SPEUSIPPUS. Nay, nay—
HIPPOMACHUS. When a guest who is asked to sing at a Persian banquet refuses—
SPEUSIPPUS. In the name of Bacchus—
ALCIBIADES. I am absolute. Sing.
SPEUSIPPUS. Well, then, I will sing you a chorus, which, I think, is a tolerable imitation of Euripides.
CHARICLEA. Of Euripides?—Not a word.
ALCIBIADES. Why so, sweet Chariclea?
CHARICLEA. Would you have me betray my sex? Would you have me forget his Phaedras and Sthenoboeas? No if I ever suffer any lines of that woman-hater, or his imitators, to be sung in my presence, may I sell herbs (The mother of Euripides was a herb-woman. This was a favourite topic of Aristophanes.) like his mother, and wear rags like his Telephus. (The hero of one of the lost plays of Euripides, who appears to have been brought upon the stage in the garb of a beggar. See Aristophanes; Acharn. 430; and in other places.)
ALCIBIADES. Then, sweet Chariclea, since you have silenced Speusippus, you shall sing yourself.
CHARICLEA. What shall I sing?