[716] A specimen of the serenades ([Greek: paraklausithura]) of the Greeks.
[717] An Attic deme. There is an obscene jest here; the word [Greek: anaphlan] means to masturbate.
[718] [Greek: Ton Sebinon], a coined name, representing [Greek: ton se binounta], 'the man who is to tread you.'
[719] The passage is written in the language of the Bar. It is an allusion to the slowness of justice at Athens.
[720] i.e. the new law must be conformed to all round.
[721] It was customary to paint phials or little bottles on the coffins of the poor; these emblems took the place of the perfumes that were sprinkled on the bodies of the rich.
[722] i.e. unless I am your slave; no doubt this tax of five hundredths was paid by the master on the assumed value of his slave.—We have, however, no historical data to confirm this.
[723] Nickname of the notorious brigand. The word means 'one who stretches and tortures,' from [Greek: prokrouein], and refers to his habit of fitting all his captives to the same bedstead—the 'bed of Procrustes'—stretching them if too short to the required length, lopping their limbs as required if they were too long. Here a further pun is involved, [Greek: prokrouein] meaning also 'to go with a woman first.'
[724] Athenian law declared it illegal for a woman to contract any debt exceeding the price of a medimnus of corn; this law is now supposed to affect the men.
[725] Merchants were exempt from military service; in this case, it is another kind of service that the old woman wants to exact from the young man.