CHAPTER XVIII.

_ARISTOPHANES._

Heine's Critique on Aristophanes.--Aristophanes as a Poet of the Fancy.--The Nature of his Comic Grossness.--Greek Comedy in its Relation to the Worship of Dionysus.--Greek Acceptance of the Animal Conditions of Humanity.--His Burlesque, Parody, Southern Sense of Fun.--Aristophanes and Menander.--His Greatness as a Poet.--Glimpses of Pathos.--His Conservatism and Serious Aim.--Socrates, Agathon, Euripides.--German Critics of Aristophanes.--Ancient and Modern Comedy.--The _Birds_.--The _Clouds_.--Greek Youth and Education.--The Allegories of Aristophanes.--The _Thesmophoriazusæ_.--Aristophanes and Plato. Page 171