[312] He had issued a decree, which forbade the admission of any Megarian on Attic soil, and also all trade with that people. The Megarians, who obtained all their provisions from Athens, were thus almost reduced to starvation. [313] That is, the vineyards were ravaged from the very outset of the war, and this increased the animosity. [314] Driven in from the country parts by the Lacedaemonian invaders. [315] The demagogues, who distributed the slender dole given to the poor, and by that means exercised undue power over them. [316] Meaning, the side of the Spartans. [317] Cleon. [318] It was Hermes who conducted the souls of the dead down to the lower regions. [319] The Spartans had thrice offered to make peace after the Pylos disaster. [320] i.e. dominated by Cleon. [321] There is a pun here, that cannot be rendered, between [Greek: apobolimaios], which means, _one who throws away his weapons_, and [Greek: upobolimaios], which signifies, _a supposititious child_. [322] Simonides was very avaricious, and sold his pen to the highest bidder. It seems that Sophocles had also started writing for gain. [323] i.e. he would recoil from no risk to turn an honest penny. [324] A comic poet as well known for his love of wine as for his writings; he died in 431 B.C., the first year of the war, at the age of ninety-seven. [325] Opora was the goddess of fruits. [326] The Scholiast says fruit may be eaten with impunity in great quantities if care is taken to drink a decoction of this herb afterwards. [327] Theoria is confided to the care of the Senate, because it was this body who named the [Greek: The_orhoi], deputies appointed to go and consult the oracles beyond the Attic borders or to be present at feasts and games. [328] The great festivals, e.g. the Dionysia, lasted three days. Those in honour of the return of Peace, which was so much desired, could not last a shorter time. [329] In spite of what he says, Aristophanes has not always disdained this sort of low comedy--for instance, his Heracles in 'The Birds.' [330] A celebrated Athenian courtesan of Aristophanes' day. [331] Cleon. These four verses are here repeated from the parabasis of 'The Wasps,' produced 423 B.C., the year before this play. [332] Shafts aimed at certain poets, who used their renown as a means of seducing young men to grant them pederastic favours. [333] The poet supplied everything needful for the production of his piece--vases, dresses, masks, etc. [334] Aristophanes was bald himself, it would seem. [335] Carcinus and his three sons were both poets and dancers. (_See_ the closing scene of 'The Wasps.') Perhaps relying little on the literary value of their work, it seems that they sought to please the people by the magnificence of its staging. [336] He had written a piece called 'The Mice,' which he succeeded with great difficulty in getting played, but it met with no success.