he should refuse-he tells them likewise to send word to mankind, that the birds are become kings, and that they must sacrifice to them first, and then to the gods-the birds build a city as they are advised --Prometheus counsels Pisthetærus not to let the birds make peace with Jupiter, unless he will resign the sovereignty to them-Prometheus holds an umbrella over his head, that Jupiter may not see him— Neptune, Triballus and Hercules come as ambassadours from the gods-the gods are forced to submit. 8. Peace-the object of Aristophanes in this Comedy was to induce the Athenians and the other Grecians, who were tired out with the length of the Peloponnesian war, to make peace-Brasidas and Cleon, who had been the great promoters of the war, were at that time dead-a countryman called Trygæus is very desirous of peace-he flies up to heaven on the back of a large beetle-Mercury tells him, that the Gods, being angry with the Grecians for continuing so long at war, had departed from heaven -and that they had placed War in their room-he shows Trygaus a pit, into which War had thrust Peace, and covered her with stones-Trygæus and the Chorus with difficulty pull Peace out of the pit -Trygæus carries Peace home with him-they sacrifice to her. 9. The Female Orators-the Women assemble very early in the morning to consult about a change of public affairs--Praxagora is at the head of them -she rehearses the reasons which she means to allege for committing the government of the city to the women-the women steal the clothes of their husbands, and dress themselves with false beards- Blepyrus, the husband of Praxagora, enters in his wife's clothes-Chremes relates to him what had happened at the Assembly in the Pnyx-namely, that a decree had been made to put the care of the public affairs into the hands of the women-the women pass two important votes-the 1st is, that all things should be in common-the 2d is, that no man should kiss a young woman till he had first kissed those that are older-a young man is very indignant at this vote, but the old women force him to comply with it. 10. The Feast of Ceres-the women are so angry with Euripides for the abuse which he had bestowed on them in his tragedies, that they are determined to accuse him, and have him tried for his life-Euripides is aware of their determination-in his distress he applies to Agathon the poet-Mnesilochus, the father in law of Euripides, accompanies him—as Agathon is of an effeminate appearance, Euripides wants him to dress himself as a woman, and to plead his cause-Agathon refuses to do so-Mnesilochus undertakes to defend Euripides Agathon lends Mnesilochus a female dress-the women assemble to celebrate the Feast of Ceres-they accuse Euripides -Mnesilochus defends him stoutly-he contends that Euripides had not said, by a vast deal, as much against women, as he might have done-the women discover Mnesilochus-he snatches (as he supposes) a child from one of them-he threatens to kill the child, if the women will not let him go-the child proves to be a skin full of wine-the women take Mnesilochus into custody-one of them goes for a magistrate - Mnesilochus and Euripides have re course to various stratagems-Mnesilochus first assumes the character of Helena, in Euripides' tragedy of that name-Euripides enters as Menelaus--he endeavours to carry off Mnesilochus, but is prevented -a magistrate commits Mnesilochus to the care of an archer-Mnesilochus assumes the character of Andromeda-Euripides enters as Perseus-this attempt is as unsuccessful as the former one-Euripides, in his proper character, promises the women never more to say any thing against them, if they will let him carry off Mnesilochus-the women accept his offer-Euripides in the disguise of an old woman, brings in a courtezan-while the archer is making love to the courtezan, Euripides sets Mnesilochus at liberty-this C. is peculiarly pleasant-a good deal is introduced from the plays of Euripides. 11. Lysistrata-Lysistrata assembles the Athenian, Boeotian, and Peloponnesian women to consult with them about putting an end to the war-she tells them that in order to effect this purpose they must make one sacrifice-they express their readiness to do so, but when Lysistrata explains herself, their resolution fails them-at last they take an oath not to cohabit with their husbands till peace is madethe women take possession of the citadel in which the money for the supply of the war is kept-the men are not able to get the better of them—a good scene ensues between Cinesias and his wife Myrrhina --she tantalizes him completely-the Lacedæmonian Embassadors come to treat about peace-Lysistrata is called and peace is concluded-the stage properties, which the Athenians and Lacedæmonians make use of in the latter part of the play, must not be described. Horace says Eupolis, atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque poetæ, Quod machus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui In the time of Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes there was a pure Democracy at Athens-freedom of speech was allowed to all-the Comic Poets were not afraid to ridicule the generals, the judges, or the private citizens who were conspicuous for their vices-the people heard the Poets with pleasure— and the Poets had but little mercy on those whom they brought on the stage-when the Democracy was turned into an Oligarchy, the Poets were frightened-hence arose what is called the middle Comedy -and afterwards the new Comedy-in which last Menander was the most eminent. In the old Comedy the masks, in which the actors performed, were made as like as possible to the persons who were to be brought on the stage-so that before the actor spoke, it was manifest from the mask whom he meant to represent-but in the time of Menander and the new Comedy, the masks were made with strange eyebrows, with distorted mouths, and in a form hardly human-this was done for fear even of an accidental resemblance to the persons in power. There was another peculiarity in the old Comedy -the persons who constituted the Chorus sometimes came forward, and addressed the audience-in these addresses the Poets either made an apology for themselves, or spoke about public affairs-these occasional addresses did not survive the Democracy. (Platonius.) The works of Eupolis and Cratinus have perished, so that the nature of the old Comedy can only be known from Aristophanes-Brunck published his edition of Aristophanes in 1783-he calls Aristophanes the most ingenious writer of all antiquity, and the most perfect pattern of the Attic dialect-he observes that no one can rightly understand the jokes, the drollery, and the wit of Aristophanes without reading him in Greek-Brunck himself has made the difficulty of reading Aristophanes in Greek vastly less than it was. Brunck observes in his preface- -" I think that no "one, who has made the trial, can be ignorant how easily it may happen that a person in transcribing may distinctly see what is before his eyes, and yet, through a momentary absence of mind, write something else." 66 66 66 BATH 1776-1777. Oct. 3. Macbeth. Macbeth Henderson: Mac duff=Dimond: 1st Witch Edwin: Lady Macbeth = 5. Distressed Mother. Orestes Dimond: Pyrrhus Henderson: Hermione Miss Mansell. = |