Cyril BAILEY, Who Played 'Dicaeopolis'?
Cyril BAILEY, Who Played 'Dicaeopolis'?
Cyril BAILEY, Who Played 'Dicaeopolis'?
dismisses this statement and says that the story arose from
a misunderstanding of the phrase KaOiriai to Ap&ua 2a’ ecxutoO
in the second argument, which means that the Knights
was produced by Aristophanes in his own name, not Aide
KocAAioTpcrrou or Aid OiAcoviAou. It must certainly be ad¬
mitted that At eocutoO UTreKpivorro is an odd expression for
he acted the part himself5, but the whole account seems
to me to be too circumstantial to be so easily dismissed.
No doubt the statement that no actor ventured to take
the part might have been invented, but the assertion that
no costumier dared make the mask, and that Aristo¬
phanes in consequence had to smear his face with red, is,
I think, too explicit and too gratuitous to have been in¬
vented. After all, as has been seen, there was nothing in
tradition against the poet’s playing a part, but much for
it. The practice was no doubt dying out towards the end
of the fifth century, but Aristophanes may well have kept
to it in some of his earlier plays. And if he played Cleon
in the Knights in 424 b.g., why should he not have played
Dicaeopolis in the previous year? The suggestion is in
no way fantastic, and it provides a satisfactory explana¬
tion for these two passages in the first person which is not
forthcoming on any other view.
. Now the supposition that Aristophanes was himself play¬
ing the part of Dicaeopolis would be strongly confirmed
if it were possible to show that, apart from these two
crucial passages, there were other places in the play which
tend in the same direction, or whose point would be
greatly enhanced if the supposition were true. It can, I
believe, be shown that there are such.
And first as to the name of the chief character, Aikociotto-
Ais; what is its meaning and what its appropriateness to
the play? It is usually1 taken to mean ‘The Just Citizen5.
The name is not unsuited for a character who maintains
throughout the play that while he is truly patriotic, he
wishes also to do justice to Athens’ enemies; ‘for even
comedy knows justice5 (500). All through the play, too,
1 e.g. Starkie, note on 377.
WHO PLAYED ‘DICAEOPOLIS’? 1237
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