The Eleven Comedies, vol 1 | Page 7

to compel the men to conclude peace.
'The Clouds': 423 B.C.--satirizes Socrates, the 'Sophists,' and the 'New
Education.'
'The Wasps': 422 B.C. Makes fun of the Athenian passion for litigation,
and the unsatisfactory organization of the Courts. Contains the incident
of the mock trial of the thievish house-dog.
'The Birds': 414 B.C. Euelpides and Pisthetaerus, disgusted with the
state of things at Athens, build a new and improved city,
Cloud-cuckoo-town, in the kingdom of the birds. Some see an allusion
to the Sicilian expedition, and Alcibiades' Utopian schemes.
'The Frogs': 405 B.C. A satire on Euripides and the 'New Tragedy.'
Dionysus, patron of the Drama, dissatisfied with the contemporary
condition of the Art, goes down to Hades to bring back to earth a poet
of the older and worthier school.
'The Thesmophoriazusae': 412 B.C. Another literary satire; Euripides,
summoned as a notorious defamer of women to defend himself before
the dames of Athens assembled in solemn conclave at the
Thesmophoria, or festival of Demeter and Persephone, induces his
father-in-law, Mnesilochus, to dress up in women's clothes, penetrate
thus disguised into the assemblage, and plead the poet's cause, but with
scant success.
'The Ecclesiazusae': 392 B.C. Pokes fun at the ideal Utopias, such as
Plato's 'Republic,' based on sweeping social and economic changes,
greatly in vogue with the Sophists of the day. The women of the city
disguise themselves as men, slip into the Public Assembly and secure a
majority of votes. They then pass a series of decrees providing for

community of goods and community of women, which produce,
particularly the latter, a number of embarrassing and diverting
consequences.
'Plutus': 408 and 388 B.C. A whimsical allegory more than a regular
comedy. Plutus, the god of wealth, has been blinded by Zeus;
discovered in the guise of a ragged beggarman and succoured by
Chremylus, an old man who has ruined himself by generosity to his
friends, he is restored to sight by Aesculapius. He duly rewards
Chremylus, and henceforth apportions this world's goods among
mankind on juster principles--enriching the just, but condemning the
unjust to poverty.
AUTHORITIES
List Of Editions, Commentaries, Etc., Used Or Consulted
Text: edit. Dindorf, Oxford
Text: edit. Blaydes. 1886.
Text, with Notes, etc.: edit. Immanuel Bekker. 5 vols. 1829.
Text, with Notes, etc.: Brunck.
Text, with (German) Notes, etc.: Separate Plays: edit. Kock.
Text, with Notes, etc.: Separate Plays: edit. Rev. W. W. Merry.
1887-1901.
Translation: English, by W. J. Hickie. (Bohn's Classical Library.)
Translation: English verse, 'Knights,' 'Acharnians,' 'Clouds,' 'Wasps,' by
Mitchell. 1822.
Translation: English verse, 'Knights,' 'Acharnians,' 'Birds,' 'Frogs,'
'Peace,' by Hookham Frere. 1871.
Translation: English verse, Various Plays, by B. Bickley Rogers. 1867

onwards.
Translation: French, by C. Poyard. ("Chefs-d'oeuvre des Littératures
Anciennes." Paris, Hachette. 1875.)
Translation: French, by Eugène Talbot, with Preface by Sully
Prudhomme. 2 vols. Paris, Lemerre. 1897.
Translation: German, by Droysen.
"Aristophanes" (Ancient Classics for English Readers): edit. W. Lucas
Collins. 1897.
"Aristophane et l'ancienne Comédie attique," par Auguste Couat. Paris.
1889.
"Aristophane et les Partis à Athens," par Maurice Croiset. Paris,
Fontemoing. 1906.
"Beiträge zur inneren Geschichte Athens im Zeitalter des Pelopon.
Krieges," G. Gilbert. Leipzig. 1877.
"Die attischen Politik seit Perikles," J. Beloch. Leipzig. 1884.
"Aristophanes und die historische Kritik," Müller-Strübing. Leipzig.
1873.

Footnotes:
[1] Ancient Classics for English Readers: Aristophanes, by Lucas
Collins, Introductory Chapter, p. 2.
[2] "Aristophane": Traduction Nouvelle, par C. Poyard (Paris, 1875):
Introduction.
[3] Ancient Classics for English Readers: "Aristophanes," by Lucas
Collins. Introductory Chapter, p. 12.

THE KNIGHTS

INTRODUCTION
This was the fourth play in order of time produced by Aristophanes on
the Athenian stage; it was brought out at the Lenaean Festival, in
January, 424 B.C. Of the author's previous efforts, two, 'The Revellers'
and 'The Babylonians,' were apparently youthful essays, and are both
lost. The other, 'The Acharnians,' forms the first of the three Comedies
dealing directly with the War and its disastrous effects and urging the
conclusion of Peace; for this reason it is better ranged along with its
sequels, the 'Peace' and the 'Lysistrata,' and considered in conjunction
with them.
In many respects 'The Knights' may be reckoned the great Comedian's
masterpiece, the direct personal attack on the then all-powerful Cleon,
with its scathing satire and tremendous invective, being one of the most
vigorous and startling things in literature. Already in 'The Acharnians'
he had threatened to "cut up Cleon the Tanner into shoe-leather for the
Knights," and he now proceeds to carry his menace into execution,
"concentrating the whole force of his wit in the most unscrupulous and
merciless fashion against his personal enemy." In the first-mentioned
play Aristophanes had attacked and satirized the whole general policy
of the democratic party--and incidentally Cleon, its leading spirit and
mouthpiece since the death of Pericles; he had painted the miseries of
war and invasion arising from this mistaken and