his play The Clouds, publicly accused Eupolis' play Maricas to be a plagiarism of fellow comic Phrynichus and his own Knights: Eupolis, indeed, first of all craftily introduced his Maricas, / having basely, base fellow, spoiled by altering my play of the Knights, / having added to it, for the sake of the cordax, a drunken old woman, whom / Phrynichus long ago poetized, whom the whale was for devouring. —(Chorus [leader], in The Clouds, line 553–556, transl. William James Hickie, 1871) Works Eupolis obtained first prize seven times, but only fragments remain of the 19 titles attributed to him. Of these, the best known are: Kolakes ("Flatterers"), in which he pilloried the spendthrift Callias, who wasted his money on sophists and parasites. This play won first prize in the City Dionysia of 421 BC, defeating Aristophanes' Peace. Maricas, an attack on Hyperbolus, the successor of Cleon, under a fictitious name. Baptai ("Dippers," Latinization: Baptae), against Alcibiades and his groups, at which profligate foreign rites were practised. The word Baptai was a name given to the priests of the Thracian goddess Cotytto. Demoi ("Demes") and Poleis ("Cities") were political plays, dealing with the desperate condition of the state and with the allied (or tributary) cities. Other people he attacked in his plays were Socrates, Cimon, and Cleon. The following 14 titles (with associated fragments) are also ascribed to Eupolis: Storey estimates a total output of 14 or 15 works for Eupolis, noting the doubtful paternity of some of the works attributed to the poet. He considers his career to have lasted from 429 to 411 BC, a period of 18 years. Death and burial Ian Storey notes that there are "four ancient traditions" on the manner of death and burial of Eupolis, each with details impossible to reconcile to each other. The first tradition is "the well-known story" concerning Alcibiades. Eupolis targeted that politician in his play Baptai, but then found himself serving under Alcibiades in the Sicilian Expedition. Alcibiades retaliated by having the poet drowned on the way to Sicily. This would place Eupolis' death in "the late spring or early summer" of 415 BC. The story, with small variations, can be found in the writings of Juvenal, Aelius Aristides, Themistius, Platonios, John Tzetzes and the Anonymus Crameri. The latter two add two new details. First, that Eupolis made fun of Alcibiades' rhotacism. Second, that soldiers dunked the poet