Keep your mouths from
utterance!
Aristophanes
"
'Tis said that the triremes assembled in council and that the oldest
spoke in these terms, "Are you ignorant, my sisters, of what is plotting
in Athens? They say, that a certain Hyperbolus,[140] a bad citizen and an
infamous scoundrel, asks for a hundred of us to take them to sea against
Chalcedon. "[141] All were indignant, and one of them, as yet a virgin,
cried, "May god forbid that I should ever obey him! I would prefer to
grow old in the harbour and be gnawed by worms. No! by the gods I swear
it, Nauphante, daughter of Nauson, shall never bend to his law; 'tis as
true as I am made of wood and pitch. If the Athenians vote for the
proposal of Hyperbolus, let them! we will hoist full sail and seek refuge
by the temple of Theseus or the shrine of the Euminides. [142] No! he
shall not command us! No! he shall not play with the city to this extent!
Let him sail by himself for Tartarus, if such please him, launching the
boats in which he used to sell his lamps. "
AGORACRITUS. Maintain a holy silence!
Keep your mouths from utterance!
call no more witnesses; close these tribunals, which are the delight of
this city, and gather at the theatre to chant the Paean of thanksgiving
to the gods for a fresh favour.
CHORUS. Oh! torch of sacred Athens, saviour of the Islands, what good
tidings are we to celebrate by letting the blood of the victims flow in
our market-places?
AGORACRITUS. I have freshened Demos up somewhat on the stove and have
turned his ugliness into beauty.
CHORUS. I admire your inventive genius; but, where is he?
AGORACRITUS. He is living in ancient Athens, the city of the garlands of
violets.
CHORUS. How I should like to see him! What is his dress like, what his
manner?
AGORACRITUS. He has once more become as he was in the days when he lived
with Aristides and Miltiades.
'Tis said that the triremes assembled in council and that the oldest
spoke in these terms, "Are you ignorant, my sisters, of what is plotting
in Athens? They say, that a certain Hyperbolus,[140] a bad citizen and an
infamous scoundrel, asks for a hundred of us to take them to sea against
Chalcedon. "[141] All were indignant, and one of them, as yet a virgin,
cried, "May god forbid that I should ever obey him! I would prefer to
grow old in the harbour and be gnawed by worms. No! by the gods I swear
it, Nauphante, daughter of Nauson, shall never bend to his law; 'tis as
true as I am made of wood and pitch. If the Athenians vote for the
proposal of Hyperbolus, let them! we will hoist full sail and seek refuge
by the temple of Theseus or the shrine of the Euminides. [142] No! he
shall not command us! No! he shall not play with the city to this extent!
Let him sail by himself for Tartarus, if such please him, launching the
boats in which he used to sell his lamps. "
AGORACRITUS. Maintain a holy silence!
Keep your mouths from utterance!
call no more witnesses; close these tribunals, which are the delight of
this city, and gather at the theatre to chant the Paean of thanksgiving
to the gods for a fresh favour.
CHORUS. Oh! torch of sacred Athens, saviour of the Islands, what good
tidings are we to celebrate by letting the blood of the victims flow in
our market-places?
AGORACRITUS. I have freshened Demos up somewhat on the stove and have
turned his ugliness into beauty.
CHORUS. I admire your inventive genius; but, where is he?
AGORACRITUS. He is living in ancient Athens, the city of the garlands of
violets.
CHORUS. How I should like to see him! What is his dress like, what his
manner?
AGORACRITUS. He has once more become as he was in the days when he lived
with Aristides and Miltiades.
