The Eleven Comedies Vol 2 Part 78

MAID-SERVANT. Where are you off to?

BLEPYRUS. I am going to dine.

MAID-SERVANT. By Aphrodite, you will be the last of all, far and away the last. Yet my mistress has bidden me take you and take with you these young girls. Some Chian wine is left and lots of other good things.

Therefore hurry, and invite likewise all the spectators whom we have pleased, and such of the judges as are not against us, to follow us; we will offer them everything they can desire. Let our hospitality be large and generous; forget no one, neither old nor young men, nor children.

Dinner is ready for them all; they have but to go ... home.[733]

CHORUS. I am betaking myself to the banquet with this torch in my hand according to custom. But why do you tarry, Blepyrus? Take these young girls with you and, while you are away a while, I will whet my appet.i.te with some dining-song. I have but a few words to say: let the wise judge me because of whatever is wise in this piece, and those who like a laugh by whatever has made them laugh. In this way I address pretty well everyone. If the lot has a.s.signed my comedy to be played first of all, don't let that be a disadvantage to me; engrave in your memory all that shall have pleased you in it and judge the compet.i.tors equitably as you have bound yourselves by oath to do. Don't act like vile courtesans, who never remember any but their last lover. It is time, friends, high time to go to the banquet, if we want to have our share of it. Open your ranks and let the Cretan rhythms regulate your dances.[734]

SEMI-CHORUS. Ready; we are ready!

CHORUS. And you others, let your light steps too keep time. Very soon will be served a very fine menu[*]--oysters-saltfish-skate-sharks'-heads left-over-vinegar-dressing-laserpitium-leek-with-honey-sauce-thrush blackbird-pigeon-dove-roast-c.o.c.k's-brains-wagtail-cushat-hare-stewed in-new-wine-gristle-of-veal-pullet's-wings.[735] Come, quick, seize hold of a plate, s.n.a.t.c.h up a cup, and let's run to secure a place at table. The rest will have their jaws at work by this time.

[* Transcriber's note: In the original, all following words until 'wings'

are connected with hyphens, i.e. they form _one_ word.]

SEMI-CHORUS. Let up leap and dance, Io! evoe! Let us to dinner, Io! evoe.

For victory is ours, victory is ours! Ho! Victory! Io! evoe!

FINIS OF "THE ECCLESIAZUSAE"

Footnotes:

[648] A parody of the pompous addresses to inanimate objects so frequent in the prologues and monodies of Euripides.

[649] A festival which was kept in Athens in the month of scirophorion (June), whence its name; the statues of Athene, Demeter, Persephone, Apollo and Posidon were borne through the city with great pomp with banners or canopies ([Greek: skira]) over them.

[650] Unknown.

[651] So as to get sunburnt and thus have a more manly appearance.

[652] A demagogue, well known on account of his long flowing beard; he was nicknamed by his fellow-citizens [Greek: Sakesphoros] that is, shield-bearer, because his beard came down to his waist and covered his body like a shield.

[653] Unknown.

[654] Whereas the arms must be extended to do carding, and folk could not fail to recognize her as a woman by their shape.

[655] Agyrrhius was an Athenian general, who commanded at Lesbos; he was effeminate and of depraved habits. No doubt he had let his beard grow to impose on the ma.s.ses and to lend himself that dignity which he was naturally wanting in.--p.r.o.nomus was a flute-player, who had a fine beard.

[656] Young pigs were sacrificed at the beginning of the sittings; here the comic writer subst.i.tutes a cat for the pig, perhaps because of its lasciviousness.

[657] A pathic; Aristophanes cla.s.ses him with the women, because of his effeminacy.

[658] The orators wore green chaplets, generally of olive leaves; guests also wore them at feasts, but then flowers were mingled with the leaves.

[659] An allusion to the rapacity of the orators, who only meddled in political discussions with the object of getting some personal gain through their influence; also to the fondness for strong drink we find attributed in so many pa.s.sages to the Athenian women.

[660] A sort of cistern dug in the ground, in which the ancients kept their wine.

[661] This was a form of oath that women made use of; hence it is barred by Praxagora.

[662] Another pathic, like Ariphrades, mentioned above.

[663] Before the time of Pericles, when manners had not yet become corrupt, the fame of each citizen was based on fact; worthy men were honoured, and those who resembled Agyrrhius, already mentioned, were detested. For this general, see note a little above.

[664] The alliance with Corinth, Boeotia and Argolis against Sparta in 393 B.C.

[665] Conon, who went to Asia Minor and was thrown into prison at Sardis by the Persian Satrap.

[666] An Argive to whom Conon entrusted the command of his fleet when he went to the court of the King of Persia.--In this pa.s.sage the poet is warning his fellow-citizens not to alienate the goodwill of the allies by their disdain, but to know how to honour those among them who had distinguished themselves by their talents.

[667] The Lacedaemonians, after having recalled their king, Agesilas, who gained the victory of Coronea, were themselves beaten at sea off Cnidus by Conon and Pharnabazus. 'Twas no doubt this victory which gave a _spark of hope_ to the Athenians, who had suffered so cruelly during so many years; but Aristophanes declares that, in order to profit by this return of fortune, they must recall Thrasybulus, the deliverer of Athens in 401 B.C. He was then ostensibly employed in getting the islands of the Aegean sea and the towns of the Asiatic coast to return under the Athenian power, but this was really only an honourable excuse for thrusting him aside for reasons of jealousy.

[668] Unknown.

[669] During the earlier years of the Peloponnesian war, when the annual invasion of Attica by the Lacedaemonians drove the country population into the city.

[670] A demagogue, otherwise unknown.

[671] Cephalus' father was said to have been a tinker.

[672] The comic poets accused him of being an alien by birth and also an informer and a rogue. See the 'Plutus.'

[673] There was a Greek saying, "_Look into the backside of a dog and of three foxes_" which, says the Scholiast, used to be addressed to those who had bad eyes. But the precise point of the joke here is difficult to see.

[674] An obscene allusion; [Greek: hupokrouein] means both _pulsare_ and _subagitare_,--to strike, and also to move to the man in s.e.xual intercourse.

[675] In order to vote.

[676] The Chorus addresses the leaders amongst the women by the names of men. Charitimides was commander of the Athenian navy.

[677] The countryfolk affected to despise the townspeople, whom they dubbed idle and lazy.

[678] The fee of the citizens who attended the a.s.sembly had varied like that of the dicasts, or jurymen.

[679] An Athenian general, who gained brilliant victories over the Thebans during the period prior to the Peloponnesian war.

[680] A dithyrambic poet, and notorious for his dissoluteness; he was accused of having daubed the statues of Hecate at the Athenian cross-roads with ordure.

[681] The women wore yellow tunics, called [Greek: krok_otoi], because of their colour.

[682] This Thrasybulus, not to be confounded with the more famous Thrasybulus, restorer of the Athenian democracy, in 403 B.C., had undertaken to speak against the Spartans, who had come with proposals of peace, but afterwards excused himself, pretending to be labouring under a sore throat, brought on by eating wild pears (B.C. 393). The Athenians suspected him of having been bribed by the Spartans.

[683] A coined word, derived from [Greek: _achras_], a wild pear.