4
It follows that in one respect Sophocles would be the same kind of artist as Homer, for both represent good men, and in another respect he would resemble Aristophanes, for they both represent men in action and doing things. And that according to some is the reason why they are called dramas, because they present people as doingDrama being derived from δρᾶν to do. things.
5
And for this reason the Dorians claim as their own both tragedy and comedy—comedy is claimed both by the Megarians here in Greece, who say that it originated in the days of their democracy, and by the Megarians in Sicily,The inhabitants of Megara Hyblaea. for it was from there the poet EpicharmusEpicharmus of Cos wrote in Sicily burlesques and mimes depicting scenes of daily life. He and Phormis were originators of comedy in that they sketched types instead of lampooning individuals (cf. Aristot. Poet. 5.5): of Chionides and Magnes we only know that they were early comedians, i.e., in the first half of the fifth century B.C. came, who was much earlier than Chionides and Magnes; and tragedy some of the Peloponnesians claim. Their evidence is the two names.