Aristophanes' plays promote conservative values and support an honourable peace with Sparta, whereas Cleon was a radical democrat and a leader of the pro-war faction. Misunderstandings were inevitable. Cleon had previously attempted to prosecute Aristophanes for slandering the "polis" with his second play "The Babylonians", and though the legal result of these efforts is unknown, they appear to have sharpened the poet's satirical edge, as evidenced later in the unrelenting attack on Cleon in "The Knights". The second parabasis in "The Wasps" implies that Cleon retaliated for his drubbing in "The Knights" with yet further efforts to intimidate or prosecute Aristophanes, and the poet may have publicly yielded to this pressure for a short time. Whatever agreement was reached with Cleon, Aristophanes gleefully reneged on it in "The Wasps", presenting Cleon as a treacherous dog manipulating a corrupted legal process for personal gain.