SAUSAGE-SELLER. He says he will seize upon your bath-tubs.[118]
DEMOS. Then I shall not bathe to-day.
SAUSAGE-SELLER. No, as he has stolen our baths. But here is an oracle about the fleet, to which I beg your best attention.
DEMOS. Read on! I am listening; let us first see how we are to pay our sailors.[119]
SAUSAGE-SELLER. "Son of Aegeus,[120] beware of the tricks of the dog-fox,[121] he bites from the rear and rushes off at full speed; he is nothing but cunning and perfidy." Do you know what the oracle intends to say?
DEMOS. The dog-fox is Philostratus.[122]
SAUSAGE-SELLER. No, no, 'tis Cleon; he is incessantly asking you for light vessels to go and collect the tributes, and Apollo advises you not to grant them.
DEMOS. What connection is there between a galley and a dog-fox?
SAUSAGE-SELLER. What connection? Why, 'tis quite plain—a galley travels as fast as a dog.
DEMOS. Why, then, does the oracle not say dog instead of dog-fox?