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Headword: Aeton kantharos maieusomai
Adler number: alpha,574
Translated headword: I a dung-beetle will hatch an eagle
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to those avenging themselves on their betters, with whom the bad thing started. For it is said that the dung-beetle steals the eggs of the eagle.
Greek Original:
Aeton kantharos maieusomai: epi tôn timôroumenôn tous meizonas prokatarxantas kakou. legetai gar ta ôa tou aetou aphanizein ho kantharos.
Notes:
Proverbial in Hesychius (alpha1818) and Photius, as well as several of the pareoemiographic collections (e.g. Mantissa Proverbiorum 1.2).
These entries stem in the most immediate sense from Aristophanes, Lysistrata 695 (ai)eto\n ti/ktona ka/nqaro/s se maieu/somai), but the Aesopic fable of the beetle avenging the loss of its young by breaking the eagle's eggs predates that: already well-known enough to be referred to in passing at Wasps 1448; see also Peace 129ff (with scholia), and Henderson [below] p.161.
Reference:
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, edited with introduction and commentary by Jeffrey Henderson (Oxford 1987)
Keywords: aetiology; comedy; daily life; ethics; food; proverbs; zoology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 16 March 2001@17:27:56.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (modified translation; cosmetics) on 17 March 2001@05:55:37.
David Whitehead (tweaked tr; augmented note and keywords) on 16 August 2006@07:21:13.
David Whitehead (tweaks) on 12 January 2012@06:11:50.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 30 December 2014@00:15:09.
David Whitehead (augmented note and keywords) on 29 April 2015@08:40:23.

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