No More Learning

[311] Having been commissioned to execute a statue of Athene, Phidias was
accused of having stolen part of the gold given him out of the public
treasury for its decoration. Rewarded for his work by calumny and
banishment, he resolved to make a finer statue than his Athene, and
executed one for the temple of Elis, that of the Olympian Zeus, which was
considered one of the wonders of the world.

[312] He had issued a decree, which forbade the admission of any Megarian
on Attic soil, and also all trade with that people. The Megarians, who
obtained all their provisions from Athens, were thus almost reduced to
starvation.

[313] That is, the vineyards were ravaged from the very outset of the
war, and this increased the animosity.

[314] Driven in from the country parts by the Lacedaemonian invaders.

[315] The demagogues, who distributed the slender dole given to the poor,
and by that means exercised undue power over them.

[316] Meaning, the side of the Spartans.

[317] Cleon.

[318] It was Hermes who conducted the souls of the dead down to the lower
regions.

[319] The Spartans had thrice offered to make peace after the Pylos
disaster.

[320] i. e. dominated by Cleon.

[321] There is a pun here, that cannot be rendered, between [Greek:
apobolimaios], which means, _one who throws away his weapons_, and
[Greek: upobolimaios], which signifies, _a supposititious child_.
[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.