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 Ach. 377· αὐτὸς δ’ ἐμαυτὸν ὑπὸ Κλέωνος ἅττ’ {ὧν} {ὧν} Ald. ἔπαθον ἐπίσταμαι δή, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν εὐδοκιμῆσαι συκοφάντας καταλύσαντα· οὓς ὠνόμασεν ἠπιάλους ἐν Σφηξίν Vesp. 1038, ἐν οἷς φησίν· οἳ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν ἤγχον νύκτωρ καὶ τοὺς πάππους ἀπέπνιγον Vesp. 1039.

4 Having been falsely accused a second and a third time, he again got off, and in this way, now that his citizenship was clearly established, he defeated Kleon. Hence his words: “I myself know what I suffered at the hands of Cleon,” and so forth. They say that he acquired considerable renown after he had quashed the informers. He calls them “Fevers” in the Wasps, in which he says, “who strangled their fathers by night and choked their grandfathers.”

5 μάλιστα δὲ ἐπηινέθη καὶ ἠγαπήθη ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν σφόδρα, ἐπειδὴ διὰ ἐπειδὴ διὰ Dindorf: ἐπειδὴ δὲ M τῶν αὐτοῦ δραμάτων ἐσπούδασε δεῖξαι τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων πολιτείαν, ὡς ἐλευθέρα τέ ἐστι καὶ ὑπ’ οὐδενὸς τυράννου δουλαγωγουμένη, ἀλλ’ ὅτι ἀλλ’ ὅτι Dindorf: ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ὅτι M 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.

5 He was especially praised and greatly loved by the citizens, since he was at pains to show through his dramas that the constitution of the Athenians was free and enslaved by no tyrant, but that Athens was a democracy and, because they were free, the people ruled themselves. For this reason, he was praised and crowned with a sacred olive branch, which was considered equal in value to a crown of gold, because, in the Frogs, he had spoken the following words about those who had lost their citizen rights:

It is right for the sacred chorus to give much good advice to the city.

6 ὠνομάσθη δὲ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, ἐπειδὴ ἔνδοξον, τὸ μέτρον τὸ ἀριστοφάνειον. οὕτως δὲ γέγονεν ἡ φήμη τοῦ ποιητοῦ, ὡς καὶ παρὰ Πέρσας Πέρσας Sauppe: Πέρσαις M διήκειν καὶ τὸν βασιλέα πρέσβεων πρέσβεων Sauppe: Περσῶν M 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} Bekker, καὶ συμβουλεῦσαι τὰ δράματα αὐτοῦ ἀσκηθέντα μαθεῖν αὐτῶν τὴν πολιτείαν.

6 The Aristophanean metre was named after him, because it was judged noteworthy. The poet’s fame was so great that it extended even to the Persians, and the king of Persia inquired of his ambassadors whose side the comic poet was on. They say that Plato, too, when Dionysius the tyrant wanted to learn about the Athenian constitution, sent him the poem of Aristophanes, the accusation against Socrates in the Clouds, and advised him to learn about their constitution by studying the poet’s plays.

7 ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ αἴτιος ζήλου τοῖς νέοις κωμικοῖς, λέγω δὴ Φιλήμονι καὶ Μενάνδρωι. ψηφίσματος γὰρ γενομένου χορηγικοῦ χορηγικοῦ Meineke: χορηγοῦ M, ὥστε μὴ ὀνομαστὶ κωμωιδεῖν τινα, ἔτι ἔτι Meineke: ἐπεὶ M: del. Ald. 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 κωμιδίαν τινὰ Hermann, Bekker: κωμιδίας τινὰς M: del. Dindorf Κώκαλον (cf. test. iv), ἐν ὧι εἰσάγει φθορὰν καὶ ἀναγνωρισμὸν καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἃ ἐζήλωσε Μένανδρος. {πάλιν … Ἀριστοφάνους} Hermann 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 Fr. 604 Kassel-Austin· τὴν γυναῖκα δ’ αἰσχύνομαι τώ τ’ οὐ φρονοῦντε παιδίω, ἴσως αὐτοὺς λέγων.

7 He was the cause of emulation among the younger comic poets, I mean Philemon and Menander. For, when a decree regarding those who perform choral liturgies was passed that no one should be mocked by name, and furthermore, when those performing choral liturgies no longer had sufficient funds to do so, and, in all respects, the material for comedies was lacking because of this—for comedy’s raison d’être is mockery of individuals—he wrote a comedy Cocalus, in which he introduced seduction and recognition and all the other features which Menander imitated. After choral liturgies were again removed, when he wrote the Wealth, he included places in which the actors could rest and change costumes, writing ‘for the chorus’ in those passages, which we also see more recent poets doing, in imitation of Aristophanes. In that drama he introduced his son Araros to the people. And thus he departed from life, leaving behind three children: Philip, the namesake of his grandfather, Nicostratus, and Araros, through whom he produced the Wealth. But some say he had only two sons, Philip and Araros, whom he himself mentioned: “I feel shame before my wife and my children who do not yet understand…,” perhaps meaning them.

8 ἔγραψε δὲ δράματα μδ΄, ὧν ἀντιλέγεται δ΄ ὡς οὐκ ὄντα αὐτοῦ. ἔστι δὲ ταῦτα Ποίησις, Ναυαγός, Νῆσοι, Νίοβος Νίοβος Dindorf: νίοβις m: νίορος m, ἅ τινες ἔφασαν εἶναι τοῦ Ἀρχίππου.

8 He wrote 44 dramas, of which the authenticity of four is disputed. These are the Poetry, the Shipwrecked Man, Islands and Niobus, which some say are the work of Archippus.

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