The Eleven Comedies Vol 2 Part 94

[739] Plutus, the G.o.d of riches, was included amongst the infernal deities, because riches are extracted from the earth's bosom, which is their dwelling-place. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Demeter; agriculture is in truth the most solid foundation of wealth. He was generally represented as an old blind man, halting in gait and winged, coming with slow steps but going away on a rapid flight and carrying a purse in his hand. At Athens the statue of Peace bore Plutus represented as still a child on her bosom as a symbol of the wealth that peace brings.

[740] A rich man, who affected the sordid habits of Lacedaemon, because of his greed. "More sordid than Patrocles" had become a byword at Athens.

Even the public baths were too dear for Patrocles, because, in addition to the modest fee that was given to the bath-man, it was necessary to use a little oil for the customary friction after the bath.

[741] This catechizing is completely in the manner of the sophistical teaching of the times, and has its parallel in other comedies. It reminds us in many ways of the Socratic 'Elenchus' as displayed in the Platonic dialogues.

[742] Corinth was the most corrupt as well as the most commercial of Greek cities, and held a number of great courtesans, indeed some of the most celebrated, e.g. Las, Cyrene, Sinope, practised their profession there; they, however, set a very high value on their favours, and hence the saying, "_Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum_"--"it is not for every man to go to Corinth."

[743] This was the mild punishment inflicted upon the adulterer by Athenian custom. The laws of Solon were very indulgent to this kind of crime; they only provided that the guilty woman might be repudiated by her husband, but were completely silent concerning her accomplice.

[744] Cario means to convey that women often paid their lovers, or at all events made it their business to open up the road to fortune for them.

[745] In order to receive the _triobolus,_ the fee for attendance.

[746] The richest citizens were saddled with this expense and were called trierarchs.

[747] Athens had formed an alliance with Corinth and Thebes against Sparta in 393 B.C., a little before the production of the 'Plutus.'

Corinth, not feeling itself strong enough to resist the attacks of the Spartans unaided, had demanded the help of an Athenian garrison, and hence Athens maintained some few thousand mercenaries there.

[748] A civil servant, who had been exiled for embezzling State funds.

[749] No doubt an accomplice of Pamphilus in his misdeeds; the Scholiast says he was one of his parasites.

[750] An upstart and, through the favour of the people, an admiral in the year 389 B.C., after Thrasybulus; he had enriched himself through some rather equivocal state employments and was insolent, because of his wealth, 'as a well-fed a.s.s.'

[751] A buffoon, so the Scholiasts inform us, who was in the habit of visiting the public places of the city in order to make a little money by amusing the crowd with ridiculous stories. Others say he was a statesman of the period, who was condemned for embezzlement of public money; in his defence he may well have invented some fabulous tales to account for the disappearance of the money out of the Treasury.

[752] The precise historical reference here is obscure.

[753] Las, a celebrated courtesan.--Of Philonides little is known, except that he was a native of Melita and a rich and profligate character.

[754] The reference is no doubt to a pretentious construction that had been built for the rich and over-proud Timotheus, the son of Conon. He was a clever general of great integrity; when the 'Plutus' was produced, he was still very young.

[755] Chremylus rises in a regular climax from love to military glory; the slave in as direct an anti-climax comes from bread, sweetmeats, etc., down to lentils.

[756] The son of Aphareus, the King of Messenia; according to the legends, he had such piercing sight that he could see through walls, and could even discover what was going on in heaven and in the nether world.

He took part in the expedition of the Argonauts.

[757] A part of the victim which Cario was bringing back from the Temple; it was customary to present the remains of a sacrifice to friends and relations.

[758] As soon as Chremylus sees himself a.s.sured of wealth he adopts less honest principles.

[759] The citizens appointed to act as dicasts, or jurymen, drew lots each year to decide in which Court they should sit. There were ten Courts, each of which was indicated by one of the first ten letters of the alphabet, and the urn contained as many tickets marked with these letters as there were dicasts. Cario means to say here that the old men of the Chorus should remember that they have soon to die themselves instead of bothering about punishing him.

[760] A word invented to imitate the sound of a lyre.

[761] The Cyclops let his flocks graze while he played the lyre; it was thus that Philoxenus had represented him in a piece to which Aristophanes is here alluding.--Cario a.s.sumes the part of the Cyclops and leaves that of the flock to the Chorus.

[762] In allusion to Ulysses' adventures in the cave of Polyphemus.

[763] Las.

[764] i.e. Cario, who is a.s.suming the role of Circe of Corinth.

[765] This was the torture which Odysseus inflicted on Melanthius, one of the goatherds.

[766] A poet of debauched and degraded life, one of those who, like Ariphrades mentioned in 'The Knights,' "defiled his tongue with abominable sensualities," that is to say, was a _fellator_ and a _cunnilingue._

[767] It is uncertain whether Pamphilus, a tragedian, is meant here, who, like Euripides and Aeschylus, made the Heraclidae the subject of a tragedy, or the painter of that name, so celebrated in later times, who painted that subject in the Poecile Stoa.

[768] Physicians at Athens were paid very indifferently, and hence the most skilled sought their practice in other cities.

[769] The Temple of Aesculapius stood on the way from the theatre to the citadel and near the tomb of Talos. A large number of invalids were taken there to pa.s.s a night; it was believed that the G.o.d visited them without being seen himself, because of the darkness, and arranged for their restoration to health.

[770] Like the Furies who composed the Chorus in Aeschylus' 'Eumenides.'

[771] A ravine into which criminals were hurled at Athens.

[772] During the winter the poor went into the public baths for shelter against the cold; they could even stop there all night; sometimes they burnt themselves by getting too near the furnace which heated the water.

[773] i.e. the most opposite things; the tyranny of Dionysius of Syracuse and the liberty which Thrasybulus restored to Athens.

[774] Crimes to which men are driven through poverty.

[775] The ancients placed statues of Hecate at the cross-roads ([Greek: triodoi], places where three roads meet), because of the three names, Artemis, Phoebe and Hecate, under which the same G.o.ddess was worshipped.

On the first day of the month the rich had meals served before these statues and invited the poor to them.

[776] A verse from Euripides' lost play of 'Telephus.' The same line occurs in 'The Knights.'

[777] And not the citizens of Argos, whom agriculture and trade rendered wealthy.--Pauson was an Athenian painter, whose poverty had become a proverb. "Poorer than Pauson" was a common saying.

[778] There is here a long interval of time, during which Plutus is taken to the Temple of Aesculapius and cured of his blindness. In the first edition probably the Parabasis came in here; at all events a long choral ode must have intervened.

[779] The Athenians had erected a temple to Theseus and inst.i.tuted feasts in his honour, which were still kept up in the days of Plutarch and Pausanias. Barley broth and other coa.r.s.e foods were distributed among the poor.

[780] He was an orator, who was accused of theft and extortion, and who, moreover, was said not to be a genuine Athenian citizen.

[781] The serpent was sacred to Aesculapius; several of these reptiles lived in the temple of the G.o.d.

[782] Iaso (from [Greek: iasthai], to heal) and Panacea (from [Greek: pan], everything, and [Greek: akeisthai], to cure) were daughters of Aesculapius.

[783] He has to see, examine, and taste pill, potion, urine ... and worse.

[784] An apothecary's outfit.

[785] Tenos is one of the Cyclades, near Andros.

[786] A deme of Attica, where the strongest vinegar came from.