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And dancing-girls, "Harmodius' dearest ones."<br />
So pray make haste.<br />
La. 0 wretched, wretched mel<br />
Di. Aye the great Gorgon 'twas you chose for<br />
patron.<br />
Now close the house, and pack the supper up.<br />
La. Boy, bring me out my soldier's knapsack<br />
here.<br />
Di. Boy, bring me out my supper-basket here.<br />
La. Boy, bring me onions, with some thymy salt.<br />
Di. For me, fish-fillets: onions I detest.<br />
La. Boy, bring me here a leaf of rotten flSh.<br />
Di. A tit-bit leaf for me; I'll toast it there.<br />
La. Now bring me here my helmet's double<br />
plume.<br />
Di. And bring me here my thrushes and ringdoves.<br />
La. How nice and white this ostrich-plume to<br />
view.<br />
Di. How nice and brown this pigeon's flesh to eat.<br />
La. Man, don't keep jeering at my armour so.<br />
Di. Man, don't keep peering at my thrushes so.<br />
La. Bring me the casket with the three crests in<br />
it.<br />
Di. Bring me the basket with the hare's flesh in it.<br />
La. Surely the moths my crest have eaten up.<br />
Di. Sure this hare-soup I'll eat before I sup.<br />
La. Fellow. I'll thank you not to talk to me.<br />
Di. Nay, but the boy and I, we can't agree.<br />
Come will you bet, and Lamachus decide,<br />
Locusts or thrushes, which the daintier are?<br />
La. Insolent knave I<br />
Di. (to the boy) Locusts, he says, by far.<br />
La. Boy, boy, take down the spear, and bring it<br />
here.<br />
Di. Boy, take the sweetbread off and bring it<br />
here.<br />
La. Hold firmly to the spear whilst I pull off<br />
The case.<br />
Di. And you, hold firmly to the spit.<br />
La. Boy, bring the framework to support my<br />
shield.<br />
Di. Boy, bring the bakemeats to support my<br />
frame.<br />
La. Bring here the grim-backed circle of the<br />
shield.<br />
Di. And here the cheese-backed circle of the cake.<br />
La. Is not this-mockery, plain for men to see?<br />
Di. Is not this-cheese-cake, sweet for men to<br />
eat?<br />
La. Pour on the oil, boy. Gazing on my shield,<br />
I see an old man tried for cowardliness.<br />
Di. Pour on the honey. Gazing on my cake,<br />
I see an old man mocking Lamachus.<br />
La. Bring me a casque, to arm the outer man.<br />
Di. Bring me a cask to warm the inner man.<br />
La. With this I'll arm myself against the foe.<br />
Di. With this I'll warm myself against the feast.<br />
La. Boy, lash the blankets up against the shield.<br />
Di. Boy, lash the supper up against the chest.<br />
La. Myself will bear my knapsack for myself.<br />
Di. Myself will wear my wraps, and haste away.<br />
ARISTOPHANES<br />
La. Take up the shidd, my boy, and bring it on.<br />
Snowing I good lack, a wintry prospect mine.<br />
Di. Take up the chest; a suppery prospect mine.<br />
Exeunt DICAEOPOLIS and LAMACHUS.<br />
CII. Off to your duties, my heroes bold.<br />
Different truly the paths ye tread;<br />
One to drink with wreaths on his head;<br />
One to watch, and shiver with cold,<br />
Lonely, the while his antagonist passes<br />
The sweetest of hours with the sweetest of lasses.<br />
Pray we that Zeus calmly reduce<br />
to destruction emphatic and utter<br />
That meanest of poets and meanest of men,<br />
Antimachus, offspring of Sputter;<br />
The Choregus who sent me away<br />
without any supper at all<br />
At the feast of Lenaea; I pray,<br />
two Woes that Choregus befall.<br />
May he hanker for a dish of the subtle cuttle-fish;<br />
May he see the cuttle sailing<br />
through its brine and through its oil,<br />
On its little table lying,<br />
hot and hissing from the frying,<br />
Till it anchor close beside him,<br />
when alas I and woe betide himl<br />
As he reaches forth his hand<br />
for the meal the Gods provide him,<br />
Maya dog snatch and carry off the spoil, off the<br />
. spoil,<br />
Maya dog snatch and carry off the Spoil.<br />
Duly the first Woe is rehearsed;<br />
attend whilst the other I'm telling.<br />
It is night, and our gentleman, after a ride,<br />
is returning on foot to his dwelling;<br />
With ague he's sorely bested,<br />
and he's feeling uncommonly ill,<br />
When suddenly down on his head<br />
comes Orestes's club with a will.<br />
'Tis Orestes, hero mad,<br />
'tis the drunkard and the pad.<br />
Then stooping in the darkness<br />
let him grope about the place,<br />
If his hand can find a brickbat at Orestes to be flung;<br />
But instead of any brickbat<br />
may he grasp a podge of dung,<br />
And rushing on with this, Orestes may he miss,<br />
And hit young Cratinus in the face, in the face,<br />
And hit young Cratinus in the face.<br />
Enter ATTENDANT.<br />
AttentJant. Varlets who dwell in Lamachus's halls,<br />
Heat water, knaves, heat water in a pot.<br />
Make ready lint, and salves, and greasy wool,<br />
And ankle-bandages. Your lord is hurt,<br />
Pierced by a stake whilst leaping o'er a trench.<br />
Then, twisting round, he wrenched his ankle out,<br />
And, falling, cracked his skull upon a stone;<br />
And shocked the sleeping Gorgon from his shield.<br />
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