Exodos
CHOR. Blest the man who possesses aKeen intelligent mind.This full often we find.He, the bard of renown,Now to earth reascends,Goes, a joy to his town,Goes, a joy to his friends,Just because he possesses aKeen intelligent mind.RIGHT it is and befitting,Not by Socrates sitting,Idle talk to pursue,Stripping tragedy-art ofAll things noble and true,Surely the mind to schoolFine-drawn quibbles to seek,Fine-set phrases to speak,Is but the part of a fool!
PLUTO. Farewell then, Aeschylus, great and wise,Go, save our state by the maxims rareOf thy noble thought; and the fools chastise,For many a fool dwells there.And this to Cleophon give, my friend,And this to the revenue-raising crew,Nicomachus, Myrmex, next I send,And this to Archenomus too.And bid them all that without delay,To my realm of the dead they hasten away.For if they loiter above, I swearI'll come myself and arrest them there.And branded and fettered the slaves shall goWith the vilest rascal in all the town,Adeimantus, son of Leucolophus, down,Down, down to the darkness below.
AESCH. I take the mission. This chair of mineMeanwhile to Sophocles here commit,(For I count him next in our craft divine,)Till I come once more by thy side to sit.But as for that rascally scoundrel there,That low buffoon, that worker of ill,O let him not sit in my vacant chair,Not even against his will.
PLUTO. (To the Chorus.) Escort him up with your mystic throngs,While the holy torches quiver and blaze.Escort him up with his own sweet songsand his noble festival lays.
CHOR. First, as the poet triumphant is passing away to the light,Grant him success on his journey, ye powers that are ruling below.Grant that he find for the city good counsels to guide her aright;So we at last shall be freed from the anguish, the fear, and the woe,Freed from the onsets of war.Let Cleophon now and his bandBattle, if battle they must, far away in their own fatherland.
Words in this poem
- fettered a.
- Seeming as if fettered, as the feet pf certain animals which bend backward, and appear unfit for walking.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- rascally a.
- Like a rascal; trickish or dishonest; base; worthless; -- often in humorous disparagement, without implication of dishonesty.
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Exodos is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Frogs of Aristophanes, translated by Benjamin Bickley Rogers (Harvard Classics vol. 8, 1909; Rogers's translation first published 1902), Project Gutenberg ebook #7998, the Benjamin Bickley Rogers translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Aristophanes, Exodos, in The Frogs (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/aristophanes-frogs/exodos.html, id L28749.
Form and metre
Exodos is 53 lines in 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in trochaic pentameter.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBCDCDABEEF-FGHHG aA · mindB · findB · renownC · reascendsD · townC · friendsD · aA · mindB · befittingE · sittingE · pursueF · of · trueF · schoolG · seekH · speakH · foolG
- 2 ABABCDCDEEBBFGGF wiseA · rareB · chastiseA · thereB · friendC · crewD · sendC · tooD · delayE · awayE · swearB · thereB · goF · townG · downG · belowF
- 3 ABABCDCD mineA · commitB · divineA · sitB · thereC · illD · chairC · willD
- 4 ABAB throngsA · blazeB · songsA · laysB
- 5 ABAB-CC lightA · belowB · arightA · woeB · war · bandC · fatherlandC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| CHOR. Blest the man who possesses a | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Keen intelligent mind. | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| This full often we find. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| He, the bard of renown, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Now to earth reascends, | 5 | ····· |
| Goes, a joy to his town, | 6 | ······ |
| Goes, a joy to his friends, | 6 | ······ |
| Just because he possesses a | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Keen intelligent mind. | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| RIGHT it is and befitting, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Not by Socrates sitting, | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Idle talk to pursue, | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Stripping tragedy-art of | 7 | /˘/˘˘·· |
| All things noble and true, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Surely the mind to school | 6 | /˘···· |
| Fine-drawn quibbles to seek, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Fine-set phrases to speak, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Is but the part of a fool! | 7 | ······· |
| PLUTO. Farewell then, Aeschylus, great and wise, | 11 | /˘·/······· |
| Go, save our state by the maxims rare | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Of thy noble thought; and the fools chastise, | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| For many a fool dwells there. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And this to Cleophon give, my friend, | 8 | ········ |
| And this to the revenue-raising crew, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Nicomachus, Myrmex, next I send, | 9 | ········· |
| And this to Archenomus too. | 8 | ········ |
| And bid them all that without delay, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| To my realm of the dead they hasten away. | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| For if they loiter above, I swear | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I'll come myself and arrest them there. | 9 | ···/·˘/·· |
| And branded and fettered the slaves shall go | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| With the vilest rascal in all the town, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Adeimantus, son of Leucolophus, down, | 11 | ··········· |
| Down, down to the darkness below. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| AESCH. I take the mission. This chair of mine | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Meanwhile to Sophocles here commit, | 9 | /··/˘˘·˘/ |
| (For I count him next in our craft divine,) | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| Till I come once more by thy side to sit. | 10 | ·········· |
| But as for that rascally scoundrel there, | 10 | ····/˘˘/˘· |
| That low buffoon, that worker of ill, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| O let him not sit in my vacant chair, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not even against his will. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| PLUTO. (To the Chorus.) Escort him up with your mystic throngs, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘····/˘· |
| While the holy torches quiver and blaze. | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Escort him up with his own sweet songs | 9 | ˘/······· |
| and his noble festival lays. | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| CHOR. First, as the poet triumphant is passing away to the light, | 17 | ····/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/··· |
| Grant him success on his journey, ye powers that are ruling below. | 16 | ··˘/··/˘·/··/˘·· |
| Grant that he find for the city good counsels to guide her aright; | 16 | ······/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| So we at last shall be freed from the anguish, the fear, and the woe, | 16 | ·········/˘····· |
| Freed from the onsets of war. | 7 | ···/··· |
| Let Cleophon now and his band | 7 | ······· |
| Battle, if battle they must, far away in their own fatherland. | 16 | /˘·/˘···˘/···/˘· |
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