a poet of Athens, born about 446 B.C., was one of the writers of the old comedy. He began to exhibit his plays at the early age of seventeen, and contended with Aristophanes for the prize 425 B.C. It is said that seven of his pieces were crowned with victory. In those days when the law of libel had not yet been invented, the great and powerful took very summary vengeance on those who had spoken disrespectfully of their characters. Thus Alcibiades is reported to have inflicted a punishment on Eupolis, which was utterly unworthy of his high name. It appears that Eupolis was a private soldier in the army commanded by Alcibiades; and in the voyage to Sicily that general ordered him to be lashed to a rope and plunged several times into the sea, in order to teach him, as he said, to speak with less freedom of his superiors (Cic. Att. vi. 1.). Eupolis perished in a battle against the Lacedemonians, and it was in consequence of this disastrous defeat that the decree was passed by the Athenians to exclude poets from military service. The fragments of his works have been collected. (Eupolii Fragmenta, Gr. Lat. et cum Notis edid. Rob. Walpole, 1805; collegit Mart. Runkel, 1829. See Meinecke, De Eupolii, veteris Comediae Poeta, Berlin, 1826; also Lucas, Cratinus et Eupolis, Bonn, 1826.)