HERMES What then?
TRYGAEUS He has turned from Sophocles into Simonides.(1)
f(1) Simonides was very avaricious, and sold his pen to the
highest bidder. It seems that Sophocles had also started
writing for gain.
HERMES Into Simonides? How so?
TRYGAEUS Because, though old and broken-down as he is, he would put to sea on a hurdle to gain an obolus.(1)
f(1) i.e. he would recoil from no risk to turn an honest
penny.
HERMES And wise Cratinus,(1) is he still alive?
f(1) 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.
TRYGAEUS He died about the time of the Laconian invasion.
HERMES How?