Racine: Phaedra

i54
Ring and jar.
Each decree
ARISTOPHANES
Smells of thee,
Land and sea
Stink of thee.
Whilst we
Scorn and hate, execrate, abominate.
Thee the brawler and embroiler, of the nation and the
State.
You that on the rocky seat of our assembly raise a din.
Deafening all our ears with uproar, as you rave and howl
and grin
Watching all the while the vessels with revenue sailing
in.
Like the tunny-fishers perched aloft, to look about and
bawl,
When the shoals are seen arriving, ready to secure a haul.
Cleon.—I was aware of this affair, and every stitch of it I
know.
Where the plot was cobbled up and patched together,
long ago.
Sausage-Seller.—Cobbling is your own profession, tripe and
sausages are mine
But the country folks complain,^" that in a fraudulent
design,
You retailed them skins of treaties, that appeared like
trusty leather.
Of a peace secure and lasting; but the wear-and-tear
and weather
Proved it all decayed and rotten, only fit for sale and
show.
Demosthenes.—Yes ! a pretty trick he served me ; there was
I despatched to go,
Trudged away to Pergasae,-*' but found upon arriving
there,
That myself and my commission, both were out at heels
and bare.
"The allusions in these lines relate ing the party; the country people in
to some incidents not recorded in his- particular (long excluded from the entory,
some artifice by which Cleon had joyment of their property) who were
succeeded in deluding and disappoint- anxious for peace.