218
Epops is addressing the two slaves, no doubt Xanthias and Manes, who are mentioned later on.
219
It was customary, when speaking in public and also at feasts, to wear a chaplet; hence the question Euelpides puts. The guests wore chaplets of flowers, herbs, and leaves, which had the property of being refreshing.
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A deme of Attica. In Greek the word ([Greek: kephalai]) also means
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One of Darius' best generals. After his expedition against the Scythians, this prince gave him the command of the army which he left in Europe. Megabyzus took Perinthos (afterwards called Heraclea) and conquered Thrace.
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All Persians wore the tiara, but always on one side; the Great King alone wore it straight on his head.
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Noted as the birthplace of Thucydides, a deme of Attica of the tribe of Leontis. Demosthenes tells us it was thirty-five stadia from Athens.
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The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season.
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To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky.
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As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small coins in their mouths.—This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour to fill the bag he was carrying.
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In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about harvest-time.
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This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning,
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The staff, called a sceptre, generally terminated in a piece of carved work, representing a flower, a fruit, and most often a bird.
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A general accused of treachery. The bird watches Lysicrates, because, according to Pisthetaerus, he had a right to a share of the presents.
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It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus.
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One of the diviners sent to Sybaris (in Magna Graecia, S. Italy) with the Athenian colonists, who rebuilt the town under the new name of Thurium.
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As if he were saying, "Oh, gods!" Like Lampon, he swears by the birds, instead of swearing by the gods.—The names of these birds are those of two of the Titans.
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Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of Heracles.—Semelé, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermioné and mother of Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus.—Alopé, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alopé was honoured with Posidon's caresses; by him she had a son named Hippothous, at first brought up by shepherds but who afterwards was restored to the throne of his grandfather by Theseus.
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Because the bald patch on the coot's head resembles the shaven and depilated 'motte.'
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Because water is the duck's domain, as it is that of Posidon.
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Because the gull, like Heracles, is voracious.
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The Germans still call it
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The Scholiast draws our attention to the fact that Homer says this of Heré and not of Iris (Iliad, V. 778); it is only another proof that the text of Homer has reached us in a corrupted form, or it may be that Aristophanes was liable, like other people, to occasional mistakes of quotation.
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In sacrifices.
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An Athenian proverb.
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A celebrated temple to Zeus in an oasis of Libya.
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Nicias was commander, along with Demosthenes, and later on Alcibiades, of the Athenian forces before Syracuse, in the ill-fated Sicilian Expedition, 415-413 B.C. He was much blamed for dilatoriness and indecision.
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Servants of Pisthetaerus and Euelpides.
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It has already been mentioned that, according to the legend followed by Aristophanes, Procné had been changed into a nightingale and Philomela into a swallow.
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The actor, representing Procné, was dressed out as a courtesan, but wore the mask of a bird.
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Young unmarried girls wore golden ornaments; the apparel of married women was much simpler.
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The actor, representing Procné, was a flute-player.
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The parabasis.
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A sophist of the island of Ceos, a disciple of Protagoras, as celebrated for his knowledge as for his eloquence. The Athenians condemned him to death as a corrupter of youth in 396 B.C.
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Lovers were wont to make each other presents of birds. The cock and the goose are mentioned, of course, in jest.
252
i.e. that it gave notice of the approach of winter, during which season the Ancients did not venture to sea.
253
A notorious robber.
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Meaning, "
255
The Greek word for
256
A satire on the passion of the Greeks for seeing an omen in everything.
257
An imitation of the nightingale's song.
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God of the groves and wilds.
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The 'Mother of the Gods'; roaming the mountains, she held dances, always attended by Pan and his accompanying rout of Fauns and Satyrs.
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An allusion to cock-fighting; the birds are armed with brazen spurs.
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An allusion to the spots on this bird, which resemble the scars left by a branding iron.
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He was of Asiatic origin, but wished to pass for an Athenian.
263
Or Philamnon, King of Thrace; the Scholiast remarks that the Phrygians and the Thracians had a common origin.
264
The Greek word here, [Greek: pappos], is also the name of a little bird.
265
A basket-maker who had become rich.—The Phylarchs were the headmen of the tribes, [Greek: Phulai]. They presided at the private assemblies and were charged with the management of the treasury.—The Hipparchs, as the name implies, were the leaders of the cavalry; there were only two of these in the Athenian army.
266
He had now become a senator, member of the [Greek: Boul_e].
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Pisthetaerus and Euelpides now both return with wings.
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Meaning, 'tis we who wanted to have these wings.—The verse from Aeschylus, quoted here, is taken from 'The Myrmidons,' a tragedy of which only a few fragments remain.
269
The Greek word signified the city of