Chorus: Come here, everyone, make your way eagerly straight for safety.
Chorus: O Panhellenes, let us come to their aid, if ever we have [done so before],
Chorus: having been released from the ranks and from the Phoenician troubles;
Chorus: For this day has dawned, the hater of war.
Chorus: To these things, if we must do anything, tell us and build them too;
Chorus: for I do not think that I can refuse it today,
Chorus: before we have hauled it into the light with levers and machines.
Chorus: the greatest of all the goddesses and most fond of vines.
Trygaeus: You will not be silent, lest you be overjoyed at the affair.
Trygaeus: Will you stoke up War from the inside, shouting?
Chorus: But having heard such an announcement, we rejoice.
Chorus: for they had not come having provisions for three days.
Trygaeus: Now be careful of that Cerberus from below,
Trygaeus: Stop splashing and shouting as when you were here,
Trygaeus: May something prevent us from dragging out the goddess.
Chorus: No, there is not even now anyone who will take her away,
Chorus: If they once come to grips with mine. Iou, iou.
Trygaeus: wipe me out, then, men, if you do not stop shouting;
Trygaeus: for having run out, I will stir up all these things with my two feet.
Chorus: as it stirs up and treads upon everything and stirs up,
Chorus: For we would not have ceased rejoicing today.
Trygaeus: What is the evil? What is happening, men? By no means, by the gods.
Trygaeus: destroy the most beautiful thing because of the costumes.
Chorus: But I do not want to act, but rather from pleasure.
Chorus: If I do not move my two legs, dance not.
Trygaeus: Not even now, but stop, stop dancing!
Chorus: Behold, and indeed I have stopped.
Trygaeus: You say so, but he has not yet stopped.
Chorus: Just let me pull this one thing, and no more.
Trygaeus: Well then, this much, and no more, dance no longer.
Chorus: We would not dance, if indeed we were able to benefit you in any way.
Trygaeus: But look, you have not yet ceased.
Chorus: By Zeus, this is it!
Chorus: Having already cast off the leg, we now cease the right one.
Trygaeus: I hand this over to you so that you may not be grieved any longer.
Chorus: But even the left side is necessarily in my favor.
Chorus: For I am glad and rejoice and fart and laugh.
Chorus: rather than having put off old age and escaped the shield.
Trygaeus: perhaps you are rejoicing now too; for you do not yet know clearly.
Trygaeus: But when we take it, at that time rejoice.
Trygaeus: and shout and laugh! Already
For then it will be allowed to you.
Trygaeus: to sail, to stay, to drink, to sleep,
Trygaeus: to go to festivals as a spectator,
Trygaeus: To feast and to play kottabos,
Trygaeus: 'to live like a Sybarite.'
Trygaeus: Ouch, ouch, I have cried out.
Chorus: for if it were granted to me to see this day someday.
Chorus: for I have endured many troubles and beds, which
Chorus: the lot fell to Formion;
Chorus: And you will not find me a harsh or difficult juror.
Chorus: And surely, at least their habits are not hard, just as before,
Chorus: But you would see me as delicate and much younger,
Chorus: freed from affairs.
Chorus: For indeed we have been perishing and worn out for a sufficient time, wandering about.
Chorus: To the Lyceum and from the Lyceum with spear and shield.
Chorus: But let us do what we can most of all to please, come on.
Chorus: Declare it, for a certain good fortune has chosen you as our master.
Trygaeus: Come then, let us see where we shall pull the stones.
Hermes: O filthy and bold one, what do you intend to do?
Trygaeus: Nothing bad, but just like the Cilicians.
Hermes: You are ruined, you wretched one.
Trygaeus: Well, if I had cast lots.
Trygaeus: For since you are Hermes, I know that you will make a choice by lot.
Hermes: You are ruined, you are utterly destroyed.
Trygaeus: Until what day?
Hermes: straightaway, very quickly.
Trygaeus: But I have not yet sold anything,
Trygaeus: neither barley-meal nor cheese, as if he were washing himself.
Hermes: Indeed, I have ground it to powder.
Trygaeus: And then in what way?
Trygaeus: Did I not feel good, having received so much?
Hermes: Do you know that Zeus has forbidden anyone who
Hermes: Is this being dug up?
Trygaeus: Now, is it really me?
Trygaeus: Is it necessary for all to die?
Hermes: know well that.
Trygaeus: Now lend me three drachmas in a little piggy bank;
Trygaeus: for I must be initiated before I die.
Hermes: O Zeus, thunderer.
Trygaeus: by the gods!
Trygaeus: Speak against us, I beg you, master.
Hermes: I would not be silent.
Trygaeus: Yes, by the meats,
Trygaeus: I have come, bringing it gladly to you.
Hermes: but, oh, I will be blunted by Zeus.
Hermes: unless you sharpen these and I will be whistled at.
Trygaeus: Don't sneeze now, I beg you, little oar.
Trygaeus: Tell me, what is happening, men? You are standing there stunned.
Trygaeus: O wretches, do not be silent; otherwise, it will be a slap.
Chorus: Not at all, master Hermes, not at all, not at all,
Chorus: If you know of any little piglet that has been pleasingly eaten from me,
Chorus: Consider this not a trivial matter in this present situation.
Trygaeus: Do you not hear how they flatter you, lord and master?
Chorus: 'Do not be an opponent against those who challenge us.'
Chorus: so as not to take this one;
Chorus: But grant a favor, most humane and most generous of gods,
Chorus: if anything offends the eyebrows and the eyebrows of Peisandros.
Chorus: and you with holy sacrifices and great gifts
Chorus: let us always, at all times, honor you, O lord.
Trygaeus: Come, I beg you, have pity on their voice,
Trygaeus: since they now honor you more than before.
Trygaeus: for thieves are they now rather than before.
Trygaeus: And I will tell you a terrible and great matter,
Trygaeus: He is being plotted against by all the gods.
Hermes: Come on, then, speak up; for perhaps you might persuade me.
Trygaeus: For the Moon and the cunning Sun
Trygaeus: plotting against you for a long time already
Trygaeus: betraying Greece to the barbarians.
Hermes: But why is this being done?
Trygaeus: Why, by Zeus!
Trygaeus: we sacrifice to you, but to these...
Trygaeus: The barbarians are sacrificing. Therefore, it is reasonable.
Trygaeus: They would wish to destroy us all,
Trygaeus: so that they themselves might take the rites of the gods.
Hermes: So I was wasting these days away for a long time.
Hermes: and they made the wheel spin off course because of their recklessness.
Trygaeus: Yes, by Zeus. To these things, dear Hermes, lend a hand.
Trygaeus: drag this over eagerly for us.
Trygaeus: And we shall bring you the great Panathenaic [festivals].
Trygaeus: all the other sacred rites of the gods,
Trygaeus: Mysteries to Hermes, Dipoleia, Adonia;
Trygaeus: What other cities have ceased from evils?
Trygaeus: They will sacrifice to Hermes the Averter of Evil everywhere.
Trygaeus: And afterwards you will have many more good things. First, however,
Trygaeus: I give you this gift, so that you may have something to make libations.
Hermes: Oh, how pitiful I am always towards the wasps.
Hermes: Your work from here, men. But with the oxen
Hermes: As quickly as possible, drag the stones in.
Chorus: We shall do these things; but you, most wise of the gods,
Chorus: What must be done, standing, consider in a creative manner;
Chorus: But as for the rest, you will find us to be not bad at serving.
Trygaeus: Come then, you, hold the bowl quickly, so that
Trygaeus: Let us sacrifice to the gods with a libation.
Hermes: a libation, a libation.
Hermes: Be quiet, be quiet.
Trygaeus: while we are pouring libations, we pray that this day be the day.
Trygaeus: to begin to rule for all Greeks over many good things,
Trygaeus: and whoever eagerly helps pull on the ropes,
Trygaeus: Do not let this man ever take up a shield.
Chorus: By Zeus, but to spend life in peace,
Chorus: Take a courtesan and stoke the coals.
Trygaeus: whoever wants war to be rather
Chorus: Never cease from him, O lord Dionysus.
Chorus: removing the spines from the sea-urchins.
Trygaeus: And if anyone who wants to be a general envies you.
Trygaeus: To come forth into the light, O Lady, in those battles
Chorus: May he suffer just such things as Cleonymus did.
Trygaeus: and if any spear-bearer or merchant of shields,
Trygaeus: so that it may sell better, he desires to fight.
Chorus: Having been captured by bandits, he would eat barley alone.
Trygaeus: and if anyone wanting to be general did not join up,
Trygaeus: Or a slave ready to desert?
Chorus: Let him be dragged on the wheel, whipped.
Trygaeus: May good things come to us. Iē, paōn, iē.
Chorus: Take away the beating, but only say 'hi'.
Trygaeus: Iē iē, then, Iē, I speak only.
Trygaeus: To Hermes, the Graces, the Hours, Aphrodite, and Desire.
Trygaeus: But to Ares?
Chorus: Not at all.
Trygaeus: Not even to Enyalios, then?
Chorus: No.
Trygaeus: Stretch out, everyone, and bring [her] in.
Hermes: Oh, come on.
Chorus: Come on, quite so.
Hermes: Come on!
Chorus: Come on, very much.
Hermes: O come on, O come on.
Trygaeus: But men are not pulling alike.
Trygaeus: You will not be gathered? How you are puffing yourself up!
Trygaeus: Alas, the Boeotians!
Hermes: All right, then.
Trygaeus: Come on, now.
Chorus: But come, let's drag her along together, and you too.
Trygaeus: Then I will pull it up and hang it.
Trygaeus: And I rush in and hurry?
Chorus: So why is the work not proceeding?
Trygaeus: O Lamachus, you are doing wrong by sitting in the way.
Trygaeus: We have no need of you, man, and your little horn.
Hermes: And these Argives have not dragged [the goddess] at all for a long time.
Hermes: But did you mock those who were suffering?
Hermes: And these are barley-cakes paid for from both sides.
Trygaeus: But the Lacedaemonians, you fine fellows, are pulling manfully.
Chorus: Do you know how many of them cling to the tree,
Chorus: [let us go] eagerly by ourselves; but the smith does not allow it.
Hermes: Nor do the Megarians do anything; nevertheless, they are dragging.
Hermes: jeering most rudely, like little dogs,
Hermes: We are utterly destroyed, by the famine, I swear by Zeus.
Trygaeus: we are doing nothing, men; but all together
Trygaeus: We must all again take hold.
Hermes: Come on.
Trygaeus: Come on, very much so.
Hermes: Come on.
Trygaeus: Come on, by Zeus.
Chorus: We move it a little, at least.
Trygaeus: Is it not terrible?
Trygaeus: some to stretch the rope and others to pull it back?
Trygaeus: You will get blows, you rascals.
Hermes: Let it be, then.
Trygaeus: Come on, sir.
Chorus: As some are malicious among us.
Trygaeus: You, at any rate, who wear tunics
Trygaeus: Pull at the peace bravely.
Chorus: but there are those who prevent them.
Hermes: Men of Megara, are you not going to crows?
Hermes: For the goddess hates you, remembering;
Hermes: for you first anointed her with garlic.
Hermes: And I tell the Athenians to stop.
Hermes: from here, following the path from which you now draw;
Hermes: For you do nothing else but judge.
Hermes: But if you wish to drag this out,
Hermes: Step back a little toward the sea.
Chorus: Come on then, men, let us, the farmers, be the only ones to take it.
Hermes: The matter is far better off, indeed, for you, men.
Chorus: He says the affair should proceed; but every man should be eager.
Trygaeus: You farmers indeed drag out the work, and no one else.
Chorus: Come now, come, all.
Hermes: And indeed he is already together.
Chorus: Let us not now slacken, but rather let us strain ourselves.
Chorus: more manly.
Hermes: That is already there.
Chorus: Come on now, come on, everyone.
Chorus: O come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Chorus: O come, come, come, come, come, all.
Trygaeus: O mistress, giver of grapes, what word should I address to you?
Trygaeus: From where might I take a ten-thousand-fold word?
Trygaeus: To whom shall I speak to you? For I did not have [you] from home.
Trygaeus: O Hail, Opora, and you too, O Theoria.
Trygaeus: what a face you have, O Theoria,
Trygaeus: How you blow, how sweetly against the heart!
Trygaeus: the sweetest thing, just like a campaign and perfume.
Hermes: Is it, then, also like a soldier's canteen?
Trygaeus: I have spat out the most hateful of the enemy's webs.
Trygaeus: for it smells of onion-chopping,
Trygaeus: of this harvest, of the welcome, of the Dionysia,
Trygaeus: I am piping, singing, the songs of Sophocles, chirping,
Hermes: you will weep
Hermes: lying about this; for he does not take pleasure in it.
Hermes: This is for a poet of forensic phrases.
Trygaeus: cheese, figs, bleating sheep,
Trygaeus: † of the bosom † of women running into the field,
Trygaeus: A drunken female slave, with a pitcher overturned,
Trygaeus: and many others and good ones—
Hermes: Go now and look.
Hermes: Just like this, the cities chatter to one another.
Hermes: having been reconciled and laughing happily,
Hermes: And these are bruised like a demon.
Hermes: all of them at once, and the ladles have been placed nearby.
Trygaeus: So now look at these spectacles as well.
Trygaeus: the doorsteps, so that you may recognize the crafts.
Hermes: Alas, wretch,
Trygaeus: But at least don't you see that fellow, the hill-maker?
Trygaeus: Shall I tear myself?
Hermes: But he who makes the little bells.
Hermes: He has just now robbed that sword-maker.
Trygaeus: But don't you see how the sickle-maker is enjoying himself?
Trygaeus: And how he has spattered the spear-shield!
Hermes: Go now and tell the farmers to depart.
Trygaeus: Listen, you people! The farmers are leaving.
Trygaeus: taking the agricultural tools into the field.
Trygaeus: as quickly as possible, without a spear, a sword, or a javelin.
Trygaeus: how everything here is already full of rotten peace.
Trygaeus: But let everyone march off to work in the field, strumming the lyre.
Chorus: O day longed for by the just and by the farmers,
Chorus: I wish to address the vines, having seen you with joy,
Chorus: both the fig trees, which I used to plant when I was younger,
Chorus: Our heart longs to embrace after so long a time.
Trygaeus: Now then, men, let us first pray to the goddess,
Trygaeus: which took away our hills and the Gorgons;
Trygaeus: Then, so that we may go home to the fields,
Trygaeus: They have bought a good pickle to put in the field.
Hermes: O Poseidon, how beautiful their crowd appears!
Hermes: and thick and swift, like a cake and a feast.
Trygaeus: By Zeus, for the mallet was, I suppose, well armed.
Trygaeus: And the reeds sparkle in the sun.
Trygaeus: He would surely get rid of them as a leaseholder.
Trygaeus: So now I myself also desire to go to the country.
Trygaeus: and [he is] piercing the mole with the pitchfork through a long time.
Trygaeus: But, men, remembering...
Trygaeus: of the old diet,
Trygaeus: which this woman once provided to us,
Trygaeus: of those old men
Trygaeus: both of the figs and of the myrtles,
Trygaeus: of the vintage, the sweet vintage
Trygaeus: of the Ionian woman, the one towards
Trygaeus: to the well of the olive-trees.
Trygaeus: 'Those things for which we long,'
Trygaeus: in return for these things, now this one
Trygaeus: Speak to the goddess.
Chorus: hail, hail, since you have come to the unharmed, most beloved one.
Chorus: For I was tamed by your longing, desiring to climb up to the field, divine one.
Chorus: For you were a great gain to us, O longed-for one.
Chorus: to all those whom we rubbed against the farmer's life.
Chorus: for you alone benefit us.
Chorus: For we suffered many things before, at some time, your sweet and costless and beloved [things].
Chorus: for you were a pest and a salvation to the country folk.
Chorus: so that you both the vineyards and the young fig trees
Chorus: all the other plants that there are
Chorus: He will laugh after receiving it gladly.
Chorus: but where was it from us for all this long time?
Chorus: This? Teach this to us, O most faithful of the gods.
Hermes: O wisest farmers, now understand my things.
Hermes: Words, if you wish to hear how this was lost.
Hermes: First, for indeed Pheidias began with her, having done wrong;
Hermes: Then Pericles, fearing that he might share in the fortune,
Hermes: fearing your natures and your self-willed character,
Hermes: before he suffered anything terrible himself, he kindled the city.
Hermes: having thrown in a small spark of a Megarian decree,
Hermes: He blew so much war that because of the smoke
Hermes: Let all the Greeks weep, those there and those here.
Hermes: And when the vine had once rustled at the very beginning,
Hermes: And a jar, struck by anger, kicked back at another jar,
Hermes: there was no longer anyone to stop it, and this was disappearing.
Trygaeus: Well, by Apollo, I did not sneer at anyone,
Trygaeus: Nor was even Phidias heard to be suitable for her.
Chorus: Not even I, except now. These things, then, were well-favored,
Chorus: She was related to him. Many things escape us.
Hermes: And since the cities which you ruled have recognized you.
Hermes: Agitated against one another and sharpened,
Hermes: All, plotting schemes against you while fearing the taxes,
Hermes: And I persuaded the most powerful of the Lacedaemonians with money.
Hermes: but those who are greedy and mocking
Hermes: having shamefully cast aside this war, they snatched it away;
Hermes: And then, indeed, the profits from them were evil for the farmers.
Hermes: for the triremes that retaliate from this side again
Hermes: No men would have eaten the stalks at all.
Trygaeus: Well then, in court, since you have indeed got me in a trap.
Trygaeus: They cut it down, which I planted and nurtured.
Chorus: By Zeus, oh sweetly, truly justly, since even I [have] a stone
Chorus: Having thrown in a half-medimnos honeycomb, they lost it.
Hermes: And then, when the farmer came together from the fields with the crowd,
Hermes: he did not learn to sell in the same way,
Hermes: But, being without friends and lovers, the buttocks
Hermes: he was looking at those who were speaking; but those who understood well
Hermes: the poor, sick and destitute of barley,
Hermes: As for this goddess, I was pushing her with my two shouts,
Hermes: often longing for her to appear in this land,
Hermes: 'And they shook the fat and rich allies.'
Hermes: adding reasons, as if they were thinking like Brasidas.
Hermes: Then you would tear this man apart just like a little dog.
Hermes: for the city, being pale and sitting in fear,
Hermes: What curses someone could hurl at her, she would enjoy most of all.
Hermes: and those who saw the blows that the foreigners were striking
Hermes: I had a golden mouth for those who do this,
Hermes: so that they might make those men rich, but Greece would be
Hermes: If you had not been deserted, you would have been overlooked. But this was what he was doing.
Hermes: a leather seller.
Trygaeus: Stop, stop, lord Hermes, do not speak,
Trygaeus: But leave that man there, who must be down below;
Trygaeus: For that man is no longer ours but yours.
Trygaeus: Well, then, what would you say about him,
Trygaeus: And he was cunning, while he lived,
Trygaeus: both talkative and a slanderer.
Trygaeus: and a turnip and a pestle,
Trygaeus: all this at once now
Trygaeus: You abuse your own people.
Trygaeus: But tell me, Lady, why you are silent.
Hermes: But he could not say it to those watching, at least.
Hermes: For he has great anger against them for what he suffered.
Trygaeus: But let her say only a little to you.
Hermes: If you think anything against me, you dearest one.
Hermes: Come, most hateful of women.
Hermes: Very well, I hear. Do you call these things to mind? I understand.
Hermes: Listen, you, for what reason you are blamed.
Hermes: She says she came by herself after [the battle] at Pylos.
Hermes: carrying a full basket for the city
Hermes: to be dismissed by show of hands three times in the assembly.
Trygaeus: We made a mistake in this; but have forgiveness.
Trygaeus: for our mind was then in the potsherds.
Hermes: Come now, listen to what I was just asked,
Hermes: who was most of all hostile to her here,
Hermes: and whoever was a friend and tried to be one without wars.
Trygaeus: Cleonymus was by far the most eunuch-like.
Hermes: Who then does it seem to be the warlike things?
Hermes: Cleonymus?
Trygaeus: his soul is excellent, except that
Trygaeus: Was he not, then, in the place where he says he is his father's?
Trygaeus: for if a soldier were to come out at some time, immediately
Trygaeus: He was becoming a thrower of the weapons.
Hermes: Even now, listen to what he just asked me,
Hermes: Whoever now holds the stone that is in the trap.
Trygaeus: Hyperbolus now holds this spot.
Trygaeus: What are you doing with this? Where are you turning your head?
Hermes: He is turning the people away, being grieved, because
Hermes: he has enrolled for himself a villainous guardian.
Trygaeus: But we shall no longer use him at all, but now
Trygaeus: The demos, being perplexed about a guardian and being naked,
Trygaeus: He has girded this man up to now.
Hermes: So how will he reconcile these things, he asks the city.
Trygaeus: We shall be more prudent.
Hermes: In what way?
Trygaeus: because he happens to be a lamp-maker. So then, before...
Trygaeus: We are feeling our way in the dark about the matters,
Trygaeus: But now we will deliberate everything by the light of a lamp.
Hermes: 'Oh, oh!'
Hermes: 'The sort of thing he ordered me to find out from you.'
Trygaeus: What things?
Hermes: countless things and the old ones that he left behind at that time;
Hermes: First, he asked what Sophocles was doing.
Trygaeus: He is happy, but he is suffering something wonderful.
Hermes: What?
Trygaeus: From Sophocles, Simonides is made.
Hermes: Simonides? How?
Trygaeus: because, being old and rotten
Trygaeus: for the sake of profit, I would even sail on a dung beetle.
Hermes: What then? Is the clever Cratinus there?
Trygaeus: He is dead.
Trygaeus: when the Lacedaemonians invaded.
Hermes: What has happened to you?
Trygaeus: "What?"
Trygaeus: I've been waiting! For I could no longer bear it.
Trygaeus: seeing a jar full of wine breaking.
Trygaeus: And what other things do you think have happened in the city?
Trygaeus: So we will never let you go, mistress.
Hermes: Go now and take Opora from these.
Hermes: this woman for yourself; and then in the fields
Hermes: living here, you will produce yourself a bunch of grapes.
Trygaeus: O dearest one, come here and give me a kiss.
Trygaeus: Might I be harmed by delay? What do you think?
Trygaeus: O lord Hermes, did you ride on top of the vintage?
Hermes: No, if you were to drink a barley-water with a bit of chaff.
Hermes: but as quickly as possible this Delegation
Hermes: Take her away to the Council, just as she was before.
Trygaeus: O blessed Council, you of the Theoria,
Trygaeus: just as long as it will slurp up the broth of three days,
Trygaeus: how many dried figs and pieces of meat he has brought down.
Trygaeus: But, dear Hermes, hail many times.
Hermes: And you too.
Hermes: Go away, man, in peace and remember me.
Trygaeus: O mule, let us fly home, home!
Hermes: It is not here, you old woman.
Trygaeus: Where, then, is he going?
Hermes: Having come under the chariot of Zeus, he carries a thunderbolt.
Trygaeus: So where is the wretch going to bring the provisions here?
Hermes: He will be fed the ambrosia of Ganymede.
Trygaeus: How then shall I come down?
Hermes: Courage, well;
Hermes: By this very goddess.
Trygaeus: come here, girls
Trygaeus: Follow me quickly, so that many [people] very much.
Trygaeus: longing for you, we have waited, standing.
Chorus: But go on, rejoicing; but we, for the present, having handed over these utensils,
Chorus: Let us give the followers the task of saving, as they are accustomed to do above all.
Chorus: around the scenes the greatest number of thieves are prowling and doing evil.
Chorus: But watch these things bravely; but we, in turn, to the spectators
Chorus: Let us say the way we have of speaking whatever thought we have.
Chorus: The rod-bearers ought indeed to have been struck, if any comic poet.
Chorus: He praised himself after stepping forward during the anapaests;
Chorus: But if it is fitting to honor someone, daughter of Zeus, whoever is the best,
Chorus: he has become a teacher of comedy of men and most renowned,
Chorus: Our teacher, they say, is worthy of great praise.
Chorus: for first of all, he alone among men stopped his opponents
Chorus: to the rags, always mocking and fighting with the lice,
Chorus: the tenth Heracleses who are beating and those who are hungry
Chorus: having driven him out, he first punished him, and he set the slaves free
Chorus: the fugitives and the deceivers and the ones being struck on purpose,
Chorus: whom they led out weeping always, and these because of this,
Chorus: so that the fellow-slave, having mocked his blows, then might inquire,
Chorus: O wretch, what has happened to your skin? Did a hedgehog get inside you?
Chorus: Did he cut off the back with a great army to the sides?
Chorus: Having removed such evils, and a burden, and ignoble clownings.
Chorus: He made a great art for us and fortified it, having built it.
Chorus: with weighty words, thoughts, and jokes not of the marketplace,
Chorus: not making fun of uneducated little men, nor of women,
Chorus: but having some anger of Heracles, he attempted against the greatest ones,
Chorus: having passed through the terrible and foul smells of tanned leather, smelling of mud,
Chorus: And first of all I fight with that very saw-toothed one,
Chorus: But from the eyes of Cynna the most dazzling rays were shining,
Chorus: And a hundred heads of flatterers wailing rolled round in a circle.
Chorus: around the head, and she had the voice of a ravine that gave birth to destruction,
Chorus: and the smell of a seal, the unclean testicles of Lamia, and the buttocks of a camel.
Chorus: Such a monster seeing, you were not terrified, but fighting on behalf of you
Chorus: They always held out against the other islands too. For this reason, now...
Chorus: It is fitting for you to repay me your gratitude and to be mindful.
Chorus: For having acted before as you wished, not wandering around the wrestling-schools,
Chorus: I was testing the boys, but lifting the gear, I immediately set out,
Chorus: having suffered little pain, having given much joy, having provided all that was necessary.
Chorus: In light of this, it is necessary for me to be with you.
Chorus: both the men and the boys;
Chorus: And we give advice to the bald men.
Chorus: to strive hard for the victory.
Chorus: for someone will say that I am winning.
Chorus: and at the table and at the drinking parties,
Chorus: Bring it to the bald man, give it to the bald man.
Chorus: of the ground-hogs, and he would kill them
Chorus: of the most noble of the poets
Chorus: having the forehead of a man.
Chorus: Muse, you having repelled wars with me
Chorus: dance for your friend,
Chorus: closing the weddings of the gods and the banquets of men
Chorus: and the feasts of the blessed ones; for this is your concern from the beginning.
Chorus: And if Cancer comes to you,
Chorus: may I dance with the children,
Chorus: Do not obey, nor come.
Chorus: a fellow traveler with them,
Chorus: but think that everyone...
Chorus: quails, domestic, with necks that glisten, dancers
Chorus: dwarf-born scraps of the bellows-smiths.
Chorus: For the father used to say that, beyond expectation,
Chorus: The play should have strangled the polecat in the evening.
Chorus: Such are the charms of the Fair-Haired Graces.
Chorus: the wise poet.
Chorus: to sing, when the swallow calls in the spring
Chorus: May she sit and sing, but may Morsimus not have the chorus.
Chorus: and not even Melanthius, he indeed
Chorus: I heard the bitterest cry of the one who cried out.
Chorus: when the tragedies
Chorus: the brother had the chorus.
Chorus: and he himself, both of them
Chorus: Gorgons, fish-eaters, cod-watchers, Harpies,
Chorus: dirty old women, goat-bearded, fish-eaters;
Chorus: having fallen headlong, greatly and broadly
Chorus: Muse, goddess, play with me throughout the festival.
Trygaeus: 'How hard it was, then, to come straight to the gods.'
Trygaeus: Indeed, I have worked my two legs quite hard.
Trygaeus: small ones are seeing from above. To me, indeed.
Trygaeus: From heaven you appear most malicious,
Trygaeus: But from here they are far more ill-tempered.
Slave: O master, have you come?
Trygaeus: as I heard from someone.
Servant: But what happened to you?
Trygaeus: My legs are aching from the long journey.
Trygaeus: It has passed.
Servant: Go now and tell me—
Trygaeus: What?
Servant: Have you seen another man in the air?
Slave: 'A wandering one, except himself?'
Trygaeus: No, unless perhaps.
Trygaeus: Two or three dithyrambic teachers' souls.
Servant: What then did I do?
Trygaeus: while we are gathering together to fly off.
Trygaeus: some of the inhabitants of the air.
Servant: Well, there certainly were not even the things they say, in the air.
Servant: Do we become stars when someone dies?
Trygaeus: Certainly.
Slave: And who is the star there now?
Trygaeus: Ion the Chian, who made [it] long ago.
Trygaeus: Here the song once; and when he arrived, immediately
Trygaeus: 'All used to call him a star.'
Servant: for who are the stars that are running about?
Servant: Those who, burning, are running?
Trygaeus: Some [of them] from dinner
Trygaeus: these rich men are walking among the stars,
Trygaeus: Take ovens, and put fire in the ovens.
Trygaeus: But bring her in as quickly as possible, taking her by the hand,
Trygaeus: And flood the wash-basin, and heat the water,
Trygaeus: Spread for me and for her a nuptial bed.
Trygaeus: And having done these things, he came here again;
Trygaeus: But I will give this back to the Council for the present.
Slave: Where did you get these?
Trygaeus: From where? From the sky.
Servant: I would no longer give a drachma of the gods,
Servant: if you were feeding prostitutes just as we mortals do.
Trygaeus: No, but some even live there from these.
Trygaeus: Come now, let us go.
Slave: tell me, where shall I eat?
Servant: Is it here?
Trygaeus: Nothing; for he will not wish to feast.
Trygaeus: neither bread nor barley-cake, as was his custom always
Trygaeus: to lick ambrosia among the gods above.
Servant: Well, must we lick it here as well and prepare it?
Chorus: Well and happily, old man,
Chorus: All the things that one should see thus,
Chorus: This is what they are doing now.
Trygaeus: why, then, when you see me as a bridegroom shining brightly?
Chorus: You will be envied, old man,
Chorus: again, being young once more,
Chorus: anointed with myrrh.
Trygaeus: I think so. But what, pray, when I am joined to the titthia, am I doing?
Chorus: He will appear more fortunate than the whirlwinds of Cancer.
Trygaeus: Certainly not justly? Whoever into
Trygaeus: having mounted a dung beetle's carriage
Trygaeus: I saved the Greeks, so that
Trygaeus: in the fields, them
Trygaeus: all being safely
Trygaeus: to drink and to sleep.
Servant: The girl has been bathed and her buttocks are fair;
Servant: the cake has been baked, sesame is being mixed in.
Slave: And everything else at once; but the penis must be there.
Trygaeus: Come now, let us return this Embassy.
Trygaeus: Have reached the council.
Servant: Who is this?
Trygaeus: What do you say?
Trygaeus: This is a Theoria.
Slave: whom we once
Slave: Shall we dance, having drunk the wine of Brauron?
Trygaeus: Be quite sure, and he was caught with difficulty.
Servant: oh master
Slave: whatever is the value of the five-year butt.
Trygaeus: Very well, who among you is just, who at all?
Trygaeus: Who will take this and guard it for the Council?
Trygaeus: What are you drawing here?
Servant: It is necessary [to go] to the Isthmian games.
Slave: I am taking possession of a stage for my penis.
Trygaeus: You have not yet said who will guard. Come here, you;
Trygaeus: For I myself will deposit him, leading him into the middle.
Slave: He nods with that.
Trygaeus: Who?
Slave: Who? Ariphrades,
Slave: I am urging him to bring him to himself.
Trygaeus: but, oh, bees
Trygaeus: He will lick her soup when he falls upon it.
Trygaeus: Come, you, put the equipment down on the ground first.
Trygaeus: Council, Prytanes, behold the Theoria.
Trygaeus: Consider all the good things I will bring and deliver to you,
Trygaeus: so that immediately, lifting up your two legs,
Trygaeus: to lower this on high with a drawbridge.
Trygaeus: Look at this, how beautiful a roast it is for us!
Servant: For this very reason, then, he has been smoked: for he is here, after all.
Servant: before the war the washing-places were once for the Council.
Trygaeus: Then a contest will immediately be allowed to be held.
Trygaeus: They will have this one tomorrow, very beautiful.
Trygaeus: to wrestle on the ground, to stand on all fours,
Trygaeus: to strike a blow to the side, to stand with the knees bent like a club,
Trygaeus: And with the pancration, having anointed yourselves, in a youthful manner
Trygaeus: to box, to dig, to fight together with the sword.
Trygaeus: and after these things you will bring a horse race on the third day,
Trygaeus: so that the swift horse may spur the swift horse.
Trygaeus: and chariots turned one upon another
Trygaeus: he will approach breathing and puffing;
Trygaeus: But others will be laid out with their breeches off.
Trygaeus: The charioteers have fallen over the ploughs.
Trygaeus: But, oh prytanes, receive the Embassy.
Trygaeus: Look how eagerly the president received him.
Trygaeus: But I would not have had to bring you something for nothing,
Trygaeus: But I would have found you holding out the truce.
Chorus: What a good citizen the man is!
Chorus: there is everyone who
Chorus: it is the third one.
Trygaeus: When you have gathered the grapes, you will know much better what sort of man I am.
Chorus: And now you are clearly [it], you.
Chorus: for he is a savior to all men.
Chorus: you have become.
Trygaeus: You will say it when you have drunk the new wine.
Chorus: and besides, we will always regard you as first, by the gods.
Trygaeus: for you are worthy of many.
Trygaeus: Trygaeus, the wine-presser, I am.
Trygaeus: having freed me from terrible labors
Trygaeus: the crowd of citizens,
Trygaeus: and the agricultural people
Trygaeus: Having stopped Hyperbolus.
Slave: Come now, what must we do from here?
Trygaeus: But what else is there to be established with this pot?
Chorus: pots, as if reproaching a Hermes-shrine?
Trygaeus: So what do you think? Do you want a larinum ox?
Chorus: A bellow? By no means, so that it may not be necessary to help anyone.
Trygaeus: But a thick and large pig?
Chorus: No, no.
Trygaeus: what?
Chorus: so that Theogenes' daughter may not be born.
Trygaeus: But to whom, pray, does it now seem to you, then, of the rest?
Chorus: Oho.
Trygaeus: Ouch?
Chorus: yes, by Zeus.
Trygaeus: But this is Ionian.
Trygaeus: the word.
Chorus: Intentionally, so that whenever in the assembly
Chorus: Let someone say how one ought to wage war, you who are seated.
Chorus: They are speaking Ionically because of fear, oh—
Trygaeus: You speak well.
Chorus: And let the rest be mild too.
Chorus: So we shall be lambs to one another in our behavior.
Chorus: and softer to the allies by far.
Trygaeus: Go now, and taking the sheep, as quickly as possible;
Trygaeus: And I will procure an altar on which we will sacrifice.
Chorus: How everything that a god wills and fortune accomplishes,
Chorus: let us go according to our plan, one after another
Chorus: They meet at the right time.
Trygaeus: How clear these things are! For the altar is right at the door.
Chorus: Hurry now while we can.
Chorus: A serious [tempest] holds from the gods
Chorus: a wind changed from war.
Chorus: for now a god clearly
Chorus: he passes it over to good things.
Trygaeus: the basket stands there, holding a ladle, a wreath, and a knife,
Trygaeus: And this is fire, and it is holding nothing except you sheep.
Chorus: Won't you compete? How?
Chorus: May Charis see you,
Chorus: He will come to play, uninvited,
Chorus: And then, I know well that
Chorus: blowing and struggling
Chorus: Please give it back.
Trygaeus: Come now, take the basket and the basin.
Trygaeus: Walk around the altar quickly to the right.
Slave: Look! You could say something else. I have gone round about.
Trygaeus: Bring here this branch, so that I may dip it, taking it.
Trygaeus: Shake it quickly; and you, hold up one of the beams,
Trygaeus: And he himself, having handed over this to me with a lustral water sprinkler,
Trygaeus: And throw barley to the spectators.
Servant: Behold.
Trygaeus: Have you given already?
Slave: by Hermes, then!
Servant: those of these who are spectators
Servant: There is no one who does not have a judge.
Trygaeus: No, the women did not take it.
Servant: but until evening
Servant: men will give them to them.
Trygaeus: But let us pray.
Trygaeus: Who is here? Where are the many good men at this time?
Slave: bring these things here; for they are many and good.
Trygaeus: Did you think these men were good?
Slave: no, because whoever
Servant: of us pouring so much water
Servant: 'While standing, are you going to the same place here?'
Trygaeus: but let us pray as quickly as possible.
Chorus: Let us pray, then.
Trygaeus: O most reverend queen goddess
Trygaeus: Lady Peace,
Trygaeus: mistress of the choruses, mistress of weddings,
Trygaeus: Receive our sacrifice.
Chorus: then receive, you most valued one
Chorus: By Zeus, and do not do what the...
Chorus: women commit adultery.
Chorus: for even those have leaned over
Chorus: They are peering over from the courtyard,
Chorus: And if anyone pays attention to them.
Chorus: They depart,
Chorus: And then, if she goes away, they will lean out.
Chorus: Do nothing of these things to us.
Trygaeus: By Zeus, but declare yourself in full.
Trygaeus: nobly to the lovers.
Trygaeus: For us, who are already worn out by you
Trygaeus: "Three and ten years,"
Trygaeus: release the battles and the cock-fights,
Trygaeus: so that we may call you Lysimachus.
Trygaeus: Stop our suspicions.
Trygaeus: the 'dainty ones',
Trygaeus: with whom are we bickering at each other?
Trygaeus: Mix us up, the Greeks.
Trygaeus: again from the beginning
Trygaeus: with friendship, stew and forgiveness.
Trygaeus: give a gentler horn to his mind;
Trygaeus: And the market [of] goods for us
Trygaeus: to be filled with great cloves of garlic,
Trygaeus: cucumbers, apples, roses.
Trygaeus: for the slaves, little cloaks.
Trygaeus: even to see them coming from the Boeotians.
Trygaeus: fat geese, fat pigs, thrushes.
Trygaeus: and let the winnowers bring the baskets,
Trygaeus: and about these, us all together
Trygaeus: 'Let the shoppers be stirred up.'
Trygaeus: to Morchos, Teleas, Glauketes, and others
Trygaeus: with many baskets; and then Melanthius
Trygaeus: to come later into the agora,
Trygaeus: But for her to be sold, and for him to be beaten,
Trygaeus: then to sing solo from Medea,
Trygaeus: I am utterly ruined, utterly ruined, having been deprived of my oxen.
Trygaeus: those giving birth in the beet-leaves;
Trygaeus: but let men rejoice.
Trygaeus: give these things to us, who pray for them, O most honored one.
Servant: take the knife; then [cut] in the manner of a cook.
Servant: you will slaughter the wine.
Trygaeus: But it is not lawful.
Servant: Why, what's that?
Trygaeus: Surely Peace does not delight in slaughters,
Trygaeus: The altar is not stained with blood. But bring it inside.
Trygaeus: Having sacrificed the thigh bones and removed them, bring them here,
Trygaeus: And so the sheep is saved for the choregus.
Chorus: Therefore you must wait at the doors.
Chorus: bring the shears quickly to place them
Chorus: and all the suitable things in addition to these.
Trygaeus: Don't I seem to you to be placing the brushwood in a prophetic manner?
Chorus: Why should we not? For what reason have you escaped?
Chorus: All that a wise man ought to do? Why not?
Chorus: you have good sense about all the things that are necessary.
Chorus: certainly a respected man of wisdom
Chorus: with prudent mind and boldness?
Trygaeus: the wedge, at least, being wedged in, presses on Stilbides,
Trygaeus: And I will take the table, and there will be no need for a boy.
Chorus: who, then, would not praise?
Chorus: a man such as,
Chorus: He has saved many hardships.
Chorus: the holy city?
Chorus: so that you will never stop being?
Chorus: envied by all.
Servant: These things have been done. Take hold of the two thighs.
Servant: But I am going to the entrails and the offerings.
Trygaeus: These matters shall concern me; but I ought to have come.
Servant: Behold, I am here. Do I seem to you to be delaying?
Trygaeus: Look well at them now; for even this man
Trygaeus: Someone approaches, crowned with bay.
Trygaeus: So who is it, pray?
Servant: as a braggart he appears;
Slave: Who is the prophet?
Trygaeus: no, by Zeus, but Hierocles
Trygaeus: This must be the oracle-monger who is from Oreus.
Slave: What, then, will he say?
Trygaeus: It is clear, then, that he is.
Trygaeus: Something will oppose the peace terms.
Servant: No, but he has entered through the smoke.
Trygaeus: Let us not seem to see him now.
Slave: You speak well.
Hierocles: What sacrifice is this, and to which of the gods?
Trygaeus: Open, but quietly, and take it off from your waist.
Hieroikles: But to whom did you not say you sacrificed?
Trygaeus: The rudder makes [it].
Trygaeus: Well?
Servant: Very well, then, dear mistress Peace.
Hieroclès: come now, begin and then give the offerings.
Trygaeus: It is better to roast first.
Hierothes: But these here
Hierocles: It is already roasted.
Trygaeus: You are doing many things, whoever you are.
Trygaeus: cut it up. Where is the table? Bring the libation.
Hieroclēs: The tongue is cut without [the body].
Trygaeus: Let us remember.
Trygaeus: But do you know what to do?
Hiero-clês: If you tell it.
Trygaeus: do not converse.
Trygaeus: Nothing for us; for we are sacrificing a holy offering to Peace.
Hierothes: O foolish mortals and infants,
Trygaeus: to your head.
Hierocles: those who, not understanding the mind of the gods through their folly,
Hierocles: You have made a treaty with grinning monkeys, men.
Trygaeus: Alas!
Hieroclus: Why are you laughing?
Trygaeus: I was glad at the cheerful monkeys.
Hierocles: And you, the hole-drilling foxes, are persuaded.
Hieroclus: Wretched souls, wretched minds.
Trygaeus: if only you were!
Trygaeus: I wish the lung were as warm as a fool.
Hierotheus: for if the nymphs were not deceiving the goddess Bacchis,
Hierocles: not even Bacis should prophesy to mortals, nor again the nymphs to Bacis himself—
Trygaeus: May you perish, if you don't stop your bacchic revels.
Hierocles: It was not yet time to release the bonds of Peace,
Hierothes: but this first—
Trygaeus: These things must indeed be salted for these men.
Hierocles: For this is not yet dear to the blessed gods,
Hierocles: Cease from the battle before the wolf can weave his web.
Trygaeus: And how, you accursed wolf, could you ever have been married?
Hierocles: how the spinning top, as it flees, farts terribly.
Hierocles: †the bell†, uncastrated, in a hurry, gives birth to blind ones,
Hierothes: We ought to have made this peace a little while ago.
Trygaeus: But what should we have done? Should we not have ceased fighting?
Trygaeus: Or shall we weep more intensely if we are completely burned?
Trygaeus: Is it possible for those who have sown together to rule all of Greece?
Hierocles: You will never make the crab walk straight.
Trygaeus: You will never dine again in the future in the Prytaneion,
Trygaeus: You will do nothing later on the basis of what has been done.
Hieroclus: You would never make the rough hedgehog smooth.
Trygaeus: Will he still stop deceiving the Athenians?
Hieroclès: For which thigh did you sacrifice, according to an oracle, to the gods?
Trygaeus: whom indeed Homer made most beautiful;
Trygaeus: Thus, having driven away the hostile cloud of war,
Trygaeus: They chose Peace and established her as a priestess.
Trygaeus: But when the thighs had been burned and the entrails eaten,
Trygaeus: I poured libations with cups; but I myself led the way.
Trygaeus: No one gave a bright cloak to the oracle-monger.
Hierocles: I have no part in these things; for the Sibyl did not say these things.
Trygaeus: But the wise Homer, by Zeus, said the right thing;
Trygaeus: That man is unclean, lawless, and homeless,
Trygaeus: Whoever loves a bloody war that is present.
Hierothes: take care now that you are not deceived in your mind by a trick.
Hieroclès: A kite will snatch it.
Trygaeus: but guard this.
Trygaeus: How terrible this oracle is for the entrails.
Trygaeus: Pour out the libation now and bring the entrails here.
Hierocles: But if this seems right, I will also bathe myself.
Trygaeus: a libation, a libation.
Hieroclés: Give me a knife too and offer me a share of the entrails.
Trygaeus: but it is not yet dear to the blessed gods;
Trygaeus: But first, let us make a sacrifice, and you go away.
Trygaeus: Oh mistress Peace, remain with us for our lives.
Hieroikles: offer the tongue.
Trygaeus: But you, carry off your own.
Hierocles: A libation.
Trygaeus: And take this too, along with the truce, quickly.
Hierocles: No one will give me the entrails?
Trygaeus: for it is not possible.
Trygaeus: We must be given [it], before a wolf can woo the woman.
Hieroacles: Yes, by the knees.
Trygaeus: You are begging in a strange way, by Zeus!
Trygaeus: For you will not make the rough hedgehog smooth.
Trygaeus: Come now, spectators, come here and feel compassion.
Trygaeus: with us.
Hieroclēs: But why, am I the one?
Trygaeus: Eat the Sibyl.
Hierocles: By the earth, these things were not bound by me alone,
Hierocles: But I will snatch them from you two; they are lying in the middle.
Trygaeus: O boy, hit Bacinus.
Hiero-klês: I call [you] to witness.
Trygaeus: And I, that you are a thistle and a thorn, man.
Trygaeus: Hold him back with the piece of wood, boy, the braggart.
Servant: Then you, then; but as for me, this fellow of the clowns,
Servant: Take him while he is deceiving, and beat him.
Slave: 'Aren't you going to put down the cymbals, you sacrilegious wretch?'
Servant: Did you hear? How the raven came from Oreus.
Servant: Will he not fly away more quickly to Elymnium?
Chorus: I am delighted, I am delighted.
Chorus: without a helmet
Chorus: both of cheese and of onions.
Chorus: For we do not enjoy battles,
Chorus: but while dragging [it] to the fire
Chorus: with men, companions, and friends,
Chorus: Pour out whatever is there from the logs.
Chorus: most dearest of the summer
Chorus: †in a most extraordinary way†,
Chorus: and roasting the turnip
Chorus: burning the oak,
Chorus: Down with the Thracian dog!
Chorus: of the woman bathing.
Chorus: For it is not sweeter than to have already been sown,
Chorus: to sprinkle the god, and to say to some neighbor,
Chorus: Tell me, what should we do now, O Komarchild?
Chorus: I should like to drink while the god acts well.
Chorus: But, woman, flee from the bees three choenices,
Chorus: Mix some wheat for them, and take out some figs,
Chorus: Let the Syrian cow low for Manes as well, and for the pasture.
Chorus: For it is not possible at all to get drunk today.
Chorus: nor does he endure, since the place is a badger's.
Chorus: And let someone bring from me also the thrush and the two sparrows;
Chorus: And there was some cheese inside, and four hares,
Chorus: if she did not carry off any of them that evening;
Chorus: There was certainly some kind of commotion and confusion inside.
Chorus: Take those, boy, bring them to us, and give one to the father;
Chorus: ask Myrrhina from Aeschinas for the figs;
Chorus: let someone who follows the same path as Charinades bellow.
Chorus: so that he may drink with us,
Chorus: while doing well and helping
Chorus: the god's clothes.
Chorus: whenever, then, griefs
Chorus: Let them sing the sweet melody,
Chorus: I am delighted as I look around.
Chorus: the vines of Lemnos,
Chorus: if they are ripening or—
Chorus: Indeed, for the fig tree grew early,
Chorus: seeing the one who is famous and swollen;
Chorus: Then, whenever a melon is ripe,
Chorus: I eat and I am full.
Chorus: I proclaim greetings, dear Seasons; and
Chorus: I am wrapped in a sheepskin of anger.
Chorus: And then I become fat.
Chorus: at that time the summer
Chorus: rather than looking at a taxiarhos who is more hateful to the gods
Chorus: having three peaks and a very sharp, scarlet crest,
Chorus: which he says is a Sardian dye;
Chorus: If it should be necessary to fight holding the scarlet cloak,
Chorus: In that case, he himself has been dipped in a Cyzicene dye;
Chorus: And then he flees first like a blonde rooster.
Chorus: shaking the mounds; but I stand, shivering with linen.
Chorus: Whenever they return home, they act in an unbearable way,
Chorus: those of us who are writing, and those above and below
Chorus: wiping out twice or thrice. But tomorrow there will be the departure;
Chorus: But the grain was not being sold, for I did not know when I went out;
Chorus: then standing before the statue of Pandion
Chorus: He saw him, and, wondering, he trips on the step while looking.
Chorus: These are the things that the country folk do, but those from the city
Chorus: Less, these men are shield-flingers to the gods and to men.
Chorus: Whatever they will give me as accounts, if the god wills it.
Chorus: For many indeed have wronged me,
Chorus: being lions at home
Chorus: and in the battle, foxes.
Trygaeus: ouch, ouch.
Trygaeus: As much as the money came for dinner to the wedding.
Trygaeus: Take away these tables.
Trygaeus: for there is certainly no further use for her.
Trygaeus: Then put the stones and the pebbles on top.
Trygaeus: And the hare's haunches, and the collaboi.
Reaper: Where, where is Trygaeus?
Trygaeus: I stir up the sparrows.
Ploughman: O dearest Trygaeus, how many good things...
Scythe-maker: you have done well to make peace; as you did before.
Scythe-maker: No one would have bought a scythe, not even for a farthing,
Sickle-maker: Now, however, I sell it for fifty drachmas;
Scythe-maker: here are the jars, three drachmas each, for the fields.
Sickle-maker: But, O Trygaeus, take the sickles.
Reaping-hook maker: and whatever you wish of these, free of charge; and take these too:
Sickle-maker: for from these we have sold and even profited.
Reaping-hook-maker: These gifts we bring to you for the wedding.
Trygaeus: Go now, having put these things down beside me, enter.
Trygaeus: to dinner as quickly as possible; for this fellow too
Trygaeus: A dealer in arms is coming forward, carrying them.
Hill-maker: Alas, how you have ruined my very heart, O Trygaeus.
Trygaeus: What is it, you wretch? Are you not bristling?
Hillmaker: You have destroyed my craft and my livelihood,
Hill-Creator: And this one and that spear-carrier.
Trygaeus: But what, pray, shall I put down for you on these two hills?
Hill-maker: what do you yourself give?
Trygaeus: What am I giving? I am ashamed.
Trygaeus: However, since the wasp has much trouble,
Trygaeus: I would give them three choinikes of dried figs.
Trygaeus: so that I may clean this table.
Hillmaker: So bring in the threshing floors, while you enter;
Hill-maker: For it is better to have something, than to have nothing.
Trygaeus: Carry it away, carry it away to the crows from the house.
Trygaeus: water the hair, there is nothing on the two hills.
Trygaeus: I would not buy so much as a single anchovy.
Thoracopolis: And why is there a bulge in the breastplate of this decamnos?
Thoracopoles: 'Shall I use the most beautiful [thing] for the one who is wounded, wretch?'
Trygaeus: This man will certainly not do you any harm.
Trygaeus: But take this one from the equal rations!
Trygaeus: for it is very suitable to tread upon it—
Thoracopoles: Stop insulting me with my own money.
Trygaeus: Thus, having placed three stones. Not skillfully?
Thoracopoles: With what gaze, most foolish, will you ever look at me?
Trygaeus: having thrust his hand through the hatch.
Trygaeus: And this one too.
Thoracopoles: "Together with both of them, then?"
Trygaeus: By Zeus, I certainly do,
Trygaeus: so that I may not be caught stealing a hole in the ship.
Thoracopoles: Then, while sitting on a ten-pounder, will he urinate?
Trygaeus: By Zeus, I'm absolutely right! For you would think
Trygaeus: that the rectum be given back for a thousand drachmas?
Thoracopolis: Go now, stranger, and bring the money.
Trygaeus: but, good sir
Trygaeus: Press down the trough. Carry it off, I shall not buy it.
Trumpet-maker: But what shall I do with this trumpet,
Trumpet-maker: Which one did I buy for sixty drachmas, I wonder?
Trygaeus: pour lead into this hollow.
Trygaeus: then, having put a rod from above and a mat underneath,
Trygaeus: There will be knucklebones for you to gamble with.
Trumpet-Maker: Alas, you are laughing at me.
Trygaeus: But I will give another piece of advice.
Trygaeus: pour the lead, as I said,
Trygaeus: and here it is hung up with ropes
Trygaeus: place the scales on top, and it will happen to you as well.
Trygaeus: to set the figs in the field for the slaves.
Cranemaker: O filthy demon, how you have destroyed me!
Cranemaker: whenever I gave back a mina in exchange for these things once;
Crane-maker: And now what shall I do? For who will buy it?
Trygaeus: I sell them, walking to the Egyptians;
Trygaeus: For there are tools for measuring the rope.
Doryxos: Alas, O jar-makers, how wretchedly we have fared.
Trygaeus: This one has suffered nothing.
Doryxus: But what
Doryxos: Is there still anything for which someone will use the helmets?
Trygaeus: if he learns to make such traps,
Trygaeus: He will give back more than he does now.
Crane-Poet: Let us go, O spear-bearer.
Trygaeus: By no means, since
Trygaeus: By this one, I shall buy these spears.
Doryxus: How much are you actually giving?
Trygaeus: if they were cut apart from one another,
Trygaeus: I would take a hundred of them for the sake of a drachma.
Doryxus: We are being insulted. Let us get out of the way, you wretches.
Trygaeus: By Zeus, how the children are already coming out.
Trygaeus: Let the urine of the courtesans be poured here, so that
Trygaeus: What will be sung, it seems to me that I will have sung beforehand.
Trygaeus: but whatever you think of singing, child,
Trygaeus: Here, stand by me as before, and wait here.
Boy of Lamachus: Now again let us begin with younger men—
Trygaeus: Stop!
Trygaeus: I sang of the hoplites, and this, you wretched wretch!
Trygaeus: Peace being at hand; you are ignorant and accursed.
Lamachus' boy: and when they were indeed nearly going against one another,
Lamachus' son: They threw their shields and their round shields, which are navel-shaped.
Trygaeus: Spears? Won't he stop remembering a spear for us?
Boy of Lamachus: There, then, there was both a wailing and a prayer of men.
Trygaeus: the lament of men? By Dionysus, they will weep!
Trygaeus: singing laments, and these, navel-piercing ones.
Lamachus' boy: But what indeed shall I sing? For tell me on what grounds you rejoice.
Trygaeus: Thus the men were feasting on the meat of oxen, and such things;
Trygaeus: 'They set out the best food and enjoyed these things most delightfully.'
Lamachus' son: Thus the oxen were feasting on their meat, and the horses were boasting.
Lamachus' son: I heard you were sweating, since you are sated with war.
Trygaeus: Well? Has he had enough of the war and now is he eating?
Trygaeus: Sing these things, these things, as we were sated when we ate.
Lamachus's boy: So, having girded themselves, they have now ceased—
Trygaeus: joyfully, I think.
Lamachus's boy: towers were pouring out, and an unquenchable shout was rising.
Trygaeus: May you perish most wretchedly, little boy, in those battles;
Trygaeus: For you sing nothing but wars. So what then?
Lamachus' son: Me?
Trygaeus: But you, by Zeus.
Child of Lamachus: son of Lamachus.
Trygaeus: alas!
Trygaeus: For I was indeed wondering, upon hearing it, if you were not [here].
Trygaeus: the son of some man who fights with bulls and who fights with weeping.
Trygaeus: Go away, and as you go, sing for the spear-bearers too.
Trygaeus: Where is my Cleonymus' little child?
Trygaeus: Sing something before you go inside; for you well know that
Trygaeus: He will not sing about affairs, for you are the son of a sensible father.
A son of Cleonymus: for a certain Saian boasts of a shield, which he has by the bush
The son of Cleonymus: I left a tooth without a flaw, though unwilling.
Trygaeus: tell me, O man of testicles, are you singing to your own father?
The boy of Cleonymus: I saved his soul—
Trygaeus: And you have brought shame to your parents.
Trygaeus: But let us go in. For I know it well and clearly.
Trygaeus: because you just shouted all these things about the shield
Trygaeus: You shall never forget that father, even when you are there.
Trygaeus: Now for the rest of your work, those who remain are here already.
Trygaeus: sweep all this up and with ashes, and do not let it go empty.
Trygaeus: but throw in manfully
Trygaeus: And you two smoke with both jaws; for nothing, you villains.
Trygaeus: It is the work of white teeth, unless they chew something too.
Chorus: These things we will take care of; and you too are doing well in telling us.
Trygaeus: But, oh you who used to be hungry, jump into the rabbit-holes;
Trygaeus: as not every day
Trygaeus: one can meet flat cakes wandering in the desert.
Trygaeus: Grind your teeth at this, or I say it will soon be a cause of regret for us.
Chorus: We must keep silence and bring some bride here from outside.
Chorus: to bring torches, and all the people to rejoice and to dance.
Chorus: And now we must again bring all the equipment back to the field.
Chorus: having danced and having poured libations and having driven out Hyperbolus,
Chorus: and having prayed to the gods
Chorus: to give wealth to the Greeks,
Chorus: to make many barley-cakes for us
Chorus: all alike and much wine,
Chorus: and to eat figs,
Chorus: and for us to give birth to women,
Chorus: and all the good things we have lost
Chorus: let us collect again from the beginning,
Chorus: And cease the clamor of the iron.
Trygaeus: Come here, woman, to the field,
Trygaeus: And how, with me, beautiful?
Trygaeus: He will be well laid out.
Trygaeus: Hymen, O Hymenaeus!
Half-Chorus B: O thrice happy, how justly!
Half-Chorus B: You now have the good things.
Half-Chorus A: Hymen, Hymen, oh.
Half-Chorus B: Hymen, Hymenaeus, oh.
Half-Chorus A: What shall we do with her?
Half-Chorus B: What shall we do with her?
Half-Chorus A: We shall harvest her,
Half-Chorus B: We shall harvest it.
Half-Chorus A: But let us lift it up and carry it.
Half-chorus A: the advance guards
Half-Chorus A: The bridegroom, men.
Half-chorus B: Hymen, Hymenaeus!
Half-Chorus B: Hymen, Hymenaeus, oh,
Trygaeus: You will at least live well.
Trygaeus: not having affairs, but
Trygaeus: fig-gatherers.
Half-Chorus B: Hymen, Hymen, O,
Half-Chorus A: Hymen, Hymenaeus, oh.
Half-Chorus B: the big one and the fat one.
Half-Chorus A: but the fig is sweet.
Trygaeus: You will say, when you eat,
Trygaeus: may you drink a great deal of wine.
Chorus: Hymen, Hymen, oh,
Chorus: Hymen, Hymenaeus, oh.
Trygaeus: hail, hail, men,
Trygaeus: And you have joined me as well.
Trygaeus: Eat pancakes.