of actions, but you do not act in the proper way, nor do you emulate those ancient orators, Pericles, Cimon, Demosthenes and the others who have undertaken the affairs of the Greeks, and while you indict us for illegal proposals, do you bring us to the platform using an information or a preliminary denunciation? For even that most formidable Anytus, having indicted Socrates for impiety, made use of the customs of the democracy, the presentation of the charge, the denunciation, and the state's water flowed for both, and brilliantly each, the one accused, and the other made his defense; but you, not wishing to purge the cities of tyrannies, but hating those who destroy tyrannies, have made your indictment first against them, so that, having mastered the acropolis, you might have a convenient starting point against the rest. Then, indeed, has such madness befallen you, and thus has the daimon who drove you to this altered your mind, that you have attempted not to take the best men one by one, but, gathering them all together, like some other Zeus, to draw them up from the earth, having fastened the golden chain, showing yourself, as if deliberately, an opponent to the greater powers, flashing lightning and thundering from the earth. And those who establish tyrannies do not at once disturb the state with a great transgression, but also make use of the better classes; but you, having chosen to shake the city to its foundations, like the unskilled orators, have not made the introduction of your proem smooth, so that you might build your speech up little by little, nor have you reviled some of the best men in your speech while letting others go, so that your composition might not be suspected, nor have you, like Darius, driven through both sides, nor have you, as in a night battle, perhaps slaughtered friends along with foes, but just as mathematicians, choosing to distinguish the same from the other, make their distinctions unmixed, so indeed have you mixed in no one of the disposition opposite to ours, but having taken us from all the others, you have crowned us against all. Thus, indeed, even the son of Sophroniscus gained more than Antisthenes and Epigenes and Cebes, by alone enduring the indictment and drinking the poison. Then, indeed, as if on a balance, placing us on the heavier scale, you have let yourself go on the other. And I shall ask you again: Do you praise yourself for having composed this drama and take pride in the affair, or do you rank yourself with the most hostile men of the city? If, then, the first, show yourself to those in whose interests you have acted as a citizen, obtain the public proclamation, be heralded by the people; but if you are most hateful to all, this has been well contrived for you above all else, to be known to none of all, like the mythical sand. But if perhaps you have not secured even this completely, but some Lynceus has seen you from on high, at any rate you have erred in two primary ways, both the form of the slander itself and the manner of the villainy; for the former is impious on your part, and the latter is not carried out with precision. But having attempted to bring blame upon others, you have brought upon yourself malice and artlessness, having both envied us and not even smoothed the way for yourself for the movement toward the worse. But while you have decided to alter your hand, you are no less changing the turn of your tongue, but you are altogether senseless at discovering the proper, so to speak, method of villainy. But your wise plan has turned into artlessness, and by loosing your tongue against your betters and mixing in no one of the other disposition with us, you have made your speech on our behalf. Wherefore you have also left the rest, as many as have lived like us, in doubt. And we do not seek to be removed from your tongue, nor they to be inserted into the comedy. Since even Socrates gladly encountered Aristophanes' Clouds and was not indignant at being ridiculed in that fine play, but took pride in the fact that Aristophanes, a man opposed to philosophy, was accusing him. But there, the drama is brilliant and the stage extraordinary and the language of Aristophanes persuasive and the imitation well-formed and the chorus large and the of the

τῶν πράξεων, οὐ ποιεῖς δὲ τὸν καθήκοντα τρόπον, οὐδὲ ζηλοῖς τοὺς ἀρχαίους ἐκείνους ῥήτορας, τὸν Περικλέα, τὸν Κίμωνα, τὸν ∆ημοσθένην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ὅσοι τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς πράξεις ἀνῄρηνται, καὶ γράφεις μὲν παρανόμων ἡμᾶς, εἰσάγεις δὲ εἰς τὸ βῆμα ἐνδείξει ἢ προβολῇ χρώμενος; καὶ ὁ δεινότατος γὰρ ἐκεῖνος Ἄνυτος Σωκράτην ἀσεβείας γραψάμενος τοῖς τῆς δημοκρατίας ἐχρήσατο ἔθεσιν, εἰσαγωγῇ, φάσει, καὶ ἔρρευσεν ἐφ' ἑκατέ ροις τὸ τῆς πολιτείας ὕδωρ καὶ λαμπρῶς ἑκάτεροι ὁ μὲν κατηγόρησεν, ὁ δὲ ἀπολελόγηται· σὺ δὲ οὐ τυραννίδων καθαίρειν τὰς πόλεις βουλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τὰς τυραννίδας ἀναιροῦντας μισῶν κατ' ἐκείνων πρῶτον πεποίησαι τὴν γραφήν, ἵνα τὴν ἀκρόπολιν χειρωσάμενος εὔκαιρον ἔχῃς κατὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀφετήριον. εἶτα δή σοι καὶ τοσαύτη προσπέπτωκε φρενοβλάβεια, καὶ οὕτω σοι ὁ πρὸς τοῦτο ἐλάσας δαίμων τὰς γνώμας ἠλλοίωσεν, ὅτι μὴ καθ' ἕνα τοὺς ἀρίστους, ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ συλλαβὼν ὥσπερ τις Ζεὺς ἕτερος ἀνασπάσειν τῆς γῆς ἐπεχείρησας τῆς χρυσῆς ἐξάψας σειρᾶς ὥσπερ ἐξεπίτηδες ἀντίθετον σαυτὸν δείξας τοῖς κρείττοσιν ἀστράπτων καὶ βροντῶν ἀπὸ γῆς. καὶ οἱ μὲν τὰς τυραννίδας αἱρούμενοι οὔτε μεγάλῳ παρανομήματι κινοῦσι τὴν πολιτείαν εὐθύς, ἀλλὰ προσχρῶνται καὶ τοῖς κρείττοσι γένεσι· σὺ δὲ διασεῖσαι τὴν πόλιν ἑλόμενος ὥσπερ οἱ ἄτεχνοι τῶν ῥητόρων οὐχ ὁμαλὴν πεποίησαι τοῦ προοιμίου τὴν εἰσβολήν, ἵνα κατὰ βραχὺ τὸν λόγον αὐξήσῃς, οὐδέ τινας μὲν τῶν ἀρίστων τῷ λόγῳ διέσυρας, τοὺς δὲ ἀφῆκας, ἵνα μή σοι ὑπονοηθείη τὸ σύγγραμμα, οὐδ' ὡς ὁ ∆αρεῖος ἤλασας καὶ δι' ἀμφοτέρων, οὐδ' ὅσον ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τοὺς φίλους ἴσως κατέσφαξας, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἱ ἀριθμητικοὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ θατέρου διακρίνειν αἱρούμενοι ἀμιγεῖς τὰς διακρίσεις ποιοῦνται, οὕτω δὴ καὶ σὺ οὐδένα τῶν τῆς ἐναντίας ἡμῖν παρέμιξας ἕξεως, ἀλλ' ἐξελὼν τῶν ἄλλων κατὰ πάντων ἡμᾶς ἐστεφάνωσας. οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ὁ Σωφρονίσκου πλέον ἔσχεν Ἀντισθένους καὶ Ἐπιγένους καὶ Κέβητος μόνος τὴν γραφὴν ὑποστὰς καὶ τοῦ φαρμάκου πιών. εἶτα δὴ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ζυγοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς κρείττονος ἡμᾶς πλάστιγγος θεὶς σαυτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἑτέρας ἀφῆκας. Ἐρήσομαι δέ σε καὶ αὖθις· πότερον ἐπαινεῖς σαυτὸν τὸ δρᾶμα πεποιηκὼς καὶ σεμνύνῃ τῷ πράγματι ἢ καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐχθίστων τάττῃ τῆς πόλεως; εἰ μὲν οὖν τὸ πρῶτον, ἐπίδειξαι σαυτὸν τοῖς ὑπὲρ ὧν πεπολίτευσαι, τύχε τῆς ἀναρρήσεως, παρὰ τοῦ δήμου κηρύχθητι· εἰ δὲ πᾶσιν ἔχθιστος εἶ, τοῦτό σοι πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων καλῶς μεμηχάνηται τὸ μηδενὶ τῶν ἁπάντων ἐγνῶσθαι ὥσπερ ἡ ἐμμύθιος ψάμμος. εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτο ἴσως καθαρῶς ἐπορίσω, ἀλλά τις σὲ Λυγγεὺς ὑψόθεν ἑώρακε, δύο γοῦν σοι τὰ πρῶτα ἡμάρτηται, αὐτό τε τὸ τῆς διαβολῆς εἶδος καὶ ὁ τρόπος τοῦ πονηρεύματος· ἐκεῖνό τε γὰρ ἠσέβηταί σοι καὶ τοῦτο οὐ διηκρίβωται. ἀλλὰ μῶμον ἑτέροις προσεπάγειν ἐπιχειρήσας σαυτῷ βασκανίαν προσετρίψω καὶ ἀτεχνίαν ἡμῖν τε φθονήσας καὶ μηδὲ σαυτῷ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐξομαλίσας τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον κινήσεως. ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν χεῖρα μεταποιεῖν ἔγνωκας, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον καὶ τὴν τῆς γλώττης μεταβάλλειν περιβολήν, ἐφευρεῖν δὲ τὸ δέον, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, τοῦ κακουργήματος παντάπασιν ἀνόητος εἶ. ἀλλά σοι τὸ σοφὸν βούλευμα εἰς τὸ ἄτεχνον περιέστηκε καὶ κατὰ τῶν κρειττόνων τὴν γλῶτταν ἀφεὶς καὶ μηδένα τῶν τῆς ἑτέρας καταμίξας ἡμῖν ἕξεως ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸν λόγον πεποίησαι. ὅθεν καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς, ὅσοι καθ' ἡμᾶς βεβιώκασιν, ἀμφιβόλους ἀφῆκας. καὶ οὐχ ἡμεῖς ἐξαιρεθῆναί σου τῆς γλώττης ζητοῦμεν ἢ ἐκεῖνοι παρεμβεβλῆσθαι τῇ κωμῳδίᾳ. ἐπεὶ καὶ Σωκράτης ἡδέως ταῖς Ἀριστοφάνους Νεφέλαις ἐνέτυχε καὶ οὐκ ἠγανάκτησε τῷ καλῷ ἐκείνῳ διασυρόμενος δράματι, ἀλλ' ἐσεμνύνετο ὅτι Ἀριστοφάνης αὐτοῦ κατηγορεῖ ἄνθρωπος πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ἀντίθετος. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν δρᾶμα λαμπρὸν καὶ περιττὴ ἡ σκηνὴ καὶ ὁ Ἀριστοφάνους λόγος ἐπαγωγὸς καὶ ἡ μίμησις εὔπλαστος καὶ πολὺς ὁ χορὸς καὶ ἡ τοῦ