[395] This is a hemistich, the Scholiast says, from Euripides.
[396] The son of Sophocles. Once, during his father's lifetime, he gained the prize for tragedy, but it was suspected that the piece itself was largely the work of Sophocles himself. It is for this reason that Dionysus wishes to try him when he is dependent on his own resources, now that his father is dead. The death of the latter was quite recent at the time of the production of 'The Frogs,' and the fact lent all the greater interest to this piece.
[397] Agathon was a contemporary of Euripides, and is mentioned in terms of praise by Aristotle for his delineation of the character of Achilles, presumably in his tragedy of 'Telephus.' From the fragments which remain of this author it appears that his style was replete with ornament, particularly antithesis.
[398] Son of Caminus, an inferior poet, often made the butt of Aristophanes' jeers.
[399] A poet apparently, unknown.
[400] Expressions used by Euripides in different tragedies.
[401] Parody of a verse in Euripides' 'Andromeda,' a lost play.
[402] Heracles, being such a glutton, must be a past master in matters of cookery, but this does not justify him in posing as a dramatic critic.
[403] Xanthias, bent double beneath his load, gets more and more out of patience with his master's endless talk with Heracles.
[404] The mortar in which hemlock was pounded.