And if you have failed in this duty, if out of honest and
pure-minded men you have made rogues, what punishment do you think is
your meet?
pure-minded men you have made rogues, what punishment do you think is
your meet?
Aristophanes
" Whereas formerly they kept their seats
with mouths agape like fools and idiots.
CHORUS. You hear him, illustrious Achilles,[485] and what are you going
to reply? Only take care that your rage does not lead you astray, for he
has handled you brutally. My noble friend, don't get carried away; furl
all your sails, except the top-gallants, so that your ship may only
advance slowly, until you feel yourself driven forward by a soft and
favourable wind. Come then, you who were the first of the Greeks to
construct imposing monuments of words and to raise the old tragedy above
childish trifling, open a free course to the torrent of your words.
AESCHYLUS. This contest rouses my gall; my heart is boiling over with
wrath. Am I bound to dispute with this fellow? But I will not let him
think me unarmed and helpless. So, answer me! what is it in a poet one
admires?
EURIPIDES. Wise counsels, which make the citizens better.
AESCHYLUS.
And if you have failed in this duty, if out of honest and
pure-minded men you have made rogues, what punishment do you think is
your meet?
DIONYSUS. Death. I will reply for him.
AESCHYLUS. Behold then what great and brave men I bequeathed to him! They
did not shirk the public burdens; they were not idlers, rogues and
cheats, as they are to-day; their very breath was spears, pikes, helmets
with white crests, breastplates and greaves; they were gallant souls
encased in seven folds of ox-leather.
EURIPIDES. I must beware! he will crush me beneath the sheer weight of
his hail of armour.
DIONYSUS. And how did you teach them this bravery? Speak, Aeschylus, and
don't display so much haughty swagger.
AESCHYLUS. By composing a drama full of the spirit of Ares.
DIONYSUS.
with mouths agape like fools and idiots.
CHORUS. You hear him, illustrious Achilles,[485] and what are you going
to reply? Only take care that your rage does not lead you astray, for he
has handled you brutally. My noble friend, don't get carried away; furl
all your sails, except the top-gallants, so that your ship may only
advance slowly, until you feel yourself driven forward by a soft and
favourable wind. Come then, you who were the first of the Greeks to
construct imposing monuments of words and to raise the old tragedy above
childish trifling, open a free course to the torrent of your words.
AESCHYLUS. This contest rouses my gall; my heart is boiling over with
wrath. Am I bound to dispute with this fellow? But I will not let him
think me unarmed and helpless. So, answer me! what is it in a poet one
admires?
EURIPIDES. Wise counsels, which make the citizens better.
AESCHYLUS.
And if you have failed in this duty, if out of honest and
pure-minded men you have made rogues, what punishment do you think is
your meet?
DIONYSUS. Death. I will reply for him.
AESCHYLUS. Behold then what great and brave men I bequeathed to him! They
did not shirk the public burdens; they were not idlers, rogues and
cheats, as they are to-day; their very breath was spears, pikes, helmets
with white crests, breastplates and greaves; they were gallant souls
encased in seven folds of ox-leather.
EURIPIDES. I must beware! he will crush me beneath the sheer weight of
his hail of armour.
DIONYSUS. And how did you teach them this bravery? Speak, Aeschylus, and
don't display so much haughty swagger.
AESCHYLUS. By composing a drama full of the spirit of Ares.
DIONYSUS.
