5
Athens, to be sure, possessed no famous writer of either epic or melic poetry; for Cinesias Cf. Moralia, 1141 e; Aristophanes, Birds, 1373 ff.; Frogs, 366; Ecclesiazusae, 327 ff.; Plato, Gorgias, 502 a. Athenaeus, 551 d, quotes from an oration of Lysias against him; but even though unpopular he was at least witty; cf. Moralia, 22 a (170 a). seems to have been an infelicitous dithyrambic poet. He was himself without family or fame but, jeered and mocked by the comic poets, he acquired his share in unfortunate notoriety. And for the dramatic poets, the Athenians considered the writing of comedy so undignified and vulgar a business that there was a law forbidding any member of the Areopagus to write comedies. But tragedy blossomed forth and won great acclaim, becoming a wondrous entertainment for the ears and eyes of the men of that age, and, by the mythological character of its plots, and the vicissitudes which its characters undergo, it effected a deception wherein, as Gorgias Cf. Moralia, 15 d. remarks, he who deceives is more honest than he who does not deceive, and he who is deceived is wiser than he who is not deceived. For he who deceives is more honest, because he has done what he promised to do; and he who is deceived is wiser, because the mind which is not insensible to fine perceptions is easily enthralled by the delights of language.
