BAC. Aye, by the gods! at any rate I have lain1 awake before now during a long space2 of the night, trying to find out his "yellow horse-cock," what bird it is.

ESCH. It had been painted3 as a device on the ships, you ignoramus.

BAC. But I thought it was Eryxis,4 the son of Philoxenus. EUR. Ought you then to have introduced a cock into tragedy?

ESCH. And what sort,6 you enemy of the gods, are the things which you introduced?

EUR. Not horse-cocks, by Jove, nor yet goat-stags, as you do, such as they depict on the Persian tapestry:7 but immediately, as soon as ever I received the art from you, puffed out with pompous phrases and ponderous words, I first of all reduced it, and took off its ponderousness with versicles, and argumentations, and with white beet,8 giving it chatter-juice, filtering it from books: and then I nursed it up with monodies, making an infusion of Cephisophon." Then I did not

1 Here a distich of Euripides (Hipp. 375) is parodied: see Eq. 1290. The Hippalectryon occurred in the Myrmidons of Eschylus. It is ridiculed again in Pax, 1177. Aves, 800. See notes on Nub. 1148. Eccles. 1126.

2 Mitchell cites Esch. Agam. 534, 592.

"A figure on the head of ships, you goose;

You must have seen them. Frere.

♦ Philoxenus, whose son and father appear to have had the same name, is mentioned by Aristotle as a great glutton. Eth. iii. c. 10. "Who Eryxis, the son of Philoxenus, was, we know not. The Scholiast says he was ridiculed for being deformed and of a perverse temper. His father, a pupil of Anaxagoras, has been occasionally mentioned by Aristophanes." Droysen. See Vesp. 84. Nub. 686.

5 See note on Lys. 171.

• See Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 57, 16, obs. 3. Cratinus, (ap. Athen. iv. p. 164, Ε.,) είδες τὴν Θασίαν ἅλμην οἷ ̓ ἄττα βαΰζει.

'The custom of painting monstrous figures of animals on eastern tapestry is commented on by Vossius, in his notes to Catullus, p. 197. The architecture of the temples in Hindostan at this day would furnish some curious patterns for a work of this sort. This tapestry is mentioned also by Aristotle, Mir. Ausc. c. 119. Plautus, Stich. act ii. sc. 1, vs. 54, calls them Babylonian.

He means that he reduced the swelling with a poultice of white beet.

It was in consequence of an intrigue between Cephisophon and the wife of Euripides, that the tragedian retired to the court of

trifle with whatever I met with, nor rashly1 jumbled things together; but he who came forward first used straightway to tell the pedigree of the piece.2

BAC. For, by Jove, 'twas better than to tell your own.3 EUR. Then from the first verse I used to leave nothing idle; but a woman would speak for me, or a slave all the same, or a master, or a virgin, or an old woman.

ESCH. Then ought you not, pray, to have been put to death for daring to do this?

EUR. No, by Apollo; for I did it as a popular act.

BAC. No more of this, my good friend; for upon this subject your argumentation does not appear to the best advantage.6

Archelaus, king of Macedon. The sophist who forged the letters of Euripides was so little aware of this circumstance, that he has made the poet address one of his longest and most friendly epistles to the very person who had thus dishonoured him. See Bentley, Phal. p. 419, ed. Lond. 1777.

"Mit Säftchen feinster Schwätzelei, aus Büchern wohl erlesen ; Monodien bekam sie dann, vermengt mit Kephisophon, zu essen." Droysen.

1 “In quæ incidit, quæ ipse occupat, excogitando." Dindorf.

2 "I kept my plots distinct and clear, and to prevent confusion, My leading characters rehearsed their pedigrees for prologues."

See Schlegel, Dram. Lit. p. 119.

Frere.

3 This witticism depends on the double meaning of the word yέvos. "Sodann von den ersten Versen an, nichts liess Ich müssig dastehn,

Nein nein, es sprach mir da die Frau, desgleichen sprach der
Sklave,

Es sprach der Mann, das Töchterlein, das alte Weib." Droysen. See Bernhardy, W. S. p. 222.

5 Aristotle, in his Poetics, (28,) has blamed the tragedian for introducing Melanippe discussing the philosophy of the Anaxagoræan school, to prove to her father that the children she had herself borne and concealed were the offspring of his cows! See Mus. Crit. i. p. 581.

• "Denn diese Sachen sind fürwahr nicht deine starke Seite."

Droysen. As if he had said, "the less you talk of your love of democracy the better." Socrates, Euripides, Plato, Xenophon, and Critias are known to have entertained a thorough contempt for democracy in any shape. Whatever Euripides may have said in his tragedies favour of it, his real sentiments were opposed to it. "The phiophic sect to which Euripides belonged, were known to be hostile

EUR. Then I taught these1 to speechify

ESCH. I grant you. Would that you had burst 2 asunder in the middle before you taught them.

EUR. And the introduction of subtle rules, and the cornering-off of verses, to notice, to see, to understand, to twist, to love, to use stratagems,3 to suspect mischief, to contrive all things cunningly 5.

ESCH. I grant you.

EUR. Introducing domestic affairs, with which we are conversant, in which we are engaged, by which I might be tested; for these,7 being_acquainted with the subjects, might criticise my art. But I used not to talk big, taking them away from their understandings, nor did I astound them by introducing Cycni and Memnons with bells on their horses' trappings. And you will recognise the pupils of each, his and mine. His are Phormisius 10 and Meganetus" the Mag-'

9

8

to the democracy." Frere. Mr. Mitchell professes to understand the passage very differently.

1

i. e. the spectators." Mitchell.

2. See note on Nub. 41.

• Comp. Thesm. 396, 496.

3 Comp. Ach. 385.

"Nach Regeln der Kunst zu Werke gehn, abzirkeln Zeil' um Zeile,

Bemerken, denken, sehen, verstehn, belisten, lieben, schleichen, Argwöhnen, läugnen, her und hin erwägen." Droysen.

• “So that the audience, one and all, from personal experience, Were competent to judge the piece, and form a fair opinion, Whether my scenes and sentiments agreed with truth and na

Frere.

ture. "Und gab mich so dem Urtheil Preis, da jeder, dessen Kenner, Urtheilte über meine Kunst."

Comp. Harper's Powers of the Greek Tenses, p. 79, 83.

The audience.

See Schlegel, Dram. Lit. p. 523.

Droysen.

9"Auch wird man seine Schüler leicht von meinen unterschei

den."

Droysen.

10 Phormisius is mentioned in the Eccl. vs. 97, as hairy in his person; and the Scholiast says his rough aspect was Euripides' chief inducement to place him in the school of Eschylus the dyptoTOLÓS. A few years later he was in the notorious embassy to the king of Persia, which Plato the comic poet cut up in his 'Ambassadors.'" Droysen. For тovтovμevi, see note on Thesm. 646.

66

11 66

Magænetus, according to the Scholiast, was one of those who strove to be appointed a general." Droysen.

nesian, whiskered-lance1-trumpeters, sneering-pine-benders
while mine are Clitophon,2 and Theramenes the elegant.
BAC. Theramenes? a clever man and skilful in all things,3
who, if he any where fall into troubles, and stand nigh unto
them, escapes out of his troubles, no Chian, but a Ceian.5

EUR. I certainly instructed them to be prudent in such
matters, by introducing into the art calculation and consider-
ation; so that now they understand and discern all things,
and regulate both other matters and their households better
than heretofore, and look at things narrowly,-" How is this?
Where is this? Who took this?"9

BAC. Yes, by the gods; at any rate every Athenian 10 now,

Droysen.

1 "Trompetengrimbartslanzenvolk, zähnknirschesichtenbeuger."
In the latter word there is an allusion to Sinis, a famous robber in
Attica, who, from his prodigious strength, was able to bend the
boughs of trees together, to which he then tied his prisoners, and
afterwards, unloosing the bands that held together the branches,
he suffered them to recoil, and his victims were torn limb from
limb. He was put to death by Theseus. Ovid. Met. vii. vs. 440.
'Clitophon, the son of Aristonymus, is the same person as he
after whom one of Plato's Dialogues is named. He was a pupil
and admirer of the sophist Thrasymachus, as Theramenes was of
Prodicus: both therefore were educated after the 'new' mode."
Droysen. For Theramenes, see note on 540, and for coupòs, see
note on Thesm. 93.

2 66

3 See note on Thesm. 646. Comp. Esch. Eum. 142, ed. Franz.
5 66 Apparently a proverbial expression, implying one who can
say Sibboleth, or Shibboleth, as will best serve his purpose. No al-
lusion, say Brunck and Dindorf, to the game of dice is here to be
understood. The expression is applicable to a man of versatile
genius, who, like the bat in the fable, can be bird or mouse, as will
best answer his end, being always found on the prosperous side."
Mitchell. "The proverb is, however, said to refer not to this [game
of dice], but to the contrast between the dishonest Chians and the
honest Ceians." Liddell.

See Schlegel, Dram. Lit. p. 176.

* Hesiod, Op. 291, οὗτος μὲν πανάριστος, ὃς αὐτὸς πάντα νοήσει.
See Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 50, 1, obs. 19.

10

• "Marking every thing amiss-

" Where is that?' and 'What is this?'

This is broken-That is gone.'

"Tis the modern style and tone." Frere.

General distress had produced a stricter economy, which is
here humorously attributed to the precepts of Euripides." Frere.
For araç Tis, see Mus. Crit. ii. p. 20.

when he comes in, bawls to his domestics and inquires, "Where's the pitcher? Who has eaten off the sprat's head?1 My last year's bowl is gone. Where is the garlic of yesterday? Who has nibbled at my olives?"

But before this they

used to sit most stupid, gaping boobies and blockheads.

CHO. "Thou seest this, O illustrious Achilles."3 Come, what wilt thou say to this? Only see that thine anger seize thee not, and carry thee out of the course; for he has laid grievous things to your charge. But, O noble man, see that you do not reply with anger, but shorten sail, using the extremity of your sails, and then gradually bear up, and watch when you catch the wind gentle and steady. But, O thou first of the Greeks that built the lofty rhyme, and gave dignity to tragic nonsense, boldly send forth thy torrent of words.

8

ÆSCH. I am angry at the encounter, and my heart is indignant that I must reply to this man. Yet, that he may not say I am at a loss, [to Euripides,] answer me, for what ought we to admire a poet?

10

EUR. For cleverness and instruction, and because we make the people in the cities better.

ESCH. If then you have not done this, but from good and

1 Anaxilas, (ap. Athen. vii. 313,) τοῦ κεστρέως κατεδήδοκεν τὸ κρά

νιον.

2 See Mus. Crit. i. p. 127.

Harpocration has added to this verse (which is a quotation from the Myrmidons of Æschylus) the two following:

Δοριλυμάντους Δαναῶν μόχθους,

Οὓς προπέπωκας εἴσω κλισίας.

It appears they were the words of some embassy to Achilles, entreating his assistance. See Bernhardy, W. S. p. 280.

An allusion to the Hippodrome, at the terminus of which were planted olives, to mark the limits of the course. Lys. 316.

"Cf. Dobree's Advers. i. p. 247." Mitchell.

See note on

For the construction of arpos, see note on Thesm. 1099.
"Zuerst aufthürmtest erhabene Phrasen." Droysen.

"Und dem tragischen Spiel Pomp gabst und Kothurn." Droys. Aristophanes means to say, that he found tragedy a mass of absurdities, and elevated it to tragic dignity. Mr. Mitchell very aptly cites the testimony of Prof. Scholefield on this point, (Præf. in Eschyl.,)" Lateritiam invenit, marmoream reliquit.”

See Krüger, Gr. Gr. § 65, 5. obs. 7.

10 Cf. Lys. 486, 487, and Bernhardy, W. S. 424.