Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/13

Rh art which we ourselves describe by that name. Modern comedy aims at being much more than a faithful picture of manners; it is a criticism of life. Comedy in the time of Aristophanes, though the conception of it was changing even in his lifetime, was a criticism of opinions, and it was against all those tendencies of the time which he disliked that he directed the keen shafts of his bitter wit.

Three things in the political and intellectual life of his time especially moved the anger of Aristophanes. These were the war policy of the party of imperial expansion, which was voiced by the leader of the democratic party, Kleon, whom Aristophanes makes the object of some of the most bitter and reckless political abuse in literature; the advanced thought of the time in matters of philosophical speculation; and finally, the embodiment of that thought in contemporary literature, especially in the tragedies of Euripides. With all the keenness of a satirist of genius, Aristophanes absorbed as much current speculation as was necessary for his purpose, but he was careful not to understand too much. Had he done so he might have sympathised with his opponents, and so spoilt his mockery! Whether wilfully or not it is hard to say, but his misunderstanding of the philosophers, as exemplified by his caricature of Socrates in the Clouds, is complete, for he attributes to him views on religion, physical speculations, and methods of education which he must have gathered from the teachings of half a dozen of the leading sophists of the day. His attitude of mind towards Euripides is even more difficult to understand. He is always attacking him, and is never tired of pointing out that it is such teaching as that of the tragedian—such abandoned views of morality, such pictures of men and women—which is responsible for the corruption of the age and the degeneracy of the Athenians. And yet he can never, even for a moment, forget Euripides' plays. To such an extent does he imitate Euripides that not only is he for ever parodying single lines and even whole passages, but the contemporary writer Kratinos actually invented the word "Euriparistophanize" to describe the style of the two writers. Euripides' plays can seldom have been out of his hands. He must have known them by heart.