The Eleven Comedies, Volume 1. Аристофан

wanted the Spartans to purchase the prisoners of Sphacteria from him.

48

With piss—the result of his drunken habits.

49

A tragic poet, apparently proverbial for feebleness of style.

50

Beginning of a song of Simonides.

51

A miser.

52

Guests used pieces of bread to wipe their fingers at table.

53

'Dog's head,' a vicious species of ape.

54

They were allowed to remain in the ground throughout the winter so that they might grow tender.

55

An allusion to the pederastic habits ascribed to some of the orators by popular rumour.

56

He imputes the crime to Agoracritus of which he is guilty himself.

57

A town in Thrace and subject to Athens. It therefore paid tribute to the latter. It often happened that the demagogues extracted considerable sums from the tributaries by threats or promises.

58

It was customary in Athens for the plaintiff himself to fix the fine to be paid by the defendant.

59

Athené, the tutelary divinity of Athens.

60

And wife of Pisistratus. Anything belonging to the ancient tyrants was hateful to the Athenians.

61

An allusion to the language used by the democratic orators, who, to be better understood by the people, constantly affected the use of terms belonging to the different trades.

62

He accuses Cleon of collusion with the enemy.

63

Cleon retorts upon his adversary the charge brought against himself. The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.

64

Allusion to cock-fighting.

65

The tripping metre usually employed in the parabasis.

66

Hitherto Aristophanes had presented his pieces under an assumed name.

67

A comic poet, who had carried off the prize eleven times; not a fragment of his works remains to us.

68

An allusion to the titles of some of his pieces, viz. "the Flute Players, the Birds, the Lydians, the Gnats, the Frogs."

69

The Comic Poet, rival of Aristophanes, several times referred to above.

70

These were the opening lines of poems by Cratinus, often sung at festivities.

71

A poet, successful at the Olympic games, and in old age reduced to extreme misery.

72

The place of honour in the Dionysiac Theatre, reserved for distinguished citizens.

73

A Comic Poet, who was elegant but cold; he had at first played as an actor in the pieces of Cratinus.

74

Besides the oarsmen and the pilot, there was on the Grecian vessels a sailor, who stood at the prow to look out for rocks, and another, who observed the direction of the wind.

75

Two promontories, one in Attica, the other in Euboea, on which temples to Posidon were erected.

76

An Athenian general, who had gained several naval victories. He had contributed to the success of the expedition to Samos (Thucydides, Book I), and had recently beaten a Peloponnesian fleet (Thucydides, Book II).

77

At the Panathenaea, a festival held every fourth year, a peplus, or sail, was carried with pomp to the Acropolis. On this various mythological scenes, having reference to Athené, were embroidered—her exploits against the giants, her fight with Posidon concerning the name to be given to Athens, etc. It had also become customary to add the names and the deeds of such citizens as had deserved well of their country.

78

Cleaenetus had passed a law to limit the number of citizens to be fed at the Prytaneum; it may be supposed, that those, who aspired to this distinction, sought to conciliate Cleaenetus in their favour.

79

The Chorus of Knights, not being able to sing their own praises, feign to divert these to their chargers.

80

A horse branded with the obsolete letter [Greek: sán]—[Symbol: Letter 'san'], as a mark of breed or high quality.

81

Crab was no doubt a nickname given to the Corinthians on account of the position of their city on an isthmus between two seas. In the 'Acharnians' Theorus is mentioned as an ambassador, who had returned from the King of Persia.

82

The Senate was a body composed of five hundred members, elected annually like the magistrates from the three first classes to the exclusion of the fourth, the Thetes, which was composed of the poorest citizens.

83

The [Greek: moth_on], a rough, boisterous, obscene dance.

84

At the festival of the Pyanepsia, held in honour of Athené as the protectress of Theseus in his fight with the Minotaur, the children carried olive branches in procession, round which strips of linen were wound; they were then fastened up over the entrances of each house.

85

On which the citizens sat in the Public Assembly in the Pnyx to hear the orators. In the centre of the semicircular space the tribune stood, a square block of stone, [Greek: B_ema], and from this the people were addressed.

86

Lysicles was a dealer in sheep, who had wielded great power in Athens after the death of Pericles. Cynna and Salabaccha were two celebrated courtesans.

87

Place of interment for those who died for the country.

88

Seated on the banks for the rowers.

89

Assassin of the tyrant Hippias, the son of Pisistratus. His memory was held in great honour at Athens.

90

Driven out by the invasions of the Peloponnesians, the people of the outlying districts had been obliged to seek refuge within the walls of Athens, where they were lodged wherever they could find room.

91

A verse borrowed from Euripides' lost play of 'Telephus.'

92

Themistocles joined the Piraeus to Athens by the construction of the Long Walls.

93

Which were caught off the Piraeus.

94

Mitylené, chief city of the Island of Lesbos, rebelled against the Athenians and was retaken by Chares. By a popular decree the whole manhood of the town was to suffer death, but this decree was withdrawn the next day. Aristophanes insinuates that Cleon, bought over with Mitylenaean gold, brought about this change of opinion. On the contrary, Thucydides says that the decree was revoked in spite of Cleon's opposition.

95

When bucklers were hung up as trophies, it was usual to detach the ring or brace, so as to render them useless for warlike purposes.

96

An orator of debauched habits.

97

An accusation frequently hurled at the orators.

98

Guests took off their shoes before entering the festal hall.

99

An allusion to Cleon's former calling of a tanner.

100

A plant from Cyrenaďca, which was imported into Athens in large quantities after the conclusion of a treaty of navigation, which Cleon made with this country. It was a very highly valued flavouring for sauces.

101

The name of a supposed informer. The adjective, [Greek: pyrrhos], yellow, the colour of ordure, is contained in the construction of this name; thus a most disgusting piece of word-play is intended.