NOTES.

IN the opening scene, two old Athenians appear, named Euelpides and Peisthetairos. Wearied with the annoyances to which they have been subjected in their native city, they leave it to search for Epops, the king of the birds, who was connected with the Attic traditions, under the mythical name of Tereus. They have taken with them, as guides of their journey, a raven and a jackdaw, which have led them up and down over a rough and rocky country, until the fugitives are jaded out by the fatigues of the way, and begin to scold about the cheating poulterer who has sold them, for an obol and a three-obol piece, a pair of birds good for nothing but to bite. At length they reach the forest and the steep rocks which shut them from all farther progress.

Line 1. openv. This agrees with odóv, to be constructed with ievai, or some similar verb. Dost thou bid me go straight up?-addressed to the jackdaw. For the ellipsis of the substantive, cf. Gr. 698 (560) § 436.

2. Siappayeins. This is addressed, as a sort of humorous imprecation, to Euelpides. The word occurs frequently in the orators, especially Demosthenes, to express a violent passion or effort of the person to whom it is applied; as, for instance, ovd' av diappayňs Vevdóμevos, "not even if you split with lying." Translate here, may you split.de, i. e. кopŵvn, but this raven.-ráλiv, back, in the opposite direction.

3. TλaνÚTTOμEV. A Scholiast speaks of this word as Attic for πλavúμɛ0α; and Suidas, cited by Bothe, considers it as a comic usage; perhaps it may be rendered, why are we tramping?

4. ἄλλως = μάτην, to no purpose.

5, 6. τὸ . . . . περιελθεῖν. For the construction of the infinitive in sentences expressing acclamation, cf. Gr. 1054 (814) § 679, 1. See also Clouds, 268, note.

11. οὐδ' . Εξηκεστίδης, not even Erekestides could perceive the country hence. The name of this person occurs in two other places of the play, lines 766 and 1512. He was often introduced by the comic writers, and satirized as a person of barbarian origin, who had by fraudulent means got himself enrolled among the Athenian citizens. The meaning of the answer of Peisthetairos, then, is, "We are

farther off than Exekestides: even he could not discern Athens from this spot." "It would puzzle Exekestides himself to make out Athens from here."

13. OvK Tŵv opvéwv, he of the birds; i. e. the bird-seller or poulterer. The expression is like that in the Clouds (1065), oùк twv Xúxvwv, the dealer in lamps. There is also an allusion here, and in line 16, to the town of Orneæ, in Argolis, which, according to a Scholiast, had suffered severely during the campaign which ended B.C. 418, in the battle of Mantinea. See Thirlwall, Vol. III. p. 349, sqq.

14. 8 . . . . μedayxodŵv, the poulterer Philocrates, being mad. Philocrates would seem to have been well known as a dealer in birds in the Athenian market. He is again introduced by the Chorus (v. 1070), where a reward of one talent is offered for any one who will kill him; for any one who will take him alive, four talents; his various offences against the race of birds being enumerated.

16. ds.... ópvéwv. This refers, of course, to the fable of the metamorphosis of Tereus into the Epops, or Hoopoo, for which, see Ovid, Metam. vi. 423, seq. With regard to the Hoopoo, or Huppoo, Cary (Preface to Translation of the Birds) has the following note: "As this bird acts a principal part in the play, the reader may not be displeased to see the following description of it :- At Penyrhiw, the farm to which this wild, uncultivated tract is a sheep-walk, was lately shot a Huppoo, a solitary bird, two being seldom seen together, and in this kingdom very uncommon; even in Egypt, where common, not very gregarious. Bewick's description of it is very correct. Upupa of Linnæus, la Hupe of Buffon. This bird is of the order of Pica; its length twelve inches, breadth nineteen; bill above two inches long, black, slender, and somewhat curved; eyes hazel; tongue very short and triangular; head ornamented with a crest, consisting of a double row of feathers of pale orange colour, tipped with black; highest about two inches long; neck pale reddish brown, breast and belly white; back, scapulars, and wings crossed with broad bars of black and white; lesser coverts of the wings light brown, rump white; the tail consists of ten feathers, each marked with white, which, when closed, assumes the form of a crescent, the horns pointing downwards; legs short and black. Crest usually falls behind on its neck, except when surprised, and then erect, agreeing exactly with Pliny's character of it. "Cristâ visenda plicatili, contrahens eam subrigensque per longitudinem capitis," whose annotator, Dalecampius, mentions another curious particular of this bird: "Nidum ex stercore humano præcipuè conficit." Bewick, vol. i. 262; Plin. Variorum, 688. In Sweden, the appearance of this bird is vulgarly considered as a presage of war, and it was formerly deemed in our country a forerunner of some calamity.'-Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire, by Richard Fenton, Esq., p. 17. London, 4to. 1810. The particular mentioned by Dalecampius is observed by Aristotle also, who adds that the bird changes its appearance summer and winter, as most of the other wild birds do." Von der Mühle (Beiträge zur Ornithologie Griechenlands, p. 34) says of the Epops, that it is found in great numbers in Greece, in the month of Sep

tember, but more seldom in spring; that it is fond of the oleanders near the coast, &c.

What is the point of the phrase έk Twv bovéwv, in this place, has been a question. The Scholiast explains it παρ' ὑπόνοιαν· ἔδει γὰρ ÉK τŵν ȧvěρúπшv; i. e. instead of saying he was changed from a man to a bird, the poet gives an unexpected turn to the words and says, who became a bird from-the birds. Bergler's opinion is, "Videtur voce őρvea metaphorice significare homines superbos aut leves et inconstantes; hoc sensu : ex homine superbo, aut levi et inconstante, factus est ales superbus, aut levis et inconstans." Brunck rejects this, and constructs, ὃς ἔφασκε τώδε (μόνω) ἐκ τῶν ὀρνέων φράσειν νῶν τὸν Τηρέα τὸν ἔποπα, ὃς ὄρνις ἐγένετο. Perhaps the explanation of the Scholiast, and that of Bergler combined with the remark of Carey, that "this is intended as a stroke of satire on the levity of the Athenians," may suggest the true meaning of the poet, especially as the general bearing of the play is to be explained by the circumstances and relations of Athenian affairs.

17. Oappeλeídov, i. e. vióv, this son of Tharreleides. The jackdaw is called the son of Tharreleides, according to some, because of the loquacity of that individual, whose name was Asopodoros ; according to others, from his small stature, or some other point in which a resemblance might be found or fancied.

18. ὀβολοῦ . . . . τριωβόλου. Genitive of price.

19. ἄρ ̓. For the conclusive signification of apa, see the exact analysis of Hartung, "De Particulis," Vol. I. pp. 448, 449. Cf. Gr. 1449 (1046), § 788, 5. In this place it implies a sort of consequence of the preceding statement; as if he intended to say that the vicious tricks of the birds were nothing more than might have been expected from the character of the man who sold them. Translate the whole line, and they accordingly knew nothing but how to bite. [jorny 3 dual of pluperf. (= imperf.) from oida. äpa = ut nunc apparet.]

20. κέχηνας, addressed to the jackdaw.—κατὰ τῶν πετρῶν, down the rocks.

22. árρamós, a track, or path; odóc is a road, way, or street.

28. ἐς κόρακας ἐλθεῖν. There is a pun upon the double meaning of the phrase, which is commonly used as a jocose imprecation, go to the crows, but here alludes also to the intention of the two old men to visit the city of the birds.

29. TELтa. For the use of this particle in questions of astonishment, cf. Gr. 1358 (980), § 874, 6.

30. ώνδρες . . . . λόγῳ. The expression is said to be borrowed from debates in the political assemblies; but it was as well applied to listeners to any discussion whatever, and is here familiarly transferred to the spectators of the comic representation.

31. vóσov voσoûμev. The common Greek construction of intransitive verbs taking an accusative of nouns with similar signification. -Zaka. A common name for slaves and servants of barbarian origin, particularly Thracians; here applied to a tragic poet named Akestor, on account of his being a foreigner. In the Cyropædia it is the name of the cupbearer of King Astyages.

Aristoph. Birds.

G

32. eloßiáletai, is forcing himself in; i. e. is constantly trying to thrust himself into the number of legal citizens. For an account of the care with which the rights and privileges of citizenship were guarded at Athens, see, besides other works, Smith's Dict. Gr. and Rom. Antiq., art. Civitas.

33. quλñ kai yével. For the political meaning of these terms, see Hdbk. Gr. Antiqq.

34. σOBOÛνTOS. This participle applies particularly to the scaring away of birds, though used metaphorically to express the act of frightening off, in general. aveTTÓμEσda, in the following line, is also used in a similar way; and appoiv Todoiv is a comic inconsistency with the previous expression. He could say, using language metaphorically, we flew away from the country, but, instead of adding with both wings, he was obliged to substitute with both feet, they having not yet been accommodated with the wings.

36. èkεívny, emphatically, " that great city."

37. un ou. For the use of this double negative, "when où or another word which may be considered a negative" occurs in a preceding clause, cf. Gr. 1177 (884), § 750, Obs. 1, 2; also Matthiæ, § 543, who supplies, to complete the sense, some such word as voμilwv, not hating that city, as considering it not to be great and happy.

38. καὶ . . . . ἐναποτῖσαι, and common to all-to pay away their money in; i. e. to waste money in lawsuits, which is the more specific meaning of amoriveV. The poet ingeniously and wittily combines in the ridicule of this line one of the great boasts of the Athenians, namely, the liberality with which the city's resources for instruction and amusement were opened to all comers (for a particular detail of which see the oration of Pericles in Thucydides, Lib. ii., and the Panegyricus of Isocrates, pp. 15, 16, and notes, pp. 78, 79, Felton's edition), and the notorious love of litigation for which the Athenians were so often reproached, and which Aristophanes exposed with infinite spirit and drollery in the "Wasps." Gr. 1044 (809, p. 203), § 667, a.

39. τέττιγες. The chirping of the cicadæ or τέττιγες is a subject of frequent allusion in the Greek poets, from Homer down. See Iliad iii. 151, and note upon the passage. For a description of the insect, and the ancient, though erroneous idea of its habits, see Aristotle, Hist. An. Lib. iv. 7. 7. Particularly, he speaks of it as living on dew,—тy dρóow тρéperaι, and in this is followed by Anacreon, Od. 43. See also the note of Strack, pp. 182 and 183 of his German translation of Aristotle. The manner in which the sound called singing by Aristotle and the poets is produced, is explained Lib. iv. c. 9. Swammerdam has the following statement:"Cicada duobus gaudet exiguis tympanis peculiaribus, nostro auris tympano similibus, quæ duarum ope cartilaginum lunatarum percussa, aerem ita vibrant ut sonitus inde reddatur." Bibl. Nat. p. 504. Cited by Camus, Vol. II. p. 230.

40. πì Tŵν крadov adovo. Aristotle, Lib. v. 30, says of the cicadæ, οὐ γίνονται δὲ τέττιγες ὅπου μὴ δένδρα ἐστίν ; he adds, "there are none in the plain of Cyrene, but there are many round the city, and chiefly where there are olive-trees.”

41. TOV Sɩkov. See note to line 38.

44. ȧmpάypova, free from trouble, particularly vexatious lawsuits. 45. καθιδρυθέντε διαγενοίμεθα. For the construction of the participle, cf. Gr. 1105 (838), § 694. Here the participle and the verb are in the aorist, and both, in themselves, express the several acts as completed. Cf. Gr. 780 (624), § 405. Dawes proposed the present diayıvoiuela; but, when we consider that the idea of the verb may be conceived either as continuous or as completed, there seems no necessity for any change, unless upon the authority of some good manuscript. [Ubi fixi maneamus. Bl., where we may settle for good.]

46, 47. Tòv .... Tóv. The repetition of the article, before both the name and the further designation, emphasizes them, the Tereus; that ancient Tereus, well known to the Athenian people, who was changed into the Epops.

48., used adverbially, where he has flown; i. e. if he has ever seen such a city in all his travels.

49, 50. πάλαι . . . . φράζει. By a common idiom, the present is used with an adverb of the past to mean has been doing and is still doing; here, has been this long time talking up.

51. ὡσπερεὶ δεικνύς, as if he were showing.

52. KOUK.... OŮk. The combination of particles intensifies the expression, there is not how there are not; it must be that there are = there must undoubtedly be.

53. Toιnowμev. Observe the force of the aorist in the subjunctive to express a single act. The present here would imply a repetition. 54. olo' Spâσov. For a full and accurate explanation of this idiom, cf. Herm. Vig. p. 739. It occurs frequently in the Attic writers, especially the tragic poets. See Soph. Ed. Tyr. 543; Eurip. Med. 605, &c. "The phrase," says 66 Matthiæ, seems to have arisen from a transposition:" dpãσov olσl'ő; do it-dost know what? [Plaut. Rud. 3, 5, 18, tange, sed scin' quomodo ?] The third pers. of the imperative is also used in the same way. See the same expression, v. 80.—σkédeɩ.... Téтρаν. The Scholiast, cited by Bothe, says that there was a prover bial expression among boys, δὸς τὸ σκέλος τῇ πέτρᾳ καὶ πεσοῦνται τὰ opvɛa, give your leg to the rock and the birds will fall; not unlike the modern notion of catching birds by sprinkling salt on their tails.

57. Tí.... OUTOS; what do you say, fellow?-Taî, the common form of addressing a servant, and therefore considered as disrespectful to Epops.

58. ἐχρῆν . . . . καλεῖν. The impersonal verb being in the past transfers the whole expression to the past, although the infinitive is present, therefore implying, perhaps, repeated calling. [Gr. 790 (632), § 858, 3.]

61. тоû xаσμýμaтos, what a yawn! For genitive of exclamation, cf. Gr. 838 (710), § 489. Comp. also Clouds, v. 153, and note to the passage.

63. οὕτως . . . . λέγειν ; Bothe punctuates the line without the interrogation,ποὐδὲ κάλλιόν ἐστι λέγειν τι οὕτω δεινόν. Aliquid tam terribile ne nominare quidem decet; ""Twere better even not to mention so terrible a thing." But the position of the words and the