And got the glory of the Archon's feast—

There stood in person Aristophanes.

And no ignoble presence! On the bulge

Of the clear baldness,—all his head one brow,—

True, the veins swelled, blue network, and there surged

A red from cheek to temple,—then retired

As if the dark-leaved chaplet damped a flame,—

Was never nursed by temperance or health.

But huge the eyeballs rolled back native fire,

Imperiously triumphant: nostrils wide