75
Two promontories, one in Attica, the other in Euboea, on which temples to Posidon were erected.
76
An Athenian general, who had gained several naval victories. He had contributed to the success of the expedition to Samos (Thucydides, Book I), and had recently beaten a Peloponnesian fleet (Thucydides, Book II).
77
At the Panathenaea, a festival held every fourth year, a peplus, or sail, was carried with pomp to the Acropolis. On this various mythological scenes, having reference to Athené, were embroideredher exploits against the giants, her fight with Posidon concerning the name to be given to Athens, etc. It had also become customary to add the names and the deeds of such citizens as had deserved well of their country.
78
Cleaenetus had passed a law to limit the number of citizens to be fed at the Prytaneum; it may be supposed, that those, who aspired to this distinction, sought to conciliate Cleaenetus in their favour.
79
The Chorus of Knights, not being able to sing their own praises, feign to divert these to their chargers.
80
A horse branded with the obsolete letter [Greek: sán][Symbol: Letter 'san'], as a mark of breed or high quality.
81
Crab was no doubt a nickname given to the Corinthians on account of the position of their city on an isthmus between two seas. In the 'Acharnians' Theorus is mentioned as an ambassador, who had returned from the King of Persia.
82
The Senate was a body composed of five hundred members, elected annually like the magistrates from the three first classes to the exclusion of the fourth, the Thetes, which was composed of the poorest citizens.
83
The [Greek: moth_on], a rough, boisterous, obscene dance.
84
At the festival of the Pyanepsia, held in honour of Athené as the protectress of Theseus in his fight with the Minotaur, the children carried olive branches in procession, round which strips of linen were wound; they were then fastened up over the entrances of each house.
85
On which the citizens sat in the Public Assembly in the Pnyx to hear the orators. In the centre of the semicircular space the tribune stood, a square block of stone, [Greek: B_ema], and from this the people were addressed.
86
Lysicles was a dealer in sheep, who had wielded great power in Athens after the death of Pericles. Cynna and Salabaccha were two celebrated courtesans.
87
Place of interment for those who died for the country.
88
Seated on the banks for the rowers.
89
Assassin of the tyrant Hippias, the son of Pisistratus. His memory was held in great honour at Athens.
90
Driven out by the invasions of the Peloponnesians, the people of the outlying districts had been obliged to seek refuge within the walls of Athens, where they were lodged wherever they could find room.
91
A verse borrowed from Euripides' lost play of 'Telephus.'
92
Themistocles joined the Piraeus to Athens by the construction of the Long Walls.
93
Which were caught off the Piraeus.
94
Mitylené, chief city of the Island of Lesbos, rebelled against the Athenians and was retaken by Chares. By a popular decree the whole manhood of the town was to suffer death, but this decree was withdrawn the next day. Aristophanes insinuates that Cleon, bought over with Mitylenaean gold, brought about this change of opinion. On the contrary, Thucydides says that the decree was revoked in spite of Cleon's opposition.
95
When bucklers were hung up as trophies, it was usual to detach the ring or brace, so as to render them useless for warlike purposes.
96
An orator of debauched habits.
97
An accusation frequently hurled at the orators.
98
Guests took off their shoes before entering the festal hall.
99
An allusion to Cleon's former calling of a tanner.
100
A plant from Cyrenaďca, which was imported into Athens in large quantities after the conclusion of a treaty of navigation, which Cleon made with this country. It was a very highly valued flavouring for sauces.
101
The name of a supposed informer. The adjective, [Greek: pyrrhos], yellow, the colour of ordure, is contained in the construction of this name; thus a most disgusting piece of word-play is intended.
102
The orators were for ever claiming the protection of Athené.
103
A very expensive burden, which was imposed upon the rich citizen. The trierarchs had to furnish both the equipment of the triremes or war-galleys and their upkeep. They varied considerably in number and ended in reaching a total of 1200; the most opulent found the money, and were later repaid partly and little by little by those not so well circumstanced. Later it was permissible for anyone, appointed as a trierarch, to point out someone richer than himself and to ask to have him take his place with the condition that if the other preferred, he should exchange fortunes with him and continue his office of trierarch.
104
This is an allusion to some extortion of Cleon's.
105
The Greek word [Greek: d_emos] means both "The People" and fat, grease. The pun cannot well be kept in English.
106
A voracious birdin allusion to Cleon's rapacity and to his loquacity in the Assembly.
107
The orators were fond of supporting their arguments with imaginary oraclesand Cleon was an especial adept at this dodge.
108
Smicythes, King of Thrace, spoken of in the oracle as a woman, doubtless on account of his cowardice. The word pursue is here used in a double sense, viz. in battle and in law. It is on account of this latter meaning, that Aristophanes adds "and her spouse," because in cases in which women were sued at law, their husbands were summoned as conjointly liable.
109
Because he had smashed up and turned upside down the fortunes of Athens.
110
The punrather a far-fetched oneis between the words [Greek: D_orh_osti] (in the Dorian mode) and [Greek: d_orhon] (a bribe).
111
A Boeotian soothsayer.
112
A name invented by the Sausage-seller on the spur of the moment, to cap Cleon's boast.
112
A name invented by the Sausage-seller on the spur of the moment, to cap Cleon's boast.
113
That is, Athenian; Erectheus was an ancient mythical King of Athens.
114
That is, the tributes paid to Athens by the Aegaean Islands, whether allies or subjects.
115
The Lacedaemonian prisoners from Sphacteria, so often referred to.
116
That is, Athenian; Cecrops was the first King of Athens, according to the legends.
117
There were three towns of this name in different parts of Greece.
118
There is a pun here which it is impossible to render in English; the Greek [Greek: Pylos](Pylos) differs by only one letter from the word meaning a bath-tub ([Greek: Pyelos]).
119
Cleon was reproached by his enemies with paying small attention to the regular payment of the sailors.
120
Another poetical term to signify Athenian; Aegeus, an ancient mythical King of Athens, father of Theseus.
121
Impudent as a dog and cunning as a fox.
122
An orator and statesman of the day; practically nothing is known about him.
123
Another orator and statesman, accused apparently of taking bribes.
124
As pointed out before, the orators were fond of dragging Athené continually into their speeches.
125
One of Cleon's protégés and flatterers. The scholiasts say he was his secretary.
126
Terms borrowed from the circus races.
127
Terms borrowed from the circus races.
128
That is, at the expense of other folk.
129
Pieces of bread, hollowed out, which were filled with mincemeat or soup.
130
Both Greeks and Romans drank their wine mixed with water.
131
After his success in the Sphacteria affair Cleon induced the people to vote him a chaplet of gold.
132
That is, by means of the mechanical device of the Greek stage known as the [Greek: ekkukl_ema].
133
Parody of a well-known verse from Euripides' 'Alcestis.'
134
The name Agoracritus is compounded: cf. [Greek: agora], a market-place, and [Greek: krinein], to judge.
135
This grandiloquent opening is borrowed from Pindar.
136
Mentioned in the 'Acharnians.'
137
A soothsayer.
138
A flute-player.
139
An allusion to the vice of the 'cunnilingue,' apparently a novel form of naughtiness at Athens in Aristophanes' day.
140
As well known for his gluttony as for his cowardice.
141
One of the most noisy demagogues of Cleon's party; he succeeded him, but was later condemned to ostracism.
142
A town in Bithynia, situated at the entrance of the Bosphorus and nearly opposite Byzantium. It was one of the most important towns in Asia Minor. Doubtless Hyperbolus only demanded so large a fleet to terrorize the towns and oppress them at will.
143
These temples were inviolable places of refuge, where even slaves were secure.
144
A rocky cleft at the back of the Acropolis into which criminals were hurled.
145
Young and effeminate orators of licentious habits.
146
By adroit special pleading he had contrived to get his acquittal, when charged with a capital offence.
147
They were personified on the stage as pretty little filles de joie.
148
A name invented by Aristophanes and signifying 'a just citizen.'
149
Cleon had received five talents from the islanders subject to Athens, on condition that he should get the tribute payable by them reduced; when informed of this transaction, the Knights compelled him to return the money.
150
A hemistich borrowed from Euripides' 'Telephus.'
151
The tragedies of Aeschylus continued to be played even after the poet's death, which occurred in 436 B.C., ten years before the production of the Acharnians.
152
A tragic poet, whose pieces were so devoid of warmth and life that he was nicknamed [Greek: chi_on], i.e. snow.
153
A bad musician, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes; he played both the lyre and the flute.
154
A lively and elevated method.
155
A hill near the Acropolis, where the Assemblies were held.
156
Several means were used to force citizens to attend the assemblies; the shops were closed; circulation was only permitted in those streets which led to the Pnyx; finally, a rope covered with vermilion was drawn round those who dallied in the Agora (the marketplace), and the late-comers, ear-marked by the imprint of the rope, were fined.
157
Magistrates who, with the Archons and the Epistatae, shared the care of holding and directing the assemblies of the people; they were fifty in number.
158
The Peloponnesian War had already, at the date of the representation of the 'Acharnians,' lasted five years, 431-426 B.C.; driven from their lands by the successive Lacedaemonian invasions, the people throughout the country had been compelled to seek shelter behind the walls of Athens.
159
Shortly before the meeting of the Assembly, a number of young pigs were immolated and a few drops of their blood were sprinkled on the seats of the Prytanes; this sacrifice was in honour of Ceres.
160
The name, Amphitheus, contains the word, [Greek: Theos], god.
161
Amongst other duties, it was the office of the Prytanes to look after the wants of the poor.
162
The summer residence of the Great King.