Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes, son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These, together with fragments of some of his other plays, provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, and are used to define it...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPoet
summer husband war
When the soldier returns from the wars, even though he has white hair, he very soon finds a young wife. But a woman has only one summer; if she does not make hay while the sun shines, no one will afterwards have anything to say to her, and she spends her days consulting oracles that never send her a husband.
taste poet coarse
It is bad taste for a poet to be coarse and hairy.
women fire would-be
There is no beast, no rush of fire, like woman so untamed. She calmly goes her way where even panthers would be shamed.
home vegetables soup
I saw a cavalry captain buy vegetable soup on horseback. He carried the whole mess home in his helmet.
men rogues honest
A demagogue must be neither an educated nor an honest man; he has to be an ignoramus and a rogue.
winning people together
Mix and knead together all the state business as you do for your sausages. To win the people, always cook them some savory that pleases them.
honesty men gains
No man is really honest; none of us is above the influence of gain.
voice language attributes
[Y]ou possess all the attributes of a demagogue; a screeching, horrible voice, a perverse, crossgrained nature and the language of the market-place. In you all is united which is needful for governing.
mind mouths
Open your mind before your mouth
total-war
Ah! the Generals! they are numerous, but not good for much!
fairness heard
Thou shouldst not decide until thou hast heard what both have to say.
lying justice comedy
Comedy is allied to justice.
winning people promise
To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.
wise wisdom enemy
The wise learn many things from their enemies.