P. 128. Skiadeion. Sunshade.  Parasol.

P. 129. Theoria. Opora. Characters in the Eirene or “Peace:”  the first personifying games, spectacles, sights; the second, plenty, fruitful autumn, and so on.

P. 133. Philokleon. Lover of Kleon. (Cleon.) Bdelukleon. Reviler of Kleon.

P. 135. Logeion. Front of the stage occupied by the actors.

P. 137. Kukloboros-roaring. Roaring like the torrent Cycloborus (in Attica).

P. 140. Konnos. The play by Ameipsias which beat the “Clouds.” Euthumenes. One who refused the pay of the comic writers, while he tripled that of those who attended at the Assembly. Argurrhios. As before. Kinesias. As before.

P. 144. Triballos. A supposed country and clownish god.

P. 172. Propula. (Propyla.) Gateway to the Acropolis.

P. 248. Elaphebolion month. The “Stag-striking” month.

P. 249. Bakis prophecy. Foolish prophecies attributed to one Bacis, rife at that time; a collective name for all such.

P. 255. Kommos. General weeping—­by the chorus and an actor.

“FIFINE AT THE FAIR.”

“Fifine at the Fair” is a defence of inconstancy, or of the right of experiment in love; and is addressed by a husband to his wife, whose supposed and very natural comments the monologue reflects.  The speaker’s implied name of Don Juan sufficiently tells us what we are meant to think of his arguments; and they also convict themselves by landing him in an act of immorality, which brings its own punishment.  This character is nevertheless a standing puzzle to Mr. Browning’s readers, because that which he condemns in it, and that which he does not, are not to be distinguished from each other.  It is impossible to see where Mr. Browning ends and where Don Juan begins.  The reasoning is scarcely ever that of a heartless or profligate person, though it very often betrays an unconsciously selfish one.  It treats love as an education still more than as a pleasure; and if it lowers the standard of love, or defends too free an indulgence in it, it does so by asserting what is true for imaginative persons, though not for the commonplace:  that whatever stirs even a sensuous admiration appeals also to the artistic, the moral, and even the religious nature.  Its obvious sophistries are mixed up with the profoundest truths, and the speaker’s tone has often the tenderness of one who, with all his inconstancy, has loved deeply and long.  We can only solve the problem by referring to the circumstances in which the idea of the poem arose.