The Birds of AristophanesJ. Bartlett, 1864 - 236 pages |
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Page 201 - But who is this? what thing of sea or land — Female of sex it seems — That, so bedecked, ornate, and gay, Comes this way sailing, Like a stately ship Of Tarsus, bound for the isles Of Javan or Gadire, With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, Sails filled, and streamers waving...
Page 177 - So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, No more through rolling clouds to soar again, Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart, And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart ; Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel ; While the same plumage that had warmed his nest Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast.
Page 177 - That eagle's fate and mine are one, Which, on the shaft that made him die, Espied a feather of his own, Wherewith he wont to soar so high.
Page xii - The herald, who had been despatched to the lower world, returns with an account that all Athens was gone bird-mad ; that it was grown a fashion to imitate them in their names and manners ; and that shortly they might expect to see a whole convoy arrive, in order to settle among them. The Chorus run to fetch a vast cargo of feathers and wings to equip their new citizens, when they come.
Page xiv - A person in disguise, with all the appearance of caution and fear, comes to inquire for Pisthetaerus, to whom he discovers himself to be Prometheus, and tells him (but first he makes them hold a large umbrella over his head for fear Jupiter should spy him), that the gods are all in a starving, miserable condition ; and, what is worse, that...
Page iii - ... colleges. It is true there are some passages in this play also too freely executed; but it has been decided, on mature reflection, to let them stand, so as to offer the drama entire, on the principles which guided my decision in editing the Clouds. The text of this edition is reprinted from the Poetœ Scenici of Dindorf.
Page v - The spirit of parody and burlesque, which is a general trait of the Aristophanic drama, here displays itself most freely and amusingly. Even the solemn genius of Pindar does not escape entirely the poet's whimsical perversions. The dithyrambic poets in general are unsparingly ridiculed ; the philosophers and men of science are not allowed to pass untouched ; while profligates and impostors of every class and description are here, as well as in the Clouds, held up to scorn and contempt.
Page xv - Pisthetaerus clearly proves to Hercules that this is a mere imposition ; that by the laws of Solon a bastard has no inheritance; that if Jove died without legitimate issue, his brothers would succeed to his estate, and that Neptune speaks only out of interest.
Page v - The dithyrambic poets in general are unsparingly ridiculed ; the philosophers and men of science are not allowed to pass untouched ; while profligates and impostors of every class and description are here as well as in the ' Clouds,' held up to scorn and contempt.11 From Prof.
Page x - Alcmenas below, nor feast on the fume of sacrifices daily sent up to them, nor men enjoy the benefit of the seasons, nor the fruits of the earth, without permission from those winged deities of the middle region. He shows how mankind will lose nothing by this change of government ; that the birds may be worshipped at a far less expense, nothing more than a few berries or a handful of corn ; that they will need no sumptuous temples ; that, by their great knowledge of futurity, they will direct their...