my whole body, and basked the whole day standing in the sun-shine.[1]
5th Wom. And I. I threw the razor out of the house the first thing, in order that I might be hairy all over, and no longer like a woman at all.
Prax. Have you the beards, which we were all ordered to have, whenever we assembled?
4th Wom. (holding one up). Yea, by Hecate! see! here's a fine one![2]
5th Wom. (holding one up). And I one, not a little finer than that of Epicrates.[3]
Prax. (turning to the others). But what do you say?
4th Wom. They say yes; for they nod assent.
Prax. Well now I perceive that you have done the other things. For you have Laconian shoes, and staffs, and your husbands' garments, as we ordered.
6th Wom. I secretly brought away this club of[4] Lamia's as he was sleeping.
Prax. This is one of those clubs, under whose[5] weight he fizzles.
- ↑ "It was the custom of the men to anoint the whole body with oil, and dry it in before the sun; and of the women, to shave themselves all over." Gray. For the preposition, see Bernhardy, W. S. p. 264.
- ↑ See note on Aves, 992.
- ↑ A brachylogy for τοῦ τοῦ Ἐπικράτους καλλίονα. When the subject of comparison and the object of comparison are the same word, instead of the latter being expressed in the genitive, along with the genitive governed by it, it is often omitted, and the possessive genitive alone expressed. Hom. Il. Φ. 191, κρείσσων Διὸς γενεὴ ποταμοῖο τέτυκται, i. e. γενεῆς ποταμοῖο. Herod, ii. 134, πυραμίδα καὶ οὗτος ἀπελίπετο πολλὸν ἐλάσσω τοῦ πατρός, i. e. τῆς πυραμίδος τοῦ πατρός. Cf. Hermann, Vig. n. 55. Schäfer ad Schol. Apoll. R. p. 164. Richter on Anacoluthon, part i. p. 32, and note on vs. 701, infra, and on Plut. 368. Epicrates was remarkable for a bushy beard; hence Plato, the comic poet, nicknamed him σακεσφόρος. "Epicrates 'of the beard' had been a popular character since his participation in the expedition of Thrasybulus, for the liberation of the city. He understood how to make a right good use of this position. His and Phormisius' embassy to the court of Susa, gave occasion to a special comedy of Plato, the comic poet." Droysen.
- ↑ "Pherecrates, the comic poet, said of the hobgoblin Lamia, that it puffs with heaving its club. This is comically transferred to the sixth woman's husband." Voss. Cf. Vesp. 1177.
- ↑ "Wohl eine von denen, unter deren Last man—pupt." Droysen.
