famous epicure, the Lucullus of Athens (see 'The Acharnians').
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A parasite renowned for his gluttony.
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A town in Thessaly.
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Because of his poverty.
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Four lines in 'The Knights' describe the infamous habits of Ariphrades in detail.
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That is, it ceases to support it; Aristophanes does the same to Cleon.
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Referring to Lysistratus' leanness.
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A tragic actor, whose wardrobe had been sold up, so the story went, by his creditors.
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He enters, followed closely by the persons he has ill-used, and leading a flute-girl by the hand.
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Meaning his penis.
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Dardanus, a district of Asia Minor, north of the Troad, supplied many flute-girls to the cities of Greece.
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Pointing to the flute-girl's
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He tells his son the very story the latter had taught him.
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The name of the baker's wife.
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Or Agoranomi, who numbered ten at Athens.
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The disciple of Socrates.
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Lasus, a musician and dithyrambic poet, born about 500 B.C. in Argolis, was the rival of Simonides and thought himself his superior.
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Ino, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Being pursued by her husband, Athamas, whom the Fury Tisiphoné had driven mad, she threw herself into the sea with Melicerta, whereupon they were both changed into sea-goddesses.—This is the subject of one of Euripides' tragedies.
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A famous town in Magna Graecia, south coast of Italy.
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A celebrated physician.—Philocleon means, "Instead of starting an action, go and have yourself cared for; that is better worth your while."
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The dances that Thespis, the originator of Tragedy, interspersed with the speaking parts of his plays.
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A verse borrowed from an unknown Tragedy.
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As was done in the stadia when the races were to be started.
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The ancients considered it a specific against madness.
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Phrynichus, like all the ancient tragic writers, mingled many dances with his pieces.
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Tragic poet. His three sons had also written tragedies and were dancers into the bargain.
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Carcinus, by a mere transposition of the accent ([Greek: karkívos]), means
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Carcinus' sons were small and thin.
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The third son of Carcinus.
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Meaning, the three sons of Carcinus, the dancers, because, as mentioned before, Phrynichus often introduced a chorus of dancers into his Tragedies.
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Carcinus himself.
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The Greek word is [Greek: triorchoi]—possessed of three testicles, of three-testicle power, inordinately lecherous; with the change of a letter ([Greek: triarchoi]) it means 'three rulers,' 'three kinglets.'
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Euelpides is holding a jay and Pisthetaerus a crow; they are the guides who are to lead them to the kingdom of the birds.
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A stranger, who wanted to pass as an Athenian, although coming originally from a far-away barbarian country.
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A king of Thrace, a son of Ares, who married Procné, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens, whom he had assisted against the Megarians. He violated his sister-in-law, Philomela, and then cut out her tongue; she nevertheless managed to convey to her sister how she had been treated. They both agreed to kill Itys, whom Procné had born to Tereus, and dished up the limbs of his own son to the father; at the end of the meal Philomela appeared and threw the child's head upon the table. Tereus rushed with drawn sword upon the princesses, but all the actors in this terrible scene were metamorphised. Tereus became an Epops (hoopoe), Procné a swallow, Philomela a nightingale, and Itys a goldfinch. According to Anacreon and Apollodorus it was Procné who became the nightingale and Philomela the swallow, and this is the version of the tradition followed by Aristophanes.
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An Athenian who had some resemblance to a jay—so says the Scholiast, at any rate.
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Literally,
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They leave Athens because of their hatred of lawsuits and informers; this is the especial failing of the Athenians satirized in 'The Wasps.'
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Myrtle boughs were used in sacrifices, and the founding of every colony was started by a sacrifice.
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The actors wore masks made to resemble the birds they were supposed to represent.
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Fear had had disastrous effects upon Euelpides' internal economy, this his feet evidenced.
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The same mishap had occurred to Pisthetaerus.
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The Greek word for a wren, [Greek: trochilos], is derived from the same root as [Greek: trechein], to run.
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No doubt there was some scenery to represent a forest. Besides, there is a pun intended. The words answering for
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Sophocles had written a tragedy about Tereus, in which, no doubt, the king finally appears as a hoopoe.
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A [Greek: para prosdokian]; one would expect the question to be "bird or man."—Are you a peacock? The hoopoe resembles the peacock inasmuch as both have crests.
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Athens.
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The Athenians were madly addicted to lawsuits. (
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As much as to say,
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His name was Aristocrates; he was a general and commanded a fleet sent in aid of Corcyra.
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The State galley, which carried the officials of the Athenian republic to their several departments and brought back those whose time had expired; it was this galley that was sent to Sicily to fetch back Alcibiades, who was accused of sacrilege.
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A tragic poet, who was a leper; there is a play, of course, on the Lepreum.
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An allusion to Opuntius, who was one-eyed.
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The newly-married ate a sesame cake, decorated with garlands of myrtle, poppies, and mint.
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From [Greek: polein], to turn.
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The Greek words for
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Boeotia separated Attica from Phocis.
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He swears by the powers that are to him dreadful.
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As already stated, according to the legend,
