* * * * *
Footnotes:
[4] Mitchell's "Aristophanes." Preface to "The Knights."
[5] A generic name, used to denote a slave, because great numbers came
from Paphlagonia, a country in Asia Minor. Aristophanes also plays upon
the word, [Greek: Paphlag_on], Paphlagonian, and the verb, [Greek:
pathlazein], to boil noisily, thus alluding to Cleon's violence and
bluster when speaking.
[6] A musician, belonging to Phrygia, who had composed melodies intended
to describe pain.
[7] Line 323 of the 'Hyppolytus,' by Euripides.
[8] Euripides' mother was said to have sold vegetables on the market.
[9] The whole of this passage seems a satire on the want of courage shown
by these two generals. History, however, speaks of Nicias as a brave
soldier.
[10] i.e. living on his salary as a judge. The Athenians used beans for
recording their votes.
[11] Place where the Public Assembly of Athens, the [Greek: ekkl_esia],
was held.
[12] This was the salary paid to the Ecclesiasts, the jury of citizens
who tried cases. It was one obol at first, but Cleon had raised it to
three.
[13] A town in Messina, opposite the little island of Sphacteria;
Demosthenes had seized it, and the Spartans had vainly tried to retake
it, having even been obliged to leave four hundred soldiers shut up in
Sphacteria. Cleon, sent out with additional forces, had forced the
Spartans to capitulate and had thus robbed Demosthenes of the glory of
the capture. (_See_ Introduction.)
[14] Literally, his rump is among the Chaonians ([Greek: chain_o], to
gape open), because his anus is distended by pederastic practices; his
hands with the Aetolians ([Greek: aite_o], to ask, to beg); his mind with
the Clopidians ([Greek: klept_o], to steal).
[15] The versions of his death vary. He is said to have taken poison in
order to avoid fighting against Athens.
[16] A minor god, supposed by the ancients to preside over the life of
each man; each empire, each province, each town had its titular Genius.
Everyone offered sacrifice to his Genius on each anniversary of his birth
with wine, flowers and incense.
[17] A hill in Asia Minor, near Smyrna. Homer mentions the wine of
Pramnium.
[18] The common people, who at Athens were as superstitious as everywhere
else, took delight in oracles, especially when they were favourable, and
Cleon served them up to suit their taste and to advance his own ambition.
[19] Famous seer of Boeotia.
[20] Eucrates, who was the leading statesman at Athens after Pericles.
[21] Lysicles, who married the courtesan Aspasia.
[22] Literally, like Cycloborus, a torrent in Attica.
[23] He points to the spectators.
[24] The public meals were given in the Prytaneum; to these were admitted
those whose services merited that they should be fed at the cost of the
State. This distinction depended on the popular vote, and was very often
bestowed on demagogues very unworthy of the privilege.
[25] Islands of the Aegaean, subject to Athens, which paid considerable
tributes.
[26] Caria and Chalcedon were at the two extremities of Asia Minor; the
former being at the southern, the latter at the northern end of that
extensive coast.
[27] As though stupidity were an essential of good government.
[28] The Athenian citizens were divided into four classes--the
Pentacosiomedimni, who possessed five hundred minae; the Knights, who had
three hundred and were obliged to maintain a charger (hence their name);
the Zeugitae and the Thetes. In Athens, the Knights never had the high
consideration and the share in the magistracy which they enjoyed at Rome.
[29] It is said that Aristophanes played the part of Cleon himself, as no
one dared to assume the role. (_See_ Introduction.)
[30] They were two leaders of the knightly order.
[31] The famous whirlpool, near Sicily.
[32] Eucrates, the oakum-seller, already mentioned, when the object of a
riot, took refuge in a mill and there hid himself in a sack of bran.
[33] The chief Athenian tribunal only next in dignity to the Areopagus;
it generally consisted of two hundred members; it tried civil cases of
the greatest importance and some crimes beyond the competence of other
courts, e.g. rape, adultery, extortion. The sittings were in the open
air, hence the name ([Greek: _Elios], the sun).
[34] The Heliasts' salary. (_See_ above.)
[35] Tributary to Athens; Olynthus and Potidaea were the chief towns of
this important Peninsula.
[36] Meaning he frightens him with the menace of judicial prosecution
forces him to purchase silence.
[37] The strategi were the heads of the military forces.
[38] They presided at the Public Assemblies; they were also empowered to
try the most important cases.
[39] An allusion to Cleon's former calling.
[40] A country deme of Attica.
[41] Archeptolemus, a resident alien, who lived in Piraeus. He had loaded
Athens with gifts and was nevertheless maltreated by Cleon.
[42] This was easier than against a citizen because of the inferiority,
in which the pride of the Athenian held those born on other soil.
[43] When drunk he conceives himself rich and the man to buy up the rich
silver mines of Laurium, in south-east Attica.
[44] The Chorus throws itself between Cleon and Agoracritus to protect
the latter.
[45] An iron collar, an instrument of torture and of punishment.
[46] A disease among swine.
[47] Cleon wanted the Spartans to purchase the prisoners of Sphacteria
from him.
[48] With piss--the result of his drunken habits.
[49] A tragic poet, apparently proverbial for feebleness of style.
[50] Beginning of a song of Simonides.
[51] A miser.
[52] Guests used pieces of bread to wipe their fingers at table.
[53] 'Dog's head,' a vicious species of ape.
[54] They were allowed to remain in the ground throughout the winter so
that they might grow tender.
[55] An allusion to the pederastic habits ascribed to some of the orators
by popular rumour.
[56] He imputes the crime to Agoracritus of which he is guilty himself.
[57] A town in Thrace and subject to Athens. It therefore paid tribute to
the latter. It often happened that the demagogues extracted considerable
sums from the tributaries by threats or promises.
[58] It was customary in Athens for the plaintiff himself to fix the fine
to be paid by the defendant.
[59] Athené, the tutelary divinity of Athens.
[60] And wife of Pisistratus. Anything belonging to the ancient tyrants
was hateful to the Athenians.
[61] An allusion to the language used by the democratic orators, who, to
be better understood by the people, constantly affected the use of terms
belonging to the different trades.
[62] He accuses Cleon of collusion with the enemy.
[63] Cleon retorts upon his adversary the charge brought against himself.
The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.
[64] Allusion to cock-fighting.
[65] The tripping metre usually employed in the _parabasis_.
[66] Hitherto Aristophanes had presented his pieces under an assumed
name.
[67] A comic poet, who had carried off the prize eleven times; not a
fragment of his works remains to us.
[68] An allusion to the titles of some of his pieces, viz. "the Flute
Players, the Birds, the Lydians, the Gnats, the Frogs."
[69] The Comic Poet, rival of Aristophanes, several times referred to
above.
[70] These were the opening lines of poems by Cratinus, often sung at
festivities.
[71] A poet, successful at the Olympic games, and in old age reduced to
extreme misery.
[72] The place of honour in the Dionysiac Theatre, reserved for
distinguished citizens.
[73] A Comic Poet, who was elegant but cold; he had at first played as an
actor in the pieces of Cratinus.
[74] Besides the oarsmen and the pilot, there was on the Grecian vessels
a sailor, who stood at the prow to look out for rocks, and another, who
observed the direction of the wind.
[75] Two promontories, one in Attica, the other in Euboea, on which
temples to Posidon were erected.
[76] An Athenian general, who had gained several naval victories. He had
contributed to the success of the expedition to Samos (Thucydides, Book
I), and had recently beaten a Peloponnesian fleet (Thucydides, Book II).
[77] At the Panathenaea, a festival held every fourth year, a peplus, or
sail, was carried with pomp to the Acropolis. On this various
mythological scenes, having reference to Athené, were embroidered--her
exploits against the giants, her fight with Posidon concerning the name
to be given to Athens, etc. It had also become customary to add the names
and the deeds of such citizens as had deserved well of their country.
[78] Cleaenetus had passed a law to limit the number of citizens to be
fed at the Prytaneum; it may be supposed, that those, who aspired to this
distinction, sought to conciliate Cleaenetus in their favour.
[79] The Chorus of Knights, not being able to sing their own praises,
feign to divert these to their chargers.
[80] A horse branded with the obsolete letter [Greek: sán]--[Symbol:
Letter 'san'], as a mark of breed or high quality.
[81] Crab was no doubt a nickname given to the Corinthians on account of
the position of their city on an isthmus between two seas. In the
'Acharnians' Theorus is mentioned as an ambassador, who had returned from
the King of Persia.
[82] The Senate was a body composed of five hundred members, elected
annually like the magistrates from the three first classes to the
exclusion of the fourth, the Thetes, which was composed of the poorest
citizens.
[83] The [Greek: moth_on], a rough, boisterous, obscene dance.
[84] At the festival of the Pyanepsia, held in honour of Athené as the
protectress of Theseus in his fight with the Minotaur, the children
carried olive branches in procession, round which strips of linen were
wound; they were then fastened up over the entrances of each house.
[85] On which the citizens sat in the Public Assembly in the Pnyx to hear
the orators. In the centre of the semicircular space the tribune stood, a
square block of stone, [Greek: B_ema], and from this the people were
addressed.
[86] Lysicles was a dealer in sheep, who had wielded great power in
Athens after the death of Pericles. Cynna and Salabaccha were two
celebrated courtesans.
[87] Place of interment for those who died for the country.
[88] Seated on the banks for the rowers.
[89] Assassin of the tyrant Hippias, the son of Pisistratus. His memory
was held in great honour at Athens.
[90] Driven out by the invasions of the Peloponnesians, the people of the
outlying districts had been obliged to seek refuge within the walls of
Athens, where they were lodged wherever they could find room.
[91] A verse borrowed from Euripides' lost play of 'Telephus.'
[92] Themistocles joined the Piraeus to Athens by the construction of the
Long Walls.
[93] Which were caught off the Piraeus.
[94] Mitylené, chief city of the Island of Lesbos, rebelled against the
Athenians and was retaken by Chares. By a popular decree the whole
manhood of the town was to suffer death, but this decree was withdrawn
the next day. Aristophanes insinuates that Cleon, bought over with
Mitylenaean gold, brought about this change of opinion. On the contrary,
Thucydides says that the decree was revoked in spite of Cleon's
opposition.
[95] When bucklers were hung up as trophies, it was usual to detach the
ring or brace, so as to render them useless for warlike purposes.
[96] An orator of debauched habits.
[97] An accusation frequently hurled at the orators.
[98] Guests took off their shoes before entering the festal hall.
[99] An allusion to Cleon's former calling of a tanner.
[100] A plant from Cyrenaïca, which was imported into Athens in large
quantities after the conclusion of a treaty of navigation, which Cleon
made with this country. It was a very highly valued flavouring for
sauces.
[101] The name of a supposed informer. The adjective, [Greek: pyrrhos],
yellow, the colour of ordure, is contained in the construction of this
name; thus a most disgusting piece of word-play is intended.
[102] The orators were for ever claiming the protection of Athené.
[103] A very expensive burden, which was imposed upon the rich citizen.
The trierarchs had to furnish both the equipment of the triremes or
war-galleys and their upkeep. They varied considerably in number and
ended in reaching a total of 1200; the most opulent found the money, and
were later repaid partly and little by little by those not so well
circumstanced. Later it was permissible for anyone, appointed as a
trierarch, to point out someone richer than himself and to ask to have
him take his place with the condition that if the other preferred, he
should exchange fortunes with him and continue his office of trierarch.
[104] This is an allusion to some extortion of Cleon's.
[105] The Greek word [Greek: d_emos] means both "The People" and fat,
grease. The pun cannot well be kept in English.
[106] A voracious bird--in allusion to Cleon's rapacity and to his
loquacity in the Assembly.
[107] The orators were fond of supporting their arguments with imaginary
oracles--and Cleon was an especial adept at this dodge.
[108] Smicythes, King of Thrace, spoken of in the oracle as a woman,
doubtless on account of his cowardice. The word pursue is here used in a
double sense, viz. in battle and in law. It is on account of this latter
meaning, that Aristophanes adds "and her spouse," because in cases in
which women were sued at law, their husbands were summoned as conjointly
liable.
[109] Because he had smashed up and turned upside down the fortunes of
Athens.
[110] The pun--rather a far-fetched one--is between the words [Greek:
D_orh_osti] (in the Dorian mode) and [Greek: d_orhon] (a bribe).
[111] A Boeotian soothsayer.
[112] A name invented by the Sausage-seller on the spur of the moment, to
cap Cleon's boast.
[113] That is, Athenian; Erectheus was an ancient mythical King of
Athens.
[114] That is, the tributes paid to Athens by the Aegaean Islands,
whether allies or subjects.
[115] The Lacedaemonian prisoners from Sphacteria, so often referred to.
[116] That is, Athenian; Cecrops was the first King of Athens, according
to the legends.
[117] There were three towns of this name in different parts of Greece.
[118] There is a pun here which it is impossible to render in English;
the Greek [Greek: Pylos](Pylos) differs by only one letter from the word
meaning a bath-tub ([Greek: Pyelos]).
[119] Cleon was reproached by his enemies with paying small attention to
the regular payment of the sailors.
[120] Another poetical term to signify Athenian; Aegeus, an ancient
mythical King of Athens, father of Theseus.
[121] Impudent as a dog and cunning as a fox.
[122] An orator and statesman of the day; practically nothing is known
about him.
[123] Another orator and statesman, accused apparently of taking bribes.
[124] As pointed out before, the orators were fond of dragging Athené
continually into their speeches.
[125] One of Cleon's protégés and flatterers. The scholiasts say he was
his secretary.
[126] Terms borrowed from the circus races.
[127] That is, at the expense of other folk.
[128] Pieces of bread, hollowed out, which were filled with mincemeat or
soup.
[129] Both Greeks and Romans drank their wine mixed with water.
[130] After his success in the Sphacteria affair Cleon induced the people
to vote him a chaplet of gold.
[131] That is, by means of the mechanical device of the Greek stage known
as the [Greek: ekkukl_ema].
[132] Parody of a well-known verse from Euripides' 'Alcestis.'
[133] The name Agoracritus is compounded: cf. [Greek: agora], a
market-place, and [Greek: krinein], to judge.
[134] This grandiloquent opening is borrowed from Pindar.
[135] Mentioned in the 'Acharnians.'
[136] A soothsayer.
[137] A flute-player.
[138] An allusion to the vice of the 'cunnilingue,' apparently a novel
form of naughtiness at Athens in Aristophanes' day.
[139] As well known for his gluttony as for his cowardice.
[140] One of the most noisy demagogues of Cleon's party; he succeeded
him, but was later condemned to ostracism.
[141] A town in Bithynia, situated at the entrance of the Bosphorus and
nearly opposite Byzantium. It was one of the most important towns in Asia
Minor. Doubtless Hyperbolus only demanded so large a fleet to terrorize
the towns and oppress them at will.
[142] These temples were inviolable places of refuge, where even slaves
were secure.
[143] A rocky cleft at the back of the Acropolis into which criminals
were hurled.
[144] Young and effeminate orators of licentious habits.
[145] By adroit special pleading he had contrived to get his acquittal,
when charged with a capital offence.
[146] They were personified on the stage as pretty little _filles de
joie_.