nd the Lacedemonians, though it continued but seven years. The Acharnenses was written after the death of Pericles and the loss of the battle in Sicily, in order to dissuade the people from intrusting the safety of the commonwealth to such generals as Lamachus. Soon after he represented his Birds, by which he admonished the Athenians to fortify Decelaea, which he calls by a fictitious name, *Nepheloecycgia*. The Vespe, or Wasps, was written after another loss in Sicily, which the Athenians suffered from the misconduct of Chares. He wrote the Lysistrata when all Greece was involved in war; in which comedy the women are introduced debating upon the affairs of the commonwealth, when they come to a resolution not to go to bed with their husbands till a peace should be concluded. His Plutus, and other comedies of that kind, were written after the magistrates had given orders that no person should be exposed by name upon the stage. He invented a peculiar kind of verse, which was called by his name, and is mentioned by Cicero in his Brutus; and Suidas says that he also was the inventor of the tetrameter and octameter verse.

Aristophanes was greatly admired among the ancients, especially for the true Attic elegance of his style. The time of his death is unknown; but it is certain that he was living after the expulsion of the tyrants by Thrasybulus, whom he mentions in his Plutus and other comedies.

There have been many editions of the works of Aristophanes. The *editio princeps*, printed by Aldus at Venice in 1498, in folio, is a rare and beautiful volume. The best edition is that of Brunck, printed at Strasbourg in 1781-3, in 4 vols. 8vo, and reprinted at Oxford in 1810. Nicodemus Frischin, a German, famous for his classical knowledge in the 16th century, translated Plutus, the Clouds, the Frogs, the Equites, and the Acharnenses, into Latin verse. Quintus Septimus Florens rendered into Latin verse the Wasps, the Peace, and Lysistrata; but his translation is full of obsolete words and phrases. Madame Dacier published, at Paris, in 1692, a French version of Plutus and of the Clouds, with critical notes, and an examination of them according to the rules of the theatre. Mr Lewis Theobald likewise translated these two comedies into English, and published them with remarks. Mr Cumberland gave a translation of the Clouds in his *Observer*, accompanied with an able view of the life and genius of the author. A translation of the greater part of Aristophanes, with introductions of considerable length, has been published by Mr Mitchell, in 2 vols. 8vo, Lond. 1820-22.