[329] In spite of what he says, Aristophanes has not always disdained
this sort of low comedy--for instance, his Heracles in 'The Birds.
this sort of low comedy--for instance, his Heracles in 'The Birds.
Aristophanes
[322] Simonides was very avaricious, and sold his pen to the highest
bidder. It seems that Sophocles had also started writing for gain.
[323] i. e. he would recoil from no risk to turn an honest penny.
[324] A comic poet as well known for his love of wine as for his
writings; he died in 431 B. C. , the first year of the war, at the age of
ninety-seven.
[325] Opora was the goddess of fruits.
[326] The Scholiast says fruit may be eaten with impunity in great
quantities if care is taken to drink a decoction of this herb afterwards.
[327] Theoria is confided to the care of the Senate, because it was this
body who named the [Greek: The_orhoi], deputies appointed to go and
consult the oracles beyond the Attic borders or to be present at feasts
and games.
[328] The great festivals, e. g. the Dionysia, lasted three days. Those in
honour of the return of Peace, which was so much desired, could not last
a shorter time.
[329] In spite of what he says, Aristophanes has not always disdained
this sort of low comedy--for instance, his Heracles in 'The Birds. '
[330] A celebrated Athenian courtesan of Aristophanes' day.
[331] Cleon. These four verses are here repeated from the parabasis of
'The Wasps,' produced 423 B. C. , the year before this play.
[332] Shafts aimed at certain poets, who used their renown as a means of
seducing young men to grant them pederastic favours.
[333] The poet supplied everything needful for the production of his
piece--vases, dresses, masks, etc.
[334] Aristophanes was bald himself, it would seem.
[335] Carcinus and his three sons were both poets and dancers. (_See_ the
closing scene of 'The Wasps. ') Perhaps relying little on the literary
value of their work, it seems that they sought to please the people by
the magnificence of its staging.
[336] He had written a piece called 'The Mice,' which he succeeded with
great difficulty in getting played, but it met with no success.
[337] This passage really follows on the invocation, "_Oh, Muse! drive
the War_," etc. , from which indeed it is only divided by the interpolated
criticism aimed at Carcinus.
