Do you
understand
what he says?
Aristophanes
AMBASSADOR. We are bringing to you, Pseudartabas,[166] the King's Eye.
DICAEOPOLIS. I would a crow might pluck out thine with his beak, thou
cursed ambassador!
HERALD. The King's Eye!
DICAEOPOLIS. Eh! Great gods! Friend, with thy great eye, round like the
hole through which the oarsman passes his sweep, you have the air of a
galley doubling a cape to gain the port.
AMBASSADOR. Come, Pseudartabas, give forth the message for the Athenians
with which you were charged by the Great King.
PSEUDARTABAS. Jartaman exarx 'anapissonnai satra. [167]
AMBASSADOR.
Do you understand what he says?
DICAEOPOLIS. By Apollo, not I!
AMBASSADOR. He says, that the Great King will send you gold. Come, utter
the word 'gold' louder and more distinctly.
DICAEOPOLIS. Thou shalt not have gold, thou gaping-arsed Ionian. [168]
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! may the gods forgive me, but that is clear enough.
AMBASSADOR. What does he say?
DICAEOPOLIS. That the Ionians are debauchees and idiots, if they expect
to receive gold from the barbarians.
AMBASSADOR.
