Stories from the Greek Comedians , Aristophanes, Philemon, Diphilus, Menander, Apollodorus

380 Pages·1893·16.12 MB·English

by  A.J.Church

STORIES
FROM THE
GREEK COMEDIANS
ARISTOPHANES, PHILEMON,
DIPHILUS, MENANDER, APOLLODORUS
BY THE
Rev. ALFRED CHURCH, M.A.
J.
Lately Professor of Latin in University College, London
IVITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
AFTER THE ANTIQUE
LONDON
SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED
Essex Street, Strand
1893
5~io36
PREFACE.
It has been said that the Greeks had three schools
—
of comedy, the old, the middle, and the new. The
old was the "Comedy of Politics." It took the form
of extravaganza or farce. The reader will find nine
specimens of it in this volume, all taken from Aris-
tophanes, who indeed is the onlywriter of this school
that is left to us. With the middle we need not now
concern ourselves. Possibly we may get some idea
of what it was like from the Women in Parliament
and the PlutuSy two of Aristophanes's later plays.
The new comedy was the "Comedy of Manners."
It may be compared with the dramas that bear this
name on the modern stage, and also withthe ordinary
We
novel. have it only in the translations of Plautus
and Terence.
I have dealt very freely with my originals, not
indeed adding anything, but leaving out much, trans-
lating sometimes, and sometimes paraphrasing. Of
the liberty which I have allowed myself, I may give
an instance. In the Acharnians I have in one place
vi PREFACE.
translated "drachmas " by "guineas," though "shil-
lings" would have been nearer the truth. But the
context seemed to require it. It was necessary that
the envoys should be thought overpaid, and the word
**shillings" would not have given the impression.
I have many obligations to acknowledge. Perhaps
mylargest debt is to the translation of Mr. Hookham
Frere. These I have even ventured to alter and
compress, and to mingle with them some of my own
renderings. I owe much to the admirable versions
by Mr. B. B. Rogers of the Wasps and the Peace,
and to the editions of Mr. Merry, one of the most
ingenious and felicitous of Aristophanes's critics. I
would mention also a translation of the Acharnians
by Mr. Billson, and of the Women in Parliament
by the Rev. R. Smith. Mr. Lucas Collins's excellent
summaries in the "Ancient Classics for English
Readers" I have also found useful.
ALFRED CHURCH.
J.
CONTENTS.
PART
I.
Stories from the Old Comedy.
CHAPTER PAGE
^ I. The Acharnians. Aristophanes 3
\/ II. The Knights. Aristophanes 30
III. Peace. Aristophanes 57
IV. The Wasps. Aristophanes 81
/ V. The Clouds. Aristophanes 108
^ VI. The Birds. Aristophanes 137
/ VII. The Frogs. Aristophanes 168
VIII. The Parliament of Women. Aristophanes 202
.
IX. Plutus. Aristophanes 218
\f
PART
II.
Stories from the New Comedy.
I. The Buried Treasure. Philemon 239
II. The Ghost. Philemon 264
^ III. The Shipwreck. Diphilus 279
IV. The Brothers. Menander 302
V. The Girl of Andros. Menander 315
VI. Phormio. Apollodorus 326
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Training a Chorus Frontispiece
General IIobattle i8
Bluster's Way 32
Tryg^us bribing Hermes with a Gold Cup 68
Cur and Pincher 100
Pheidippides no
Iris 158
Hercules and Poseidon 164
Bacchus and Xanthias 168
The Women's conspiracy 204
^scuLAPius 230
Philto and Lesbionicus 248
The Temple of Aphrodite 284
'Micio AND Demea 304
The Wrath of Simo 324
Ph^^dria AND the Music Girl 328
Part
I.
STORIES FROM THE OLD COMEDY.
ARISTOPHANES.
I

CNIVERSITl
STORIES FROM THE GREEK COMEDIANS.
I.
THE ACHARNIANS.
Thelongstruggle between Athens and Sparta which goes by the
name of the Peloponnesian war broke out early in 431 B.C. Athens
kept for aconsiderable time the command of the sea, but was unable
to resistinthe field tlie overwhelmingforces of Sparta and her allies.
Early inthesummer of the first year of the war, Archidamus, one of
the kings of Sparta, enteredthe Athenian territory at the head of an
army of eighty thousand men. Pericles, who was then the leading
statesman of Athens, hadpersuaded his countrymen to dismantle their
country-houses and farms, and to bringall their movable and portable
propertywithin thewalls. Stillthe sight of the ravages of the invad-
inghost,which, of course, could be plainlyseen from the walls, roused
the people almost to madness. The Athenians, though excelling in
maritime pursuits,were passionately fond of a country life, anditwas
almostmore thanthey couldbear to see their farms and orchards and
olive-yards wasted with fire. Inferior as they were in numbers, they
loudly demanded to be led out against the invaders, and it was as
muchas Pericles could do to keep themwithin the walls. The inhabi-
tants of the deme or township of Acharnaewere prominent among the
malcontents. Acharnce was the richest and most populous of the
townships of Attica, contributing no less than ten thousand men to
the totalforce (about twenty-nine"thousand) which Athens could put
intothefield. Thechiefoccupation ofthe place was charcoal-burning,
thewoods of Mount Parnes being conveniently near. No place was
moreinterestedin the question of peace and war, as it was here that
the Spartankingpitched his camp. The invasion was repeated year
afteryear, though on some few occasions various things happened to
preventit. Not only didthe Athenians lose greatly by the desolation
oftheir country, but theysuffered much by being coopedupwithin the
ARISTOPHANES.
4
wallsofthe city; amostfatalpestilence wasthus caused in thesecond
year of the war. And it was but a small satisfaction to retaliate by
ravaging the coasts of the Peloponnesians, and by annually invading
the territory of Megara, a city which had concluded an alliancewith
Sparta. Therehad always been apeace party in the state, and when
Pericles died,early inthe thirdyear ofthewar,thispartybecame more
powerful. Atthe same time the war party conducted affairs less pru-
dently. The cautious policy of Pericles was discarded for remote
expeditions and out-of-the-way schemes. Aristophanes, in this play,
exhibited in February, 425 (it is the earliest comedy that has come
down to us), sets forth the views of the advocates of peace. He
expressesthe feeling of distress causedby the desolation of the coun-
try, and also the dislike felt by prudent politicians for the extravagant
ideasof thewarparty. Theplay, or, as I may call it for my present
purpose, thestory, opens in the Athenian place of Assembly (Pnyx).
Dicseopolis (Just-City),whose name I have Englished by "Mr. Hon-
esty," is sitting alone on one of the empty benches, and begins by
expressinghis disgust at the indifference ofhisfellow-citizens.
"Dear me!" said Mr. Honesty to himself, as he
got up and walked about the empty place of As-
sembly at Athens, *'how careless these people are
about their country Look at them there, lounging
!
among the market stalls, and dodging the rope—.^
Even the magistrates are not here. As for peace
nobody gives a thought to it. For myself, I think of
nothing else. I am here the first thing in the morn-
ing, and it is always * peace,' *peace ' with me.
How I hate the city! How I long to see the fields
again, my own village, and my poor little farm No
!
fellows there bawling out, 'Buy my charcoal!' *Buy
my oil ! ' *Buy my everything! ' There was no
1Arope rubbedwith red chalk, withwhich the police sweptloiter-
ersinto theplace ofAssembly.