* * * * *
Footnotes:
[544] Aristophanes parodies Euripides' language, which is occasionally
sillily sententious.
[545] He flourished about 420 B.C. and composed many tragedies, such as
'Telephus,' 'Thyestes,' which are lost. Some fragments of his work are to
be found in Aristotle and in Athenaeus; he also distinguished himself as
a musician. The banquet, which gave his name to one of Plato's dialogues,
is supposed to have taken place at his house.
[546] The Thesmophoria were celebrated in the month of Pyanepsion, or
November.
[547] The Thesmophoria lasted five days; they were dedicated to Demeter
Thesmophoros, or Legislatress, in recognition of the wise laws she had
given mankind. For many days before the solemn event, the women of high
birth (who alone were entitled to celebrate it) had to abstain from all
pleasures that appealed to the senses, even the most legitimate, and to
live with the greatest sobriety. The presiding priest at the Thesmophoria
was always chosen from the sacerdotal family of the Eumolpidae, the
descendants of Eumolpus, the son of Posidon. At these feasts, the worship
of Persephoné was associated with that of Demeter.
[548] Refers presumably to the [Greek: ekkukl_ema], a piece of machinery
by means of which interiors were represented on the Greek stage--room and
occupant being in some way wheeled out into view of the spectators
bodily.
[549] A celebrated 'lady of pleasure'; Agathon is like her by reason of
his effeminate, wanton looks and dissolute habits.
[550] Demeter is represented wandering, torch in hand, about the universe
looking for her lost child Proserpine (Persephoné).
[551] Troy.
[552] Agathon, in accordance with his character, voluptuousness, is
represented as preferring the effeminate music and lascivious dances of
Asia.
[553] Goddesses who presided over generation; see also the 'Lysistrata.'
[554] A tetralogy, a series of four dramas connected by subject, of which
the principal character was Lycurgus, king of the Thracians. When Bacchus
returned to Thrace as conqueror of the Indies he dared to deride the god,
and was punished by him in consequence. All four plays are lost.
[555] That is, the attributes of a man and those of a woman combined.
[556] That is, you make love in the posture known as 'the horse,'
_equus_, in other words the woman atop of the man. There is a further
joke intended here, inasmuch as Euripides, in his 'Phaedra,' represents
the heroine as being passionately addicted to hunting and horses.
[557] Ibycus, a lyric poet of the sixth century, originally from Rhegium
in Magna Graecia.--Anacreon, a celebrated erotic poet of the beginning of
the fifth century.--Alcaeus, a lyric poet, born about 600 B.C. at
Mytilené, in the island of Lesbos, was driven out of his country by a
tyrant and sang of his loves, his services as a warrior, his travels and
the miseries of his exile. He was a contemporary of Sappho, and conceived
a passion for her, which she only rewarded with disdain.
[558] Phrynichus, a disciple of Thespis, improved the dramatic art, when
still no more than a child; it was he who first introduced female
characters upon the stage and made use of the iambic of six feet in
tragedies. He flourished about 500 B.C.
[559] Philocles, Xenocles, and Theognis were dramatic poets and
contemporaries of Aristophanes. The two first were sons of Carcinus, the
poet and dancer.
[560] Fragment of Euripides' 'Aeolus,' a lost drama.
[561] Fragment of Euripides' well-known play, the 'Alcestis.'
[562] An allusion to the secret practices of mutual love which the women
assembled for the Thesmophoria were credited by popular repute with
indulging in.
[563] That is, to sanctuary.
[564] An effeminate often mentioned by Aristophanes.
[565] An allusion to the pederastic habits which the poet attributes to
Agathon.
[566] An obscene allusion.
[567] On the machine upon which he is perched.
[568] A fragment of the 'Menalippé' of Euripides.
[569] The ether played an important part in the physical theories of
Hippocrates, the celebrated physician.
[570] An allusion to a verse in his 'Hippolytus,' where Euripides says,
"_The tongue has sworn, but the heart is unsworn._" See also 'The Frogs.'
[571] The name of a slave; being disguised as a woman, Mnesilochus has
himself followed by a female servant, a Thracian slave-woman.
[572] Demeter and Cora (or Persephoné), who were adored together during
the Thesmophoria.
[573] Women slaves were forbidden by law to be present at the
Thesmophoria; they remained at the door of the temple and there waited
for the orders of their mistresses.
[574] The god of riches.
[575] The nurse of Demeter. According to another version, Calligenia was
a surname of Demeter herself, who was adored as presiding over the growth
of a child at its mother's breast.
[576] A surname of Demeter, who, by means of the food she produces as
goddess of abundance, presides over the development of the bodies of
children and young people. Curotrophos is derived from [Greek: trephein],
to nourish, and [Greek: kouros], young boy.
[577] Apollo.
[578] Artemis.
[579] An insult which Aristophanes constantly repeats in every way he
can; as we have seen before, Euripides' mother was, or was commonly said
to be, a market-woman.
[580] Lovers sent each other chaplets and flowers.
[581] In parody of a passage in the 'Sthenoboea' of Euripides, which is
preserved in Athenaeus.
[582] He believes her pregnant.
[583] A fragment from the 'Phoenix,' by Euripides.
[584] It seems that the Spartan locksmiths were famous for their skill.
[585] The women broke the seals their husbands had affixed, and then,
with the aid of their ring bearing the same device, they replaced them as
before.
[586] The impression of which was too complicated and therefore could not
be imitated.
[587] As a remedy against the colic.
[588] So that it might not creak when opened.
[589] An altar in the form of a column in the front vestibule of houses
and dedicated to Apollo.
[590] Because the smell of garlic is not inviting to gallants.
[591] The last words are the thoughts of the woman, who pretends to be in
child-bed; she is, however, careful not to utter them to her husband.
[592] The proverb runs, "_There is a scorpion beneath every stone._" By
substituting _orator_ for _scorpion_, Aristophanes means it to be
understood that one is no less venomous than the other.
[593] There were two women named Aglaurus. One, the daughter of Actaeus,
King of Attica, married Cecrops and brought him the kingship as her
dowry; the other was the daughter of Cecrops, and was turned into stone
for having interfered from jealousy with Hermes' courtship of Hersé her
sister. It was this second Aglaurus the Athenian women were in the habit
of invoking; they often associated with her her sister Pandrosus.
[594] Underneath the baths were large hollow chambers filled with steam
to maintain the temperature of the water.
[595] By kicking her in the stomach.
[596] Clisthenes is always represented by Aristophanes as effeminate in
the extreme in dress and habits.
[597] The coward, often mentioned with contempt by Aristophanes, had
thrown away his shield.
[598] The ancients believed that cress reduced the natural secretions.
[599] A deme of Attica.
[600] The women lodged in pairs during the Thesmophoria in tents erected
near the Temple of Demeter.
[601] The Corinthians were constantly passing their vessels across the
isthmus from one sea to the other; we know that the Grecian ships were of
very small dimensions.
[602] This was the name of the place where the Ecclesia, the public
meeting of the people, took place; the chorus gives this name here to
Demeter's temple, because the women are gathered there.
[603] The spaces left free between the tents, and which served as
passage-ways.
[604] A choric dance began here.
[605] A woman's footgear.--On undressing the supposed child, Mnesilochus
perceives that it is nothing but a skin of wine.
[606] Dr. P. Menier repeatedly points out in his "La médecine et les
poètes latins," that the ancient writers constantly spoke of ten months
as being a woman's period of gestation.
[607] A cotyla contained nearly half a pint.
[608] Both the Feast of Cups and the Dionysia were dedicated to Bacchus,
the god of wine; it is for this reason that Mnesilochus refers to the
former when guessing the wine-skin's age.
[609] The Cretan robe that had covered the wine-skin.
[610] An allusion to the tragedy by Euripides called 'Palamedes,' which
belonged to the tetralogy of the Troades, and was produced in 414 B.C.
Aristophanes is railing at the strange device which the poet makes Oeax
resort to. Oeax was Palamedes' brother, and he is represented as
inscribing the death of the latter on a number of oars with the hope that
at least one would reach the shores of Euboea and thus inform his father,
Nauplias, the king of the fact.
[611] The images of the various gods which were invoked at the
Thesmophoria, and the enumeration of which we have already had.
[612] Charminus, an Athenian general, who had recently been defeated at
sea by the Spartans.--Nausimaché was a courtesan, but her name is
purposely chosen because of its derivation ([Greek: naus], ship, and
[Greek: mach_e], fight), so as to point more strongly to Charminus'
disgrace.
[613] A general and an Athenian orator.
[614] A courtesan.
[615] Aristomaché ([Greek: mach_e], fight, and [Greek: arist_e],
excellent) and Stratonicé ([Greek: stratos], army, and [Greek: nik_e],
victory) are imaginary names, invented to show the decadence of the
Athenian armies.
[616] Eubulé ([Greek: eu], well, and [Greek: bouleuesthai], to
deliberate) is also an imaginary name. The poet wishes to say that in
that year wisdom had not ruled the decisions of the Senate; they had
allowed themselves to be humbled by the tyranny of the Four Hundred.
[617] The cylinder and the beams were the chief tools of the weaver. It
was the women who did this work.
[618] The taxiarch had the command of 128 men; the strategus had the
direction of an army.
[619] The Sthenia were celebrated in honour of Athené Sthenias, or the
goddess of force; the women were then wont to attack each other with
bitter sarcasms.--During the Scirophoria ([Greek: skiron], canopy) the
statues of Athené, Demeter, Persephone, the Sun and Posidon were carried
in procession under canopies with great pomp.
[620] The trierarchs were rich citizens, whose duty it was to maintain
the galleys or triremes of the fleet.
[621] Hyperbolus is incessantly railed at by Aristophanes as a traitor
and an informer. Lamachus, although our poet does not always spare him,
was a brave general; he had been one of the commanders of the Sicilian
Expedition.
[622] It will be remembered that Mnesilochus had employed a similar
device to one imputed to Oeax by Euripides in his 'Palamedes,' in order
to inform his father-in-law of his predicament.
[623] A tragedy, in which Menelaus is seen in Egypt, whither he has gone
to seek Helen, who is detained there.
[624] These are the opening verses of Euripides' 'Helen,' with the
exception of the last words, which are a parody.--Syrmea is a purgative
plant very common in Egypt. Aristophanes speaks jestingly of the white
soil of Egypt, because the slime of the Nile is very black.
[625] This reply and those that follow are fragments from 'Helen.'
[626] An infamous Athenian, whose name had become a byword for everything
that was vile.
[627] The whole of this dialogue between Mnesilochus and Euripides is
composed of fragments taken from 'Helen,' slightly parodied at times.
[628] King of Egypt.
[629] Son of Epicles, and mentioned by Thucydides.
[630] Aristophanes invents this in order to give coherence to what
follows.
[631] An Athenian general whom Thucydides mentions.
[632] A deme of Attica.
[633] No doubt Euripides appeared on the stage carrying some herbs in his
hand or wearing them in his belt, so as to recall his mother's calling.
If the gibes of Aristophanes can be believed, she dealt in vegetables, as
we have noted repeatedly.
[634] A ruined man, living in penury, presumably well known to the
audience.
[635] Apollo.
[636] Surnames of Bacchus.
[637] The archers, or the police officers, at Athens were mostly
Scythians. If not from that country always, they were known generally by
that name.
[638] Which the archer had driven in to tighten up the rope binding the
prison to the pillory.
[639] Perseus was returning from the land of the Gorgons mounted upon
Pegasus, when, while high up in the air, he saw Andromeda bound to a rock
and exposed to the lusts and voracity of a sea monster. Touched by the
misfortune and the beauty of the princess, he turned the monster to stone
by showing him the head of Medusa, released Andromeda and married
her.--Euripides had just produced a tragedy on this subject.
[640] Mnesilochus speaks alternately in his own person and as though he
were Andromeda, the effect being comical in the extreme.
[641] A notorious glutton, mentioned also in the 'Peace.'
[642] Through Euripides, his father-in-law.
[643] On the occasion of the presentation of the tragedy of 'Andromeda,'
in which the nymph Echo plays an important part.
[644] Unknown; Aristophanes plays upon the similarity of name.
[645] That is, the Thesmophoriae, viz. Demeter and Persephoné.
[646] Throughout the whole scene the Scythian speaks with a grotesque
barbarian accent.
[647] The pun depends in the Greek on the similarity of the final
syllables of [Greek: subin_e], and [Greek: katabin_esi]. It can be given
literally in English.