noble, brilliant Athens, whose brow is
wreathed
with violets,
show us the sovereign master of this land and of all Greece.
show us the sovereign master of this land and of all Greece.
Aristophanes
She sends it you to belly out your galleys, for she is
always showing her kindly anxiety for our fleet. Now drink this beverage
composed of three parts of water to two of wine.
DEMOS. Ah! what delicious wine, and how well it stands the water. [129]
SAUSAGE-SELLER. 'Twas the goddess who came from the head of Zeus that
mixed this liquor with her own hands.
CLEON. Hold, here is a piece of good rich cake.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. But I offer you an entire cake.
CLEON. But you cannot offer him stewed hare as I do.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Ah! great gods! stewed hare! where shall I find it? Oh!
brain of mine, devise some trick!
CLEON. Do you see this, poor fellow?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. A fig for that! Here are folk coming to seek me.
CLEON. Who are they?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Envoys, bearing sacks bulging with money.
CLEON. (_Hearing money mentioned Clean turns his head, and Agoracritus
seizes the opportunity to snatch away the stewed hare. _) Where, where, I
say?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Bah! What's that to you? Will you not even now let the
strangers alone? Demos, do you see this stewed hare which I bring you?
CLEON. Ah! rascal! you have shamelessly robbed me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. You have robbed too, you robbed the Laconians at Pylos.
DEMOS. An you pity me, tell me, how did you get the idea to filch it from
him?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. The idea comes from the goddess; the theft is all my own.
CLEON. And I had taken such trouble to catch this hare.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. But 'twas I who had it cooked.
DEMOS (_to Cleon_). Get you gone! My thanks are only for him who served
it.
CLEON. Ah! wretch! have you beaten me in impudence!
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Well then, Demos, say now, who has treated you best, you
and your stomach? Decide!
DEMOS. How shall I act here so that the spectators shall approve my
judgment?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. I will tell you. Without saying anything, go and rummage
through my basket, and then through the Paphlagonian's, and see what is
in them; that's the best way to judge.
DEMOS. Let us see then, what is there in yours?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Why, 'tis empty, dear little father; I have brought
everything to you.
DEMOS. This is a basket devoted to the people.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Now hunt through the Paphlagonian's. Well?
DEMOS. Oh! what a lot of good things! Why! 'tis quite full! Oh! what a
huge great part of this cake he kept for himself! He had only cut off the
least little tiny piece for me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. But this is what he has always done. Of everything he
took, he only gave you the crumbs, and kept the bulk.
DEMOS. Oh! rascal! was this the way you robbed me? And I was loading you
with chaplets and gifts!
CLEON. 'Twas for the public weal I robbed.
DEMOS (_to Cleon_). Give me back that crown;[130] I will give it to him.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Return it quick, quick, you gallows-bird.
CLEON. No, for the Pythian oracle has revealed to me the name of him who
shall overthrow me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. And that name was mine, nothing can be clearer.
CLEON. Reply and I shall soon see whether you are indeed the man whom the
god intended. Firstly, what school did you attend when a child?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. 'Twas in the kitchens I was taught with cuffs and blows.
CLEON. What's that you say? Ah! this is truly what the oracle said. And
what did you learn from the master of exercises?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. I learnt to take a false oath without a smile, when I had
stolen something.
CLEON. Oh! Phoebus Apollo, god of Lycia! I am undone! And when you had
become a man, what trade did you follow?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. I sold sausages and did a bit of fornication.
CLEON. Oh! my god! I am a lost man! Ah! still one slender hope remains.
Tell me, was it on the market-place or near the gates that you sold your
sausages?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Near the gates, in the market for salted goods.
CLEON Alas! I see the prophecy of the god is verily come true. Alas! roll
me home. [131] I am a miserable, ruined man. Farewell, my chaplet! 'Tis
death to me to part with you. So you are to belong to another; 'tis
certain he cannot be a greater thief, but perhaps he may be a luckier
one. [132]
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Oh! Zeus, the protector of Greece! 'tis to you I owe this
victory!
DEMOSTHENES. Hail! illustrious conqueror, but forget not, that if you
have become a great man, 'tis thanks to me; I ask but a little thing;
appoint me secretary of the law-court in the room of Phanus.
DEMOS (_to the Sausage-seller_). But what is your name then? Tell me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. My name is Agoracritus, because I have always lived on
the market-place in the midst of lawsuits. [133]
DEMOS. Well then, Agoracritus, I stand by you; as for the Paphlagonian, I
hand him over to your mercy.
AGORACRITUS. Demos, I will care for you to the best of my power, and all
shall admit that no citizen is more devoted than I to this city of
simpletons.
CHORUS. What fitter theme for our Muse, at the close as at the beginning
of his work, than this, to sing the hero who drives his swift steeds down
the arena? Why afflict Lysistratus with our satires on his poverty,[134]
and Thumantis,[135] who has not so much as a lodging? He is dying of
hunger and can be seen at Delphi, his face bathed in tears, clinging to
your quiver, oh, Apollo! and supplicating you to take him out of his
misery.
An insult directed at the wicked is not to be censured; on the contrary,
the honest man, if he has sense, can only applaud. Him, whom I wish to
brand with infamy, is little known himself; 'tis the brother of
Arignotus. [136] I regret to quote this name which is so dear to me, but
whoever can distinguish black from white, or the Orthian mode of music
from others, knows the virtues of Arignotus, whom his brother,
Ariphrades,[137] in no way resembles. He gloats in vice, is not merely a
dissolute man and utterly debauched--but he has actually invented a new
form of vice; for he pollutes his tongue with abominable pleasures in
brothels licking up that nauseous moisture and befouling his beard as he
tickles the lips of lewd women's private parts. [138] Whoever is not
horrified at such a monster shall never drink from the same cup with me.
At times a thought weighs on me at night; I wonder whence comes this
fearful voracity of Cleonymus. [139] 'Tis said, that when dining with a
rich host, he springs at the dishes with the gluttony of a wild beast and
never leaves the bread-bin until his host seizes him round the knees,
exclaiming, "Go, go, good gentleman, in mercy go, and spare my poor
table! "
'Tis said that the triremes assembled in council and that the oldest
spoke in these terms, "Are you ignorant, my sisters, of what is plotting
in Athens? They say, that a certain Hyperbolus,[140] a bad citizen and an
infamous scoundrel, asks for a hundred of us to take them to sea against
Chalcedon. "[141] All were indignant, and one of them, as yet a virgin,
cried, "May god forbid that I should ever obey him! I would prefer to
grow old in the harbour and be gnawed by worms. No! by the gods I swear
it, Nauphante, daughter of Nauson, shall never bend to his law; 'tis as
true as I am made of wood and pitch. If the Athenians vote for the
proposal of Hyperbolus, let them! we will hoist full sail and seek refuge
by the temple of Theseus or the shrine of the Euminides. [142] No! he
shall not command us! No! he shall not play with the city to this extent!
Let him sail by himself for Tartarus, if such please him, launching the
boats in which he used to sell his lamps. "
AGORACRITUS. Maintain a holy silence! Keep your mouths from utterance!
call no more witnesses; close these tribunals, which are the delight of
this city, and gather at the theatre to chant the Paean of thanksgiving
to the gods for a fresh favour.
CHORUS. Oh! torch of sacred Athens, saviour of the Islands, what good
tidings are we to celebrate by letting the blood of the victims flow in
our market-places?
AGORACRITUS. I have freshened Demos up somewhat on the stove and have
turned his ugliness into beauty.
CHORUS. I admire your inventive genius; but, where is he?
AGORACRITUS. He is living in ancient Athens, the city of the garlands of
violets.
CHORUS. How I should like to see him! What is his dress like, what his
manner?
AGORACRITUS. He has once more become as he was in the days when he lived
with Aristides and Miltiades. But you will judge for yourselves, for I
hear the vestibule doors opening. Hail with your shouts of gladness the
Athens of old, which now doth reappear to your gaze, admirable, worthy of
the songs of the poets and the home of the illustrious Demos.
CHORUS. Oh!
noble, brilliant Athens, whose brow is wreathed with violets,
show us the sovereign master of this land and of all Greece.
AGORACRITUS. Lo! here he is coming with his hair held in place with a
golden band and in all the glory of his old-world dress; perfumed with
myrrh, he spreads around him not the odour of lawsuits, but of peace.
CHORUS. Hail! King of Greece, we congratulate you upon the happiness you
enjoy; it is worthy of this city, worthy of the glory of Marathon.
DEMOS. Come, Agoracritus, come, my best friend; see the service you have
done me by freshening me up on your stove.
AGORACRITUS. Ah! if you but remembered what you were formerly and what
you did, you would for a certainty believe me to be a god.
DEMOS. But what did I? and how was I then?
AGORACRITUS. Firstly, so soon as ever an orator declared in the assembly
"Demos, I love you ardently; 'tis I alone, who dream of you and watch
over your interests"; at such an exordium you would look like a cock
flapping his wings or a bull tossing his horns.
DEMOS. What, I?
AGORACRITUS. Then, after he had fooled you to the hilt, he would go.
DEMOS. What! they would treat me so, and I never saw it!
AGORACRITUS. You knew only how to open and close your ears like a
sunshade.
DEMOS. Was I then so stupid and such a dotard?
AGORACRITUS. Worse than that; if one of two orators proposed to equip a
fleet for war and the other suggested the use of the same sum for paying
out to the citizens, 'twas the latter who always carried the day. Well!
you droop your head! you turn away your face?
DEMOS. I redden at my past errors.
AGORACRITUS. Think no more of them; 'tis not you who are to blame, but
those who cheated you in this sorry fashion. But, come, if some impudent
lawyer dared to say, "Dicasts, you shall have no wheat unless you convict
this accused man! " what would you do? Tell me.
DEMOS. I would have him removed from the bar, I would bind Hyperbolus
about his neck like a stone and would fling him into the Barathrum. [143]
AGORACRITUS. Well spoken! but what other measures do you wish to take?
DEMOS. First, as soon as ever a fleet returns to the harbour, I shall pay
up the rowers in full.
AGORACRITUS. That will soothe many a worn and chafed bottom.
DEMOS. Further, the hoplite enrolled for military service shall not get
transferred to another service through favour, but shall stick to that
given him at the outset.
AGORACRITUS. This will strike the buckler of Cleonymus full in the
centre.
DEMOS. None shall ascend the rostrum, unless their chins are bearded.
AGORACRITUS. What then will become of Clisthenes and of Strato? [144]
DEMOS. I wish only to refer to those youths, who loll about the perfume
shops, babbling at random, "What a clever fellow is Pheax! [145] How
cleverly he escaped death! how concise and convincing is his style! what
phrases! how clear and to the point! how well he knows how to quell an
interruption! "
AGORACRITUS. I thought you were the lover of those pathic minions.
DEMOS. The gods forefend it! and I will force all such fellows to go
a-hunting instead of proposing decrees.
AGORACRITUS. In that case, accept this folding-stool, and to carry it
this well-grown, big-testicled slave lad. Besides, you may put him to any
other purpose you please.
DEMOS. Oh! I am happy indeed to find myself as I was of old!
AGORACRITUS. Aye, you deem yourself happy, when I shall have handed you
the truces of thirty years. Truces! step forward! [146]
DEMOS. Great gods! how charming they are! Can I do with them as I wish?
where did you discover them, pray?
AGORACRITUS. 'Twas that Paphlagonian who kept them locked up in his
house, so that you might not enjoy them. As for myself, I give them to
you; take them with you into the country.
DEMOS. And what punishment will you inflict upon this Paphlagonian, the
cause of all my troubles?
AGORACRITUS. 'Twill not be over-terrible. I condemn him to follow my old
trade; posted near the gates, he must sell sausages of asses' and
dogs'-meat; perpetually drunk, he will exchange foul language with
prostitutes and will drink nothing but the dirty water from the baths.
DEMOS. Well conceived! he is indeed fit to wrangle with harlots and
bathmen; as for you, in return for so many blessings, I invite you to
take the place at the Prytaneum which this rogue once occupied. Put on
this frog-green mantle and follow me. As for the other, let 'em take him
away; let him go sell his sausages in full view of the foreigners, whom
he used formerly so wantonly to insult.
* * * * *
FINIS OF "THE KNIGHTS"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[4] Mitchell's "Aristophanes. " Preface to "The Knights. "
[5] A generic name, used to denote a slave, because great numbers came
from Paphlagonia, a country in Asia Minor. Aristophanes also plays upon
the word, [Greek: Paphlag_on], Paphlagonian, and the verb, [Greek:
pathlazein], to boil noisily, thus alluding to Cleon's violence and
bluster when speaking.
[6] A musician, belonging to Phrygia, who had composed melodies intended
to describe pain.
[7] Line 323 of the 'Hyppolytus,' by Euripides.
[8] Euripides' mother was said to have sold vegetables on the market.
[9] The whole of this passage seems a satire on the want of courage shown
by these two generals. History, however, speaks of Nicias as a brave
soldier.
[10] i. e. living on his salary as a judge. The Athenians used beans for
recording their votes.
[11] Place where the Public Assembly of Athens, the [Greek: ekkl_esia],
was held.
[12] This was the salary paid to the Ecclesiasts, the jury of citizens
who tried cases. It was one obol at first, but Cleon had raised it to
three.
[13] A town in Messina, opposite the little island of Sphacteria;
Demosthenes had seized it, and the Spartans had vainly tried to retake
it, having even been obliged to leave four hundred soldiers shut up in
Sphacteria. Cleon, sent out with additional forces, had forced the
Spartans to capitulate and had thus robbed Demosthenes of the glory of
the capture. (_See_ Introduction. )
[14] Literally, his rump is among the Chaonians ([Greek: chain_o], to
gape open), because his anus is distended by pederastic practices; his
hands with the Aetolians ([Greek: aite_o], to ask, to beg); his mind with
the Clopidians ([Greek: klept_o], to steal).
[15] The versions of his death vary. He is said to have taken poison in
order to avoid fighting against Athens.
[16] A minor god, supposed by the ancients to preside over the life of
each man; each empire, each province, each town had its titular Genius.
Everyone offered sacrifice to his Genius on each anniversary of his birth
with wine, flowers and incense.
[17] A hill in Asia Minor, near Smyrna. Homer mentions the wine of
Pramnium.
[18] The common people, who at Athens were as superstitious as everywhere
else, took delight in oracles, especially when they were favourable, and
Cleon served them up to suit their taste and to advance his own ambition.
[19] Famous seer of Boeotia.
[20] Eucrates, who was the leading statesman at Athens after Pericles.
[21] Lysicles, who married the courtesan Aspasia.
[22] Literally, like Cycloborus, a torrent in Attica.
[23] He points to the spectators.
[24] The public meals were given in the Prytaneum; to these were admitted
those whose services merited that they should be fed at the cost of the
State. This distinction depended on the popular vote, and was very often
bestowed on demagogues very unworthy of the privilege.
[25] Islands of the Aegaean, subject to Athens, which paid considerable
tributes.
[26] Caria and Chalcedon were at the two extremities of Asia Minor; the
former being at the southern, the latter at the northern end of that
extensive coast.
[27] As though stupidity were an essential of good government.
[28] The Athenian citizens were divided into four classes--the
Pentacosiomedimni, who possessed five hundred minae; the Knights, who had
three hundred and were obliged to maintain a charger (hence their name);
the Zeugitae and the Thetes. In Athens, the Knights never had the high
consideration and the share in the magistracy which they enjoyed at Rome.
[29] It is said that Aristophanes played the part of Cleon himself, as no
one dared to assume the role. (_See_ Introduction. )
[30] They were two leaders of the knightly order.
[31] The famous whirlpool, near Sicily.
[32] Eucrates, the oakum-seller, already mentioned, when the object of a
riot, took refuge in a mill and there hid himself in a sack of bran.
[33] The chief Athenian tribunal only next in dignity to the Areopagus;
it generally consisted of two hundred members; it tried civil cases of
the greatest importance and some crimes beyond the competence of other
courts, e. g. rape, adultery, extortion. The sittings were in the open
air, hence the name ([Greek: _Elios], the sun).
[34] The Heliasts' salary. (_See_ above. )
[35] Tributary to Athens; Olynthus and Potidaea were the chief towns of
this important Peninsula.
[36] Meaning he frightens him with the menace of judicial prosecution
forces him to purchase silence.
[37] The strategi were the heads of the military forces.
[38] They presided at the Public Assemblies; they were also empowered to
try the most important cases.
[39] An allusion to Cleon's former calling.
[40] A country deme of Attica.
[41] Archeptolemus, a resident alien, who lived in Piraeus. He had loaded
Athens with gifts and was nevertheless maltreated by Cleon.
[42] This was easier than against a citizen because of the inferiority,
in which the pride of the Athenian held those born on other soil.
[43] When drunk he conceives himself rich and the man to buy up the rich
silver mines of Laurium, in south-east Attica.
[44] The Chorus throws itself between Cleon and Agoracritus to protect
the latter.
[45] An iron collar, an instrument of torture and of punishment.
[46] A disease among swine.
[47] Cleon wanted the Spartans to purchase the prisoners of Sphacteria
from him.
[48] With piss--the result of his drunken habits.
[49] A tragic poet, apparently proverbial for feebleness of style.
[50] Beginning of a song of Simonides.
[51] A miser.
[52] Guests used pieces of bread to wipe their fingers at table.
[53] 'Dog's head,' a vicious species of ape.
[54] They were allowed to remain in the ground throughout the winter so
that they might grow tender.
[55] An allusion to the pederastic habits ascribed to some of the orators
by popular rumour.
[56] He imputes the crime to Agoracritus of which he is guilty himself.
[57] A town in Thrace and subject to Athens. It therefore paid tribute to
the latter. It often happened that the demagogues extracted considerable
sums from the tributaries by threats or promises.
[58] It was customary in Athens for the plaintiff himself to fix the fine
to be paid by the defendant.
[59] Athene, the tutelary divinity of Athens.
[60] And wife of Pisistratus. Anything belonging to the ancient tyrants
was hateful to the Athenians.
[61] An allusion to the language used by the democratic orators, who, to
be better understood by the people, constantly affected the use of terms
belonging to the different trades.
[62] He accuses Cleon of collusion with the enemy.
[63] Cleon retorts upon his adversary the charge brought against himself.
The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.
[64] Allusion to cock-fighting.
[65] The tripping metre usually employed in the _parabasis_.
[66] Hitherto Aristophanes had presented his pieces under an assumed
name.
[67] A comic poet, who had carried off the prize eleven times; not a
fragment of his works remains to us.
[68] An allusion to the titles of some of his pieces, viz. "the Flute
Players, the Birds, the Lydians, the Gnats, the Frogs. "
[69] The Comic Poet, rival of Aristophanes, several times referred to
above.
[70] These were the opening lines of poems by Cratinus, often sung at
festivities.
[71] A poet, successful at the Olympic games, and in old age reduced to
extreme misery.
[72] The place of honour in the Dionysiac Theatre, reserved for
distinguished citizens.
[73] A Comic Poet, who was elegant but cold; he had at first played as an
actor in the pieces of Cratinus.
[74] Besides the oarsmen and the pilot, there was on the Grecian vessels
a sailor, who stood at the prow to look out for rocks, and another, who
observed the direction of the wind.
[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 Athene, were embroidered--her
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.
always showing her kindly anxiety for our fleet. Now drink this beverage
composed of three parts of water to two of wine.
DEMOS. Ah! what delicious wine, and how well it stands the water. [129]
SAUSAGE-SELLER. 'Twas the goddess who came from the head of Zeus that
mixed this liquor with her own hands.
CLEON. Hold, here is a piece of good rich cake.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. But I offer you an entire cake.
CLEON. But you cannot offer him stewed hare as I do.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Ah! great gods! stewed hare! where shall I find it? Oh!
brain of mine, devise some trick!
CLEON. Do you see this, poor fellow?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. A fig for that! Here are folk coming to seek me.
CLEON. Who are they?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Envoys, bearing sacks bulging with money.
CLEON. (_Hearing money mentioned Clean turns his head, and Agoracritus
seizes the opportunity to snatch away the stewed hare. _) Where, where, I
say?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Bah! What's that to you? Will you not even now let the
strangers alone? Demos, do you see this stewed hare which I bring you?
CLEON. Ah! rascal! you have shamelessly robbed me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. You have robbed too, you robbed the Laconians at Pylos.
DEMOS. An you pity me, tell me, how did you get the idea to filch it from
him?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. The idea comes from the goddess; the theft is all my own.
CLEON. And I had taken such trouble to catch this hare.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. But 'twas I who had it cooked.
DEMOS (_to Cleon_). Get you gone! My thanks are only for him who served
it.
CLEON. Ah! wretch! have you beaten me in impudence!
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Well then, Demos, say now, who has treated you best, you
and your stomach? Decide!
DEMOS. How shall I act here so that the spectators shall approve my
judgment?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. I will tell you. Without saying anything, go and rummage
through my basket, and then through the Paphlagonian's, and see what is
in them; that's the best way to judge.
DEMOS. Let us see then, what is there in yours?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Why, 'tis empty, dear little father; I have brought
everything to you.
DEMOS. This is a basket devoted to the people.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Now hunt through the Paphlagonian's. Well?
DEMOS. Oh! what a lot of good things! Why! 'tis quite full! Oh! what a
huge great part of this cake he kept for himself! He had only cut off the
least little tiny piece for me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. But this is what he has always done. Of everything he
took, he only gave you the crumbs, and kept the bulk.
DEMOS. Oh! rascal! was this the way you robbed me? And I was loading you
with chaplets and gifts!
CLEON. 'Twas for the public weal I robbed.
DEMOS (_to Cleon_). Give me back that crown;[130] I will give it to him.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Return it quick, quick, you gallows-bird.
CLEON. No, for the Pythian oracle has revealed to me the name of him who
shall overthrow me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. And that name was mine, nothing can be clearer.
CLEON. Reply and I shall soon see whether you are indeed the man whom the
god intended. Firstly, what school did you attend when a child?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. 'Twas in the kitchens I was taught with cuffs and blows.
CLEON. What's that you say? Ah! this is truly what the oracle said. And
what did you learn from the master of exercises?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. I learnt to take a false oath without a smile, when I had
stolen something.
CLEON. Oh! Phoebus Apollo, god of Lycia! I am undone! And when you had
become a man, what trade did you follow?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. I sold sausages and did a bit of fornication.
CLEON. Oh! my god! I am a lost man! Ah! still one slender hope remains.
Tell me, was it on the market-place or near the gates that you sold your
sausages?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Near the gates, in the market for salted goods.
CLEON Alas! I see the prophecy of the god is verily come true. Alas! roll
me home. [131] I am a miserable, ruined man. Farewell, my chaplet! 'Tis
death to me to part with you. So you are to belong to another; 'tis
certain he cannot be a greater thief, but perhaps he may be a luckier
one. [132]
SAUSAGE-SELLER. Oh! Zeus, the protector of Greece! 'tis to you I owe this
victory!
DEMOSTHENES. Hail! illustrious conqueror, but forget not, that if you
have become a great man, 'tis thanks to me; I ask but a little thing;
appoint me secretary of the law-court in the room of Phanus.
DEMOS (_to the Sausage-seller_). But what is your name then? Tell me.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. My name is Agoracritus, because I have always lived on
the market-place in the midst of lawsuits. [133]
DEMOS. Well then, Agoracritus, I stand by you; as for the Paphlagonian, I
hand him over to your mercy.
AGORACRITUS. Demos, I will care for you to the best of my power, and all
shall admit that no citizen is more devoted than I to this city of
simpletons.
CHORUS. What fitter theme for our Muse, at the close as at the beginning
of his work, than this, to sing the hero who drives his swift steeds down
the arena? Why afflict Lysistratus with our satires on his poverty,[134]
and Thumantis,[135] who has not so much as a lodging? He is dying of
hunger and can be seen at Delphi, his face bathed in tears, clinging to
your quiver, oh, Apollo! and supplicating you to take him out of his
misery.
An insult directed at the wicked is not to be censured; on the contrary,
the honest man, if he has sense, can only applaud. Him, whom I wish to
brand with infamy, is little known himself; 'tis the brother of
Arignotus. [136] I regret to quote this name which is so dear to me, but
whoever can distinguish black from white, or the Orthian mode of music
from others, knows the virtues of Arignotus, whom his brother,
Ariphrades,[137] in no way resembles. He gloats in vice, is not merely a
dissolute man and utterly debauched--but he has actually invented a new
form of vice; for he pollutes his tongue with abominable pleasures in
brothels licking up that nauseous moisture and befouling his beard as he
tickles the lips of lewd women's private parts. [138] Whoever is not
horrified at such a monster shall never drink from the same cup with me.
At times a thought weighs on me at night; I wonder whence comes this
fearful voracity of Cleonymus. [139] 'Tis said, that when dining with a
rich host, he springs at the dishes with the gluttony of a wild beast and
never leaves the bread-bin until his host seizes him round the knees,
exclaiming, "Go, go, good gentleman, in mercy go, and spare my poor
table! "
'Tis said that the triremes assembled in council and that the oldest
spoke in these terms, "Are you ignorant, my sisters, of what is plotting
in Athens? They say, that a certain Hyperbolus,[140] a bad citizen and an
infamous scoundrel, asks for a hundred of us to take them to sea against
Chalcedon. "[141] All were indignant, and one of them, as yet a virgin,
cried, "May god forbid that I should ever obey him! I would prefer to
grow old in the harbour and be gnawed by worms. No! by the gods I swear
it, Nauphante, daughter of Nauson, shall never bend to his law; 'tis as
true as I am made of wood and pitch. If the Athenians vote for the
proposal of Hyperbolus, let them! we will hoist full sail and seek refuge
by the temple of Theseus or the shrine of the Euminides. [142] No! he
shall not command us! No! he shall not play with the city to this extent!
Let him sail by himself for Tartarus, if such please him, launching the
boats in which he used to sell his lamps. "
AGORACRITUS. Maintain a holy silence! Keep your mouths from utterance!
call no more witnesses; close these tribunals, which are the delight of
this city, and gather at the theatre to chant the Paean of thanksgiving
to the gods for a fresh favour.
CHORUS. Oh! torch of sacred Athens, saviour of the Islands, what good
tidings are we to celebrate by letting the blood of the victims flow in
our market-places?
AGORACRITUS. I have freshened Demos up somewhat on the stove and have
turned his ugliness into beauty.
CHORUS. I admire your inventive genius; but, where is he?
AGORACRITUS. He is living in ancient Athens, the city of the garlands of
violets.
CHORUS. How I should like to see him! What is his dress like, what his
manner?
AGORACRITUS. He has once more become as he was in the days when he lived
with Aristides and Miltiades. But you will judge for yourselves, for I
hear the vestibule doors opening. Hail with your shouts of gladness the
Athens of old, which now doth reappear to your gaze, admirable, worthy of
the songs of the poets and the home of the illustrious Demos.
CHORUS. Oh!
noble, brilliant Athens, whose brow is wreathed with violets,
show us the sovereign master of this land and of all Greece.
AGORACRITUS. Lo! here he is coming with his hair held in place with a
golden band and in all the glory of his old-world dress; perfumed with
myrrh, he spreads around him not the odour of lawsuits, but of peace.
CHORUS. Hail! King of Greece, we congratulate you upon the happiness you
enjoy; it is worthy of this city, worthy of the glory of Marathon.
DEMOS. Come, Agoracritus, come, my best friend; see the service you have
done me by freshening me up on your stove.
AGORACRITUS. Ah! if you but remembered what you were formerly and what
you did, you would for a certainty believe me to be a god.
DEMOS. But what did I? and how was I then?
AGORACRITUS. Firstly, so soon as ever an orator declared in the assembly
"Demos, I love you ardently; 'tis I alone, who dream of you and watch
over your interests"; at such an exordium you would look like a cock
flapping his wings or a bull tossing his horns.
DEMOS. What, I?
AGORACRITUS. Then, after he had fooled you to the hilt, he would go.
DEMOS. What! they would treat me so, and I never saw it!
AGORACRITUS. You knew only how to open and close your ears like a
sunshade.
DEMOS. Was I then so stupid and such a dotard?
AGORACRITUS. Worse than that; if one of two orators proposed to equip a
fleet for war and the other suggested the use of the same sum for paying
out to the citizens, 'twas the latter who always carried the day. Well!
you droop your head! you turn away your face?
DEMOS. I redden at my past errors.
AGORACRITUS. Think no more of them; 'tis not you who are to blame, but
those who cheated you in this sorry fashion. But, come, if some impudent
lawyer dared to say, "Dicasts, you shall have no wheat unless you convict
this accused man! " what would you do? Tell me.
DEMOS. I would have him removed from the bar, I would bind Hyperbolus
about his neck like a stone and would fling him into the Barathrum. [143]
AGORACRITUS. Well spoken! but what other measures do you wish to take?
DEMOS. First, as soon as ever a fleet returns to the harbour, I shall pay
up the rowers in full.
AGORACRITUS. That will soothe many a worn and chafed bottom.
DEMOS. Further, the hoplite enrolled for military service shall not get
transferred to another service through favour, but shall stick to that
given him at the outset.
AGORACRITUS. This will strike the buckler of Cleonymus full in the
centre.
DEMOS. None shall ascend the rostrum, unless their chins are bearded.
AGORACRITUS. What then will become of Clisthenes and of Strato? [144]
DEMOS. I wish only to refer to those youths, who loll about the perfume
shops, babbling at random, "What a clever fellow is Pheax! [145] How
cleverly he escaped death! how concise and convincing is his style! what
phrases! how clear and to the point! how well he knows how to quell an
interruption! "
AGORACRITUS. I thought you were the lover of those pathic minions.
DEMOS. The gods forefend it! and I will force all such fellows to go
a-hunting instead of proposing decrees.
AGORACRITUS. In that case, accept this folding-stool, and to carry it
this well-grown, big-testicled slave lad. Besides, you may put him to any
other purpose you please.
DEMOS. Oh! I am happy indeed to find myself as I was of old!
AGORACRITUS. Aye, you deem yourself happy, when I shall have handed you
the truces of thirty years. Truces! step forward! [146]
DEMOS. Great gods! how charming they are! Can I do with them as I wish?
where did you discover them, pray?
AGORACRITUS. 'Twas that Paphlagonian who kept them locked up in his
house, so that you might not enjoy them. As for myself, I give them to
you; take them with you into the country.
DEMOS. And what punishment will you inflict upon this Paphlagonian, the
cause of all my troubles?
AGORACRITUS. 'Twill not be over-terrible. I condemn him to follow my old
trade; posted near the gates, he must sell sausages of asses' and
dogs'-meat; perpetually drunk, he will exchange foul language with
prostitutes and will drink nothing but the dirty water from the baths.
DEMOS. Well conceived! he is indeed fit to wrangle with harlots and
bathmen; as for you, in return for so many blessings, I invite you to
take the place at the Prytaneum which this rogue once occupied. Put on
this frog-green mantle and follow me. As for the other, let 'em take him
away; let him go sell his sausages in full view of the foreigners, whom
he used formerly so wantonly to insult.
* * * * *
FINIS OF "THE KNIGHTS"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[4] Mitchell's "Aristophanes. " Preface to "The Knights. "
[5] A generic name, used to denote a slave, because great numbers came
from Paphlagonia, a country in Asia Minor. Aristophanes also plays upon
the word, [Greek: Paphlag_on], Paphlagonian, and the verb, [Greek:
pathlazein], to boil noisily, thus alluding to Cleon's violence and
bluster when speaking.
[6] A musician, belonging to Phrygia, who had composed melodies intended
to describe pain.
[7] Line 323 of the 'Hyppolytus,' by Euripides.
[8] Euripides' mother was said to have sold vegetables on the market.
[9] The whole of this passage seems a satire on the want of courage shown
by these two generals. History, however, speaks of Nicias as a brave
soldier.
[10] i. e. living on his salary as a judge. The Athenians used beans for
recording their votes.
[11] Place where the Public Assembly of Athens, the [Greek: ekkl_esia],
was held.
[12] This was the salary paid to the Ecclesiasts, the jury of citizens
who tried cases. It was one obol at first, but Cleon had raised it to
three.
[13] A town in Messina, opposite the little island of Sphacteria;
Demosthenes had seized it, and the Spartans had vainly tried to retake
it, having even been obliged to leave four hundred soldiers shut up in
Sphacteria. Cleon, sent out with additional forces, had forced the
Spartans to capitulate and had thus robbed Demosthenes of the glory of
the capture. (_See_ Introduction. )
[14] Literally, his rump is among the Chaonians ([Greek: chain_o], to
gape open), because his anus is distended by pederastic practices; his
hands with the Aetolians ([Greek: aite_o], to ask, to beg); his mind with
the Clopidians ([Greek: klept_o], to steal).
[15] The versions of his death vary. He is said to have taken poison in
order to avoid fighting against Athens.
[16] A minor god, supposed by the ancients to preside over the life of
each man; each empire, each province, each town had its titular Genius.
Everyone offered sacrifice to his Genius on each anniversary of his birth
with wine, flowers and incense.
[17] A hill in Asia Minor, near Smyrna. Homer mentions the wine of
Pramnium.
[18] The common people, who at Athens were as superstitious as everywhere
else, took delight in oracles, especially when they were favourable, and
Cleon served them up to suit their taste and to advance his own ambition.
[19] Famous seer of Boeotia.
[20] Eucrates, who was the leading statesman at Athens after Pericles.
[21] Lysicles, who married the courtesan Aspasia.
[22] Literally, like Cycloborus, a torrent in Attica.
[23] He points to the spectators.
[24] The public meals were given in the Prytaneum; to these were admitted
those whose services merited that they should be fed at the cost of the
State. This distinction depended on the popular vote, and was very often
bestowed on demagogues very unworthy of the privilege.
[25] Islands of the Aegaean, subject to Athens, which paid considerable
tributes.
[26] Caria and Chalcedon were at the two extremities of Asia Minor; the
former being at the southern, the latter at the northern end of that
extensive coast.
[27] As though stupidity were an essential of good government.
[28] The Athenian citizens were divided into four classes--the
Pentacosiomedimni, who possessed five hundred minae; the Knights, who had
three hundred and were obliged to maintain a charger (hence their name);
the Zeugitae and the Thetes. In Athens, the Knights never had the high
consideration and the share in the magistracy which they enjoyed at Rome.
[29] It is said that Aristophanes played the part of Cleon himself, as no
one dared to assume the role. (_See_ Introduction. )
[30] They were two leaders of the knightly order.
[31] The famous whirlpool, near Sicily.
[32] Eucrates, the oakum-seller, already mentioned, when the object of a
riot, took refuge in a mill and there hid himself in a sack of bran.
[33] The chief Athenian tribunal only next in dignity to the Areopagus;
it generally consisted of two hundred members; it tried civil cases of
the greatest importance and some crimes beyond the competence of other
courts, e. g. rape, adultery, extortion. The sittings were in the open
air, hence the name ([Greek: _Elios], the sun).
[34] The Heliasts' salary. (_See_ above. )
[35] Tributary to Athens; Olynthus and Potidaea were the chief towns of
this important Peninsula.
[36] Meaning he frightens him with the menace of judicial prosecution
forces him to purchase silence.
[37] The strategi were the heads of the military forces.
[38] They presided at the Public Assemblies; they were also empowered to
try the most important cases.
[39] An allusion to Cleon's former calling.
[40] A country deme of Attica.
[41] Archeptolemus, a resident alien, who lived in Piraeus. He had loaded
Athens with gifts and was nevertheless maltreated by Cleon.
[42] This was easier than against a citizen because of the inferiority,
in which the pride of the Athenian held those born on other soil.
[43] When drunk he conceives himself rich and the man to buy up the rich
silver mines of Laurium, in south-east Attica.
[44] The Chorus throws itself between Cleon and Agoracritus to protect
the latter.
[45] An iron collar, an instrument of torture and of punishment.
[46] A disease among swine.
[47] Cleon wanted the Spartans to purchase the prisoners of Sphacteria
from him.
[48] With piss--the result of his drunken habits.
[49] A tragic poet, apparently proverbial for feebleness of style.
[50] Beginning of a song of Simonides.
[51] A miser.
[52] Guests used pieces of bread to wipe their fingers at table.
[53] 'Dog's head,' a vicious species of ape.
[54] They were allowed to remain in the ground throughout the winter so
that they might grow tender.
[55] An allusion to the pederastic habits ascribed to some of the orators
by popular rumour.
[56] He imputes the crime to Agoracritus of which he is guilty himself.
[57] A town in Thrace and subject to Athens. It therefore paid tribute to
the latter. It often happened that the demagogues extracted considerable
sums from the tributaries by threats or promises.
[58] It was customary in Athens for the plaintiff himself to fix the fine
to be paid by the defendant.
[59] Athene, the tutelary divinity of Athens.
[60] And wife of Pisistratus. Anything belonging to the ancient tyrants
was hateful to the Athenians.
[61] An allusion to the language used by the democratic orators, who, to
be better understood by the people, constantly affected the use of terms
belonging to the different trades.
[62] He accuses Cleon of collusion with the enemy.
[63] Cleon retorts upon his adversary the charge brought against himself.
The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.
[64] Allusion to cock-fighting.
[65] The tripping metre usually employed in the _parabasis_.
[66] Hitherto Aristophanes had presented his pieces under an assumed
name.
[67] A comic poet, who had carried off the prize eleven times; not a
fragment of his works remains to us.
[68] An allusion to the titles of some of his pieces, viz. "the Flute
Players, the Birds, the Lydians, the Gnats, the Frogs. "
[69] The Comic Poet, rival of Aristophanes, several times referred to
above.
[70] These were the opening lines of poems by Cratinus, often sung at
festivities.
[71] A poet, successful at the Olympic games, and in old age reduced to
extreme misery.
[72] The place of honour in the Dionysiac Theatre, reserved for
distinguished citizens.
[73] A Comic Poet, who was elegant but cold; he had at first played as an
actor in the pieces of Cratinus.
[74] Besides the oarsmen and the pilot, there was on the Grecian vessels
a sailor, who stood at the prow to look out for rocks, and another, who
observed the direction of the wind.
[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 Athene, were embroidered--her
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.
