The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2

538

A verse from the 'Phrixus' of Euripides; what follows is a parody.

539

We have already seen Aeschylus pretending that it was possible to adapt any foolish expression one liked to the verses of Euripides: "a little bottle, a little bag, a little fleece."

540

Pluto speaks as though he were an Athenian himself.

541

That they should hang themselves. Cleophon is said to have been an influential alien resident who was opposed to concluding peace; Myrmex and Nicomachus were two officials guilty of peculation of public funds; Archenomus is unknown.

542

He would brand them as fugitive slaves, if, despite his orders, they refused to come down.

543

An Athenian admiral.

544

The real name of the father of Adimantus was Leucolophides, which Aristophanes jestingly turns into Leucolophus, i.e. White Crest.

545

i.e. in a foreign country; Cleophon, as we have just seen, was not an Athenian.

546

Aristophanes parodies Euripides' language, which is occasionally sillily sententious.

547

He flourished about 420 B.C. and composed many tragedies, such as 'Telephus,' 'Thyestes,' which are lost. Some fragments of his work are to be found in Aristotle and in Athenaeus; he also distinguished himself as a musician. The banquet, which gave his name to one of Plato's dialogues, is supposed to have taken place at his house.

548

The Thesmophoria were celebrated in the month of Pyanepsion, or November.

549

The Thesmophoria lasted five days; they were dedicated to Demeter Thesmophoros, or Legislatress, in recognition of the wise laws she had given mankind. For many days before the solemn event, the women of high birth (who alone were entitled to celebrate it) had to abstain from all pleasures that appealed to the senses, even the most legitimate, and to live with the greatest sobriety. The presiding priest at the Thesmophoria was always chosen from the sacerdotal family of the Eumolpidae, the descendants of Eumolpus, the son of Posidon. At these feasts, the worship of Persephoné was associated with that of Demeter.

550

Refers presumably to the [Greek: ekkukl_ema], a piece of machinery by means of which interiors were represented on the Greek stage—room and occupant being in some way wheeled out into view of the spectators bodily.

551

A celebrated 'lady of pleasure'; Agathon is like her by reason of his effeminate, wanton looks and dissolute habits.

552

Demeter is represented wandering, torch in hand, about the universe looking for her lost child Proserpine (Persephoné).

553

Troy.

554

Agathon, in accordance with his character, voluptuousness, is represented as preferring the effeminate music and lascivious dances of Asia.

555

Goddesses who presided over generation; see also the 'Lysistrata.'

556

A tetralogy, a series of four dramas connected by subject, of which the principal character was Lycurgus, king of the Thracians. When Bacchus returned to Thrace as conqueror of the Indies he dared to deride the god, and was punished by him in consequence. All four plays are lost.

557

That is, the attributes of a man and those of a woman combined.

558

That is, you make love in the posture known as 'the horse,' equus, in other words the woman atop of the man. There is a further joke intended here, inasmuch as Euripides, in his 'Phaedra,' represents the heroine as being passionately addicted to hunting and horses.

559

Ibycus, a lyric poet of the sixth century, originally from Rhegium in Magna Graecia.—Anacreon, a celebrated erotic poet of the beginning of the fifth century.—Alcaeus, a lyric poet, born about 600 B.C. at Mytilené, in the island of Lesbos, was driven out of his country by a tyrant and sang of his loves, his services as a warrior, his travels and the miseries of his exile. He was a contemporary of Sappho, and conceived a passion for her, which she only rewarded with disdain.

560

Phrynichus, a disciple of Thespis, improved the dramatic art, when still no more than a child; it was he who first introduced female characters upon the stage and made use of the iambic of six feet in tragedies. He flourished about 500 B.C.

561

Philocles, Xenocles, and Theognis were dramatic poets and contemporaries of Aristophanes. The two first were sons of Carcinus, the poet and dancer.

562

Fragment of Euripides' 'Aeolus,' a lost drama.

563

Fragment of Euripides' well-known play, the 'Alcestis.'

564

An allusion to the secret practices of mutual love which the women assembled for the Thesmophoria were credited by popular repute with indulging in.

565

That is, to sanctuary.

566

An effeminate often mentioned by Aristophanes.

567

An allusion to the pederastic habits which the poet attributes to Agathon.

568

An obscene allusion.

569

On the machine upon which he is perched.

570

A fragment of the 'Menalippé' of Euripides.

571

The ether played an important part in the physical theories of Hippocrates, the celebrated physician.

572

An allusion to a verse in his 'Hippolytus,' where Euripides says, "The tongue has sworn, but the heart is unsworn." See also 'The Frogs.'

573

The name of a slave; being disguised as a woman, Mnesilochus has himself followed by a female servant, a Thracian slave-woman.

574

Demeter and Cora (or Persephoné), who were adored together during the Thesmophoria.

575

Women slaves were forbidden by law to be present at the Thesmophoria; they remained at the door of the temple and there waited for the orders of their mistresses.

576

The god of riches.

577

The nurse of Demeter. According to another version, Calligenia was a surname of Demeter herself, who was adored as presiding over the growth of a child at its mother's breast.

578

A surname of Demeter, who, by means of the food she produces as goddess of abundance, presides over the development of the bodies of children and young people. Curotrophos is derived from [Greek: trephein], to nourish, and [Greek: kouros], young boy.

579

Apollo.

580

Artemis.

581

An insult which Aristophanes constantly repeats in every way he can; as we have seen before, Euripides' mother was, or was commonly said to be, a market-woman.

582

Lovers sent each other chaplets and flowers.

583

In parody of a passage in the 'Sthenoboea' of Euripides, which is preserved in Athenaeus.

584

He believes her pregnant.

585

A fragment from the 'Phoenix,' by Euripides.

586

It seems that the Spartan locksmiths were famous for their skill.

587

The women broke the seals their husbands had affixed, and then, with the aid of their ring bearing the same device, they replaced them as before.

588

The impression of which was too complicated and therefore could not be imitated.

589

As a remedy against the colic.

590

So that it might not creak when opened.

591

An altar in the form of a column in the front vestibule of houses and dedicated to Apollo.

592

Because the smell of garlic is not inviting to gallants.

593

The last words are the thoughts of the woman, who pretends to be in child-bed; she is, however, careful not to utter them to her husband.

594

The proverb runs, "There is a scorpion beneath every stone." By substituting orator for scorpion, Aristophanes means it to be understood that one is no less venomous than the other.

595

There were two women named Aglaurus. One, the daughter of Actaeus, King of Attica, married Cecrops and brought him the kingship as her dowry; the other was the daughter of Cecrops, and was turned into stone for having interfered from jealousy with Hermes' courtship of Hersé her sister. It was this second Aglaurus the Athenian women were in the habit of invoking; they often associated with her her sister Pandrosus.

596

Underneath the baths were large hollow chambers filled with steam to maintain the temperature of the water.

597

By kicking her in the stomach.

598

Clisthenes is always represented by Aristophanes as effeminate in the extreme in dress and habits.

599

The coward, often mentioned with contempt by Aristophanes, had thrown away his shield.

600

The ancients believed that cress reduced the natural secretions.

601

A deme of Attica.

602

The women lodged in pairs during the Thesmophoria in tents erected near the Temple of Demeter.

603

The Corinthians were constantly passing their vessels across the isthmus from one sea to the other; we know that the Grecian ships were of very small dimensions.

604

This was the name of the place where the Ecclesia, the public meeting of the people, took place; the chorus gives this name here to Demeter's temple, because the women are gathered there.

605

The spaces left free between the tents, and which served as passage-ways.

606

A choric dance began here.

607

A woman's footgear.—On undressing the supposed child, Mnesilochus perceives that it is nothing but a skin of wine.

608

Dr. P. Menier repeatedly points out in his "La médecine et les počtes latins," that the ancient writers constantly spoke of ten months as being a woman's period of gestation.

609

A cotyla contained nearly half a pint.

610

Both the Feast of Cups and the Dionysia were dedicated to Bacchus, the god of wine; it is for this reason that Mnesilochus refers to the former when guessing the wine-skin's age.

611

The Cretan robe that had covered the wine-skin.

612

An allusion to the tragedy by Euripides called 'Palamedes,' which belonged to the tetralogy of the Troades, and was produced in 414 B.C. Aristophanes is railing at the strange device which the poet makes Oeax resort to. Oeax was Palamedes' brother, and he is represented as inscribing the death of the latter on a number of oars with the hope that at least one would reach the shores of Euboea and thus inform his father, Nauplias, the king of the fact.

613

The images of the various gods which were invoked at the Thesmophoria, and the enumeration of which we have already had.

614

Charminus, an Athenian general, who had recently been defeated at sea by the Spartans.—Nausimaché was a courtesan, but her name is purposely chosen because of its derivation ([Greek: naus], ship, and [Greek: mach_e], fight), so as to point more strongly to Charminus' disgrace.

615

A general and an Athenian orator.

616

A courtesan.

617

Aristomaché ([Greek: mach_e], fight, and [Greek: arist_e], excellent) and Stratonicé ([Greek: stratos], army, and [Greek: nik_e], victory) are imaginary names, invented to show the decadence of the Athenian armies.

618

Eubulé ([Greek: eu], well, and [Greek: bouleuesthai], to deliberate) is also an imaginary name. The poet wishes to say that in that year wisdom had not ruled the decisions of the Senate; they had allowed themselves to be humbled by the tyranny of the Four Hundred.

619

The cylinder and the beams were the chief tools of the weaver. It was the women who did this work.

620

The taxiarch had the command of 128 men; the strategus had the direction of an army.

621

The Sthenia were celebrated in honour of Athené Sthenias, or the goddess of force; the women were then wont to attack each other with bitter sarcasms.—During the Scirophoria ([Greek: skiron], canopy) the statues of Athené, Demeter, Persephone, the Sun and Posidon were carried in procession under canopies with great pomp.

622

The trierarchs were rich citizens, whose duty it was to maintain the galleys or triremes of the fleet.

623

Hyperbolus is incessantly railed at by Aristophanes as a traitor and an informer. Lamachus, although our poet does not always spare him, was a brave general; he had been one of the commanders of the Sicilian Expedition.

624

It will be remembered that Mnesilochus had employed a similar device to one imputed to Oeax by Euripides in his 'Palamedes,' in order to inform his father-in-law of his predicament.

625

A tragedy, in which Menelaus is seen in Egypt, whither he has gone to seek Helen, who is detained there.

626

These are the opening verses of Euripides' 'Helen,' with the exception of the last words, which are a parody.—Syrmea is a purgative plant very common in Egypt. Aristophanes speaks jestingly of the white soil of Egypt, because the slime of the Nile is very black.

627

This reply and those that follow are fragments from 'Helen.'

628

An infamous Athenian, whose name had become a byword for everything that was vile.

629

The whole of this dialogue between Mnesilochus and Euripides is composed of fragments taken from 'Helen,' slightly parodied at times.

630

King of Egypt.

631

Son of Epicles, and mentioned by Thucydides.

632

Aristophanes invents this in order to give coherence to what follows.

633

An Athenian general whom Thucydides mentions.

634

A deme of Attica.

635

No doubt Euripides appeared on the stage carrying some herbs in his hand or wearing them in his belt, so as to recall his mother's calling. If the gibes of Aristophanes can be believed, she dealt in vegetables, as we have noted repeatedly.

636

A ruined man, living in penury, presumably well known to the audience.

637

Apollo.

638

Surnames of Bacchus.

639

The archers, or the police officers, at Athens were mostly Scythians. If not from that country always, they were known generally by that name.

640

Which the archer had driven in to tighten up the rope binding the prison to the pillory.

641

Perseus was returning from the land of the Gorgons mounted upon Pegasus, when, while high up in the air, he saw Andromeda bound to a rock and exposed to the lusts and voracity of a sea monster. Touched by the misfortune and the beauty of the princess, he turned the monster to stone by showing him the head of Medusa, released Andromeda and married her.—Euripides had just produced a tragedy on this subject.

642

Mnesilochus speaks alternately in his own person and as though he were Andromeda, the effect being comical in the extreme.

643

A notorious glutton, mentioned also in the 'Peace.'

644

Through Euripides, his father-in-law.

645

On the occasion of the presentation of the tragedy of 'Andromeda,' in which the nymph Echo plays an important part.

646

Unknown; Aristophanes plays upon the similarity of name.

647

That is, the Thesmophoriae, viz. Demeter and Persephoné.

648

Throughout the whole scene the Scythian speaks with a grotesque barbarian accent.

649

The pun depends in the Greek on the similarity of the final syllables of [Greek: subin_e], and [Greek: katabin_esi]. It can be given literally in English.

650

A parody of the pompous addresses to inanimate objects so frequent in the prologues and monodies of Euripides.

651

A festival which was kept in Athens in the month of scirophorion (June), whence its name; the statues of Athené, Demeter, Persephoné, Apollo and Posidon were borne through the city with great pomp with banners or canopies ([Greek: skira]) over them.

652

Unknown.

653

So as to get sunburnt and thus have a more manly appearance.

654

A demagogue, well known on account of his long flowing beard; he was nicknamed by his fellow-citizens [Greek: Sakesphoros] that is, shield-bearer, because his beard came down to his waist and covered his body like a shield.

655

Unknown.

656

Whereas the arms must be extended to do carding, and folk could not fail to recognize her as a woman by their shape.

657

Agyrrhius was an Athenian general, who commanded at Lesbos; he was effeminate and of depraved habits. No doubt he had let his beard grow to impose on the masses and to lend himself that dignity which he was naturally wanting in.—Pronomus was a flute-player, who had a fine beard.

658

Young pigs were sacrificed at the beginning of the sittings; here the comic writer substitutes a cat for the pig, perhaps because of its lasciviousness.

659

A pathic; Aristophanes classes him with the women, because of his effeminacy.

660

The orators wore green chaplets, generally of olive leaves; guests also wore them at feasts, but then flowers were mingled with the leaves.

661

An allusion to the rapacity of the orators, who only meddled in political discussions with the object of getting some personal gain through their influence; also to the fondness for strong drink we find attributed in so many passages to the Athenian women.

662

A sort of cistern dug in the ground, in which the ancients kept their wine.

663

This was a form of oath that women made use of; hence it is barred by Praxagora.

664

Another pathic, like Ariphrades, mentioned above.

665

Before the time of Pericles, when manners had not yet become corrupt, the fame of each citizen was based on fact; worthy men were honoured, and those who resembled Agyrrhius, already mentioned, were detested. For this general, see note a little above.

666

The alliance with Corinth, Boeotia and Argolis against Sparta in 393 B.C.

667

Conon, who went to Asia Minor and was thrown into prison at Sardis by the Persian Satrap.

668

An Argive to whom Conon entrusted the command of his fleet when he went to the court of the King of Persia.—In this passage the poet is warning his fellow-citizens not to alienate the goodwill of the allies by their disdain, but to know how to honour those among them who had distinguished themselves by their talents.

669

The Lacedaemonians, after having recalled their king, Agesilas, who gained the victory of Coronea, were themselves beaten at sea off Cnidus by Conon and Pharnabazus. 'Twas no doubt this victory which gave a spark of hope to the Athenians, who had suffered so cruelly during so many years; but Aristophanes declares that, in order to profit by this return of fortune, they must recall Thrasybulus, the deliverer of Athens in 401 B.C. He was then ostensibly employed in getting the islands of the Aegean sea and the towns of the Asiatic coast to return under the Athenian power, but this was really only an honourable excuse for thrusting him aside for reasons of jealousy.

670

Unknown.

671

During the earlier years of the Peloponnesian war, when the annual invasion of Attica by the Lacedaemonians drove the country population into the city.

672

A demagogue, otherwise unknown.

673

Cephalus' father was said to have been a tinker.

674

The comic poets accused him of being an alien by birth and also an informer and a rogue. See the 'Plutus.'

675

There was a Greek saying, "Look into the backside of a dog and of three foxes" which, says the Scholiast, used to be addressed to those who had bad eyes. But the precise point of the joke here is difficult to see.

676

An obscene allusion; [Greek: hupokrouein] means both pulsare and subagitare,—to strike, and also to move to the man in sexual intercourse.

677

In order to vote.

678

The Chorus addresses the leaders amongst the women by the names of men. Charitimides was commander of the Athenian navy.

679

The countryfolk affected to despise the townspeople, whom they dubbed idle and lazy.

680

The fee of the citizens who attended the Assembly had varied like that of the dicasts, or jurymen.

681

An Athenian general, who gained brilliant victories over the Thebans during the period prior to the Peloponnesian war.

682

A dithyrambic poet, and notorious for his dissoluteness; he was accused of having daubed the statues of Hecate at the Athenian cross-roads with ordure.

683

The women wore yellow tunics, called [Greek: krok_otoi], because of their colour.

684

This Thrasybulus, not to be confounded with the more famous Thrasybulus, restorer of the Athenian democracy, in 403 B.C., had undertaken to speak against the Spartans, who had come with proposals of peace, but afterwards excused himself, pretending to be labouring under a sore throat, brought on by eating wild pears (B.C. 393). The Athenians suspected him of having been bribed by the Spartans.