If the American Editor of this little volume (which is sent forth as a test of the character of American learning) deemed it either expedient or necessary to expatiate upon the merits of an author so celebrated and gifted as A ristophanes, he might extend his eulogia beyond the patient perusal of the moderns. The eloquent and erudite preliminary discourse by the accomplished translator, however, anticipates the remarks which otherwise would be expanded. No satirist, ancient or modern, ever enjoyed the deserved reputation of A ristophanes, and no one ever depicted, in colors so vivid and unfading, the essential and peculiar characteristics of democracy. As he lived under the dominion of the Universal People, he thoroughly understood the qualities of the democrats whom he has ridiculed and immortalized; and he never shrunk, when occasion demanded, from the exposure of flagrant abuses. Therefore, we commend, earnestly commend the perusal of this volume to our literary countrymen: and if the reception of this limited edition of a single comedy shall justify the editor in the more enlarged republication of all the works of A ristophanes, he will rejoice in the opportunity, thus afforded, of instructing and enlightening his countrymen.
