* * * * *
Footnotes:
[648] A parody of the pompous addresses to inanimate objects so frequent
in the prologues and monodies of Euripides.
[649] A festival which was kept in Athens in the month of scirophorion
(June), whence its name; the statues of Athené, Demeter, Persephoné,
Apollo and Posidon were borne through the city with great pomp with
banners or canopies ([Greek: skira]) over them.
[650] Unknown.
[651] So as to get sunburnt and thus have a more manly appearance.
[652] A demagogue, well known on account of his long flowing beard; he
was nicknamed by his fellow-citizens [Greek: Sakesphoros] that is,
shield-bearer, because his beard came down to his waist and covered his
body like a shield.
[653] Unknown.
[654] Whereas the arms must be extended to do carding, and folk could not
fail to recognize her as a woman by their shape.
[655] Agyrrhius was an Athenian general, who commanded at Lesbos; he was
effeminate and of depraved habits. No doubt he had let his beard grow to
impose on the masses and to lend himself that dignity which he was
naturally wanting in.--Pronomus was a flute-player, who had a fine beard.
[656] Young pigs were sacrificed at the beginning of the sittings; here
the comic writer substitutes a cat for the pig, perhaps because of its
lasciviousness.
[657] A pathic; Aristophanes classes him with the women, because of his
effeminacy.
[658] The orators wore green chaplets, generally of olive leaves; guests
also wore them at feasts, but then flowers were mingled with the leaves.
[659] An allusion to the rapacity of the orators, who only meddled in
political discussions with the object of getting some personal gain
through their influence; also to the fondness for strong drink we find
attributed in so many passages to the Athenian women.
[660] A sort of cistern dug in the ground, in which the ancients kept
their wine.
[661] This was a form of oath that women made use of; hence it is barred
by Praxagora.
[662] Another pathic, like Ariphrades, mentioned above.
[663] Before the time of Pericles, when manners had not yet become
corrupt, the fame of each citizen was based on fact; worthy men were
honoured, and those who resembled Agyrrhius, already mentioned, were
detested. For this general, see note a little above.
[664] The alliance with Corinth, Boeotia and Argolis against Sparta in
393 B.C.
[665] Conon, who went to Asia Minor and was thrown into prison at Sardis
by the Persian Satrap.
[666] An Argive to whom Conon entrusted the command of his fleet when he
went to the court of the King of Persia.--In this passage the poet is
warning his fellow-citizens not to alienate the goodwill of the allies by
their disdain, but to know how to honour those among them who had
distinguished themselves by their talents.
[667] The Lacedaemonians, after having recalled their king, Agesilas, who
gained the victory of Coronea, were themselves beaten at sea off Cnidus
by Conon and Pharnabazus. 'Twas no doubt this victory which gave a _spark
of hope_ to the Athenians, who had suffered so cruelly during so many
years; but Aristophanes declares that, in order to profit by this return
of fortune, they must recall Thrasybulus, the deliverer of Athens in 401
B.C. He was then ostensibly employed in getting the islands of the Aegean
sea and the towns of the Asiatic coast to return under the Athenian
power, but this was really only an honourable excuse for thrusting him
aside for reasons of jealousy.
[668] Unknown.
[669] During the earlier years of the Peloponnesian war, when the annual
invasion of Attica by the Lacedaemonians drove the country population
into the city.
[670] A demagogue, otherwise unknown.
[671] Cephalus' father was said to have been a tinker.
[672] The comic poets accused him of being an alien by birth and also an
informer and a rogue. See the 'Plutus.'
[673] There was a Greek saying, "_Look into the backside of a dog and of
three foxes_" which, says the Scholiast, used to be addressed to those
who had bad eyes. But the precise point of the joke here is difficult to
see.
[674] An obscene allusion; [Greek: hupokrouein] means both _pulsare_ and
_subagitare_,--to strike, and also to move to the man in sexual
intercourse.
[675] In order to vote.
[676] The Chorus addresses the leaders amongst the women by the names of
men. Charitimides was commander of the Athenian navy.
[677] The countryfolk affected to despise the townspeople, whom they
dubbed idle and lazy.
[678] The fee of the citizens who attended the Assembly had varied like
that of the dicasts, or jurymen.
[679] An Athenian general, who gained brilliant victories over the
Thebans during the period prior to the Peloponnesian war.
[680] A dithyrambic poet, and notorious for his dissoluteness; he was
accused of having daubed the statues of Hecate at the Athenian
cross-roads with ordure.
[681] The women wore yellow tunics, called [Greek: krok_otoi], because of
their colour.
[682] This Thrasybulus, not to be confounded with the more famous
Thrasybulus, restorer of the Athenian democracy, in 403 B.C., had
undertaken to speak against the Spartans, who had come with proposals of
peace, but afterwards excused himself, pretending to be labouring under a
sore throat, brought on by eating wild pears (B.C. 393). The Athenians
suspected him of having been bribed by the Spartans.
[683] A coined word, derived from [Greek: _achras_], a wild pear.
[684] Amynon was not a physician, according to the Scholiast, but one of
those orators called [Greek: europr_oktoi] (_laticuli_) 'wide-arsed,'
because addicted to habits of pathic vice, and was invoked by Blepyrus
for that reason.
[685] A doctor notorious for his dissolute life.
[686] The Grecian goddess who presided over child-birth.
[687] He is afraid lest some comic poet should surprise him in his
ridiculous position and might cause a laugh at his expense upon the
stage.
[688] In accordance with a quaint Athenian custom a rope daubed with
vermilion was drawn across from end to end of the Agora (market-place) by
officials of the city at the last moment before the Ecclesia, or Public
Assembly, was to meet. Any citizen trying to evade his duty to be present
was liable to have his white robe streaked red, and so be exposed to
general ridicule on finally putting in an appearance on the Pnyx.
[689] A parody on a verse in 'The Myrmidons' of Aeschylus.--Antilochus
was the son of Nestor; he was killed by Memnon, when defending his
father.
[690] See above.
[691] He was very poor, and his cloak was such a mass of holes that one
might doubt his having one at all. This surname, Evaeon ([Greek: eu
ai_on], delicious life) had doubtless been given him on the 'lucus a non'
principle because of his wretchedness.
[692] Apparently a wealthy corn-factor.
[693] Presumably this refers to the grandson of Nicias, the leader of the
expedition to Sicily; he must have been sixteen or seventeen years old
about that time, since, according to Lysias, Niceratus, the son of the
great Nicias, was killed in 405 B.C. and had left a son of tender age
behind him, who bore the name of his grandfather.
[694] That is, the pale-faced folk in the Assembly already referred
to--really the women there present surreptitiously.
[695] To eat cuttle-fish was synonymous with enjoying the highest
felicity.
[696] A common vulgar saying, used among the Athenians, as much as to
say, _To the devil with interruptions!_
[697] This stood in the centre of the market-place.
[698] It was the custom at Athens to draw lots to decide in which Court
each dicast should serve; Praxagora proposes to apply the same system to
decide the dining station for each citizen.
[699] In Greek [Greek: h_e basileius]([Greek: stoa], understood), the
first letter a [Greek: b_eta.]
[700] Commencing with a [Greek: Th_eta].
[701] [Greek: Ha alphitop_olis stoa]; why [Greek: kappa], it is hard to
say; from some popular nickname probably, which is unknown to us.
[702] The pun cannot be kept in English; it is between [Greek: kaptein],
to gobble, to cram oneself, and [Greek: kappa], the designating letter.
[703] That is, one of the beautiful maidens selected to bear the baskets
containing the sacred implements in procession at the Festival of
Demeter, Bacchus and Athené.
[704] The slave-girl who attended each Canephoros, and sheltered her from
the sun's rays.
[705] Mentioned a little above for his ugliness; the Scholiast says he
was a general.
[706] Hydriaphoros; the wives of resident aliens ([Greek: metoikoi]) were
allowed to take part in these processions, but in a subordinate position;
they carried vessels full of water for the service of the sacrifice.
[707] Scaphephoros, bearer of the vases containing the honey required for
the sacrifices. The office was assigned to the [Greek: metoikoi] as a
recognition of their semi-citizenship.
[708] A miser, who, moreover, was obstinately constipated.
[709] Presumably a man in extreme poverty.
[710] The ancients carried small coins in their mouth; this custom still
obtains to-day in the East.
[711] This Euripides was the son of the tragic poet.
[712] This Smaeus was a notorious debauchee; the phrase contains obscene
allusions, implying that he was ready both to ride a woman or to lick her
privates--[Greek: kel_etizein] or [Greek: lesbiazein].
[713] Geres, an old fop, who wanted to pass as a young man.
[714] According to Greek custom, these were left at the entrance of the
banqueting-hall.
[715] The names of his slaves.
[716] A specimen of the _serenades_ ([Greek: paraklausithura]) of the
Greeks.
[717] An Attic deme. There is an obscene jest here; the word [Greek:
anaphlan] means to masturbate.
[718] [Greek: Ton Sebinon], a coined name, representing [Greek: ton se
binounta], 'the man who is to tread you.'
[719] The passage is written in the language of the Bar. It is an
allusion to the slowness of justice at Athens.
[720] i.e. the new law must be conformed to all round.
[721] It was customary to paint phials or little bottles on the coffins
of the poor; these emblems took the place of the perfumes that were
sprinkled on the bodies of the rich.
[722] i.e. unless I am your slave; no doubt this tax of five hundredths
was paid by the master on the assumed value of his slave.--We have,
however, no historical data to confirm this.
[723] Nickname of the notorious brigand. The word means 'one who
stretches and tortures,' from [Greek: prokrouein], and refers to his
habit of fitting all his captives to the same bedstead--the 'bed of
Procrustes'--stretching them if too short to the required length, lopping
their limbs as required if they were too long. Here a further pun is
involved, [Greek: prokrouein] meaning also 'to go with a woman first.'
[724] Athenian law declared it illegal for a woman to contract any debt
exceeding the price of a _medimnus_ of corn; this law is now supposed to
affect the men.
[725] Merchants were exempt from military service; in this case, it is
another kind of service that the old woman wants to exact from the young
man.
[726] A Thracian brigand, who forced strangers to share his daughters'
bed, or be devoured by his horses.
[727] Dead bodies were laid out on a layer of origanum, which is an
aromatic plant.
[728] The young man is here describing the formalities connected with the
laying out of the dead.
[729] Who had married his mother Jocasta without knowing it.
[730] A hideous spectre that Hecaté was supposed to send to frighten men.
[731] Which provided that where a number of criminals were charged with
the same offence, each must be tried separately.
[732] As an aphrodisiac.
[733] We have already seen similar waggish endings to phrases in the
'Lysistrata'; the figure is called [Greek: para prosdokian]--'contrary to
expectation.'
[734] Nothing is known as to these Cretan rhythms. According to the
Scholiast, this is a jest, because the Cretans, who were great eaters,
sat down to table early in the morning. This is what the Chorus supposes
it is going to do, since 'The Ecclesiazusae' was played first, i.e.
during the forenoon.
[735] This wonderful word consists, in the original Greek, of
seventy-seven syllables. For similar burlesque compounds see the
'Lysistrata,' 457, 458; 'Wasps,' 505 and 520. Compare Shakespeare,
'Love's Labour's Lost,' Act V. sc. 1: "I marvel thy master hath not eaten
thee for a word; for thou art not so long by the head as
_honorificabilitudinitatibus_." This is outdone by Rabelais'
_Antipericatametaanaparbeugedamphicribrationibus_.