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the dignity of the object, the more easily does it admit of that 

 absurd contrast, in which the ludicrous consists. 



But without supposing that Aristophanes wrote with any 

 personal animosity against Socrates, and even giving him 

 credit for an earnest and good intention, it is not difficult to 

 conceive why he singled out Socrates for ludicrous exhibition. 

 In the first place, the personal appearance and external bear- 

 ing of Socrates, which were singular and eccentric, were 

 doubtless well known to the audience, and easily capable 

 of dramatic representation. Living in comparative poverty, 

 his dress was simple and even spare. All his habits were 

 remarkably self-denying and abstemious ; for, unlike the 

 Sophists generally, he accepted no pay for his instructions, 

 which, among other things, seems to show that Aristophanes 

 aimed his Comedy at the Sophists as a class, and made choice 

 of Socrates as their representative, simply because, looking at 

 him from a distance and having no sympathy with philoso- 

 phical speculations, he regarded him as the most eminent 

 and notorious of their number. The fact, however, was, that 

 Socrates differed essentially from the Sophists generally in the 

 end which he aimed at, however much he resembled or sur- 

 passed them in dialectic skill. Opinions have differed almost 

 as widely about Aristophanes as about Socrates, but upon the 

 whole it seems, perhaps, most probable (judging from his 

 other plays, especially that in which he had the boldness to 

 attack Cleon when at the height of his influence) that he was 

 a sincere patriot, who feared that the Athenians were in dan- 

 ger of losing the moral simplicity of the preceding age, and of 

 acquiring an universal and licentious scepticism in regard to 

 all the principles and affections which they had hitherto held 

 sacred, under the insidious influences of sophistical teaching. 

 His fear was, probably, neither unnatural nor unfounded, but 

 Socrates himself, as I shall endeavour to show, was rather a 

 check and safe-guard against the danger, than the source 

 whence it arose. 



