TRYGAEUS Come, I grant you that, but pray, annoy me no further.
CHORUS Ah! the left leg too will have its fling; well, 'tis but its right. I am so happy, so delighted at not having to carry my buckler any more. I sing and I laugh more than if I had cast my old age, as a serpent does its skin.
TRYGAEUS No, 'tis not time for joy yet, for you are not sure of success. But when you have got the goddess, then rejoice, shout and laugh; thenceforward you will be able to sail or stay at home, to make love or sleep, to attend festivals and processions, to play at cottabos,(1) live like true Sybarites and to shout, Io, io!
f(1) One of the most favourite games with the Greeks. A
stick was set upright in the ground and to this the beam of
a balance was attached by its centre. Two vessels were hung
from the extremities of the beam so as to balance; beneath
these two other and larger dishes were placed and filled
with water, and in the middle of each a brazen figure,
called Manes, was stood. The game consisted in throwing
drops of wine from an agreed distance into one or the other
vessel, so that, dragged downwards by the weight of the
liquor, it bumped against Manes.
CHORUS Ah! God grant we may see the blessed day. I have suffered so much; have so oft slept with Phormio(1) on hard beds. You will no longer find me an acid, angry, hard judge as heretofore, but will find me turned indulgent and grown younger by twenty years through happiness. We have been killing ourselves long enough, tiring ourselves out with going to the Lyceum(2) and returning laden with spear and buckler.—But what can we do to please you? Come, speak; for 'tis a good Fate that has named you our leader.
f(1) A general of austere habits; he disposed of all his
property to pay the cost of a naval expedition, in which he
beat the fleet of the foe off the promontory of Rhium in 429
B.C.
f(2) The Lyceum was a portico ornamented with paintings and
surrounded with gardens, in which military exercises took
place.
TRYGAEUS How shall we set about removing these stones?
HERMES Rash reprobate, what do you propose doing?
TRYGAEUS Nothing bad, as Cillicon said.(1)
f(1) A citizen of Miletus, who betrayed his country to the
people of Pirene. When asked what he purposed, he replied,
"Nothing bad," which expression had therefore passed into a
proverb.