Athens, and longed to sec ber
restored
to the state Impôs (?
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
16, 17.
)
also. This is not the case; and as we know that
4. Of Alexandria, a contemporary of Strabo Aristophanes of Byzantium was the successor of
(i. p. 38), distinguished himself as a grammarian, Apollonius as chief librarian at Alexandria (which
and is mentioned as the author of several works, Suidas says of Aristonymus), Meineke conjectures
most of which related to the Homeric poems. - with great probability, that the name of Aristo-
1. On the wanderings of Monelaus (tepi tñs | phanes has dropped out in our text of Suidas.
Meveldov a návms; Strab. I. c. ). 2. On the critical (Meineke, Hist. Crit. Com. Gr. p. 196, &c. )
signs by which the Alexandrine critics used to An Athenian, of the name of Aristonymus, who
mark the suspected or interpolated verses in the was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but
Homeric poems and in Hesiod's Theogony. (Tiepnot a grammarian, is mentioned by Athenacus.
των σημείων των της Ιλιάδος και 'Οδυσσείας, (x. p. 452, xii. p. 538. ) There were also two
Etym. M. s. vv. Núxvos, špoaand onń; Suidas, writers of this name, but neither of them appears
s. v. 'Ap! OTOVLKOS; Eudoc. p. 64 ; Schol. Venet. ad to have been a grammarian. (Plut. de Flum. p.
Hom. Il. ix. 397. ) 3. On irregular grammatical 1165; Stobaeus, passim. )
[L. S. ]
constructions in Homer, consisting of six books ARISTOʻPHILUS ('Apioródios), a druggist,
(do UVTÁKTW dvouátwv Biblia ; Suidas, l. c. ). of Plataea in Boeotia, who lived probably in the
These and some other works are now lost, with fourth century B. C. He is mentioned by Theo-
the exception of a few fragments preserved in the phrastus (Hist. Plant. ix. 18. $ 4) as possessing the
passages above referred to. (Villoison, Proleg. ad knowledge of certain antaphrodisiac medicines,
Hom. p. 18. )
which he made use of either for the punishment
5. Of Tarentum, the author of a mythological or reformation of his slaves. [W. A. G. )
work which is often referred to. (Phot. Cod. 190; ARISTO'PHANES ('Apiotopárns), the only
Serv. ad Aen. iii. 335; Caes. Germ. in Arat. Phaen. writer of the old comedy of whom any entire works
327 ; Hygin. Počt. Astr. ii. 34. ) He is perhaps are left. His later extant plays approximate
the same as the one mentioned by Athenaeus (i rather to the middle comedy, and in the Cocalus,
p. 20), but nothing is known about him. (Roulez, his last production, he so nearly approached the
ud Ptolem. Hephaest. p. 148. )
[L. S. ] new, that Philemon brought it out a second time
ARISTONIDAS, a statuary, one of whose with very little alteration.
productions is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. Aristophanes was the son of Philippus, as is
14. 8. 40) as extant at Thebes in his time. It stated by all the authorities for his life, and proved
was a statue of Athamas, in which bronze and iron by the fact of his son also having that name, although
had been mixed together, that the rust of the latter, a bust exists with the inscription 'Apiotopávns
showing through the brightness of the bronze, Pidimmidov, which is, however, now generally al-
might have the appearance of a blush, and so might lowed to be spurious. He was an Athenian of
indicate the remorse of Athamas. [C. P. M. ) the tribe Pandionis, and the Cydathenaean Demus,
ARISTONIDES, a painter of some distinction, and is said to have been the pupil of Prodicus,
mentioned by Pliny (xxxv. ll. s. 40), was the though this is improbable, since he speaks of bim
father and instructor of Mnasitimus. (C. P. M. ] rather with contempt. (Nub. 360, Ar. 692, Tage-
ARISTONOUS ('Aplotávoos). l. Of Gela in nist. Fragm. xviii. Bekk. ) We are told (Schol. ad
Syracuse, one of the founders of the colony of Ran. 502), that he first engaged in the comic con-
Aggentum, B, C. 582. (Thuc. vi. 4. )
tests when he was σχέδον μειράκισκος, and we
2. Of Pella, son of Peisaeus, one of the body know that the date of his first comedy was B. C.
guard of Alexander the Great, distinguished him- 427 : we are therefore warranted in assigning
self greatly on one occasion in India. On the about B. C. 444 as the date of his birth, and his
death of Alexander, he was one of the first to pro- death was probably not later than B. c. 380. His
pose that the supreme power should be entrusted three sons, Philippus, Araros, and Nicostratus,
to Perdiccas. He was subsequently the general of were all poets of the middle comedy. Of his pri-
Olympias in the war with Cassander; and when rate history we know nothing but that he was a
she was taken prisoner in B. c. 316, he was put | lover of pleasure (Plat. Symp. particularly p. 223),
to death by order of Cassander. (Arrian, Anab. and one who spent whole nights in drinking and
ri. 28, ap. Phot. Cod. 92, p. 69, a. 14. ed. Bekker; witty conversation. Accusations (his anonymous
Curt. ix. 5, x. 6; Diod. xix. 35, 50, 51. )
biographer says, more than one) were brought
ARISTOČNOUS ('Aplotóvoos), a statuary, a against him by Cleon, with a view to deprive him
native of Aegina, made a statue of Zeus, which was of his civic rights (evias ypapai), but without
dedicated by the Metapontines at Olympia. (Paus. success, as indeed they were merely the fruit of
v. 22. $ 5; Müller, Aegin. p. 107. ) [C. P. 11. ] revenge for his attacks on that demagogne. They
## p. 313 (#333) ############################################
ARISTOPHANES.
313
ARISTOPHANES.
hare, however, giren rise to a num! er of traditions nides, as Aristophanes was below the legal age
of his being a Rhodinn, an Egyptian, an Aegi- for competing for a prize. Fifth year of the war.
netan, a native of Camirus or of Naucratis.
426. Babylonians (év đoter).
The comedies of Aristophanes are of the highest 425. + Acharnians. (Lenaea. ) Produced in the
historical interest, containing as they do an admir- name of Callistratus. First prize.
able series of caricatures on the leading men of the 424. + 'Inaels, Knights or Horsemen. (Lenaea. )
day, and a contemporary commentary on the evils The first play produced in the name of Aristo-
existing at Athens. Indeed, the caricature is the phanes himself
. First prize ; second Cratinus.
only feature in modern social life which at all re- 423. + Clouds (év šotei). First prize, Cratinus;
sembles them. Aristophanes was a bold and often second Ameipsias.
a wise patriot. He bad the strongest affection for 422. + Wasps. (Lenaca. ) Second prize.
Athens, and longed to sec ber restored to the state Impôs (? ) (év đotei), according to the probable
in which she was flourishing in the previous gene- conjecture of Süvern. (Essay on the Impas, trans-
ration, and almost in his own childhood, before lated by Mr. Hamilton. )
Pericles became the head of the government, and Clouds (second edition), failed in obtaining a
when the age of Miltiades and Aristeides bad but prize. But Ranke places this B. C. 411, and the
just passed away. The first great evil of his own whole subject is very uncertain.
time against which lie inveighs, is the Peloponne- 419. + Peace (év åotei). Second prize ; Eu-
sian war, which he regards as the work of Pericles, polis first.
and even attributes it (Par, 606) to his fear of 414. Amphiaraus. (Lenaca. ) Second prize.
punishment for having connived at a robbery said + Birds (év ZOTEI), second prize; Ameipsias
to have been committed by Phidias on the statue first; Phrynichus third. Second campaign in Sicily.
of Athene in the Parthenon, and to the influence rewpyol (? ). Exhibited in the time of Nicias.
of Aspasia. (Ach. 500. ) To this fatal war, among (Plut. Nic. c. 8. )
a host of evils, he ascribes the influence of vulgar 411. + Lysistrata.
demagogues like Cleon at Athens, of which also + Thesmophoriazusae. During the Oligarchy.
the example was set by the more refined demagog- 408. + First Plutus.
ism of Pericles. Another great object of his indig- 405. + Frogs. (Lenaea. ) First prize; Phry-
nation was the recently adopted system of educa- nicus second ; Plato third. Death of Sophocles.
tion which had been introduced by the Sophists, 392. + Ecclesiazusae. Corinthian war.
acting on the speculative and inquiring turn given 388. Second edition of the Plutus.
to the Athenian mind by the lonian and Eleatic The last two comedies of Aristophanes were the
philosophers, and the extraordinary intellectual de Aeolosicon and Cocalus, produced about B. C. 387
velopment of the age following the Persian war. (date of the peace of Antalcidas) by Arusos, one of
The new theories introduced by the Sophists his sons. The first was a parody on the Aeolus
threatened to overthrow the oundations of mora- of Euripides, the name being compounder of
lity, by making persuasion and not truth the object | Aeolus and Sicon, a famous cook. (Rheinisches
of man in his intercourse with his fellows, and to Muscuni, 1828, p. 50. ) The second was probably
substitute a universal scepticism for the religious a similar parody of a poem on the death of Minos,
creed of the people. The worst effects of such a said to have been killed by Cocalus, king of Sicily.
system were seen in Alcibiades, who, caring for Of the Aeolosicon there were two editions.
nothing but his own ambition, valuing eloquence In the Aaitaneis the object of Aristophanes was
only for its worldly advantages, and possessed of to censure generally the abandonment of those an-
great talents which he utterly misapplied, com- cient manners and feelings which it was the labour
bined all the elements which Aristophanes most of his life to restore. He attacked the modern
disliked, heading the war party in politics, and schemes of education by introducing a father with
protecting the sophistical school in philosophy and two sons, one of whom had been educated accord-
also in literature. Of this latter school-the lite ing to the old system, the other in the sophistries
rary and poetical Sophists - Euripides was the of later days. The chorus consisted of a party
chief, whose works are full of that petewpoooqia who had been feasting in the temple of Hercules ;
which contrasts so offensively with the moral dig- and Bp. Thirlwall supposes, that as the play was
nity of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and for which written when the plague was at its height (Schol.
Aristophanes introduces him as soaring in the air ad Run. 502), the poet recommended a return to
to write his tragedies (Ach. 374), caricaturing the gymnastic exercises of which that god was the
thereby his own account of himself. (Alc. 371. ) patron (comp. Eq. 1379), and to the old system of
Another feature of the times was the excessive education, as the means most likely to prevent its
love for litigation at Athens, the consequent impor- continuance.
tance of the dicasts, and disgraceful abuse of their In the Babylonians we are told, that he “at-
power; all of which enormities are made by Aris-tacked the system of appointing to offices by lot. ”
tophanes objects of continual attack. But though (Pit. Aristoph. Bekk. p. xiii. ) The chorus consisted
he saw what were the erils of his time, he had of barbarian slaves employed in a mill, which
not wisdom to find a remedy for them, except the Ranke has conjectured was represented as belong-
hopeless and undesirable one of a movement back ing to the demagogue Eucrates (Eg. 129, &c. ),
wards; and therefore, though we allow him to who united the trade of a miller with that of a
have been honest and bold, we must deny him the vender of tow. Cleon also must have been a main
epithet of great. We subjoin a catalogue of the object of the poet's satire, and probably the public
comedies of Aristophanes on which we possess in functionaries of the day in general, since an action
formation, and a short account of the most remark- was brought by Cleon against Callistratus, in whose
able. Those marked + are extant.
name it was produced, accusing him of ridiculing
B. C. 427. Aaitantis, Banquetlers. Second prize. the government in the presence of the allies. But
The play was produced under the name of Philo- the attack appears to have failed.
## p. 314 (#334) ############################################
314
ARISTOPILANES.
ARISTOPIIAXES.
In the Aclurnians, Aristophanes exhorts his traits, as allusions to his tpavilo uós, or inability
countrymen to peace. An Athenian named Dicae- to articulate certain letters (Nuls. 1981; Plut. lic.
opolis makes a separate treaty with Sparta for p. 19. 2), and to his fancy for horse-breeding and driva
himself and his family, and is exhibited in the full ing. (Satyrus, up. Athen. xii. p. 534. ) Aristophanes
enjoyment of its blessings, whilst Lamachus, as would be prevented from introducing him by name
the representative of the war party, is introduced either bere or in the Birds, from fear of the violent
in the want of common necessaries, and suffering measures which Alcibiades took against the comic
from cold, and snow, and wounds. The knights poets. The instructions of Socrates teach Pheidip-
was directed against Cleon, whose power at this pides not only to defraud his creditors, but also to
time was so great, that no one was bold enough to beat his father, and disown the authority of the
make a mask to represent his features; so that gods; and the play ends by the father's prepara-
Aristophanes performed the character himself, with tions to burn the philosopher and his whole esia-
his face smeared with wine-lees. Cleon is the con- blishinent. The hint given towards the end, of
fidential steward of Demus, the impersonation of the propriety of prosecuting him, was acted on
the Athenian people, who is represented as almost twenty years afterwards, and Aristophanes was
in his dotage, but at the same time cunning, suspi- believed to have contributed to the death of So-
cious, ungovernable, and tyrannical. His slaves, crates, as the charges brought against him before
Nicias and Demosthenes, determine to rid them the court of justice express the substance of those
belves of the insolence of Cleon by raising up a contained in the Clouds. (Plat. A pol. Soc. p. 18,
rival in the person of a sausage-seller, by which &c. ) The Clouds, though perhaps its author's
the poet ridicules the mean occupation of the de- masterpiece, met with a complete failure in the
magogues. This man completely triumphs over contest for prizes, probably owing to the intrigues
Cleon in his own arts of lying, stealing, fawning, of Alcibiades; nor was it more successful when
and blustering. Having thus gained the day, he altered for a second representation, if indeed the
suddenly becomes a model of ancient Athenian alterations were ever completed, which Sivern
excellence, and by boiling Demus in a magic caul- denies. The play, as we have it, contains the
dron, restores bim to a condition worthy of the parabasis of the second edition.
companionship of Aristeides and Miltiades. (Eg. The Wasps is the pendant to the Knights. As
1322. )
in the one the poet had attacked the sovereign
In the Clouds, Aristophanes attacks the so- assembly, so here he aims his battery at the courts
phistical principles at their source, and selects as of justice, the other stronghold of party violence
their representative Socrates, whom he depicts in and the power of deniagogues. This play furnished
the most odious light. The selection of Socrates Racine with the idea of Les Plaideurs. The Peace
for this purpose is doubtless to be accounted for by is a return to the subject of the Acharnians, and
the supposition, that Aristophanes observed the points out forcibly the miseries of the Peloponnesian
great philosopher from a distance only, while his war, in order to stop which Trygaeus, the hero of the
own unphilosophical turn of mind prevented him play, ascends to heaven on a dung-beetle's back,
from entering into Socrates' merits both as a teacher where he finds the god of war pounding the Greek
and a practiser of morality; and by the fact, that states in a mortar. With the assistance of a large
Socrates was an innovator, the friend of Euripides, party of friends equally desirous to check this pro
the tutor of Alcibiades, and pupil of Archelaus; ceeding, he succeeds in dragging up Peace herself
and that there was much in his appearance and from a well in which she is imprisoned, and finally
habits in the highest degree ludicrous. The phi- marries one of her attendant nymphs. The play
losopher, who wore no under garments, and the is full of humour, but neither it nor the Wasps
same upper robe in winter and summer,-- who is among the poet's greater works.
generally went barefoot, and appears to have pos- Six years now elapse during which no plays are
sessed one pair of dress-shoes which lasted him for preserved to us. The object of the Amphiaruus and
life (Böckh, Economy of Athens, i p. 150), who ihe Birds, which appeared after this interval, was
used to stand for hours in a public place in a fit of to discourage the disastrous Sicilian expedition.
abstraction-to say nothing of his snub nose, and The former was called after one of the seven chiefs
extraordinary face and figure--could hardly expect against Thebes, remarkable for prophesying ill-luck
to escape the license of the old comedy. The in- to the expedition, and therein corresponding to
variably speculative turn which he gave to the Nicias. The object of the Birds has been a natter
conversation, his bare acquiescence in the stories of of much dispute ; many persons, as for instance
Greek mythology, which Aristophanes would think Schlegel, consider it a mere fanciful piece of
it dangerous even to subject to inquiry (see Plat. buffoonery–a supposition hardly credible, when
Phaedrus, p. 299), had certainly produced an un- we remember that every one of the plays of Aris-
favourable opinion of Socrates in the minds of tophanes has a distinct purpose connected with the
many, and explain his being set down by Aristo- history of the time. The question seems to have
planes as an archsophist, and represented even as been set at rest by Suvern, whose theory, to say
a thief. In the Clouds, he is described as corrupt- the least, is supported by the very strongest cir-
ing a young man named Pheidippides, who is wast- cumstantial evidence. The Birds--the Athenian
ing his father's money by an insane passion for people—are persuaded to build a city in the clouds by
horses, and is sent to the subtlety-shop (opovtio- Peisthetaerus (a character combining traits of Alci-
thplov) of Socrates and Chaerephon to be still fur- biades and Gorgias, mixed perhaps with some from
ther set free from moral restraint, and particularly other Sophists), and who is attended by a sort of
to acquire the needful accomplishment of cheating Sancho Panza, one Euelpides, designed to represent
luis creditors. In this spendthrift youth it is the credulous young Atheniaus (eventiões, Thuc.
scarcely possible not to recognise Alcibiades, not vi. 24). The city, to be called Nededokokkiryia
only from his general character and connexion (Clowicuckootown), is to occupy the whole horizon,
with the Sophists, but also from more particular and to cut off the gods from all connexion with
:
## p. 315 (#335) ############################################
ARISTOPHANES.
315
ARISTOPHANES.
mankind, and even from the power of receiving | considered him only in his historical and political
sacrifices, so as to force them ultimately to surren- character, nor can his merits as a poet and
der at discretion to the birds. All this schemc, humorist be understood without an actual study
and the details which fill it up, coincide admirably of his works. We linve no means of comparing
with the Sicilinn expedition, which was designed him with his rivals Eupolis and Cratinus (llor.
not only to take possession of Sicily, but afterwards Sul. i. 4. 1), though he is said to have tempered
to conquer Carthage and Libya, and so, from the their bitterness, and given to comedy additional
supremacy of the Mediterranean, to acquire that grace, but to have been surpassed by Eupolis in
of the Peloponnesus, and reduce the Spartans, the the conduct of his plots. (Platonius, tepl olao. xap.
gods of the play. (Thuc. vi. 15, &c. ; Plut. Nic. 12, cited in Bekker’s Aristoph. ) Plato called the soul of
Aic. 17. ) The plan succeeds; the gods send am Aristophanes a temple for the Graces, and has in-
bassadors to demand terms, and finally Peisthe-troduced him into his Symposium. llis works
taerus espouses Basilcia, the daughter of Zeus. contain snatches of lyric poetry which are quite
In no play does Aristophanes more indulge in the noble, and some of his chorusses, particularly one
exuberance of wit and fancy than in this; and ( in the Knights, in which the horses are represented
though we believe Süvern's account to be in the as rowing iriremes in an expedition against Corinth,
main correct, yet we must not suppose that the are written with a spirit and humour unrivalled in
poet limits himself to this object : he keeps only Greek, and are not very dissimilar to English
generally to his allegory, often touching on other ballads. He was a complete master of the Attic
points, and sometimes indulging in pure humour; dialect, and in his hands the perfection of that
so that the play is not unlike the scheme of Gulli- glorious instrument of thought is wonderfully
ver's Travels.
shewn. No flights are too bold for the range of
The Lysistrata returns to the old subject of the his fancy : animals of every kind are pressed into
Peloponnesian war, and here we find miseries de his service; frogs chaunt chorusses, a dog is tried
scribed as existing which in the Acharnians and for stealing a cheese, and an iambic verse is com-
Peace had only been predicted. A treaty is finally posed of the grunts of a pig. Words are invented
represented as brought about in consequence of a of a length which must have made the speaker
civil war between the sexes. The Thesmophoria- breathless, – the Ecclesiazusae closes with one of
zusae is the first of the two great attacks on Euri- 170 letters. The gods are introduced in the most
pides, and contains some inimitable parodies on his ludicrous positions, and it is certainly incompre-
plays, especially the Andromeda, which had just hensible how a writer who represents them in such
appeared. It is almost wholly free from political a light, could feel so great indignation against those
allusions ; the few which are found in it shew the who were suspected of a design to shake the popu-
attachment of the poet to the old democracy, and lar faith in them. To say that his plays are de-
that, though a strong conservative, he was not an filed by coarseness and indecency, is only to state
oligarchist. Both the Plutus and the Ecclesiazusae that they were comedies, and written by a Greek
are designed to divert the prevailing mania for Do- who was not superior to the universal feeling of his
rian manners, the latter ridiculing the political age.
theories of Plato, which were based on Spartan in- The first edition of Aristophanes was that of
stitutions. Between these two plays appeared the Aldus, Venice, 1498, which was published without
Frogs, in which Bacchus descends to Hades in the Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae. That of
search of a tragic poet, — those then alive being Bekker, 5 vols. 8vo. , London, 1829, contains a
worthless, -and Aeschylus and Euripides contend text founded on the collation of two MSS. from
for the prize of resuscitation. Euripides is at last Ravenna and Venice, unknown to former editors.
dismissed by a parody on his own famous line It also has the valuable Scholia, a Latin version,
η γλώσσ’ ομώμος', η δε φρών ανώμοτος (Hipp. | and a large collection of notes. There are editions
608), and Aeschylus accompanies Bacchus to Earth, by Bothe, Kuster, and Dindorf: of the Acharnians,
the tragic throne in Hades being given to Sophocles K nights, Wasps, Clouds, and Frogs, by Mitchell,
during his absence. Among the lost plays, the with English notes (who has also translated the
Nñooi and rewpoyol were apparently on the subject first three into English verse), and of the Birds
of the much desired Peace, the former setting forth and Plutus by Cookesley, also with English notes.
the evils which the islands and subject states, the There are many translations of single plays into
latter those which the freemen of Attica, endured English, and of all into German by Voss (Bruns-
from the war. The Triphales seems to have been wick, 1821), and Droysen (Berlin, 1835–1838).
an attack on Alcibiades, in reference probably to Wieland also translated the Acharnians, Knights,
his mutilation of the Hermes Busts (Süvern, On the Clouds, and Birds; and Welcker the Clouds and
Clouds, p. 85. transl. ); and in the inputáons cer- Frogs.
[G. E. L. C. ]
tain poets, pale, haggard votaries of the Sophists,- ARISTOʻPHANES ('Apiotopávns). 1. Of By-
Sannyrion as the representative of comedy, Mezantium, a son of A pelles, and one of the most emi-
litus of tragedy, and Cinesias of the cyclic writers, nent Greek grammarians at Alexandria.
also. This is not the case; and as we know that
4. Of Alexandria, a contemporary of Strabo Aristophanes of Byzantium was the successor of
(i. p. 38), distinguished himself as a grammarian, Apollonius as chief librarian at Alexandria (which
and is mentioned as the author of several works, Suidas says of Aristonymus), Meineke conjectures
most of which related to the Homeric poems. - with great probability, that the name of Aristo-
1. On the wanderings of Monelaus (tepi tñs | phanes has dropped out in our text of Suidas.
Meveldov a návms; Strab. I. c. ). 2. On the critical (Meineke, Hist. Crit. Com. Gr. p. 196, &c. )
signs by which the Alexandrine critics used to An Athenian, of the name of Aristonymus, who
mark the suspected or interpolated verses in the was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but
Homeric poems and in Hesiod's Theogony. (Tiepnot a grammarian, is mentioned by Athenacus.
των σημείων των της Ιλιάδος και 'Οδυσσείας, (x. p. 452, xii. p. 538. ) There were also two
Etym. M. s. vv. Núxvos, špoaand onń; Suidas, writers of this name, but neither of them appears
s. v. 'Ap! OTOVLKOS; Eudoc. p. 64 ; Schol. Venet. ad to have been a grammarian. (Plut. de Flum. p.
Hom. Il. ix. 397. ) 3. On irregular grammatical 1165; Stobaeus, passim. )
[L. S. ]
constructions in Homer, consisting of six books ARISTOʻPHILUS ('Apioródios), a druggist,
(do UVTÁKTW dvouátwv Biblia ; Suidas, l. c. ). of Plataea in Boeotia, who lived probably in the
These and some other works are now lost, with fourth century B. C. He is mentioned by Theo-
the exception of a few fragments preserved in the phrastus (Hist. Plant. ix. 18. $ 4) as possessing the
passages above referred to. (Villoison, Proleg. ad knowledge of certain antaphrodisiac medicines,
Hom. p. 18. )
which he made use of either for the punishment
5. Of Tarentum, the author of a mythological or reformation of his slaves. [W. A. G. )
work which is often referred to. (Phot. Cod. 190; ARISTO'PHANES ('Apiotopárns), the only
Serv. ad Aen. iii. 335; Caes. Germ. in Arat. Phaen. writer of the old comedy of whom any entire works
327 ; Hygin. Počt. Astr. ii. 34. ) He is perhaps are left. His later extant plays approximate
the same as the one mentioned by Athenaeus (i rather to the middle comedy, and in the Cocalus,
p. 20), but nothing is known about him. (Roulez, his last production, he so nearly approached the
ud Ptolem. Hephaest. p. 148. )
[L. S. ] new, that Philemon brought it out a second time
ARISTONIDAS, a statuary, one of whose with very little alteration.
productions is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. Aristophanes was the son of Philippus, as is
14. 8. 40) as extant at Thebes in his time. It stated by all the authorities for his life, and proved
was a statue of Athamas, in which bronze and iron by the fact of his son also having that name, although
had been mixed together, that the rust of the latter, a bust exists with the inscription 'Apiotopávns
showing through the brightness of the bronze, Pidimmidov, which is, however, now generally al-
might have the appearance of a blush, and so might lowed to be spurious. He was an Athenian of
indicate the remorse of Athamas. [C. P. M. ) the tribe Pandionis, and the Cydathenaean Demus,
ARISTONIDES, a painter of some distinction, and is said to have been the pupil of Prodicus,
mentioned by Pliny (xxxv. ll. s. 40), was the though this is improbable, since he speaks of bim
father and instructor of Mnasitimus. (C. P. M. ] rather with contempt. (Nub. 360, Ar. 692, Tage-
ARISTONOUS ('Aplotávoos). l. Of Gela in nist. Fragm. xviii. Bekk. ) We are told (Schol. ad
Syracuse, one of the founders of the colony of Ran. 502), that he first engaged in the comic con-
Aggentum, B, C. 582. (Thuc. vi. 4. )
tests when he was σχέδον μειράκισκος, and we
2. Of Pella, son of Peisaeus, one of the body know that the date of his first comedy was B. C.
guard of Alexander the Great, distinguished him- 427 : we are therefore warranted in assigning
self greatly on one occasion in India. On the about B. C. 444 as the date of his birth, and his
death of Alexander, he was one of the first to pro- death was probably not later than B. c. 380. His
pose that the supreme power should be entrusted three sons, Philippus, Araros, and Nicostratus,
to Perdiccas. He was subsequently the general of were all poets of the middle comedy. Of his pri-
Olympias in the war with Cassander; and when rate history we know nothing but that he was a
she was taken prisoner in B. c. 316, he was put | lover of pleasure (Plat. Symp. particularly p. 223),
to death by order of Cassander. (Arrian, Anab. and one who spent whole nights in drinking and
ri. 28, ap. Phot. Cod. 92, p. 69, a. 14. ed. Bekker; witty conversation. Accusations (his anonymous
Curt. ix. 5, x. 6; Diod. xix. 35, 50, 51. )
biographer says, more than one) were brought
ARISTOČNOUS ('Aplotóvoos), a statuary, a against him by Cleon, with a view to deprive him
native of Aegina, made a statue of Zeus, which was of his civic rights (evias ypapai), but without
dedicated by the Metapontines at Olympia. (Paus. success, as indeed they were merely the fruit of
v. 22. $ 5; Müller, Aegin. p. 107. ) [C. P. 11. ] revenge for his attacks on that demagogne. They
## p. 313 (#333) ############################################
ARISTOPHANES.
313
ARISTOPHANES.
hare, however, giren rise to a num! er of traditions nides, as Aristophanes was below the legal age
of his being a Rhodinn, an Egyptian, an Aegi- for competing for a prize. Fifth year of the war.
netan, a native of Camirus or of Naucratis.
426. Babylonians (év đoter).
The comedies of Aristophanes are of the highest 425. + Acharnians. (Lenaea. ) Produced in the
historical interest, containing as they do an admir- name of Callistratus. First prize.
able series of caricatures on the leading men of the 424. + 'Inaels, Knights or Horsemen. (Lenaea. )
day, and a contemporary commentary on the evils The first play produced in the name of Aristo-
existing at Athens. Indeed, the caricature is the phanes himself
. First prize ; second Cratinus.
only feature in modern social life which at all re- 423. + Clouds (év šotei). First prize, Cratinus;
sembles them. Aristophanes was a bold and often second Ameipsias.
a wise patriot. He bad the strongest affection for 422. + Wasps. (Lenaca. ) Second prize.
Athens, and longed to sec ber restored to the state Impôs (? ) (év đotei), according to the probable
in which she was flourishing in the previous gene- conjecture of Süvern. (Essay on the Impas, trans-
ration, and almost in his own childhood, before lated by Mr. Hamilton. )
Pericles became the head of the government, and Clouds (second edition), failed in obtaining a
when the age of Miltiades and Aristeides bad but prize. But Ranke places this B. C. 411, and the
just passed away. The first great evil of his own whole subject is very uncertain.
time against which lie inveighs, is the Peloponne- 419. + Peace (év åotei). Second prize ; Eu-
sian war, which he regards as the work of Pericles, polis first.
and even attributes it (Par, 606) to his fear of 414. Amphiaraus. (Lenaca. ) Second prize.
punishment for having connived at a robbery said + Birds (év ZOTEI), second prize; Ameipsias
to have been committed by Phidias on the statue first; Phrynichus third. Second campaign in Sicily.
of Athene in the Parthenon, and to the influence rewpyol (? ). Exhibited in the time of Nicias.
of Aspasia. (Ach. 500. ) To this fatal war, among (Plut. Nic. c. 8. )
a host of evils, he ascribes the influence of vulgar 411. + Lysistrata.
demagogues like Cleon at Athens, of which also + Thesmophoriazusae. During the Oligarchy.
the example was set by the more refined demagog- 408. + First Plutus.
ism of Pericles. Another great object of his indig- 405. + Frogs. (Lenaea. ) First prize; Phry-
nation was the recently adopted system of educa- nicus second ; Plato third. Death of Sophocles.
tion which had been introduced by the Sophists, 392. + Ecclesiazusae. Corinthian war.
acting on the speculative and inquiring turn given 388. Second edition of the Plutus.
to the Athenian mind by the lonian and Eleatic The last two comedies of Aristophanes were the
philosophers, and the extraordinary intellectual de Aeolosicon and Cocalus, produced about B. C. 387
velopment of the age following the Persian war. (date of the peace of Antalcidas) by Arusos, one of
The new theories introduced by the Sophists his sons. The first was a parody on the Aeolus
threatened to overthrow the oundations of mora- of Euripides, the name being compounder of
lity, by making persuasion and not truth the object | Aeolus and Sicon, a famous cook. (Rheinisches
of man in his intercourse with his fellows, and to Muscuni, 1828, p. 50. ) The second was probably
substitute a universal scepticism for the religious a similar parody of a poem on the death of Minos,
creed of the people. The worst effects of such a said to have been killed by Cocalus, king of Sicily.
system were seen in Alcibiades, who, caring for Of the Aeolosicon there were two editions.
nothing but his own ambition, valuing eloquence In the Aaitaneis the object of Aristophanes was
only for its worldly advantages, and possessed of to censure generally the abandonment of those an-
great talents which he utterly misapplied, com- cient manners and feelings which it was the labour
bined all the elements which Aristophanes most of his life to restore. He attacked the modern
disliked, heading the war party in politics, and schemes of education by introducing a father with
protecting the sophistical school in philosophy and two sons, one of whom had been educated accord-
also in literature. Of this latter school-the lite ing to the old system, the other in the sophistries
rary and poetical Sophists - Euripides was the of later days. The chorus consisted of a party
chief, whose works are full of that petewpoooqia who had been feasting in the temple of Hercules ;
which contrasts so offensively with the moral dig- and Bp. Thirlwall supposes, that as the play was
nity of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and for which written when the plague was at its height (Schol.
Aristophanes introduces him as soaring in the air ad Run. 502), the poet recommended a return to
to write his tragedies (Ach. 374), caricaturing the gymnastic exercises of which that god was the
thereby his own account of himself. (Alc. 371. ) patron (comp. Eq. 1379), and to the old system of
Another feature of the times was the excessive education, as the means most likely to prevent its
love for litigation at Athens, the consequent impor- continuance.
tance of the dicasts, and disgraceful abuse of their In the Babylonians we are told, that he “at-
power; all of which enormities are made by Aris-tacked the system of appointing to offices by lot. ”
tophanes objects of continual attack. But though (Pit. Aristoph. Bekk. p. xiii. ) The chorus consisted
he saw what were the erils of his time, he had of barbarian slaves employed in a mill, which
not wisdom to find a remedy for them, except the Ranke has conjectured was represented as belong-
hopeless and undesirable one of a movement back ing to the demagogue Eucrates (Eg. 129, &c. ),
wards; and therefore, though we allow him to who united the trade of a miller with that of a
have been honest and bold, we must deny him the vender of tow. Cleon also must have been a main
epithet of great. We subjoin a catalogue of the object of the poet's satire, and probably the public
comedies of Aristophanes on which we possess in functionaries of the day in general, since an action
formation, and a short account of the most remark- was brought by Cleon against Callistratus, in whose
able. Those marked + are extant.
name it was produced, accusing him of ridiculing
B. C. 427. Aaitantis, Banquetlers. Second prize. the government in the presence of the allies. But
The play was produced under the name of Philo- the attack appears to have failed.
## p. 314 (#334) ############################################
314
ARISTOPILANES.
ARISTOPIIAXES.
In the Aclurnians, Aristophanes exhorts his traits, as allusions to his tpavilo uós, or inability
countrymen to peace. An Athenian named Dicae- to articulate certain letters (Nuls. 1981; Plut. lic.
opolis makes a separate treaty with Sparta for p. 19. 2), and to his fancy for horse-breeding and driva
himself and his family, and is exhibited in the full ing. (Satyrus, up. Athen. xii. p. 534. ) Aristophanes
enjoyment of its blessings, whilst Lamachus, as would be prevented from introducing him by name
the representative of the war party, is introduced either bere or in the Birds, from fear of the violent
in the want of common necessaries, and suffering measures which Alcibiades took against the comic
from cold, and snow, and wounds. The knights poets. The instructions of Socrates teach Pheidip-
was directed against Cleon, whose power at this pides not only to defraud his creditors, but also to
time was so great, that no one was bold enough to beat his father, and disown the authority of the
make a mask to represent his features; so that gods; and the play ends by the father's prepara-
Aristophanes performed the character himself, with tions to burn the philosopher and his whole esia-
his face smeared with wine-lees. Cleon is the con- blishinent. The hint given towards the end, of
fidential steward of Demus, the impersonation of the propriety of prosecuting him, was acted on
the Athenian people, who is represented as almost twenty years afterwards, and Aristophanes was
in his dotage, but at the same time cunning, suspi- believed to have contributed to the death of So-
cious, ungovernable, and tyrannical. His slaves, crates, as the charges brought against him before
Nicias and Demosthenes, determine to rid them the court of justice express the substance of those
belves of the insolence of Cleon by raising up a contained in the Clouds. (Plat. A pol. Soc. p. 18,
rival in the person of a sausage-seller, by which &c. ) The Clouds, though perhaps its author's
the poet ridicules the mean occupation of the de- masterpiece, met with a complete failure in the
magogues. This man completely triumphs over contest for prizes, probably owing to the intrigues
Cleon in his own arts of lying, stealing, fawning, of Alcibiades; nor was it more successful when
and blustering. Having thus gained the day, he altered for a second representation, if indeed the
suddenly becomes a model of ancient Athenian alterations were ever completed, which Sivern
excellence, and by boiling Demus in a magic caul- denies. The play, as we have it, contains the
dron, restores bim to a condition worthy of the parabasis of the second edition.
companionship of Aristeides and Miltiades. (Eg. The Wasps is the pendant to the Knights. As
1322. )
in the one the poet had attacked the sovereign
In the Clouds, Aristophanes attacks the so- assembly, so here he aims his battery at the courts
phistical principles at their source, and selects as of justice, the other stronghold of party violence
their representative Socrates, whom he depicts in and the power of deniagogues. This play furnished
the most odious light. The selection of Socrates Racine with the idea of Les Plaideurs. The Peace
for this purpose is doubtless to be accounted for by is a return to the subject of the Acharnians, and
the supposition, that Aristophanes observed the points out forcibly the miseries of the Peloponnesian
great philosopher from a distance only, while his war, in order to stop which Trygaeus, the hero of the
own unphilosophical turn of mind prevented him play, ascends to heaven on a dung-beetle's back,
from entering into Socrates' merits both as a teacher where he finds the god of war pounding the Greek
and a practiser of morality; and by the fact, that states in a mortar. With the assistance of a large
Socrates was an innovator, the friend of Euripides, party of friends equally desirous to check this pro
the tutor of Alcibiades, and pupil of Archelaus; ceeding, he succeeds in dragging up Peace herself
and that there was much in his appearance and from a well in which she is imprisoned, and finally
habits in the highest degree ludicrous. The phi- marries one of her attendant nymphs. The play
losopher, who wore no under garments, and the is full of humour, but neither it nor the Wasps
same upper robe in winter and summer,-- who is among the poet's greater works.
generally went barefoot, and appears to have pos- Six years now elapse during which no plays are
sessed one pair of dress-shoes which lasted him for preserved to us. The object of the Amphiaruus and
life (Böckh, Economy of Athens, i p. 150), who ihe Birds, which appeared after this interval, was
used to stand for hours in a public place in a fit of to discourage the disastrous Sicilian expedition.
abstraction-to say nothing of his snub nose, and The former was called after one of the seven chiefs
extraordinary face and figure--could hardly expect against Thebes, remarkable for prophesying ill-luck
to escape the license of the old comedy. The in- to the expedition, and therein corresponding to
variably speculative turn which he gave to the Nicias. The object of the Birds has been a natter
conversation, his bare acquiescence in the stories of of much dispute ; many persons, as for instance
Greek mythology, which Aristophanes would think Schlegel, consider it a mere fanciful piece of
it dangerous even to subject to inquiry (see Plat. buffoonery–a supposition hardly credible, when
Phaedrus, p. 299), had certainly produced an un- we remember that every one of the plays of Aris-
favourable opinion of Socrates in the minds of tophanes has a distinct purpose connected with the
many, and explain his being set down by Aristo- history of the time. The question seems to have
planes as an archsophist, and represented even as been set at rest by Suvern, whose theory, to say
a thief. In the Clouds, he is described as corrupt- the least, is supported by the very strongest cir-
ing a young man named Pheidippides, who is wast- cumstantial evidence. The Birds--the Athenian
ing his father's money by an insane passion for people—are persuaded to build a city in the clouds by
horses, and is sent to the subtlety-shop (opovtio- Peisthetaerus (a character combining traits of Alci-
thplov) of Socrates and Chaerephon to be still fur- biades and Gorgias, mixed perhaps with some from
ther set free from moral restraint, and particularly other Sophists), and who is attended by a sort of
to acquire the needful accomplishment of cheating Sancho Panza, one Euelpides, designed to represent
luis creditors. In this spendthrift youth it is the credulous young Atheniaus (eventiões, Thuc.
scarcely possible not to recognise Alcibiades, not vi. 24). The city, to be called Nededokokkiryia
only from his general character and connexion (Clowicuckootown), is to occupy the whole horizon,
with the Sophists, but also from more particular and to cut off the gods from all connexion with
:
## p. 315 (#335) ############################################
ARISTOPHANES.
315
ARISTOPHANES.
mankind, and even from the power of receiving | considered him only in his historical and political
sacrifices, so as to force them ultimately to surren- character, nor can his merits as a poet and
der at discretion to the birds. All this schemc, humorist be understood without an actual study
and the details which fill it up, coincide admirably of his works. We linve no means of comparing
with the Sicilinn expedition, which was designed him with his rivals Eupolis and Cratinus (llor.
not only to take possession of Sicily, but afterwards Sul. i. 4. 1), though he is said to have tempered
to conquer Carthage and Libya, and so, from the their bitterness, and given to comedy additional
supremacy of the Mediterranean, to acquire that grace, but to have been surpassed by Eupolis in
of the Peloponnesus, and reduce the Spartans, the the conduct of his plots. (Platonius, tepl olao. xap.
gods of the play. (Thuc. vi. 15, &c. ; Plut. Nic. 12, cited in Bekker’s Aristoph. ) Plato called the soul of
Aic. 17. ) The plan succeeds; the gods send am Aristophanes a temple for the Graces, and has in-
bassadors to demand terms, and finally Peisthe-troduced him into his Symposium. llis works
taerus espouses Basilcia, the daughter of Zeus. contain snatches of lyric poetry which are quite
In no play does Aristophanes more indulge in the noble, and some of his chorusses, particularly one
exuberance of wit and fancy than in this; and ( in the Knights, in which the horses are represented
though we believe Süvern's account to be in the as rowing iriremes in an expedition against Corinth,
main correct, yet we must not suppose that the are written with a spirit and humour unrivalled in
poet limits himself to this object : he keeps only Greek, and are not very dissimilar to English
generally to his allegory, often touching on other ballads. He was a complete master of the Attic
points, and sometimes indulging in pure humour; dialect, and in his hands the perfection of that
so that the play is not unlike the scheme of Gulli- glorious instrument of thought is wonderfully
ver's Travels.
shewn. No flights are too bold for the range of
The Lysistrata returns to the old subject of the his fancy : animals of every kind are pressed into
Peloponnesian war, and here we find miseries de his service; frogs chaunt chorusses, a dog is tried
scribed as existing which in the Acharnians and for stealing a cheese, and an iambic verse is com-
Peace had only been predicted. A treaty is finally posed of the grunts of a pig. Words are invented
represented as brought about in consequence of a of a length which must have made the speaker
civil war between the sexes. The Thesmophoria- breathless, – the Ecclesiazusae closes with one of
zusae is the first of the two great attacks on Euri- 170 letters. The gods are introduced in the most
pides, and contains some inimitable parodies on his ludicrous positions, and it is certainly incompre-
plays, especially the Andromeda, which had just hensible how a writer who represents them in such
appeared. It is almost wholly free from political a light, could feel so great indignation against those
allusions ; the few which are found in it shew the who were suspected of a design to shake the popu-
attachment of the poet to the old democracy, and lar faith in them. To say that his plays are de-
that, though a strong conservative, he was not an filed by coarseness and indecency, is only to state
oligarchist. Both the Plutus and the Ecclesiazusae that they were comedies, and written by a Greek
are designed to divert the prevailing mania for Do- who was not superior to the universal feeling of his
rian manners, the latter ridiculing the political age.
theories of Plato, which were based on Spartan in- The first edition of Aristophanes was that of
stitutions. Between these two plays appeared the Aldus, Venice, 1498, which was published without
Frogs, in which Bacchus descends to Hades in the Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae. That of
search of a tragic poet, — those then alive being Bekker, 5 vols. 8vo. , London, 1829, contains a
worthless, -and Aeschylus and Euripides contend text founded on the collation of two MSS. from
for the prize of resuscitation. Euripides is at last Ravenna and Venice, unknown to former editors.
dismissed by a parody on his own famous line It also has the valuable Scholia, a Latin version,
η γλώσσ’ ομώμος', η δε φρών ανώμοτος (Hipp. | and a large collection of notes. There are editions
608), and Aeschylus accompanies Bacchus to Earth, by Bothe, Kuster, and Dindorf: of the Acharnians,
the tragic throne in Hades being given to Sophocles K nights, Wasps, Clouds, and Frogs, by Mitchell,
during his absence. Among the lost plays, the with English notes (who has also translated the
Nñooi and rewpoyol were apparently on the subject first three into English verse), and of the Birds
of the much desired Peace, the former setting forth and Plutus by Cookesley, also with English notes.
the evils which the islands and subject states, the There are many translations of single plays into
latter those which the freemen of Attica, endured English, and of all into German by Voss (Bruns-
from the war. The Triphales seems to have been wick, 1821), and Droysen (Berlin, 1835–1838).
an attack on Alcibiades, in reference probably to Wieland also translated the Acharnians, Knights,
his mutilation of the Hermes Busts (Süvern, On the Clouds, and Birds; and Welcker the Clouds and
Clouds, p. 85. transl. ); and in the inputáons cer- Frogs.
[G. E. L. C. ]
tain poets, pale, haggard votaries of the Sophists,- ARISTOʻPHANES ('Apiotopávns). 1. Of By-
Sannyrion as the representative of comedy, Mezantium, a son of A pelles, and one of the most emi-
litus of tragedy, and Cinesias of the cyclic writers, nent Greek grammarians at Alexandria.
