[325] All these
surnames
bore some relation to the character or the build
of the individual to whom the poet applies them.
of the individual to whom the poet applies them.
Aristophanes
[314] Pisthetaerus modifies the Greek proverbial saying, "To what use
cannot hands be put? "
[315] A corps of Athenian cavalry was so named.
[316] Chaos, Night, Tartarus, and Erebus alone existed in the beginning;
Eros was born from Night and Erebus, and he wedded Chaos and begot Earth,
Air, and Heaven; so runs the fable.
[317] Iris appears from the top of the stage and arrests her flight in
mid-career.
[318] Ship, because of her wings, which resemble oars; cap, because she
no doubt wore the head-dress (as a messenger of the gods) with which
Hermes is generally depicted.
[319] The names of the two sacred galleys which carried Athenian
officials on State business.
[320] A buzzard is named in order to raise a laugh, the Greek name
[Greek: triorchos] also meaning, etymologically, provided with three
testicles, vigorous in love.
[321] Iris' reply is a parody of the tragic style. --'Lycimnius' is,
according to the Scholiast, the title of a tragedy by Euripides, which is
about a ship that is struck by lightning.
[322] i. e. for a poltroon, like the slaves, most of whom came to Athens
from these countries.
[323] A parody of a passage in the lost tragedy of 'Niobe' of Aeschylus.
[324] Because this bird has a spotted plumage. --Porphyrion is also the
name of one of the Titans who tried to storm heaven.
[325] All these surnames bore some relation to the character or the build
of the individual to whom the poet applies them. --Chaerephon, Socrates'
disciple, was of white and ashen hue. --Opontius was one-eyed. --Syracosius
was a braggart. --Midias had a passion for quail-fights, and, besides,
resembled that bird physically.
[326] Pisthetaerus' servant, already mentioned.
[327] From the inspection of which auguries were taken, e. g. the eagles,
the vultures, the crows.
[328] Or rather, a young man who contemplated parricide.
[329] A parody of verses in Sophocles' 'Oenomaus. '
[330] The Athenians were then besieging Amphipolis in the Thracian
Chalcidice.
[331] There was a real Cinesias--a dithyrambic poet, born at Thebes.
[332] The Scholiast thinks that Cinesias, who was tall and slight of
build, wore a kind of corset of lime-wood to support his waist--surely
rather a far-fetched interpretation!
[333] The Greek word used here was the word of command employed to stop
the rowers.
[334] Cinesias makes a bound each time that Pisthetaerus struck him.
