The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2. АристофанЧитать онлайн книгу.

and also a kind of broom used for weaving rough matting, which served for the beds of the very poor.

270

A fanciful name constructed from [Greek: nephel_e], a cloud, and [Greek: kokkux], a cuckoo; thus a city of clouds and cuckoos.—Wolkenkukelheim [Transcriber's note: So in original. The correct German word is Wolkenkuckucksheim] is a clever approximation in German. Cloud-cuckoo-town, perhaps, is the best English equivalent.

271

He was a boaster nicknamed [Greek: Kapnos], smoke, because he promised a great deal and never kept his word.

272

Also mentioned in 'The Wasps.'

273

Because the war of the Titans against the gods was only a fiction of the poets.

274

A sacred cloth, with which the statue of Athené in the Acropolis was draped.

275

Meaning, to be patron-goddess of the city. Athené had a temple of this name.

276

An Athenian effeminate, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes.

277

This was the name of the wall surrounding the Acropolis.

278

i.e. the fighting-cock.

279

To waken the sentinels, who might else have fallen asleep.—There are several merry contradictions in the various parts of this list of injunctions.

280

In allusion to the leather strap which flute-players wore to constrict the cheeks and add to the power of the breath. The performer here no doubt wore a raven's mask.

281

Hellanicus, the Mitylenian historian, tells that this surname of Artemis is derived from Colaenus, King of Athens before Cecrops and a descendant of Hermes. In obedience to an oracle he erected a temple to the goddess, invoking her as Artemis Colaenis (the Artemis of Colaenus).

282

This Cleocritus, says the Scholiast, was long-necked and strutted like an ostrich.

283

The Chians were the most faithful allies of Athens, and hence their name was always mentioned in prayers, decrees, etc.