XVIII. ΧΟΡΟΣ ΒΑΤΡΑΧΩΝ. πολλάκις γ ̓ ἡμῖν ἔδοξεν ἡ πόλις πεπονθέναι ταὐτὸν ἔς τε τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς καλούς τε κἀγαθοὺς ἔς τε τἀρχαῖον νόμισμα καὶ τὸ καινὸν χρυσίον. οὔτε γὰρ τούτοισιν οὖσιν οὐ κεκιβδηλευμένοις, ἀλλὰ καλλίστοις ἁπάντων, ὡς δοκεῖ, νομισμάτων, καὶ μόνοις ὀρθῶς κοπεῖσι καὶ κεκωδωνισμένοις ἔν τε τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ τοῖς βαρβάροισι πανταχοῦ, χρώμεθ ̓ οὐδὲν, ἀλλὰ τούτοις τοῖς πονηροῖς χαλκίοις, χθές τε καὶ πρώην κοπεῖσι τῷ κακίστῳ κόμματι, τῶν πολιτῶν θ ̓ οὓς μὲν ἴσμεν εὐγενεῖς καὶ σώφρονας ἄνδρας ὄντας καὶ δικαίους καὶ καλούς τε κἀγαθοὺς, καὶ τραφέντας ἐν παλαίστραις καὶ χοροῖς καὶ μουσικῇ, προυσελοῦμεν, τοῖς δὲ χαλκοῖς καὶ ξένοις καὶ πυῤῥίαις καὶ πονηροῖς κἀκ πονηρῶν εἰς ἅπαντα χρώμεθα ὑστάτοις ἀφιγμένοισιν, οἶσιν ἡ πόλις πρὸ τοῦ οὐδὲ φαρμακοῖσιν εἰκὴ ῥᾳδίως ἐχρήσατ ̓ ἄν. ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν, ἀνόητοι, μεταβαλόντες τοὺς τρόπους, χρῆσθε τοῖς χρηστοῖσιν αὖθις· καὶ κατορθώσασι γὰρ εὔλογον· κἄν τι σφαλῆτ', ἐξ ἀξίου γοῦν τοῦ ξύλου, ἤν τι καὶ πάσχητε, πάσχειν τοῖς σοφοῖς δοκήσετε. ARISTOPHANES, Frogs, 718-737. ΚΑΡΙΩΝ. ΧΙΧ. ΧΟΡΟΣ ΑΓΡΟΙΚΩΝ. ΚΑ. οὔκουν πάλαι δήπου λέγω; σὺ δ ̓ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀκούεις. ὁ δεσπότης γάρ φησιν ὑμᾶς ἡδέως ἅπαντας ψυχροῦ βίου καὶ δυσκόλου ζήσειν ἀπαλλαγέντας. XVIII. THE OLD STYLE AND THE NEW. Many a time have we thought that the city's treatment of respectable men is of a piece with its conduct about the old coinage and the new gold pieces. For those that were never debased, the fairest of all coins, seemingly, and the only ones well struck, whose true ring has been heard everywhere among Greeks and barbarians, those we use not at all, employing instead that vile brassmoney, stamped but a day or two ago with the worst of devices and so too with our citizens, such as we know to be well born and sober men and just and respectable and nurtured in manly games and dances and music, these we maltreat; but the brazen foreign redhaired rascal sons of rascals we employ for every purpose, the moment they arrive-fellows whom in former days the city would have thought twice about using even as scape-goats. But come now, ye unwise, change your ways, and employ the good once more. For if you succeed, 'tis just as it should be; and if you fail, at any rate wise men will think 'If you do hang, you hang from a decent gibbet.' XIX. W. E. C. KARION. CHORUS OF RUSTICS. K. Well to be sure! I have been telling you this hour: but you won't listen. My master promises that you shall all live at your ease, delivered from this shivering, snarling existence. ΧΟ. ἔστιν δὲ δὴ τί καὶ πόθεν τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦθ ̓ ὅ φησιν; ΚΑ. ἔχων ἀφίκται δεῦρο πρεσβύτην τιν ̓, ὦ πονηροί, ῥυπῶντα, κυφὸν, ἄθλιον, ῥυσὸν, μαδῶντα, νωδόν. ΧΟ. ὦ χρυσὸν ἀγγείλας ἐπῶν, πῶς φῄς; πάλιν φράσον μοι. δηλοῖς γὰρ αὐτὸν σωρὸν ἥκειν χρημάτων ἥκοντα. ΚΑ. πρεσβυτικῶν μὲν οὖν κακῶν ἔγωγ ̓ ἔχοντα σωρόν. ΧΟ. μῶν ἀξιοῖς φενακίσας ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλαγῆναι ἀζήμιος, καὶ ταῦτ ̓ ἐμοῦ βακτηρίαν ἔχοντος; ΚΑ. πάντως γὰρ ἄνθρωπον φύσει τοιοῦτον εἰς τὰ πάντα ἡγεῖσθέ μ' εἶναι, κοὐδὲν ἂν νομίζεθ ̓ ὑγιὲς εἰπεῖν; ΧΟ. ὡς σεμνὸς οὑπίτριπτος· αἱ κνῆμαι δέ σου βοῶσιν ἰοὺ, ἰοὺ, τὰς χοίνικας καὶ τὰς πέδας ποθοῦσαι. ΚΑ. ἐν τῇ σορῷ νυνὶ λαχὸν τὸ γράμμα σου δικάζειν, σὺ δ ̓ οὐ βαδίζεις; ὁ δὲ Χάρων τὸ ξύμβολον δίδωσιν. ΧΟ. διαρραγείης. ὡς μόθων εἰ καὶ φύσει κόβαλος, ὅστις φενακίζεις, φράσαι δ ̓ οὔπω τέτληκας ἡμῖν ὅτου χάριν μ' ὁ δεσπότης ὁ σὸς κέκληκε δεῦρο οἳ πολλὰ μοχθήσαντες οὐκ οὔσης σχολῆς προ θύμως δεῦρ ̓ ἤλθομεν πολλῶν θύμων ῥίζας διεκπερῶντες. ΚΑ. ἀλλ ̓ οὐκέτ ̓ ἂν κρύψαιμι. τὸν Πλοῦτον γὰρ, ὦν δρες, ἥκει ἄγων ὁ δεσπότης, ὃς ὑμᾶς πλουσίους ποιήσει. ΧΟ. ὄντως γὰρ ἔστι πλουσίοις ἡμῖν ἅπασιν εἶναι ; ΚΑ. νὴ τοὺς θεοὺς, Μίδας μὲν οὖν, ἢν ὦτ ̓ ὄνου λάβητε. ARISTOPHANES, Plutus, 261-287. Ch. And what, pray, and whence is the change he promises? K. He has arrived here with a certain old man, you rascals,—sordid, crooked, miserable, wrinkled, bald, toothless. Ch. Bearer of golden tidings, how say you? Tell me again. You say that he has come with a heap of moneyK. No, I said with a heap of old men's evils. Ch. Do you imagine that you will hoax us and get off unpunished,-especially while I have a stick? K. Do you absolutely think that I am such an absolute wretch? Do you think that I can never speak one honest word? Ch. How grand the miscreant is! Your tibiae pipe small; they languish for the stocks and the shackles. K. Now that your division has been told off to try cases-made by the undertaker, will you not go? Charon offers you your ticket. Ch. A plague on you! What a pert knave, what a born buffoon you are, to go on humbugging, without ever having had the grace to tell us why your master summoned us hither. We have had infinite trouble, and we have come hither zealously, though we had no time to spare, 'threading our way through the manifold perplexities of the thyme'.' K. I can keep the secret no longer. Friends, my master has brought Plutus, who shall make you plutocrats. Ch. So we may really be rich-all of us? K. Yes, by heaven; Midases,-if you will find the asses' ears. R. C. J. 1 The pun on προθύμως—θύμων looks as if some tragic poet had used the phrase πολλῶν θυμῶν ῥίζας διεκπερᾶν in reference to thorny doubts. ΧΧ. ΘΑΛΥΣΙΑ. χω μὲν ἀποκλίνας ἐπ ̓ ἀριστερὰ τὰν ἐπὶ Πύξας εἶρφ ̓ ὁδόν· αὐτὰρ ἐγώ τε καὶ Εὔκριτος ἐς Φρασιδάμω στραφθέντες χω καλὸς ̓Αμύντιχος ἔν τε βαθείαις ἁδείας σχοίνοιο χαμευνίσιν ἐκλίνθημες ἔν τε νεοτμάτοισι γεγαθότες οἰναρέῃσι. πολλαὶ δ ̓ ἁμὶν ὕπερθε κατὰ κρατὸς δονέοντο αἴγειροι πτελέαι τε· τὸ δ ̓ ἐγγύθεν ἱερὸν ὕδωρ Νυμφᾶν ἐξ ἄντροιο κατειβόμενον κελάρυζε. τοὶ δὲ ποτὶ σκιεραῖς ὀροδαμνίσιν αἰθαλίωνες τέττιγες λαλαγεύντες ἔχον πόνον· ὁ δ ̓ ὀλολυγὼν τηλόθεν ἐν πυκινῇσι βάτων τρύζεσκεν ἀκάνθαις. ἄειδον κόρυδοι καὶ ἀκανθίδες, ἔστενε τρυγών· πωτῶντο ξουθαὶ περὶ πίδακας ἀμφὶ μέλισσαι. πάντ ̓ ὦσδεν θέρεος μάλα πίονος, ὦσδε δ ̓ ὀπώρας. ὄχναι μὲν παρ ποσσί, περὶ πλευρῇσι δὲ μᾶλα δαψιλέως ἁμὶν ἐκυλίνδετο· τοὶ δ ̓ ἐκέχυντο ὅρπακες βραβίλοισι καταβρίθοντες ἔραζε· τετράενες δὲ πίθων ἀπελύετο κρατὸς ἄλειφαρ. THEOCRITUS, VII. 130-147. ΧΧΙ. ΠΡΑΞΙΝΟΑ. ΓΟΡΓΩ. ΓΡΑΥΣ. ΠΡ. ἁδίστα Γοργοῖ, τί γενώμεθα; τοὶ πολεμισταὶ ἵπποι τω βασιλῆος. ἄνερ φίλε, μή με πατήσῃς. ὀρθὸς ἀνέστα ὁ πυρρός· ἴδ ̓ ὡς ἄγριος. κυνοθαρσὴς |