The Birds

Introduction

The Birds differs markedly from all the other comedies of Aristophanes which have come down to us in subject and general conception. It is just an extravaganza pure and simple⁠—a graceful, whimsical theme chosen expressly for the sake of the opportunities it afforded of bright, amusing dialogue, pleasing lyrical interludes, and charming displays of brilliant stage effects and pretty dresses. Unlike other plays of the same Author, there is here apparently no serious political motif underlying the surface burlesque and buffoonery.

Some critics, it is true, profess to find in it a reference to the unfortunate Sicilian Expedition, then in progress, and a prophecy of its failure and the political downfall of Alcibiades. But as a matter of fact, the whole thing seems rather an attempt on the dramatist’s part to relieve the overwrought minds of his fellow-citizens, anxious and discouraged at the unsatisfactory reports from before Syracuse, by a work conceived in a lighter vein than usual and mainly unconnected with contemporary realities. The play was produced in the year 414 BC, just when success or failure in Sicily hung in the balance, though already the outlook was gloomy, and many circumstances pointed to impending disaster. Moreover, the public conscience was still shocked and perturbed over the mysterious affair of the mutilation of the Hermae, which had occurred immediately before the sailing of the fleet, and strongly suspicious of Alcibiades’ participation in the outrage. In spite of the inherent charm of the subject, the splendid outbursts of lyrical poetry in some of the choruses and the beauty of the scenery and costumes, The Birds failed to win the first prize. This was acclaimed to a play of Aristophanes’ rival, Amipsias, the title of which, The Comastoe, or Revellers, “seems to imply that the chief interest was derived from direct allusions to the outrage above mentioned and to the individuals suspected to have been engaged in it.”

For this reason, which militated against its immediate success, viz. the absence of direct allusion to contemporary politics⁠—there are, of course, incidental references here and there to topics and personages of the day⁠—the play appeals perhaps more than any other of our Author’s productions to the modern reader. Sparkling wit, whimsical fancy, poetic charm, are of all ages, and can be appreciated as readily by ourselves as by an Athenian audience of two thousand years ago, though, of course, much is inevitably lost “without the important adjuncts of music, scenery, dresses and what we may call ‘spectacle’ generally, which we know in this instance to have been on the most magnificent scale.”

The plot is this. Euelpides and Pisthetaerus, two old Athenians, disgusted with the litigiousness, wrangling and sycophancy of their countrymen, resolve upon quitting Attica. Having heard of the fame of Epops (the hoopoe), sometime called Tereus, and now King of the Birds, they determine, under the direction of a raven and a jackdaw, to seek from him and his subject birds a city free from all care and strife. Arrived at the Palace of Epops, they knock, and Trochilus (the wren), in a state of great flutter, as he mistakes them for fowlers, opens the door and informs them that his Majesty is asleep. When he awakes, the strangers appear before him, and after listening to a long and eloquent harangue on the superior attractions of a residence among the birds, they propose a notable scheme of their own to further enhance its advantages and definitely secure the sovereignty of the universe now exercised by the gods of Olympus.

The birds are summoned to meet in general council. They come flying up from all quarters of the heavens, and after a brief misunderstanding, during which they come near tearing the two human envoys to pieces, they listen to the exposition of the latters’ plan. This is nothing less than the building of a new city, to be called Nephelococcygia, or “Cloud-cuckoo-town,” between earth and heaven, to be garrisoned and guarded by the birds in such a way as to intercept all communication of the gods with their worshippers on earth. All steam of sacrifice will be prevented from rising to Olympus, and the Immortals will very soon be starved into an acceptance of any terms proposed. The new Utopia is duly constructed, and the daring plan to secure the sovereignty is in a fair way to succeed. Meantime various quacks and charlatans, each with a special scheme for improving things, arrive from earth, and are one after the other exposed and dismissed. Presently arrives Prometheus, who informs Epops of the desperate straits to which the gods are by this time reduced, and advises him to push his claims and demand the hand of Basileia (Dominion), the handmaid of Zeus. Next an embassy from the Olympians appears on the scene, consisting of Heracles, Posidon and a god from the savage regions of the Triballians. After some disputation, it is agreed that all reasonable demands of the birds are to be granted, while Pisthetaerus is to have Basileia as his bride. The comedy winds up with the epithalamium in honour of the nuptials.

Dramatis Personae

• Euelpides

• Pisthetaerus

• Epops (the Hoopoe)

• Trochilus, Servant to Epops

• Phoenicopterus

• Heralds

• A priest

• A poet

• A prophet

• Meton, a Geometrician

• A commissioner

• A dealer in decrees

• Iris

• A parricide

• Cinesias, a Dithyrambic Bard

• An informer

• Prometheus

• Posidon

• Triballus

• Heracles

• Slaves of Pisthetaerus

• Messengers

• Chorus of birds

The Birds

Scene: A wild, desolate tract of open country; broken rocks and brushwood occupy the centre of the stage.

Endnotes

1. Euelpides is holding a jay and Pisthetaerus a crow; they are the guides who are to lead them to the kingdom of the birds. ↩

2. A stranger who wanted to pass as an Athenian, although coming originally for a faraway barbarian country. ↩

3. A king of Thrace, a son of Ares, who married Procne, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens, whom he had assisted against the Megarians. He violated his sister-in-law, Philomela, and then cut out her tongue; she nevertheless managed to convey to her sister how she had been treated. They both agreed to kill Itys, whom Procne had borne to Tereus, and dished up the limbs of his own son to the father; at the end of the meal Philomela appeared and threw the child’s head upon the table. Tereus rushed with drawn sword upon the princesses, but all the actors in this terrible scene were metamorphosed. Tereus became an Epops (hoopoe), Procne a swallow, Philomela a nightingale, and Itys a goldfinch. According to Anacreon and Apollodorus it was Procne who became the nightingale and Philomela the swallow, and this is the version of the tradition followed by Aristophanes. ↩

4. An Athenian who had some resemblance to a jay⁠—so says the scholiast, at any rate. ↩

5. Literally, “to go to the crows,” a proverbial expression equivalent to our “going to the devil.” ↩

6. They leave Athens because of their hatred of lawsuits and informers; this is the especial failing of the Athenians satirized in The Wasps. ↩

7. Myrtle boughs were used in sacrifices, and the founding of every colony was started by a sacrifice. ↩

8. The actors wore masks made to resemble the birds they were supposed to represent. ↩

9. Fear had had disastrous effects upon Euelpides’ internal economy, and this his feet evidenced. ↩

10. The same mishap had occurred to Pisthetaerus. ↩

11. The Greek word for a wren, τροχίλος is derived from the same root as τρέχειν, to run. ↩

12. No doubt there was some scenery to represent a forest. Besides, there is a pun intended. The words answering for “forests” and “door” (ὕλη and θύρα) in Greek only differ slightly in sound. ↩

13. Sophocles had written a tragedy about Tereus, in which, no doubt, the king finally appears as a hoopoe. ↩

14. A παρά προσδοκίαν; one would expect the question to be “bird or man.”⁠—Are you a peacock? The hoopoe resembles the peacock inasmuch as both have crests. ↩

15. Athens. ↩

16. The Athenians were madly addicted to lawsuits. (See The Wasps.) ↩

17. As much as to say, “Then you have such things as anti-dicasts?” And Euelpides practically replaces, “Very few.” ↩

18. His name was Aristocrates; he was a general and commanded a fleet sent in aid of Corcyra. ↩

19. The State galley, which carried the officials of the Athenian republic to their several departments and brought back those whose time had expired; it was this galley that was sent to Sicily to fetch back Alcibiades, who was accused of sacrilege. ↩

20. A tragic poet, who was a leper; there is a play, of course, on the word Lepreum. ↩

21. An allusion to Opuntius, who was one-eyed. ↩

22. The newly-married ate a sesame-cake, decorated with garlands of myrtle, poppies and mint. ↩

23. From πολεῖν, to turn. ↩

24. The Greek words for “pole” and “city” (πόλος and πόλις) only differ by a single letter. ↩

25. Boeotia separated Attica from Phocis. ↩

26. He swears by the powers that are to him dreadful. ↩

27. As already stated, according to the legend accepted by Aristophanes, it was Procne who was turned into the nightingale. ↩

28. The son of Tereus and Procne. ↩

29. An African bird, that comes to the southern countries of Europe, to Greece, Italy, and Spain; it is even seen in Provence. ↩

30. Aristophanes amusingly mixes up real birds with people and individuals, whom he represents in the form of birds; he is personifying the Medians here. ↩

31. Philocles, a tragic poet, had written a tragedy on Tereus, which was simply a plagiarism of the play of the same name by Sophocles. Philocles is the son of Epops, because he got his inspiration from Sophocles’ Tereus, and at the same time is father to Epops, since he himself produced another Tereus. ↩

32. This Hipponicus is probably the orator whose ears Alcibiades boxed to gain a bet; he was a descendant of Callias, who was famous for his hatred of Pisistratus. ↩

33. This Callias, who must not be confounded with the foe of Pisistratus, had ruined himself. ↩

34. Cleonymus had cast away his shield; he was as great a glutton as he was a coward. ↩

35. A race in which the track had to be circled twice. ↩

36. A people of Asia Minor; when pursued by the Ionians they took refuge in the mountains. ↩

37. An Athenian barber. ↩

38. The owl was dedicated to Athene, and being respected at Athens, it had greatly multiplied. Hence the proverb, “taking owls to Athens,” similar to our English “taking coals to Newcastle.” ↩

39. An allusion to the Feast of Pots; it was kept at Athens on the third day of the Anthesteria, when all sorts of vegetables were stewed together and offered for the dead to Bacchus and Athene. This Feast was peculiar to Athens.⁠—Hence Pisthetaerus thinks that the owl will recognize they are Athenians by seeing the stew-pots, and as he is an Athenian bird, he will not attack them. ↩

40. Nicias, the famous Athenian general.⁠—The siege of Melos in 417 BC, or two years previous to the production of The Birds, had especially done him great credit. He was joint commander of the Sicilian expedition. ↩

41. Procne, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. ↩

42. A space beyond the walls of Athens which contained the gardens of the Academy and the graves of citizens who had died for their country. ↩

43. A town in Western Argolis, where the Athenians had been recently defeated. The somewhat similar word in Greek, ὄρνιθες, signifies “birds.” ↩

44. Epops is addressing the two slaves, no doubt Xanthias and Manes, who are mentioned later on. ↩

45. It was customary, when speaking in public and also at feasts, to wear a chaplet; hence the question Euelpides puts.⁠—The guests wore chaplets of flowers, herbs, and leaves, which had the property of being refreshing. ↩

46. A deme of Attica. In Greek the word (κεφαλάι) also means “heads,” and hence the pun. ↩

47. One of Darius’ best generals. After his expedition against the Scythians, this prince gave him the command of the army which he left in Europe. Megabyzus took Perinthos (afterwards called Heraclea) and conquered Thrace. ↩

48. All Persians wore the tiara, but always on one side; the Great King alone wore it straight on his head. ↩

49. Noted as the birthplace of Thucydides, a deme of Attica of the tribe of Leontis. Demosthenes tells us it was thirty-five stadia from Athens. ↩

50. The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season. ↩

51. To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky. ↩

52. As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small coins in their mouths.⁠—This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour to fill the bag he was carrying. ↩

53. In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about harvest-time. ↩

54. This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, “When the cuckoo sings we go harvesting.” Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised circumcision. ↩

55. The staff, called a sceptre, generally terminated in a piece of carved work, representing a flower, a fruit, and most often a bird. ↩

56. A general accused of treachery. The bird watches Lysicrates, because, according to Pisthetaerus, he had a right to a share of the presents. ↩

57. It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus. ↩

58. One of the diviners sent to Sybaris (in Magna Graecia, S. Italy) with the Athenian colonists, who rebuilt the town under the new name of Thurium. ↩

59. As if he were saying, “Oh, gods!” Like Lampon, he swears by the birds, instead of swearing by the gods.⁠—The names of these birds are those of two of the Titans. ↩

60. Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of Heracles.⁠—Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione and mother of Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus.⁠—Alope, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alope was honoured with Posidon’s caresses; by him she had a son named Hippothous, at first brought up by shepherds but who afterwards was restored to the throne of his grandfather by Theseus. ↩

61. Because water is the duck’s domain, as it is that of Posidon. ↩

62. Because the gull, like Heracles, is voracious. ↩

63. The Germans still call it Zaunkönig and the French roitelet, both names thus containing the idea of “king.” ↩

64. The scholiast draws our attention to the fact that Homer says this of Here and not of Iris (Iliad, V, 778); it is only another proof that the text of Homer has reached us in a corrupted form, or it may be that Aristophanes was liable, like other people, to occasional mistakes of quotation. ↩

65. In sacrifices. ↩

66. An Athenian proverb. ↩

67. A celebrated temple to Zeus in an oasis of Libya. ↩

68. Nicias was commander, along with Demosthenes, and later on Alcibiades, of the Athenian forces before Syracuse, in the ill-fated Sicilian Expedition, 415⁠–⁠413 BC. He was much blamed for dilatoriness and indecision. ↩

69. Servants of Pisthetaerus and Euelpides. ↩

70. It has already been mentioned that, according to the legend followed by Aristophanes, Procne had been changed into a nightingale and Philomela into a swallow. ↩

71. The actor, representing Procne, was dressed out as a courtesan, but wore a mask of a bird. ↩

72. Young unmarried girls wore golden ornaments; the apparel of married women was much simpler. ↩

73. The actor, representing Procne, was a flute-player. ↩

74. The parabasis. ↩

75. A sophist of the island of Ceos, a disciple of Protagoras, as celebrated for his knowledge as for his eloquence. The Athenians condemned him to death as a corrupter of youth in 396 BC. ↩

76. Lovers were wont to make each other presents of birds. The cock and the goose are mentioned, of course, in jest. ↩

77. I.e. that it gave notice of the approach of winter, during which season the Ancients did not venture to sea. ↩

78. A notorious robber. ↩

79. Meaning, “We are your oracles.”⁠—Dodona was an oracle in Epirus.⁠—The temple of Zeus there was surrounded by a dense forest, all the trees of which were endowed with the gift of prophecy; both the sacred oaks and the pigeons that lived in them answered the questions of those who came to consult the oracle in pure Greek. ↩

80. The Greek word for “omen” is the same as that for “bird”⁠—ὄρνις. ↩

81. A satire on the passion of the Greeks for seeing an omen in everything. ↩

82. An imitation of the nightingale’s song. ↩

83. God of the groves and wilds. ↩

84. The “Mother of the Gods”; roaming the mountains, she held dances, always attended by Pan and his accompanying rout of Fauns and Satyrs. ↩

85. An allusion to cockfighting; the birds are armed with brazen spurs. ↩

86. An allusion to the spots on this bird, which resemble the scars left by a branding iron. ↩

87. He was of Asiatic origin, but wished to pass for an Athenian. ↩

88. Or Philamnon, King of Thrace; the scholiast remarks that the Phrygians and the Thracians had a common origin. ↩

89. The Greek word here, πάππος, is also the name of a little bird. ↩

90. A basket-maker who had become rich.⁠—The Phylarchs were the headmen of the tribes, Φυλάι. They presided at the private assemblies and were charged with the management of the treasury.⁠—The Hipparchs, as the name implies, were the leaders of the cavalry; there were only two of these in the Athenian army. ↩

91. He had become a senator, member of the Βουλή. ↩

92. Pisthetaerus and Euelpides now both return with wings. ↩

93. Meaning, ’tis we who wanted to have these wings.⁠—The verse from Aeschylus, quoted here, is taken from The Myrmidons, a tragedy of which only a few fragments remain. ↩

94. The Greek word signified the city of Sparta, and also a kind of broom used for weaving rough matting, which served for the beds of the very poor. ↩

95. A fanciful name constructed from νεφέλη, a cloud, and κόκκυξ, a cuckoo; thus a city of clouds and cuckoos.⁠—Wolkenkukelheim is a clever approximation in German. Cloud-cuckoo-town, perhaps, is the best English equivalent. ↩

96. He was a boaster nicknamed Καπνός, “smoke,” because he promised a great deal and never kept his word. ↩

97. Also mentioned in The Wasps. ↩

98. Because the war of the Titans against the gods was only a fiction of the poets. ↩

99. A sacred cloth, with which the statue of Athene in the Acropolis was draped. ↩

100. Meaning, to be patron-goddess of the city. Athene had a temple of this name. ↩

101. An Athenian effeminate, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes. ↩

102. This was the name of the wall surrounding the Acropolis. ↩

103. I.e. the fighting cock. ↩

104. To waken the sentinels, who might else have fallen asleep.⁠—There are several merry contradictions in the various parts of this list of injunctions. ↩

105. In allusion to the leather strap which flute-players wore to constrict the cheeks and add to the power of the breath. The performer here no doubt wore a raven’s mask. ↩

106. Hellanicus, the Mitylenian historian, tells that this surname of Artemis is derived from Colaenus, King of Athens before Cecrops and a descendant of Hermes. In obedience to an oracle he erected a temple to the goddess, invoking her as Artemis Colaenis (the Artemis of Colaenus). ↩

107. This Cleocritus, says the scholiast, was long-necked and strutted like an ostrich. ↩

108. The Chians were the most faithful allies of Athens, and hence their name was always mentioned in prayers, decrees, etc. ↩

109. Verses sung by maidens. ↩

110. This ceremony took place on the tenth day after birth, and may be styled the pagan baptism. ↩

111. Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse.⁠—This passage is borrowed from Pindar. ↩

112. Ἱερόν in Greek means “sacrifice.” ↩

113. A parody of poetic pathos, not to say bathos. ↩

114. Which the priest was preparing to sacrifice. ↩

115. Noted Athenian diviner, who, when the power was still shared between Thucydides and Pericles, predicted that it would soon be centred in the hands of the latter; his ground for this prophecy was the sight of a ram with a single horn. ↩

116. No doubt another Athenian diviner, and possibly the same person whom Aristophanes names in The Knights and The Wasps as being a thief. ↩

117. A celebrated geometrician and astronomer. ↩

118. A deme contiguous to Athens. It is as though he said, “Well known throughout all England and at Croydon.” ↩

119. Thales was no less famous as a geometrician than he was as a sage. ↩

120. Officers of Athens, whose duty was to protect strangers who came on political or other business, and see to their interests generally. ↩

121. He addresses the inspector thus because of the royal and magnificent manners he assumes. ↩

122. Magistrates appointed to inspect the tributary towns. ↩

123. A much-despised citizen, already mentioned. He ironically supposes him invested with the powers of an Archon, which ordinarily were entrusted only to men of good repute. ↩

124. A Persian satrap.⁠—An allusion to certain orators, who, bribed with Asiatic gold, had often defended the interests of the foe in the Public Assembly. ↩

125. A Macedonian people in the peninsula of Chalcidice. This name is chosen because of its similarity to the Greek word ὀλοφύρεσθαι, “to groan.” It is from another verb, ὀτοτύζειν, meaning the same thing, that Pisthetaerus coins the name of Ototyxians, i.e. groaners, because he is about to beat the dealer.⁠—The mother-country had the right to impose any law it chose upon its colonies. ↩

126. Corresponding to our month of April. ↩

127. Which the inspector had brought with him for the purpose of inaugurating the assemblies of the people or some tribunal. ↩

128. So that the sacrifices might no longer be interrupted. ↩

129. A disciple of Democrites; he passed over from superstition to atheism. The injustice and perversity of mankind led him to deny the existence of the gods, to lay bare the mysteries and to break the idols. The Athenians had put a price on his head, so he left Greece and perished soon afterwards in a storm at sea. ↩

130. By this jest Aristophanes means to imply that tyranny is dead, and that no one aspires to despotic power, though this silly accusation was constantly being raised by the demagogues and always favourably received by the populace. ↩

131. A poulterer.⁠—Strouthian, used in joke to designate him, as if from the name of his “deme,” is derived from στρουθός, “a sparrow.” The birds’ foe is thus grotesquely furnished with an ornithological surname. ↩

132. From Aphrodite (Venus), to whom he had awarded the apple, prize of beauty, in the contest of the “goddesses three.” ↩

133. Laurium was an Athenian deme at the extremity of the Attic peninsula containing valuable silver mines, the revenues of which were largely employed in the maintenance of the fleet and payment of the crews. The “owls of Laurium,” of course, mean pieces of money; the Athenian coinage was stamped with a representation of an owl, the bird of Athene. ↩

134. A pun, impossible to keep in English, on the two meanings of the word ἀετός, which signifies both an eagle and the gable of a house or pediment of a temple. ↩

135. That is, birds’ crops, into which they could stow away plenty of good things. ↩

136. The Ancients appear to have placed metal discs over statues standing in the open air, to save them from injury from the weather, etc. ↩

137. So as not to be carried away by the wind when crossing the sea, cranes are popularly supposed to ballast themselves with stones, which they carry in their beaks. ↩

138. Pisthetaerus modifies the Greek proverbial saying, “To what use cannot hands be put?” ↩

139. A corps of Athenian cavalry was so named. ↩

140. Chaos, Night, Tartarus, and Erebus alone existed in the beginning; Eros was born from Night and Erebus, and he wedded Chaos and begot Earth, Air, and Heaven; so runs the fable. ↩

141. Iris appears from the top of the stage and arrests her flight in mid-career. ↩

142. Ship, because of her wings, which resemble oars; cap, because she no doubt wore the headdress (as a messenger of the gods) with which Hermes is generally depicted. ↩

143. The names of the two sacred galleys which carried Athenian officials on State business. ↩

144. A buzzard is named in order to raise a laugh, the Greek name τρίορχος also meaning, etymologically, provided with three testicles, vigorous in love. ↩

145. Iris’ reply is a parody of the tragic style.⁠—Lycimnius is, according to the scholiast, the title of a tragedy by Euripides, which is about a ship that is struck by lightning. ↩

146. I.e. for a poltroon, like the slaves, most of whom came to Athens from these countries. ↩

147. A parody of a passage in the lost tragedy of Niobe of Aeschylus. ↩

148. Because this bird has a spotted plumage.⁠—Porphyrion is also the name of one of the Titans who tried to storm heave. ↩

149. All these surnames bore some relation to the character or the build of the individual to whom the poet applies them.⁠—Chaerephon, Socrates’ disciple, was of white and ashen hue.⁠—Opuntius was one-eyed.⁠—Syracosius was a braggart.⁠—Midias had a passion for quail-fights, and, besides, resembled that bird physically. ↩

150. Pisthetaerus’ servant, already mentioned. ↩

151. From the inspection of which auguries were taken, e.g. the eagles, the vultures, the crows. ↩

152. Or rather, a young man who contemplated parricide. ↩

153. A parody of verses in Sophocles Oenomaus. ↩

154. The Athenians were then besieging Amphipolis in the Thracian Chalcidice. ↩

155. There was a real Cinesias⁠—a dythyrambic poet born at Thebes. ↩

156. The scholiast thinks that Cinesias, who was tall and slight of build, wore a kind of corset of lime-wood to support his waist⁠—surely rather a far-fetched interpretation! ↩

157. The Greek word used here was the word of command employed to stop the rowers. ↩

158. Cinesias makes a bound each time that Pisthetaerus strikes him. ↩

159. The tribes of Athens, or rather the rich citizens belonging to them, were wont on feast-days to give representations of dithyrambic choruses as well as of tragedies and comedies. ↩

160. Another dithyrambic poet, a man of extreme leanness. ↩

161. A parody of a hemistich from Alcaeus.⁠—The informer is dissatisfied at only seeing birds of sombre plumage and poor appearance. He would have preferred to denounce the rich. ↩

162. The informer, says the scholiast, was clothed with a ragged cloak, the tatters of which hung down like wings, in fact, a cloak that could not protect him from the cold and must have made him long for the swallows’ return, i.e. the spring. ↩

163. A town in Achaia, where woollen cloaks were made. ↩

164. His trade was to accuse the rich citizens of the subject islands, and drag them before the Athenian court; he explains later the special advantages of this branch of the informer’s business. ↩

165. That is, whips⁠—Corcyra being famous for these articles. ↩

166. Cleonymous is a standing butt of Aristophanes’ wit, both as an informer and a notorious poltroon. ↩

167. In allusion to the cave of the bandit Orestes; the poet terms him a hero only because of his heroic name Orestes. ↩

168. Prometheus wants night to come and so reduce the risk of being seen from Olympus. ↩

169. The clouds would prevent Zeus seeing what was happening below him. ↩

170. The third day of the festival of Demeter was a fast. ↩

171. A semi-savage people, addicted to violence and brigandage. ↩

172. Who, being reputed a stranger despite his pretension to the title of a citizen, could only have a strange god for his patron or tutelary deity. ↩

173. The Triballi were a Thracian people; it was a term commonly used in Athens to describe coarse men, obscene debauchees and greedy parasites. ↩

174. There is a similar pun in the Greek. ↩

175. I.e. the “supremacy” of Greece, the real object of the war. ↩

176. Prometheus had stolen the fire from the gods to gratify mankind. ↩

177. A celebrated misanthrope, contemporary to Aristophanes. Hating the society of men, he had only a single friend, Apimantus, to whom he was attached, because of their similarity of character; he also liked Alcibiades, because he foresaw that this young man would be the ruin of his country. ↩

178. The Canephori were young maidens, chosen from the first families of the city, who carried baskets wreathed with myrtle at the feast of Athene, while at those of Bacchus and Demeter they appeared with gilded baskets.⁠—The daughters of “Metics,” or resident aliens, walked behind them, carrying an umbrella and a stool. ↩

179. According to Ctesias, the Sciapodes were a people who dwelt on the borders of the Atlantic. Their feet were larger than the rest of their bodies, and to shield themselves from the sun’s rays they held up one of their feet as an umbrella.⁠—By giving the Socratic philosophers the name of Sciapodes here (ποδές, feet, and σκιά, shadow) Aristophanes wishes to convey that they are walking in the dark and busying themselves with the greatest nonsense. ↩

180. This Pisander was a notorious coward; for this reason the poet jestingly supposes that he had lost his soul, the seat of courage. ↩

181. A παρά προσδοκίαν, considering the shape and height of the camel, which can certainly not be included in the list of small victims, e.g. the sheep and the goat. ↩

182. In the evocation of the dead, Book XI of the Odyssey. ↩

183. Chaerephon was given this same title by the Herald earlier in this comedy.⁠—Aristophanes supposes him to have come from hell because he is lean and pallid. ↩

184. Posidon appears on the stage accompanied by Heracles and a Triballian god. ↩

185. An Athenian general.⁠—Neptune is trying to give Triballus some notions of elegance and good behaviour. ↩

186. Aristophanes supposes that democracy is in the ascendant in Olympus as it is in Athens. ↩

187. He is addressing his servant, Manes. ↩

188. Heracles softens at sight of the food.⁠—Heracles is the glutton of the comic poets. ↩

189. He pretends not to have seen them at first, being so much engaged with his cookery. ↩

190. He pretends to forget the presence of the ambassadors. ↩

191. Posidon jestingly swears by himself. ↩

192. The barbarian god utters some gibberish which Pisthetaerus interprets into consent. ↩

193. Heracles, the god of strength, was far from being remarkable in the way of cleverness. ↩

194. This was Athenian law. ↩

195. The poet attributes to the gods the same customs as those which governed Athens, and according to which no child was looked upon as legitimate unless his father had entered him on the registers of his phratria. The phratria was a division of the tribe and consisted of thirty families. ↩

196. The chorus continues to tell what it has seen on its flights. ↩

197. The harbour of the island of Chios; but this name is here used in the sense of being the land of informers (φαίνειν, “to denounce”). ↩

198. I.e. near the orators’ platform, or Βῇμα, in the Public Assembly, or Ἐκκλησία, because there stood the κλεψύδρα, or water-clock, by which speeches were limited. ↩

199. A coined name, made up of γλῶττα, the tongue, and γαστήρ, the stomach, and meaning those who fill their stomach with what they gain with their tongues, to wit, the orators. ↩

200. Σῦκον, the Greek word for a fig forms part of the word συκοφάντης, which in Greek means an informer. ↩

201. Both rhetoricians. ↩

202. Because they consecrated it specially to the god of eloquence. ↩

203. Basileia, whom he brings back from heaven. ↩

204. Terms used in regulating a dance. ↩

205. Where Pisthetaerus is henceforth to reign. ↩