' The full line is: [Greek:
h_e gl_ott' om_omok', h_e de phr_en an_omotos,] "my tongue has taken an
oath, but my mind is unsworn," a bit of casuistry which the critics were
never tired of bringing up against the author.
h_e gl_ott' om_omok', h_e de phr_en an_omotos,] "my tongue has taken an
oath, but my mind is unsworn," a bit of casuistry which the critics were
never tired of bringing up against the author.
Aristophanes
[527] From the 'Glaucus Potniensis,' a lost play of Aeschylus.
[528] i. e. one hundred porters, either because many of the Athenian
porters were Egyptians, or as an allusion to the Pyramids and other great
works, which had habituated them to carrying heavy burdens.
[529] Euripides' friend and collaborator.
[530] The invention of weights and measures, of dice, and of the game of
chess are attributed to him, also that of four additional letters of the
alphabet.
[531] i. e. that cannot decide for either party.
[532] i. e. that a country can always be invaded and that the fleet alone
is a safe refuge. This is the same advice as that given by Pericles, and
which Thucydides expresses thus, "Let your country be devastated, or even
devastate it yourself, and set sail for Laconia with your fleet. "
[533] An allusion to the fees of the dicasts, or jurymen; we have already
seen that at this period it was two obols, and later three.
[534] A half-line from Euripides' 'Hippolytus.
' The full line is: [Greek:
h_e gl_ott' om_omok', h_e de phr_en an_omotos,] "my tongue has taken an
oath, but my mind is unsworn," a bit of casuistry which the critics were
never tired of bringing up against the author.
[535] A verse from the 'Aeolus' of Euripides, but slightly altered.
Euripides said, "Why is is shameful, if the spectators, who enjoy it, do
not think so? "
[536] A verse from the 'Phrixus' of Euripides; what follows is a parody.
[537] 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. "
[538] Pluto speaks as though he were an Athenian himself.
[539] 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.
[540] He would brand them as fugitive slaves, if, despite his orders,
they refused to come down.
[541] An Athenian admiral.
[542] The real name of the father of Adimantus was Leucolophides, which
Aristophanes jestingly turns into Leucolophus, i. e. _White Crest_.
[543] i. e. in a foreign country; Cleophon, as we have just seen, was not
an Athenian.
