aeschylus - Conscious Evolution TV

Once he travelled to Pharsalus, our ambassador
to be,
There a soli tary guest, he
Stayed with only the Penestae,
Coming from the tribe himself,
the kindred tribe, of Penury.
Fortunate Automenes, we envy your felicity;
Every son of yours is of an infinite dexterity:
First the Harper, known to all. and loved of all
excessively,
Grace and wit attend his steps, and elegant festivity,
Next the Actor, shrewd of wit bevond all
credibility: .
Last of all Al'iphrades, that soul of ingenuity,
He who of his native wit, with rare originality,
Hit upon an undiscovered trick of bestiality:
All alone, the father tells us, striking out a novel line.
Some there are who said that I
was reconciled in amity,
When upon me Clean pressed,
and made me smart with injury,
Currying and tanning me:
then as the stripes fell heavily
Th' outsiders laughed to see the sport,
and hear me squalling lustily,
Caring not a whit for me, but only looking merrily,
To know if squeezed and pressed I chanced
to drop some small buffoonery.
Seeing this, I played the ape a little bit undoubtedly.
So then, after all, the Vine-pole
preved unfaithful to the Vine.
Enter XANTHIAS.
Xa. 0 lucky tortoises, to have such skins,
Thrice lucky for the case upon your ribs:
How well and cunningly your backs are roofed
With tiling strong enough to keep out blows:
Whilst I, I'm cudgelled and tattooed to death.
Ch. How now, my boy? for though a man be old,
Still, ifhe's beaten, we may call him boy.
Xa. Was not the old man the most outrageous
nuisance,
Much the most drunk and riotous of all?
And yet we'd Lycan, Antiphon, Hippyllus,
Lysistratus, Theophrastus, Phrynichus;
But he was far the noisiest of the lot.
Soon as he'd gorged his fill of the good cheer,
He skipped, he leapt, and laughed, and frisked, and
whinnied,
Just like a donkey on a feed of corn :
And slapped me youthfully, calling "Boy! Boy!"
So then Lysistratus compared him thus:
"Old man,"sayshe, "you're like newwinefermenting,
Or like a sompnour, scampering to its bran."
But he shrieked back, .. And you, you're like a locust
That has just shed the lappets of its cloak,
Or Sthenelus, shorn of his goods and chattels."
At this all clapped, save Theophrast; but he
Made a wry face, being forsooth a wit.
TIlE WASPS
"And pray," the old man asked him, "what makes
you
"Give yourself airs, and think yourself so grand,
You grinning flatterer of the well-to-do?"
Thus he kept bantering every guest in turn,
Making rude jokes, and telling idle tales,
In clownish fashion, relevant to nothing.
At last, well drunk, homeward he turns once more,
Aiming a blow at everyone he meets.
Ah! here he's coming; stumbling, staggering on.
Methinks I'll vanish ere I'm slapped again.
Enter PHILOCLEON with a girl, and GUEST.
Ph. Up ahoy! out ahoy!
Some of you that follow me
Shall ere long be crying.
If they don't shag off, I swear
I'll frizzle 'em all with the torch I bear,
I'll set the rogues a-frying
Guest. Zounds! we'll all make you pay for this
to-morrow,
You vile old rake, however young you are!
We'll come and cite and summon you all together.
Ph. Yah! hahl summon and cite!
The obsolete notion! don't you know
I'm sick of the names of your suits and
claims.
FaughlFaughlPheugh!
Here's my delight!
Away with the verdict-box! Won't he go?
Where's the Heliast? out of my sight I
My little golden chafer, come up here,
Hold by this rope, a rotten one perchance,
But strong enough for you. Mount up, my dear.
See now, how cleverly I filched you off,
A wanton hussy, flirting with the guests.
You owe me, child, some gratitude for that.
But you're not one to pay your debts, I know.
o no! you'll laugh and chaff and slip away,
That's what you always do. But listen now,
Be a good girl, and don't be disobliging,
And when my son is dead, I'll ransom you,
And make you an honest woman. For indeed
I'm not yet master of my own affairs.
I am so young, and kept so very strict.
My son's my guardian, such a cross-grained man,
A cummin-splitting, mustard-scraping fellow.
He's so afraid that I should turn out badly,
For I'm in truth his only father now.
But here he runs. Belike he's after us.
Quick, little lady, hold these links an instant;
And won't I quiz him boyishly and well,
As he did me before the initiation.
Bd. You there! you there I you old lascivious
dotard I
Enamoured, eh? ay of a fine ripe coffin.
Oh, by Apollo, you shall smart for this!
Ph. Dear, dear, how keen to taste a suit in pickle!
Bd. No quizzing, sir, when you have filched away
The flute-girl from our party.
Ph. Eh? what? flute-girl?
You're out of your mind, or out of your grave, or
something.