Platonius, On the Distinctions among Comedies I = T80 Kassel-Austin
3 ἐπὶ τῶν Ἀριστοφάνους καὶ Κρατίνου καὶ Εὐπόλιδος χρόνων τὰ τῆς δημοκρατίας ἐκράτει παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις…
5 τῆς ἰσηγορίας οὖν πᾶσιν ὐπαρχούσης ἄδειαν οἱ τὰς κωμωιδίας συγγράφοντες εἶχον τοῦ σκώπτειν καὶ στρατηγοὺς καὶ δικαστὰς τοὺς κακῶς δικάζοντας καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τινας ἢ φιλαργύρους ἢ συζῶντας ἀσελγείαι…
11 ἐπὶ τοίνυν τῆς Ἀριστοφάνους καὶ Κρατίνου καὶ Εὐπολίδος κωμωιδίας ἀφόρητοί τινες κατὰ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων ἦσαν οἱ ποιηταί· λοιπὸν δὲ τῆς δημοκρατίας ὑποχωρούσης κτλ.
3 In the era of Aristophanes, Cratinus, and Eupolis, democracy prevailed among the Athenians…
5 And so, since free speech was available to all, writers of comedies had licence to mock generals and jurors who were making bad judgments and some of the citizens who were money-grubbers or lived licentiously…
11 Therefore, at the time when the comedies of Aristophanes, Cratinus, and Eupolis were written, some poets were unendurably harsh towards wrongdoers. But later, when democracy disappeared under those who aspired to become tyrants in Athens and an oligarchy was established, and the power of the people fell into the hands of a few men, under the rule of the oligarchy fear took hold of the poets. For one could not attack anyone openly, because those who had been abused demanded justice from the poets.
| Relevant guides | Aristophanes |
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