CRATINUS (519-423 b.c.), one of the greatest of the Athenian masters of comedy. Our knowledge of his personal history consists of only one or two facts :—he was the son of a certain Callinιedes; he was triarch of the AEnean tribe; he died in 423 b.c., at the age (Lucian tells us) of ninety-seven; and the end of his life was devoted to drinking. His comedies also are now lost, with the exception of small fragments; but as to their character his contemporaries are in general agreement. They were distinguished by their direct and vigorous political satire, a marked exception being the burlesque O5uwi¾, which was probably written while a law was in force forbidding all political references on the stage, and which is also remarkable for the absence of the chorus. Persius calls their author “the bold;” and even Pericles, when at the height of his power, did not escape their vehement attacks. Of his last comedy the plot has come down to us. It was occasioned by the sneers of Aristophanes and others who declared that he was no better than a doting drunkard. Roused by the taunt Cratinus put forth all his strength, and in 423 b.c. produced the Πvτiι∏j, or Bottle, which so completely vindicated his powers that he gained the first prize, and triumphed over the Clouds of Aristophanes, This victory, however, was very possibly determined partly by other than artistic considerations, for Aristophanes would have to struggle against the influence of the sophists, the rhetoricians, and the disciples of Socrates. In this comedy, good-humouredly making fun of his own weakness, Cratinus represents the comic muse as the faithful wife of his youth. His guilty fondness for a rival —the bottle—has aroused her jealousy. She demands a divorce from the archon; but her husband’s ...