The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2. Аристофан
the matter and reconcile her with me.
BAKER'S WIFE. Not so, by the goddesses twain! It shall not be said that you have with impunity spoilt the wares of Myrtia,156 the daughter of Ancylion and Sostraté.
PHILOCLEON. Listen, woman, I wish to tell you a lovely anecdote.
BAKER'S WIFE. Oh! friend, no anecdotes for me, thank you.
PHILOCLEON. One night Aesop was going out to supper. A drunken bitch had the impudence to bark near him. Aesop said to her, "Oh, bitch, bitch! you would do well to sell your wicked tongue and buy some wheat."
BAKER'S WIFE. You make a mock of me! Very well! Be you who you like, I shall summons you before the market inspectors157 for damage done to my business. Chaerephon158 here shall be my witness.
PHILOCLEON. But just listen, here's another will perhaps please you better. Lasus and Simonides159 were contesting against each other for the singing prize. Lasus said, "Damn me if I care."
BAKER'S WIFE. Ah! really, did he now!
PHILOCLEON. As for you, Chaerephon, can you be witness to this woman, who looks as pale and tragic as Ino when she throws herself from her rock160 … at the feet of Euripides?
BDELYCLEON. Here, methinks, comes another to summons you; he has his witness too. Ah! unhappy indeed we are!
ACCUSER. I summons you, old man, for outrage.
BDELYCLEON. For outrage? Oh! in the name of the gods, do not summons him! I will be answerable for him; name the penalty and I will be more grateful still.
PHILOCLEON. I ask for nothing better than to be reconciled with him; for I admit I struck him and threw stones at him. So, first come here. Will you leave it in my hands to name the indemnity I must pay, if I promise you my friendship as well, or will you fix it yourself?
ACCUSER. Fix it; I like neither lawsuits nor disputes.
PHILOCLEON. A man of Sybaris161 fell from his chariot and wounded his head most severely; he was a very poor driver. One of his friends came up to him and said, "Every man to his trade." Well then, go you to Pittalus162 to get mended.
BDELYCLEON. You are incorrigible.
ACCUSER (to his witness). At all events, make a note of his reply.
PHILOCLEON. Listen, instead of going off so abruptly. A woman at Sybaris broke a box.
ACCUSER (to his witness). I again ask you to witness this.
PHILOCLEON. The box therefore had the fact attested, but the woman said, "Never worry about witnessing the matter, but hurry off to buy a cord to tie it together with; 'twill be the more sensible course."
ACCUSER. Oh! go on with your ribaldry until the Archon calls the case.
BDELYCLEON (to Philocleon). No, by Demeter! you stay here no longer! I take you and carry you off.
PHILOCLEON. And what for?
BDELYCLEON. What for? I shall carry you to the house; else there would not be enough witnesses for the accusers.
PHILOCLEON. One day at Delphi, Aesop …
BDELYCLEON. I don't care a fig for that.
PHILOCLEON. … was accused of having stolen a sacred vase. But he replied, that the horn beetle … (Philocleon goes on with his fable while Bdelycleon is carrying him off the scene by main force.)
BDELYCLEON. Oh, dear, dear! You drive me crazy with your horn-beetle.
CHORUS. I envy you your happiness, old man. What a contrast to his former frugal habits and his very hard life! Taught now in quite another school, he will know nothing but the pleasures of ease. Perhaps he will jib at it, for indeed 'tis difficult to renounce what has become one's second nature. However, many have done it, and adopting the ideas of others, have changed their use and wont. As for Philocleon's son, I, like all wise and judicious men, cannot sufficiently praise his filial tenderness and his tact. Never have I met a more amiable nature, and I have conceived the greatest fondness for him. How he triumphed on every point in his discussion with his father, when he wanted to bring him back to more worthy and honourable tastes!
XANTHIAS. By Bacchus! 'Tis some Evil Genius has brought this unbearable disorder into our house. The old man, full up with wine and excited by the sound of the flute, is so delighted, so enraptured, that he spends the night executing the old dances that Thespis first produced on the stage,163 and just now he offered to prove to the modern tragedians, by disputing with them for the dancing prize, that they are nothing but a lot of old dotards.
PHILOCLEON. "Who loiters at the door of the vestibule?"164
XANTHIAS. Here comes our pest, our plague!
PHILOCLEON. Let down the barriers.165 The dance is now to begin.
XANTHIAS. Or rather the madness.
PHILOCLEON. Impetuous movement already twists and racks my sides. How my nostrils wheeze! how my back cracks!
XANTHIAS. Go and fill yourself with hellebore.166
PHILOCLEON. Phrynichus is as bold as a cock and terrifies his rivals.
XANTHIAS. Oh! oh! have a care he does not kick you.
PHILOCLEON. His leg kicks out sky-high, and his arse gapes open.167
XANTHIAS. Do have a care.
PHILOCLEON. Look how easily my leg-joints move.
BDELYCLEON. Great gods! What does all this mean? Is it actual, downright madness?
PHILOCLEON. And now I summon and challenge my rivals. If there be a tragic poet who pretends to be a skilful dancer, let him come and contest the matter with me. Is there one? Is there not one?
BDELYCLEON. Here comes one, and one only.
PHILOCLEON. Who is the wretch?
BDELYCLEON. 'Tis the younger son of Carcinus.168
PHILOCLEON. I will crush him to nothing; in point of keeping time, I will knock him out, for he knows nothing of rhythm.
BDELYCLEON. Ah! ah! here comes his brother too, another tragedian, and another son of Carcinus.
PHILOCLEON. Him I will devour for my dinner.
BDELYCLEON. Oh! ye gods! I see nothing but crabs.169 Here is yet another son of Carcinus.
PHILOCLEON. What is't comes here? A shrimp or a spider?170
BDELYCLEON. 'Tis a crab,171—a crabkin, the smallest of its kind; he writes tragedies.
PHILOCLEON. Oh! Carcinus, how proud you should be of your brood! What a crowd of kinglets have come swooping down here!
BDELYCLEON. Come, come, my poor father, you will have to measure yourself against them.
PHILOCLEON. Have pickle prepared for seasoning them, if I am bound to prove the victor.
CHORUS. Let us stand out of the way a little, so that they may twirl at their ease. Come, illustrious children of this inhabitant of the briny, brothers of the shrimps, skip on the sand and the shore of the barren sea; show us the lightning whirls and twirls of your nimble limbs. Glorious offspring of Phrynichus,172 let fly your kicks, so that the spectators may be overjoyed
The name of the baker's wife.
Or Agoranomi, who numbered ten at Athens.
The disciple of Socrates.
Lasus, a musician and dithyrambic poet, born about 500 B.C. in Argolis, was the rival of Simonides and thought himself his superior.
Ino, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Being pursued by her husband, Athamas, whom the Fury Tisiphoné had driven mad, she threw herself into the sea with Melicerta, whereupon they were both changed into sea-goddesses.—This is the subject of one of Euripides' tragedies.
A famous town in Magna Graecia, south coast of Italy.
A celebrated physician.—Philocleon means, "Instead of starting an action, go and have yourself cared for; that is better worth your while."
The dances that Thespis, the originator of Tragedy, interspersed with the speaking parts of his plays.
A verse borrowed from an unknown Tragedy.
As was done in the stadia when the races were to be started.
The ancients considered it a specific against madness.
Phrynichus, like all the ancient tragic writers, mingled many dances with his pieces.
Tragic poet. His three sons had also written tragedies and were dancers into the bargain.
Carcinus, by a mere transposition of the accent ([Greek: karkívos]), means
Carcinus' sons were small and thin.
The third son of Carcinus.
Meaning, the three sons of Carcinus, the dancers, because, as mentioned before, Phrynichus often introduced a chorus of dancers into his Tragedies.