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xliv General Introduction
in the New. The loss of the parabasis meant that the play was no longer
divided into two well-defined parts, and in the fourth century the comic
revolution ceased to be a characteristic feature of the plot. Comedy grew
increasingly less fantastic and more realistic, and it finally came to
deal solely with individual human problems. The plots became more
complicated and were constructed with more skill; motivations had to be
psychologically sound and improbabilities were assiduously avoided.
With all this went a change in character. The animal spirits and boisterous
licence of the Old Comedy gradually vanished and a more rarefied
atmosphere supervened. Uproarious laughter turned into a quiet smile,
and the effort of the New Comedy is not so much to amuse as to entertain.
But the contrast between the Old and the New Comedy is one
between Aristophanes and Menander, and we therefore pass over to a
consideration of the work of these two dramatists. The remarks to be
made about them will be of the most general character; more specific
discussions will be found in the introductions prefixed to each of their
plays.
As is so often the case with ancient writers, we know next to nothing
about the life of Aristophanes. Son of Philippus and Zenodora, he was
born about 445 B.C. in the Cydathenaean deme in Attica. Typical of
such information as we do possess about the poet are the facts that his
family owned land in Aegina, and that he was bald at an early age. He
aroused the ire but successfully weathered the attacks of the demagogue
Cleon. He began to write when he was very young, and his first play, The
Banqueters, was produced in 427 B.C., when he was but eighteen. He
composed about forty comedies in all, but we do not know how often he
was victorious. On several occasions he brought out his plays under other
names, but we do not know why he did this. The date of his death is uncertain,
but it must have been later than 387. The ancient critics, who could
compare his merits with those of his contemporaries, unanimously regarded
him as the greatest of the poets of the Old Comedy. The result of
this is that only Aristophanes has come down to us, and we have to base
our judgments of the Old Comedy solely on the work of its most eminent
artist. We must remember that we may not be dealing with what is
typical of the comic drama of the time, but rather with something exceptional
and revolutionary, advanced beyond its time.
Representative or not, for us it is unique. There has never been anything
quite like it since, and regrettably there will never be anything
quite like it again. The effect of the initial impact of these plays is one
of bewilderment. One rubs one's eyes and wonders whether it really
can have happened. A closer acquaintance and a bit of sober reflection