" Like Lampon, he swears by the
birds, instead of swearing by the gods.
birds, instead of swearing by the gods.
Aristophanes
Demosthenes tells us it was thirty-five stadia from
Athens.
[224] The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of
springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season.
[225] To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky.
[226] As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small
coins in their mouths. --This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour
to fill the bag he was carrying.
[227] In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about
harvest-time.
[228] This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, _When the cuckoo sings we go
harvesting_. Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised
circumcision.
[229] The staff, called a sceptre, generally terminated in a piece of
carved work, representing a flower, a fruit, and most often a bird.
[230] A general accused of treachery. The bird watches Lysicrates,
because, according to Pisthetaerus, he had a right to a share of the
presents.
[231] It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus.
[232] One of the diviners sent to Sybaris (in Magna Graecia, S. Italy)
with the Athenian colonists, who rebuilt the town under the new name of
Thurium.
[233] As if he were saying, "Oh, gods!
" Like Lampon, he swears by the
birds, instead of swearing by the gods. --The names of these birds are
those of two of the Titans.
[234] Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of
Heracles. --Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione and mother of
Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus. --Alope, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who
reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alope was honoured with
Posidon's caresses; by him she had a son named Hippothous, at first
brought up by shepherds but who afterwards was restored to the throne of
his grandfather by Theseus.
[235] Because the bald patch on the coot's head resembles the shaven and
depilated 'motte. '
[236] Because water is the duck's domain, as it is that of Posidon.
[237] Because the gull, like Heracles, is voracious.
[238] The Germans still call it _Zaunkonig_ and the French _roitelet_,
both names thus containing the idea of _king_.
[239] The Scholiast draws our attention to the fact that Homer says this
of Here and not of Iris (Iliad, V. 778); it is only another proof that
the text of Homer has reached us in a corrupted form, or it may be that
Aristophanes was liable, like other people, to occasional mistakes of
quotation.
[240] In sacrifices.
[241] An Athenian proverb.
[242] A celebrated temple to Zeus in an oasis of Libya.
[243] Nicias was commander, along with Demosthenes, and later on
Alcibiades, of the Athenian forces before Syracuse, in the ill-fated
Sicilian Expedition, 415-413 B.
Athens.
[224] The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of
springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season.
[225] To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky.
[226] As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small
coins in their mouths. --This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour
to fill the bag he was carrying.
[227] In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about
harvest-time.
[228] This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, _When the cuckoo sings we go
harvesting_. Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised
circumcision.
[229] The staff, called a sceptre, generally terminated in a piece of
carved work, representing a flower, a fruit, and most often a bird.
[230] A general accused of treachery. The bird watches Lysicrates,
because, according to Pisthetaerus, he had a right to a share of the
presents.
[231] It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus.
[232] One of the diviners sent to Sybaris (in Magna Graecia, S. Italy)
with the Athenian colonists, who rebuilt the town under the new name of
Thurium.
[233] As if he were saying, "Oh, gods!
" Like Lampon, he swears by the
birds, instead of swearing by the gods. --The names of these birds are
those of two of the Titans.
[234] Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of
Heracles. --Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione and mother of
Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus. --Alope, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who
reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alope was honoured with
Posidon's caresses; by him she had a son named Hippothous, at first
brought up by shepherds but who afterwards was restored to the throne of
his grandfather by Theseus.
[235] Because the bald patch on the coot's head resembles the shaven and
depilated 'motte. '
[236] Because water is the duck's domain, as it is that of Posidon.
[237] Because the gull, like Heracles, is voracious.
[238] The Germans still call it _Zaunkonig_ and the French _roitelet_,
both names thus containing the idea of _king_.
[239] The Scholiast draws our attention to the fact that Homer says this
of Here and not of Iris (Iliad, V. 778); it is only another proof that
the text of Homer has reached us in a corrupted form, or it may be that
Aristophanes was liable, like other people, to occasional mistakes of
quotation.
[240] In sacrifices.
[241] An Athenian proverb.
[242] A celebrated temple to Zeus in an oasis of Libya.
[243] Nicias was commander, along with Demosthenes, and later on
Alcibiades, of the Athenian forces before Syracuse, in the ill-fated
Sicilian Expedition, 415-413 B.
