| 'Twas not Bellerophon, but very like him, |
| A kind of smooth, fine-spoken character; |
| A beggar into the bargain, and a cripple |
| With a grand command of words, bothering and begging. |
Euripides by this description recognizes the personage intended, viz., Telephus, the physician, and orders his servant to go and fetch the ragged suit, which he will find "next to the tatters of Thyestes, just over Ino's." Dikæopolis exclaims, on seeing the mass of holes and patches, but asks, further, a little Mysian bonnet for his head, a beggar's staff, a dirty little basket, a broken pipkin; all of which Euripides grants, to be rid of him. All this insolence the visitor sums up in the following lines:—
| I wish I may be hanged, my dear Euripides, |
| If ever I trouble you for anything, |
| Except one little, little, little boon, |
| A single lettuce from your mother's stall. |
This is more than Euripides can bear, and the gates are now shut upon the intruder.
Later in the play, Dikæopolis appears in company with the General Lamachus. A sudden call summons this last to muster his men and march forth to repel a party of marauders. Almost at the same moment, Dikæopolis is summoned to attend the feast of Bacchus, and to bring his best cookery with him. In the dialogue that follows, the valiant soldier and the valiant trencherman appear in humorous contrast.
LAMACHUS
| Boy, boy, bring out here my haversack. |
DIKÆOPOLIS
| Boy, boy, hither bring my dinner service. |
LAMACHUS