Athenaeus, Sophists at Dinner 10, 428f = T 117a Radt
οὐ καλῶς δὲ οἱ πλάττοντες καὶ γράφοντες τὸν Διόνυσον, ἔτι δὲ οἱ ἄγοντες ἐπὶ τῆς ἁμάξης διὰ μέσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς οἰνωμένον. ἐπιδείκνυνται γὰρ τοῖς θεαταῖς ὅτι καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ κρείττων ἐστὶν ὁ οἶνος…. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν Αἰσχύλον ἐγὼ φαίην ἂν τοῦτο διαμαρτάνειν· πρῶτος γὰρ ἐκεῖνος καὶ οὐχ, ὡς ἔνιοί φασιν, Εὐριπίδης παρήγαγε τὴν τῶν μεθυόντων ὄψιν εἰς τραγωιδίαν. ἐν γὰρ τοῖς Καβείροις εἰσάγει τοὺς περὶ Ἰάσονα μεθύοντας. ἃ δ’ αὐτὸς ὁ τραγωιδιοποιὸς ἐποίει, ταῦτα τοῖς ἥρωσι περιέθηκε· μεθύων γοῦν ἔγραφε τὰς τραγωιδίας. διὸ καὶ Σοφοκλῆς αὐτῶι μεμφόμενος ἔλεγεν ὅτι “ὦ Αἰσχύλε, εἰ καὶ τὰ δέοντα ποιεῖς, ἀλλ’ οὖν οὐκ εἰδώς γε ποιεῖς”, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Χαμαιλέων fr. 40a Wehrli. ἐν τῶι Περὶ Αἰσχύλου.
But those who fashion sculptures and paintings of Dionysus drunk miss the mark; still more those who lead him thus on a wagon through the middle of the marketplace. For they show the spectators that wine is stronger even than its god… Since I would say that even Aeschylus makes this mistake. For he was the first—not Euripides, as some say—to introduce the sight of drunken men into tragedy. For in the Cabiri, he brings on Jason’s followers drunk and what the tragedian himself used to do, he imposes on his heroes. At any rate, he used to write his tragedies while drunk, for which even Sophocles rebuked him, saying, ‘Aeschylus, even if you do the right thing, you do not know that you are doing it.’ Thus Chamaeleon writes in his On Aeschylus.
| Relevant guides | Aeschylus, Sophocles |
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