Ἱππεῖς / Equites

This edition of Knights, printed in Oxford in 1593 (STC no. 751 in Pollard, Redgrave 1976-1991), is peculiar for more than a reason.

To start with, it is the first edition of a play by Aristophanes to be printed in England (see Steggle 2007, 56; Miola 2014, 480). To be sure, editions of Aristophanes circulated in Europe since the early 15th century (the Aldine editio princeps, containing nine of the eleven surviving plays, dates to 1498; the missing two plays, Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae, appeared in print in 1516), and must therefore have been available for English readers, as well. However, we have no trace of direct ecdotic interest in the text of Aristophanes in England before the edition of Knights.

Secondly, this edition singles out one specific play. Again, this is not per se unprecedented: Aristophanic plays had been individually edited, translated, and printed since the beginning of 16^th century. However, such editorial habit typically concerned other plays, such as Wealth, Aristophanes' most widespread comedy throughout the Renaissance: single editions of Wealth were printed in Hagenau in 1517, in Louvain in 1518, in Nürnberg in 1531, in Antwerpen in 1533, etc.; translations had already been produced at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and kept being produced throughout the sixteenth century (in Parma in 1501; in Hagenau in 1528, by Thomas Melanchton, alongside Clouds); moreover, adaptations of the play had been circulating since the early fifteenth century (see e.g. Beta 2019, 10). Such difference in the circulation of the plays may have been due to the unequal transmission of Aristophanic comedies throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: about thirty-five manuscripts transmitting Aristophanic texts can be traced before c.1400 (Wilson 2007b, 5 and n. 11); of these, the vast majority contain at most three plays – Clouds, Frogs, and Plutus –, which are commonly referred to as the triad, that is, the three plays that were most likely included in the Byzantine school curriculum. Late antique tastes seem to have spread throughout early modern Europe, making the success of some specific texts. In this context Knights was certainly far less read and studied than Wealth and Clouds. Although it did have a single edition in 1561 (Utrecht, excudebat Herman I van Borculo), this edition was coupled by a coeval edition, by the same printer, of Frogs.

It is hard to say why Oxford University Press decided to devote a single edition to Knights. One may think of the play's strong political nature: by staging a paradoxical challenge between two unscrupulous politicians for the control over the old Demos (a self-explanatory symbol for the people of Athens), Knights is a bitter allegory of Athenian politics, and a cutthroat depiction of one of Aristophanes' sworn political enemies, Cleon. The interest in Knights may have risen from such political tone. This is not to say that the edition of the comedy – which was not even translated into English, or Latin – was meant to suggest a comparison with, and prompt criticism of, contemporary politics in England, which was enjoying a period of relative stability. However, the reception of Aristophanes as an author in Early Modern Europe rested upon the strong political ethos of his comedies. Aristophanes was seen as the champion of parrhesia, of satirical freedom and political impertinence, allowing his plays to take on contemporary politicians, and their most evident vices. Of such comic attitude Knights is certainly a shining example. The edition of the play may have thus been justified by a scholarly interest in Aristophanes’ comic strategies and in his political discourse. Such political interest in the play may be demonstrated by the decision of the English editor to clearly identify the Παφλαγών, Aristophanes’ allegory of Cleon, with Cleon himself: although the manuscripts are unanimous in naming the character Παφλαγών, and in attributing the lines to Παφλαγών, the edition of 1593 names the character Κλέων since the first nota personarum, and remains consistent with this choice throughout the whole text.

This peculiar attribution to Κλέων instead of Παφλαγών is already attested in Musurus’ Aldine edition (1498). This is not a mere coincidence. As a matter of fact, the English edition of Knights relies heavily upon Musurus’ text (although the English edition does not print the scholia). This is evident from the paratexts, such as the hypothesis, which in the Aldine combines parts of two different hypotheseis (that ascribed to the Alexandrian grammarian Aristophanes and that numbered II by Wilson 2007a). The English edition follows closely this structure, and even replicates Musurus’ errors (such as for instance the title ὀλοφύροις for Aristomenes’ comedy ῾Υλοφόροι, an error due to Musurus’ reliance upon the 14^th-century ms. signed E, on which see Dunbar 1995, 49-50 and Sicherl 1997, 114-54, esp. 137-8), demonstrating a clear dependence on the Aldine. Moreover, in Musurus’ edition choral interludes are often accompanied by definitions of their structure (e.g. ΣΤΡΟΦΗ, ΕΠΙΡΡΗΜΑ, etc.). Again, the English edition replicates such feature, offering further evidence to its close relationship with the Aldine edition.

Beta, S. 2019. Adaptations (sixteenth to nineteenth century). In Sommerstein 2019, vol. 1, 10-12.

Dunbar, N. 1995 (ed.). Aristophanes. Birds. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Miola, R.S. 2014. “Aristophanes in England, 1500–1660”. In Ancient Comedy and Reception. Essays in Honor of Jeffrey Henderson, edited by S.D. Olson, 479-502. Berlin-Boston: Brill.

Pollard, A.W., Redgrave, G.R. 1976-1991. A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640, 3 vols., 2^nd edn. rev. and enlarged, begun by W.A. Jackson and F.S. Ferguson, completed by K.F. Pantzer, London: Bibliographical Society.

Sicherl, M. 1997. Griechische Erstausgaben des Aldus Manutius. Druckvorlagen, Stellenwert, kultureller Hintergrund. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöning.

Sommerstein, A.H. 2019 (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Greek Comedy, 3 vols., London: Blackwell.

Steggle, M. 2007. “Aristophanes in Early Modern England”. In Aristophanes in Performance 421 BC – AD 2007. Peace, Birds and Frogs, edited by Edith Hall and Amanda Wrigley, 52-65. London: Legenda.

Wilson, N.G. 2007a (ed.). Aristophanis Fabulae, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Wilson, N.G. 2007b. Aristophanea. Studies on the Text of Aristophanes, Oxford: OUP.

The volume of Ἀριστοφάνους Ἱππεῖς. Aristophanis Equites (edited by J. Barnesius) is in quarto and consists of 56 pages. It is held at the British Library.

The frontispiece reads: 

Ἀριστοφάνους Ἱππεῖς

Aristophanis Equites.

Oxoniae excudebat Johannes Barnesius

C D. D. X C I I I

At bottom of page, the volume has signatures, starting from A¹ and going to G⁴.

Except from the frontispiece, the volume is entirely written in Greek. There are no manuscript notes nor major inking defects; a stamp can be found at A¹v ("MVSEVM BRITANNICVM"). At E³v and E⁴v the lines are arranged on two columns.

The frontispiece is framed by an abstract ornament. On the frontispiece, under the title, a circular emblem can be found with an abstract illustration and a motto divided into two concentric lines: in the outermost part, "OMNIA SUBIACENT VICISSITUDINI"; in the innermost part, "SOLA VIRTUS CADERI NON POTEST". The volume has an intricate letter at A³r.

The EEBO bibliographical number is STC (2nd ed.) / 751.

English: Aristophanes Knights