The Eleven Comedies, Volume 1

11

Place where the Public Assembly of Athens, the [Greek: ekkl_esia], was held.

12

This was the salary paid to the Ecclesiasts, the jury of citizens who tried cases. It was one obol at first, but Cleon had raised it to three.

13

A town in Messina, opposite the little island of Sphacteria; Demosthenes had seized it, and the Spartans had vainly tried to retake it, having even been obliged to leave four hundred soldiers shut up in Sphacteria. Cleon, sent out with additional forces, had forced the Spartans to capitulate and had thus robbed Demosthenes of the glory of the capture. (See Introduction.)

14

Literally, his rump is among the Chaonians ([Greek: chain_o], to gape open), because his anus is distended by pederastic practices; his hands with the Aetolians ([Greek: aite_o], to ask, to beg); his mind with the Clopidians ([Greek: klept_o], to steal).

15

The versions of his death vary. He is said to have taken poison in order to avoid fighting against Athens.

16

A minor god, supposed by the ancients to preside over the life of each man; each empire, each province, each town had its titular Genius. Everyone offered sacrifice to his Genius on each anniversary of his birth with wine, flowers and incense.

17

A hill in Asia Minor, near Smyrna. Homer mentions the wine of Pramnium.

18

The common people, who at Athens were as superstitious as everywhere else, took delight in oracles, especially when they were favourable, and Cleon served them up to suit their taste and to advance his own ambition.

19

Famous seer of Boeotia.

20

Eucrates, who was the leading statesman at Athens after Pericles.

21

Lysicles, who married the courtesan Aspasia.

22

Literally, like Cycloborus, a torrent in Attica.

23

He points to the spectators.

24

The public meals were given in the Prytaneum; to these were admitted those whose services merited that they should be fed at the cost of the State. This distinction depended on the popular vote, and was very often bestowed on demagogues very unworthy of the privilege.

25

Islands of the Aegaean, subject to Athens, which paid considerable tributes.

26

Caria and Chalcedon were at the two extremities of Asia Minor; the former being at the southern, the latter at the northern end of that extensive coast.

27

As though stupidity were an essential of good government.

28

The Athenian citizens were divided into four classes—the Pentacosiomedimni, who possessed five hundred minae; the Knights, who had three hundred and were obliged to maintain a charger (hence their name); the Zeugitae and the Thetes. In Athens, the Knights never had the high consideration and the share in the magistracy which they enjoyed at Rome.

29

It is said that Aristophanes played the part of Cleon himself, as no one dared to assume the role. (See Introduction.)

30

They were two leaders of the knightly order.

31

The famous whirlpool, near Sicily.

32

Eucrates, the oakum-seller, already mentioned, when the object of a riot, took refuge in a mill and there hid himself in a sack of bran.

33

The chief Athenian tribunal only next in dignity to the Areopagus; it generally consisted of two hundred members; it tried civil cases of the greatest importance and some crimes beyond the competence of other courts, e.g. rape, adultery, extortion. The sittings were in the open air, hence the name ([Greek: _Elios], the sun).

34

The Heliasts' salary. (See above.)

35

Tributary to Athens; Olynthus and Potidaea were the chief towns of this important Peninsula.

36

Meaning he frightens him with the menace of judicial prosecution forces him to purchase silence.

37

The strategi were the heads of the military forces.

38

They presided at the Public Assemblies; they were also empowered to try the most important cases.

39

An allusion to Cleon's former calling.

40

A country deme of Attica.

41

Archeptolemus, a resident alien, who lived in Piraeus. He had loaded Athens with gifts and was nevertheless maltreated by Cleon.

42

This was easier than against a citizen because of the inferiority, in which the pride of the Athenian held those born on other soil.

43

When drunk he conceives himself rich and the man to buy up the rich silver mines of Laurium, in south-east Attica.

44

The Chorus throws itself between Cleon and Agoracritus to protect the latter.

45

An iron collar, an instrument of torture and of punishment.

46

A disease among swine.

47

Cleon 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.

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 walls of Athens.

159

Shortly before the meeting of the Assembly, a number of young pigs were immolated and a few drops of their blood were sprinkled on the seats of the Prytanes; this sacrifice was in honour of Ceres.

160

The name, Amphitheus, contains the word, [Greek: Theos], god.

161

Amongst other duties, it was the office of the Prytanes to look after the wants of the poor.

162

The summer residence of the Great King.

163

Referring to the hardships he had endured garrisoning the walls of Athens during the Lacedaemonian invasions early in the War.

164

Cranaus, the second king of Athens, the successor of Cecrops.

165

Lucian, in his 'Hermotimus,' speaks of these golden mountains as an apocryphal land of wonders and prodigies.