The Eleven Comedies Vol 1 Part 25

DICAEOPOLIS. For myself, I want to get to bed; I am bursting with l.u.s.tfulness, I want to be f.u.c.king in the dark.

LAMACHUS. Carry me to the surgeon Pittalus.

DICAEOPOLIS. Take me to the judges. Where is the king of the feast? The wine-skin is mine!

LAMACHUS. That spear has pierced my bones; what torture I endure!

DICAEOPOLIS. You see this empty cup! I triumph! I triumph!

CHORUS. Old man, I come at your bidding! You triumph! you triumph!

DICAEOPOLIS. Again I have brimmed my cup with unmixed wine and drained it at a draught!

CHORUS. You triumph then, brave champion; thine is the wine-skin!

DICAEOPOLIS. Follow me, singing "Triumph! Triumph!"

CHORUS. Aye! we will sing of thee, thee and thy sacred wine-skin, and we all, as we follow thee, will repeat in thine honour, "Triumph, Triumph!"

FINIS OF "THE ACHARNIANS"

Footnotes:

[147] A name invented by Aristophanes and signifying 'a just citizen.'

[148] Cleon had received five talents from the islanders subject to Athens, on condition that he should get the tribute payable by them reduced; when informed of this transaction, the Knights compelled him to return the money.

[149] A hemistich borrowed from Euripides' 'Telephus.'

[150] The tragedies of Aeschylus continued to be played even after the poet's death, which occurred in 436 B.C., ten years before the production of the Acharnians.

[151] A tragic poet, whose pieces were so devoid of warmth and life that he was nicknamed [Greek: chi_on], i.e. snow.

[152] A bad musician, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes; he played both the lyre and the flute.

[153] A lively and elevated method.

[154] A hill near the Acropolis, where the a.s.semblies were held.

[155] Several means were used to force citizens to attend the a.s.semblies; the shops were closed; circulation was only permitted in those streets which led to the Pnyx; finally, a rope covered with vermilion was drawn round those who dallied in the Agora (the marketplace), and the late-comers, ear-marked by the imprint of the rope, were fined.

[156] Magistrates who, with the Archons and the Epistatae, shared the care of holding and directing the a.s.semblies of the people; they were fifty in number.

[157] The Peloponnesian War had already, at the date of the representation of the 'Acharnians,' lasted five years, 431-426 B.C.; driven from their lands by the successive Lacedaemonian invasions, the people throughout the country had been compelled to seek shelter behind the walls of Athens.

[158] Shortly before the meeting of the a.s.sembly, a number of young pigs were immolated and a few drops of their blood were sprinkled on the seats of the Prytanes; this sacrifice was in honour of Ceres.

[159] The name, Amphitheus, contains the word, [Greek: Theos], G.o.d.

[160] Amongst other duties, it was the office of the Prytanes to look after the wants of the poor.

[161] The summer residence of the Great King.

[162] Referring to the hards.h.i.+ps he had endured garrisoning the walls of Athens during the Lacedaemonian invasions early in the War.

[163] Cranaus, the second king of Athens, the successor of Cecrops.

[164] Lucian, in his 'Hermotimus,' speaks of these golden mountains as an apocryphal land of wonders and prodigies.

[165] Cleonymus was an Athenian general of exceptionally tall stature; Aristophanes incessantly rallies him for his cowardice; he had cast away his buckler in a fight.

[166] A name borne by certain officials of the King of Persia. The actor of this part wore a mask, fitted with a single eye of great size.

[167] Jargon, no doubt meaningless in all languages.

[168] The Persians styled all Greeks 'Ionians' without distinction; here the Athenians are intended.

[169] A Greek measure, containing about six modii.

[170] Noted for his extreme ugliness and his obscenity. Aristophanes frequently holds him to scorn in his comedies.

[171] Amba.s.sadors were entertained there at the public expense.

[172] King of Thrace.

[173] The tragic poet.

[174] A feast lasting three days and celebrated during the month Pyanepsion (November). The Greek word contains the suggestion of fraud ([Greek: apat_e]).

[175] A Thracian tribe from the right bank of the Strymon.

[176] The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta.

[177] Dicaeopolis had brought a clove of garlic with him to eat during the a.s.sembly.

[178] Garlic was given to game-c.o.c.ks, before setting them at each other, to give them pluck for the fight.

[179] At the least unfavourable omen, the sitting of the a.s.sembly was declared at an end.

[180] The deme of Acharnae was largely inhabited by charcoal-burners, who supplied the city with fuel.

[181] He presents them in the form of wines contained in three separate skins.

[182] Meaning, preparations for war.