| Bring the case that holds my plumes. |
DIKÆOPOLIS
| And bring me a dish of hare. |
LAMACHUS
| But the moths have eaten my crest. |
Dikæopolis makes some insolent rejoinder, at which the general takes fire. He calls for his lance; Dikæopolis, for the spit, which he frees from the roast meat. Lamachus raises his Gorgon-orbed shield; Dikæopolis lifts a full-orbed pancake. Lamachus then performs a mock act of divination:—
| Pour oil upon the shield. What do I trace |
| In the divining mirror? 'Tis the face |
| Of an old coward, fortified with fear, |
| That sees his trial for desertion near. |
DIKÆOPOLIS
| Pour honey on the pancake. What appears? |
| A comely personage, advanced in years, |
| Firmly resolved to laugh at and defy |
| Both Lamachus and the Gorgon family. |
In "The Frogs," god and demigod, Bacchus and Hercules, are put upon the stage with audacious humor. The first has borrowed the costume of the second, in which unfitting garb he knocks at Hercules' door on his way to Hades, his errand being to find and bring back Euripides. The dearth of clever poets is the reason alleged for this undertaking. Hercules suggests to him various poets who are still on earth. Bacchus condemns them as "warblers of the grove; poor, puny wretches!" He now asks Hercules for introductions to his friends in the lower regions, and for