The Eleven Comedies Vol 2 Part 31

[195] An allusion to Opuntius, who was one-eyed.

[196] The newly-married ate a sesame cake, decorated with garlands of myrtle, poppies, and mint.

[197] From [Greek: polein], to turn.

[198] The Greek words for _pole_ and _city_ ([Greek: polos] and [Greek: polis]) only differ by a single letter.

[199] Boeotia separated Attica from Phocis.

[200] He swears by the powers that are to him dreadful.

[201] As already stated, according to the legend, accepted by Aristophanes, it was Procne who was turned into the nightingale.

[202] The son of Tereus and Procne.

[203] An African bird, that comes to the southern countries of Europe, to Greece, Italy, and Spain; it is even seen in Provence.

[204] Aristophanes amusingly mixes up real birds with people and individuals, whom he represents in the form of birds; he is personifying the Medians here.

[205] Philocles, a tragic poet, had written a tragedy on Tereus, which was simply a plagiarism of the play of the same name by Sophocles.

Philocles is the son of Epops, because he got his inspiration from Sophocles' Tereus, and at the same time is father to Epops, since he himself produced another Tereus.

[206] This Hipponicus is probably the orator whose ears Alcibiades boxed to gain a bet; he was a descendant of Callias, who was famous for his hatred of Pisistratus.

[207] This Callias, who must not be confounded with the foe of Pisistratus, had ruined himself.

[208] Cleonymus had cast away his s.h.i.+eld; he was as great a glutton as he was a coward.

[209] A race in which the track had to be circled twice.

[210] A people of Asia Minor; when pursued by the Ionians they took refuge in the mountains.

[211] An Athenian barber.

[212] The owl was dedicated to Athene, and being respected at Athens, it had greatly multiplied. Hence the proverb, _taking owls to Athens_, similar to our English _taking coals to Newcastle_.

[213] An allusion to the Feast of Pots; it was kept at Athens on the third day of the Anthesteria, when all sorts of vegetables were stewed together and offered for the dead to Bacchus and Athene. This Feast was peculiar to Athens.--Hence Pisthetaerus thinks that the owl will recognize they are Athenians by seeing the stew-pots, and as he is an Athenian bird, he will not attack them.

[214] Nicias, the famous Athenian general.--The siege of Melos in 417 B.C., or two years previous to the production of 'The Birds,' had especially done him great credit. He was joint commander of the Sicilian expedition.

[215] Procne, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens.

[216] A s.p.a.ce beyond the walls of Athens which contained the gardens of the Academy and the graves of citizens who had died for their country.

[217] A town in Western Argolis, where the Athenians had been recently defeated. The somewhat similar word in Greek, [Greek: ornithes], signifies _birds_.

[218] Epops is addressing the two slaves, no doubt Xanthias and Manes, who are mentioned later on.

[219] It was customary, when speaking in public and also at feasts, to wear a chaplet; hence the question Euelpides puts. The guests wore chaplets of flowers, herbs, and leaves, which had the property of being refres.h.i.+ng.

[220] A deme of Attica. In Greek the word ([Greek: kephalai]) also means _heads_, and hence the pun.

[221] One of Darius' best generals. After his expedition against the Scythians, this prince gave him the command of the army which he left in Europe. Megabyzus took Perinthos (afterwards called Heraclea) and conquered Thrace.

[222] All Persians wore the tiara, but always on one side; the Great King alone wore it straight on his head.

[223] Noted as the birthplace of Thucydides, a deme of Attica of the tribe of Leontis. Demosthenes tells us it was thirty-five stadia from Athens.

[224] The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of springtime; it was therefore wors.h.i.+pped as a symbol of that season.

[225] To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky.

[226] As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small coins in their mouths.--This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour to fill the bag he was carrying.

[227] In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about harvest-time.

[228] This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, _When the cuckoo sings we go harvesting_. Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised circ.u.mcision.

[229] The staff, called a sceptre, generally terminated in a piece of carved work, representing a flower, a fruit, and most often a bird.

[230] A general accused of treachery. The bird watches Lysicrates, because, according to Pisthetaerus, he had a right to a share of the presents.

[231] It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus.

[232] One of the diviners sent to Sybaris (in Magna Graecia, S. Italy) with the Athenian colonists, who rebuilt the town under the new name of Thurium.

[233] As if he were saying, "Oh, G.o.ds!" Like Lampon, he swears by the birds, instead of swearing by the G.o.ds.--The names of these birds are those of two of the t.i.tans.

[234] Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of Heracles.--Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione and mother of Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus.--Alope, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alope was honoured with Posidon's caresses; by him she had a son named Hippothous, at first brought up by shepherds but who afterwards was restored to the throne of his grandfather by Theseus.

[235] Because the bald patch on the coot's head resembles the shaven and depilated 'motte.'

[236] Because water is the duck's domain, as it is that of Posidon.

[237] Because the gull, like Heracles, is voracious.

[238] The Germans still call it _Zaunkonig_ and the French _roitelet_, both names thus containing the idea of _king_.

[239] The Scholiast draws our attention to the fact that Homer says this of Here and not of Iris (Iliad, V. 778); it is only another proof that the text of Homer has reached us in a corrupted form, or it may be that Aristophanes was liable, like other people, to occasional mistakes of quotation.

[240] In sacrifices.

[241] An Athenian proverb.

[242] A celebrated temple to Zeus in an oasis of Libya.

[243] Nicias was commander, along with Demosthenes, and later on Alcibiades, of the Athenian forces before Syracuse, in the ill-fated Sicilian Expedition, 415-413 B.C. He was much blamed for dilatoriness and indecision.