"'Tis thus they feasted on the flesh of oxen and, tired
of warfare, unharnessed their foaming steeds.
of warfare, unharnessed their foaming steeds.
Aristophanes
go and eat the Sibyl.
HIEROCLES. No, by the Earth! no, you shall not eat without me; if you do
not give, I take; 'tis common property.
TRYGAEUS (_to the servant_). Strike, strike this Bacis, this humbugging
soothsayer.
HIEROCLES. I take to witness. . . .
TRYGAEUS. And I also, that you are a glutton and an impostor. Hold him
tight and beat the impostor with a stick.
SERVANT. You look to that; I will snatch the skin from him, which he has
stolen from us. [374] Are you going to let go that skin, you priest from
hell! do you hear! Oh! what a fine crow has come from Oreus! Stretch your
wings quickly for Elymnium. [375]
CHORUS. Oh! joy, joy! no more helmet, no more cheese nor onions! [376] No,
I have no passion for battles; what I love, is to drink with good
comrades in the corner by the fire when good dry wood, cut in the height
of the summer, is crackling; it is to cook pease on the coals and
beechnuts among the embers; 'tis to kiss our pretty Thracian[377] while
my wife is at the bath. Nothing is more pleasing, when the rain is
sprouting our sowings, than to chat with some friend, saying, "Tell me,
Comarchides, what shall we do? I would willingly drink myself, while the
heavens are watering our fields. Come, wife, cook three measures of
beans, adding to them a little wheat, and give us some figs. Syra! call
Manes off the fields, 'tis impossible to prune the vine or to align the
ridges, for the ground is too wet to-day. Let someone bring me the thrush
and those two chaffinches; there were also some curds and four pieces of
hare, unless the cat stole them last evening, for I know not what the
infernal noise was that I heard in the house. Serve up three of the
pieces for me, slave, and give the fourth to my father. Go and ask
Aeschinades for some myrtle branches with berries on them, and then, for
'tis the same road, you will invite Charinades to come and drink with me
to the honour of the gods who watch over our crops. "
When the grasshopper sings its dulcet tune, I love to see the Lemnian
vines beginning to ripen, for 'tis the earliest plant of all. I love
likewise to watch the fig filling out, and when it has reached maturity I
eat with appreciation and exclaim, "Oh! delightful season! " Then too I
bruise some thyme and infuse it in water. Indeed I grow a great deal
fatter passing the summer this way than in watching a cursed captain with
his three plumes and his military cloak of a startling crimson (he calls
it true Sardian purple), which he takes care to dye himself with Cyzicus
saffron in a battle; then he is the first to run away, shaking his plumes
like a great yellow prancing cock,[378] while I am left to watch the
nets. [379] Once back again in Athens, these brave fellows behave
abominably; they write down these, they scratch through others, and this
backwards and forwards two or three times at random. The departure is set
for to-morrow, and some citizen has brought no provisions, because he
didn't know he had to go; he stops in front of the statue of
Pandion,[380] reads his name, is dumbfounded and starts away at a run,
weeping bitter tears. The townsfolk are less ill-used, but that is how
the husbandmen are treated by these men of war, the hated of the gods and
of men, who know nothing but how to throw away their shield. For this
reason, if it please heaven, I propose to call these rascals to account,
for they are lions in times of peace, but sneaking foxes when it comes to
fighting.
TRYGAEUS. Oh! oh! what a crowd for the nuptial feast! Here! dust the
tables with this crest, which is good for nothing else now. Halloa!
produce the cakes, the thrushes, plenty of good jugged hare and the
little loaves.
A SICKLE-MAKER. Trygaeus, where is Trygaeus?
TRYGAEUS. I am cooking the thrushes.
SICKLE-MAKER. Trygaeus, my best of friends, what a fine stroke of
business you have done for me by bringing back Peace! Formerly my sickles
would not have sold at an obolus apiece, to-day I am being paid fifty
drachmas for every one. And here is a neighbour who is selling his casks
for the country at three drachmae each. So come, Trygaeus, take as many
sickles and casks as you will for nothing. Accept them for nothing; 'tis
because of our handsome profits on our sales that we offer you these
wedding presents.
TRYGAEUS. Thanks. Put them all down inside there, and come along quick to
the banquet. Ah! do you see that armourer yonder coming with a wry face?
A CREST-MAKER. Alas! alas! Trygaeus, you have ruined me utterly.
TRYGAEUS. What! won't the crests go any more, friend?
CREST-MAKER. You have killed my business, my livelihood, and that of this
poor lance-maker too.
TRYGAEUS. Come, come, what are you asking for these two crests?
CREST-MAKER. What do you bid for them?
TRYGAEUS. What do I bid? Oh! I am ashamed to say. Still, as the clasp is
of good workmanship, I would give two, even three measures of dried figs;
I could use 'em for dusting the table.
CREST-MAKER. All right, tell them to bring me the dried figs; 'tis always
better than nothing.
TRYGAEUS. Take them away, be off with your crests and get you gone; they
are moulting, they are losing all their hair; I would not give a single
fig for them.
A BREASTPLATE-MAKER. Good gods, what am I going to do with this fine
ten-minae breast-plate, which is so splendidly made?
TRYGAEUS. Oh, you will lose nothing over it.
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. I will sell it you at cost price.
TRYGAEUS. 'Twould be very useful as a night-stool. . . .
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. Cease your insults, both to me and my wares.
TRYGAEUS. . . . if propped on three stones. Look, 'tis admirable.
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. But how can you wipe, idiot?
TRYGAEUS. I can pass one hand through here, and the other there, and
so. . . .
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. What! do you wipe with both hands?
TRYGAEUS. Aye, so that I may not be accused of robbing the State, by
blocking up an oar-hole in the galley. [381]
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. So you would pay ten minae[382] for a night-stool?
TRYGAEUS. Undoubtedly, you rascal. Do you think I would sell my rump for
a thousand drachmae? [383]
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. Come, have the money paid over to me.
TRYGAEUS. No, friend; I find it hurts me to sit on. Take it away, I won't
buy.
A TRUMPET-MAKER. What is to be done with this trumpet, for which I gave
sixty drachmae the other day?
TRYGAEUS. Pour lead into the hollow and fit a good, long stick to the
top; and you will have a balanced cottabos. [384]
TRUMPET-MAKER. Ha! would you mock me?
TRYGAEUS. Well, here's another notion. Pour in lead as I said, add here a
dish hung on strings, and you will have a balance for weighing the figs
which you give your slaves in the fields.
A HELMET-MAKER. Cursed fate! I am ruined. Here are helmets, for which I
gave a mina each. What am I to do with them? who will buy them?
TRYGAEUS. Go and sell them to the Egyptians; they will do for measuring
loosening medicines. [385]
A SPEAR-MAKER. Ah! poor helmet-maker, things are indeed in a bad way.
TRYGAEUS. That man has no cause for complaint.
SPEAR-MAKER. But helmets will be no more used.
TRYGAEUS. Let him learn to fit a handle to them and he can sell them for
more money. [386]
SPEAR-MAKER. Let us be off, comrade.
TRYGAEUS. No, I want to buy these spears.
SPEAR-MAKER. What will you give?
TRYGAEUS. If they could be split in two, I would take them at a drachma
per hundred to use as vine-props.
SPEAR-MAKER. The insolent dog! Let us go, friend.
TRYGAEUS. Ah! here come the guests, children from the table to relieve
themselves; I fancy they also want to hum over what they will be singing
presently. Hi! child! what do you reckon to sing? Stand there and give me
the opening line.
THE SON OF LAMACHUS. "Glory to the young warriors. . . . "
TRYGAEUS. Oh! leave off about your young warriors, you little wretch; we
are at peace and you are an idiot and a rascal.
SON OF LAMACHUS. "The skirmish begins, the hollow bucklers clash against
each other. "[387]
TRYGAEUS. Bucklers! Leave me in peace with your bucklers.
SON OF LAMACHUS. "And then there came groanings and shouts of victory. "
TRYGAEUS. Groanings! ah! by Bacchus! look out for yourself, you cursed
squaller, if you start wearying us again with your groanings and hollow
bucklers.
SON OF LAMACHUS. Then what should I sing? Tell me what pleases you.
TRYGAEUS. "'Tis thus they feasted on the flesh of oxen," or something
similar, as, for instance, "Everything that could tickle the palate was
placed on the table. "
SON OF LAMACHUS.
"'Tis thus they feasted on the flesh of oxen and, tired
of warfare, unharnessed their foaming steeds. "
TRYGAEUS. That's splendid; tired of warfare, they seat themselves at
table; sing, sing to us how they still go on eating after they are
satiated.
SON OF LAMACHUS. "The meal over, they girded themselves . . . "
TRYGAEUS. With good wine, no doubt?
SON OF LAMACHUS. ". . . with armour and rushed forth from the towers, and a
terrible shout arose. "
TRYGAEUS. Get you gone, you little scapegrace, you and your battles! You
sing of nothing but warfare. Who is your father then?
SON OF LAMACHUS. My father?
TRYGAEUS. Why yes, your father.
SON OF LAMACHUS. I am Lamachus' son.
TRYGAEUS. Oh! oh! I could indeed have sworn, when I was listening to you,
that you were the son of some warrior who dreams of nothing but wounds
and bruises, of some Boulomachus or Clausimachus;[388] go and sing your
plaguey songs to the spearmen. . . . Where is the son of Cleonymus? Sing me
something before going back to the feast. I am at least certain he will
not sing of battles, for his father is far too careful a man.
SON OF CLEONYMUS. "An inhabitant of Sa? s is parading with the spotless
shield which I regret to say I have thrown into a thicket. "[389]
TRYGAEUS. Tell me, you little good-for-nothing, are you singing that for
your father?
SON or CLEONYMUS. "But I saved my life. "
TRYGAEUS. And dishonoured your family. But let us go in; I am very
certain, that being the son of such a father, you will never forget this
song of the buckler. You, who remain to the feast, 'tis your duty to
devour dish after dish and not to ply empty jaws. Come, put heart into
the work and eat with your mouths full. For, believe me, poor friends,
white teeth are useless furniture, if they chew nothing.
CHORUS. Never fear; thanks all the same for your good advice.
TRYGAEUS. You, who yesterday were dying of hunger, come, stuff yourselves
with this fine hare-stew; 'tis not every day that we find cakes lying
neglected. Eat, eat, or I predict you will soon regret it.
CHORUS. Silence! Keep silence! Here is the bride about to appear! Take
nuptial torches and let all rejoice and join in our songs. Then, when we
have danced, clinked our cups and thrown Hyperbolus through the doorway,
we will carry back all our farming tools to the fields and shall pray the
gods to give wealth to the Greeks and to cause us all to gather in an
abundant barley harvest, enjoy a noble vintage, to grant that we may
choke with good figs, that our wives may prove fruitful, that in fact we
may recover all our lost blessings, and that the sparkling fire may be
restored to the hearth.
TRYGAEUS. Come, wife, to the fields and seek, my beauty, to brighten and
enliven my nights. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus! oh! thrice happy man, who so well
deserve your good fortune!
TRYGAEUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS. What shall we do to her?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS. What shall we do to her?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS. We will gather her kisses.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS. We will gather her kisses.
CHORUS. Come, comrades, we who are in the first row, let us pick up the
bridegroom and carry him in triumph. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
TRYGAEUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. You shall have a fine house, no cares and the finest of figs. Oh!
Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
TRYGAEUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. The bridegroom's fig is great and thick; the bride's is very soft
and tender.
TRYGAEUS. While eating and drinking deep draughts of wine, continue to
repeat: Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
TRYGAEUS. Farewell, farewell, my friends. All who come with me shall have
cakes galore.
* * * * *
FINIS OF "PEACE"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[262] An obscene allusion, the faeces of catamites being 'well ground'
from the treatment they are in the habit of submitting to.
[263] 'Peace' was no doubt produced at the festival of the Apaturia,
which was kept at the end of October, a period when strangers were
numerous in Athens.
[264] The winged steed of Perseus--an allusion to a lost tragedy of
Euripides, in which Bellerophon was introduced riding on Pegasus.
[265] Fearing that if it caught a whiff from earth to its liking, the
beetle might descend from the highest heaven to satisfy itself.
[266] The Persians and the Spartans were not then allied as the Scholiast
states, since a treaty between them was only concluded in 412 B. C. , i. e.
eight years after the production of 'Peace'; the great king, however, was
trying to derive advantages out of the dissensions in Greece.
[267] _Go to the crows_, a proverbial expression equivalent to our _Go to
the devil_.
[268] Aesop tells us that the eagle and the beetle were at war; the eagle
devoured the beetle's young and the latter got into its nest and tumbled
out its eggs. On this the eagle complained to Zeus, who advised it to lay
its eggs in his bosom; but the beetle flew up to the abode of Zeus, who,
forgetful of the eagle's eggs, at once rose to chase off the
objectionable insect. The eggs fell to earth and were smashed to bits.
[269] Pegasus is introduced by Euripides both in his 'Andromeda' and his
'Bellerophon. '
[270] Boats, called 'beetles,' doubtless because in form they resembled
these insects, were built at Naxos.
[271] Nature had divided the Piraeus into three basins--Cantharos,
Aphrodisium and Zea; [Greek: kantharos] is Greek for a dung-beetle.
[272] In allusion to Euripides' fondness for introducing lame heroes in
his plays.
[273] An allusion to the proverbial nickname applied to the
Chians--[Greek: Chios apopat_on], "shitting Chian. " On account of their
notoriously pederastic habits, the inhabitants of this island were known
throughout Greece as '_loose-arsed_' Chians, and therefore always on the
point of voiding their faeces. There is a further joke, of course, in
connection with the hundred and one frivolous pretexts which the
Athenians invented for exacting contributions from the maritime allies.
[274] Masters of Pylos and Sphacteria, the Athenians had brought home the
three hundred prisoners taken in the latter place in 425 B. C. ; the
Spartans had several times sent envoys to offer peace and to demand back
both Pylos and the prisoners, but the Athenian pride had caused these
proposals to be long refused. Finally the prisoners had been given up in
423 B. C. , but the War was continued nevertheless.
[275] An important town in Eastern Laconia on the Argolic gulf,
celebrated for a temple where a festival was held annually in honour of
Achilles. It had been taken and pillaged by the Athenians in the second
year of the Peloponnesian War, 430 B. C. As he utters this imprecation,
War throws some leeks, [Greek: prasa], the root-word of the name Prasiae,
into his mortar.
[276] War throws some garlic into his mortar as emblematical of the city
of Megara, where it was grown in abundance.
[277] Because the smell of bruised garlic causes the eyes to water.
[278] He throws cheese into the mortar as emblematical of Sicily, on
account of its rich pastures.
[279] Emblematical of Athens. The honey of Mount Hymettus was famous.
[280] Cleon, who had lately fallen before Amphipolis, in 422 B. C.
[281] An island in the Aegean Sea, on the coast of Thrace and opposite
the mouth of the Hebrus; the Mysteries are said to have found their first
home in this island, where the Cabirian gods were worshipped; this cult,
shrouded in deep mystery to even the initiates themselves, has remained
an almost insoluble problem for the modern critic. It was said that the
wishes of the initiates were always granted, and they were feared as
to-day the _jettatori_ (spell-throwers, casters of the evil eye) in
Sicily are feared.
[282] Brasidas perished in Thrace in the same battle as Cleon at
Amphipolis, 422 B. C.
[283] An Athenian general as ambitious as he was brave. In 423 B. C. he
had failed in an enterprise against Heraclea, a storm having destroyed
his fleet. Since then he had distinguished himself in several actions,
and was destined, some years later, to share the command of the
expedition to Sicily with Alcibiades and Nicias.
[284] Meaning, to start on a military expedition.
[285] Cleon.
[286] The Chorus insist on the conventional choric dance.
[287] One of the most favourite games with the Greeks. A stick was set
upright in the ground and to this the beam of a balance was attached by
its centre. Two vessels were hung from the extremities of the beam so as
to balance; beneath these two other and larger dishes were placed and
filled with water, and in the middle of each a brazen figure, called
Manes, was stood. The game consisted in throwing drops of wine from an
agreed distance into one or the other vessel, so that, dragged downwards
by the weight of the liquor, it bumped against Manes.
[288] A general of austere habits; he disposed of all his property to pay
the cost of a naval expedition, in which he beat the fleet of the foe off
the promontory of Rhium in 429 B. C.
[289] The Lyceum was a portico ornamented with paintings and surrounded
with gardens, in which military exercises took place.
[290] A citizen of Miletus, who betrayed his country to the people of
Priene. When asked what he purposed, he replied, "Nothing bad," which
expression had therefore passed into a proverb.
[291] Hermes was the god of chance.
[292] As the soldiers had to do when starting on an expedition.
[293] That is, you are pedicated.
[294] The initiated were thought to enjoy greater happiness after death.
[295] He summons Zeus to reveal Trygaeus' conspiracy.
[296] An Athenian captain, who later had the recall of Alcibiades decreed
by the Athenian people; in 'The Birds' Aristophanes represents him as a
cowardly braggart. He was the reactionary leader who established the
Oligarchical Government of the Four Hundred, 411 B. C. , after the failure
of the Syracusan expedition.
[297] Among other attributes, Hermes was the god of thieves.
[298] Alluding to the eclipses of the sun and the moon.
[299] The Panathenaea were dedicated to Athene, the Mysteries to Demeter,
the Dipolia to Zeus, the Adonia to Aphrodite and Adonis. Trygaeus
promises Hermes that he shall be worshipped in the place of all the other
gods.
[300] The pun here cannot be kept. The word [Greek: paian], Paean,
resembles [Greek: paiein], to strike; hence the word, as recalling the
blows and wounds of the war, seems of ill omen to Trygaeus.
[301] The device on his shield was a Gorgon's head. (_See_ 'The
Acharnians.
HIEROCLES. No, by the Earth! no, you shall not eat without me; if you do
not give, I take; 'tis common property.
TRYGAEUS (_to the servant_). Strike, strike this Bacis, this humbugging
soothsayer.
HIEROCLES. I take to witness. . . .
TRYGAEUS. And I also, that you are a glutton and an impostor. Hold him
tight and beat the impostor with a stick.
SERVANT. You look to that; I will snatch the skin from him, which he has
stolen from us. [374] Are you going to let go that skin, you priest from
hell! do you hear! Oh! what a fine crow has come from Oreus! Stretch your
wings quickly for Elymnium. [375]
CHORUS. Oh! joy, joy! no more helmet, no more cheese nor onions! [376] No,
I have no passion for battles; what I love, is to drink with good
comrades in the corner by the fire when good dry wood, cut in the height
of the summer, is crackling; it is to cook pease on the coals and
beechnuts among the embers; 'tis to kiss our pretty Thracian[377] while
my wife is at the bath. Nothing is more pleasing, when the rain is
sprouting our sowings, than to chat with some friend, saying, "Tell me,
Comarchides, what shall we do? I would willingly drink myself, while the
heavens are watering our fields. Come, wife, cook three measures of
beans, adding to them a little wheat, and give us some figs. Syra! call
Manes off the fields, 'tis impossible to prune the vine or to align the
ridges, for the ground is too wet to-day. Let someone bring me the thrush
and those two chaffinches; there were also some curds and four pieces of
hare, unless the cat stole them last evening, for I know not what the
infernal noise was that I heard in the house. Serve up three of the
pieces for me, slave, and give the fourth to my father. Go and ask
Aeschinades for some myrtle branches with berries on them, and then, for
'tis the same road, you will invite Charinades to come and drink with me
to the honour of the gods who watch over our crops. "
When the grasshopper sings its dulcet tune, I love to see the Lemnian
vines beginning to ripen, for 'tis the earliest plant of all. I love
likewise to watch the fig filling out, and when it has reached maturity I
eat with appreciation and exclaim, "Oh! delightful season! " Then too I
bruise some thyme and infuse it in water. Indeed I grow a great deal
fatter passing the summer this way than in watching a cursed captain with
his three plumes and his military cloak of a startling crimson (he calls
it true Sardian purple), which he takes care to dye himself with Cyzicus
saffron in a battle; then he is the first to run away, shaking his plumes
like a great yellow prancing cock,[378] while I am left to watch the
nets. [379] Once back again in Athens, these brave fellows behave
abominably; they write down these, they scratch through others, and this
backwards and forwards two or three times at random. The departure is set
for to-morrow, and some citizen has brought no provisions, because he
didn't know he had to go; he stops in front of the statue of
Pandion,[380] reads his name, is dumbfounded and starts away at a run,
weeping bitter tears. The townsfolk are less ill-used, but that is how
the husbandmen are treated by these men of war, the hated of the gods and
of men, who know nothing but how to throw away their shield. For this
reason, if it please heaven, I propose to call these rascals to account,
for they are lions in times of peace, but sneaking foxes when it comes to
fighting.
TRYGAEUS. Oh! oh! what a crowd for the nuptial feast! Here! dust the
tables with this crest, which is good for nothing else now. Halloa!
produce the cakes, the thrushes, plenty of good jugged hare and the
little loaves.
A SICKLE-MAKER. Trygaeus, where is Trygaeus?
TRYGAEUS. I am cooking the thrushes.
SICKLE-MAKER. Trygaeus, my best of friends, what a fine stroke of
business you have done for me by bringing back Peace! Formerly my sickles
would not have sold at an obolus apiece, to-day I am being paid fifty
drachmas for every one. And here is a neighbour who is selling his casks
for the country at three drachmae each. So come, Trygaeus, take as many
sickles and casks as you will for nothing. Accept them for nothing; 'tis
because of our handsome profits on our sales that we offer you these
wedding presents.
TRYGAEUS. Thanks. Put them all down inside there, and come along quick to
the banquet. Ah! do you see that armourer yonder coming with a wry face?
A CREST-MAKER. Alas! alas! Trygaeus, you have ruined me utterly.
TRYGAEUS. What! won't the crests go any more, friend?
CREST-MAKER. You have killed my business, my livelihood, and that of this
poor lance-maker too.
TRYGAEUS. Come, come, what are you asking for these two crests?
CREST-MAKER. What do you bid for them?
TRYGAEUS. What do I bid? Oh! I am ashamed to say. Still, as the clasp is
of good workmanship, I would give two, even three measures of dried figs;
I could use 'em for dusting the table.
CREST-MAKER. All right, tell them to bring me the dried figs; 'tis always
better than nothing.
TRYGAEUS. Take them away, be off with your crests and get you gone; they
are moulting, they are losing all their hair; I would not give a single
fig for them.
A BREASTPLATE-MAKER. Good gods, what am I going to do with this fine
ten-minae breast-plate, which is so splendidly made?
TRYGAEUS. Oh, you will lose nothing over it.
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. I will sell it you at cost price.
TRYGAEUS. 'Twould be very useful as a night-stool. . . .
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. Cease your insults, both to me and my wares.
TRYGAEUS. . . . if propped on three stones. Look, 'tis admirable.
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. But how can you wipe, idiot?
TRYGAEUS. I can pass one hand through here, and the other there, and
so. . . .
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. What! do you wipe with both hands?
TRYGAEUS. Aye, so that I may not be accused of robbing the State, by
blocking up an oar-hole in the galley. [381]
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. So you would pay ten minae[382] for a night-stool?
TRYGAEUS. Undoubtedly, you rascal. Do you think I would sell my rump for
a thousand drachmae? [383]
BREASTPLATE-MAKER. Come, have the money paid over to me.
TRYGAEUS. No, friend; I find it hurts me to sit on. Take it away, I won't
buy.
A TRUMPET-MAKER. What is to be done with this trumpet, for which I gave
sixty drachmae the other day?
TRYGAEUS. Pour lead into the hollow and fit a good, long stick to the
top; and you will have a balanced cottabos. [384]
TRUMPET-MAKER. Ha! would you mock me?
TRYGAEUS. Well, here's another notion. Pour in lead as I said, add here a
dish hung on strings, and you will have a balance for weighing the figs
which you give your slaves in the fields.
A HELMET-MAKER. Cursed fate! I am ruined. Here are helmets, for which I
gave a mina each. What am I to do with them? who will buy them?
TRYGAEUS. Go and sell them to the Egyptians; they will do for measuring
loosening medicines. [385]
A SPEAR-MAKER. Ah! poor helmet-maker, things are indeed in a bad way.
TRYGAEUS. That man has no cause for complaint.
SPEAR-MAKER. But helmets will be no more used.
TRYGAEUS. Let him learn to fit a handle to them and he can sell them for
more money. [386]
SPEAR-MAKER. Let us be off, comrade.
TRYGAEUS. No, I want to buy these spears.
SPEAR-MAKER. What will you give?
TRYGAEUS. If they could be split in two, I would take them at a drachma
per hundred to use as vine-props.
SPEAR-MAKER. The insolent dog! Let us go, friend.
TRYGAEUS. Ah! here come the guests, children from the table to relieve
themselves; I fancy they also want to hum over what they will be singing
presently. Hi! child! what do you reckon to sing? Stand there and give me
the opening line.
THE SON OF LAMACHUS. "Glory to the young warriors. . . . "
TRYGAEUS. Oh! leave off about your young warriors, you little wretch; we
are at peace and you are an idiot and a rascal.
SON OF LAMACHUS. "The skirmish begins, the hollow bucklers clash against
each other. "[387]
TRYGAEUS. Bucklers! Leave me in peace with your bucklers.
SON OF LAMACHUS. "And then there came groanings and shouts of victory. "
TRYGAEUS. Groanings! ah! by Bacchus! look out for yourself, you cursed
squaller, if you start wearying us again with your groanings and hollow
bucklers.
SON OF LAMACHUS. Then what should I sing? Tell me what pleases you.
TRYGAEUS. "'Tis thus they feasted on the flesh of oxen," or something
similar, as, for instance, "Everything that could tickle the palate was
placed on the table. "
SON OF LAMACHUS.
"'Tis thus they feasted on the flesh of oxen and, tired
of warfare, unharnessed their foaming steeds. "
TRYGAEUS. That's splendid; tired of warfare, they seat themselves at
table; sing, sing to us how they still go on eating after they are
satiated.
SON OF LAMACHUS. "The meal over, they girded themselves . . . "
TRYGAEUS. With good wine, no doubt?
SON OF LAMACHUS. ". . . with armour and rushed forth from the towers, and a
terrible shout arose. "
TRYGAEUS. Get you gone, you little scapegrace, you and your battles! You
sing of nothing but warfare. Who is your father then?
SON OF LAMACHUS. My father?
TRYGAEUS. Why yes, your father.
SON OF LAMACHUS. I am Lamachus' son.
TRYGAEUS. Oh! oh! I could indeed have sworn, when I was listening to you,
that you were the son of some warrior who dreams of nothing but wounds
and bruises, of some Boulomachus or Clausimachus;[388] go and sing your
plaguey songs to the spearmen. . . . Where is the son of Cleonymus? Sing me
something before going back to the feast. I am at least certain he will
not sing of battles, for his father is far too careful a man.
SON OF CLEONYMUS. "An inhabitant of Sa? s is parading with the spotless
shield which I regret to say I have thrown into a thicket. "[389]
TRYGAEUS. Tell me, you little good-for-nothing, are you singing that for
your father?
SON or CLEONYMUS. "But I saved my life. "
TRYGAEUS. And dishonoured your family. But let us go in; I am very
certain, that being the son of such a father, you will never forget this
song of the buckler. You, who remain to the feast, 'tis your duty to
devour dish after dish and not to ply empty jaws. Come, put heart into
the work and eat with your mouths full. For, believe me, poor friends,
white teeth are useless furniture, if they chew nothing.
CHORUS. Never fear; thanks all the same for your good advice.
TRYGAEUS. You, who yesterday were dying of hunger, come, stuff yourselves
with this fine hare-stew; 'tis not every day that we find cakes lying
neglected. Eat, eat, or I predict you will soon regret it.
CHORUS. Silence! Keep silence! Here is the bride about to appear! Take
nuptial torches and let all rejoice and join in our songs. Then, when we
have danced, clinked our cups and thrown Hyperbolus through the doorway,
we will carry back all our farming tools to the fields and shall pray the
gods to give wealth to the Greeks and to cause us all to gather in an
abundant barley harvest, enjoy a noble vintage, to grant that we may
choke with good figs, that our wives may prove fruitful, that in fact we
may recover all our lost blessings, and that the sparkling fire may be
restored to the hearth.
TRYGAEUS. Come, wife, to the fields and seek, my beauty, to brighten and
enliven my nights. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus! oh! thrice happy man, who so well
deserve your good fortune!
TRYGAEUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS. What shall we do to her?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS. What shall we do to her?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS. We will gather her kisses.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS. We will gather her kisses.
CHORUS. Come, comrades, we who are in the first row, let us pick up the
bridegroom and carry him in triumph. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
TRYGAEUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. You shall have a fine house, no cares and the finest of figs. Oh!
Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
TRYGAEUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. The bridegroom's fig is great and thick; the bride's is very soft
and tender.
TRYGAEUS. While eating and drinking deep draughts of wine, continue to
repeat: Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
CHORUS. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
TRYGAEUS. Farewell, farewell, my friends. All who come with me shall have
cakes galore.
* * * * *
FINIS OF "PEACE"
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[262] An obscene allusion, the faeces of catamites being 'well ground'
from the treatment they are in the habit of submitting to.
[263] 'Peace' was no doubt produced at the festival of the Apaturia,
which was kept at the end of October, a period when strangers were
numerous in Athens.
[264] The winged steed of Perseus--an allusion to a lost tragedy of
Euripides, in which Bellerophon was introduced riding on Pegasus.
[265] Fearing that if it caught a whiff from earth to its liking, the
beetle might descend from the highest heaven to satisfy itself.
[266] The Persians and the Spartans were not then allied as the Scholiast
states, since a treaty between them was only concluded in 412 B. C. , i. e.
eight years after the production of 'Peace'; the great king, however, was
trying to derive advantages out of the dissensions in Greece.
[267] _Go to the crows_, a proverbial expression equivalent to our _Go to
the devil_.
[268] Aesop tells us that the eagle and the beetle were at war; the eagle
devoured the beetle's young and the latter got into its nest and tumbled
out its eggs. On this the eagle complained to Zeus, who advised it to lay
its eggs in his bosom; but the beetle flew up to the abode of Zeus, who,
forgetful of the eagle's eggs, at once rose to chase off the
objectionable insect. The eggs fell to earth and were smashed to bits.
[269] Pegasus is introduced by Euripides both in his 'Andromeda' and his
'Bellerophon. '
[270] Boats, called 'beetles,' doubtless because in form they resembled
these insects, were built at Naxos.
[271] Nature had divided the Piraeus into three basins--Cantharos,
Aphrodisium and Zea; [Greek: kantharos] is Greek for a dung-beetle.
[272] In allusion to Euripides' fondness for introducing lame heroes in
his plays.
[273] An allusion to the proverbial nickname applied to the
Chians--[Greek: Chios apopat_on], "shitting Chian. " On account of their
notoriously pederastic habits, the inhabitants of this island were known
throughout Greece as '_loose-arsed_' Chians, and therefore always on the
point of voiding their faeces. There is a further joke, of course, in
connection with the hundred and one frivolous pretexts which the
Athenians invented for exacting contributions from the maritime allies.
[274] Masters of Pylos and Sphacteria, the Athenians had brought home the
three hundred prisoners taken in the latter place in 425 B. C. ; the
Spartans had several times sent envoys to offer peace and to demand back
both Pylos and the prisoners, but the Athenian pride had caused these
proposals to be long refused. Finally the prisoners had been given up in
423 B. C. , but the War was continued nevertheless.
[275] An important town in Eastern Laconia on the Argolic gulf,
celebrated for a temple where a festival was held annually in honour of
Achilles. It had been taken and pillaged by the Athenians in the second
year of the Peloponnesian War, 430 B. C. As he utters this imprecation,
War throws some leeks, [Greek: prasa], the root-word of the name Prasiae,
into his mortar.
[276] War throws some garlic into his mortar as emblematical of the city
of Megara, where it was grown in abundance.
[277] Because the smell of bruised garlic causes the eyes to water.
[278] He throws cheese into the mortar as emblematical of Sicily, on
account of its rich pastures.
[279] Emblematical of Athens. The honey of Mount Hymettus was famous.
[280] Cleon, who had lately fallen before Amphipolis, in 422 B. C.
[281] An island in the Aegean Sea, on the coast of Thrace and opposite
the mouth of the Hebrus; the Mysteries are said to have found their first
home in this island, where the Cabirian gods were worshipped; this cult,
shrouded in deep mystery to even the initiates themselves, has remained
an almost insoluble problem for the modern critic. It was said that the
wishes of the initiates were always granted, and they were feared as
to-day the _jettatori_ (spell-throwers, casters of the evil eye) in
Sicily are feared.
[282] Brasidas perished in Thrace in the same battle as Cleon at
Amphipolis, 422 B. C.
[283] An Athenian general as ambitious as he was brave. In 423 B. C. he
had failed in an enterprise against Heraclea, a storm having destroyed
his fleet. Since then he had distinguished himself in several actions,
and was destined, some years later, to share the command of the
expedition to Sicily with Alcibiades and Nicias.
[284] Meaning, to start on a military expedition.
[285] Cleon.
[286] The Chorus insist on the conventional choric dance.
[287] One of the most favourite games with the Greeks. A stick was set
upright in the ground and to this the beam of a balance was attached by
its centre. Two vessels were hung from the extremities of the beam so as
to balance; beneath these two other and larger dishes were placed and
filled with water, and in the middle of each a brazen figure, called
Manes, was stood. The game consisted in throwing drops of wine from an
agreed distance into one or the other vessel, so that, dragged downwards
by the weight of the liquor, it bumped against Manes.
[288] A general of austere habits; he disposed of all his property to pay
the cost of a naval expedition, in which he beat the fleet of the foe off
the promontory of Rhium in 429 B. C.
[289] The Lyceum was a portico ornamented with paintings and surrounded
with gardens, in which military exercises took place.
[290] A citizen of Miletus, who betrayed his country to the people of
Priene. When asked what he purposed, he replied, "Nothing bad," which
expression had therefore passed into a proverb.
[291] Hermes was the god of chance.
[292] As the soldiers had to do when starting on an expedition.
[293] That is, you are pedicated.
[294] The initiated were thought to enjoy greater happiness after death.
[295] He summons Zeus to reveal Trygaeus' conspiracy.
[296] An Athenian captain, who later had the recall of Alcibiades decreed
by the Athenian people; in 'The Birds' Aristophanes represents him as a
cowardly braggart. He was the reactionary leader who established the
Oligarchical Government of the Four Hundred, 411 B. C. , after the failure
of the Syracusan expedition.
[297] Among other attributes, Hermes was the god of thieves.
[298] Alluding to the eclipses of the sun and the moon.
[299] The Panathenaea were dedicated to Athene, the Mysteries to Demeter,
the Dipolia to Zeus, the Adonia to Aphrodite and Adonis. Trygaeus
promises Hermes that he shall be worshipped in the place of all the other
gods.
[300] The pun here cannot be kept. The word [Greek: paian], Paean,
resembles [Greek: paiein], to strike; hence the word, as recalling the
blows and wounds of the war, seems of ill omen to Trygaeus.
[301] The device on his shield was a Gorgon's head. (_See_ 'The
Acharnians.
