| archonship of
Morychides
(B.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
37; Polyaen.
viii.
58; Plut.
Demetrius,
give their consent to her union with the philoso- 9. )
(E. E. ]
pher. Of the married life of this philosophic cou- CRATESI'PPIDAS (Kpatno itnídas), a La-
ple Diogenes Laërtius relates some very curious cedaemonian, was sent out as admiral after the
facts.
death of Mindarus, B. C. 410, and took the com-
Crates wrote a book of letters on philosophical mand at Chios of the fleet which bad been collect-
subjects, the style of which is compared by Laëred by Pasippidas from the allies. He effected,
tius (vi. 98) to Plato's ; but these are no longer however, little or nothing during his term of office
extant, for the fourteen letters which were pub- beyond the seizure of the acropolis at Chios, and
lished from a Venetian manuscript under the name the restoration of the Chian exiles, and was suc-
of Crates in the Aldine collection of Greek letters ceeded by Lysander. (Xen. Hell. i. 1. $ 32, 5. $ );
(Venet. 1499, 4to. ), and the thirty-eight which Diod. xiii. 65, 70. )
[E. E. )
have been published from the same manuscript by CRATEVAS (Kpateúas), a Greek herbalist
Boissonade (Notices et Extraits des Manuscr. de la (Soróuos) who lived about the beginning of the
Bibl. du Roi, vol. xi. part ii. Paris, 1827) and first century B. C. , as he gave the nane Mithridatia
which are likewise ascribed to Crates, are, like to a plant in honour of Mithridates. (Plin. H. N.
the greater number of such letters, the composition xxv. 26. ) He is frequently quoted by Pliny and
of later rhetoricians. Crates was also the author | Dioscorides, and is mentioned by Galen (De
of tragedies of an earnest philosophical character, Simplic. Medicam. Temperam. ac Facult. vi. proocm.
which are praised by Laertius, and likewise of vol. xi. pp. 795, 797; Comment, in Hij pocr. “ De
some smaller poems, which seem to have been Nat. Hom. ” ii. 6, vol. xv. p. 134 ; De Antid. i. 2,
called Malyvia, and to which the parnis égkárov vol. xiv. p. 7), among the eninent writers on
"
## p. 886 (#906) ############################################
886
CRATINUS.
CRATINUS.
.
meant.
Materia Medica. Some persons have supposed of the charges which Suidas brings against the
that Cratcvas lived in the fifth and fourth centu- moral character of Cratinus, one is unsupported by
ries B. C. , because one of the spurious letters that any other testimony, though, if it had been truc,
go under the name of Hippocrates (Hippocr. it is not likely that Aristophanes would have been
Opera, vol. iii. p. 790) is addressed to a person of | silent upon it. Probably Suidas was misled by a
this name; but as no mention of the contempo passage of Aristophanes ( Acharn. 849, 850) which
rary of Hippocrates is found in any other passage, refers to another Cratinus, a lyric poet. (Schol.
these spurious letters are hardly sufficient to prove l. c. ). The other charge which Suidas brings against
his existence.
[W. A. G. ) Cmtinus, that of habitual intemperance, is sus-
CRATI'NUS (Kpativos ), Comic poets. 1. tained by many passages of Aristophanes and
One of the most celebrated Athenian comic poets other writers, as well as by the confession of Cra-
of the old comedy, the rise and complete perfection timus himself, who appears to have created the
of which he witnessed during a life of 97 years. subject in a very amusing way, especially in his
The dates of his birth and death can be ascertained Ilutivn. (See further on this point Meineke,
with tolerable certainty from the following circum- Hist. Crit. Com. Gracc. pp. 47–49. )
stances :-- In the year 424 B. C. , Aristophanes Cratinus exhibited twenty-one plays and gained
exhibited his Knights, in which he described Cra- nine victories (Suid. s. v. ; Eudoc. p. 271; Anon.
tinus as a drivelling old man, wandering about de Com. p. xxix), and that mauynpei, according
with his crown withered, and so utterly neglected to the Scholiast on Aristophanes. (Equit. 528. )
by his former admirers that he could not even Cratinus was undoubtedly the poet of the old
procure wherewithal to quench the thirst of which comedy. He gave it its peculiar character, and he
he was perishing. (Equit
. 531--534. ) This did not, like Aristophanes, live to see its decline.
a:tack roused Cratinus to put forth all his remain. Before his time the comic poets had aimed at little
ing strength in the play entitled Nutivon (the beyond exciting the laughter of their audience : it
Flagon), which was exhibited the next year, and was Cratinus who first made comedy a terrible
with which he carried away the first prize above weapon of personal attack, and the comic poet a
the Connus of Ameipsias and the Clouds of Aris- severe censor of public and private vice. An
tophanes. (Arg. Nul. ) Now Lucian says that anonymous ancient writer says, that to the pleasing
the Nutívn was the last play of Cratinus, and that in comedy Cratinus added the useful, by accusing
he did not long survive his victory. (Macrob. 25. ) evil-doers and punishing them with comedy as
Aristophanes also, in the Peace, which was acted with a public scourge. (Anon. de Com. p. xxxii. )
in 419 B. C. , says that Cratinus died 50 oi nákw. He did not even, like Aristophanes, in such attacks
ves évébalov. (Par, 700, 701. ) A doubt has unite mirth with satire, but, as an ancient writer
been raised as to what invasion Aristophanes says, he hurled his reproaches in the plainest form
He cannot refer to any of the great in- at the bare heads of the offenders. (Platonius, de
vasions mentioned by Thucydides, and we are Com. p. xxvii. ; Christodor. Eephrasis, v. 357 ;
therefore compelled to suppose some irruption of a Persius, Sat. 123. ) Still, like Aristophanes
part of the Lacedaemonian army into Attica at the with respect to Sophocles, he sometimes bestowed
time when the armistice, which was made shortly the highest praise, as upon Cimon. (Plut. Cim.
before the negotiations for the fifty years' truce, 10. ) Pericles, on the other hand, was the object
was broken. (B. C. 422. ) Now Lucian says (l. c. ) of his most persevering and vehement abuse.
that Cratinus lived 97 years.
Thus his birth It is proper here to state what is known of the
would fall in B. c. 519.
circumstances under which Cratinus and his fol-
If we may trust the grammarians and chrono-lowers were permitted to assume this license of
graphers, Cratinus did not begin his dramatic attacking institutions and individuals openly and
career till he was far advanced in life. According by name. It evidently arose out of the close con-
to an Anonymous writer on Comedy (p. xxix), he nexion which exists in nature between mirth and
gained his first victory after the 85th Olympiad, satire. While looking for subjects which could be
that is, later than B. c. 437, and when he was put in a ridiculous point of view, the poet naturally
more than 80 years old. This date is suspicious in fell upon the follies and rices of his countrymen.
itself, and is falsified by circumstantial evidence. The free constitution of Athens inspired him with
For example, in one fragment he blames the tar- courage to attack the offenders, and secured for
diness of Pericles in completing the long walls bim protection from their resentment.
And ac-
which we know to have been finished in B. C. 451, cordingly we find, that the political freedom of
and there are a few other fragments which evi- Athens and this license of her comic poets rose
dently belong to an earlier period than the 85th and fell together. Nay, if we are to believe
Olympiad. Again, Crates the comic poet acted the Cicero, the law itself granted them impunity. (De
plays of Cratinus before he began to write himself; Repub. iv. 10:“ apud quos [Graccos ] fuit etiam
bui Crates began to write in B. C. 449-448. We lege concessum, ut quod vellet comoedia de quo
can therefore have no hesitation in preferring the rellet nominatim diceret. ") The same thing is stai-
date of Eusebius (Chron. s. a. Ol. 81. 3; Syncell. ed, though not so distinctly, by Themistius. (Orat.
p. 339), although he is manifestly wrong in join- riii. p. 110, b. ) This flourishing period lasted from
ing the name of Plato with that of Cratinus. Ac- the establishment of the Athenian power after
cording to this testimony, Cratinus began to ex- the Persian war down to the end of the Pelo-
hibit in B. C. 454-453, in about the 66th year of ponnesian war, or perhaps a few years later (about
B. C. 460-393). The exercise of this license,
of his personal history very little is known. however, was not altogether unopposed. In ad-
His father's name was Callimedes, and he himself | dition to what could be done personally by such
was taxiarch of the Quan Oivnis. (Suid. s. vv. men as Cleon and Alcibiades, the law itself ic-
Κρατίνος, 'Επειου δειλότερος. ) In the latter terfered on more than one occasion. In the
passage he is charged with excessive cowardice.
| archonship of Morychides (B. C. 440–439), a law
his age.
## p. 887 (#907) ############################################
CRATINUS.
887
CRATINUS.
ri: te
T22
ܕܫܕ the
-LJ ܬ
was made prohibiting the comic pocts from holding | style seems to have been somewhat grandiloquent,
a living person up to ridicule by bringing him on and full of trrpes, and altogether of a lyric cast.
the stage by nanie (npurua tou het KWhop Deiv He was very bold in inventing new words, and
óvouaotl, Schol. Arist. Acharn. 67; Meineke, in changing the meaning of old ones.
His cho-
Ilist. Crit. p. 40). This law remained in force for ruses especially were greatly admired, and were
the two following years, and was annulled in the for a time the favourite songs at banquets. (Aris-
archonship of Euthymenes. (B. C. 437– 136. ) tophanes, l. c. ) It was perhaps on account of the
Another restriction, which probably belongs to dithyrambic character of his poetry that he was
about the same time, was the law that no Areopa- likened to Aeschylus, and it was no doubt for the
gite should write comedies. (Plut. Bell. an Pac. same reason that Aristophanes called him Taupe-
praest. Ath. p. 348, c. ) From B. C. 436 the old pávov (Ran. 357; comp. Etym. Mag. p. 747, 50 ;
comedy Hourished in its highest vigour, till a Apollon. Lcx. Hom. p. 156, 20. )
llis metres
series of attacks was made upon it by a certain seem to have partaken of the same lofty character.
Syracosius, who is suspected, with great proba- He sometimes used the epic verse. The “ Crati-
bility, of baving been suborned by Alcibiades. nean metre” of the grammarians, however, was
This Syracosius carried a law, uz kwuwdeiotar in use before his tine. [TOLYNUS. ] In the in-
dvouaori Tiva, probably about B. C. 410-415, vention of his plots he was most ingenious and
which did not, however, remain in force long. felicitous, but his impetuous and exuberant fancy
(Schol. Arist. Av. 1297. ) A similar law is said was apt to derange them in the progress of the
to have been carried by Antimachus, but this is play. "(Platonius, p. xxvii. )
perhaps a mistake. (Schol. Arist. Acharn. 1149; Among the poets who imitated him more or less
Meineke, p. 41. ) That the brief aristocratical the ancient writers enumerate Eupolis, Aristo-
revolution of 411 B. c. affected the liberty of phanes, Crates, Telecleides, Strattis, and others.
comedy can hardly be doubted, though we have The only poets whom he hiniself is known to have
no express testimony. If it declined then, we imitated are Homer and Archilochus. (Platonius,
have clear evidence of its revival with the re- 1. c. ; Bergk, p. 156. ) His most formidable rival
storation of democracy in the Frogs of Aristo was Aristophanes. (See, besides numerous pas-
phanes and the Cleophon of Plato. (B. C. 405. ) sages of Aristophanes and the Scholia on him,
It cannot be doubted that, during the rule of the Schol. Plat. p. 330. ) Among his enemies Aristo-
thirty tyrants, the liberty of comedy was restrain- phanes mentions o tepi Karlar (l. c. ). What
ed, not only by the loss of political liberty, but by Callias he means is doubtful, but it is most natural
the exhaustion resulting from the war, in conse to suppose that it is Callias the son of Hippo-
quence of which the choruses could not be main- nicus.
tained with their ancient splendour. We even find There is much confusion among the ancient
a play of Cratinus without Chorus or Parabasis, writers in quoting from his dramas. Meineke
nainely, the 'oouooels, but this was during the has sbewn that the following plays are wrongly
85th Olympiad, when the above-mentioned law was attributed to him :-Plaūkos, Opáowv, "Hpwes,
in force. The old comedy, having thus declined, 'Ιλίαδες, Κρήσσαι, Ψηφίσματα, 'Αλλοτριογνώμονες.
was at length brought to an end by the attacks of These being deducted, there still remain thirty
the dithyrambic poet Cinesias, and of Agyrrhius, titles, some of which, however, certainly belong to
and was succeeded by the Middle Comedy (about the younger Cratinus. After all deductions, there
B. C. 393-392; Meineke, pp. 42, 43).
remain twenty-four titles, namely, 'Apxiao xong
Besides what Cratinus did to give a new cha- Βουκόλοι, Δηλιάδες, Διδασκαλίαι, Δραπετίδες,
racter and power to comedy, he is said to have Γ'Εμπιπράμενοι or 'Ιδαίοι, Ευνείδαι, Θρατται, Κλεο-
made changes in its outward form, so as to bring βουλιναι, Λάκωνες, Μαλθακοί, Νέμεσις, Νόμοι,
it into better order, especially by fixing the num-Οδυσσείς, Πανόπται, Πυλαία, Πλούτοι, Πυτίνη,
ber of actors, which had before been indefinite, at | Σάτυροι, Σερίφιοι, Τροφώνιος, Χειμαζόμενοι, Χεί-
three. (Anon. de Com. p. xxxii. ) On the other poves, espai. The difference between this list and
hand, however, Aristotle says, that no one knew the statement of the grammarians, who give to
who made this and other such changes. (Poët. v. Cratinus only twenty-one plays, may be reconciled
4. )
on the supposition that some of these plays had
The character of Cratinus as a poet rests upon the been lost when the grammarians wrote, as, for
testimonies of the ancient writers, as we have no example, the EdTupos and Xeruacóuevo, which are
complete play of his extant. These testimonies are mentioned only in the Didascalia of the Knights
most decided in placing him in the very first rank and Acharnians.
of comic poets. By one writer he is compared to The following are the plays of Cratinus, the
Aeschylus. (Anon. de Com. p. xxix. ) There is a date of which is known with certainty :-
fragment of his own, which evidently is no vain
boast, but expresses the estimation in which he | About 448. 'Apxixoxoi.
was held by his contemporaries. (Schol. Arist. In 425. Xecuacóuevos, 2nd prize. Aristophanes
Equit. 526. ) Amongst several allusions to bim was first, with the Acharnians.
in Aristophanes, the most remarkable is the pas- 424. Látupov, 2nd prize. Aristophanes was
enge in the Knights referred to above, where he first, with the K'nights.
likens Cratinus to a rapid torrent, carrying every-
4:23. Mutivn, 1st prize.
thing before it, and says that for his many victo-
2nd. Ameips'as, Kórvos.
ries he deserved to drink in the Prytaneium, and
3rd. Aristoph. Nepénai,
to sit anointed as a spectator of the Dionysia. The chief ancient commentators on Cratimus
But, after all, his highest praise is in the fact, that were Asclepiades, Didymus, Callistratus, Euphiro-
he appeared at the Dionysia of the following year, nius, Symmachus, Aristarchus, and the Scholiasts.
not as a spectator, but as a competitor, and carried (Meinekc, Frag. Com. Graec. i. pp. 43–58, ii.
of the prize above Aristophanes himself. His pp. 13—232; Bergk, Comment. de Keliq. Com. Alla
Purces
sites,
cec's
***
pen
lere
B. C.
tra
## p. 888 (#908) ############################################
888
CRATIPPUS.
CREON.
Ant. , the first part of which is upon Cratinus Cicero secms also to have visited Asia in his com-
only. )
pany. (Ad Fam. xii. 16. ) When Caesar was at
2. Cratinus the younger, an Athenian comic the head of the Roman republic, Cicero obtained
poet of the middle comedy, was a contemporary of from him the Roman franchise for Cratippus, and
Plato the philosopher (Diog. Laert. iii. 28) and of also induced the council of the Areiopagus at
Corydus (Athen. vi. p. 241, c. ), and therefore fiou- Athens to invite the philosopher to remain in that
rished during the middle of the 4th century B. C. , city as one of her chief ornaments, and to continue
and as late as 324 B. C. (Clinton, Fast. Hell. ii. his instructions in philosophy. (Plut. Cic. 24. )
p. xliii. ) Perhaps he even lived down to the time After the murder of Caesar, Brutus, while staying
of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Athen. xi. p. 469, c. , at Athens, also attended the lectures of Cratippus.
compared with vi. p. 242, a. ), but this is improba- (Plut. Brut. 24. ) Notwithstanding the high
ble. The following plays are ascribed to him :- opinion which Cicero entertained of the knowledge
Γίγαντες, Θηραμένης, Ομφάλη (doubtful), Υποβο- and talent of Crntippus, we do not hear that he
huaios, Xeipw; in addition to which, it is proba wrote on any philosophical subject, and the only
ble that some of the plays which are ascribed to allusions we have to his tenets, refer to his
the elder Cratinus, belong to the younger.
opinions on divination, on which he seems to have
(Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. i. pp. 411–414, written a work. Cicero states that Cratippus be-
üi. pp. 374-379. )
[P. S. ] lieved in dreams and supernatural inspiration
CRATI'NUS, the grammarian.
give their consent to her union with the philoso- 9. )
(E. E. ]
pher. Of the married life of this philosophic cou- CRATESI'PPIDAS (Kpatno itnídas), a La-
ple Diogenes Laërtius relates some very curious cedaemonian, was sent out as admiral after the
facts.
death of Mindarus, B. C. 410, and took the com-
Crates wrote a book of letters on philosophical mand at Chios of the fleet which bad been collect-
subjects, the style of which is compared by Laëred by Pasippidas from the allies. He effected,
tius (vi. 98) to Plato's ; but these are no longer however, little or nothing during his term of office
extant, for the fourteen letters which were pub- beyond the seizure of the acropolis at Chios, and
lished from a Venetian manuscript under the name the restoration of the Chian exiles, and was suc-
of Crates in the Aldine collection of Greek letters ceeded by Lysander. (Xen. Hell. i. 1. $ 32, 5. $ );
(Venet. 1499, 4to. ), and the thirty-eight which Diod. xiii. 65, 70. )
[E. E. )
have been published from the same manuscript by CRATEVAS (Kpateúas), a Greek herbalist
Boissonade (Notices et Extraits des Manuscr. de la (Soróuos) who lived about the beginning of the
Bibl. du Roi, vol. xi. part ii. Paris, 1827) and first century B. C. , as he gave the nane Mithridatia
which are likewise ascribed to Crates, are, like to a plant in honour of Mithridates. (Plin. H. N.
the greater number of such letters, the composition xxv. 26. ) He is frequently quoted by Pliny and
of later rhetoricians. Crates was also the author | Dioscorides, and is mentioned by Galen (De
of tragedies of an earnest philosophical character, Simplic. Medicam. Temperam. ac Facult. vi. proocm.
which are praised by Laertius, and likewise of vol. xi. pp. 795, 797; Comment, in Hij pocr. “ De
some smaller poems, which seem to have been Nat. Hom. ” ii. 6, vol. xv. p. 134 ; De Antid. i. 2,
called Malyvia, and to which the parnis égkárov vol. xiv. p. 7), among the eninent writers on
"
## p. 886 (#906) ############################################
886
CRATINUS.
CRATINUS.
.
meant.
Materia Medica. Some persons have supposed of the charges which Suidas brings against the
that Cratcvas lived in the fifth and fourth centu- moral character of Cratinus, one is unsupported by
ries B. C. , because one of the spurious letters that any other testimony, though, if it had been truc,
go under the name of Hippocrates (Hippocr. it is not likely that Aristophanes would have been
Opera, vol. iii. p. 790) is addressed to a person of | silent upon it. Probably Suidas was misled by a
this name; but as no mention of the contempo passage of Aristophanes ( Acharn. 849, 850) which
rary of Hippocrates is found in any other passage, refers to another Cratinus, a lyric poet. (Schol.
these spurious letters are hardly sufficient to prove l. c. ). The other charge which Suidas brings against
his existence.
[W. A. G. ) Cmtinus, that of habitual intemperance, is sus-
CRATI'NUS (Kpativos ), Comic poets. 1. tained by many passages of Aristophanes and
One of the most celebrated Athenian comic poets other writers, as well as by the confession of Cra-
of the old comedy, the rise and complete perfection timus himself, who appears to have created the
of which he witnessed during a life of 97 years. subject in a very amusing way, especially in his
The dates of his birth and death can be ascertained Ilutivn. (See further on this point Meineke,
with tolerable certainty from the following circum- Hist. Crit. Com. Gracc. pp. 47–49. )
stances :-- In the year 424 B. C. , Aristophanes Cratinus exhibited twenty-one plays and gained
exhibited his Knights, in which he described Cra- nine victories (Suid. s. v. ; Eudoc. p. 271; Anon.
tinus as a drivelling old man, wandering about de Com. p. xxix), and that mauynpei, according
with his crown withered, and so utterly neglected to the Scholiast on Aristophanes. (Equit. 528. )
by his former admirers that he could not even Cratinus was undoubtedly the poet of the old
procure wherewithal to quench the thirst of which comedy. He gave it its peculiar character, and he
he was perishing. (Equit
. 531--534. ) This did not, like Aristophanes, live to see its decline.
a:tack roused Cratinus to put forth all his remain. Before his time the comic poets had aimed at little
ing strength in the play entitled Nutivon (the beyond exciting the laughter of their audience : it
Flagon), which was exhibited the next year, and was Cratinus who first made comedy a terrible
with which he carried away the first prize above weapon of personal attack, and the comic poet a
the Connus of Ameipsias and the Clouds of Aris- severe censor of public and private vice. An
tophanes. (Arg. Nul. ) Now Lucian says that anonymous ancient writer says, that to the pleasing
the Nutívn was the last play of Cratinus, and that in comedy Cratinus added the useful, by accusing
he did not long survive his victory. (Macrob. 25. ) evil-doers and punishing them with comedy as
Aristophanes also, in the Peace, which was acted with a public scourge. (Anon. de Com. p. xxxii. )
in 419 B. C. , says that Cratinus died 50 oi nákw. He did not even, like Aristophanes, in such attacks
ves évébalov. (Par, 700, 701. ) A doubt has unite mirth with satire, but, as an ancient writer
been raised as to what invasion Aristophanes says, he hurled his reproaches in the plainest form
He cannot refer to any of the great in- at the bare heads of the offenders. (Platonius, de
vasions mentioned by Thucydides, and we are Com. p. xxvii. ; Christodor. Eephrasis, v. 357 ;
therefore compelled to suppose some irruption of a Persius, Sat. 123. ) Still, like Aristophanes
part of the Lacedaemonian army into Attica at the with respect to Sophocles, he sometimes bestowed
time when the armistice, which was made shortly the highest praise, as upon Cimon. (Plut. Cim.
before the negotiations for the fifty years' truce, 10. ) Pericles, on the other hand, was the object
was broken. (B. C. 422. ) Now Lucian says (l. c. ) of his most persevering and vehement abuse.
that Cratinus lived 97 years.
Thus his birth It is proper here to state what is known of the
would fall in B. c. 519.
circumstances under which Cratinus and his fol-
If we may trust the grammarians and chrono-lowers were permitted to assume this license of
graphers, Cratinus did not begin his dramatic attacking institutions and individuals openly and
career till he was far advanced in life. According by name. It evidently arose out of the close con-
to an Anonymous writer on Comedy (p. xxix), he nexion which exists in nature between mirth and
gained his first victory after the 85th Olympiad, satire. While looking for subjects which could be
that is, later than B. c. 437, and when he was put in a ridiculous point of view, the poet naturally
more than 80 years old. This date is suspicious in fell upon the follies and rices of his countrymen.
itself, and is falsified by circumstantial evidence. The free constitution of Athens inspired him with
For example, in one fragment he blames the tar- courage to attack the offenders, and secured for
diness of Pericles in completing the long walls bim protection from their resentment.
And ac-
which we know to have been finished in B. C. 451, cordingly we find, that the political freedom of
and there are a few other fragments which evi- Athens and this license of her comic poets rose
dently belong to an earlier period than the 85th and fell together. Nay, if we are to believe
Olympiad. Again, Crates the comic poet acted the Cicero, the law itself granted them impunity. (De
plays of Cratinus before he began to write himself; Repub. iv. 10:“ apud quos [Graccos ] fuit etiam
bui Crates began to write in B. C. 449-448. We lege concessum, ut quod vellet comoedia de quo
can therefore have no hesitation in preferring the rellet nominatim diceret. ") The same thing is stai-
date of Eusebius (Chron. s. a. Ol. 81. 3; Syncell. ed, though not so distinctly, by Themistius. (Orat.
p. 339), although he is manifestly wrong in join- riii. p. 110, b. ) This flourishing period lasted from
ing the name of Plato with that of Cratinus. Ac- the establishment of the Athenian power after
cording to this testimony, Cratinus began to ex- the Persian war down to the end of the Pelo-
hibit in B. C. 454-453, in about the 66th year of ponnesian war, or perhaps a few years later (about
B. C. 460-393). The exercise of this license,
of his personal history very little is known. however, was not altogether unopposed. In ad-
His father's name was Callimedes, and he himself | dition to what could be done personally by such
was taxiarch of the Quan Oivnis. (Suid. s. vv. men as Cleon and Alcibiades, the law itself ic-
Κρατίνος, 'Επειου δειλότερος. ) In the latter terfered on more than one occasion. In the
passage he is charged with excessive cowardice.
| archonship of Morychides (B. C. 440–439), a law
his age.
## p. 887 (#907) ############################################
CRATINUS.
887
CRATINUS.
ri: te
T22
ܕܫܕ the
-LJ ܬ
was made prohibiting the comic pocts from holding | style seems to have been somewhat grandiloquent,
a living person up to ridicule by bringing him on and full of trrpes, and altogether of a lyric cast.
the stage by nanie (npurua tou het KWhop Deiv He was very bold in inventing new words, and
óvouaotl, Schol. Arist. Acharn. 67; Meineke, in changing the meaning of old ones.
His cho-
Ilist. Crit. p. 40). This law remained in force for ruses especially were greatly admired, and were
the two following years, and was annulled in the for a time the favourite songs at banquets. (Aris-
archonship of Euthymenes. (B. C. 437– 136. ) tophanes, l. c. ) It was perhaps on account of the
Another restriction, which probably belongs to dithyrambic character of his poetry that he was
about the same time, was the law that no Areopa- likened to Aeschylus, and it was no doubt for the
gite should write comedies. (Plut. Bell. an Pac. same reason that Aristophanes called him Taupe-
praest. Ath. p. 348, c. ) From B. C. 436 the old pávov (Ran. 357; comp. Etym. Mag. p. 747, 50 ;
comedy Hourished in its highest vigour, till a Apollon. Lcx. Hom. p. 156, 20. )
llis metres
series of attacks was made upon it by a certain seem to have partaken of the same lofty character.
Syracosius, who is suspected, with great proba- He sometimes used the epic verse. The “ Crati-
bility, of baving been suborned by Alcibiades. nean metre” of the grammarians, however, was
This Syracosius carried a law, uz kwuwdeiotar in use before his tine. [TOLYNUS. ] In the in-
dvouaori Tiva, probably about B. C. 410-415, vention of his plots he was most ingenious and
which did not, however, remain in force long. felicitous, but his impetuous and exuberant fancy
(Schol. Arist. Av. 1297. ) A similar law is said was apt to derange them in the progress of the
to have been carried by Antimachus, but this is play. "(Platonius, p. xxvii. )
perhaps a mistake. (Schol. Arist. Acharn. 1149; Among the poets who imitated him more or less
Meineke, p. 41. ) That the brief aristocratical the ancient writers enumerate Eupolis, Aristo-
revolution of 411 B. c. affected the liberty of phanes, Crates, Telecleides, Strattis, and others.
comedy can hardly be doubted, though we have The only poets whom he hiniself is known to have
no express testimony. If it declined then, we imitated are Homer and Archilochus. (Platonius,
have clear evidence of its revival with the re- 1. c. ; Bergk, p. 156. ) His most formidable rival
storation of democracy in the Frogs of Aristo was Aristophanes. (See, besides numerous pas-
phanes and the Cleophon of Plato. (B. C. 405. ) sages of Aristophanes and the Scholia on him,
It cannot be doubted that, during the rule of the Schol. Plat. p. 330. ) Among his enemies Aristo-
thirty tyrants, the liberty of comedy was restrain- phanes mentions o tepi Karlar (l. c. ). What
ed, not only by the loss of political liberty, but by Callias he means is doubtful, but it is most natural
the exhaustion resulting from the war, in conse to suppose that it is Callias the son of Hippo-
quence of which the choruses could not be main- nicus.
tained with their ancient splendour. We even find There is much confusion among the ancient
a play of Cratinus without Chorus or Parabasis, writers in quoting from his dramas. Meineke
nainely, the 'oouooels, but this was during the has sbewn that the following plays are wrongly
85th Olympiad, when the above-mentioned law was attributed to him :-Plaūkos, Opáowv, "Hpwes,
in force. The old comedy, having thus declined, 'Ιλίαδες, Κρήσσαι, Ψηφίσματα, 'Αλλοτριογνώμονες.
was at length brought to an end by the attacks of These being deducted, there still remain thirty
the dithyrambic poet Cinesias, and of Agyrrhius, titles, some of which, however, certainly belong to
and was succeeded by the Middle Comedy (about the younger Cratinus. After all deductions, there
B. C. 393-392; Meineke, pp. 42, 43).
remain twenty-four titles, namely, 'Apxiao xong
Besides what Cratinus did to give a new cha- Βουκόλοι, Δηλιάδες, Διδασκαλίαι, Δραπετίδες,
racter and power to comedy, he is said to have Γ'Εμπιπράμενοι or 'Ιδαίοι, Ευνείδαι, Θρατται, Κλεο-
made changes in its outward form, so as to bring βουλιναι, Λάκωνες, Μαλθακοί, Νέμεσις, Νόμοι,
it into better order, especially by fixing the num-Οδυσσείς, Πανόπται, Πυλαία, Πλούτοι, Πυτίνη,
ber of actors, which had before been indefinite, at | Σάτυροι, Σερίφιοι, Τροφώνιος, Χειμαζόμενοι, Χεί-
three. (Anon. de Com. p. xxxii. ) On the other poves, espai. The difference between this list and
hand, however, Aristotle says, that no one knew the statement of the grammarians, who give to
who made this and other such changes. (Poët. v. Cratinus only twenty-one plays, may be reconciled
4. )
on the supposition that some of these plays had
The character of Cratinus as a poet rests upon the been lost when the grammarians wrote, as, for
testimonies of the ancient writers, as we have no example, the EdTupos and Xeruacóuevo, which are
complete play of his extant. These testimonies are mentioned only in the Didascalia of the Knights
most decided in placing him in the very first rank and Acharnians.
of comic poets. By one writer he is compared to The following are the plays of Cratinus, the
Aeschylus. (Anon. de Com. p. xxix. ) There is a date of which is known with certainty :-
fragment of his own, which evidently is no vain
boast, but expresses the estimation in which he | About 448. 'Apxixoxoi.
was held by his contemporaries. (Schol. Arist. In 425. Xecuacóuevos, 2nd prize. Aristophanes
Equit. 526. ) Amongst several allusions to bim was first, with the Acharnians.
in Aristophanes, the most remarkable is the pas- 424. Látupov, 2nd prize. Aristophanes was
enge in the Knights referred to above, where he first, with the K'nights.
likens Cratinus to a rapid torrent, carrying every-
4:23. Mutivn, 1st prize.
thing before it, and says that for his many victo-
2nd. Ameips'as, Kórvos.
ries he deserved to drink in the Prytaneium, and
3rd. Aristoph. Nepénai,
to sit anointed as a spectator of the Dionysia. The chief ancient commentators on Cratimus
But, after all, his highest praise is in the fact, that were Asclepiades, Didymus, Callistratus, Euphiro-
he appeared at the Dionysia of the following year, nius, Symmachus, Aristarchus, and the Scholiasts.
not as a spectator, but as a competitor, and carried (Meinekc, Frag. Com. Graec. i. pp. 43–58, ii.
of the prize above Aristophanes himself. His pp. 13—232; Bergk, Comment. de Keliq. Com. Alla
Purces
sites,
cec's
***
pen
lere
B. C.
tra
## p. 888 (#908) ############################################
888
CRATIPPUS.
CREON.
Ant. , the first part of which is upon Cratinus Cicero secms also to have visited Asia in his com-
only. )
pany. (Ad Fam. xii. 16. ) When Caesar was at
2. Cratinus the younger, an Athenian comic the head of the Roman republic, Cicero obtained
poet of the middle comedy, was a contemporary of from him the Roman franchise for Cratippus, and
Plato the philosopher (Diog. Laert. iii. 28) and of also induced the council of the Areiopagus at
Corydus (Athen. vi. p. 241, c. ), and therefore fiou- Athens to invite the philosopher to remain in that
rished during the middle of the 4th century B. C. , city as one of her chief ornaments, and to continue
and as late as 324 B. C. (Clinton, Fast. Hell. ii. his instructions in philosophy. (Plut. Cic. 24. )
p. xliii. ) Perhaps he even lived down to the time After the murder of Caesar, Brutus, while staying
of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Athen. xi. p. 469, c. , at Athens, also attended the lectures of Cratippus.
compared with vi. p. 242, a. ), but this is improba- (Plut. Brut. 24. ) Notwithstanding the high
ble. The following plays are ascribed to him :- opinion which Cicero entertained of the knowledge
Γίγαντες, Θηραμένης, Ομφάλη (doubtful), Υποβο- and talent of Crntippus, we do not hear that he
huaios, Xeipw; in addition to which, it is proba wrote on any philosophical subject, and the only
ble that some of the plays which are ascribed to allusions we have to his tenets, refer to his
the elder Cratinus, belong to the younger.
opinions on divination, on which he seems to have
(Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. i. pp. 411–414, written a work. Cicero states that Cratippus be-
üi. pp. 374-379. )
[P. S. ] lieved in dreams and supernatural inspiration
CRATI'NUS, the grammarian.
