Lovers were wont to make each other presents of birds. The cock and the goose are mentioned, of course, in jest. ↩
I.e. that it gave notice of the approach of winter, during which season the Ancients did not venture to sea. ↩
A notorious robber. ↩
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. ↩
The Greek word for “omen” is the same as that for “bird”—ὄρνις. ↩
A satire on the passion of the Greeks for seeing an omen in everything. ↩
An imitation of the nightingale’s song. ↩
God of the groves and wilds. ↩
The “Mother of the Gods”; roaming the mountains, she held dances, always attended by Pan and his accompanying rout of Fauns and Satyrs. ↩
An allusion to cockfighting; the birds are armed with brazen spurs. ↩
An allusion to the spots on this bird, which resemble the scars left by a branding iron. ↩
He was of Asiatic origin, but wished to pass for an Athenian. ↩
Or Philamnon, King of Thrace; the scholiast remarks that the Phrygians and the Thracians had a common origin. ↩
The Greek word here, πάππος, is also the name of a little bird. ↩
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. ↩
He had become a senator, member of the Βουλή. ↩
Pisthetaerus and Euelpides now both return with wings. ↩
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. ↩
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. ↩
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. ↩
He was a boaster nicknamed Καπνός, “smoke,” because he promised a great deal and never kept his word. ↩
Also mentioned in The Wasps. ↩
Because the war of the Titans against the gods was only a fiction of the poets. ↩
A sacred cloth, with which the statue of Athene in the Acropolis was draped. ↩
Meaning, to be patron-goddess of the city. Athene had a temple of this name. ↩
An Athenian effeminate, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes. ↩
This was the name of the wall surrounding the Acropolis. ↩
I.e. the fighting cock. ↩
To waken the sentinels, who might else have fallen asleep.—There are several merry contradictions in the various parts of this list of injunctions. ↩
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. ↩
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). ↩
This Cleocritus, says the scholiast, was long-necked and strutted like an ostrich. ↩
The Chians were the most faithful allies of Athens, and hence their name was always mentioned in prayers, decrees, etc. ↩
Verses sung by maidens. ↩
This ceremony took place on the tenth day after birth, and may be styled the pagan baptism. ↩
Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse.—This passage is borrowed from Pindar. ↩
Ἱερόν in Greek means “sacrifice.” ↩
A parody of poetic pathos, not to say bathos. ↩
Which the priest was preparing to sacrifice. ↩
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. ↩
No doubt another Athenian diviner, and possibly the same person whom Aristophanes names in The Knights and The Wasps as being a thief. ↩
A celebrated geometrician and astronomer. ↩
A deme contiguous to Athens. It is as though he said, “Well known throughout all England and at Croydon.” ↩
Thales was no less famous as a geometrician than he was as a sage. ↩
Officers of Athens, whose duty was to protect strangers who came on political or other business, and see to their interests generally. ↩
He addresses the inspector thus because of the royal and magnificent manners he assumes. ↩
Magistrates appointed to inspect the tributary towns. ↩
A much-despised citizen, already mentioned. He ironically supposes him invested with the
