Аристофан - The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2

Athens.

The Athenians were madly addicted to lawsuits. ( Vide 'The Wasps.')

As much as to say, Then you have such things as anti-dicasts? And Euelpides practically replies, Very few .

His name was Aristocrates; he was a general and commanded a fleet sent in aid of Corcyra.

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.

A tragic poet, who was a leper; there is a play, of course, on the Lepreum.

An allusion to Opuntius, who was one-eyed.

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

From [Greek: polein], to turn.

The Greek words for pole and city ([Greek: polos] and [Greek: polis]) only differ by a single letter.

Boeotia separated Attica from Phocis.

He swears by the powers that are to him dreadful.

As already stated, according to the legend, accepted by Aristophanes, it was Procné who was turned into the nightingale.

The son of Tereus and Procné.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Cleonymus had cast away his shield; he was as great a glutton as he was a coward.

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

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

An Athenian barber.

The owl was dedicated to Athené, and being respected at Athens, it had greatly multiplied. Hence the proverb, taking owls to Athens , similar to our English taking coals to Newcastle .

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 Athené. 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.

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.

Procné, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens.

A space beyond the walls of Athens which contained the gardens of the Academy and the graves of citizens who had died for their country.

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

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

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 refreshing.

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

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.

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

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.

The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season.

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

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.

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

This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, When the cuckoo sings we go harvesting . Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised circumcision.

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

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

It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus.

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.

As if he were saying, "Oh, gods!" Like Lampon, he swears by the birds, instead of swearing by the gods.—The names of these birds are those of two of the Titans.

Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of Heracles.—Semelé, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermioné and mother of Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus.—Alopé, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alopé 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.

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

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