The Birds

“I shall travel through thine ethereal empire like a winged bird, who cleaveth space with his long neck⁠ ⁠…” Pisthetaerus Stop! easy all, I say!157 Cinesias “… as I soar over the seas, carried by the breath of the winds⁠ ⁠…” Pisthetaerus By Zeus! but I’ll cut your breath short. Cinesias “… now rushing along the tracks of Notus, now nearing Boreas across the infinite wastes of the ether.” Pisthetaerus beats him. Ah! old man, that’s a pretty and clever idea truly! Pisthetaerus What! are you not delighted to be cleaving the air?158 Cinesias To treat a dithyrambic poet, for whom the tribes dispute with each other, in this style!159 Pisthetaerus Will you stay with us and form a chorus of winged birds as slender as Leotrophides160 for the Cecropid tribe? Cinesias You are making game of me, ’tis clear; but know that I shall never leave you in peace if I do not have wings wherewith to traverse the air. An informer What are these birds with downy feathers, who look so pitiable to me? Tell me, oh swallow with the long dappled wings.161 Pisthetaerus Oh! but ’tis a regular invasion that threatens us. Here comes another of them, humming along. Informer Swallow with the long dappled wings, once more I summon you. Pisthetaerus It’s his cloak I believe he’s addressing; “faith, it stands in great need of the swallows” return.162 Informer Where is he who gives out wings to all comers? Pisthetaerus ’Tis I, but you must tell me for what purpose you want them. Informer Ask no questions. I want wings, and wings I must have. Pisthetaerus Do you want to fly straight to Pellene?163 Informer I? Why, I am an accuser of the islands,164 an informer⁠ ⁠… Pisthetaerus A fine trade, truly! Informer … a hatcher of lawsuits. Hence I have great need of wings to prowl round the cities and drag them before justice. Pisthetaerus Would you do this better if you had wings? Informer No, but I should no longer fear the pirates; I should return with the cranes, loaded with a supply of lawsuits by way of ballast. Pisthetaerus So it seems, despite all your youthful vigour, you make it your trade to denounce strangers? Informer Well, and why not? I don’t know how to dig. Pisthetaerus But, by Zeus! there are honest ways of gaining a living at your age without all this infamous trickery. Informer My friend, I am asking you for wings, not for words. Pisthetaerus ’Tis just my words that give you wings. Informer And how can you give a man wings with your words? Pisthetaerus ’Tis thus that all first start. Informer All? Pisthetaerus Have you not often heard the father say to young men in the barbers’ shops, “It’s astonishing how Diitrephes’ advice has made my son fly to horse-riding.”⁠—“Mine,” says another, “has flown towards tragic poetry on the wings of his imagination.” Informer So that words give wings? Pisthetaerus Undoubtedly; words give wings to the mind and make a man soar to heaven. Thus I hope that my wise words will give you wings to fly to some less degrading trade. Informer But I do not want to. Pisthetaerus What do you reckon on doing then? Informer I won’t belie my breeding; from generation to generation we have lived by informing. Quick, therefore, give me quickly some light, swift hawk or kestrel wings, so that I may summon the islanders, sustain the accusation here, and haste back there again on flying pinions. Pisthetaerus I see. In this way the stranger will be condemned even before he appears. Informer That’s just it. Pisthetaerus And while he is on his way here by sea, you will be flying to the islands to despoil him of his property. Informer You’ve hit it, precisely; I must whirl hither and thither like a perfect humming-top. Pisthetaerus I catch the idea. Wait, i’ faith, I’ve got some fine Corcyraean wings.165 How do you like them? Informer Oh! woe is me! Why, ’tis a whip! Pisthetaerus No, no; these are the wings, I tell you, that set the top a-spinning. Informer Oh! oh! oh! Pisthetaerus Take your flight, clear off, you miserable cur, or you will soon see what comes of quibbling and lying. Come, let us gather up our wings and withdraw. Chorus

In my ethereal flights I have seen many things new and strange and wondrous beyond belief. There is a tree called Cleonymus belonging to an unknown species; it has no heart, is good for nothing and is as tall as it is cowardly. In springtime it shoots forth calumnies instead of buds and in autumn it strews the ground with bucklers in place of leaves.166

Far away in the regions of darkness, where no ray of light ever enters, there is a country, where men sit at the table of the heroes and dwell with them always⁠—save always in the evening. Should any mortal meet the hero Orestes at night, he would soon be stripped and covered with blows from head to foot.167

Prometheus Ah! by the gods! if only Zeus does not espy me! Where is Pisthetaerus? Pisthetaerus Ha! what is this? A masked man! Prometheus Can you see any god behind me? Pisthetaerus No, none. But who are you, pray? Prometheus What’s the time, please? Pisthetaerus The time? Why, it’s past noon. Who are you? Prometheus Is it the fall of day? Is it no later than that?168 Pisthetaerus Oh! ’pon my word! but you grow tiresome. Prometheus What is Zeus doing? Is he dispersing the clouds or gathering them?169 Pisthetaerus Take care, lest I lose all patience. Prometheus Come, I will raise my mask. Pisthetaerus Ah! my dear Prometheus! Prometheus Stop! stop! speak lower! Pisthetaerus Why, what’s the matter, Prometheus? Prometheus H’sh! h’sh! Don’t call me by my name; you will be my ruin, if Zeus should see me here. But, if you want me to tell you how things are going in heaven, take this umbrella and shield me, so that the gods don’t see me. Pisthetaerus I can recognize Prometheus in this cunning trick. Come, quick then, and fear nothing;