Note 73 — Chapter I · DRAMATIC CONTESTS AT ATHENS

Arg. Aristoph. Vespae. [The passage, however, is almost certainly corrupt, and most editors are now agreed that in its existing form, according to which Philonides brought out both the Προάγων and the Σφῆκες, it cannot stand; and that even if both plays can have been the work of Aristophanes, they cannot both have been produced by Philonides. For the various emendations, vide Kanngiesser, Über die alte komische Bühne, p. 270; Petersen, Fleck. Jahrb. lxxxv. p. 662; Leo, Rhein. Mus. xxxiii. p. 404; the introductions to Rogers and van Leeuwen’s editions of the Wasps; and a brief summary in Excursus I of Starkie’s edition. It is very doubtful whether there is good evidence for the practice alluded to, as regards the fifth century B.C.]