This was amazing. Also that translation! Honestly that’s half of what made me laugh. I can’t imagine reading that in class without most people being red faced in their pursuit not to laugh.
Not being a scholar of any particular kind I will say that the passage, in it's whole, is very funny. But when observation of such painfully serious dissection by scholars from the Muppets is added, funny dies a horrible death. And to add a somewhat less classical adage, if you have to explain it, it ain't funny! (Note: Yes when I was in high school, biology classes were required to pith their frog being used for dissection. I managed to avoid that class for that very reason) Loved your rant, by the way!
Thank you for this! And yes: my dad's story is that his bio teacher thought pithing was inhumane because the students did it wrong so much, and told them that he thought a more humane method was to bash the frog's head in by picking it up by the legs and smashing it into the desk. My dad's frog slipped and it started to have a seizure and he cut off its head. I'm really, really grateful for the formaldehyde-soaked, long-dead frogs of my youth.
“Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”
God, I wish I’d known about that EB White quote 25 years ago, when I was asked to do a short write up on Bergson’s “Laughter” for a roundup of significant 20th-century nonfiction. (As it was, my submission was rejected.)
Thank you for discussing this essential passage. I am drawn to the possibility that it is a made-up joke position! Here's my translation, forthcoming from Hackett Publishing in Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Women at The Thesmophoria, Frogs, trans. Diane Arnson Svarlien with Notes & General Intro by Ian C. Storey:
MYRRHINE:
No man, be he my boyfriend or my husband …
LYSISTRATA:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
Go on, say it!
MYRRHINE:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
CALONIKE:
Oh dear lord,
my knees are going weak, Lysistrata. 220
LYSISTRATA:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
MYRRHINE:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
LYSISTRATA:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
MYRRHINE:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
LYSISTRATA:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed. 225
MYRRHINE:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed.
LYSISTRATA:
But never shall I let him have his way.
MYRRHINE:
But never shall I let him have his way.
LYSISTRATA:
If he should force me, though, against my will …
MYRRHINE:
If he should force me, though, against my will … 230
LYSISTRATA:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
MYRRHINE:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
LYSISTRATA:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
MYRRHINE:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
This was amazing. Also that translation! Honestly that’s half of what made me laugh. I can’t imagine reading that in class without most people being red faced in their pursuit not to laugh.
Not being a scholar of any particular kind I will say that the passage, in it's whole, is very funny. But when observation of such painfully serious dissection by scholars from the Muppets is added, funny dies a horrible death. And to add a somewhat less classical adage, if you have to explain it, it ain't funny! (Note: Yes when I was in high school, biology classes were required to pith their frog being used for dissection. I managed to avoid that class for that very reason) Loved your rant, by the way!
Thank you for this! And yes: my dad's story is that his bio teacher thought pithing was inhumane because the students did it wrong so much, and told them that he thought a more humane method was to bash the frog's head in by picking it up by the legs and smashing it into the desk. My dad's frog slipped and it started to have a seizure and he cut off its head. I'm really, really grateful for the formaldehyde-soaked, long-dead frogs of my youth.
OMG!
Thank you for making me laugh while I am in the library taking a break from (procrastinating) Latin review
“Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”
God, I wish I’d known about that EB White quote 25 years ago, when I was asked to do a short write up on Bergson’s “Laughter” for a roundup of significant 20th-century nonfiction. (As it was, my submission was rejected.)
Thank you for discussing this essential passage. I am drawn to the possibility that it is a made-up joke position! Here's my translation, forthcoming from Hackett Publishing in Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Women at The Thesmophoria, Frogs, trans. Diane Arnson Svarlien with Notes & General Intro by Ian C. Storey:
MYRRHINE:
No man, be he my boyfriend or my husband …
LYSISTRATA:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
Go on, say it!
MYRRHINE:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
CALONIKE:
Oh dear lord,
my knees are going weak, Lysistrata. 220
LYSISTRATA:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
MYRRHINE:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
LYSISTRATA:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
MYRRHINE:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
LYSISTRATA:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed. 225
MYRRHINE:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed.
LYSISTRATA:
But never shall I let him have his way.
MYRRHINE:
But never shall I let him have his way.
LYSISTRATA:
If he should force me, though, against my will …
MYRRHINE:
If he should force me, though, against my will … 230
LYSISTRATA:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
MYRRHINE:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
LYSISTRATA:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
MYRRHINE:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
LYSISTRATA:
Nor shall I assume the position known as … 235
MYRRHINE:
Nor shall I assume the position known as …
LYSISTRATA:
“… the crouching lioness on the cheese-grater.”
MYRRHINE:
“… the crouching lioness on the cheese-grater.”
LYSISTRATA:
If I fulfill this oath, then let me drink.
MYRRHINE:
If I fulfill this oath, then let me drink. 240
LYSISTRATA:
If not, then let this cup be filled with water.