ἐν ὕδασιν·* ἤλασε δ’ αὐτόν·

κάππεσε δ’, οὐκ ἀνένευσεν, ἐβάπτετο δ’ αἵματι λίμνη

πορφυρέῳ, αὐτὸς δὲ παρ’ ἠιόν’ ἐξετανύσθη,*

Τυροφάγον δ’ αὐτῇσιν ἐπ’ ὄχθαις ἐξενάριξεν.

198. ἀολλέες

ἀολλής -ές, ‘all together, in tight ranks or groups;’ typically used for military ranks or assemblies.

εἰς ἕνα χῶρον

Cf. note 133.

199. σάλπιγγας

σάλπιγξ -ιγγος, ἡ, trumpet, usu. for war; pre-Greek word on account of the suffix, like ἡ φόρμιγξ and ἡ σῦριγξ.

200. κτύπον

κτύπος -ου, ὁ, ‘noise, crash, din.’

201. βρόντησε

3 sg. aor. ind. act., βροντάω, ‘to thunder, make lightning flash, of Zeus.’ Cf. line 286 for the augmented form. The day’s battle is framed with Zeus’s thunder.

τέρας

τέρας -ατος, τό, ‘portent, supernatural sign, omen.’

202. πρῶτος

The Battle: For the most part, of the two main recensions, we follow (a), though we avoid having mice kill mice which, at least as of yet, has not found any defenders as being appropriately parodic. Two prominent features of Homeric battles carefully detailed by Fenik are reflected in the ensuing combat as reconstructed here: (1) chains of killings where opponents from different sides kill one another in turn, typically trying to avenge the death of a comrade, and (2) an aristeia, where one warrior easily slays several opposing warriors. Cf. Bauer (2020) who uses categories of Russian formalism to argue that the poem’s account of battle is parodic in the sense of stripping the genre down to its most typical elements and thus displaying its generic self-consciousness. Note the poet’s remarkable ability to present this extended myoktasia and batrachoktasia by accommodating invented compound names in the dactylic hexameter. To avoid the danger of having verses with no third- foot caesura, the poet brilliantly places long, compound words either at the beginning (often proper names) or the end of the hexameter. This speaks of poet’s skill in composing hexameters.

Ὑψιβόας

Ὑψιβόας -ου, ὁ, ‘High-Battlecry,’ [ὑψι, βοή], ὑψι, ‘on high, high;’ βοή, ‘battle-cry.’ Following the blare of battle trumpets and Zeus’ thunder, an aptly named frog launches the first attack. Although some animal names suggest animal sounds (243), there is no speech of any kind during the battle, or indeed any sound (though see textual note 205). The narrative now moves into a purely visual dimension.

Λειχήνορα

Λειχήνωρ -ορος, ὁ, ‘Lick-Man, literally’ [λείχω, ανήρ], λείχω, ‘to lick, lap;’ ανήρ, ‘man.’ Cf. note 10. We offer a more knightly translation.

οὔτασε

3 sg. aor. ind. act., οὐτάζω and οὐτάω, ‘to beat, strike, stab, thrust,’ (proper. from close by), τινα with dat. δουρὶ; the part struck is sometimes expressed with prep., here κατὰ γαστέρα.

203. ἑσταότ’

masc. sg. acc. pf. act. part., ἵστημι.

προμάχοις

πρόμαχος -ον [πρό, μάχη], ‘fighting before or in front, in the front line,’ plural can be translated as singular.

γαστέρα

Cf. note 57. Given the poem’s identification of the mice with their bellies, it is perhaps a kind of contrapasso that the first mouse death is a wound to the belly. Cf. Iliad 5.290-6 where Pandaros is wounded in the mouth for breaking an oath (Iliad 3.279 ff. and 4.88 ff).

ἧπαρ

ἧπαρ -ατος, τό, ‘liver, of person and animals.’

204. κὰδ δ’ ἔπεσεν

κὰδ, ep. κατά bef. δ., with ἔπεσεν = κατέπεσε, 3 sg. aor. ind. act., καταπίπτω, ‘to fall, fall down.’

πρηνής

πρηνής -ές, ‘with head down, prone, headlong,’ more frequently with verbs of motion; opp. ὕπτιος, ‘on one’s back,’ cf. lines 87, 106, 242. Lickfellow falls prone in the dust after being hit in the belly with a spear. In the Iliad, when a warrior is struck in the stomach, he falls ὕπτιος, cf. 17.519-23; 13.506-8, 17.315, 21.180-83; conversely, when a warrior is hit in the back, he falls πρηνής, cf. 5.58, 15.543, 16.310. Again, this raises the question of how the reader is meant to imagine animals fighting upright as humans, cf. note 124.

ἁπαλὰς

ἁπαλός -ή -όν, ‘tender, soft, delicate.

ἐκόνισεν

κονίω 3 sg. aor. ind. act., κονίω [κόνις], trans. ‘to cover with dust, make dusty.’

ἐθείρας

ἔθειρα -ας, ἡ, poet. ‘hair; mane, fleece, coat, fur.’

206. Τρωγλοδύτης

Τρωγλοδύτης -ου, ὁ, ‘Hole-Diver,’ [τρώγλη, δύω], cf. notes 28, 86.

μετ’ αὐτὸν

μετά with acc. can indicate temporal succession, especially in battle narratives, cf. Iliad 8.261.

ἀκόντισε

3 sg. aor. ind. act., ἀκοντίζω, abs. ‘to throw, hurl a spear,’ τινος at s.o.

Πηλείωνος

Πηλείων -ωνος, ὁ, ‘son of Peleus.’ Given that Puff-Jaw is still alive when he is struck by Nibble-Bread at line 250, presumably this may be a brother by the same or a different mother; or he may be a separate character, cf. lines 19, 237.

207. πῆξεν

3 sg. aor. ind. act., πήγνυμι, ‘to stick, dig in, plant in, fix.’

στέρνῳ

στέρνον -ου, τό, ‘chest.’

στιβαρὸν

στιβαρός -ά -όν [στείβω], ‘large, strong, sturdy.’

208. μέλας

μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν, gen. μέλανος, -αίνης -ανος, ‘black, dark,’ fig., ‘grim, gloomy, sorrowful.’

ψυχὴ

ψυχή -ῆς, ἡ, ‘life, soul.’ In Homer, the soul at death flies out from the “barrier of the teeth,” cf. Iliad 9.408.

ἔπτη

3 sg. root aor. ind. act., πέτομαι, ‘to fly.’

209. Σευτλαῖον

Σευτλαῖον. . . Ἐμβασίχυτρος: nominative determinism is at work here contrasting the natural fare of frogs with the cultural accoutrements of mice, cf. lines 137 and 162. Ἐμβασίχυτρος has perhaps exchanged his herald’s staff (cf. line 136) for a spear or is using it as one, both of which are uncharacteristic of heralds. Note that lines 210-22 were rejected by Allen in the Oxford text for being a Byzantine interpolation. We agree with most recent editors in thinking that there are elements worth saving in this section, but anysolution must remain makeshift.

ἔπεφνε

3 sg. second aor. ind. act., θείνω, ‘to strike, beat, wound;’ only in forms with reduplicated πεφ, ‘to batter, strike down, kill.’’

κέαρ

κῆρ, τό, ‘heart;’ in Homer nom. κῆρ; trag. nom. and acc. κέαρ.’

214. Ὠκιμίδην

Lines 213-23: Aristeia of Ὠκιμίδης. Ὠκιμίδης -ου, ὁ, ‘Basilson,’ [ὤκιμον -ου, τό, ‘basil’]; -ίδης is perhaps a patronymic though, beginning in the classical period, patronymics rarely indicate descent in the case of historical persons, as in Εὐριπίδης and Ἀριστείδης.

ἄχος

ἄχος -εος, τό, ‘pain, affliction, anxiety, grief.’

ἤλασεν

3 sg. aor. ind. act., ἐλαύνω, ‘to hit, strike, beat,’ s.o. (acc.) with sthg (dat.).

ὀξυσχοίνῳ

Cf. note 164.

213. ἁπαλοῖο δι’ αὐχένος

this phrase is used for the climactic deaths of Hector (Iliad 22.327) and Antinous (Odyssey 22.16). It is the part of the body “where death comes quickest,” (Iliad 22.325). Cf. notes 204, 66.

ἤριπε

3 sg. intrans. aor. ind. act., ἐρείπω, ‘to collapse, fall down, of pers.’

215. ὡς δ’

ὡς can be temporal with ind. of hist. tenses, or causal, with ind. for cause presented as real.

218. Κοστοφάγον

Κοστοφάγος -ου, ὁ, ‘Spice-Muncher,’ [κόστος, φαγεῖν], κόστος is the name of a plant and of its root which was used as a spice, cf. Theophrastus, H.P. 9.7.3

βαθείαις

βαθύς -εῖα -ύ, ‘deep, hollow, thick, dense, abundant.’

ἔμπεσεν

[ἐν, πίπτω] ep. 3 sg. aor. ind. act., ἐμπίπτω, ‘to fall (into or onto),’ with dat.

219. ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ὣς

used to oppose whole sentences, ‘but, yet, not even so.’

ἀπέληγεν ἐν ὕδασιν

3 sg. impf. ind. act., ἀπολήγω [ἀπό, λήγω], ‘to cease, desist, leave off,’ here used absolutely, though may take the genitive.

ἤλασε

Cf. note 214.

220. κάππεσε

ep. 3 sg. aor. ind. act., καταπίπτω, ‘to fall, fall down, tumble,’ cf. note 204. Here, syncope, the expulsion of a short vowel between two consonants.

ἀνένευσεν

3 sg. aor. ind. act., ἀνανέω [ἀνά, νέω], ‘to resurface, rise up again.’ In ancient Greek the term for this rhetorical figure is κατ ̓ ἄρσιν καὶ θέσιν, i.e., to express the same thing twice in a row, the first time positively (κάππεσε), the second negatively (οὐδ ̓ ἀνένευσε). See the Homeric example: ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ.

ἐβάπτετο

3 sg. impf. ind. mid., βάπτω, ‘to soak, dye.’

221. πορφυρέῳ

πορφύρεος, -έη -εον, ‘agitated, boiling,’ waves of the sea; purple; ‘dark, dark flashes,’ of blood, clouds, etc. Cf. line 69.

ἐξετανύσθη

3 sg. aor. ind. pass., έκτανύω [ἐκ, τανύω], pass., ‘to be stretched out.’

223. Τυροφάγον

Τυροφάγος -ου, ὁ, ‘Cheese-Muncher,’ [τυρός, φαγεῖν]. Cf. note 137.

ἐξενάριξεν

ep. 3 sg. aor. ind. act., ἐξεναρίζω [ἐξ, ἐναρίζω], ‘to kill.’

In turn all of them came to one place in tight ranks.

And thereupon mosquitoes holding great battle trumpets

blared the dread din of war; and from heaven [200]

Zeus son of Kronos thundered, a portent of baleful war.

First, High-Battlecry stabbed Lickfellow with a spear

as he stood in the front line through the belly square in the liver; [204]

and he fell headlong, and covered his soft coat with dust.

Hole-Diver next after him hurled at the son of Peleus, [206]

and fixed a sturdy spear in his chest; and him fallen

grim death seized, his soul flew forth from his body.

Step-in-Pot then killed Sea-Beet striking his heart, [209]

Basilson grief seized, and with a sharp reed he hit

Hole-Diver through his soft neck, and at once he fell. [213]

Nor did he draw out the weapon opposite; but since he perceived [215]

Spice-Muncher fleeing, he pounced on the deep banks,

but not even so did he leave off in the waters; he hit him;

and he fell down, but did not rise up again, and the pond was dyed with blood [220]

darkly flashing, as he lay stretched out by the shore,

Cheese-Muncher he slew on the banks themselves. [223]

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Lines 198-223