All is ready--couches, tables,
cushions, chaplets, perfumes, dainties and
courtesans
to boot; biscuits,
cakes, sesame-bread, tarts, and--lovely dancing women, the sweetest charm
of the festivity.
Aristophanes
LAMACHUS. Oh! oh! what fearful tidings!
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! ah! I see another herald running up; what news does he
bring me?
HERALD. Dicaeopolis!
DICAEOPOLIS. What is the matter?
HERALD. Come quickly to the feast and bring your basket and your cup;
'tis the priest of Bacchus who invites you. But hasten, the guests have
been waiting for you a long while.
All is ready--couches, tables,
cushions, chaplets, perfumes, dainties and
courtesans
to boot; biscuits,
cakes, sesame-bread, tarts, and--lovely dancing women, the sweetest charm
of the festivity.
But come with all haste.
LAMACHUS. Oh! hostile gods!
DICAEOPOLIS. This is not astounding; you have chosen this huge, great
ugly Gorgon's head for your patron. You, shut the door, and let someone
get ready the meal.
