“Go! you will make a most profitable venture.”
| Euelpides |
I shall buy a trading-vessel and go to sea, I will not stay with you. |
| Pisthetaerus |
You will discover treasures to them, which were buried in former times, for you know them. Do not all men say, “None knows where my treasure lies, unless perchance it be some bird.”66 |
| Euelpides |
I shall sell my boat and buy a spade to unearth the vessels. |
| Epops |
And how are we to give them health, which belongs to the gods? |
| Pisthetaerus |
If they are happy, is not that the chief thing towards health? The miserable man is never well. |
| Epops |
Old Age also dwells in Olympus. How will they get at it? Must they die in early youth? |
| Pisthetaerus |
Why, the birds, by Zeus, will add three hundred years to their life. |
| Epops |
From whom will they take them? |
| Pisthetaerus |
From whom? Why, from themselves. Don’t you know the cawing crow lives five times as long as a man? |
| Euelpides |
Ah! ah! these are far better kings for us than Zeus! |
| Pisthetaerus |
Far better, are they not? And firstly, we shall not have to build them temples of hewn stone, closed with gates of gold; they will dwell amongst the bushes and in the thickets of green oak; the most venerated of birds will have no other temple than the foliage of the olive tree; we shall not go to Delphi or to Ammon to sacrifice;67 but standing erect in the midst of arbutus and wild olives and holding forth our hands filled with wheat and barley, we shall pray them to admit us to a share of the blessings they enjoy and shall at once obtain them for a few grains of wheat. |
| Chorus |
Old man, whom I detested, you are now to me the dearest of all; never shall I, if I can help it, fail to follow your advice. Inspirited by your words, I threaten my rivals the gods, and I swear that if you march in alliance with me against the gods and are faithful to our just, loyal and sacred bond, we shall soon have shattered their sceptre. ’Tis our part to undertake the toil, ’tis yours to advise. |
| Epops |
By Zeus! ’tis no longer the time to delay and loiter like Nicias;68 let us act as promptly as possible. … In the first place, come, enter my nest built of brushwood and blades of straw, and tell me your names. |
| Pisthetaerus |
That is soon done; my name is Pisthetaerus. |
| Epops |
And his? |
| Pisthetaerus |
Euelpides, of the deme of Thria. |
| Epops |
Good! and good luck to you. |
| Pisthetaerus |
We accept the omen. |
| Epops |
Come in here. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Very well, ’tis you who lead us and must introduce us. |
| Epops |
Come then. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Oh! my god! do come back here. Hi! tell us how we are to follow you. You can fly, but we cannot. |
| Epops |
Well, well. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Remember Aesop’s fables. It is told there, that the fox fared very ill, because he had made an alliance with the eagle. |
| Epops |
Be at ease. You shall eat a certain root and wings will grow on your shoulders. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Then let us enter. Xanthias and Manes,69 pick up our baggage. |
| Chorus |
Hi! Epops! do you hear me? |
| Epops |
What’s the matter? |
| Chorus |
Take them off to dine well and call your mate, the melodious Procne, whose songs are worthy of the Muses; she will delight our leisure moments. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Oh! I conjure you, accede to their wish; for this delightful bird will leave her rushes at the sound of your voice; for the sake of the gods, let her come here, so that we may contemplate the nightingale.70 |
| Epops |
Let it be as you desire. Come forth, Procne, show yourself to these strangers. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Oh! great Zeus! what a beautiful little bird! what a dainty form! what brilliant plumage!71 |
| Euelpides |
Do you know how dearly I should like to splint her legs for her? |
| Pisthetaerus |
She is dazzling all over with gold, like a young girl.72 |
| Euelpides |
Oh! how I should like to kiss her! |
| Pisthetaerus |
Why, wretched man, she has two little sharp points on her beak! |
| Euelpides |
I would treat her like an egg, the shell of which we remove before eating it; I would take off her mask and then kiss her pretty face. |
| Epops |
Let us go in. |
| Pisthetaerus |
Lead the way, and may success attend us. |
| Chorus |
Lovable golden bird, whom I cherish above all others, you, whom I associate with all my songs, nightingale, you have come, you have come, to show yourself to me and to charm me with your notes. Come, you, who play spring melodies upon the harmonious flute,73 lead off our anapaests.74
Weak mortals, chained to the earth, creatures of clay as frail as the foliage of the woods, you unfortunate race, whose life is but darkness, as unreal as a shadow, the illusion of a dream, hearken to us, who are immortal beings, ethereal, ever young and occupied with eternal thoughts, for we shall teach you about all celestial matters; you shall know thoroughly what is the nature of the birds, what the origin of the gods, of the rivers, of Erebus, and Chaos; thanks to us, even Prodicus75 will envy you your knowledge.
At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence. Firstly, black-winged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist until Eros had brought together all the ingredients of the world, and from their marriage Heaven, Ocean, Earth and the imperishable race of blessed gods sprang into being. Thus our origin is very much
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