l6 OLDCOMEDY I
It may be remarked, however., that Antrphanes, the first poet
who certainly belonged to Middle Comedy, produced his first
play about 387, while the latest poets of Old Comedy, such as
Strattis and Theopompos, began writing about 410, so that,
with no gap in production, there was yet a clear distinction
between two generations l For our purpose, at any rate, it is
proposed to regard the period of Old Comedy as covering the
years 455-385, and as a period, though not usually so regarded,
of a real and demonstiable unity 2
At first sight, the history of Athens in those years is not
easily conceived as a unity. The period begins with the con-
clusion of the Persian Wars, and the temporary conclusion of
the wars between the Greek States, at its very start stands the
removal of the treasury of the Confederacy from Delos to
Athens All this made possible the fifteen peaceful and power-
ful years of the Penclean Age Those years were followed by
the great war and the collapse of Athens Then began the
struggle which is typical of the fourth century the varying
rivalry of the Greek States, and their varying dependence on
foreign powers But up to 387, this dependence had not yet
been formulated in strict and binding terms, and the great
influence of Persia on affairs in Greece in the decade following
403 was not dissimilar in character to that of the preceding ten
jrears The position was finally stabilized by the 'King's Peace',
by which Persia guaranteed the autonomy of the Greek States,
in a sense, that year 387 was the end of one chapter of history
and the beginning of a new one
The events of the whole of this period of seventy years may
be seen as the changing aspect of one picture, the picture of the
State and people of Athens, and of her empire The changes, it
is true, were profound, and the year 404-3 stands as a land-
mark in the process of decline and subversion. But the end
of a war is not necessarily the end of an epoch. The results of
the war, its aftermath, must be considered as belonging to a
period of transition. To the very end, the Athens of the Pelo-
ponnesian War had been, in a sense, the Athens of Perikles and
1 See the Chronological Table, p 374^
2 J Denis, La comedie grecque (1886), I, ch 17 and 18, had already fixed the
boundary between Old and Middle Comedy in the year 388 instead of 404
Also Geissler called the last chapter of his book Die alte Komodie im 4 Jakr-
hundert