Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/aristophanesiachOOarisrich THE ATHENIAN SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS VII 250 Copies of this work have been privately printed on ordinary paper solely for distribution amongst the Members of the Athenian Society. None of these Copies are for sale. 5 Special Copies have also been privately printed on Japanese Vellum. None of these copies are for sale. The Council of the Society pledge themselves never to reprint nor to re-issue in any form. This Copy is No. 3 J ARISTOPHANES I. —THE ACHARNIANS II.—THE KNIGHTS III.— THE CLOUDS LITERALLY AND COMPLETELY TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK. WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES ATHENS: PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE ATHENIAN SOCIETY: MDCCCXCVIII EuPOLis, atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque poetae, Atque alii, quorum comoedia prisca virorum est, Si quis erat dignus describi, quod malus, aut fur, Quod moechus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui Famosus, multa cum libertate notabant. EupoLis, Cratinus, Aristophanes, And other writers of Old Comedies, If e'er they meant to bring a knave to grief, A lecher, cut-throat, foul-mouthed cur, a thief. Or other scamp, used no uncertain tones. But said just what they meant, and made no bones. MS. Translation. F4 3^75' INTRODUCTION Up to the present time no complete English translation of the Comedies of Aristophanes has existed. Of bowdlerised versions there have been enough and to spare ; but an emas- culated Aristophanes is no Aristophanes at all. Such a monstrosity is something worse than the proverbial play of " Hamlet " with the part of Hamlet carefully and conscientiously cut out. The present translation claims to be a full and faithful representation of what the Athe- nians laughed at over two thousand years ago, in the most brilliant period of their national history. While keeping true to scholarly lines, it has sought before all else to avoid the dry-as- dust traditions. The result, therefore, is, it may be hoped, readable. The "crib" trans- lations, even apart from their sins of omission, are generally so crude as scarcely to be worthy the name of EngHsh at all. The conversational b vi INTRODUCTION style has been deliberately adopted, since to tutoyer comic characters is ridiculously out of place ; and the unquestioned coarseness of some expressions has been set down in plain English by way of contrast to the delicacies with which they are surrounded, since in such contrast lies much of the delight which the reader feels at the picture of old Greek life presented in the sparkling comedies of Aristo- phanes. It has been caustically remarked of Plato that he was a strange combination of common sense and silliness ; and it may be said of Aristophanes, in quite as antithetical a form of speech, that he combined the opposite extremes of lyric beauty and something that closely shaves the edges of bestiality. Nothing can surpass the delicacy of the choral elements in " The Clouds," or the pictures of rural life in " The Peace," whilst it must be confessed that instances of the other element are to be found passim throughout the length and breadth of his extant comedies. That he introduced this matter in deference to the spirit of his times goes without saying. There are instances, as, for example, in the latter part of '^The Wasps," INTRODUCTION vii where it would appear as if an exacting Athe- nian audience, not satisfied with the existing amount of naughtiness, asked for more, and the compliant comedy-writer was fain to grant their request. The particular passage in this play bears evident marks of interpolation. But apart from this, it suffices to say that the Aris- tophanic style represents the fagon de parley of the period ; and to eliminate, or even modify it, is to destroy the faithfulness of your translation as a representative specimen of the Old Comedy. One cannot help wondering why squeamish people ever set themselves to read or translate Aristophanes at all. It seems an almost equal absurdity to prepare " school editions " care- fully expurgated, for the simple reason that to expurgate this particular author is to extinguish him. Far better let our ingenuous youth defer their study of Aristophanes until they arrive at such years of discretion — or indiscretion — as would justify the placing before them Aristo- phanes pure and simple, which, it must be confessed, means Aristophanes impure and not by any means simple. It is annoying to find brilliant translators, b—2 viii INTRODUCTION who give us an excellent version up to a point, safeguarding themselves against criticism by such remarks as the following : " English readers must not, of course, take this version to be even in attempt Aristophanic. The soul of Aristophanes ' dwelleth not in a dry place,' and his audacious Bacchic licence is out of date in the * cool shade of modern Protest- antism.' Some passages of the play have been thus necessarily omitted, and others (e.g., the Phallic Hymn) have been, as the only alterna- tive to their omission, hopelessly modernised." There is no need to name names in connec- tion with this subject. The following is from the pen of a still more prolific and more bril- liant translator of pseudo- Aristophanes : " The next five-and-thirty lines (referring to the probably interpolated matter in ' The Wasps ') contain much that had been better omitted; and the Enghsh on the right hand page is in many places necessarily a substitute for rather than a translation of the original text." Most amusing of all is it — and here one must name a justly honoured name — to find the author of *^Tom Jones " garnishing his excel- INTRODUCTION ix lent prose version of ** The Plutus " with such footnotes as the following : " We cannot with decency render the Greek more literally." It is indeed hopeless to attempt to be decent or to cater for the tastes of Mistress Grundy if a recognisable version of Aristophanes is to be given. It can, at all events, be claimed that the right-hand pages of the present translation offer a faithful, though sometimes a free translation of the Greek matter on the left. If nothing has been extenuated, nothing has been set down in malice. Indecency and profanity have not been unnecessarily introduced ; they are put down under protest, but not under the " cool shade of Protestantism " to which one of the authors quoted above so incongruously alludes. It was tempting to render the frequent " By Zeus " of the original by the still vernacular " By Jove ! " But the Gods of Hellas and of Rome should not be confounded ; and when the persons of the present dramas swear ** By God," or even call "the Lord" "the Almighty" or " Saviour Bacchus " to witness their asser- tions, they must no more be suspected of pro- fanity than the German who appeals to " Mein X INTRODUCTION Gott " or the French lady who simpers ** Mon Dieu ! " on the slightest provocation. Enough, however, has been said on these heads, not so much by way of apologia as of explanation. Turn we now to our poet himself and his surroundings. It is not, of course, to be supposed that the Muse of Aristophanes came into being at a bound, as the spinster goddess is said to have issued from the head of Zeus. Literature does not, any more than nature, advance by fits and starts, but by a due process of Darwinian development with the survival of the fittest. Our short dozen of Aristophanic dramas may be taken to represent the fittest among the hun- dreds of other comedies which have perished. This survival, again, was purely natural. More copies were made of these particular plays as being special favourites, so that they stood a better chance against the ravages of time and the raids of purists in succeeding ages. And just as the existing plays of Aristophanes are only a poor fragment of what he produced, so Aristophanes himself and his two confreres alluded to in the excerpt on the reverse of our title-page are only representative men among INTRODUCTION xi the goodly array of writers classed together under the head of the Old Comedy. Of this Comic Triumvirate a few words may be said ; but the mass must of necessity be passed over with little more than a bare enumeration of names. And as with the names, so too with the " local habitation " of Attic Comedy, it is difficult to decide whether it was indigenous or imported. There is a good deal to be said in favour of a Sicilian origin for Comedy, and many think that Theocritus said it when he wrote in an epigram — , , X w ^vfipf 6 Tav Kco/uiwSlav More probably Comedy was contempo- raneous in Attica and Sicily, and Theocritus as a Syracusan was only speaking of the Sicilian branch when he thus called Epi- charmus " the man who invented Comedy." Both Epicharmus and his Athenian contem- porary Chionides were writing comedies before the Persian era in Grecian history. These comedies were, roughly speaking, contemporary with the tragedies of Pratinas and Choerilus, the predecessors of Aeschylus. xii INTRODUCTION Just as it is the office of the actor to hold the mirror up to nature in the particular character he is called upon to represent, so is it the office of the playwright to reflect that accumulation of individuals called Society in the group of characters which he selects for his drama — that is, his acted poem. This is more strictly the case with comedy than with tragedy. Though, as Longfellow truly says: " By the fireside tragedies are acted ; " yet for the most part tragedy soars above the level of ordinary social surroundings into its own transcendental heights ; but comedy, equally as a matter of course, keeps on a level with those social surroundings, and is a reflex of the society of its period. Each of these positions was accentuated in the Greek as compared with the English drama — we need look no further for the moment. Apart from the fact that Greek Tragedy was an outcome, we might almost say, an integral part of Greek worship, the subjects with which it dealt, taken exclusively from the old mytho- logical and heroic legends, were such as to lift it even more entirely than its modern develop- INTRODUCTION xiii ments above the range of ordinary life ; while Comedy, on the contrary, by the almost un- limited freedom conceded to it, during one portion of its existence, in placing real per- sonages on the stage and dealing with current political questions, became a far more vivid reflex of existing society than any kind of dramatic composition in modern times. It resembled rather the power of the Press, es- pecially the Comic Press — say of Punch in its halcyon days — than any other department of contemporary literature. In the Comedies of Aristophanes, then, we get this vivid representation of Athenian society at its most interesting period; or we should get it, if the not altogether unintelligible squeamishness of translators did not garble the original. It should not be forgotten that Greek Comedy as well as Greek Tragedy was an outcome of the worship of Dionysus or Bac- chus. As the former sprang from the dithy- rambic hymn, so the latter grew out of the phallic song which accompanied the revel — the "Comus" — of the vine-gatherers at the Lesser Dionysia, or the Rustic Festival of xiv INTRODUCTION Dionysus. The very name of the drama reveals its origin ; it was the Song of the Revel (Comic Ode). Hence the naughtiness, as our strait-laced modern critics count it. The phallus, as the male emblem of generation, formed a prominent object in the Dionysiac pomp; and Comedy would have been untrue to its ancestry had that element been omitted. Aristophanes has certainly not been guilty of any sin in the way of omission, so far as the phallic element goes. What his predecessors Eupolis and Cra- tinus did in this respect we are not so well able to judge from the few fragments which have come down to us ; but we have the asser- tion of Horace that they " made no bones " {multa cum libertate notabant). It may be worth while to sum up in a few words what we do know about these two virtually unrepre- sented dramatists. Eupolis began to produce his comedies B.C. 429. They were exclusively political and based on events of the day, thus ** preluding the way " in which the Aristophanic muse was to wander. The titles of his comedies throw considerable light on their contents. One, for instance, INTRODUCTION xv called " The Demes," dealt with the villages of Attica ; and another named " The Cities " at- tacked, even more sharply than its predecessor, the internal and foreign policy of the Athenians. In the former drama Myronides, an able gene- ral who had survived Pericles and his other great contemporaries, found himself, as he got into years, quite out of place amid the soft surroundings of an effeminate age. He there- fore went down to Hades in order to bring back some of his old chieftains. He returned with Solon, Miltiades, Aristides, and Pericles. But they could not stand the changed state of things. They were out of place too in an effeminate and voluptuous age. This is all we can gather from the few fragments that remain. Of "The Cities," we can only say that the Chorus, from which the drama took its name, as we so often find the case in Aristophanes, was made up of characters representing the tributary cities of Athens. Cratinus, who died in 423 B.C., whilst effect- ing certain practical changes in the crude drama which had come down to him in the guise of Comedy, is said to have lacked constructive art in his own writings. One of his plays was xvi INTRODUCTION utilised in much the same way as the " Oedipus at Colonos" of Sophocles, which was quoted by its author before his judges when his intellectual powers were called in question. Cratinus was alleged to be a " soaker " ; and, as if to prove that his intellect was not quite drowned in wine, he wrote a piece under the suggestive title of "The Flagon," which carried off the prize. The comedy was to a great extent autobiographical. He himself was the hero; and the heroine, Comedy, his lawful wife, complained of having been neglected by him in favour of a rival — the Flagon. The injured wife goes to the archon to accuse her lord and master of desertion, and sue for divorce. This brings the poet to his senses. He becomes repentant, and all ends happily. The moral of all this would, of course, be deemed by abstemious people the reverse of edifying, though Horace seems inclined to adopt it as a broad principle of poetical afflatus, when he says, with special reference to this old playwright : Prisco si credis, Maecenas dpcte, Cratino, Nulla placere diu nee vivere carmina possunt Quae scribuntur aquae potoribus. INTRODUCTION xvii Which we may perhaps be allowed to render freely : Maecenas, old Cratinus you may credit, Since not in words alone, but deeds, he said it, No play is destined long to hold the stage If written on some water-drinker's page. Anyhow, the facts remain. Cratinus won the prize with his ** Flagon," and lived to the ripe old age of ninety-seven. The Lenaean Festival of the year 425 B.C. is especially interesting as having witnessed the presentation of a work by each member of the great Comic Triumvirate. Aristophanes gained the first prize with his " Acharnians," the earliest of his extant comedies; Cratinus the second prize with his " Winter Amusements " ; and Eupolis the third with his " New Moons." Among the other representatives of the Old Comedy, the following names may be mentioned, with the probable amount of their contributions : Ameipsias, credited with ten comedies, was a contemporary and formidable rival of Aris- tophanes. Plato, to whom forty comedies are assigned by Meursius, but who is now represented by a xviii INTRODUCTION very few fragments. He is quoted by Plutarch, Galen, Athenaeus and others. Crates, a younger contemporary of Cratinus, was first an actor and then a writer of Old Comedy. He was presumably dead before the comedy of "The Knights" was acted, 424 B.C., and is said to have been the first who intro- duced a drunken character on the Athenian stage as another dramatic illustration of the perennial drink question. Philonides, before he took to play-writing, is said to have pursued the not very dramatic occupation of a fuller. He was utilised by Aristophanes much in the same way as we are asked by the advocates of the Baconian theory to believe Lord Bacon utilised Shakespeare, namely, to father those dramatic works which it was not convenient to produce in his own name. Then Aristophanes burlesqued him as a silly, vulgar fellow, illiterate to a proverb. The short quotations from Philonides in Athe- naeus and Stobaeus by no means bear out this description, however. He was probably an actor of the Aristophanic comedies ; and the plays produced in his name' are said to have been especially the literary and philosophical INTRODUCTION xix ones levelled respectively against Euripides and Socrates. Theopompus, to whom twenty-four comedies are attributed, is described as a man of excellent morals ; but so little of his work beyond the titles of his comedies remains, that we are unable to judge of his capacity as a playwright. Amphis is credited with twenty-one comedies, and probably wrote a good many more. He came late in the series of Old Comedy writers, and is said to have burlesqued Plato the philosopher. His " Seven Chiefs against Thebes " was pro- bably something in the shape of a travesty or burlesque of the tragedy of Aeschylus which bears the same title. Phrynichus, who must not be confounded with the tragic writer of the same name, was a contemporary of Eupolis, and we have the titles of ten comedies assigned to him. His satire is described as particularly pungent, and Alcibiades was the favourite target at which its shafts were levelled. Pherecrates stands high in literary reputa- tion, and his style is described as most purely Attic. He was the rival of Crates, accompanied Alexander of Macedon on some of his ex- XX INTRODUCTION peditions, and lived on terms of intimacy with Plato at Athens. Suidas tells us he wrote seventeen comedies, of which only the titles remain. His poems were as celebrated as his plays, and gave the name of Pherecratian to the metre in which they were written, much in the same way as we speak of the Spenserian stanza. Such are the poor remains of a lost school of dramatic literature which is really represented by the eleven extant comedies of Aristophanes, and just enough fragments to make us wish for more. It is, perhaps, too much to hope that the industrious gentlemen whose researches have been so far rewarded by such '' finds " as the poems of Bacchylides, the lost Antiope of Euripides, and the mimes of Herondas may yet give us back some specimens of the Old and Middle Comedy of Athens. Of the Middle Comedy, as it is technically termed, it may be said, in a summary way, that its character was parody as opposed to personality. The Chorus was silenced Turpiter obticuit, sublato jure nocendi, and the Parabasis no longer afforded the poet INTRODUCTION xxi J^ an opportunity of obtruding his own ideas on the audience or addressing them by proxy. Thirty-two names are given of representative poets during the period. The New Comedy began with the death of Alexander of Macedon, and ended with that of Menander, who is for us its chief exponent. In this period there was a return to something like the satirical style of the Old Comedy without the defacement of its " improprieties." It was an improvement on the platitudes of the Middle Comedy, though scarcely a revival of the Old. We are only acquainted with its productions through the medium of fragments, which are, in some instances, fairly copious, and also through adaptations of them by the writers of Roman Comedy. These latter borrowed as freely from the Greeks as some of our modern dramatists do from the French. Little or nothing is known as to the per- sonal history, parentage, date of birth or death of Aristophanes. Happily this lack of informa- tion, however interesting that information might have been on other grounds, does not militate against our appreciation of such comedies as have come down to us — eleven only out of a c xxii INTRODUCTION probable half-hundred or more. These plays are a running commentary on current history and the prominent men of the time ; and the writer's individual biography becomes therefore of secondary importance. He is generally spoken of as Aristophanes the son of Philip- pus ; and he was beyond doubt an Athenian born, of the tribe Pandionis and the Cyda- thonaean deme. The date of his birth has been set down as about B.C. 444, that of his death as B.C. 380, which dates are near enough for all practical purposes. Plato, in his Sym- posium, speaks of him as a bon vivant, and we can easily accept the fact on internal evidence. It is said that he wrote fifty-four comedies, of which only a poor instalment of eleven has come down to us. They are rather caricatures on the political, philosophical, literary and so- cial history of his period than comedies in our sense of the word. Broadly speaking, these comedies cover the space of that great struggle between Northern and Southern Greece, which we have elected to call the Peloponnesian War. This war lasted from B.C. 431 to B.C. 404, though two of his plays overlap the latter date by a few years. He INTRODUCTION xxiii was a staunch Conservative, his special horrors being the poHtical demagogue and the philo- sophical sophist. The plays are best given in the order in which they were produced, since thus they show the evolution of the writer's genius and the course of contemporaneous history. The two earliest, viz., " The Banqueters " and " The Babylonians," each produced under a nom de theatre, are lost. They belong to the years B.C. 427 and 426 respectively. " The Acharnians," which is the earliest of the extant plays, and is interesting as the oldest comedy known, was produced at the Lenaean Festival of b.c. 425. This was also pseudony- mously produced, and is strongly m favour of peace as against the machinations of the war- party. " The Knights " belongs to the year B.C. 424, and is a personal attack on the demagogue Cleon, who is represented as a " cad." Aristo- phanes produced this play under his own name, and the story goes that he was obliged to play the part of the popular politician himself with- out a mask, since no actor dared undertake the role, nor would any mask-maker venture to re- xxiv INTRODUCTION produce the well-known features of the dema- gogue. " The Clouds," which failed to gain a prize, was produced at the dramatic contest of B.C. 423, is levelled against the sophists in general and against Socrates in particular. ** The Wasps " attacks the dicastic system which prevailed in the Athenian law-courts. It gained the second prize in the year B.C. 422. "The Peace " may be regarded as the com- plement of " The Knights." It belongs to the year 419 B.C., after which there is a gap of six years in the extant plays. The series was resumed with the lost comedy " Amphiaraus " in B.C. 414, which was also the date of '* The Birds," the latter being levelled against the Sicilian expedition. "The Lysistrata," produced in B.C. 411, takes for its main motif a very delicate question of sexual relations. It is generally regarded as the naughtiest of the comedies ; but it was not "risky " enough for the gay Parisians, who in 1893 mounted an up-to-date version of this perennial French topic and added a detail which finds no place in the comedy^ of Aristophanes. " The Thesmophoriazusae " came out during INTRODUCTION xxv the oligarchy in B.C. 411, and " The Frogs " in B.C. 405. In each of these comedies the political element is conspicuous by absence. The date of "The Ecclesiazusae " was B.C. 392, a period subsequent to that covered by the history of Thucydides. The historical back- ground is now furnished by the Hellenics of Xenophon. The custom of prefixing an " Argument "or " Plot " to the Comedies of Aristophanes is surely one that is more honoured in the breach than in the observance, and was at best but a clumsy contrivance of the Alexandrian gram- marians, most frequently adopted for the sake of showing off their own pedantic wit. Surely — at all events when accompanied by a translation on the opposite page — the Comedies of Aristophanes are able to tell their own story; and the telling of that story in advance forthwith eliminates the element of surprise which is so essential to success in humorous writing. The Greek comedies, it must be remembered, were not written for long " runs " as modern dramas are. They were for the most part seen only once. The " sur- prise," therefore, must have been perfect ; and xxvi INTRODUCTION that feature is best preserved by suppressing altogether the Arguments, acrostic or other- wise, which encumber nearly all the texts of the antique drama. Suffice it to say, then, that of the ten extant plays which belong to the Old Comedy, " The Acharnians," ''The Knights," ''The Wasps," "The Peace," and "The Lysistrata " are essen- tially political, and admirably supplement the sober history of Thucydides. Three are philo- sophical satires, " The Clouds," " The Birds," and "The Ecclesiazusae," or "Female Members of Assembly." Two are literary burlesques, mainly on Euripides, namely, " The Thes- mophoriazusae " and " The Frogs." " The Plutus," which in date and structure belongs to the Middle Comedy, approaches much more nearly to the Latin Comedy and its develop- ment in more modern times. Its subject is that evergreen one, the distribution of wealth and poverty. From first to last the Aristo- phanic comedies ranged over a period of nearly forty years, that is, from 427 to 388 B.C. The Irony of History surely never had a more grotesque illustration »than in the fact that we owe the preservation of our Aristo- INTRODUCTION xxvii phanic comedies to St. John Chrysostom — the Golden-mouthed Preacher ! He " happily " (says Cumberland) "rescued this valuable but small portion of his favourite author from his more scrupulous Christian contemporaries, whose zeal was too fatally successful in de- stroying every other comic author, out of a very numerous collection, of which no one entire scene now remains." THE ACHARNIANS AXAPNH2 TA TOY APAMAT02 nPOSftHA AIKAIOnOAIS. KHPYH. AM^IGEOS. IIPE2BEI2 ^AOijvaLcov irapa ^aa-iXecog yJKovrc^. ^EYAAPTABAS. OEQPOX X0P02 AXAPNEQN. TYNH AiKaioTToXiSoif. OYPATHP AiKaio7r6Xido9. KH$I20*QN. EYPiniAHS. AAMAX02. MEPAPEYZ KOPA Ovyarepe rov Meyapewg. B0IQT02. NIKAPXOS. rEQPros. HAPANYM^OS. ArrEAOI. THE ACHARNIANS DRAMATIS PERSONAE. DiCAEOPOLis, an Attic Farmer. A Herald. Athenian Ambassadors to the Court of Persia. Amphitheus. PsEUDARTABAS, the King of Persia's " Eye." Theorus, an Athenian Ambassador. Chorus of Old Acharnians. Wife of Dicaeopolis. Daughter of Dicaeopolis. Euripides, the Tragic Poet. Cephisophon. Lamachus, an Athenian General. A Megarian. Two Daughters of the Megarian. Nicarchus, an Informer. A Boeotian and his Boy. A Bridesman. A Countryman. Messengers, Servants, etc. I — 2 2 API2T0$ANH2 AIK. *'Ocra Srj SeSrjyjUiai rfjv e/mavrov KapSlav, rjarOijv Se 0aia, Travv ye ^aid, rerrapa' a S* coSvin^Orjv, "^ajuLjULaKoa-ioyapyapa. ^ep* iSw Ti S' rjcrOrjv a^iov xaipri66vo^\ eychS' e(j) (h ye to Keap evtppavOrjv iSm, Toh Trevre ToXavTOis otg KXecoi/ e^rjimea-ev. TavO^ 0)9 eyavcoOijv, koi ^i\u> Tovg linreag Slu. tovto Tovpyov a^iov yap 'EXXa^f. aXX' wSvvriOr}v erepov av rpaycpSiKOv, ore St] ^Kexv^J TrpoaSoKwv tov Ata-xv^ov, 6 <5' aveiirev e'l(ray\ w Qeoyvi, tov x^/ow. TTCog TOVT ecreicre /ulov SoKeig Trjv KapSiav ; aXX' erepov rjcrOijVf rjVLK eiri Mocrxw Trore Ae^lOeog eiarfj\0^ acro/ULevog Botcortoi/. TrJTeg S^ aireOavov Ka\ SieaTpa^riv iSm, OT€ Sfj irap€Kv\}/e ^aipiq eiri tov opOiov. THE ACHARNIANS 2 Scene. — The House of Assembly at Athens. Di- CAEOPOLis discovered sitting alone. Die. Well, I am bothered ! There is no end to my vexations, though my comforts are few and far between — really, only some three or four — while my botherations are countless as the sands. Let's see, now ; when did I feel any- thing worthy the name of a pleasurable sensa- tion ? Ah, yes ; I know. I was delighted at those five talents which Cleon had to disgorge.^ How I chuckled, and what a respect I have for the Knights who made him do it ! for it was an act worthy of Hellas. But then I had another disappointment at the play. I was all agog expecting Aeschylus, when the crier sang out " Bring on your chorus, Theognis ! " ^ Can't you guess what a shock that name gave me ? On the other hand, I was pleased when, after Moschus, Dexitheus put in an appearance to sing the Boeotian song. This year, again, I nearly died and quite squinted when I saw Chaeris slouch on to do the Orthian strain. 1 He had received five talents from the " islanders," to be employed in persuading the Athenians to relieve them of the ctcr^opot, or extraordinary property-tax. 2 An inferior tragic poet. APISTO^ANHS aXX' ovSeirooTroT e^ otov 'yw pvirro^iai ovrm eSrjxOijv viro Koviag rag 6(j>pv^ a>9 vvv, OTTOT oua-rjg Kvpia^ e/c/cXiycr/a? ecoOivfj^ epij/ULog rj irvv^ avTtjl' ol S* €v ayopa XaXoi/ort, kolvu) Ka\ Karw TO (TXOIVIOV (ji€VyOV(TL TO JULejULlXTCOjULeVOV' ovS^ ol irpuTaveig riKOU(Tiv, aXX' aooplav iJKOVTeg, elTa S' warTiovvTai iroog SoKcig eXOovTeg oWtjXoio-i irepl irpcoTOu ^vXov, aOpooi KaTappeovTeg' elprjvtj (5' oirwg ecTTai TTpoTifiwa-^ ovSev w iroXig iroXig' eyo) ^' ael irpwTLa^Tog eig iKKXrjarlav voa-Toou KaOijjdai' kolt eireiSav w jULOVog, (TTcvw, Kex^va^ crKopSivwimai, TrepSojUiai, aTTopoo, ypafjxa, irapaTlXXoiJ.ai, Xoyl^ojJLai, aTrojSXeTrcov cig tov aypov, eip^vtjg epwv, OTTVycOV fXeV aCTTV, tov 5' CJULOV Sfj/ULOP TToOwv, og ovSeTTcoTTOT elireVj avOpaKag tt/d/o), THE ACHARNIANS 3 But never since I was washed as a baby did I feel so much like having dust in my eyes as I do at this moment, when the regular time for the morning Assembly has come, and here is the Pnyx^ empty, while the members are chattering in the market-place and dodging to avoid the reddened rope^ which is to fetch them in. Not even the Prytanes' have arrived; and when they do come, just in time to be too late, you can't imagine how they struggle and scrowdge one another, to get the chief seat, flowing on in one unbroken stream, but taking no thought about the restoration of peace. city, city ! I always come first of all to the Assembly, take my seat, and find myself solus. So I grunt, gape, stretch, yawn, fart, bore myself, scribble a bit, pluck out stray hairs, work a sum or two, and look out at the country, anxious as I am for peace. I hate the city, and want to get back to my own parish. That never uttered such sounds to me as " Buy 1 Where the meetings of the Athenian people were held ; it was cut out of a hill west of the Acropolis, and was semi- circular in shape, like a theatre. 2 With which loiterers were driven from the Agora to the Pnyx. 3 The Presidents, a committee of 50. 4 API2T0i>ANH2 ovK 6(09, ovK eXaiov, ovS' {jSei Trplw, aXX' avTog eipepe iravra x^ irplwv avriip. vvv ovv arexvui^ i'lKU) Trapea-Kevacr/jLcvog poav, vTTOKpoveiv, XoiSopeiv rovg pwopa^t eav Tf? aXXo irXtjv irepl eipijvrjg Xiyij. aXX oi TTpirravei^ yap ovtou /JLeartjjUifipivol. OVK ijyopevov; tovt ckciv ovyw 'Xeyov €ig Ttjv TTpoeSplav Iraq avtjp coa-rl^erai, KHP. irapLT €is TO TrpocrSePf 7rapiO\ cog dv evrog ?Te rov KaOdp/jLarog. AM#. ijSriTigeiTre; KHP. rig ay opeveiv ^ovXerai; AM$. eyc^. KHP. T/9a5»/;AM$. 'AfKplOeog. KHP. OVK avOpooTTog ; AM#. ov, aXX* aOdvarog. 6 yap ' AfKpiOeog AijfjirjTpog ?i/ leaf ipiTTToXejiAov' TovTov Se KeXeo? ylyverai' THE ACHARNIANS 4 coals — buy vinegar — buy oil ! " It knew nothing of such by-play ; it brought me all I wanted without any buying in the business. But now I am here, I'm just prepared to shout, to abuse, to rate the speakers, if anybody says anything save on the subject of peace. Look, there are the Prytanes coming in at noon. Didn't I tell you ! Just what I said, every man wants to get the chief seat. Enter hurriedly the Prytanes, Citizens, Am- bassadors, and Amphitheus, preceded by the Herald. Her. Step forward ! Come to the front, so as to be well within the consecrated ground. Amph. Has anyone spoken yet ? Her. Does anybody want to speak ? Amph. Yes, I do. Her. Who are you ? Amph. Amphitheus. Her. Amphitheus — a "god on both sides"! Ain't you a man ? Amph. No, I'm an immortal. (In a bom- bastic style, like Euripides.) The original Am- phitheus was son of Demeter and Triptolemus. From him sprang Celeus, and Celeus married 5 APISTO^ANHS yafiel Se KeXeo? ^aivapiTvjv Ti]6ijv e/ii^Vy €^ ?/9 AvKivos eyeveT ' e/c toutov S' eyco aOavaro? elfjC • e/^of S* eTreTpexfrav ol Oeol CTTTOvSag TTOietarOaL irpoi KaKeSaLjjLOVLOvq /ulovco. aXX' aOavarog oov, avSpe7M«To?. THE ACHARNIANS 5 my grandmother, Phaenarete. From her came Lucinus, and from him I myself, the immortal in question. The gods have commissioned me alone to go and make a truce with Sparta ; but immortal as I am, I regret to say I have no money for my expenses. The Prytanes are not in the habit of making advances. Prytanis. What ho! constable, do your duty. Amph. Triptolemus and Celeus, will you see me hustled like this ? (He is turned out.) Die. Prytanes, you do wrong in thus eject- ing from the Assembly a man who only wants to make peace, and to hang up our shields for us. Pryt. Shut up, and sit down. Die. By Apollo ! but I won't though, unless you are going to bring forward some proposal for peace. Her. (shouts). The Ambassadors returned from the Great King. Die. What king? I'm sick of your Ambas- sadors and peacocks and fools' tricks. Enter the Ambassadors in gorgeous array. Her. Shut up ! Die. Whew ! Ecbatana ! What a rig-out ! 6 APISTO^ANHE HP. eTrejULyp-aO^ ^/mag cog PaariKea top juiyav, fiia-Oov (pepoPTag Svo Spax/ui-cig r^g ^/mepag iir* YivOvjuLepoug apxovTog' AIK. o'ijulol twv 6paxi^(iov- nP. Kai SfJT erpvxojULea-Oa Sia JLaVa-Tplcop ireSioov oSonrXavovvreg ccrKtjvfjiULevoi, e(j> ap/uLajULa^Mv imaXOaKwg KaTaKeifievoiy aTToXKujuLevoi. AIK. a-(p6Spa rap* ecrw^ojuitjv eyo) Trapa rrjp eiraX^Lv ev (popvrw KaraKelfjievog. nP. ^evi^o/mevoi Se irpog /3iav eTrlvojUiev €^ VaXlVCOV eKTTWjULaTWV Koi x/oi^o't(5ft)t' cLKparov olvov ^Svv. AIK. w K/oaj^aa ttoX^?, d/)' alarOavei tov KarayeXcov tcov irpea-^ecov; UP. OL /Bappapoi yap dvSpag rjyovvTai /ULOvovg Tovg irXelcTTa SvvajULevovg (payeiv re koi irieiv. AIK. ^/meig Se Xat/cacrra? ye koi Karairvyovag. IIP. eVet TerapTW 6' eig tol paariXeL fjXOojULev aXX' eig aTroTrarov tpx^TO, (rrpaTLav Xa/ScoVj Kax^^ev OKTM iixfjvag eirl X/o^'O'wi/ 6pm. THE ACHARNIANS 6 Amb. You sent us, in the archonship of Euthymenes, to the Great King, with an allow- ance of two drachmas^ a day. Die. Alas, poor drachmas ! Amb. We suffered severely camping out in the plain of the Cayster and reclining in our carriages ; it nearly killed us. Die. I was deemed well off when I slept in straw on the ramparts. Amb. Then we were feasted, and had to drink against our will, quaffing strong wine in crystal cups and golden goblets. Die. City of Cranaus !^ Don't you see how these ambassadors are fooling you ? Amb. The barbarians think nobody men un- less they eat and drink lots. Die. Whilst our tests of virility are whoje- mongering and back-door business ! Amb. In four years we got to the King's palace ; but his majesty had taken his army and gone — well, to have a stool. He remained eight months transacting that bit of business on the Golden Mountains. 1 A drachma was about lod. - A mythical king of Athens. 7 APISTO^ANHS AIK. TToarov Se top irpwKrov xpovov ^vmjyayev; nP. T/J TravcreXrjvcp' kolt aTrfjXOev oiKaSe. €iT i^epi^e, TraperlOei 0' ^fxlv o\ov(i €K Kpi^avov ^ov^. AIK. Kal Tig etSe TnairoTe /3ovg Kpi/SavLTag; twv oXa^ovevimaToov. HP. Kat vol yua A/' opviv TpniKaaiov KXecovvjuiOv irapiBriKev rj/jLLv ovojiia (5' ijv avTw (peva^. AIK. rairr' a/o' €0aXfjt.6g. AIK. Mva^ 'JlpaKXcig- TTpog Tcov Oewv, avOpcoTre, vav^paKTOV fiXcTretg, rj Trepi OLKpav Ka/ULTTTWV v€(io(TOiKOV crKOTreig; acTKooiJL ex^ig ttov irept tov o^OaXjUiov kutoo. IIP. aye Srf cri;, ^acriXevg ctTTa a aTreTrejuLy/rev (ppda-ov Xe^ovT ^AOtivaloicriv, cS ^evSapTa^a. THE ACHARNIANS 7 Die. And how long was it before the royal posteriors resumed their normal condition ? Amb. Not until the full moon. Then he re- turned home, and entertained us with oxen, baked whole in the oven. Die. Baked oxen ! Who ever heard of such a thing ? Bosh ! Amb. And then, by Zeus ! he put before us a bird three times as big as our stout friend Cleonymus. It was called a gull. Die. Just as you gulled us by taking the two drachmas. Amb. And now we've brought back with us Pseudartabas — the Great King's Eye. Die. I wish some crow would come down and peck out your eye, you Ambassador ! Her. (announces). The Great King's Eye ! Enter Pseudartabas, attended. Die. King Hercules ! Why, by the gods, man, are you looking for a harbour, or, like some craft, doubling a cape and spying for a dock ? You've surely got a rowlock - leather below your eye. Amb. Now, Pseudartabas, tell them what the Great King has sent you to say to the Athenians. 8 APISTO^ANHS "^EY. lapTaiuLOLv e^ap^' avairKTa-ovai (rdrpa. nP. ^vvriKaO^ o \eyei ; AIK. jma tov 'AttoXXw 'y^ IJ.€V ov. UP. TrijjLyfreiv /SacriXca (jiria-iv v/jliv xpyaiov. Xeye Srj crv jmei^ov kol (ra(pu>g to xpva-lov. "^EY. ov \fj\l/L XP^^o, xavvoTTpooKT ^laovav. AIK. o'liji.ol KaKoSaijULVOVj wg ca^w?. HP. t/ Sal Xeyei ; AIK. o Tt ; x^^^o'^P^'f'^OL'? Tovg ^Idovag Xeye«, €L wpoa-SoKMcri xp^^^ov ck tu>v Pap^apwv. IIP. ovKy aXX' axavag oSe ye xp^^^ou Xeyei, AIK. TTo/a? axai'a? ; (tv fiev oXa^cov el jmeyas, aXX' axiO' • eyct) (Je /Sacraviw tovtov /movog. aye Sf] (tv (ppacrov ejuLoi aratjicog irpog tovtovI, Iva fJLYi ere /Sayjrco /SajuLjULa ^apSiaviKov ISao'iXevg 6 jULeyag tj/mlv aTroTrenjLyJrei xp^f^^ov ; — aXXo)9 a/)' eiaTrarw/uLeO* viro rwv irpea-Petav ; — ^XKriviKOv y' eTrevevcTav avSpeg ovTOil, KovK earu oiroog ovk eia-iv evuevo avrouev. Kal Toiv jULcv evvovxoip tov cT^epov tovtovI THE ACHARNIANS 8 Pseud, {talking gibberish), lartaman exarx ' anapissonai satra. Amb. You understand what he says ? Die. No ! by the Lord, not a word. Amb. He's saying the King will send you gold. (To the King's Eye.) Speak up, man, and pronounce the word " gold " distinctly. Pseud. Ushal nogol, you-o pen-arsed Ionian ! Die. The deuce ! That^s plain enough ! Amb. What's he saying, then ? Die. Why, he calls us " open-arsed lonians," as we must be, if we expect to get any gold from the barbarians. Amb. Not a bit of it. He says you shall have bushels of gold. Die. Does he? You're just fooling us. I'll cross-examine this customer on my own account. Here, you sir, answer me clearly, if you don't want me to dye you black and white. Does your Big King promise to send us any gold ? (PsEUDARTABAS shakes his head.) Are we being swindled by our Ambassadors ? {He nods assent.) Why, these fellows nod their heads like good Hellenes. They weren't raised far from hence ; and of his two eunuchs, I know one at all 2 9 APISTO^ANHS €yS)S* o? ia-ri, KXetcrOevrjg 6 ^iPvpTiov. cS Oep^o^ovKov TTpODKTov e^vptjjuLcve, TOlOvSe S\ (b TTlOtJKe, TOV TTWycOv' €')(WV ewovxog w^v ^XOeg ea-Kevaa-aepog ; oSt Se Tf? TTOT ea-Tiv; ov Syittov 'Ltpoltwv. KHP. a-lya, KaOi^e. TOV ^acriXew^ ocpOaXjuiov rj /3ov\rj KoXei €ig TO TrpvTavelov, AIK. ravra SrJT ovk ayxovrj ; KaireiT eyco SfJT evOaSl a-Tpayyevojuiai ; Tovg Se ^evl^eiv ovSeiroTe y 'la-xei Ovpa. aX\ epyaa-o/iiai tl Seivov epyov kou fxeya. aXX' 'AfKplOeog jmoi irov 'g, v/ULCov T epaarTvj'S vv a\tiOriv eiTrag evTavOoi aru, TrXtjv tcov irapvoiroov. GEO. icai vvv oirep jULaxtJui'(J0TaTOP QpaKwv eOvog eire^yfrev v/uliv. AIK. tovto jmev y tjSri (Ta/0O9 t/yayev. THE ACHARNIANS lo Die. No, by God, you wouldn't, unless you had been drawing a big screw ! Theo. Had not the snow covered up all Thrace and the rivers been frozen about the time when Theognis produced his frosty com- petition here. All this while I was drinking with Sitalces ; and I found him remarkably fond of the Athenians, so much so that, lover-like, he used to write up on his walls, ** Beautiful Athenians." His son too, whom we naturalised as an Athenian, was anxious to eat his sausage at the Apaturian festival, and used his best offices by way of getting his father to help our state. And he swore on his cups he would, vowing he would send such an army that the Athenians should cry out, " What a swarm of locusts is coming ! " Die. May I die if I believe a word of what you say — barring the locusts. Theo. And now he has sent what is con- sidered the most warlike tribe of the Thracians. Die. Clearly enough — the locusts. Her. Advance, Thracians, whom Theorus has brought. {The Odomantians come forward.) II APISTO^ANHS AIK. toutI tl ea-Ti to KaKoV, GEQ. 'OSojuLavroov (rrparog. AIK. iroLcou ^OSofjLavTCOv ; etTrt fxoi, tovtI tl §v ; Tig TU)P ^OSo/mavToov to Treog ctTroTeOpiaKev ; GEO. TOVTO19 eav T19 Svo Spax/^d-g julictOov SiSwj KaTaire\Ta(TOVTaL Thv l^oicoTiav oXtjv. AIK. TOicrSl Svo opaxi^cLg Tolg aire'^od\r)ij.€VOLLOeo^ oSi. X^^p\ 'A^^tOee. AM$. /jLijTrd) ye, irpLv y av (TTU) rp€\oiiv* Set yap /me (pevyovT €Kvyeiv Kxapveaq. AIK. t/ S* eo-Tip ; AM#. iyw jmcv Sevpo (tol cnrovSa^ (pepiov ea-TrevSov ol S^ cocr€vyov' oi o eoicoKOV Kapotov. THE ACHARNIANS 12 Her. The Thracians will withdraw, and return the day after to-morrow. The Prytanes dismiss the Assembly. {Exeunt Prytanes, Theorus, Thracians, Herald, etc.) Enter Amphitheus. Die. Confound it, what a luncheon I've lost ! Ah, here's Amphitheus back from Lace- daemon. Hail ! Amphitheus. Amph. Wait till I've stopped running; for I've had to bolt from those Acharnians.^ Die. What's up ? Amph. I was hurrying hither, bringing you some specimen truces, when these old Acharnian chunks smelt out what I was about — sturdy old wooden -headed, obstinate fellows, Marathon- men, and as hard as they make 'em. They all began yelling out at me. " You rascal," they said, " are you travelling about with truces, when our vines have been cut down ? " At the same time they began collecting stones in their cloaks. I took to my heels, and they followed, shouting. 1 The inhabitants of this deme were strongly opposed to peace. 13 APISTO^ANHS AIK. OL 5' ovv jSocovTCov aXXot rag cnrovSag (pepeig; AM#. eytoye v ^viJ.fxax(tiv. AM$. aXX' avraCi cnrovScu rpiaKovTOVTiSeg Kara yrjv re koi OaXarTav. AIK. cS Aiovva-ia, avrai julcv o^ova ajUL^poa-iag koi veKrapog, KOI firi ^irirripelv ctltl rjfxepwv rpicov, KOLV TO) (TToimaTi Xeyovcri, ^alv OTrtj OeXeig. ravrag Sexojmai kol arirevSojuLai KaKTrtojmai, Xalpeiv KeXevodv TroXXa Toy? ' Axapviag' eyu) Se iroXejULOV koi KaKwv aTraXXayet?, a^ft) ra Kar aypovg eicnuiv Aiovvcia. THE ACHARNIANS 13 Die. Let 'em shout. Have you got the truces ? Amph. Yes, here you are — three specimens. These are five-year ones. Take 'em and try 'em. Die. Faugh ! Amph. What's the matter ? Die. Don't Hke 'em. They smell of tar and naval manoeuvres. Amph. Well, here's a ten-year specimen. Take and try that. Die. This one, too, is chokeful of em- bassies to the states, and shilly-shallying with allies. Amph. But now look at this — a thirty-year affair, extending to land and sea alike. Die. High jinks ! This suggests nectar and ambrosia, without the need of getting your pro- visions three days in advance.^ This is the good, plain-spoken ** go -as -you- will " sort of thing. This I accept. This I'll toast with a good long drink and a last farewell to the Acharnians. Then, when I've got clear of war and all other worries, I'll be off to the country and keep the Festival of Bacchus. (Exit) 1 Which soldiers had to do before setting out on a campaign. 14 APISTO^ANHS AM^. cyo) ^€ (peu^ovjUial ye tov^ 'Axapvea?. XOP. Ti]Se irag eirov, SicoKCy Kal tou avopa irvvOavov TWV oSoLTTOpCOV OLTTaVTCOV' Tfj TToXci yap OL^LOV ^vWa/Setv TOP avSpa tovtov. aWd julol iJLfjvvv ejULWP x^P^-^v' KOVK ap^ri/ii[a9; 0VT09 avTog ecrriv ov ^rjrovjuiev. aWci Sevpo -iraq €KiroSu)V' Ova-wv ycip avtjp, W9 eoiK, e^epxerat. AIK. eV vKaTT€(rBaL arfpoSpa fxri Tig XaOcov aov irepiTpayn Ta xpycrla. A IK. c5 ^avOla, (rricrei^ rpv^Xiov rj S* aoTTTig eu toj ^e^a\(p KpejuLrfcreTai. XOP. ovTog avTog earriv, oSto^. /3dX\€ iSdXke l3dX\€ ^dWe, iraie ttcl^ tov jmiapov. ov paXeh, ov /SaXeig ; AIK. 'H/oa/cAe/9, tout) ti ecrri : tyjv xvrpav arvv- Tpi\lr€T€. XOP. ere [xev ovv KaTaXcva-OfJiev, w fiiapa K€(paXr/. AIK. aprl TTolag airiagy wxapvewv yepaiTaroi ; XOP. tovt' e/DWTa?; avaL(TXvvTO<; el Koi ^SeXvpog, c5 TrpoSoTa T^9 "TraTplSo^, oo'tks ^juloov /uLovog (nreia-a/ULevog etra Svvaa-ai Trpo? evx' aTro^XeTreiv. AIK. avT\ ^' &v ea-TreiaraiuLtjv ovk IcrTe y • aXX' aKOvarare. THE ACHARNIANS 17 Furtively the woodland robbing. Pleasant round the waist to seize her, Lay her down and taste her sweetness. Phales, Phales ! Deign to join our festive banquet. Then succeeding deep potations In the merry morning after, Thou shalt taste a dish pacific. Whilst I hang my sword and buckler Idly in the chimney corner. Cho,' {continuing the strain). There he is, that is the fellow. Pelt him, pelt him, pelt him, pelt him ! Mind you hit the rascal straight. When I bid, why don't you pelt him ? Die. Great Hercules, what are you about ? You'll smash the pitcher. Cho. We'll stone you, you dead-head ! Die. And what for, you most feeble old Acharnians ? Cho. Do you dare to ask ? You shameless scoundrel, you betrayer of your country ! You go and make a treaty on your own account without our knowledge, and then have the im- pudence to look us in the face ! Die. But you don't know why I made a treaty. Listen. 3—2 i8 APISTO^ANHS XOP. crov y OLKOva-wjuiev ; airoXer Kara ere xwcroixev AIK. iuLf]Sajui.(o^f TTph av y aKOva-tjT' aW ava(rx€(J'0\ ayyaOol. XOP. ovK avao^ria-ojuLar jiArjSe Xeye julol ctv \6yov' (W9 jmejuiiarijKa ere KXewi/o? en jmaXXov, ov KaTarejuLw tolctlv linreva-i KaTTujuLara. arov S' eyto \6yovg \eyovT09 ovk aKOV(rojUiai /iiaKpovg, ocTTtg ea-Trela-co AaKwa-iu, aWa TiUJioopy'iaro/JLai. AIK. ^yaOol, Tovg jLnev AaKcoi/a^ ckitoScov eaaare, Twv 6' efJLoov cnrovScov aKovijvai/iA ckcIvov^ eaS' a KaSiKov- fjievovg. XOP. rovTO TOUTTog Seivov tjStj koi rapa^iKapSiov, et (TV To\/J.i]cr€ig virep twv iroXe/ULtwv rjij.lv Xiyeiv. AIK. KCLV ye fJLf} Xe^o) SiKata, fArjSe rw irXiiOei Sokco, virep e'TTi^Yivov OeXijcrw rrjv K€lXwv Tovg a(riv, aXXa KaTaOov to /SeXog. cog oSe ye a-eicTTog djua Tij (TTpOfpiJ ylyveTai. THE ACHARNIANS 20 Die. Hit me, if you like, and I'll do for this {producing a sack of coals from the A charnian pit) : now I shall soon find out which of you cares about his coals. Cho. O Lord ! This sack of coals is our fellow-citizen. For mercy's sake don't do him any harm — don't ! Die. I'll kill him. Cry out as much as you like. I shan't listen. Cho. You won't kill our dear coal-black mate, will you ? Die. When I spoke just now, you wouldn't listen to me. Cho. Say what you like, and butter up the Lacedaemonians as much as you choose. I can't betray this little lot of coals. Die. Well, first of all put down those stones. Cho. There they are, down on the ground. Now you put down your sword. Die. You haven't got any more stones stowed away in your clothes, have you ? Cho. No, they are all on the ground. See, we shake our garments. But no more excuses; put down your weapon, since we shook out our stones when we danced round you. 21 APISTO^ANHS A IK. cVeXXer' a/o' aTrapreg uvacreUiv Porjv, oKiyov T airiOavov ai/OpaKcg Hapuija-ioL, Kai ravra Sia t^jv aTOiriav twv Stj/morwp. VTTO Tov Seovg Se t^? jmaplXrig fxoi o-vxvhv o XapKog €V€Ti\tjcr€v coa-TTcp (Ttjirla, Seivov yap ovrcog ojuL^aKiav ireffyvKevm TOV OuiJLOV avSpwv loa-Te /SaWeiv koi jSoav eOiXeip T (XKovarai jmrjSev 'laov *icroy X^P^ PW^v niaKpdv avTtj Se Oavarov, rjv KaKwg Xe^to, ipepei. EYP. Ta iroia Tpvx*}', l^^v cv oTg Oipevg 6S\ 6 SvarTroTfAog yepaiog liycovl^ero] THE ACHARNIANS 24 Eur. {from within), I've no time to come down. Die. Well, get the scene-shifter to show you. Eur. Impossible ! Die. But you must. Eur. Well, I'll show myself; but I really haven't time to come down. {He appears above at a window,) Die. I say, Euripides ! Eur. Well, what do you say ? Die. Do you work upstairs, when you should do it downstairs ? No wonder your verses are so sublime. But have you got any property-rags from your tragedies, some sort of attire that will appeal to the charitable feel- ings ? You're fond of putting beggars on the boards ; and I do implore you, Euripides, lend me a rag or two from one of your old dramas. I've got to make a long speech to the chorus, and the penalty will be death if my appeal is not satisfactory. Eur. What sort of tatters do you want ? Will you have those in which my unhappy Oeneus acted ? * 25 APISTO^ANHS AIK. ovK Oiveoog ?v, aXX er aOXicoTepov, EYP. TOL TOV TV;Xe0of paKWfxaTa. KCiTai S^ OLVtaQev twv OvecTTeloov paKcov, fjLCTa^v Tcov *lvovg. iSov tqvt^ Xa/Se. THE ACHARNIANS 25 Die. O no ! I want something much more agonising than that. Eur. Well, the rig-out of blind Phoenix ? Die. No ! not that either. Something more fetching than Phoenix. Eur. What in the name of wonder does the man want in the way of rags ? Do you mean the get-up of that poor beggar Philoc- tetes ? Die. Something far, far more beggarly than that. Eur. Well, will you have the dirty costume which my lame Bellerophon wore ? Die. No, Bellerophon won't do ; though the man I mean was lame, and a beggar. But he was ghb-tongued and a deuce of a fellow to talk. Eur. Ah ! I know the one you tell of — Telephus the Mysian. Die. That's the boy — Telephus. Give me his get-up, I beg of you. Eur. (to Cephisophon). Here, boy, give me the rags of Telephus. You'll find them above the tatters of Thyestes, and beside those of Ino. (They are produced and inspected by DieAEOPOLIS.) 4—2 26 API2T0i»ANHS AIK. w Zev SioTTTa KOI KaroTTTa Travraxn* eva-Kevaa-aa-Oal /a oiov aOXiwTarov. ^vpiTTiSrj, 'ireiSriTrep exapla-co raSl, KaKciva juLOi S69 TOLKoXovOa TCOV paKwv, TO irikiSiov irepi rtjp /ce^aX^i/ to M.v, T01/9 S* ad xopcvTag ^Xidlov^ irapea-Tavai, oirwq av avToi/g prj/maTioig a-Ki/naXia-co. EYP. Swa-co' irvKvri yap XeirTa imrjxam €V' evSai/ULOvoitj^, wcrxe/o ^ jui'VTtjp ttotL EYP. airekOe vvv jmoi. AIK. /JLoWd /jlol Sog ev /ulovov KOTuXia-KlOV TO X^^^O? a7rOK€KpOV/J,€VOV. EYP. (jiQelpov Xa^wv t66^ * 'i(tOl S* oxXfjpog wv So/uloi^. AIK. ouirw ima At' otarO' oV avTog epyd^ei Aca/ca. aX\', cb yXvKVTax J^upiTrlStj, tovtI /ulovov f Sog fjLoi x^TptSiov a-TToyyuc /Be^ua-njiivov. EYP. avOpcow', aaip)jcr€L julc Tt]v TpaycoSiav. direXOe TavTtjvl Xaficov. AIK. aTrcpxo/ULai. KaiTOL TL Spacroi) ; Set yap evog, ov [xtj tuxoi)v aTToXwX'. aKovarov, m yXuKurar ^upnrlSvi' TOVTi XajScov aTreLfxi kou Trpoa-eifji eVt* €£? TO (TTrupiSiov lorxva /ulol ipvXXeta Sog. THE ACHARNIANS 27 Eur. Wretched man, why go in for wicker- work ? Die. Only a fad of mine, perhaps ; but still I want it. Eur. You're beginning to be a bore. Get you gone. Die. Ah ! may you be lucky — as lucky as your mother was. Eur. Go ! Die. Just one more property — the little battered cup for collecting alms. Eur. Take it, and be damned to you. You're becoming a nuisance to my house. Die. One moment. You don't know what injury you do me if you send me off with imperfect properties. Sweetest Euripides, just this last detail, a little vessel bunged up with a sponge. Eur. Why man, you're robbing me of all my stage-properties. Take it and go. Die. I'm going. But what shall I do ? I want one more little adjunct, and I'm lost if I don't get it. Listen, my very sweetest Euri- pides, if I get this I will go and not bother you further; give me a few leaves to put in my basket. 28 API2T0#ANHS EYP. airoXeig /ui\ iSov aroi. yXvKVTarov Kot (plXTaroi KaKKTT aTToXoi/ULrjV, €1 TL (T aiTtJCrailUL^ €Tl TrXhv €v iJLovov, tovtI fiovov tovtI julovov, (TKavSiKa lULOi 66 9, jULtjTpoOev SeSeyimevo^. EYP. avtjp v^pl^ei' KXete TrrjKTa ScojuLaTWV. AIK. w Ovjii', avev (TKOLvSiKog efXTropevria. ap' OLcrO^ ocrov rov dyiov dywvLel raxa, IJiiXXtav vTTep AaKeSai/ULOvlwv dvSpwv X^yeiv ; Tpo^aive vvv, tS Ovfii' ypa/ii/JLtj S^ avTtji. ecTTtjKag ; ovK el KaTaTTioov lEiVpnriStiv ; eTrijvea-^ ' aye vvvy w ToXaiva KapSia, aireXO^ cKetcre, Kara t^v KeipaXijv ckci 7rapd(TX€9, eiTTOva drr av avrri croi SoKiJ. ToXjULtjo-ov, Wi, x^pwov ayafxai KapSiag. THE ACHARNIANS 28 Eur. You'll be the death of me. There they are. My dramas are done for ! Die. I won't ask for anything more, but will be off. I know I'm very troublesome. And yet I'm not generally looked upon as disrespectful to my superiors. But O, unhappy me, I am lost ! I forgot my position. My dearest, sweetest Euripides; may I die if ever I ask you for anything more. Grant me this one favour, only this — a sprig of salad from your sainted mother's greengrocery-stall. Eur. The fellow is insolent. Close the mansion. (Euripides and Cephisophon retire,) Die. So then, my heart, I must go without my sprig of salad ; and yet you know what a trial awaits me shortly, when I have to talk about the Lacedaemonians. Forward now, my heart ; this is the starting-point. Do you hesitate ? And yet have you not been im- bibing the spirit of Euripides ? So, that's good. Now forward, fluttering heart ! Let me go and stake my head on saying what you prompt. Courage ! Forward ! Well done, heart ! {Exit.) 29 APISTO^ANHS XOP. TL Spaa-€i^; TL (pria-ei^] aW la-Qi wv avala-xwTO^ oov criSrjpovg S^ OLvripy 66ov}](rr)T , avSpeg ol Oew/ULevoi, €1 TTTCoxog wv cTreiT ev ^ASrjvaioig Xiyeiv /uiiWa) irepL TfJ£ TroXew?, rpvycpSlav iroiwv. TO yap SiKaiov olSe koi TpuywSia. eyoo Se Xe^co Seiva /xeV, SiKaia Se. ov yap iuL€ n/v ye oia/BaXct KXcW oti ^evcov TrapovTwv t*jv iroiXiv KaKwg Xeyw. avTOL yap ecr/mev oviri ArjvaLM t aya>v, Koviru) ^evoL irapeicnv ovtc yap (popOL YfKOVa-lV (WT €K TWV TToXetOV OL ^VJUL/UiaXOl' THE ACHARNIANS 29 Sceney the same as the 2nd. Dicaeopolis enters in his tragic costume, and takes his position at the block. Then enter the Chorus resuming their positions around him, Cho. Now what will you do ? What have you got to say ? Why, the man has no feeling. You must be made of iron to stake your head to the city when you are going to speak against everybody else. And yet the fellow does not tremble. Go on, then, and speak, since you elect so to do. (Dicaeopolis poses, and delivers the following harangue in true tragic style.) Dig. You mustn't be angry, spectators, it, beggar though I am, I address the Athenians on state affairs in the course of a comedy. Truth can be told even in a comic play, and my words may be bitter, but they shall be just. Not even Cleon can now twit me that I upbraid the city in the presence of strangers, for this is the Lenaeum,^ and we are alone. No strangers are with us as yet, either those who come to pay tribute, or our allies 1 Where the A>}vaitt, or festival of Bacchus, was held, at which dramatic contests, especially of the comic poets, took place. 30 APISTO^ANHS aXX' ea-fxev avToi vvv ye TrepieTTTKrjULevoL' Tovs yap jUL€ToiKov^ axvpa tu>v aa-Twv Xeyo). eyo) 8k juiicrco fxev AcuceSai/uLovlov^ cr^oSpa, KavToh o Jloa-€LS(jov, oviri Taivapw 0eo9, treicra^ diraG-iv e/n^aXoL Tag oiKiag' Kajixoi yap ea-riv a/uLTrcXia KeKOfj-fieva. arap, (plXot yap ol irapovTcg ev Xoy TL Tavra Tovg AaKoyvag aiTiwimeOa ; ^fjLwv yap avSpeg, ovxt Trjv iroXiv Xeyw, /jLc/uLvrjcrOe tov6\ otl ovxl rtjv iroXiv Xeyw, aXX' avSpapia /moxOfipa, TrapaKeKO/m/meva, aTtfJLa KaL irapacrrj/iia Kal irapa^eva, €a-VKO(pavT€i Meyapecov ra xXavla-Kia' Kei TTov cTLKvov 'iSoicv rj XaywSiov r] xoiplSiov t) cTKopoSov r] xovSpovg aXag, ravT rjv M.eyapiKa KaireirpaT avOtj/mepov. Ka\ Tavra /nev Srj a-jULiKpa Kcnnx<^pLa, TTOpvtjv Sk XijULalOai/ lOPTcg ^leyapaSe THE ACHARNIANS 30 from foreign cities. We are, as it were, winnowed, for strangers I regard as chaff com- pared with the citizens. Now I myself cordially hate the Lace- daemonians, and should be glad if Father Poseidon, the God of Taenarus, would get up an earthquake and topple over all their houses ; for my vines have been cut down as well as yours. But — I speak freely, since I have a friendly audience — why do we cast all the blame of this crisis on the Lacedaemonians ? For some of our people — I do not say the entire populace, mind that, not the populace as a whole — but certain good-for-nothing fellows, base, dishonourable, counterfeit citizens, have dropped down on the cloaks imported by the Megarians ; ^ and if they saw such things as a cucumber, a leveret, a sucking-pig, a head of garlic, or some measures of salt, they pounced down upon them, denounced them as contra- band and sold them right off. These, however, were but trifles, and might be regarded as mere customs of the country. One day, however, certain young fellows on a tipsy frolic 1 They were accused of concealing valuables under them. APISTO^ANHS veavlai KXeTrrovcri jULeOvcroKOTTaSoi' KaO^ 01 Meya/0^9 oovvaig Tre^variyywiuLevoi avTe^€K\€\frav ^ Acnraa-iag iropva Svo' KavreifOev apxh tov TrokcfJLOv Kareppaytj "EXX^^OTi iraa-iv €k rpiwp XaiKacrrpicov. ipTCvOev opyrj IlepfAcXeiy? ovXvjuLTrtog fjarTpaTTTev, e^povra, ^vveKVKa Tr]v 'EXXa^a, erlOei v6/j.ovg toa-Trep a-KoXia yeypafx/mevov^, 0)9 XP*} Meyapea? /jl^tc yrj /jlyit ev ayopa jjLYiT ev OaXaTTU jul^t ev rjirelptp /meveiv. evTCvOev oi Mey a/)^9, ore Srj Welviov fiaSrjv, AaKcSai/uLovicov eSeovro to \lr)]€p\ €1 AaKeSaljULOviuyv Tig eKirXevara^ a-Ka(p€i airlSoTO (py'jva^ KvvlSiov ^epiavicv, TpixlScov, avXrjTplSwv, virwiriMV, TO vedopiov S^ av Kwirewv 'TrXarov/jievtov, TvXwv \lroovvTCOv, OaXa/uiiwv TpoTrov/jievoov, avXcov KeXevoTTOov, viyXaptov, avTr]g ei T19 ?v, oovclSia-ag] HMIX. VI] TOP JlocreiSw, koi Xeyei y direp Xeyet THE ACHARNIANS 32 home ? Not a bit of it ! You would straight- way have launched three hundred warships, the whole city would have been filled with martial din, shouting around the commander, dealing out pay, gilding the figure-heads of Athene. The porticoes would have been full of people, the corn measured out. The place would have been crammed with sacks, thongs, wine-buyers, garlic, olives, nets of onions, gar- lands, anchovies, singing-girls — and black eyes ! The docks would have been choked up with spars, noisy bolts, rowers rigging themselves up, words of command, whistles, pipes and fifes All this I know you would have done. . . . ** And think we Telephus would have ^ done otherwise ? " The fact is, you have lost your heads. Semichorus I. Really, you hangdog ras- cal, has it come to this, that you, beggar as you are, should dare to take us to task thus, even if there should be an informer or two about ? Semich. 2. By the sea-god Poseidon, but 1 A quotation from the Telephus of Euripides. 33 APISTO^ANHS SiKata iravTa KOvSev avTcov yfrevSerai. HMIX. eiT el SiKaia, tovtov elirelv aur exp^i ', aW ouTi xaipwv ravra ToXjuLrjcrei Xeyeiv. HMIX. 0VT09 (TV TTOi Oetg, ov /ui€V6t(}\ 0)? €1 Oevch Tov avSpa TOVTOV, avTog apOricreL Taxa. HMIX. fo) AajuLGX, <3 PXeircov aa-Tpawdg, PoriOrjcrov, (3 yopyo\6v Xo^wp kq] tcop Xoxw*'. HMIX. (a Aa^ax', ov yap ovTog avOpanrog irdXai THE ACHARNIANS 33 he says what is true and just, and there's no gainsaying him either. Semich. I. Even if it is just and true, was he the one to say it ? But you shan't make such statements with impunity. Semich. 2. Here, man, where are you running to ? Stop where you are, and (to Semich. i) if you hit this man you shall swing for it. Semich. i. O Lamachus, come to our aid with lightnings in your eyes and your Gorgon plume on your head ! Come, Lamachus, our friend and fellow-tribesman. Wherever there is a captain or a general or a besieger of forts, let him come quickly to our aid. Somebody has got hold of me by the middle of my person. Enter the General Lamachus, in full military unifornt. Lam. Whence heard I that warlike cry? Who wants help ? Where is there the chance of a row ? What is it that calls my Gorgon- shield from its repose? Semich. Hail, Lamachus, hero of the helmet and host ! 5—2 34 APISTO^ANHS dVacrai/ rujLwv Tt]v iroXiv KaKoppoOci ; AAM.. ovTO^ (TV ToXyua? iTTWxo^ cov Xcyciv TaSc ', AIK. ^> aWa (rvyyvw/uLrjv exe, €1 TTTCOXO? <^|/ eLTTOV Tl KaO-TCDjULvXa/ULriV. AAM. t/ S' eiiras Vl^a^', ovk epeig; AIK. ovk olSa. AAM. TTcog. AIK. uTTo T0i7 ^eoi/9 yap twp ottXcov iXiyyiw. aXX' avTi^oXoo ar\ cnreveyKe fiov rrjv /JLop/mova. AAM. iSov. AIK. TrapdOe^s vvv virrlav avrrjv efJLol. AAM. Kcirai. AIK. a\Ti<} VVV /ULOV Xafiov, 1,v e^ejULccrw ^SeXvTToiULai yap tov^ \6p(ov KapyaTtjg. Tl Sai ApaKvWog Kcv^oplSrjg )] IlpiviStj^\ clScv Tis vjuLwv TCLK^arav tj rovg XaoVa?; ov tpaa-iv. aXX' 6 Koiarvpa^ Koi. Aa/xaxo9, oh vtt' epavov re Kot XP^^^ irpwtjv ttotc, (ixnrep airovnTTpov cKX^ovreg ecnrepa^, aTravTcs e^icTTW Trapijvovv ol (plXoi. AAM. 0) Stj/jLOKpariay ravra Stjr avaa-xcrd; AIK. ov SrJT, eav /i>/ /ULiiUL€v. 'E^ ov ye xopol(TLV etpea-rrjKev rpvyiKotg 6 SiSa- (TKaXog ^juLwv, ouTTO) irapept] irpog to Oearpov Xe^cov tog Se^io^ ear IV Sia8aX\6/uL€V09 S' viro rwv exOpwv ev^ AOtivaioig Taxv^ovXoig, 0>9 KW/UiOiSet TTIV TToXlV flfULlioV Ka\ TOV SiJiULOV KaOv' Ppl^ei, airoKplvea-Qm SeiTai vvvi irpog ' AOfivalovg /uLCTa- ^ouXovg. f}er\v 5' etvai iroWwv ayaOcov a^iog v/jav 6 TTOtrjTtjg, 7raJ(7a? v/jlcl^ ^eviKoicri Xoyot? /J-h Xlar e^airaTa- THE ACHARNIANS 37 Die. And I give notice to all the Pelo- ponnesians, Megarians, and Boeotians, that they can come to me to buy and sell. I only exclude Lamachus. {Exeunt severally. The Chorus remain,) Cho. That man has got the best of it, and convinces the people on the subject of his truce. Now v^e'll bestir ourselves for our customary anapaestic address. The Parabasis, or Address to the Audience. Cho. Since the time when our author first presided over comic choruses, he has never once presented himself in the theatre to tell you what a clever fellow he is. But he has been accused by his enemies to you hasty Athenians on the grounds that he burlesqued our city and insulted its inhabitants ; so he begs leave to answer that impeachment here in presence of yourselves — those same hasty Athenians in question. Now the poet ventures to submit that he deserves a good turn from you for preventing your being fooled by foreign phrases, or chuck- 38 APISTO^ANHS fXYiQ' rfSea-Om OwTrevo/uLevov^ /jLr]T ehai xawoTro- XiTag. TrpoTcpov S* ujULcig airo tcov ttoXccov ol irpea-lSeig e^aTraroovTeg TpwTov fiev io(rTe(f>avovg cKaXovv KaireiSri tovto Tig eiiroL, €v6ug Sia Tovg (TTeijiavovg ctt' aKpwp twv irvyi- Sicov eicaOtjcrOe. €1 Se Tig vjULag vTroOwTreva-ag Xiirapag KaXecreiev 'AOriPag, evpcTo TTCLV av Sia Tag Xnrapag, avwp TijULtjv irepiayjrag. TavTa iroiri(rag iroXXwv ayaOwv aiTiog v/miv yeyevtjTai, Kai Toug S^/ULOvg ev Taig TroXea-iv Sel^ag, wg SfJ/ULOKpaTOVVTai. ToiyapTOL vvv eV twv iroXewv tov (popov vfJLiv aTrayovTcg ^^ovcriv, iSeiv cTriOvjULOvvTeg tov 7roit}T*jv tov apiCTTOV, ofTTig irapeKivSuvevar' elirelv cv AOtjvaloig to, SiKaia. ovToa (5' avTov Trepi T*}g ToXinrjg lyStj Troppto KXiog i}Kei, OTe Kol paa-iXevg, AaKeSaipkovlwv Tr}v irpea^^eiav Baa-avl^wv, iipa>TV}a'€V TTpcoTa fxev avTOvg woTepoi Toig vavo'i KpaTOvoriv eiTa Se tovtov tov TroitjTtjv iroTepoug eliroi KaKa TToXXa' THE ACHARNIANS 38 ling at flattery, or — in one word — being gaping cits. Before this the ambassadors from the different cities used to gull you. First of all, they prated about ** Athens with its crown of violets," and directly they trotted out that phrase you sat up erect on your posteriors, fetched by that same violet crown. Then again, if anyone tickled your ears with talking about " sleek Athens," he got all he wanted by means of that epithet " sleek," which is more applicable to herrings than to Athens. Now, by putting you on your guard against this, your poet has done you any amount of good, show- ing the people in the different cities what a real democratic government is. And now folks will come from those cities, bringing you their tribute, and anxious to catch a glimpse of that consummate poet who dared to say to the Athenians what was just and right. Thus, for his very daring, his fame has spread far and wide. The Persian king, to wit, when pumping the Lacedaemonian em- bassy, asked them first of all which of the two powers was superior at sea. Then he went on to enquire about this poet, which of the two people he was most heavily down upon ; for, 39 API2T0#ANHS TOVTOvg yap etptj Tovg avOpioTrovg -ttoXu ^eXriov^ yeyevrja-Oai Kav T(i) TroXe/uLU) iroXv viKricreiv, tovtov ^ujul/SovXov exovTag. Sia ravO^ vjuiag AaKeSai/JLOvioi Ttjv eipijvrjv irpo- KaXovvrai, Kai Tr]p Auyivav aTraiTOva-iv koi rrj^ vrjcrov /jlcv ov (f>povTl^ovcr\ aXX' %a tovtov tov iroitjT^p a(f>eXiavTai. aXX' u/ief? TOi jULrj ttot a} tto^' aXto irepi Ttjp iroXip cop locnrep €K€tPO<} SeiXo^ Kai XaKaTairvywp. Sevpo MoiV eXOe (jtXeyvpa Tvpog exovcra jmepo^, evTOPO^ 'AxapviKt}. oJop €^ apOpaKccp irpipipcop ^ey/raXo^ aprjXaT, epedi^ojULCPog ovpia piirlSi, THE ACHARNIANS 39 he remarked, those people ought to be greatly improved, and to gain most victories in the war, when they had this poet for their fellow- counsellor. On this account the Lacedae- monians ask you to make peace, and to give back Aegina ; ^ not that they want the island, no ; they only want to mulct your poet, who has a small estate there. But you won't give it up ; and so he will go on and treat you justly in his comedies. Yes, he promises to give you any amount of good things, so that you shall be happy ever after. He won't flatter you, fee you, or fool you. He will never play you false or bespatter you with praise, but simply teach you what is best for your interests. Let Cleon play his trumps, then, and scheme as he will against me. Taking right and justice as my allies, I shall never be con- victed by the city — as he has been convicted — of being a coward and a catamite. Come hither, then. Muse, fiery and full of might, with the real Acharnian ring about thee. Be thou like the spark blown by the bellows from the oaken logs whilst our fish 1 Thucydides mentions the occupation and colonisation of Aegina as one of the chief causes of the Peloponnesian war. 40 API2T0#ANH2 ^uiK dv eiravOpaKiSeg wcri irapaKeijiievai, ol Se Oacrtav avaKVKUxri XiTrapajuiTrvKa, oi Se jj-aTTOiXTiVy ovtoo cro^apov eXOe ^ceXo?, evTOvov, aypOLKOTOvoVy o)? eyU€ Xa^ovcra top SrjfxoTriv. ol yepovTCf ol TraXaiol juLe/j,vT€9 ovSev €1 juirj r^g SiKtjg t^v >jXvyt}V. 6 Se veavlag eavrw (nrovSaa-ag ^vvrjyopeiv h Taxo9 Tralei ^vvaiTTDov G-TpoyyiiXoiq roig pruxacri • KaT aveXKiicraq epuYra, (TKavSaXriOp' Icrrag eirwvy avSpa IlSwvov anrapaTTwv koi rapaTToov koi KVKWV. 6 S^ VTTO yrfptag lULaaTapv^eiy kolt o^Xwv cnrep- X^rai ' eiTa Xv^ei kqi SaKpvei, Ka\ Xeyei irpog Tovg iplXovg, THE ACHARNIANS 40 lie ready to be fried, and one stirs up the Thasian sauce, whilst others knead the bread : so be the song lively, melodious, and smacking of the breezy country, when thou, O Muse, hast taken me as thy comrade ! Now, we old men have a grievance against the city ; for when we have fought our naval battles we are not tended in our declining years in a manner worthy of the victories we have won ; but, on the contrary, we are treated most scurvily when we are impeached by the youngsters. You let us be made fun of by the advocates as though we were good-for-nothing deaf old chunks with our shrill piping voice, and for whom the only sea-god of safety now is the poor staff we carry in our aged hands. Tottering with years, we take our place on the stand, seeing only the faintest shadow of jus- tice, while the accuser, urging on the youthful advocates to plead his cause, soon bowls us over with those rounded phrases, and cross- examines us, setting word-traps for us, so that poor old Tithonus is badgered and brow-beaten. Pursing up his lips from very age, he goes off cast in damages, and remarks with tears to his friends, "That fine will swallow up the 6 41 APISTO^ANHS ou m* exprjv a-opoi TrplaarOai, tovt 6(l>\m aTepxofxat. Tavra wcog eiKOTa, yepovT airoXea'ai ttoXiov avSpa irepl KXexfrvSpav, TToWa Srj ^ujULTTOv^aravTa, koi Oepjuov airoiJLop^aiJLe- vov avSpiKOv ISpcora Srj koi ttoXvv, avSp^ ayaOov ovra M.apa6covi ir€p\ rrjv iroXiv ; eira M.apa0(jovi /mev ot ^/nev, eSiooKojuLev vvv S' VTT* avSpoou irovripwv (T(j)68pa StcoKojiieOa, Kara irpog oXta-KO/ULeOa. TT/oo? TaSe Tig avrepel M.ap\lrLag] T(p yap eiKog avSpa kv^ov, rjXiKOV SovKvSlSriv, i^oXearOai arvjiiTrXaKevTa Trj ^kvOcov eprj/mia, TwSe TO) Kr]^i<7oSrj/uL(p, TW XaXo) ^wfjyopw) cocrr eyct) jtxep ^Xerja-a KaTrejuLopiajUirjv iScov avSpa Trpea-^uTrjv W avSpog to^otov kukw/ulcpov, og fxa Tijv A^jurjTp', SKeivog r/viK rjv OouKvSiStjg, ovS^ av avTtjv Tr]v 'Axct/aj/ paSlcog tjpecrxeT av, aWd. KaTeiraXaiarev dv fxev TrpwTOv EuaOXof? ^eVa, KaTe/36rjcre S^ dv KCKpaym TO^orag TpiarxiXiovg, irepieTO^evcrev 5' dv avrov tov iraTpog rovg ^vyyeveig. aXX eireiSri rovg yepovrag ovk eaO' virvov tvx€iv, THE ACHARNIANS 41 few coins I had saved to buy my coffin ! " How can it be right thus to ruin an old grey- bearded man on the word of an orator who talks against time — an old man who has worked hard for you, and often wiped off the manly sweat from his brow on your behalf — a man who fought at Marathon for this city ? Then, when we were at Marathon, we were the pursuers ; now we are pursued and hunted down by a set of scamps ! What can even glib-tongued Marpsias say against this ? Is it right, I ask again, that an old man bent with age, like Thucydides, should die in the Scythian desert of poverty at the hands of a chattering advocate like Cephisodemus ? How did I shed tears of pity when I saw that old man hustled by the executive — that Thu- cydides who, I vow by Demeter, when he was himself, would not have brooked any insult even on the part of Achaea herself, but would have floored ten such fellows as Euathlus ^ first, would have shouted down three thousand Scythian archers like Cephisodemus, and pierced with his arrows all that lineage ! But now, since you will not allow old men any rest, at least 1 An orator and informer. 6—2 42 API2T0#ANHS yjrri(f)L(raa-6e x^^P^? eivai rag ypa^ag, oirwg dv § tol yepovTL jmev yepcov Koi ptoSog 6 ^wriyopo^, Toig peoicri ^' evpvTrpcoKTog koi \aX09 X^ KXevyu t£?, ^rjjuLiovv TOP yepovra tw yepovTi, top pcop Se tm pew. AIK. opoL fJL€P ayopas eia-ip olSe Ttjg e/x^?. ipTavO^ ayopa^eip iracri TieXoTTOPPrjcrioig e^ecTTi KOI Meyapevari koi Bofwr/of? 60' (hre TTooXeip tt/oo? e/xe, Aa/xaxw Se jULrj. ayopapoiuLovg Se rrj^ ayopaq KaOla-TajULai rpeig roy? Xaxopra^ tovctS' i/uLoiPTag eK Aeirpiap. ePTavOa fXYire arvKO(j>aPTri^ eia-iToo fx-qT aXKo^ 0(rTi9 ^aaiapog ecrr aprjp. eyco Se tijp a-Trfkrip Ka6* rjp ea-Treia-djULTjp fjLereifi, Ipa a-Trjarco ipapepap ep rayopa. THE ACHARNIANS 42 pass a decree by which actions at law shall be equalised, so that for an aged defendant the plaintiff must be old and toothless too, while for the young the prosecutor shall be some broad-bottomed chattering fellow like the son of Clinias.^ Legal actions there must still be, of course ; but if anyone is to be brought to justice, let the old man be punished by an old man, and the young man by a young one. (Exeunt,) Enter Dicaeopolis. Die. These, then, are the limits of my market. Here all Peloponnesians, Megarians, and Boeotians may trade, on condition that they sell to me, but not to Lamachus. I appoint three market-masters armed with these Lepraean whips.^ Hereinto let no informer or other sneaking fellow enter. I myself will fetch hither the pillar on which the terms of my treaty are inscribed, and set it up in my market, plain for all folk to see. {Exit,) 1 Alcibiades. 2 Lepraeum is the name of a town. There is a pun here ; the Megarians, according to the scholiast, being subject to "leprosy. ' 43 APISTO^ANHS MEr. ayopa *v 'AOdvaig X^^P^> Meyapevcriv (pi\a CTToOeuv TV vat tov (plXtov airep uaTepa. aXX', w irovrjpa Ka(T(i) ANHS AIK. TL Sat ipepeig: MET. xolpov^ eywvy a iJ.v(mKaq. AIK. KoXoogXeyeig' eTrlSei^ov. MET. aWa /nav KoKai avTcivoVf at X^?* o)? Trax^ia Kai KoXa. AIK. toutI Ti ?j/ TO Trpay/ma; MEF. x^^po? vai Ala. AI K. Ti Xeyeig arv ; iroSairh xotpO£ ijSe ; MEF. Mey a/ot/ca. i7 ov xo^po? eo-0' a^'; AIK. ovk e/ULOiye aLV€Tai, MEF. ov Seiva] OacrOe TOvSe Tag airiiTTiag' ou ev X^?, dSe rot xo^po? ^aXa. AIK. 609 ^vyyevrjg 6 KvcrOog avrrjg Oarepa. MEF. ojULOjuLaTpla yap ecm KrjK tcovtov iraTpog. ai S' dv iraxwOri KavaxvoiavOrj Tpixh KaWiarrog ea-rai xo^/oo? ^A^poSlra Oveii/. AIK. aXX' ovx} Xo^po? TCKppoSLTH Ouerai. MEF. ou x^^poi ^ A.poSLTa. ; /ulovo. ya Sai/ULovoov. THE ACHARNIANS 46 keep silent, you little wretches, or, by Hermes, I'll carry you home again. Girls. Wee, wee ! Meg. There, isn't that a pig ? Die. Yes, it sounds like a pig now ; but if you keep it for about five years it will be something very different. Meg. Yes, then it will be like its mother. Die. But this one isn't fit for — for sacrifice. Meg. Why not ? Why isn't it fit for such business ? Die. Why, because it hasn't got a tail between its legs. Meg. Because it's young. When it grows up it will have a big, thick, red tail between its legs. Now if you like to feed it up here's a fine sucking-pig for you. Die. How like one little pig is to the other ! Meg. Yes, they come from the same father and mother. When it gets a bit bigger and well covered with hair, it will make a fine sacri- fice for Aphrodite, the goddess of love, you know. Die. Only the pig isn't sacrificed to Aphro- dite. Meg. Isn't it, though ? She's the only deity 47 APISTO^ANHS Kai yiverat ya ravSe tolv xotpcov to Kpfjg dSia-TOv ap tov oSeXov af/iireTrapiuLevov, AIK. T/Sri S* avev rrjg inriTpog ccrOloiev av; MEr. vai TOV TLoTeiSav, kolv avev ya tw TraTpog. AIK. Ti S' ecreiei ^xaXiaTa) MEF. TravO' & /ca 5t5^9. avTog S^ ipurrr]. AIK. x^^P^ X^^P^' KOPA. Kot Ko't. AIK. TpwyoK} av epe^lvOovg; KOT A. KOt koi Ko^i. AIK. Ti Sal', fpi^aXcwg iv. 2YK. K\aMv fJLeyapmg. ovk atpija-cig tov o-olkov] MEF. AlKaiOTToXl AlKaiOTToXl, (paVTCL^OJULat, AIK. vTTo TOV', T19 6 (palvbov a €(TTiv', ayopapo/ULoi, Tovg avKoav(a T01/9 TroXejULiovg ; AIK. kXcicop ye cry, THE ACHARNIANS 48 Meg. For one a bundle of garlic, and for the other, if you like, a measure of salt. Die. Well, I'll buy them. Wait here. (Exit) Meg. So far, so good. Hermes of the Market ! Why I'd sell my wife and my mother at the same rate. Enter Sycophantes, the Informer. Syc. Now then, you fellow, who are you ? Meg. I'm a Megarian pig-dealer. Syc. Then I denounce you and your pigs as contraband of war. Meg. There it is again ! My luck's got back into the old groove. Syc. You shall repent these Megarian tricks of yours. Put down that sack. Meg. O Dicaeopolis ! {Re-enter Dicaeo- POLis.) Dicaeopolis, I'm dropped down upon. Die. By whom ? Who has been dropping down upon you ? Market-masters, I thought I told you to keep all informers clear of this place. You active and intelligent officer, how did you get to be so brilliant without being wicked ? Syc. Oughtn't I to be sharp on our enemies ? 7 49 APISTO^ANHS €1 fir] Ve/ocoo-e crvKO(pavTi](T€i^ Tpix^v. MEr. olov TO KttKov €v TaU ' A0avai9 tout evi, AIK. Odppei, MeyapiK' a\X ?? to. xoiptSi' aireSov TijiAfig, Xa,8e ravrl to. a-KopoSa Kai Tovg dXag, KOI X^^P^ TToXW MEr. aXX' ajULiv ovk eirixcopiop. AIK. ir6\v7rpayiuLO(rvpf}9' vvv e? K€avTrig aXXog, ol- /jLoo^wv KaOeSeiTai ' ovS' dXXog dvOpcoTTcov vTroylroovcov ere irrjij.avei ti ' OvS^ €^0/J.6p^6Tai UpeTTig TtJV CVpVTTpOOKTiaP (TOl, ovS^ wa-Tiet KXeoovufJiay THE ACHARNIANS 49 Die. You'll do it at your peril if you don't carry your activity and intelligence to some other quarter. {Exit Sycophantes hastily,) Meg. What a nuisance these fellows are in Athens ! Die. Keep your pecker up, Megarian. Here's the exchange for your little pigs. Take the garlic and the salt ; and farewell. Meg. Ah, we never fare well now ; it's gone out of fashion in our parts. Die. To be sure. I was so busy I forgot that. Well, may my good wishes recoil on my own head. Meg. Good-bye, little piggies. Take care to gobble up your salted cakes without your dad — that is, if you get anybody to give them to you. {Exit Megarian.) Cho. This man's affairs are looking up. Don't you hear how his plan succeeds ? He'll just sit in his market here and sweep in the coin ; and if Ctesias or any other informer puts in an appearance, he'll make him sit down too — but sit howling. Nobody else who comes to buy food shall interfere with you. Prepis shan't wipe his dirty rump on you, nor shall you collide with fat Cleonymus ; but you shall 7—2 50 API2T0$ANH2 X^ctii^civ ^' ex^j^ ^avt]v SUi' Kov ^vvTvxcov or' 'Yirep^oXog SiKoov avairXyjcrei' ovS* evrvx^^v €v Tctyopa Trpoa-etcri croi /BaSl^wv J^parivos aei KCKapjuievog /uloixov fiia fiaxatpa> 6 TrepiTTOvripog 'Apre/xwi/, 6 Taxv9 ayav Tfiv /movariKriv, o^cov KaKOv Twv /zao-xaXwi^ Trarpog Tpayaaralov ovS' aSOi^ av (Tc a-Kw\[reTai Uava-wv 6 7ra/jtxovJ7/0O9, Avaria-Tparo^ t ev rayopa, ^oXapyiwp oveiSog, 6 TrepidXovpyo] rpiaKOvO' ^fxepa^ Tov fxtjvog eKaoTTOv. BOI. 'iTru> H/oa/cX^?, eKa/uLov ya rav rvKav KaKwg, KaraOov tv rav yXax^oj^' arpejULag, ^I(rjULi]via' I'/xe? S\ oaoL Oei^aOev avXrjrat irapa, Toh oa-Tivoig ^va-^re tov irpooKTOV Kvvog. AIK. Trau' e? KopaKag. ol a-tpfJKeg ovk oltto twv Ovpwv ; TToOev TTpocreTTTavO^ ol KaKwg airoXovimevoi eirl Trjv Ovpav fxoi Js^aipiSel^ Bofx^avXiot ; THE ACHARNIANS 50 just go along in your spic-and-span white tunic, and even when you meet lawyer Hyper- bolus, you shall manage to keep clear of his sort of suits. Smooth-shaven Cratinus, look- ing for all the world like a male strumpet, shall not solicit you, nor that naughty Artemon, the fast musical man, with his armpits stinking like the paternal goat. Nor, again, shall foul- mouthed Pauson foist his filthy jokes upon you, or, in this ideal market, Lysistratus, that ne'er-do-well from Cholargus, who's hungry and dirty for more than thirty days out of every month. Enter the Boeotian with his Boy and several Pipers. BoEO. S'help me Hercules, but my neck is stiff and galled. Ismenias, lay the pennyroyal down gingerly. And you, my Theban pipers, blow up your bone pipes and play me the tune of " The Dog's Backside." {They strike up.) Enter Dicaeopolis. Die. Go to the deuce ! Move on from my door, you buzzers. Have all the bumble-bees of Chaeris — confound them ! — come to pay me a visit ? {Exeunt Pipers.) 51 APIST0'I»ANH2 BOL v*j Tov loXaov, cTTixapLTTw y\ CO ^€V€- GelpaOi yap KoWlKO(pay€ l^OlOOTlSlOV. Tt epwv, Sog jULOi TTpoareiTreiv, et (pepeig rag iyx^Xeig. BOL TTpeG'fieipa irevr^Kovra ^(jottolScdv Kopav, €K/3a0i ri^Se KtjTrixapLrre rw ^evw. AIK. 10 (juXrart] crv Kai iraXai iroOou/xevtj, THE ACHARNIANS 51 BoEO. True, by the hero lolaus, stranger, and I thank you. These pipers have followed me all the way from Thebes, blowing every bloomin' flower off my pennyroyal, and scat- tering 'em about the ground. Will you buy some of my chickens, or any other of the quadrupeds I've brought with me ? Die. Ah, how d'ye do, my little bun-eating Boeotian ? What have you got ? BoEO. Why, pretty well all the good things of Boeotia. Here's marjoram and pennyroyal, mats and candlewicks, ducks and jackdaws, quails and waterhens, wrens and pigeons. Die. Why, you've come upon our market like a winter storm that brings all the birds of the air down with it ! BoEO. Then I've got geese and hares and foxes, moles and hedgehogs and cats, weasels and water-rats, and last, but not least, eels from Lake Copais. Die. Ah ! there you've got a tit-bit, indeed. Let me pay my respects to them, if you've got those eels. BoEO. Most beautiful of all my fifty nymphs from Copais, come forth, and salute our host ! Die. O best-beloved and long - looked - for ! 52 APISTO^ANHS tjXOes TToOeivrj jmev TpuywSiKolg xo/oo<9j L\tj Se Mo/aJxy* ^M^^?> i^epeyKare rip eaxoipoLv /mot Sevpo koi Tr]v ptTrlSa. (TKeylracrOe, waiSes, t»jv aplarTtjv eyxekuVt iJKovcrav cktu) /moXig erei TroOovjmevrjv Trpoa-eiirar avTtiv, co t€Kv' • avOpaKag S' eyu) vij.lv Trape^co rrjarSe rrjg ^evtjg x^P^^- aXX' €'i/ (l>opTL erep' evOevS' eKctcr' aieig; BOI. iw, o TL y €t]V avrjp ^oiu)TLO fei/ft) KoXwg Trjv ejuLTroXTjv ovTCog OTTCog dv fjLtj tpepwv KaTa^ij. AIK. e/uLOi jUieXiicrei Tavr , iwel Toi Kai y]/o(l>el XaXov tl kcu TTvpoppayeg KaXXwg Oeotariv ixOpov. THE ACHARNIANS 54 Die. Are you going to seize him on account of a candlewick ? Nic. Yes, he might set the whole dockyard on fire. Die. What ! a single wick set the dockyard on fire ? Nic. Undoubtedly, in my opinion. Dig. How? Nic. Why, this Boeotian might fasten the wick on to a beetle, wait for a north wind, let the insect go through a water-pipe, and, if the ships once took fire, the whole place would be in a blaze straight away. Die. You stupid ass ! Burnt by a beetle with a wick ? Nic. I'm sure of it. Die. Stop the fool's mouth. Bring me a cord, and I'll pack him like crockery, so that he mayn't be broken in transit. Cho. O yes ! cord the package carefully for the stranger, there's a good man ; it would be such a pity if he should be smashed. Die. I'll take care of that. This pot has got a bad ring about it, as if it had been cracked in baking. The creature is in every way an abomination to the gods. 55 APISTOc^ANHS XOP. t/ xP^^^'^^^ ttot avT(p ; AIK. irayxpWTOv ayyog earrai, Kpartjp KaKwv, TpnrTfjp Siku>v, aLveLv virevOvpovg Xvxvov- X09, KOI KvXi$ TO TTpay/maT eyKVKaarOai. XOP. TTwg 8' dv TreTTOiOoiJ] ns ay- yeioj ToiovTcp xp(joij.evog KGT oiKiav TOcrovS' aei xJ/^o^ovvti ; AIK. Icrxvpov ecTTLV, S>yaQ\ wott ovK dv Karayeifj ttot, ei- irep eK iroScov Karw Kapa KpejmaiTo. XOP. r^St] KoXcog ex€i croi. BOI. /xeXXo) ye toi OeplSSeip. XOP. aXX*, 0) ^iv(av ^eXTicrTC, crvi/- Oepi^e Kai [tovtov Xafiwp^ 7rp6/3aXX' oiroi /BovXei ^epiav TTpog iravra (rvKO^avTrjv. AIK. /uLoXig y' ipcStja-a top KaKcog airoXovfxevov* atpov Xa^cov top KcpajuLov, c5 Bofcorte. BOI. viroKvirre tclv TvXav Iwv, '\v Oupwv. CO KvirpiSi Til KaX^ Ka\ lLapi(n Talg ^iXaig ^vv- Tpo^e AiaXXayrj, o)? KoXov exova-a to TrpocrcoTTov ap eXavQaveg. THE ACHARNIANS 57 on the wings of my thrushes and blackbirds here. (Exit.) Chorus. Cho. Now all the city can realise how wise and far-seeing this man is, who, all along of his truce, has managed to trade in these good things, some of them useful about the house, others good for eating and drinking. All these advantages come naturally to him. Never will I receive War as a guest in my house, nor shall anybody at my table sing the song of Harmodius,^ as a fellow did once when he got a drop of wine in him. Everything went on serenely until he began to bluster and throw all into confusion. We begged him to sit down and drink on to his heart's content ; but no ; first of all he pitched our vine-poles into the fire and then wasted the wine. . . . Now this man, on the contrary, shows how high-minded he is. Why, the very feathers before his door prove the kind of life he leads. O Peace, first cousin to the Cyprian Queen and the Graces, how is it that with such charms as yours you lie hid so long ? May the 1 Who, with Aristogeiton, overthrew the tyrant Hip- parchus. 8—2 58 API2T0*ANH2 TTW? aV e/ULe koi (re T19 "E/ow? ^vvayayoi Xa^wv, coa-Trep 6 yey pajUL/iievog, exoop (TTG^avov avOejj.cop ; r] Travv yepovTtov 'Icrwg vevojULiKa^ fxe arv] oKKa ere Xa^iav rpia Sokw y av en irpocr^aXeiv • TTpcJora jixev dv ctfJiTreXiSog opxov iXaa-ai fxaKpov, elra irapa rovBe via /ULoaxiSia o-vkiScdv, Koi TO TpiTOV ^fjiepiSog o^ov, 6 yepoov oSi, KOI irepl TO xwplov eXaSag dirav iv kvkXw, cooTT aX€iwvTog Xtjyf/erai. AIK. CO watSeg, cS yvvatKcg, ovk tJKoutraTe: Ti Spare ; tov Ki^pvKog ovk aKOvere ; ava/BpcLTTeT, e^oTTTare, Tpeirer, afpeXKere TO, Xaywa rax^m, Tovg crrecpavovg aveipere. ^epe TOvg o/SeXltTKOvg, fV avaireipw rag KixXag XOP.* ^vXm (re rrjg eif^ovXiagy luaXXov Se Tfjg evwxiag, avOpwire, rrjg irapovarig. THE ACHARNIANS 58 God of Love grant that I form a compact with you, wearing my crown of roses, as we see it in the picture ! Do you think I am too old for this sort of thing ? Ah ! if I had only once got you, there are, methinks, just three things I should covet : first, a long row of vines, and then, alongside this, a fig-tree — our own vine and fig-tree. And then, there is a third thing this old man wants : an encircling olive-grove, so that you and I should anoint ourselves therefrom at each Feast of the New Moon. Enter the Town-crier. Crier. Hear, hear, all people. The Feast of the Cups is to be celebrated according to custom. Drinking to be by sound of trumpet, and he who drains his flagon first will be rewarded with a skin of wine as big as Ctesiphon's fat paunch. (Exit,) Die. There, girls and boys, do you hear that ? Did you catch what the crier said ? Go ahead, boil, roast, turn the spits, skin the hares in all haste, and weave the garlands. Bring the spits, and I'll skewer the birds myself. Cho. That's the kind of counsel I approve. Above all I like your arrangements for good cheer. 59 APISTO^ANHS AIK. TL SrJT, ETreiSav ra? kix^ci9 OTrTCDfjLevag 'IStjTe ; XOP. oI/ULai are kol tout eu Xeyeiv. AIK. TO TTvp viroa-KoXeve. KOP. r]Kov(Ta^ ft)? /JiayeipiKwg KOIUi\lr(J09 T€ KOI SeiTTVrjTlKWg avTw SiaKoveiTai] FEQ. oljULOL TaXag. AIK. w 'H/oa/cXet?, t/? owtoo-/; TEQ. avrjp KaKoSal/uLcov. AIK. kutu aeavTOV wv TpeTTov. TEQ. CO tTriv €V iraui /SoXiTOig. AIK. elTa vvvl tov Seei: THE ACHARNIANS 59 Die. Ah, my boys ! but what will you say when you see these birds actually frizzling ? Cho. I shall say you are every inch a good fellow. Die. Poke the fire. Cho. Hark to him ! How like a chef he talks, bearing himself proudly, as though on the eve of a heavy feed ! Enter a Husbandman. Hus. O lord ! O deary me! Die. Great Hercules ! who's this ? Hus. A poor miserable devil. Die. Well, keep your misery to yourself! Hus. But, my dear, good sir ! you are the only one that has made a truce. Just give me a slice of peace — say a five years' portion. Die. What's the row ? Hus. I'm about done for. I've lost my two oxen. Die. How so ? Hus. The Boeotians bagged them from Phyle. Die. Fie, fie! And yet you're not in mourning. Hus. Why, these beasts kept me in my daily food, if it was only on their dung. 6o APISTO^ANHS FEQ. airoXcoXa ToofpOaX/uLco SaKpvoov tco fioe. aXX' €1 Ti KijSei AepKCTOv ^v\a(riov, viraXeLxf/^ov clprjvu fie ToxpOaX/uLU) Ta\v. AIK. aXX', w TTOvrip , ov Srj/uLoarievayv TvyxoL^i^- FEQ. lO' avTi^oXco (t\ riv TTCDg KOfJLKTOo/uLai Tu) fioe. AIK. ovK ecTTiv, aXXa /cXae tt/oo? tov TLittclXov, FEll. (TV S' aXXa juLoi crraXayjULOV cipijvtj^ eVa etV TOV KaXajuLiarKov evcTToXa^ov tovtovi. AIK. ovS' av (TTpi^iXiKiy^' aXX' ainuiiv o'l/jico^e irov. rE12. oifjiOL KaKoSaljULCov Tolv yewpyolv ^olSIolv. XOP. avhp evevptjKiv ri ralg cnrovSalo'LV rjSv, kovk eoi- Kev ovSepl ficTaSc^eiv. AIK. Karax^i erv t^? X°P^5? '^^ ficXi* Tag (TrjTrlag (TTaOeue. XOP. ^Kovtrag SpOiaa-fiaTcov; AIK. OTTTCLTe Tayx^Xeia. XOP. ClTTOKTeveh XljULW /JL€ KG I Toug yeiTOvag kvIgti} tc Kai (fxjdvti ToiavTa XatJKOdv. THE ACHARNIANS 60 Die. Well, what do you want ? Hus. I've cried my two eyes out for these cattle ; so if you've any regard for poor Dercetes of Phyle, do anoint my eyes with the balm of peace. Die. Why, my good fellow, I'm not the parish doctor. Hus. But help me to gladden my eyes with my oxen again. Die. I can't do it. It's out of my line. Consult Doctor Pittalus. Hus. Just give me one drop of peace in this here bottle. Die. Not a squirt. Carry your grievance somewhere else. Hus. O dear, O dear! I am a poor un- lucky devil, all along of those two oxen. (Exit,) Cho. {aside). He's got a good thing with that truce of his, and he doesn't seem inclined to share it with anybody else. Die. Now flavour the kickshaws with honey, and set the cuttlefish to cook. Cho. Do you hear his word of command ? Die. Fry the eels. Cho. You'll kill me with hunger, choke your neighbours with smoke, and deafen them with your shouting. 6i API2T0#ANHS AIK. OTTTare ravrl koi KoXwg ^avQl^ere. HAP. AlKQlOTToXl. AIK. t/? OUTOCrl TL^ ovTocrl; IIAP. eireiJLyjre Tig (tol vvfji^log tuutI Kpca eK Tcov ya/ULcov. AIK. KaXm ye iroiiov, oarrtg tjv. HAP. cKeXeve S' eyxeai ere, twv Kpewv X^P'^^^ "Iva jULvi a-TparevoiT f aXXa /Stvoltj ij.iv(av, €9 Tov a\a/3aa-T0v KvaOov elpijvrjg eva* AIK. aTTOtpep^ cLTTotpepe ra Kpea koi jjli] julol SlSoVy wg ovK av iyxtaijun xf^twv Spaxi^ff^V' aW avTrji Tig ecTTiV, IIAP. ^ vvfxtpevTpia SeiTai irapa T»jg vvfKptjg ti (toi Xe^ai ixovio, AIK. (fiepe Srjy ti (Tu Xeyeig; cog yeXoiov, cS Oeoi, TO Seij/na Trjg vv/UL^fjg, o SciTai /iiov crtpoSpa, OTrwg dv oiKovpiJ to ireog tov vvjULtpiou, (jtepe Sevpo Tag (riropSag, *iv avTiJ Sw /jlovh, OTLfj yvvri '(TTi tov TToXe/uLOu T OVK a^/a. THE ACHARNIANS 6i Die. Now roast these ; and mind you brown them well. Enter the Groomsman and Bridesmaid. Groom. Hallo, Dicaeopolis ! Die. Who's this ? Who's this ? Groom. Our bridegroom has sent you these tit-bits from his wedding-feast. Die. It's very thoughtful of him, whoever he may be. Groom. And he wants you in return to pour him out into this alabaster vase one drop of peace, so that he may not be called off to foreign service, but just stop at home and devote himself to continuous copulation. Die. Take back the tit-bits ; don't give them to me. I wouldn't part with one drop for a thousand drachmas. But who's this lady ? Groom. The bridesmaid. She has a mes- sage from the Bride to convey to you in private. Die. Come here, my dear. What have you got to say? {The Bridesmaid whispers to him.) O, it's absurd ! Ye gods, it's ridiculous what this Bride asks ! She wants to keep her husband's privates for her own sole use at home. Well, take this truce. I only give it to you, my dear, because a woman is not liable 62 APISTO^ANHS virex ^Se Sevpo Tov^akeLTTTpov, c5 yui/ai. 6i(rO^ ft)? TToieiTe tovto ; t^ vvjuitpu pa(Tov, orav Tag KaToXeycocrt, tovtwi vvKTuyp aXei^eTO) to Treog tov vv/uL(ptov, airoipepe Tag (rirovSag. ^epe Ttjv oivripvcrtv, "lv olvov eyx^ft) Xa^wv eg Tovg x^^?* XOP. KOI juLriv 681 Tig TOLg 6pvg avea-'TraKoog axnrep ti Seivov ayyeXwv eireiyeTai. Ar. A. ioo irovoi Te Koi /ndxai koi Ad/maxoi. AAM. Tig aix(l>i xoXKO(l>aKapa ScofxaTa KTVirel : Ar. A. livai (T cKcXevov oi (TTpaTtjyoi T/j/uLcpov Tax^oyg XafiovTa Tovg Xoxovg Kai Toug X6ovg' KaireiTa Ttjpeiv VKpo/nevov Tag eitr^oXag. viro TOvg X.6ag yhp kcll XvTpoug auTola-i Tig fjyyeiXe XiJcTTag ejuL^aXeiv l^oicnTtovg. AAM. iw CTTpaTtjyoi TrXeloveg rj ^eXTioveg. THE ACHARNIANS 62 for military service. Bring me your vase, young lady. Now do you know what to do with this? Tell the Bride that when the conscription is made, she is to anoint her husband's cock-a- doodle with it. Then take back the rest of the truce, and bring me the wine-strainer that I may rack off the wine for the Feast of Cups. {Exeunt Groomsman and Bridesmaid.) Cho. Now here's somebody looking very glum, evidently posting hither with some bad news. Enter a Messenger. Mes. What ho, Lamachus ! Alas, for toil and trouble ! Enter Lamachus. Lam. {bombastically). Who calls so loudly at my castle gates ? Mes. The generals bid you set off to-day, taking your hosts and helmets with you, and keep guard over the passes in the snow. It has been announced that Boeotian marauders contemplate an attack during the Feast of the Cups and Pitchers. Lam. Hang the generals ! There's a damned sight too many of them ! 63 API2T0$ANH2 AIK. ov Seiva jULYj ^^eival /iie [xriS' kopTaa-ai ; lod (TTpaTevjjLa TroXe/uLoXajiiaxoitKov, AAM. o'lfJLoi KaKoSaljuLoov, KarayeXa^ ?^»7 crv fiov. AIK. ^ovXei lUidxeorOai Vrjpvovrj rerpaTrr/Xw; AAM. alal, olav 6 KYipv^ ayyeXiav rjyyeiXe jjloi . AIK. alai, Tiva S' av /moi Trpoarrpexei rig ayyeXwp; AF.B. Af/rato'TroXf. AIK. t/ ecmv: AF. B. eTrJ Seiirvov Taxv ^aSi^e, Trjv KLCTTfiv Xa/3oi)v koi tov xoa- 6 TOV Aiovu(rov yap cr' lepev^ (jLeTairefiTreTai. aXX' eyKovei' Senrveiv KaTaKooXueig TroiXai. ra S' aWa ttolpt ea-rh Trapea-Kevaa-jUieva, K\ivai, Tpcnre^ai, Trpo(TKe(j)a\aia, o-Tpw/xara, (TTecpavoi, jULupov, Tpayy]iJ.aQ\ at iropvai irapa, a/jLvXot, TrXaKovvTcg, crrja-ajuovvTeg, Wpia, opxw^P'-^^'if T« ^/Xra^' 'ApjuoSlov, KaXaL oXX* 0)9 TOLXicrra (nrevSe, AAM. KaKoSalfxuv cyco. THE ACHARNIANS 63 Die. Isn't it hard that a man can't be let get his supper in peace ? Curse this warlike preparation, say I. Lam. I am an unfortunate devil. You've got the laugh at me now. Die. (showing him a locust). Would you like to have a set-to with the four-winged Geryon ? Lam. O lord, what a message that herald brought me ! Die. And here's one coming with a message for me now ! Enter a second Messenger. Mes. Dicaeopolis ! Die. Well? Mes. Make haste to supper. Bring your basket and wine-cup with you ; the Priest of the wine-god, Dionysus, sends to fetch you. Hurry up, for you're keeping the banquet wait- ing. Everything is prepared — couches, tables, cushions, coverlets, garlands, perfumes, dainties of every description — concubines included — cakes of all kinds, and dancing-girls that would have delighted the heart of Harmodius. Make as much haste as ever you can. (Exit.) Lam. I repeat, what an unfortunate devil I am! 64 API2T0#ANH2 AIK. KOt yap (TV [jLeyoKYiv eireypdipov t*}v Topyova. crvyKXeie, Kai Scittvop ti? eva-Kcua^cToo. AAM. irai Trai, (pip* e^co Sevpo rov yvXiov e/uLOi. AIK. Trai Trait v Tpicov Xofpoov, THE ACHARNIANS 64 Die. You shouldn't have enHsted in the service of the Gorgon. But shut the door, and let somebody get ready the supper. Lam. Here, boy — boy! I say — bring out my knapsack. Die. Here, boy — boy ! I say — bring out the basket for the provisions. Lam. Mind the salt, and don't forget the onions. Die. Bring the cutlets. I abominate onions. Lam. Bring me, boy, a chunk of that stink- ing salt-fish. Die. Bring me a savoury pie. I'll warm it up when I get there. Lam. Mind the two feathers for my helmet. Die. Don't forget the pigeons and the thrushes for me. Lam. Beautiful is the white plume ! Die. Beautiful the browned flesh of the pigeon ! Lam. You fellow ! don't chaff at my equip- ment. Die. And you, fellow ! don't cast sheep's eyes on my thrushes. Lam. And now bring me out the helmet- case for my triple horse-hair plume. 9 65 APirrO^ANHS AIK. Ka/j^oi XeKOLVLOv twv \aywwv S69 Kpeiav. AAM. aXX' ? Tpixo^pcoreg rovg \6ovg julov Karetpayop AIK. aXX' § TT/oo SeiTTvov rrjv /uil/uLapKvv KariSouai ; AAM. wvOpcoire, /SovXei /uLrj irpoaayopeveiv ifie AIK. ouK, aXX' eyo) X'^ ''^f^^^ epl^ojuiev TrdXai, fiovXei irepiSoa-Oai, KairLTpeyfrai Aa/uLdx(f, irorepov aKpiSeg ^Siov earriv, t] KixXai ; AAM. otfx' 0)9 v^pl^ei^. AIK. Tci^ CLKpiSag Kpivei iroXv, AAM. irai wai, KaOeXwv juloi to Sopv Seup' e^oD (pepe, AIK. Trat, irai, arv S^ aipeXuyp Sevpo T^y X^P^'l^ ep€y Tov Soparo^ a(j>€XKva-a)/uLat rovXirrpov. €x\ dvrixov, wai. AIK. koi aog ye Tov/movy ovKeT eijUL eyco. ToaravTa Xe^a? efV uSpoppoav iretTcm' THE ACHARNIANS 68 him suffer. The next should be a nocturnal adventure. As he was coming home in a state of fever-heat from riding, I should like some mad-drunk Orestes to break his head for him, and then, as he stooped to pick up a stone in the darkness, I should like him to take up a lump of shit recently deposited there ; I should like him to take aim with this unsavoury missile, but to miss his mark and hit Cratinus ^ with it. Enter a Messenger. Mes. Now, you flunkeys hanging about the house of Lamachus, stir your stumps. Warm some water in a pipkin; get ready rags, oiled silk, greased wool, and a bandage for his ankle. The hero has been hurt by a stake as he was jumping over a ditch. His ankle was sprained, and he fell over with his head on a rock, knocking all the Gorgon out of his shield. As the plume he boasted of so much went toppling down the rocks, he began to sing out, " O glorious orb of day, now I look upon your light for the last time. I'm done for ! " ^ So saying, he tumbled into the ditch. He struggled out, 1 Not the comic poet. ■^ From some tragic poet. 69 APISTO^ANHS avtcrraTac re Koi. ^vvavTO. SpaireTaig Xua-rag cXavvwv koi Karacnrepxwv Sopi. oSi Se KouTog' aXX' avoiye rrjv dvpav. AAM. arraTai aTTarat, CTTvyepoL raSe ye Kpvepa TraOea. raXag eyo) SioWvimai Sop09 viro TroXejuitov Tvireig. €K€ipo S* alaKTOV av yevoiTO juloi, AiKaiOTToXig dv el jm,' 'iSoi TeTponfjievov, K(XT eyxcivoi Tah e/maig Tuxaia-LV. A IK. (iTTaTal uTTaTai Twv titOlcov, m (TKXripa Kal KvSwvia. (piXrjcraTOV /xe jmaXOaKwg, c5 xpva-LUif TO irepnreTacrTOV KaTrijiAavSaXooTOV, TOP yap xocL irpcorog eKTreircoKa. AAM. w (Tvix(f>opa ToXaiva twv c/jlwv KaKwv. l(3D 10} TpavjuLarcov eircoSvvtav. AIK. iij irj X^^P^ Aa/xaxtTTTTfoi/. AAM. (TTvyepqg eyw. AIK. iJLoyepog eyw. AAM. Tt /ue (») tov ireovq afjujxa jmea-ov 7rpocrXa^€G'd\ cS ^IXat. AAM. iXiyyiu) Kapa XlOw ireirXriyixevog, Kat (TKOToSlVlW. AIK. Kayoo KaOevSeiv /SouXo/ULai koI (TTvo/Jiai Koi (rKOTo/3iviu>. AAM. Ovpa^e fJL e^eveyKaT e? tov VLlttoXov Traiwylaiari xepcnv. AIK. 0)9 TOV£ KpiTag JUL* eKepeTe' ttov *arTii 6 /8a- (TiXevg ; * afroSoTe juLot tov cutkov. AAM. Xoyxv Ti? kjULTreTnjye /uloi Si^ oottcW oSvpTa. AIK. 6paT€ TOVTOv) KCUOV. TifvcXXu KaXXiiuKog. THE ACHARNIANS 70 Die. You needn't bite my nose off. Lam. That was a terrible charge in which I was wounded. Die. Charge ! D'you mean to say you were charged anything on the Cup Day ? Lam. O Apollo, God of Healing ! Die. But this isn't Hospital Day, it's the Cup Day. Lam. Take me ; catch me hold by the leg, friends. Hold me fast. Die. And lay hold of me by the leg, my dears ; I mean the middle leg. Both of you take hold of that. Lam. I feel a swimming in my head. Darkness comes over me. Die. And I feel a standing in my tail. I should like to go to bed and copulate in the dark. Lam. Carry me off, please, to Dr. Pittalus for medical treatment. Die. Carry me off to the judges. Where is the chief? Let me have the wineskin I have won. Lam. a horrid spear pierced through my very bones. Die. Here's my cup empty. See the Con- quering Hero ! 71 APISTO^ANHS XOP. TijveWa SfJT, eiTrep KoXei^ y\ (o Trpccr^j, koK- \1viK09. AIK. Kai TTpog y CLKpaTOv €y\ia• his Slaves. Scene. — The House of Demos. Noise of a scuffle within. Enter hastily Demosthenes and NlCIAS.^ Dem. O lord ! here's a pretty state of things ! dear me, dear me ! May the gods drop down upon that new Paphlagonian'* pur- chase and all his new-fangled ways ! Since he entered the house, he's always getting us servants into hot water. ' Two Athenian Generals in the Peloponnesian war. 2 Cleon. lo — 2 74 APISTO^ANHS NIK. KaKicrra StjO* ovto^ ye irpcoTO^ TLaipXayovoov avrah Sia/SoXaig. AHM. cS KaKoSaijULOV, Trwff NIK. kqkcck; KaOairep crv. AHM. Sevpo Sr} irpoa"- €\0\ *iva ^vvavXiav KXavcrcojULev OvXvfx'Trov vofxov. AHM. NIK. IJLV JULV /ULV /ULV JJLV JUiV jULV fXV JULV jJLV jULV fJLV. AHM. TL KivvpojULcO' aXXft)?; ovK exp^v ^ijreiv riva (TOi)Triplav vwv, oXXa /ULf] KXaetv en ; NIK. Tig ovv yevoiT av ; Xeye o- J. AHM. av julcv g5v juLOi Xeye, \va iJ.fl iJ.ax(j3iJ.aL, NIK. yua tov 'A-ttoXXo) 'yw /uei/ ov. aXX' etVe Oappoov, clra Kayco crol pacr(a. AHM. TTco? av (TV jULOi Xe^cia? ajme xph XeyeiV, NIK. aXX' OVK evL iJLOL TO Operre. ttoj? dv odv iroTe eiiroiix dv avTO Sfjra KO/ULxf/'evpiTriKcog ', AHM. juL^ /JLOL ye, jur] juloi, /mr] Siao'KapSiKLO'ug' aXX' €vp6 TLV airoKivov airo tov Secr'/roTOv. THE KNIGHTS 74 Nic. To the deuce with this frothy rascal and his tell-tale tricks ! Dem. You unfortunate devil, how did you come off? Nic. Much the same as yourself, I fancy. About as badly as I could. Dem. Let's do a mutual howl, then ; some- thing after the fashion of the old Olympian dirge. Both. Boohoo! Boohoo ! Boohoo ! Dem. But what's the use of our boohooing ? Hadn't we better hunt up some mode of escape more effectual than howling ? Nic. What's your idea ? Tell me. Dem. No; you tell me yours, so that I mayn't clash with it. Nic. I won't, by Apollo ! Tell me your plan first, without beating about the bush ; then I'll tell you mine. Dem. " O that thou wouldst inspire me what to say ! " (Hem, Euripides !) Nic. But I haven't got the pluck. How could I quote Euripides ? Dem. Well, don't. Drop that green-gro- cery,^ and just give us something suggestive of bolting from our master. 1 Euripides' s mother was said to have sold vegetables. 75 APISTO^ANHS NIK. Xeye Srj /uLoXoyjuiev ^vvexh wSl ^vWa^wv. AHM. Kai Sf] Xeyw jULoXcD/uLev. NIK. e^oTriarOe vvv avTo a6t Tov lULoXco/mev. AHM. avTO. NIK. iravv KoXoog. ioa-Trep SetpofJievog vvv aTpe/ma Trpoorov Xeye TO jULoXcojULev, elra S* avTo, KaTeiraycov ttvkvov. AHM. juioXwjuiev avTO jjioXwuAev avrojuLoXw/jiev. NIK. ?i/, ovx ^^y ', AHM. vrj A/a • ttXtjv ye irepl T(p SepjuLan SeSoiKa TovTOvl tov oicovov. NIK. t/ Sal; AHM. OTiij TO Sep/iia Sei/tojuievcov airepxcTai. NIK. KpaTLdTa TOLvvv Twv TTapovTWv ecrrl vipv, Oewv lovTe Trpoa-irea-elv tov irpog ^peTag. AHM. TTOiov /SpeTag; eTeov r\yel yap Qeovg\ NIK. eycoye. AHM. ttolw xpoiijULevog TeKjuajplcf ; NIK. OTirj Oeoiariv exOpog eifi ovk eiKOTCog. THE KNIGHTS 75 Nic. I will. Say, first of all — firmly and in one breath — the word " camp." Dem. I say it — " camp." Nic. Now utter a big big " D." Dem. I do—" D." Nic. Now put the syllables together. Say them quickly, increasing the speed gradually, just as you get the steam up when you are amusing yourself in private — you know what I mean, you rogue ! Dem. Decamp, decamp, decamp ! Nic. Isn't it nice? Dem. Yes ; only, as in that private amuse- ment you spoke of, the skin is apt to suffer. Nic. How ? Dem. Well, don't you flay yourself in that little private amusement you spoke of ? Nic. If that's the case, then, we'd better say our prayers at the altar of some God or other. Dem. An altar ! Do you really believe in Gods? Nic. I do. Dem. What proof have you got of their existence ? Nic. The fact of their treating me so badly when I don't deserve it. 76 API2T0$ANH2 AHM. ed -n-pocr/Si^di^cig /jl\ NIK. a\X erepa irtj y](rov, evrpay', e'xe TpLw/SoXov. l3ou\€i TrapaOco croi S6pirov\ cIt avapiracra^ o TL av Tig rijjLWv (TKevaarn, to) SecnroTH Ila^Xaywi/ KexapLorTai tovto. Km irpcotjv y' ejuLOu lULOL^av /UL€iuLaxoTO(} ev nJXco KaKcavLKYiv, iravovpyoTara 7rw9 TrapaSpajULwv vfpapiracrm avTog TrapeOijKe t^jv vtt' e/jLOv /ULefxayjuLevtji/. *lfxa\aywv Se irepiOewv Tovg oiKerag aiTcif TapaTTei, SwpoSoKei, Xeycov TaSl- THE KNIGHTS 77 says he, "just try one case, and then take a bath, have a long drink and a good feed. Let me set supper for you." Then he comes and catches up any Uttle kickshaw we've been preparing for the master, and so this Paphla- gonian gets the credit of it. Only yesterday I made a fine Laconian cake at Pylos,^ when he came and cunningly appropriated what I had compounded, setting that before the master too. He drives us off and won't let anybody but himself wait on the old chunk ; but there he stands with his leather fly-flap at supper- time and whisks away the very orators them- selves. Then he quotes oracles to him, and the old fool listens to all his hanky-panky ; so when the Paphlagonian sees him interested, he goes on and concocts stories. And this isn't the worst. He tells downright lies about the rest of us, and gets us flogged. This Paphlagonian goes round among his fellow-servants, cajoles, confounds, and blackmails them in some such fashion as this : " You see," says he, " what 1 Referring to the siege of the island of Sphacteria, in front of the harbour of Pylos (modern Navarino), Cleon declared that he would take it in twenty days ; he was taken at his word (which he by no means intended), but chance enabled him to carry out his enterprise successfully. 78 APISTO^ANHS opaT€ TOP Y\ap 6i* e/me jmaarTiyovfievov ; €1 fJLTi fjL avairela-riT , airoGavelcrQe Trj/ULcpov. ^/meig Se SiSojulcv el 8e jjlyi, TraTou/mevoi xnro Tov yepovTO^ OKTairKaarLa x^^ojuev. vvv ovv avvcravTe ^povTiarcojuiev, cayaOe, iroiav oSov via Tpeirreov kol irpog riva. NIK. KpaTLdT €K€ivriv tju jULoXcoiLiev, wyaOe. AHM. aXy ovx otov re tov Ha^Xayov ovSev XaOeiv €opa yap odrog iravT. exei yap to /ra9 €V€yK€ tov Ilav, dpTra^, KeKpoiKTrjg, K.VK\o/36pov (fxavrjv e^wv. NIK. TOV irpo^aTOTrcoXriv rjv ap aTToXecrOai xp^^v viro jSvparoTTooXov ; AHM. vrj A/'. NIK. oi/uloi SelXaiog, THE KNIGHTS 82 Dem. You rascally Paphlagonian ! No won- der you kept this so snug ! You dreaded what this oracle said about yourself. Nic. What does it say ? Dem. Herein is contained the prophecy of his downfall. Nic. How so ? Dem. How ? Why, the oracle says straight out that first of all a seller of hemp^ shall manage the aifairs of the state. Nic. Well, that's one jobber. Who comes next ? Go on. Dem. After him comes a dealer in sheep.^ Nic. Two jobbers. What was to happen to him ? Dem. He was to be in power until a bigger thief than himself came to the front ; then he retires. The Paphlagonian hide-seller succeeds, a robber and a roarer, with the voice of a Cycloborus.^ Nic. So the sheep-dealer was to be squashed by the leather-seller ? Dem. By the Lord, yes ! 1 Eucrates, the immediate successor of Pericles in authority. 2 Lysicles, the husband of the famous Aspasia. '^ A mountain-torrent in Attica. S3 APIETO^ANHS TToOev ovv dv €Ti yevoLTO TrooXtjg eh fiovog; AHM. €T ea-rh eh, vTreptpua rex^^v exooi/. NIK. eiV, avTifioXw, Tig ecrriv; AHM. e'lirco; NIK. vh Ma. AHM. aWavTOTTcoXrig ecrO^ 6 tovtov e^eXwv. NIK. aXXaj/T0'7ra)X>/s' ; m HocreiSov Ttjg tcx^^^* (f>epe irov rov avSpa tovtov e^evp^jcro/ULev ; AHM. ^ijTcojiiev avTOv. NIK. aXX' oSt Trpoo'epxeTai wanrep KaTu Oelov eh ayopav. AHM. w jmaKapie aXXavTOTTcoXa, Seupo Sevp\ w (plXTaTe, avapaive croyrrjp Tij TroXet koi vm (paveh- AAA. t/ eoTTi ; t/ jme KoXeiTe ; AHM. Sevp' eXO\ %a irvOu 0)9 evTvx^lS et koc yaeyaXo)? evSaijULOvei^. NIK. 'iOl Srj, KaOeX' avTov ToJXeoi/, koi tov Oeov THE KNIGHTS 83 Nic. Dear, dear ! Then there's no other jobber left for us ? Dem. Yes, there is ; one who possesses a yet more excellent craft. Nic. Tell me, who can that be ? Dem, Shall I say ? Nic. For God's sake, yes ! Dem. It is a sausage-seller who shall put this fellow's nose out of joint. "^ Nic. A sausage-seller ! In the name of the Sea-god Poseidon, what a business ! Where in the world shall we find such a man as this ? Dem. We must hunt him up. Nic. Look ! there is one on his way to market. He must have been sent by Pro- vidence 1 Dem. Hi, hi ! You beatified sausage-seller ! come hither, come hither, my best of friends ! Come up here ! You have appeared as a saviour for the city and for ourselves ! Enter the Sausage-seller. Saus. What's up? What d'ye call me for? Dem. Come here, and learn what a fortunate fellow you are, and how your luck is looking up ! Nic. Go and relieve him of his table; then 84 APISTO^ANHZ Tov xpWI^ov avaSiSa^ov avTOP wg e'xer eyo) (5' Icov TrpocrKixlrojuLai tov Jlavyu (re koi yap olSe rag oSovgy dcrirep Eu/cpar*;? e^evyev evOv twv Kvpijfilwv. KA. cS yepovreg ^Xiacrrai, (pparopeg Tpiw^oXov, THE KNIGHTS 89 Dem. Here, you fellow, stop, don't bolt. My noble sausage-seller, don't desert our cause. Knights, support us. Simon, Panaetius, to the right wing. The men I told you about are close by. Come back and stand firm. Look what a dust they're kicking up already. You've only got to stand your ground. You'll soon put him to flight. Enter the Chorus of Knights. Cho. Hit him hard, the rascal, the dis- turber of the public peace, the publican, the sink of iniquity, the abyss of fraud, the scoundrel ! the scoundrel ! I shall go on calling him scoundrel, for he played the scoundrel over and over again every day. Hit him hard, hunt him down, trip him up, maul him, mangle him — that's what we are about — hustle him and howl at him. Mind he doesn't escape, for well he knows all the ways along which Eucrates^ ran to hide himself in his own meal-tub. Cle. {appealing to the audience). Old fellows, gentlemen of the jury, pals with whom I 1 The person already mentioned ; he is said to have made enough money to buy a flour-mill. 12 — 2 90 APISTO^ANHS ovg eyo) ^octkcd KCKpayayg Kal SUaia KaSiKa, TrapaporjOeiO', w? utt' avSpcou TuTrrojiAai ^vvoo- jULOTWV. XOP. €V Slku y\ eirei ra Koiva irp\v Xax^lv KarecrOieig, Konroo'VKa^ei^ Trte^wv Tovg virevOvvov^y ct/cottwi/ ocTTi? avTMv WfJLO^ ccTTiv tj TrcTrcDV rj imrj ireircop, Kav Tiv avToov yv^g onrpay/xov ovra koi k€- Xvvora, Karayayoov €k ^eppovricrov, SiaXa/Soov, ayicvplcra^y cIt airoarTpiylraq tov wjjlov ovtov eveKoX^/Sao'ag' Koi, (TKOireh ye twv ttoXitmv o(tti9 ecrrh a/mvoKwVf irXovcrios koI fArj irovijpog Kai TpejULcov to. Trpay- juLara. KLA.. ^vveTriKeia-Q' u/xeF? ; eyw S\ avSpe^, Si^ vjuLcig TVTTTOIULai, on Xeyeiv yvwinrjv efxeXKov w? SIkqiop ev ttoXci la-rdvai /j.vr]jUL€iov v/jlcov ecrriv avSpeiag X^P^^- XOP. 0)9 5' aXa^wv, w? ^e juLacrOXrjg' etSeg oTvirep- X^rai ioa"tr€p€t yepovTag i^yua? Kai Ko^aXiKeverai ; THE KNIGHTS 90 earned three obols a day,^ and whom I feed by my impeachments, just or unjust, come to my aid, for I am being pummelled by this gang of conspirators. Cho. And justly too ; since you devour the public funds before they are voted. You squeeze unhappy delinquents like figs to see which of them is ripe or unripe for your devouring. Then if you find any of them unbusiness-like and gawky, as if newly arrived from some foreign parts — the Chersonese* say — you fasten on to him and bring him down ; you look out for these sheepish citizens, anybody, in fact, who is rich and unsophisticated and afraid of business. Cle. What, are you joining the attack on me too ? Thus it is, my friends, I am pum- melled on your account, just because I was going to state my opinion, that it was only fair you should have a statue set up to coni- memorate your bravery. Cho. The fawning rascal ! You see how he tries to wheedle us, just as though he were fooling a lot of old dotards. If he succeeds, he 1 The pay for attending the courts of justice. 2 The Thracian Chersonese, which was subject to Athens. Cleon is supposed to summon some of its inhabitants to Athens to answer a trumped-up charge. 91 APIZTO^ANHS aXX' eav ravTu ye viKa, ravTijl TreTrXx/^erar r]V <5' vTrcKKXlvu ye Seupi, to (TKeXog Kvprj/Sdcrei. KA. c5 TToXig KOI Sriix\ v oloov OrjpLoov yaorTpL^o/uLai. XOP. KOI KCKpayag, axTTrep ael rrjv iroKiv KaTaa-rpe^ei ; AAA. aXX' eyoD are t^ /8o>; ravru ye irpwra rpexfroiuLai. XOP. aXX' eap jmev TovSe viKag rfj /So^, T^Ji^eXXo? et' tjv S\avaiSeia. TrapeXOu ^\ ^l^^repo^ 6 TrupajuLov^. KA. TOVTOvl Tov avSp' eyw 'vSeiKvvjULi, koI rini e^- aye IV TotarL Jle\o7rovvria'L(av Tpiijpecri ^wjuLev/uiaTa. AAA. pai ij.a Ala Kaytaye tovtov, oti Kevij rrj KOiXla €crSpaiJ,(iov eg to wpvTaveloVj elra iraXiv cKOei TrXea. AHM. vtj A/', e^aywv ye Tair6ppri0\ d/m' apTOv koI Kpeag Kat Te/xaxo9, ov UepiKXerjg ovk tJiiwOtj irwiroTe. KA. oLTroOaveia-Oov avTiKa fidXa. AAA. TpnrXacrtov KeKpdiojuial crov, KA. KaTa^owoimai /Socov ere. AAA. KaTaKeKpa^ofxal ae Kpd^cov, THE KNIGHTS 91 will suffer for it ; and if he tries to slip away here, he will find he comes into collision with my toe. Cle. O city! O people ! By what a lot of wild beasts am I being disembowelled ! Cho. You dare to invoke the city, when you have always plundered it ? Saus. {plucking up courage). If it comes to shouting, I think I can beat you in that line. Cho. Bravo ! If you beat him in bawling, you'll score a victory. If you beat him in im- pudence, we take the cake indeed. Cle. I denounce this man for sending sup- plies of his messes to the Peloponnesian war- ships. Saus. And by God I denounce this fellow, because he bustled into the Town Hall with an empty belly and came out with a full one. Dem. Yes, by the Lord, and carried off with him against the regulations — bread, meat, and fish, delicacies which even Pericles never dreamed of. Cle. I'll be the death of you two. Saus. I can shout three times as loud as you. Cle. You can't, I'll bawl you down. Saus. Try it ; I'll outbawl you. 92 APISTO^ANHS KA. SiaSaXw (t\ cav (rTpaTrjyiJ^. AAA. KwoKOTrrjo-oo crov to vwtov. KA. irepieXw cr aXa^oveiai^, AAA. v7roT€/ULOv/uiai Tag oSovg crov. KA. ^\e\jrov elg fjC acTKapSajULVKTog. AAA. ev ayopa Kayw TeOpa/uLimau KA. Sia(f>opri(r(a (t\ e'l tl ypv^eig, AAA. K07rpoop^avyi yap avrjp cTcpog ttoXv rrov (JLiapwrepo^i wcrre /me xalpeiv, 09 (re irava-ei kou Trapeia-i, SfjXos ia-riVy avToOeVy iravovpyla re Koi Opaa-ei KOI KO^oXiKevjULaa-iv. aXX' cS Tpa^eL^vai. AAA. KM jULtjv aKOvaraO^ otog ea-riv ovTOcrl TroXlTtjg. KA. ovK av fi eaa-eig; AAA. ^ta At', eirel Kayw iro- vrjpog cijULi. XOP. eav Se fxri ravTH y' vireiKu, Xey' otl kolk Trovripwv. KA. OVK av fi eacreig ; AAA. jma Ala. KA. vol /ma Ala. AAA. jULa Tov JlocreiSwy aXX' afro irepL tov irpoTcpog elirelv TrpwTa Sia/JLaxov/uLai. KA. oijuLoi, Siappayrja-o/ULai. AAA. kol jmtjv eyco ov irapTjarco, XOP. irapeg irapeg irpog tmv Oewv avTw Siappay^vat. KA. TO) Kai TreiroiOoog a^iolg ijuLov Xeyeiv cvavra ; THE KNIGHTS 94 of envy when he sees your success. But now there has come upon the carpet a far more abandoned character than yourself; and I rejoice to say he will put an extinguisher upon you, since clearly he beats you hollow in bold- ness and trickeries. And now {to the Sausage- seller) you, who have been brought up in a school where men are made — well, what they generally are made — please prove to us that a liberal education counts for just nothing at all. Saus. Listen, and I'll tell you what kind of a citizen this fellow is. Cle. Let me speak first. Saus. By the Lord! but I won't, though. Why, I'm as big a blackguard as yourself. Cho. If that doesn't settle him, say your parents were blackguards like yourself. Cle. So you won't give place to me ? Saus. No, by God ! Cle. By God, you shall! Saus. By the Sea-god Poseidon, I won't. Cle. O Lord ! I shall burst. Saus. You shan't. Cho. O, let him burst ! Don't, for Heaven's sake, prevent him, if he wants to. Cle. What in the world emboldens you to speak against me ? 95 APISTOc^ANHS AAA. oTiri Xeyeiv otog re Kayto koi KapvKoiroieiv. KA. iSov Xeyeiv. KoXm y av ovv av Trpayfxa irpocnre- crov croL wfioa-irapaKTOv TrapaXa^oov jmeraxeipla-aio XP*I' arm. aXX' ota'd* oirep ireTTOvOevai SoKcig] oirep to irXrjOog, el TTOV SiKiSiov eiirag eu Kara ^evov ijl€ToIkov, Trjv vvKTa OpvXwv Kal XaXcov ev raig oSoi^ creavrw, vScop Te TTLVcov, KOLiriSeiKvug tov^ ^IXovi t avicov, wov SvvaTog eJvai Xeyeiv. cS jULwpe r^? avoiag. AAA. t/ Sai (TV iTivcov Tr]V TToXiv ireiroiriKa^, oxTTe vvvi viro (Tov jULOvwraTOv KaTeyXp Kpewp eKXcTTTOP. XOP. (S Se^icoTaTOP Kpeag, aroffHios ye 7rpovvor]ar(0' cixnrep aKa\i]€v^eL ypaag eKarovTaXavTovg Terrapag. AAA. aru S^ acrTpaTeiapacrov. AAA. Twv ^vpaivrjg Ttjg ^Ittttiov. KA. KofiaXog ct AAA. 'rravovpyog el. XOP. iraV apSpiKoog. KA. tov lov, TVTTTOVCn IJi ot ^WW/ULOTai. XOP. TraV avTOv avSpiKwrara, Kot yaa-rpi^e koI T019 evrepoig Kai TOig k6Xoi9, XcoTTCog KoXa tov avSpa. cS yevviK(jiyraTov Kpeag "^vxvv t apicTTe iravTCdv, Kai Til TToXei * olcTLV eCTTL (TV/ULV(r(ajUL€Va eywS'- eirl yap Tolg SeSe/uievoig x^^'^^^^^^^' XOP. €v y €v ye, X'^^'^^^ avri twv KoXXcojuievwp. AAA. Ka\ ^vyKpoTova-LV avSpeg aur cKeiOev a5, Kal Tavra jx out apyvpiov ovre xP^^^ov SiSovg avaTrelcreig, outc irpocrireiJLirwv ipiXoug, OTTCog eycD TavT ovk ^ AOrjvaioig (ppaarw, KA. eyo) imev ovv avrUa /xaX' eig ^ovXr]v icov vjjLWV airavTCOV rag ^vvaojaocrLag epw, Koi rag ^vvoSovg rag vvKTepivag ev tH iroXei, THE KNIGHTS loi us citizens. How cleverly you talked the fellow down ! How shall we congratulate you so as adequately to show our delight ? Cle. By Mother Demeter ! this jobbery has not escaped my notice. I knew you were fixing it up. Saus. And I spotted his little plans with the Argives. He pretended to make them our firiends, and all the while he was coquetting with the Lacedaemonians. Cho. Yes ; but can't you give him a few of his own similes from the waggon-building business ? Saus. O yes, I saw him blowing up the fire about the prisoners. Cho. Good ! The blacksmith's business matches the carpenter's. Saus. In that quarter, too, people are hammering to the same tune as yourself, and it's no use to bribe me with silver or gold, or to send friends to me begging me not to tell the Athenians. CLE. Very well. Then I'll go off to the Senate myself and peach upon you. I'll tell them about all your little plots, your nocturnal meetings in the city, and all your hanky-panky 102 APISTO^ANHS Koi TOLK BotWTO)!/ TaVTa (rVVTUpOV/JL€Va. AAA. TTft)? OVV 6 TUpOg €V BofCDTOr? (OVL0^\ KA. eyco (re vrj tov *H/oa/cXea Trapacrropw. XOP. aye Srj gtv Tiva vovv "tj Tiva yvw/mrjv excf ? ; vuvl SiSa^eig, einrep a7reKpv\lrcD rore €ig TO. Kox^^va to Kpiag, wg airro? \eyeig. OevaeL yap a^ag eig to ^ovXevTvipiov, 0)9 ovTog €£(77^€0■a)^ €K€ita9 eXOoi^ G-recjiavoiq KaraTraa-Tog. vfiel^ S' rifxlv TTpoa-ixeTe tov vovv TO?? avairalarTOig, w iravTOiag n^rj ixovtrriq ireipaOevTcg KaO' eavrovg. €1 fJLev Tt? avrjp tcov apxalwv KoojULioSoSiSao'KaXo^ rivayKa^ev Xe^ovra^i eirrj irpoq to OeaTpov irapa- fifjvaiy ovK dv xwpel kqi ttjv epKeXrjv. a Sk 6av/JLa^€iv vjntav tprja-tv ttoXXoi/? avTw Trpoa-' LOVTaq, Kou jSaaravl^eiv, rj^rjg, e^e/SXrjOf] 7rp€(rl3vTrj9 cov, otl tov a-KooTTTeiv cnreXelffiOti * eiTO JLpaTLVOv jULe/JLvrjimevog, 09 ttoXXw peva-ag TTOT eiralvM Sia T(jov aeX(jov TreSlcov eppei, Kai t?? CTTaa-ewg irapacrvpcov €e- Xty/xou? • o? airo ar/ULiKpag SaTravrjg vjmag api(TTL^cov aire- irefjiirev, airo Kpajm/SoTaTOV orTOjuLaTog ixaTToav acrreLO- Tarag eirivoLag' XOVTog ixivTOL lULOVog avTrjpKei, Tore /mev ttitttcov, T0T€ S' OVX^' ravT oppcoSwv Siirpi^ev ael, Kal irpog tovtoictip €' evScKa Kwiraig, THE KNIGHTS 105 was he. But now, when you see him in his dotage, you have no pity for him, for his pegs are all lowered, his strings loosened, his tone gone down and his harmonies out of joint. He is an old man, and therefore deserted, just like the piper Connas, with his withered garland and himself dying of thirst when he ought, on account of his former victories, to be drinking in the Prytaneum, and no longer to be obliged to play the fool, but to have a seat in the theatre as a joyful spectator close by the altar of Dionysus. Then what caprices and ill-treatment Crates experienced from you, though he used to give you great entertainment at slight expense, and sent you all away happy, uttering as he did the wittiest ideas with his delicate lips, and yet his success was only occasional and partial. Thus he was always in a state of anxiety, and moreover used to say, that a man should first be an oarsman before he went to the helm, but then should guide the prow and watch the winds, acting as his own pilot. For all these reasons, because he was prudent and did not jump up to talk a lot of nonsense, give our poet a hearty round of applause, a good Lenaean round like the plash 14—2 io6 APISTO^ANHS Oopv^OV XprjCTTOV \t}vdiTrjv, *iv 6 TTOitjTtjg air in xalptavy Kara vovv irpd^a^, ^aiSpo? XajJLirovTi fxeTodirco. tTTTTf' ava^ Ti6(T€lS0V, ft) KCii xp€iJLeTicriJi.o6poi Tpiripeig, /ULeipaKicov 6^ d/uLiWa Xaju- TTpwofxevcav ev dpiuLapaKT(p (Trparw rnravTaxov viKWvreg act t^vS' CKOcrjuLtja-av iroXiv ov yap ovSe]? TrwiroT avTwv Tovq evavTLOvg iSwv tjpi6iJit]a-ev, aXX' o OvjULog evOv^ ^v a/uLvviai' THE KNIGHTS io6 of eleven oars, so that he may go off with his best wishes fulfilled and with a smile beaming on his brow. O King Poseidon, God of the Knights, thou who delightest in the clash of the brazen-hoofed horses, and in their neighings and whinnyings : thou who lovest the swift merchant-ships and the contests of those fast youths in the chariot- race, where they so often come to grief; come hither to our Chorus, thou of the golden trident, O thou monarch of the dolphins wor- shipped in Sunium ! ^ Geraestian,^ son of Kronos, friendly to our Admiral Phormio, and best-dis- posed of all the deities to Athens in her present crisis ! We would celebrate our fathers, too, be- cause they were worthy of this land of the peplus' of Athene. Whenever and wherever they fought, by land or sea, they won the victory, and ever adorned this city. Never, when they faced the enemy, did they stay to count the numbers of the foe, for their martial ardour was their mainstay. If any one of them 1 A promontory in Attica. 2 A promontory in the island of Euboea. ' A woman's full robe or shawl. 107 API2T0^ANH2 €1 Se irov irecrotev eg top w/xoi/ ev fiaxn Tivl, TOVT aTreyj/Yia-avT av, etr tjpvovvro firj TreTTTO)- K6vai, aWa SLeiraXaiov auOig. koI orTpaTtjyog ovS^ av et? Twv TTpo Tov CTLTrja-LV iiTr](r epo/iievog KXeaiverov vvv S* eav fxr] irpoeSplav ^epooari kol tu a-iTia, ov jULaxciarOat (pacriv. ^jmeig (5' a^iov/uLev t^ ttoXci TTpoiKa yevvalcog a/uLvveiv kol Oeoig eyxjMploLg. KOLL TTpog ovK aiTov/ii€v ovScv, TrXrjv TocrovTOpl jJiOPOV' rjv TTOT elprjvri yivtjrai koI ttovcov TravcrwiuLeOay jmrj (pQovelQ^ ^/miv ko/jlockj-i /mtjS^ cnreo'TXey'/iarjjievoLg. u> iroXiovxe IlaXXa?, w Tfjg lepuyraTrjg, aira- a-wv TToXe/jLU) re Kat Troitj- raig Swa/uLci 0' uTre/o^e/ooy- o->79 jULcSeova-a xwpagt Sevp^ aipLKOv Xa^ovara Trjv €V (TTpaTiaig re Kai /naxctig tjixerepav ^vvepyov ISLKijv, r/ X'^P^'^^^ ecTTiv GTaLpa, TOtg T exOpolcri fxeO' rjijLoov a-racna^eL. vvv ovv Sevpo (ftavriOr Set yap TOig avSpacri TolaSe ira- ^V '^^X^V Tfoplcrai are vl- Krjv elirep irore Ka\ vvv. a ^vvKT/j-ev Toia-iv 'iTnroig, ^ovXo/mecrO' eTraivea-ai, THE KNIGHTS 107 fell in a combat, he would just wipe off the dust from his shoulders and vow he had never fallen at all, and so would he go back to the struggle again. Nor did any of the former generals ever ask Cleaenetus-^ for maintenance. But now, unless they get the chief seat and full rations, they refuse to fight. We, however, feel it right to defend our city and the gods of the country without reward, claiming only that, when peace is proclaimed and we rest from our labours, we shall not be grudged if we let our hair grow long and pay some attention to our personal appearance. Pallas, guardian of our city, thou who swayest this most sacred land, making it famous for arms, for art and material power; come hither, and bring with thee as thy com- rade in our armaments and battles that Victory which has ever stood by us, which is the friend of all actors, and joins with us to rout our foes. Show thyself now ; for now, if ever, we knights need victory. Nor would we omit to praise the noble deeds of our horses, which we know so well, 1 Author of a resolution restricting the distribution of pro- visions. io8 APISTO^ANHS a^ioi S' e'lcr' eyXoyeiarOai * ttoXXcc yap Stj TT/oay- jULara ^vvSiYiveyKav /ulcO^ *iiJi^Vy cfV^oXa? re Kai /maxa?- aXXa TOiv tu yn jmev avTwv ovk ayav Oav/ma^ouev, ft)? OT eig Tag liriraywyovg cicre'TrrjSayv avSpiKwg, 7rpia/jL€V0i KooOoovag, ol Se Kat crKopoSa koi KpojUL- /jLva- elra Tag Kwirag XafiovTcg cocnrep rjfxeig ol fipoTol i/iiPaXovTcg aveppva^av, iTrTraTrai, r/? e/uL^aXcl; XfjTTTeov jULoXXov. tI SpwjULev, OVK eXag, r] Oecapog elirciv KapKivov Koplvdiov Seiva y\ cS TLoareiSov, el jmrjS^ iv /3v6u) Suvij- aoimai, IXYiTc yii fjLrjT €v OaXaTTu 6La(j>vyeiv Tovg linreag. XOP. & (piXTaT avSpwv Kai veaviKMTaTe, ocrtjv airwv irapecrx^g ^jullv povTLSa' « THE KNIGHTS io8 and richly do they deserve our laudation. They have taken their share with us in our incursions and engagements. But it is not so much their doings on land we admire; for when, just like the brave fellows they are, they leapt on board the horse-transports, after pro- visioning themselves with wine, garlic, and onions, they took each an oar, just like us ordinary mortals, crying out as they sat to work, ** Gee-up! Put your back to it! Go at it ! What are you about ? Heave ahead, Samphora ! " Then they disembarked at Corinth, and the youngsters went digging beds i^nd attending to the bedclothes. They caught bs, and substituted these for Median pas- ^ .es, whenever one of these creatures came out of the water, or even dredged the deep sea for them ; so much so that Theorus ^ tells us the Corinthian crab complained, '* It's rough on us, Sea-god Poseidon, if we cannot escape these Knights either in the abyss of ocean, or on earth, or among the waves ! " Re-enter the Sausage-seller. Cho. Best and bravest of men, how anxious we've been on your account ! And now, since 1 A poor and needy poet. 109 APISTO^ANHS Kol vvv €7reiS*] (rwg cXyjXvOag ttoXiv, ayyeiXov ^juliv ircjog to irpayiJL ^ycovLorw. AAA. t/ 8^ aWo y €1 jmr] vik6^ov\o9 eyevojULtjv ', XOP. vvv ap^ a^Lov ye iraarlv earTiv cTroXoXv^at. eS KaXa Xeycov, ttoXv S^ ajmeLvov^ en twv Xoyiav epyacra/mev , eiu eTreA- Ooig aTravra julol cra^wj* w? eyw /JLOI SoK(a KOLV fxaKpav oSov SieXOeiv (o(TT OLKOva-ai. TT/oo? TaS\ cS 8eX- Tiarre, Oapprjcag Xey', wg a- iravTeg tjSoixearOa croi. AAA. Koi. liirjv oLKOvaral y a^iov tcov irpayimaTCDv, evOug yap avTOv Karoinv evOevS* lefArjv o ap evoov eAacrippovT avapprjyvug eirri TepaTeuo/ULevog tjpeiSe kutu tcov LTrwewv, KprjjjLvovg epeiSoov Kai ^vvw/uLorag Xeywv TTiOavwTaO^ • tj ^ovXrj <5' diracr aKpooDjuLevtj eyeveO^ vir avTOv yfrevSaTpacpd^vog irXea, Ka^XexIre vairv, Kat to. /xercDTr' avecnrao'ev. Kaywy ore Srj ^yvcov evSexo/uLevrjv Toug Xoyovg Kai Toig avovv /x' evayyeXia' Kciyco ^^pacra aijToh aTTopprjTOv TroiriarajuLevo^, Toxy Iva Ta, eirevevarev els eKelvov ri fiovXij TraXiv, THE KNIGHTS no of the market-place in which I was born and bred, inspire me with pluck and ready jaw and shameless jabber." As I was meditating thus, some bugger broke wind on my right. I took this as a happy omen, and did reverence to him. Then I put my backside against the railings, forced them open, and sang out : " O Senators ! I come, first in the field, to give you good tidings. Sprats have never been cheaper since the beginning of the war." Then their countenances grew calm, and they crowned me for my good news ; whereupon I told them of a secret plan which I made up at the moment, whereby they might purchase the largest possible number of sprats for a penny, collecting all the potters' dishes to carry them. Thereupon they renewed their applause, and gazed at me with their mouths wide open. But the Paphlagonian, seeing the turn things were taking, and knowing exactly the kind of proposal which pleased the Council, trotted out his plan. " Senators," said he, " I think we ought, in recognition of the good news just received, to sacrifice a hundred oxen to the goddess." Then the Council gave their assent to him once more ; but I wasn't going to be Ill API2T0*ANH2 Kayuyy* ore Srj ^yvcov rotg /3oX/to£9 ^Trrjimevog, SiaKoariaicri ^ovcriv vTreprjKovTicra' T^ 5' ^Ayporepa Kara x^XtW Traprjvecra evxhv TTOi^aracrOai ^ifjiaptjov elaravpiov, at Tpix^Seg el yevoiaO* cKarov tov^oXov, cKapaSoKfjcrev eig e/UL* rj ^ovXrj TraXiv. 6 Se ravT ctKovcra^ cKirXayelg ea. KOiO^ cIXkov avTOP 01 TTpvTaveig x^^ TO^OTai. ol <5' cOopv^ovv Trep] tcov a(j>vu3v etTTtjKOTeg' 6 S' rivTi^oKei y' avTov^ oKlyov imeivai xp^vov 1v gltQ^ 6 KTfpv^ ovK AaKcSal/uLOvog \eyei TvOria-O' • oLipiKTai yap irepl arTrovStop \iywv. ol <5' €^ kvoq arrojiiaTog diravTeg aveKpayov vvvi irepl crirovSwv', eTreiSrf y\ w jmiXc, licrdovTO Tadyoo €K TrjarSe rfj^ y»79, ovScttotc ^Kjoa-o/uiai. AAA. €1 firj ^K(p(xyiig jul* ; eyo) Se y\ el /j.ij (t eKTrioo, KOLT eKpo^rfcrafi avTog cTTiSiappayw. KA. airoXco are vrj TriP irpoeSpiav t>]v ck HvXov, THE KNIGHTS 112 to you after capturing the whole Council with an obol's worth of coriander ! Cho. You have acted in all respects as one of fortune's favourites. That rascal has found one more perfectly equipped with rascality than himself, more fertile in dodges and tricky speeches. Take care that you contend with him as successfully in future, and be sure that you have us for faithful allies. Saus. Here comes the Paphlagonian bent on a final struggle, fussing and fuming as though he were going to trounce me at last. What ideal impudence ! Enter Cleon. Cle. If I don't polish you off now — pro- vided my stock of lying fail me not — may I perish miserably ! Saus. I like your threats. I laugh at your empty bluster, kick up my heels and cry cuckoo at your spirit of impudence. Cle. By Mother Demeter ! may I die if I don't eat you up oif the surface of the earth. Saus. Die if you don't eat me up ? So may I, if I don't gulp you down at one swallow, and then — burst. Cle. I'll do for you. I vow it by the proud 15 113 APISTO^ANHS AAA. iSov TTpocSpiav otov oxJ/^o/uLaL a eyco €K Trji TrpocSpiag ecrxarov Qew/xevov. KA. €v TO) ivXo) Srjaro) are vri top ovpavov. AAA. 0)9 o^vOu/uLog. (pepe ri crot Sco Kara^ayeiv] €7ri TO) (payoig rjSia-T av ; eiri /BaWavTiw ; KA. e^apTrda-ojuLal arov roig ow^i Tavrepa* AAA. airovvxiu) arov tolv TrpvTavetw (rtrla. KA. eXfft) are irpos top 8fj/j.ov, %a Swg jmoi SiKrjv, AAA. Kay 00 Se 6Spa crv Tov Stj/ulov (reavrov pevofJUKa^. KA. €7rl(rTa/JLai yap avrov oh ylrcojuLi^eTat, AAA. Kad* (ba-Trep ai rirOal ye criTl^eig /ca/fo)9. fxa(TwiJ.evoXayuiv, aSiKcl €LX6/Uir]V. KA. Kai /iirji/ 7roiy](Ta(f avrUa /jloX^ cKKXtjcriav, w Aij/uL, \v eiSr}9 oiroTepog vwv ccttl op€iv Koi Xoyof? a^vKTOvg, OTOicri TovS' virep^akei. ttolkiXo^ yap avrjp KUK Twv ajuLrjxavcov Tropovg evjULrfxavo^ iropi^eiv. irpo^ ravO' otto)? e^ei ttoXv? koI Xa/xx/oo? eg tov avSpa. aXXa (pvXaTTOV, Kal irph eKelvov TrpoKeicrOat CrOl, TTpOTCpog (TV Toug SeX^ivag /jLCTewpl^ov koi. Trjv aKarov irapa- ^aXKov. KA. TH fiev SecnroLvn AOrjvala, th Trjg iroXewg fxe- Seovcrrj, euxo/Jiai, el ixev irepl tov Sfj/mov tov ^ AOtjvaloov yeyevtjjuLai /SeXTicTTog avtjp fieTa AvaiKXea koi Kvvvav koi ^oXapaKXct), (aa"7rep vvv\ iJ.vi6ev Spacrag Seiirvelv ev tw irpv- Taveio) ' el oe (re julktco koi juitj Trepl (tov /maxofiai /movog avTi/Se/SrjKiog, aTroXolfJLtjv koi Stair pLorSelriv KaTaTiuLi]6eitiv re XeiraSva. AAA. Kaya)y\ w ^tj/m^ el /mrj ere (piXco Kal /mrj crTepytx), KaTaTjULr]Oelg eyf/^oijULijv ev irepLKoyLjULaTLOig' Kel /jirj tovtokti ireTTOiOag, eTTi TavTriaL KaTaKV*j(T6eiijv ev julvttcotw jULeTu TUpOV THE KNIGHTS ii6 when he's at home, is the cleverest of men, but directly he gets his rump on that rock he gapes like little boys bobbing for figs. Cho. Now you must let out all your cable. Assume a bumptious air, use big words, and so trounce this rascal. He's up to all sorts of tricks and can get out of any scrape. Go for him at once, and mind you make a brilliant opening. Only take care ; before he can get at you, use your weapons of assault, bring your craft alongside and board him. Cle. Now I say my prayers to Athene, the protectress of the city. If I be the best friend of Demus next after Lysicles, and those lively young ladies Cynna and Salabaccho,^ then may I, as at present, do nothing at all and feed in the Town Hall. But if I hate you, and do not fight for you or stand in the gap on your behalf, may I perish miserably, be sawn asunder and cut up into thongs. Saus. And as for me, Demus, if I don't love and adore you, may I be cut up into mince- meat and cooked. If that isn't enough to inspire and with confidence in me, may I, furthermore, be scraped like cheese and made 1 Well-known courtesans. 117 API2T0#ANH2 Kat TU Kpeaypa tu)p 6p\LTreSoyv eXKOiimrjv e? Kepa/meiKov. KA. KOt TTwg dv e/jiov fAoXXov are ^iXcov, cS Afj/jL€, ye- VOLTO TToXlTljg] 09 irpwTa fiev, ^vlk e/SovXevov LA€l iX€ig, og tovtov opwv oIkovvt ev Taig TTiQaKvaicn Kcti yvirapioig Kai irvpyiS'ioig CTog oySoov ovk iXcaipeig, aXXa KaOeip^ag avTov /SXiTTcig- ' ApxcTCToXe- jULOV Se (pepovTog TTfv €ipi]vtji/ e^ea-KeSacrag, Tag irpea-^eiag t aire- Xavveig CK Trjg TToXewg paOaTTvyi^wu, a^i Tag (nrovSas irpoKoXovvTai. KA. 'iva y 'EXXjJvo)!^ ^pt^ TravTcov. ecTTi yap ev toI^ Xoyioia-iv wg TOVTOV Set ttot ev ApKaSia TrevTco/SoXov ^Xiaaya)v avaOappr](ru koi (rTeiJ.vKw h \6yov eXOij, yvuxrerai omv ayaOoov avTov th /uLKrOo^opa TrapeKOTTTov, elff rj^ei croi Spi/nvg aypoiKO^f Kara crov rrjv \frri(j)OV ixi^eviov. a (TV yiyvaxTKWV tovS* e^aTrara?, koi oveipoTro- Xelq irepl ^ Oe/uncrTOKXei aVTL(f)€pL^(iOV. KaK€ivo£ fX€V €vy€L Trj]/ yrjv, cTv <5' ' AxiXXciwv ClTTOJUiaTTei. KA. OVKOVV TOVTL ScLVOV OLKOVeiV, c3 A^yu', eorTLV fX VTTO TOVTOVf OTiT] (T€ ipiXu); AH. Traiy irav', oi/TO?, koi jultj a-KcppoXXe TTOvrjpd. TToXXov de iroXvv julc xP<^^ov Kai vvv eXeXrjOeKi iyKpvipia^oov. AAA. jULiapcoraTO^f cS Arj/maKiSiov, koi irXeiarTa ira- vovpya SeSpaKw^, OTTOTav x^^M-9> '^^^ T0^9 KavXovg TtOV €vOvVU>V €KKavXl^(lOV THE KNIGHTS 120 Saus. {with a tragic quotation). "City of Argos ! Hear you what he says ? " Do you dare to compare yourself with Themistocles ? He found the city well supplied indeed, but he filled it to overflowing. In addi- tion to this, he prepared the Piraeus ^ as a kind of extra dish. Without depriving it of its former dainties, he served up fresh fish for it. You, on the other hand, have only tried to minimise the Athenian citizens with your cross- walls and your oracles, and then you venture to compare yourself with Themistocles. He, moreover, was exiled from his country, whereas you feast on Achillean dainties.^ Cle. Isn't it hard, Demus, that I should be vilified by this fellow, all on account of my affection for you ? Dem. Shut up, you fellow, and don't be abusive. I've been your dupe long enough. Saus. He's an awful rascal, my dear Demus, and gets up to all kinds of mischief, while you're in a state of blissful ignorance. He cabbages all he can from folks in trouble, and 1 Themistocles fortified the three ports of Athens, — Phalerum, Munychia, and Piraeus. 2 Supposed to be cakes of fine barley. 16 121 APIETO^ANHS Kara^poxOl^ei, Ka/unpoiv xeipoh lut,vv SrjiuLop oX^Itcop dp KaToXa^oiep ^/ulwp. AH. o'lfxoi ToXag' exova-i yap iropiraKag) & iroprjpe, OCT OP /J.€ TrapcKOTTTOv xpovop TOiavTa Kpovori- Srj/ULOop. THE KNIGHTS 122 Cle. Not so, my fine fellows, not so, I swear it by the Sea-god himself. I have done such a deed as at once and for ever to stop the mouths of my enemies, so long as there remains a single one of the shields captured at Pylos. Saus. Hold hard there at those shields ! they, in fact, afford a handle against you. If you are so fond of Demus it was not right of you deliberately and of set purpose to let them hang up those shields with their straps on them.^ That's his little game, Demus, so that, if you want to drop down on him, you mayn't be able. You see what a surrounding of young tanners he's got. Around these dwell the dealers in honey and the cheesemongers. They all pull together ; so that, if you roar at any one of them and threaten him with transportation, they will make a raid by night, take down the shields and cut us off from our supplies. Dem. Good gracious ! Are the straps on the shields ? O, you scoundrel ! What a long time you've fooled me with your demoniacal tricks ! 1 In which case they would be ready for use in the hands of evilly-disposed persons. When shields or other weapons were consecrated and hung up in temples, it was the usual thing to take off their handles and straps. 123 APISTO^ANHS KA. w Sai/ULovie, /jLtj tov XeyovTog 'la-Oi, fxtjS^ onjOrj^ €/Aoy 7ro6' €up}j(T€iv (jilXov fieXTiov ' oGTTKf elg a>v eiravara Tovg ^vvcoiULOTag, Kal /ul^ ov XeXfjOev ohSev ev Tu TToXei ^vvi(TTa/UL€vov, aX\' evOeojg KeKpaya. AAA. oTrep yap ol Tag eyxeXeig OtjpcioiULevoi ireirovQag. orav /mev »/ Xi/uLvtj KaTa(rTu, XajUL^avova-iv ovSev eav S* avw T€ kgi Kara) tov /Bop^opov KVKco(riv, alpovcTL ' Kai crv Xa/ix^aveig, rjv t*]v ttoXiv TapaTTijg. ev S' elire jULOi Toarovrovr (TKVTfj TocravTa TrftjAwi/, e^tOAca? ?(5>; tovtwI KaTTVjuia irapa creavTov Tah ejui^aa-tv, ^acTKcov (piXetV, AH. ou SfJTa /ma TOV 'AttoXXo). AAA. eyvwKag ovv SiJT avTov 0169 ea-Tiv; aW eyco aroi ^€vyoia> toSi' (tv S' o'i/ulo)^', co 'Trovrip\ AH. taifioi. ouK eg KopUKag aTrofpOepci, ^vptrtig KaKicrrov o^cop ; AAA. Koi TOVTo y eiriTtjSeg ere irepLynjLina-xev, *lv airo- Kcu irpoTepov eTrePovXeucre ctol. tov kouXov oterO^ eKctvov TOV (TiXtplov TOV a^Lou yevojuepov, AH. oiSa fievTOi. AAA. eirtTtjSeg ovTog avTov ecnreva-' a^iov yevea-Oai, *lv iarOioiT wvov/jlcvoi, KaireiT evl^Xiaia fiSeovTcg aXXyiXovg air oKTcipeiav ol SLKacTTai, AH. vrj TOV TLocreiSu) koI tt/oo? €^e tout cItt' avtjp l^oirpeiog. AAA. ov yap ToG* vfxeU ^Seo/mevoi SrjTrov ^yeveaOe TTvppoi ; AH. Kai vrj Ai' ^v ye tovto UvppavSpov to iJ.t]xav*jiJLa. THE KNIGHTS 125 Cle. Anyhow, you won't beat me in the way of fawning and flattery. Why, I give him my own coat. Look at that and weep, you pettifogger ! Dem. Faugh ! . Go to the devil with your coat. It stinks of leather. Saus. If he had wanted to suffocate you, he couldn't have gone a better way to work. It's not the first time he has plotted against you either. You recollect, no doubt, how he ran down the price of assafoetida — which pro- duces such disagreeable effects — until he got it sold at next to nothing. Dem. I remember he did. Saus. He did that purposely, so that you judges should buy and eat it, and then, when you went into Court you should kill one an- other with your farts.* Dem. True, by Poseidon ! and a dung-mer- chant made the very same remark to me. Saus. I hope when you farted you didn't paint your under-garments. Dem. By God ! it was a dirty trick, worthy of the sycophant Pyrrhandrus himself.* 1 This was supposed to be the effect of assafoetida. * Meaning Cleon. 126 APISTO^ANHS KA. OLOLcrl IX , w iravoupye, /SoyjULoXox^vfJiOLO'iv TapaT' T€ig, AAA. ^ yap Oeog ix eKeXeva-e piKfjaral a aXa^oveiaig. KA. aXX' oux' viKt]a-€ig. eyw yap (prj/xl aroi irape^civ, c5 AfjjuL€, jULtjSev SpcovTi /llktOou Tpu^Xiov po(l>tjcrai. AAA. eyo) ^e kvXlxvlov ye troi Kal (pap/xaKov SiSw/xi TOLv Toicriv avTiKvtjjULLOig cXKvSpia ireptaXeiipeLv. KA. eyo) ^e Tag iroXiag ye (TovKXiycov veov irot^cru). AAA. iSov Sexov KepKov Xayw raxpOaXixiSiu) '7repi\[/-rjv. KA. aTTO/ULV^a/xevog w A^/xe hjlov tt/oo? ttiv K€(paXr]v airoyjrta. AAA. ejxov fxev ovv, KA. efxov jxev ovv. cyw (re Troi^crco Tptrj- papx^tv, avaXifTKOVTa tcov cravTOv, iraXaiav vavv exovT, €i£ rjv avaXcov ovk €€- ^€t9 ovSe vavirrjyovixevog' SiajULrjxavrjarojuLai 6^ oircog dv IcTTtov aairpov Xd^rj^. THE KNIGHTS 126 Cle. You cad ! You sicken me with your vulgarity. Saus. Yes, the goddess herself bade me try and beat you on your own ground — at vulgarity to wit. Cle. But you won't. Demus, I'll give you a tit-bit as a reward, though you sit still and do nothing. Saus. I'll do more than that ; I'll give you a gallipot of medicine, and some ointment for your poor feet. Cle. I'll pull out your grey hairs, and make you look young. Saus. And here's a hare's tail for you to make up your eyes. Cle. And, O Demus, when you've got a dirty nose, wipe it on my head, do. Saus. No, on mine. Cle. On mine, I say. (To the Sausage- seller.) As for you, I'll get you appointed trierarch at your own expense.^ You shall fit out an old hulk, which will entail no end of money spent on her, and I'll take care she has a rotten sail. 1 In which case he would have to fit out a vessel for the public service. 127 APIST0#ANH2 AAA. wrjp Traav(jt)iuLevov poSoig. AAA. ovjuioi Se y av \eyovcriv o)? oXovpyiSa €X(»v KarairaarTOv koi crT€avriv e(f> dpfxarog Xpv(Tov Siw^eig ^fXiKvOrjv koi Kvpiov. Z\J1. Kai jULtjv eveyK avTOvg tcov, iv ovrocri avTwv aKova-r]. AAA. fraw ye. AH. koi av vvv (pipe. KA. iSov. AAA. iSov vrj TOV A/** ovSev KOoXvei. XOP. rjSicTTOV dog ^fjLepag ea-rai rotcri irapova-i Kai TOia(T\ yap avTov oi TaiSeg oi ^vve^oLTwv Ttjv ^wpiaTi fJLOvTiv av ap- jULorrecrOai Oajma rrjp \vpav, aX\r]v S* ovK eOeXetv juLaBeiv Kara tov KiOapKTTtjv opyia-OevT airayeiv KeKev- €iVi ft)9 oLpfMOvlav 6 Tratg 0VT09 ov SvvaTai /maOeiv r}V jtirj ScopoSoKfjTi. KA. iSov, Oearrai, kovx airavra^ €K(j>€pw. AAA. oifJi 0)9 xea-elw, kovx d'7ravTa€p(jd. AH. TavTL TiecTTi ; KA. \6yia. AH. TTOLVT ; KA. eOav- Kai vrj A/' en ye julovotti ki/Bcoto^ TrXea. AAA. e/ULoi S' virepwov koi ^vvoiKia Svo. AH. ^ep' iSw, Tipog yap elcriv oixpWI^ol iroT€\ KIA. ovfJLoi jULcv €iov tov Ba/c/^o? yepairepov. AH. €i(riv Se Trepl tov; KA. irepl ^ AOtjvwv, Trep] UuXoVy irepi (TOVy irepi ejuLOVj irepl airdvTwv irpayjJLOLTOdv. AH. ol LT ev ayopa KaKwg, irepi crov, irepi ejuLou. to Treo? ovtoctl Sukoi. AH. aye vvv ottcd? avTOv^ avayvooarecrOe /not, KOI TOV Trepl ejjiov \elvov wTrep r/SojuLai, tog ev ve^eXaLtTiv aicTog yev^cro/mai. KA. aKove Sri vvv Kal Trpocrex^ tov vovv e/ULOi. ^pd^ev, ^^pexOelStj, Xoyioov oSov, rjv aroi ' AttoX- Xwv 'iaxev e^ ctSvTOio Sid TpiTroScov epLTijuLcav. cw^earOal o"' e/ceXefcr' lepov Kvva KapxctpoSovTa, og TTpo (reOev xae KaTaKpw^ova-i koXoloL THE KNIGHTS 131 Saus. Mine come from Glanis/ an elder brother of Bacis. Dem. What are they about ? Cle. Mine are about Athens, about Pylos, about you, about me, and about things in general. Dem. Yours ? Saus. About Athens, about pease-pudding, about the Lacedaemonians, about fresh mac- kerel, about those who give short measure in the market, about you, about me, and — a pox on this fellow ! Dem. Read them to me, and especially that one I was so pleased with, where it is pre- dicted that I am to be a sky-soaring eagle. Cle. (cutting in). But just give me your attention for a moment : " Son of Erectheus, consider the bearing of the oracles which Apollo utters to you from his shrine by means of the sacred tripods. He bade you regard as sacred the sharp-toothed dog, who, by snarling and barking horribly on your behalf, will provide you with funds. If you omit this, you will come to grief, for many jackdaws in their enmity croak against him." 1 A name coined in imitation of Bacis. 132 APISTOc^ANHS AH. ravr} /ixa rtjv AijjuLtjrp' eyco ouk otS^ o ri Xeyei. TL yap €v Xoyloov TrapearOiei. efjLOL yap ear opO(iog irepi tovtov tov Kuvog. AH. Xeye vvv eyo) Se irpwra XrjyfroiuLai XiOov, Lva fjLYi fJL 6 xPWI^oq TO Treo? ovToa-i SaKiJ. AAA. ^pd^ev, ^YipexOeiSiif Kvva J^ep/Sepop avSpairoSi- (TTr\Vi ooiT(jov T e? TOvirTaviov Xtjarei ere KvvtjSov vvKTcop ra? XoiraSa^ Kal ra? vrjcrovg SiaXelxcov. AH. vr} TOV Jloa-eiSw ttoXv y' a/meivov, cS FXai/i. KA. (V Tav, cLKovcrov, etra StaKpivov totc. ''Eo'Tf yvvr), T€^6i Se XeovO' lepalg ev ^AOi^vaig, og Trep} tov Srj/uLov TroXXoig Kwvonyj/L /jLax^iTai THE KNIGHTS 132 Dem. Holy Mother ! I've no notion what it's all about. What in nature has Erectheus got to do with jackdaws and a dog ? Cle. I am the dog. I howl on your behalf. Phoebus bids you take care of me, your faithful watchdog. Saus. The oracle says nothing of the sort. This dog nibbles the oracles as he does the door-post to which you chain him. I'll tell you the true tale of this man and this dog. Dem. Go on ; but I'll pick up a stone first, lest this oracular dog should bite me in a private part. Saus. {reads). " Take care of — that is, be on your guard against — the thievish dog who wags his tail at you, but keeps on the look-out until you're at supper, and then steals your food if you look another way. He'll stroll furtively into your kitchen by night, and, dog-like, lick clean your plates — and your islands." Dem. Ah, your oracle is much more to the purpose, Glanis. Cle. My good sir, listen to me and then decide. (Reads.) " A woman shall bring forth a lion in holy Athens, which noble animal shall fight a lot of gnats all on account of Demus, 133 APISTO^ANHS (a(TTe TTcpi (TKv^voLCTL fic/SrjKwg' Tov (TV (f>u\a(r(r€, T€ixo9 TTOirjcra^ ^vXlvov Trvpyov^ re a-iStjpov^. TavT oi(TO* o Ti \eyei ; AH. fia tov ' AttoXXw 1 \ \ i/ yOi /JL€V ov. KA. €Xayu)v irapeKivSvpevcre fxeOv- arOelg. K.€KpoTriSr) KaKO^ouXe, tl tovO^ ^yei /j,eya rovpyov ; Kal K€ yvvij (f>€poi a)(Oog, cirel kcv avrjp avaOeitj' aXX' ovK dv fxaxecraLTO ' xecraiTO yap, el /xaxe- craiTO. KA. aWa ToSe ^paarcrai, irpo JlvKov lUXoi^ i'}v (roi €*ipoL^ei ' rrji' K.vX\rivi]v yap 6 ^oi^og eg Trjv X^^P' opOm fivl^aro rrjv AioireLOoug. aWa yap ecrriv epLoi xpWf^og irepi crov Trrepv- ycoTog, aierog cog ylyvei Ka\ Tracrrjg yfjg /BacriXevo-eig. AAA. KOI yap inol' koi yfjg Ka\ rrjg epvOpag ye Oa- X^Ti y ev 'YiK/3aTavoig SiKacreig, Xeix^v eiri- TracTTa. KA. aXX' eyu) elSov ovap, Kai /ulovSokci rj Oeog avrrj Tov Sri/iiou Karaxeiv apuralvr] TrXovOvyteiav. AAA. vrj A/a KOI yap eyuy Kal /j,ov86k€i ^ Oeog avrr} eK TToXecog eXOeiv koI yXav^ avrii ^TriKaOtjcrOai- etra Karaa-irevSeiv Kara rrjg Ke^aXrjg apv/3aXX(p ajui/Spoa-iav Kara crov, Kara tovtov Se a-Kopo- SaXiuLtjv. AH. lov lov. OVK tjv ap* ovSelg tov TXaviSog cro^corepog. Kal vvv efxavTOV eiriTpeirw arot tovtovi yepovTaycoyeiv KavairaiSeveiv iraXiv. KA. fjJiTrta y\ iKerevw LT tjSri croi iropiw ^crKeva'/meva. AAA. eyo) Se jma^larKa^ ye Sian/LejaayjULCva^ Kai Touxirov OTTTov /lAtjSev aXX' €1 fitj 'crOie. AH. avvarare vvv, o tl irep Troirja-eO* * w? eyco, OTTOTCpOS aV (T(j>WV VVV fXe JULOXXOV €V TTOlfjf TOVTw irapaSwcru) Trjg ttvkvo^ to.^ ^Piag. KA. Tpexoi/m' dv e'la-o) irporepog. AAA. ov SrJTj aXX' eyw. XOP. (3 AijuiCf KoXijv y* ex€t^ apxov, ore iravre^ av Opwiroi SeSiaGTi cr oxr- irep avSpa Tvpavvov, aXX' evTrapaycoyog ef, Ocoirevofxevog re xa<- pet9 Ka^airarwiuLevo^f irpoi TOV T€ XiyovT ael Kex^va^' 6 vov^ Si crov Trapcov airoStjjULet. AH. V0V9 OVK evi raig ko/ulqi? vfitaVj OT€ yu' ov povetv KaiJL e^airaTvWeiv. Tripw yap eKacrroT av' Tovg, ovSe Sokmv opav, /cXeTTTOi/Tay eireiT avay- /cafft) TraXiv e^e/aeiv OLTT dv KeK\666pe. KA. M Afi/uL\ eyoo jiievToi Trapea-Kevaa-juievog rpLiraXai KaOrifxai, /SovXojuievo^ (t evepyereiv. THE KNIGHTS 138 fool. I am a fool on principle and by fixed intent. What I like to do is to drink all day and keep one thief as my factotum. This thief, when he has run to the end of his tether, I take up and smash him. Cho. So far, then, you will act wisely if there is really method in your madness ; if you rear these as public sacrifices in the Assembly, and then, when they are well feathered and you have no other food to eat, you slay them and sup upon them. Dem. See, then, whether I do not cleverly circumvent those who think they are clever and try to swindle me. I always keep my eye upon them, without seeming to do so, when they are at their little games. Then I make them disgorge whatever they have pilfered from me, tickling their throats with a public trial. (During the Chorus Cleon and the Sau- sage-seller have returned and seated themselves.) CLE. Go to hell ! Saus. Go there yourself. Cle. My dear Demus, I've been sitting here three ages already and willing to benefit you. 139 APISTO^ANHZ AAA. eyo) Se ScKairaXai ye koi SoySeKCLTraXai Kai x^^ioiraXai Kai irpoiraXai iraXai iraXai. AH. eyo) ^€ TTpoaSoKcop ye TptarjuLvpioTraXai /BSeXvTTOfial a-P vrj A/' t] 'yo) 6pv\l/-ojuLaL. KA. opag; eyui (tol irpoTepo^ eKtpepco St^pov, AAA. aXX' ov rpaire^av, aXX' eyw TrporepaiTepog. KA. ISov €p(t) a (T cKcXeve tovtovI ay€iv eXaTrjpog, %a ra? vavg eXavpwjJiep KaXwg. AAA. Xa^e Koi raSl vvv. AH. kol tl rovToig XRWo/Jiai Toh evrepoig ; AAA. eTrlrtjSeg oi/t' eTre/UL^t ctol €19 Tag Tpiripeig €VT€p6veiav ^ Oeog- eTTiCTKOTret yap irept^avoog to vavTiKOv. €X€ Kai TTieiv KeKpafjLevov Tpia Kai Svo. THE KNIGHTS 140 Dem. What a big finger you must have, O venerated goddess ! Cle. Here again is some pea-soup, of good colour and quality, stirred up in like manner by Pallas, who helped me to fight at Pylos. Saus. Demus, the goddess openly patronises you, for she holds above your head this pot of broth. Dem. Do you think we could ever get on if we had not above us the divine — pot ? Cle. The goddess who puts to flight armies sends you this slice of fish. Saus. While the daughter of the Almighty adds this ragout, and a taste of tripe along with it. Dem. Well done ; her divinity evidently has an eye to the peplus. Cle. The Gorgon -crested deity bids you eat of this pulled bread, so that we may be able to pull our warships well. Saus. Take this string of sausages. Dem. What am I to do with all these yards of guts ? Saus. She sends them by way of yards for your cruisers, since she is anxious about the navy. Take a drink too. It's stronger than half-and-half; in fact, it's three to two. 141 APISTO^ANHS AH. ft)? ^Svg, w Zev, KOI TO. Tpia (pepoDV koXw^. AAA. ^ TpiToyevrj^ yap avTOv evcTpiTcovicrcv. EjV. Xa/3e pvv TrXaKouvTO^ irlovotyu' e/ULOV, KA. eyco <5' €KivSvvev(r\ AAA. eyo) 5' (owTtja-a ye. AH. airiO'' ov yap aXXa to(5 TrapaOevrog rj x«P'?- KA. o(/xot KaKoSal/ULcoVt v7r€pai'aiSevO)]v avrjp a/JLeiPCOv irepi crk koi Tr]v yacrepa ; AH. Tft) ^^t' ai' uyua? xptjcra/mevog TCK/ULiipia) So^aijULi Kpiveiv TOig OeaTolcriv aro\ay6vog' KajuieXet Kpivelg KoXwg. AH. 6povv. AH. avT*i fjLcv rj Kia-Trj TO. Tov Srj/iiov ^povel. AAA. ^aSi^e vvv Kcu Sevpo tt/oo? ttji/ IlacpXayovog. opag; AH. iw /jloi, twv ayaOwv o(twv irXia. THE KNIGHTS 142 Saus. The idea was an inspiration from the goddess ; the execution my own. Cle. I caught the hares . . . Saus. But I served them up. Dem. Be off! My thanks are due to him only who served them up. Cle. Confound it ! I'm getting bowled out in my boldness. Saus. Now, Demus, why don't you decide which of us two is the better man for you — and your belly ? Dem. And what criterion shall I use, so that the audience may think me a sensible fellow ? Saus. I'll tell you. Go, on the quiet, to my chest and see what*s in it. Then do the same by the Paphlagonian's. You shall soon see what you shall see. Dem. Well, let me see what's in yours. Saus. You see, it's empty, my revered parent. I've given you all there was in it. Dem. Ah ! that chest shows thoughtfulness for Demus. Saus. Now pass to the Paphlagonian's. Do you see ? Dem. Lawks ! Why, it's stuffed full of good 143 APISTO^ANHS ocrov TO \prJiJLa tov irXaKOvvTO^ aireOeTO' ejuLol S^ eScoKcv aTroTejULoov tvvvovtovi. AAA. TOtauTa jnevToi koi irpoTcpov a eipya^ero' aoi ixev irpoareSlSov /miKpov 5>v eXa/ui/Bavev, avTog S^ eavTw TraperiOei to. fxel^ova, AH. (3 fxiape, kX^'tttodv St] fxe Tavr e^jjirarag: ey ov Serjo'ei fi ^TTacrOai /movov, AAA. Tov/ixov ye ^pa^cov ovo/ma Kai Xlav (Ta ^01 P' "AiroWoif AvKi€, TL TTori juL^ €pyd(T€i ; Texvrjv Se Tiva ttot elxe^ e^avSpou/JLevog; AAA. i^WavTOTTuAovv Kai n koi PiPca-KOfXijv. KA. o^jULOi KOKoSal/uLCOV ovKer ovSev e//x' eyw. XeTTTt] Tig eXirlg icrr e(ji rjq oxov/uLcOa. Kai fioi TocrovTOv eiire' iroTepov ev ayopa ^XXavTOTTtoXeig ereov rj Vf ratg 'rrvXaig; AAA. eiri raig TrvXaicriv, ov to Tapi\og coviov, KA. oifMOL ireTTpaKTai tov Oeov to Qia'aTOv. KvXivScT €^; top opOiov vojulov. ea-Ttv OVV aSeXtpog avrw rovg Tpoirovg ov arvyye- * ApKppaSfjg TTOvrjpog. aXXd tovto fxev Koi ^ov- Xerai • €]v vTnjvfjv, kqI kvkwv rag eo-xa- pa9, KOI lloXv/jLvi](rTeia iroioov, Kat ^vvwv Oi(avlx(fi. ocTTig odv ToiovTov avSptt jmr] (r6Spa /BSeXvr- T€T at J ov TTOT €K TaVTOV jULeO' ^/ULOOV TTieTai TTOTrjploV, 5 TToXXaKig evvvxI-CLKTi (ftpovTLcri (TvyyeyevtjjULai, Ka\ Si€^i]Trix oiroOev irore tpavXcog eadUi KXecS- vvfjLog. THE KNIGHTS 146 praying to you, as he touches your quiver at Delphi, to relieve his fallen fortunes. There is nothing invidious in scarifying your thorough-paced rascals ; in fact, it is only right for reputable people to do so. If the fellow I am going to abuse were of any notoriety at all, I would not name alongside him a man who is my friend. Everybody who knows black from white knows Arignotus; but his rascally brother Ariphrades is a very different character ; and he is so of set purpose. He is not only a rascal ; of that I should have taken no notice ; not only a thorough-paced rascal, but he is inventive in his rascality. He pollutes his tongue with the basest pleasures. In the brothels, I ween, he licks off that abominable liquid, defiles his beard with it, and puddles about with the lips of the girls' privates. Then he does dirty work with Polymnestus and sodomizes with Oeonichus. If there is anybody who does not utterly despise such a beast as this, I would rather he did not drink out of the same wine-cup with me. I am often puzzled in thoughts by night to guess where that glutton Cleonymus gets his food by sponging. They say that when he 147 APISTO^ANHS acri jjLev yap avTov ipeirTo/jievov Ta twv ixov- T(av aveptav ovK dv e^eXOelv airo Ttjg (rnrut]^' tov9 ^' olvti^o- \elv dv o/JLCog- tO^ c5 ava, TT/oo? yovaTwVf e'la-eXOe koi (ruyyvooOi tS TpaTre^iJ. a/9 ye t^c Nav(ra)i/09, ov SrJT, ay Oeol, elirep e/c irevKrjg ye Kayw Koi ^vXoov €7r>jyvujULtjv. t}V S' apecTKU TavT 'Adrjvaioig, KaOrjcrdal fjLOL SoKci €<9 TO Orjcreiov TrXeoJcrat? rj Vf r^ov (rejiivcov dewv* ov yap ^juicov ye a-TpaTrjywv eyxaveiTaL t^ TToXei • aXXa irXeiTco x^P^^^ avTog eg KopaKag, ec fiov- XeTaif Tag (TKa^ag, ev alg e'TTcoXei Tovg Xvxvovg, KaOeX- Kucrag. THE KNIGHTS 147 contrives to creep into the houses of the rich, they can't get him out of the larder; though they pray and beseech him, " Good sir, come out, and have mercy on our provisions ! " It is reported that our warships assembled for a confab, and that one of the more elderly among them said to the others, " Is it possible, you young maidens, that you have not heard what is going on in the city ? That very shady citizen of ours, the scapegrace Hyperbolus, has requisitioned a hundred of us for Carthage. Now this appears intolerable to some of our number who have never yet been manned ; and they protest in some such modest terms as this : * O Lord, averter of evils, may I rather rot in dock, and worms feed on my bottom, than be boarded by such a fellow. Nauphantes, the son of Nauson, despite his naval names, is not fit for such a trim-built craft as me. If the Athenians determine to grant the request, I must go and sit as a suppliant at the Temple of Theseus, or of those venerable old females the Furies, for he shall never fool the city by taking command of us. Let him sail off to the devil, if he likes, in one of those old tubs where he used to sell his lamps.' " 148 APISTO^ANHS ArOP. ev(f)tjfjL€tv XP*J '^"^ (TTO/uia kXcUlv, koi fxaprvpicov a-n-exearOai, Kai ra SiKaa-Trfpia (TvyKXeUiv, oh V ttoXi^ rjSe yeyrjOev, €Tn Kaivala-iv S' €VTvxicit(riv iraKavi^eiv to Oea- TpOV. XOP. w rah lepaU eyyo9 AOijvai? koi rah vijcrois eTTLKOVpe, TLV excov riixrjv ayaOriv rjKei^, e^' otcd Kvia-wfiev ayviag ; AFOP. TOP Arj/jLov cKpeyj/ria-a^ v/miv KaXov i^ alcrxpov ireirolrjKa. XOP. Kat TTOv 'oTTiv vvv, cS OavjULacTTag e^evpiarKwv cTrivolag; AFOP. €v Taicriv loarTetpavoig oikci rai^ apxalaicriv AOrjvatg. XOP. -TToJ? av iSoijuiev; iroiav tiv exei a-Kevrji'; Trolog yeyevfjrai ; AFOP. olog Trep 'Apia-TclSu irporepov koI MzXrta^^ ^UV€(riT€l. oyj^ecrOe Se' koi yap avoiyvvfievwp \j/6og fjStj Twv irpoTrvXalcov. aXX' oXoXv^are aivo/uLevai(Tiv raig apxaiai(riv *AOijvai$ THE KNIGHTS 148 Enter Agoracritus, the 5;if-SAUSAGE-SELLER. Ago. Shut up ! say none but words of happy omen, forbear to subpoena witnesses, close those courts of which our city is so fond, and lay on brand-new paeans at the theatre. Cho. You light of holy Athens, and best ally of the islands, what good news have you got, that you want us to lay down our streets to high jinks ? Ago. Why, I've re-cooked Demus, and made him a handsome fellow, instead of a scurvy old chunk. Cho. Where is he now then, after this won- derful transformation of yours ? Ago. He is now hanging out in the good old-fashioned Athens with its violet crown. Cho. Can't we see him ? We want to know what he looks like in his new rig-out. Ago. He is now just what he was when he used to hobnob with Aristides and Miltiades in the brave days of old. But you shall see him. Even now I hear the gates of the Propylaea^ opening. Mind you give the customary round of applause when you are treated to a sight 1 The entrance to the Acropolis. 149 APISTO^ANHS Kai OavfjLacrraig koi iroKvvfivoi^i *lv 6 kXcivo^ AfjflO^ €VOlK€t. XOP. 6pag, apxaltp crxfj/^cLTi Xa/jLTTpog, ov xoLpLvwv o^oav, aXXa (rirovSwVy a-fivpvi] Kara- XetTTTOf. XOP. x^'p'> ^i^^^'^^^'^^^'-E^^V*'^*'' fcai (Toi ^vyxai- pofj.€v tjixeU. Tfjs yap xoXcft)? a^ia TrpdrTeig koi tov M.apa- Ou)vi Tpoiraiov. AH. & (piKTaT avSptaif, eXOe 6€vp\ 'AyopaKpire. ocra /j.€ SiSpaKag ayaO^ a t€ x€TO, AH. t/ 027?; TavTi /x eSpwVy eyo) ^e tout ovk ijotOo/jlijp', AFOP. TO. 5' cSra yap crov vrj A/' e^eireTavvvTO axrirep (TKiaSeiov koi iraXiv ^vvrjyeTo. AH. ovTwg avotjTog eyeyevtjjULtjv koi yepcov; AFOP. Koi Pf] Aia y ei pa(rov' eav Tig etirn fi(a/uLo\6xo9 iwiiyopog' ovK €(TTiv v/ULiv TOig SiKacTTaig a\iTa, €t /nr] KaraypuxrecrOe ravrtjv rriv SiKfjv TOVTOV Ti Spacreig, eiire, tov ^vvrjyopov ; AH. a/oa? fjL€Te(apov eg to ^apaOpov i/jL^aXw, €K TOV \apvyyo9 cKKpe/maa-ag 'Yirip^oXov. AFOP. tovtI jmev SpOwg koi povifxwg rjSrj Xeyeig' Ta S' aWa, (pip* iSoo, ttw? TroXiTeuarei 69 y 6 ^aia^y Sc^iijog t ovk aireOavev. (TvvepKTiKog yap ea-ri Kal TrepavriKog, Ka] yvay/uLOTviriKog Kal a-a^rj^ Kal Kpova-riKO^, KaraXtjiTTiKog t apia-ra tov Oopv^rjrtKOv. ArOP. ovKovv KaraSoKTvXiKog crv tov XaXtjTiKOv; AH. /ma A/ , aXX' avayKacrui KvvrjyeTciv eyco TOVTOvq diravrag, irava-a/jievov^ ylM^tpia-jULaTdov. AFOP. €X€ vvv eirl rovroig tovtovI tov OKXaSlav, Kal TratS' ev6px^v> ocnrep o1T]v Oeiav, e^ecTTiv avTcov KaTarpiaKovTovTicrai ; TTWff eXa/Beg aurd? ireov, AFOP. ov yap 6 lla\ayu)v aireKpuTTTe ravra^ evSov, Ipa