Life of Aristophanes

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M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
  Paragraph numbers by Sarah Burges Watson

1 Ἀριστοφάνης ὁ κωμωιδοποιὸς πατρὸς μὲν ἦν Φιλίππου, τὸ δὲ γένος Ἀθηναῖος, τῶν δήμων Κυδαθηναιεύς Κυδαθηναιεύς Kuster: Κυδαθηνεύς m: Κυδαθήναιος m, Πανδιονίδος φυλῆς· ὃς πρῶτος δοκεῖ τὴν κωμωιδίαν ἔτι πλανωμένην τῆι ἀρχαίαι ἀγωγῆι ἐπὶ τὸ χρησιμώτερον καὶ σεμνότερον μεταγαγεῖν, πικρότερόν τε καὶ αἰσχρότερον Κρατίνου καὶ Εὐπόλιδος βλασφημούντων ἢ ἔδει. πρῶτος δὲ καὶ τῆς νέας κωμωιδίας τὸν τρόπον ἐπέδειξεν ἐν τῶι Κωκάλωι, ἐξ οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβόμενοι Μένανδρός τε καὶ Φιλήμων ἐδραματούργησαν.

1 Aristophanes, the comic poet, was the son of Philip and an Athenian by birth, from the deme Cydathenaeum and the tribe Pandionis. He seems to have been the first to have led comedy in a more useful and solemn direction, when the genre was wandering aimlessly in the archaic manner because Cratinus and Eupolis were employing more spiteful and shameful slander than was appropriate. He was also the first to demonstrate the style of New Comedy in his Cocalus, which Menander and Philemon took as their starting point when they composed their dramas.

2 εὐλαβὴς δὲ σφόδρα γενόμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἄλλως τε καὶ εὐφυὴς τὰ μὲν πρῶτα διὰ Καλλιστράτου καὶ Φιλωνίδου καθίει δράματα· διὸ καὶ ἔσκωπτον αὐτὸν Ἀριστώνυμός Fr. 3 Kassel-Austin τε καὶ Ἀμειψίας Fr. 27 Kassel-Austin τετράδι λέγοντες γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν <ὡς> <ὡς> Gelenius ἄλλοις πονοῦντα. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἠγωνίσατο. διεχθρεύσας δὲ μάλιστα Κλέωνι τῶι δημαγωγῶι καὶ γράψας κατ’ αὐτοῦ τοὺς Ἱππέας, ἐν οἷς διελέγχει αὐτοῦ τὰς κλοπὰς καὶ τὸ τυρρανικόν, οὐδενὸς δὲ τῶν σκευοποιῶν τολμήσαντος τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ σκευάσαι δι’ ὑπερβολὴν φόβου, ἅτε δὴ τυραννικοῦ ὄντος, μηδὲ μὴν ὑποκρίνασθαί τινος τολμῶντος, δι’ ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Ἀριστοφάνης ὑπεκρίνατο αὐτοῦ τὸ πρόσωπον μίλτωι χρίσας Cf. Eq. 230-2, καὶ αἴτιος αὐτῶι γέγονε ζημίας πέντε ταλάντων, ἃ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἱππέων κατεδικάσθη, ὥς φησιν ἐν Ἀχαρνεῦσιν (5-6)· Ar. Ach. 5-6

ἐγῶιδ’ ἐφ’ ὧι γε τὸ κέαρ ηὐφράνθην ἰδών,
τοῖς πέντε ταλάντοις οἷς Κλέων ἐξήμεσεν.

2 Since he was very cautious to begin with, especially given his talent, he entrusted his first plays to Callistratus and Philonides to produce. In consequence, he was mocked by Aristonymus and Ameipsias, who said that he was born on the fourth day, as the proverb goes, because he was labouring on behalf of others. Later, he competed in his own name. He was a sworn enemy of the demagogue Cleon and, as an indictment of him, wrote the Knights, in which he exposes his thieving and tyrannical tendencies. Since none of the costume-makers dared to make a mask of him because they were so afraid—for Cleon did indeed have a tyrannical nature—and no one even dared to take on the role, Aristophanes himself acted the part, smearing his mask with red ochre. He was responsible for Cleon’s being fined five talents, the penalty proposed by the Knights, as he says in the Acharnians:

I know what really warmed the cockles of my heart: when I saw the five talents that Cleon coughed up.

3 διήχθρευσε δὲ αὐτῶι ὁ Ἀριστοφάνης ἐπειδὴ ξενίας κατ’ αὐτοῦ γραφὴν ἔθετο, καὶ ὅτι ἐν δράματι αὐτοῦ Βαβυλωνίοις διέβαλε τῶν Ἀθηναίων τὰς κληρωτὰς ἀρχὰς παρόντων ξένων. ὡς ξένον δὲ αὐτὸν ἔλεγε, παρόσον οἱ μὲν αὐτόν φασιν εἶναι Ῥόδιον ἀπὸ Λίνδου, οἱ δὲ Αἰγινήτην, στοχαζόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ πλεῖστον χρόνον τὰς διατριβὰς αὐτόθι ποιεῖσθαι, ἢ καὶ ὅτι ἐκέκτητο ἐκεῖσε· κατά τινας δέ, ὡς ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Φίλιππος Αἰγινήτης. ἀπολυθῆναι δὲ αὐτὸν εἰπόντα ἀστείως ἐκ τῶν Ὁμήρου ταῦτα (α 215)·

μήτηρ μέν τ’ ἐμέ φησι τοῦ ἔμμεναι, αὐτὰρ ἔγωγε
οὐκ οἶδ’· οὐ γάρ πω τις ἑὸν γόνον αὐτὸς ἀνέγνω.

3 Aristophanes was Cleon’s sworn enemy because he had brought an accusation against him of being foreign and of slandering in the presence of foreigners Athenian magistrates picked by lot in his play Babylonians. He said that Aristophanes was a foreigner, inasmuch as some say that Aristophanes was a Rhodian from Lindos, others an Aiginetan, making inferences from the fact that he spent a great deal of time there, or, additionally, that he owned a property there. According to some, it was because his father Philip was an Aeginetan. But Aristophanes was acquitted after wittily quoting the following Homeric verses (Odyssey 1.215):

My mother says that I am his son, but I really don’t know. For no one ever knows for sure who his father is.

4 δεύτερον δὲ καὶ τρίτον συκοφαντηθεὶς ἀπέφυγε, καὶ οὕτω φανερὸς κατασταθεὶς πολίτης κατεκράτησε τοῦ Κλέωνος· ὅθεν φησίν· αὐτὸς δ’ ἐμαυτὸν ὑπὸ Κλέωνος ἅττ’ {ὧν} ἔπαθον ἐπίσταμαι δή, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν εὐδοκιμῆσαι συκοφάντας καταλύσαντα· οὓς ὠνόμασεν ἠπιάλους ἐν Σφηξίν (1038), ἐν οἷς φησίν (1039)· οἳ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν ἤγχον νύκτωρ καὶ τοὺς πάππους ἀπέπνιγον.

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5 μάλιστα δὲ ἐπηινέθη καὶ ἠγαπήθη ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν σφόδρα, ἐπειδὴ διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ δραμάτων ἐσπούδασε δεῖξαι τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων πολιτείαν, ὡς ἐλευθέρα τέ ἐστι καὶ ὑπ’ οὐδενὸς τυράννου δουλαγωγουμένη, ἀλλ’ ὅτι δημοκρατία ἐστὶ καὶ ἐλεύθερος ὢν ὁ δῆμος ἄρχει ἑαυτοῦ. τούτου οὖν χάριν ἐπηινέθη καὶ ἐστεφανώθη θαλλῶι τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐλαίας, ὃς νενόμισται ἰσότιμος χρυσῶι στεφάνωι, εἰπὼν ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἐν τοῖς Βατράχοις περὶ τῶν ἀτίμων (686)·

τὸν ἱερὸν χορὸν δίκαιον πολλὰ χρηστὰ τῆι πόλει
ξυμπαραινεῖν.

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6 ὠνομάσθη δὲ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, ἐπειδὴ ἔνδοξον, τὸ μέτρον τὸ ἀριστοφάνειον. οὕτως δὲ γέγονεν ἡ φήμη τοῦ ποιητοῦ, ὡς καὶ παρὰ Πέρσας διήκειν καὶ τὸν βασιλέα πρέσβεων πυνθάνεσθαι, παρ’ ὁποτέροις εἴη ὁ κωμωιδοποιός. φασὶ δὲ καὶ Πλάτωνα Διονυσίωι τῶι τυράννωι βουληθέντι μαθεῖν τὴν Ἀθηναίων πολιτείαν πέμψαι τὴν Ἀριστοφάνους ποίησιν, {τὴν κατὰ Σωκράτους ἐν Νεφέλαις κατηγορίαν}, καὶ συμβουλεῦσαι τὰ δράματα αὐτοῦ ἀσκηθέντα μαθεῖν αὐτῶν τὴν πολιτείαν.

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7 ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ αἴτιος ζήλου τοῖς νέοις κωμικοῖς, λέγω δὴ Φιλήμονι καὶ Μενάνδρωι. ψηφίσματος γὰρ γενομένου χορηγικοῦ, ὥστε μὴ ὀνομαστὶ κωμωιδεῖν τινα, ἔτι καὶ τῶν χορηγῶν οὐκ ἀντεχόντων πρὸς τὸ χορηγεῖν, καὶ παντάπασιν ἐκλελοιπυίας τῆς ὕλης τῶν κωμωιδιῶν διὰ τούτων αὐτῶν, αἴτιον γὰρ κωμωιδίας τὸ σκώπτειν τινάς, ἔγραψε κωμωιδίαν τινὰ Κώκαλον (cf. test. iv), ἐν ὧι εἰσάγει φθορὰν καὶ ἀναγνωρισμὸν καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἃ ἐζήλωσε Μένανδρος. {πάλιν δὲ ἐκλελοιπότος καὶ τοῦ χορηγεῖν τὸν Πλοῦτον γράψας, εἰς τὸ διαναπαύεσθαι τὰ σκηνικὰ πρόσωπα καὶ μετεσκευάσθαι ἐπιγράφει “χοροῦ” φθεγγόμενος ἐν ἐκείνοις, ἃ καὶ ὁρῶμεν τοὺς νέους οὕτως ἐπιγράφοντας ζήλωι Ἀριστοφάνους.} ἐν τούτωι δὲ τῶι δράματι συνέστησε τῶι πλήθει τὸν υἱὸν Ἀραρότα· καὶ οὕτως μετήλλαξε τὸν βίον παῖδας καταλιπὼν τρεῖς, Φίλιππον, ὁμώνυμον τῶι πάππωι καὶ Νικόστρατον καὶ Ἀράροτα, δι’ οὗ καὶ ἐδίδαξε τὸν Πλοῦτον. τινὲς δὲ δύο φασί, Φίλιππον καὶ Ἀράροτα, ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμνήσθη· τὴν γυναῖκα δ’ αἰσχύνομαι τώ τ’ οὐ φρονοῦντε παιδίω, ἴσως αὐτοὺς λέγων.

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