and the manner in which she has scared
his chorus and its followers away; "not indeed that that matters, since
the archon's economy and the world's squeamishness will soon abolish it
altogether."[35] Then struck by a passing thought, he stands grave,
silent--another man in short--awaiting what she has to say.

In this sober moment, Balaustion welcomes him to her house. She welcomes
him as the Good Genius: as genius of the kindly, though purifying
humour, which, like summer lighting, illumines, but does not destroy.
She knows and implies that he is not only this. But she greets the
light, no matter to what darkness it be allied. She reverences the god
who forms one half of him, so long as the monster which constitutes the
other, remains out of sight; a poetic myth is made to illustrate this
feeling. The gravity, however, is short-lived. The lower self in
Aristophanes springs up again, and his "apology" begins.

"Aristophanes' APOLOGY" is a defence of comedy, as understood and
practised by himself: that is, as a broad expression of the natural
life, and a broad satire upon those who directly or indirectly condemn
it. It is addressed to Euripides in the person of his disciple. It is at
the same time an attack upon him; and in either capacity it covers a
great deal of ground. For the dispute does not lie simply between comedy
and tragedy--which latter, with the old tragedians, was often only the
naturalism of comedy on a larger scale--but between naturalism and
humanity, as more advanced thinkers understood it; between the old ideas
of human and divine conveyed by tragedy and comedy alike, and the new
ones which Euripides, the friend of Socrates, had imported into them;
and the question at issue involved, therefore, not only art and morals,
but the entire philosophy of life. The "Apology" derives farther
interest and significance from the varied emotions by which it is
inspired. The speaker (as is the case in "Fifine at the Fair") is
answering not only his opponent, but his own conscience. How the
conscience of Aristophanes has been aroused he presently tells: first
struggling a little with the false shame which the experience has left
behind. This is the scene which he describes.

A festive supper had followed the successful play. Jollity was at its
height. The cup was being crowned to Aristophanes as the "Triumphant,"
when a knock came to the door: and there entered no "asker of
questions," no casual passer-by, but the