their assemblies. (v. 184, 284, 292, 302, 380, and Plutus, v. 330.)

128. Taλn, a weasel, carried round the place of publick assemblies, ὡς καθαρσιον τι. They came to their Ekkλnoiaι with a staff (Baктηpia) in their hands. 156. The oath peculiar to women, Ma Tw Oew, i.e. Ceres and Proserpina.

193. Το συμμαχικόν.

Petitus from this passage

and from a necessary emendation he makes in the Scholia here, seems to fix rightly the time of this drama to Ol. 96. 4. Archonte Demostrato.

203. What particular fact is here meant, one cannot say at present; but Faber is mistaken in thinking that it cannot be the famous Thrasybulus, for it appears (from Lysias's Apology for Mantheus, p. 307), that he was living, and present in the action before Corinth this very year; his death did not happen till three years after. In spite of all his invaluable services to the publick, the orators and comick writers of those times did not cease to make very free with his character. (See v. 356 of this drama.) There is a remarkable passage of this kind in the oration of Lysias in Ergoclem, p. 456 and 7, which I take to relate to this very Thrasybulus, and to be spoken a little while after his death.

256. 'YTокроvεiv, I imagine, signifies, to stamp with their feet, a noise made in great assemblies to express their dislike. See Acharnens. v. 38. Sometimes it was done merely for the purpose of interrupting. See v. 592 of this play.

318. The Ημιδιπλοίδιον and Κροκωτος seem to be

both the same, namely, a woman's vest, or under-garment of a light red colour. Κόθορνος and Περσικη are the same, a woman's proper chaussure.

531. Here the Kроkwтоs is called by the name of ἱματιον.

534. Επιθεισα ληκυθον. On a dead body.

568. If this scheme be meant as a satire on Plato's Republick, that work must have been written when the philosopher was not thirty-six years of age.

974. Alludes to the manner of introducing causes into the courts of justice, according to the age of the plaintiffs; first those (as I imagine) above sixty years of age, and so downwards. After which, if there were several, they cast lots whose should be heard first.

1017. A woman could not deal, of her own authority, with any person for more than the value of a medimnus of corn.

1023. The manner of laying out the dead.

1081. The decree of Cannonus is mentioned by Xenophon in his Greek History, L. 1. as ascertaining the punishment of persons accused of crimes against the publick, and allowing the means of making their defence. It is probable that, in some paragraph of that psephisma, it was ordered that the prisoner should appear on that occasion, holden between two of the Togora, or perhaps of the Ενδεκα.

1124. The number of citizens was now above thirty thousand.

PLUTUS.

The Plutus was first played Ol. 92. 4. and it was altered and revived Ol. 97. 4. The drama, which we now have, is compounded of both these.

THE PLAN.

Act 1. Scene 1. The prologue between Chremylus and Cario, as far as v. 58. Sc. 2. Cario goes out and returns at v. 229.

Act 2. Sc. 1. Cario returns with the chorus of old countrymen at v. 253. Sc. 2. Chremylus re-enters and salutes the chorus v. 322. Sc. 3. Conversation with Blepsidemus. Sc. 4. Poverty rushes out of Chremylus's house, and disputes with the two old men: they drive her away, and prepare to carry Plutus to the temple of Esculapius. Here should be the Parabasis, but there is none. The chorus remain silent on the stage for a time; till

Act 3. Sc. 1. Cario returns with the news of the cure of Plutus. This interval is supposed to be a whole night. Sc. 2. Cario recounts the matter to Chremylus's wife. Sc. 3. Plutus, being now restored to sight, returns home with Chremylus. Here also is a short interval; till

Act 4. Sc. 1. Cario comes out, and describes the change which had happened on the entrance of Plutus.

Sc. 2. The honest old man comes to pay his vows to the god. Sc. 3. A sycophant comes to complain of his sudden poverty. Sc. 4. A wanton old woman enters, love: she appears, returning from a drunken frolick. Here all, but the chorus, enter Chremylus's house.

who has lost her

Act 5. Sc. 1. Mercury comes begging to the gate; Cario at last takes him into his service. Sc. 2. The priest of Jupiter comes for charity. Sc. 3. The procession conducts Plutus to the Acropolis.

NOTES ON THE PLUTUS.

v. 179. Epâ de Aaïs, &c. It is probable enough, as Athenæus shews from an oration of Lysias, L. 13. p. 586, that this should be read Naïs: but the Scholiast attempts to shew that the time would not permit it to be Aaïs, as she was only seven years of age, when Chabrias was Archon; and consequently under Diocles, Ol. 92. 4, she could be but thirteen or fourteen. This I take to be the meaning of the Scholiast, though the words, as they are now read, seem to say, that from Chabrias to Diocles was a space of fourteen years, whereas it was but six in reality; and the Scholiast adds, that at this age she could not be much in vogue. If the author of this note knew, that the verse was in the Plutus, when it was first acted, he is in the right, and confirms the emendation of Athenæus; but if (see v. 303) it were only in the second Plutus, Lais was then thirty-three years old, and might be still in admiration. The Scholiast says, Epimandra, Timandra, or Damasandra, the mother of the younger Lais, as Athenæus calls her, L. 13, p. 574, supposing her to have this daughter at fourteen years of age, must be twenty-one, when Hyccara was taken by Nicias, and consequently was thirty-two, at the time of Alcibiades's death, whose mistress she was, as Plutarch and Athenæus relate.

I