Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/504

 482 HISTORY OF GREECE. Knights present, must have been intense beyond what we cac now easily imagine. That Kleon could maintain himself aftes this humiliating exposure, is no small proof of his mental vigor and ability. It does nut seem to have impaired his influence, at least not permanently; for not only do we see him the most effective opponent of peace during the next two years, but there is ground for believing that the poet himself found it convenient to softer, his tone towards this powerful enemy. So ready are most writers to find Kleon guilty, that they are satisfied with Aristophanes as a witness against him : though no other public man, of any age or nation, has ever been condemned upon such evidence. No man thinks of judging Sir Robert Wai- pole, or Mr. Fox, or Mirabeau, from the numerous lampoons put in circulation against them : no man will take measure of a po- litical Englishman from Punch, or of a Frenchman from the Charivari. The unrivalled comic merit of the " Knights" of Aristophanes is only one reason the more for distrusting the resemblance of its picture to the real Kleon. We have means too of testing the candor and accuracy of Aristophanes by his delineation of Sokrates, whom he introduced in the comedy of " Clouds " in the year after that of the " Knights." As a comedy, the " Clouds " stands second only to the " Knights " : as a pic- ture of Sokrates, it is little better than pure fancy : it is not even a caricature, but a totally different person. We may indeed perceive single features of resemblance ; the bare feet, and the argumentative subtlety, belong to both ; but the entire portrait is such, that if it bore a different name, no one would think of comparing it with Sokrates, whom we know well from other sources. With such an analogy before us, not to mention what we know generally of the portraits of Perikles by these authors, we are not warranted in treating the portrait of Kleon as a likeness, except on points where there is corroborative evi- dence. And we may add, that some of the hits against him, where we can accidentally test their pertinence, are decidedly not founded in fact ; as, for example, where the poet accuses Kleon of having deliberately and cunningly robbed Demosthenes of his laurels in the enterprise against Sphakteria. 1 Aristophan. Equit. 55. 391, 740, etc. In one passage of the play, Kleon