to give it up, except so far as chattering like a swallow means that.' Cf. Eg. 185, μῶν ἐκ καλῶν εἶ κἀγαθῶν ; Α. μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς, εἰ μὴ ἐκ πονηρῶν γ.

1682. OỦKOÛV K.T.\.] 'Well, he says that you are to give it up to the swallows, i.e. the birds,' and therefore he may well speak in swallow language. This seems to be the connection and argument.

1685. σ] Peisthetaerus.

1688. OUTOU] The birds who had been put to death for rebellion. 1689. βούλεσθε κ.τ.λ.] Hercules makes a kind offer to stay and be cook, which Poseidon sternly negatives.

1691. τὰ κρέα;] Most MSS. have σὺ τὰ κρέα. Some omit τὰ rather than σú. And perhaps the pronoun is rather wanted. 'What! you stay here and roost! you greedy glutton!'

1692. OLETÉONV] 'I should have been in good case, should have enjoyed myself,' spoken rather to the audience than to Poseidon. The passive διατεθῆναι = διακεῖσθαι. There is, however, a neatness in Meineke's (Hamaker's) dieтiony, 'I should have disposed of it, managed it, well,' by which Hercules means that he would eat the meat.

1694-1705.] While the last scene is preparing, the Chorus indulge in another fanciful description of wonders in an unknown land; ridiculing the professors of rhetoric, who reap their harvest with their tongues.

1694. Pavaîor] Phanae was a promontory and port of Chios (Thuc. VIII. 24); but there is reference to paívew 'to inform,' a pun of which Ar. never tires.

1695. πρÒS Tŷ Kλeчúdpa] By the ebbing well,' which was in the acropolis at Athens. At the same time кλ. means the water-clock by which speakers were timed.

ἐγγλωττογαστόρων] As χειρογάστωρ is one whose hands feed him, so eyyλ. is one whose tongue does so.

1697. of K.T..] 'Whose sowing, reaping, vintage, and fig-gathering is all by their tongues.' συκ. with reference to συκοφαντία.

1701. Topyiai] Gorgias the Leontine was the well-known rhetorician who gives the name to a dialogue of Plato. Philippus was a pýrwp λálos. In Vesp. 421 Philippus is called & Topylov: perhaps as a pupil of Gorgias, Gorgias' son in the art of rhetoric.

1705. ǹ yλ. X. 7.] The tongue was cut and severed from the rest of the victim; cf. Pac. 1060. This custom is here described as derived from these glib-tongued gentlemen. From the fact that their tongue is their most profitable member, in Attica special honour is paid to the tongue even in sacrifices.

1706-66.] The play ends with a bridal festival, much as do the Acharnians and the Peace. A messenger announces the approach of Peisthetaerus in splendour, the Chorus sing a sort of epithalamium, and they all retire in joyful procession.

17ο6. μείζω λ.] sc. πράττοντες ἀγαθά, 'ye that prosper beyond

what words can tell.' The messenger speaks after the manner of a tragic ἄγγελος.

1709. προσέρχεται κ.τ.λ.] The order is προσ. χρυσαυγεῖ δόμῳ οἷος οὐδὲ ἀστὴρ παμφαὴς ἰδεῖν ἔλαμψε, according to Dindorf. And indeed λaμye xp. dóu is hardly sense;, but the Latin version in Bekker's edition translates it 'fulsit in auro, splendente domo.' Peisthetaerus comes to his golden-gleaming palace himself a bright star. Meineke reads ovde...oud' in vv. 1709, 1711: 'not even...nor yet.' With ouтe... ove', 'neither...nor,' the construction would have been complete at σέλας, or at ἐξέλαμψε, and τοιοῦτον is then superfluous ; he comes shining as neither star ever shone, nor sun.' And oîov may be exclamatory, 'how, see how he comes!' The common reading gives οἷον δ' ἔρχεται. The Rav. MS. evdov, which Dindorf in his note prefers. With Meineke's reading it is of course 'nor does the sun shine so as he (does who) comes, τοιοῦτον οἷον.

1713. sive.'

où paròv λ.] 'unutterable in words;' Milton's 'unexpres

1715. ὀσμὴ...θέαμα] Purposely confused metaphor: cf. Aesch. Prom. Vinct. 115, тís ¿dμà πроσéπτа μ3 åÞeyyýs; Arist. may be meaning a parody on this or other tragic passages with his 'fragrance undefined that penetrates the depth of heaven's concave, a beauteous sight.'

1717. αύραι δ.] Order of constr. αύραι διαψ. πλ. κ. θ. “the gentle breezes waft away the wreath of smoke that rises from the incense.'

1720. avαye K.T.λ.] A request preparatory to their dance. Athenaeus LXIV. p. 662 says ὅταν δὲ κατὰ μέσην τὴν ὄρχῃστραν γένωνται ἐπιστρέφουσιν εἰς τὸ θέατρον λέγοντες· ἀνάγετε, εὐρυχωρίαν ποιεῖτε τῷ θέῳ. The whole phrase seems merely to be an order to the dancers to arrange themselves properly, 'lead up, stand apart, range up, clear the way.' In Vesp. 1326, Philocleon comes in with avexe máрexe, where there is a supposed allusion to Eur. Troad. 308, Cycl. 302.

1724. peû] In admiration: 'Oh! what beauty of youthful prime!' As far as v. 1730, the anapaests are an introduction to a bridal song, of which Frere says that it is a town epithalamium such as we may suppose to have been composed and perpetrated in honour of the nuptials of the more noble and wealthy families in Athens. The vulgar town poet is anxious to exhibit his education by imitating and borrowing passages from the most approved lyrical poets, but at the same time reduces all their imagery and expressions to the natural level of his own dulness; thus maintaining a balance of the ludicrous and sublime.'

1731. "Hpa K.T.λ.] V. 1731-36 answered by 1737-1742. Such a bridal as this was that of Zeus and Hera, favoured by Love. 1732. ἠλιβάτων] ὑψηλῶν, ἀβάτων. Schol.

1737. ȧμpilaλns] 'supremely blest:' of persons it is 'having both parents alive.' It is applied to the gods in Aesch. Choeph. 394. 1740. πápoxos] Riding in the same chariot, as bridesman (πapáνυμφος).

1743. ¿xáρnv K.T.λ.] P. thanks them for the song, and calls upon

them to praise the rumblings and thunder of Jove; perhaps some new theatrical thunder got up for the occasion.

1750. Xobviaι B.] 'deep rumbling, subterraneous thunders,' the Bpovτnμara xobvia of Aesch. Prom. Vinct. 993, as well as those above that come with rain, dußpopópot. These all belong to Peisthetaerus now, through his wife Basilea. öde, Peisthetaerus.

1752. dià σè] 'through you,' i.e. the eyxos πupþópov, lightning, etc. But P. has not won his position and wife by the thunder, but rather gets the thunder as a dowry with his wife. Meineke reads δια δὲ Távта and holds all the attributes of Zeus and Basilea, associate of Zeus.'

1755. Teo] They go off the stage in bridal procession, led by P. and Basilea, who join arms or wings. T. y. 'follow the wedding,' i.e. follow and form the wedding procession.'

1762. Koupiŵ] P. will support and lighten his fair partner by his stronger arm.

1764. τήνελλα] μίμησις φωνῆς κρούματος αὐλοῦ, Schol. An imitation of a stringed instrument's twang, according to L. and S. and Paley in his preface to translation of Pindar. It is joined with kaλλívкos in Ach. 1227, and by Archilochus, who first uses it.