[48] Meaning, "Will it only remain for us to throw
ourselves
into the
water?
water?
Aristophanes
[42] A disciple of Thespis, who even in his infancy devoted himself to
the dramatic art. He was the first to introduce female characters on the
stage. He flourished about 500 B. C. , having won his first prize for
Tragedy in 511 B. C. , twelve years before Aeschylus.
[43] Originally subjected to Sparta by Pausanias in 478 B. C. , it was
retaken by Cimon in 471, or forty-eight years previous to the production
of 'The Wasps. ' The old Heliasts refer to this latter event.
[44] An Athenian general, who had been defeated when sent to Sicily with
a fleet to the succour of Leontini; no doubt Cleon had charged him with
treachery.
[45] The Samians were in league with the Persians, but a certain
Carystion betrayed the plot, and thanks to this the Athenians were able
to retake Samos before the island had obtained help from Asia.
[46] The towns of Thrace, up to that time the faithful allies of Athens,
were beginning to throw off her yoke.
[47] Who fulfilled the office of president.
[48] Meaning, "Will it only remain for us to throw ourselves into the
water? " Helle, taken by a ram across the narrow strait, called the
Hellespont after her name, fell into the waves and was drowned.
[49] He is a prisoner inside, and speaks through the closed doors.
[50] This boiling, acid pickle reminds him of the fiery, acrid temper of
the heliasts.
[51] A name invented for the occasion; it really means, _Cleon who holds
the people in his snares_.
[52] When he entered Troy as a spy.
[53] The island of Naxos was taken by Cimon, in consequence of sedition
in the town of Naxos, about fifty years before the production of 'The
Wasps. '
[54] One of the titles under which Artemis, the goddess of the chase, was
worshipped.
[55] Demeter and Persephone. This was an accusation frequently brought
against people in Athens.
[56] An orator of great violence of speech and gesture.
[57] For Philocleon, the titulary god was Lycus, the son of Pandion, the
King of Athens, because a statue stood erected to him close to the spot
where the tribunals sat, and because he recognized no other fatherland
but the tribunals.
[58] A debauchee and an embezzler of public funds, already mentioned a
little above.
[59] Aristophanes speaks of him in 'The Birds' as a traitor and as an
alien who usurped the rights of the city.
[60] A Greek proverb signifying "Much ado about nothing. "
[61] A Spartan general, who perished in the same battle as Cleon, before
Amphipolis, in 422 B.
