Lack of space forbids further quotation from Aristophanes, but his comedies are available to all who wish to read them.
Among the predecessors of Aristophanes was Cratinus, who was an enemy of water drinkers, and expressed the dictum that no verses written by abstainers could ever please or live!
Another, whose fragmentary lines have a certain modern ring, is Simonides, who left us a poem of the ladies, which, it has been said, gave the tone to all the Greek pasquinades of the same class. He compares the different types of ladies to various members of the lower orders in creation; and the “Fine Lady” is represented by a high-bred steed.
THE FINE LADY. BY SIMONIDES.
Next in the lot a gallant dame we see,
Sprung from a mare of noble pedigree;
No servile work her spirit proud can brook,
Her hands were never taught to bake or cook;
The vapour of the oven makes her ill,
She scorns to empty slops or turn the mill.