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[301] The device on his shield was a Gorgon's head. (_See_ 'The
Acharnians. ')

[302] Both Sparta and Athens had sought the alliance of the Argives; they
had kept themselves strictly neutral and had received pay from both
sides. But, the year after the production of 'The Wasps,' they openly
joined Athens, had attacked Epidaurus and got cut to pieces by the
Spartans.

[303] These are the Spartan prisoners from Sphacteria, who were lying in
gaol at Athens. They were chained fast to large beams of wood.

[304] 'Twas want of force, not want of will. They had suffered more than
any other people from the war. (_See_ 'The Acharnians. ')

[305] Meaning, look chiefly to your fleet. This was the counsel that
Themistocles frequently gave the Athenians.

[306] A metaphor referring to the abundant vintages that peace would
assure.

[307] The goddess of fruits.

[308] Aristophanes personifies under this name the sacred ceremonies in
general which peace would allow to be celebrated with due pomp. Opora and
Theoria come on the stage in the wake of Peace, clothed and decked out as
courtesans.
[309] Aristophanes has already shown us the husbandmen and workers in
peaceful trades pulling at the rope to extricate Peace, while the
armourers hindered them by pulling the other way.

[310] An allusion to Lamachus' shield.

[311] Having been commissioned to execute a statue of Athene, Phidias was
accused of having stolen part of the gold given him out of the public
treasury for its decoration. Rewarded for his work by calumny and
banishment, he resolved to make a finer statue than his Athene, and
executed one for the temple of Elis, that of the Olympian Zeus, which was
considered one of the wonders of the world.

[312] He had issued a decree, which forbade the admission of any Megarian
on Attic soil, and also all trade with that people. The Megarians, who
obtained all their provisions from Athens, were thus almost reduced to
starvation.

[313] That is, the vineyards were ravaged from the very outset of the
war, and this increased the animosity.

[314] Driven in from the country parts by the Lacedaemonian invaders.

[315] The demagogues, who distributed the slender dole given to the poor,
and by that means exercised undue power over them.

[316] Meaning, the side of the Spartans.

[317] Cleon.

[318] It was Hermes who conducted the souls of the dead down to the lower
regions.

[319] The Spartans had thrice offered to make peace after the Pylos
disaster.

[320] i. e. dominated by Cleon.