Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/187

 CONTEMPORARY WITH ARISTOPHANES. 169 '^arupoc, Aristophanes being first with the 'Itttt^?, and Aristo- menes third with the "TXo^opoi or ^0o<^vpiJioi^. In 423 B.C. Cra- tinus gained the first prize with the YIvtIvt} : Ameipsias was second with the Kovvo^, and Aristophanes third with the NecjieXat^. The old poet died the year after this victory 3. The names of forty of his Comedies are known "*. He appears to have been an exceed- ingly bold satirist^, and was so popular that his choruses were sung at every banquet by the comus of revellers^. The model for his iambic style was doubtless Archilochus*^, whom he regarded as a type of his own profession, and whom he multiplied, as he might have done any other ideal, in the chorus of one of his plays (the ^Kp^ikoxoi). To his audacious frankness, even Aristophanes appeared to be infected with the mincing rhetoric of Euripides^. There is reason to believe that Cratinus, in imitation of Sophocles, increased the number of comic actors to three ^. Of his private character we know nothing, save that he was a great tippler, and recommended the use of wine both by precept and by example ^^. 1 Argum. Equit. ^ Argum. Nub. 3 Lucian, Macroh. xxv. ; Proleg. Kilst. p. xxix. 4 Fabric, ii. p. 431, Harles. 5 Comp. Horat. I. Serm. iv. i sqq. with Persius, I. 123. ^ Aristoph. Equit. 526 sqq. Elra Kpariuov ixefxvqfiivo^, 8s ttoXXo; pevaas tot' iiralvq} Ata tQv d(peu!U Tredicov '^ppet, Kal ttjs crrcto'ews irapaavpoov 'Ecpdpei TCLS Spvs Kal ras irXarduovs Kal tovs ix^povs TrpodeXvfipovs' "A aai S' ovK rjv iv (xvpiTroo-io}, ttXV Af^POI STKOHEAIAE, Kai TEKTONES ETIlAAAMfiN TMN12N- oi-Vcos vudrjaeu iKeiuos. "Nvpl 5' vfieis avTou opQvres TrapdXrjpovur' ovk iXeeXre, 'E/cTTtTTToi'crwj' Twu TjKiKTpwv, Kal Tov t6vov ovk ^t' euduTos, T(2u 6' apfioviwu diaxaaKovaQv' dWd yipcjv <Jov irepiippei, "ficTTrep Kouuas, crrecpavou jiev '^X'^v avov, hi-^ei 5' dTroAwXai?, 'Oj' xPW ^'■^ ''""■^ TTpoTepas viKas iriveLv iv ti^ lipvTaveiip, Kat jxy] Xrjpeiv, dXXa dedadai Xnrapbv irapb. ry Aiov^acp. Comp. Buttm. Mythol. ii. 345 foil. "^ His fragments abound in direct imitations of the great iambographer. See Cratin. Archilock. Fr. viii, ix. ; Pytine, Fr. xi. &c. The verb avyKepavvdcj in Pyt. Fr. VIII. is Archilochian ; see above, p. 30. ^ He asks this question of his rival {Fragm. Incert. CLV.) : T/ 5^ (Tv: KOfxxpos ris 'ipoiTO dear-q^, 'TiroXeTTToXoyos, yvcj/Ju8iu}KTr]s, €vpnri.dapL(7T0<pavl^a}V. To which Aristophanes answers (Fragm. ccoxcvii.) : Xpw/xai yap auToO tov crTSfxaros Tip aTpoyy{)Xip, Tos vovi 5' dyopaiovs tjttov tj Keivoi iroiQ. ^ Anon, de Com. p. xxxii. Comp. Meineke, Qucestiones Scenicos, i. p. 19. 1'' Comp. Horat. I. Epist. xix. i ; Aristoph. Pax, 687 (700) and Schol. ; Meineke, Fragm. Com. Vol. 11. p. 119.