[They go into the street.
Ye gods, what a crowd! How on earth are we ever to get through this coil? They are like ants that no one can measure or number. Many a good deed have you done, Ptolemy; since your father joined the immortals, there’s never a malefactor to spoil the passer-by, creeping on him in Egyptian fashion—oh! the tricks those perfect rascals used to play. Birds of a feather, ill jesters, scoundrels all! Dear Gorgo, what will become of us? Here come the King’s war-horses! My dear man, don’t trample on me. Look, the bay’s rearing, see, what temper! Eunoë, you foolhardy girl, will you never keep out of the way? The beast will kill the man that’s leading him. What a good thing it is for me that my brat stays safe at home.
Gorgo. Courage, Praxinoë. We are safe behind them, now, and they have gone to their station.
Praxinoë. There! I begin to be myself again. Ever since I was a child I have feared nothing so much as horses and the chilly snake. Come along, the huge mob is overflowing us.
Gorgo (to an old Woman). Are you from the Court, mother?
Old Woman. I am, my child.
Praxinoë. Is it easy to get there?
Old Woman. The Achaeans got into Troy by trying, my prettiest of ladies. Trying will do everything in the long run.
Gorgo. The old wife has spoken her oracles, and off she goes.
Praxinoë. Women know everything, yes, and how Zeus married Hera!