Bapta, suborned certain assassins to throw him into the sea, as he was passing the Hellespont with the Athenian forces, then on an expedition against the Lacedæmonians; and several authorities impute this revengeful deed to Alcibiades, who had been severely handled in that piece; but Cicero, in his first epistle of the sixth book to Atticus, speaks of this report as a vulgar error, and quotes Eratosthenes for the fact of Eupolis having written certain comedies after the time when the event of his death is dated-redarguit Eratosthenes; affert enim quas ille post id tempus fabulas docuerit.

Pausanias tells us, that his tomb was erected upon the banks of the Esopus, in Sicyonia, and as it is not likely this honour should be paid to his memory by the Sicyonians, he being an Athenian born, unless he had died in their country; the authority of Pausanias seems to confirm the account of Eratosthenes, and discredit the fable of his being thrown into the Hellespont.

In his comedy, called The People, by the fiction of the scene he raises the shades of their departed orators and demagogues from the dead; and when Pericles, last of the troop, arises, the poet demands, Who is it that appears? The question being answered, and the spirit of Pericles dismissed, he pronounces his encomium- That he was pre-eminent as an orator, for man never spoke as he spoke : when he started like a courser in the race, he threw all competitors out of sight, so rapid was the torrent of his eloquence: but with that rapidity there flowed such sweetness and persuasion from his lips, that he alone of all orators, struck a sting into the very souls of his hearers, and left it there to remain for ever.'

I think it probable the following fragment has been the opening speech of this very comedy; for in it he addresses the people, and complains of the prefer

ence they are apt to bestow upon foreigners, to the neglect of their own countrymen-Receiving every thing with favour that falls from their lips, and applauding them as oracles of human wisdom; whereas, if any one of your own countrymen addresses you (though in no respect their inferior) you look down upon him with contempt; nay, you are ready to pronounce that the man is in his dotage; a fool who never had senses, or a madman who has lost thembut hark ye, gentlemen! let me have a word with you at starting; let me prevail with you to revoke these unjust proceedings, and give a fellow-citizen, and your humble servant, a fair hearing and impartial judgment.'

I suspect this to be a sly blow at Aristophanes, who was not an Athenian born, and perhaps at this time had not his adoption. He proceeds to lament the state of public affairs, and the degeneracy of the times; for in the old comedy it was usual for the poet to harangue the theatre, either in the opening of the piece, or at any convenient interval between the scenes, sometimes in his own person, sometimes by the chorus. We cannot wonder if such sentiments as the following, delivered from the stage, should render Eupolis obnoxious to men in power.

Address to the Audience by Eupolis.

'Of many things, which offer themselves to my consideration, I cannot find words to speak, so penetrated am I with affliction, when I turn my thoughts to the condition of the commonwealth; for you must be conscious, O citizens, it was not so administered in times past, when men of high birth, men whose rank, fortune, and merit, gave them a consideration in the state, filled the first offices of government: to such we deferred, as to the deities themselves; for they merited our respect, and under their protection

we enjoyed security: now we have no other guide in our election but blind ignoble chance, and on whatsoever head it falls, though he be the worst and meanest of mankind, he starts up a great man at once, and is installed with all proper solemnity a rogue in state." Here the poet speaks out of the rostrum rather than from the stage: this is plain bold language; and tempts me to call our countryman Ben Jonson on the scene, who was deep in all these remnants of the old Geeek poets, and frequently talks the very language of the Athenian theatre.

Asper, in character of Presenter of the play, thus opens the comedy of Every man out of his Humour.

Address to the Audience by B. Jonson.

Away!

Who is so patient of this impious world,
That he can check his spirit or rein his tongue?
Who can behold such prodigies as these,
And have his lips sealed up? Not I: my soul
Was never ground into such oily colours,
To flatter vice and daub iniquity:
But with an armed and resolved hand
I'll strip the ragged follies of the time,
Naked as at their birth-

I fear no mood stampt in a private brow,
When I am pleas'd to unmask a public vice.
I fear no strumpet's drugs, nor ruffian's stab.
Should I detect their hateful luxuries:
No broker's, usurer's, or lawyer's gripe,
Were I dispos'd to say, They're all corrupt.
I fear no courtier's frown, should I applaud
The easy flexure of his supple hams.
Tut! these are so innate and popular,

That drunken custom would not shame to laugh
In scorn at him, that should not dare to tax them.

&c. &c.

This is the very spirit of the old Greek comedy, speaking through the organs of our English Aristophanes, and old Ben fills the character of the præ

grandis senex, as well as he for whom it was designed. It is the Comadia, vocem tollens, and asserting her determination to keep up her rights, according to ancient custom of her founders-Siquis erat dignus describi.-In the third year of Olymp. lxxxix, which was two years after the decease of Cratinus, Eupolis acted his comedy, called The Flatterers, Alcæus being archon. I cannot doubt but the following is a fragment of this comedy; it is a part of the speech of a parasite, and runs over a few of the arts by which he gulls the rich boobies that fall in his way.

The Parasite of Eupolis.

Mark now, and learn of me the thriving arts,
By which we parasites contrive to live:
Fine rogues we are, my friend (of that be sure),
And daintily we gull mankind.-Observe!
First I provide myself a nimble thing
To be my page, a varlet of all crafts;
Next two new suits for feasts and gala days,
Which I promote by turns, when I walk forth
To sun myself upon the public square:
There if perchance I spy some rich dull knave,
Straight I accost him, do him reverence,
And, saunt'ring up and down with idle chat
Hold him awhile in play; at every word,
Which his wise worship utters, I stop short
And bless myself for wonder; if he ventures
On some vile joke, I blow it to the skies,
And, hold my sides for laughter-Then to supper
With others of our brotherhood to mess
In some night-cellar on our barley-cakes,
And club inventions for the next day's shift.

The Parasite of Ben Jonson.

MOSCA.

-Oh! your parasite

Is a most precious thing, dropt from above,
Not bred 'mongst clods and clot-poles here on earth,
I muse the mystery was not made a science,

It is so liberally profest. Almost

All the wise world is little else in nature

But parasites and sub-parasites. And yet
I mean not those, that have your bare town art,
To know who's fit to feed them; have no house,
No family, no care, and therefore mould

Tales for men's ears, to bait that sense-nor those
With their court dog-tricks, that can fawn and fleer,
Make their revenue out of legs and faces,
Echo, My Lord, and lick away a moth;
But your fine elegant rascal, that can rise,
And stoop almost together like an arrow,
Shoot thro' the air as nimbly as a star,
Turn short as doth a swallow, and be here,
And there and here, and yonder all at once;
Present to any humour, all occasion,

And change a vizor swifter than a thought;
This is the creature had the art born with him.

Lucian's Parasite, which is a masterpiece of character and comic writing, and Horace's dialogue between Tiresias and Ulysses (which is the fifth satire of the second book) might perhaps be traced in passages of this comedy of Eupolis, if we had it entire.

Eupolis, in his Lacedæmonians attacks both the public and private character of Cimon, charging him with improper partiality for the Lacedæmonians, with drunkenness, and even with an incestuous commerce with his own sister Pnyce; Plutarch takes notice of this attack, and says it had a great effect in stirring up the populace against this celebrated commander.

He wrote his comedy, entitled Marica, against the orator Hyperbolus, whom Thucydides mentions to have been banished by ostracism.

We have the titles of upwards of twenty plays of this author's composition.