[530] The invention of weights and measures, of dice, and of the game of chess are attributed to him, also that of four additional letters of the alphabet. [531] i.e. that cannot decide for either party. [532] i.e. that a country can always be invaded and that the fleet alone is a safe refuge. This is the same advice as that given by Pericles, and which Thucydides expresses thus, "Let your country be devastated, or even devastate it yourself, and set sail for Laconia with your fleet." [533] An allusion to the fees of the dicasts, or jurymen; we have already seen that at this period it was two obols, and later three. [534] A half-line from Euripides' 'Hippolytus.' The full line is: [Greek: h_e gl_ott' om_omok', h_e de phr_en an_omotos,] "my tongue has taken an oath, but my mind is unsworn," a bit of casuistry which the critics were never tired of bringing up against the author. [535] A verse from the 'Aeolus' of Euripides, but slightly altered. Euripides said, "Why is is shameful, if the spectators, who enjoy it, do not think so?" [536] A verse from the 'Phrixus' of Euripides; what follows is a parody. [537] We have already seen Aeschylus pretending that it was possible to adapt any foolish expression one liked to the verses of Euripides: "a little bottle, a little bag, a little fleece." [538] Pluto speaks as though he were an Athenian himself. [539] That they should hang themselves. Cleophon is said to have been an influential alien resident who was opposed to concluding peace; Myrmex and Nicomachus were two officials guilty of peculation of public funds; Archenomus is unknown. [540] He would brand them as fugitive slaves, if, despite his orders, they refused to come down. [541] An Athenian admiral. [542] The real name of the father of Adimantus was Leucolophides, which Aristophanes jestingly turns into Leucolophus, i.e. _White Crest_. [543] i.e. in a foreign country; Cleophon, as we have just seen, was not an Athenian. THE THESMOPHORIAZUSAE or The Women's Festival INTRODUCTION Like the 'Lysistrata,' the 'Thesmophoriazusae, or Women's Festival,' and the next following play, the 'Ecclesiazusae, or Women in Council' are comedies in which the fair sex play a great part, and also resemble that extremely _scabreux_ production in the plentiful crop of doubtful 'double entendres' and highly suggestive situations they contain. The play has more of a proper intrigue and formal dénouement than is general with our Author's pieces, which, like modern extravaganzas and musical comedies, are often strung on a very slender thread of plot. The idea of the 'Thesmophoriazusae' is as follows.