[242] ἐπεπόλαζε γὰρ τότε ταῦτα, Ἡρακλῆς πεινῶν, καὶ Διόνυσος δειλός, καὶ μοιχὸς Ζεύς. Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. 740. The Zeus Cac. of Plato is said to have borne a close resemblance to the Daedalus of Aristophanes, which certainly contained matter of this kind. Cp. Aristoph. Daed. Fr. 3.
[243] It is interesting to observe the absence, as far as one can judge, of any reference to Sappho, the favourite butt of a somewhat later school of comedians. Could the fact of this absence be conclusively proved, it would afford valuable evidence for determining the date of the origin of the Phaon and Sappho legend. The earliest reference to it at present known is, perhaps, that in the Leucadia of Menander.
[244] We may further observe the mention of Lais in Fr. 10 of this play.
[245] Cp. Ovid, Met. X. 686 seqq. The incident might be utilised in various ways.
[246] Cp. Alciphron i. 39, 7. καταπαννυχίσασαι δ’ οὖν καὶ τοὺς ἐραστὰς κακῶς εἰποῦσαι ... ᾠχόμεθα ἔξοινοι.
[247] Vide Athen. xi. 470 F. σπινθήρ in l. 8 seems not to be the proper-name of a slave, but may simply be translated “spark.” The expression is as natural in Greek as in English, even if no other instance of this exact usage occurs.
[248] The “Hedychares” of the title seems to be Plato, so that it is rather tempting to imagine a scene something like the following. The hero, after dilating sufficiently on the virtues of “Platonic” love, is eventually discovered by one of the other characters, in company with a woman under circumstances which suggest the propriety of their getting married immediately—a fact which induces the intruder to exclaim:
φέρε σὺ τὰ καταχύσματα κ.τ.λ. (Fr. 3.)
The late date of this play (cp. Fr. 4) makes a plot of this kind by no means impossible, but, of course, hariolandi est infinita libertas.
[249] Great care must be taken not to misunderstand the causes of this prominence of the Hetaera in Middle Comedy. The fall of Athens, and the events immediately preceding it, resulted in a revolution of the Athenian social system, which was even more momentous than the political overthrow. From this time onwards, the individual appears at Athens as opposed to the state, in a manner that would not have been possible under the earlier régime. Hence in the Middle Comedy, which is perhaps the earliest individualistic poetry which Athens produced, ordinary habits and private life come to be treated with an interest and a realism which had never previously been attempted, and, as a consequence of this, the Hetaerae come to the fore in literature. This fact does not, therefore, imply that the position of these women in the thoughts of men was any higher than had previously been the case, or that there was a growing idea among the people that love for women was a worthy subject for artistic study and representation. It simply means, as will be abundantly clear later on, that the Hetaera was an important feature in private life, and that, therefore, when private life came to be represented on the stage, she was bound to appear there also, just in the same way and for the same reasons as the cook and the fishmonger, who are also such features of this literature.