[512]
'Tis you, oh, enlightened public, for whom I have prepared my piece, that
I reproach with this.
'Tis you, oh, enlightened public, for whom I have prepared my piece, that
I reproach with this.
Aristophanes
A truce to this chatter!
follow me and no more of it.
STREPSIADES. First give me a honey-cake, for to descend down there sets
me all a-tremble; meseems 'tis the cave of Trophonius.
SOCRATES. But get in with you! What reason have you for thus dallying at
the door?
CHORUS. Good luck! you have courage; may you succeed, you, who, though
already so advanced in years, wish to instruct your mind with new studies
and practise it in wisdom!
CHORUS (_Parabasis_). Spectators! By Bacchus, whose servant I am, I will
frankly tell you the truth. May I secure both victory and renown as
certainly as I hold you for adept critics and as I regard this comedy as
my best. I wished to give you the first view of a work, which had cost me
much trouble, but I withdrew, unjustly beaten by unskilful rivals.
[512]
'Tis you, oh, enlightened public, for whom I have prepared my piece, that
I reproach with this. Nevertheless I shall never willingly cease to seek
the approval of the discerning. I have not forgotten the day, when men,
whom one is happy to have for an audience, received my 'Young Man' and my
'Debauchee'[513] with so much favour in this very place. Then as yet
virgin, my Muse had not attained the legal age for maternity;[514] she
had to expose her first-born for another to adopt, and it has since grown
up under your generous patronage. Ever since you have as good as sworn me
your faithful alliance. Thus, like Electra[515] of the poets, my comedy
has come to seek you to-day, hoping again to encounter such enlightened
spectators. As far away as she can discern her Orestes, she will be able
to recognize him by his curly head. And note her modest demeanour! She
has not sewn on a piece of hanging leather, thick and reddened at the
end,[516] to cause laughter among the children; she does not rail at the
bald, neither does she dance the cordax;[517] no old man is seen, who,
while uttering his lines, batters his questioner with a stick to make his
poor jests pass muster. [518] She does not rush upon the scene carrying a
torch and screaming, 'La, la! la, la! ' No, she relies upon herself and
her verses. . . . My value is so well known, that I take no further pride in
it.
STREPSIADES. First give me a honey-cake, for to descend down there sets
me all a-tremble; meseems 'tis the cave of Trophonius.
SOCRATES. But get in with you! What reason have you for thus dallying at
the door?
CHORUS. Good luck! you have courage; may you succeed, you, who, though
already so advanced in years, wish to instruct your mind with new studies
and practise it in wisdom!
CHORUS (_Parabasis_). Spectators! By Bacchus, whose servant I am, I will
frankly tell you the truth. May I secure both victory and renown as
certainly as I hold you for adept critics and as I regard this comedy as
my best. I wished to give you the first view of a work, which had cost me
much trouble, but I withdrew, unjustly beaten by unskilful rivals.
[512]
'Tis you, oh, enlightened public, for whom I have prepared my piece, that
I reproach with this. Nevertheless I shall never willingly cease to seek
the approval of the discerning. I have not forgotten the day, when men,
whom one is happy to have for an audience, received my 'Young Man' and my
'Debauchee'[513] with so much favour in this very place. Then as yet
virgin, my Muse had not attained the legal age for maternity;[514] she
had to expose her first-born for another to adopt, and it has since grown
up under your generous patronage. Ever since you have as good as sworn me
your faithful alliance. Thus, like Electra[515] of the poets, my comedy
has come to seek you to-day, hoping again to encounter such enlightened
spectators. As far away as she can discern her Orestes, she will be able
to recognize him by his curly head. And note her modest demeanour! She
has not sewn on a piece of hanging leather, thick and reddened at the
end,[516] to cause laughter among the children; she does not rail at the
bald, neither does she dance the cordax;[517] no old man is seen, who,
while uttering his lines, batters his questioner with a stick to make his
poor jests pass muster. [518] She does not rush upon the scene carrying a
torch and screaming, 'La, la! la, la! ' No, she relies upon herself and
her verses. . . . My value is so well known, that I take no further pride in
it.
