The Eleven Comedies, Volume 1. Аристофан

102

The orators were for ever claiming the protection of Athené.

103

A very expensive burden, which was imposed upon the rich citizen. The trierarchs had to furnish both the equipment of the triremes or war-galleys and their upkeep. They varied considerably in number and ended in reaching a total of 1200; the most opulent found the money, and were later repaid partly and little by little by those not so well circumstanced. Later it was permissible for anyone, appointed as a trierarch, to point out someone richer than himself and to ask to have him take his place with the condition that if the other preferred, he should exchange fortunes with him and continue his office of trierarch.

104

This is an allusion to some extortion of Cleon's.

105

The Greek word [Greek: d_emos] means both "The People" and fat, grease. The pun cannot well be kept in English.

106

A voracious bird—in allusion to Cleon's rapacity and to his loquacity in the Assembly.

107

The orators were fond of supporting their arguments with imaginary oracles—and Cleon was an especial adept at this dodge.

108

Smicythes, King of Thrace, spoken of in the oracle as a woman, doubtless on account of his cowardice. The word pursue is here used in a double sense, viz. in battle and in law. It is on account of this latter meaning, that Aristophanes adds "and her spouse," because in cases in which women were sued at law, their husbands were summoned as conjointly liable.

109

Because he had smashed up and turned upside down the fortunes of Athens.

110

The pun—rather a far-fetched one—is between the words [Greek: D_orh_osti] (in the Dorian mode) and [Greek: d_orhon] (a bribe).

111

A Boeotian soothsayer.

112

A name invented by the Sausage-seller on the spur of the moment, to cap Cleon's boast.

113

That is, Athenian; Erectheus was an ancient mythical King of Athens.

114

That is, the tributes paid to Athens by the Aegaean Islands, whether allies or subjects.

115

The Lacedaemonian prisoners from Sphacteria, so often referred to.

116

That is, Athenian; Cecrops was the first King of Athens, according to the legends.

117

There were three towns of this name in different parts of Greece.

118

There is a pun here which it is impossible to render in English; the Greek [Greek: Pylos](Pylos) differs by only one letter from the word meaning a bath-tub ([Greek: Pyelos]).

119

Cleon was reproached by his enemies with paying small attention to the regular payment of the sailors.

120

Another poetical term to signify Athenian; Aegeus, an ancient mythical King of Athens, father of Theseus.

121

Impudent as a dog and cunning as a fox.

122

An orator and statesman of the day; practically nothing is known about him.

123

Another orator and statesman, accused apparently of taking bribes.

124

As pointed out before, the orators were fond of dragging Athené continually into their speeches.

125

One of Cleon's protégés and flatterers. The scholiasts say he was his secretary.

126

Terms borrowed from the circus races.

127

Terms borrowed from the circus races.

128

That is, at the expense of other folk.

129

Pieces of bread, hollowed out, which were filled with mincemeat or soup.

130

Both Greeks and Romans drank their wine mixed with water.

131

After his success in the Sphacteria affair Cleon induced the people to vote him a chaplet of gold.

132

That is, by means of the mechanical device of the Greek stage known as the [Greek: ekkukl_ema].

133

Parody of a well-known verse from Euripides' 'Alcestis.'

134

The name Agoracritus is compounded: cf. [Greek: agora], a market-place, and [Greek: krinein], to judge.

135

This grandiloquent opening is borrowed from Pindar.

136

Mentioned in the 'Acharnians.'

137

A soothsayer.

138

A flute-player.

139

An allusion to the vice of the 'cunnilingue,' apparently a novel form of naughtiness at Athens in Aristophanes' day.

140

As well known for his gluttony as for his cowardice.

141

One of the most noisy demagogues of Cleon's party; he succeeded him, but was later condemned to ostracism.

142

A town in Bithynia, situated at the entrance of the Bosphorus and nearly opposite Byzantium. It was one of the most important towns in Asia Minor. Doubtless Hyperbolus only demanded so large a fleet to terrorize the towns and oppress them at will.

143

These temples were inviolable places of refuge, where even slaves were secure.

144

A rocky cleft at the back of the Acropolis into which criminals were hurled.

145

Young and effeminate orators of licentious habits.

146

By adroit special pleading he had contrived to get his acquittal, when charged with a capital offence.

147

They were personified on the stage as pretty little filles de joie.

148

A name invented by Aristophanes and signifying 'a just citizen.'

149

Cleon had received five talents from the islanders subject to Athens, on condition that he should get the tribute payable by them reduced; when informed of this transaction, the Knights compelled him to return the money.

150

A hemistich borrowed from Euripides' 'Telephus.'

151

The tragedies of Aeschylus continued to be played even after the poet's death, which occurred in 436 B.C., ten years before the production of the Acharnians.

152

A tragic poet, whose pieces were so devoid of warmth and life that he was nicknamed [Greek: chi_on], i.e. snow.

153

A bad musician, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes; he played both the lyre and the flute.

154

A lively and elevated method.

155

A hill near the Acropolis, where the Assemblies were held.

156

Several means were used to force citizens to attend the assemblies; the shops were closed; circulation was only permitted in those streets which led to the Pnyx; finally, a rope covered with vermilion was drawn round those who dallied in the Agora (the marketplace), and the late-comers, ear-marked by the imprint of the rope, were fined.

157

Magistrates who, with the Archons and the Epistatae, shared the care of holding and directing the assemblies of the people; they were fifty in number.

158

The Peloponnesian War had already, at the date of the representation of the 'Acharnians,' lasted five years, 431-426 B.C.; driven from their lands by the successive Lacedaemonian invasions, the people throughout the country had been compelled to seek shelter behind the