170 ARIS TOPHANES.

ler. “But you have got Iophon.”

Bac. “Yes; he’s the only one,.and I don’t feel
certain about him.”

Her. “Tf you must bring back a poet, why not
Sophocles, who is much to be preferred to Euripides?”

Bac. “ Ah! but, you see, I want to get Iophon by
himself, and see what he can do without his father.!
And then, Euripides is just the rascal who would be
ready to run away. As for Sophocles, he is sure to”
be contented there, as he was here.”

Her. “How about Agathon?”

Bac. “Hehas gone. An excellent poet he was,
and his friends miss him very much.”

Her. “But where has he gone?”

Bac. “Oh! to a better country.” ?

Hler. “But surely you have ten thousand and
more young fellows that write tragedies, who could
give Euripides more than a furlong in chattering
and beat him.”

Bac. “O yes, I know them! the last leavings of

1 Tophon was the son of Sophocles, and gained some brilliant suc-
cesses during his father’s lifetime; but, as Aristophanes hints, it was
possible that he might have been assisted. Only a few lines of his
tragedies survive.

2This might mean that Agathon was dead. It is probable, how-
ever, that it alludes to a visit paid by Agathon about this time to the
court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia (413-399). He is supposed
to have died in 400. Elsewhere Aristophanes speaks less favourably
of him. It was in Agathon’s house that Plato laid the scene of his
famous dialogue called 7he Banguet. The occasion is supposed to have

been the first victory won by him in the competition of tragedies. This
was in 416 B.C.