Racine: Phaedra

THE KNIGHTS 157
Chorus.—We like your scheme in some respects ; but still that
style of feeding,
Keeping the sauce all to yourself, appears a gross pro-
ceeding.
Cleon.—But I can domineer and dine on mullets at Miletus.
Sausage-Seller.—And I can eat my shins of beef, and farm
the mines of silver.
Cleon.— I'll burst into the Council House, and storm and blow
and bluster.
Sausage-Seller.—I'll blow the wind into your tail, and kick
you like a bladder.
Cleon.—I'll tie you neck and heels at once, and kick ye to the
kennel.
Chorus.—Begin with us then! Try your skill!—kicking us
all together
Cleon.—I'll have ye pilloried in a trice.
Sausage-Seller.—I'll have you tried for cowardice.
Cleon.—I'll tan your hide to cover seats.
Sausage-Seller.—Yours shall be made a purse for cheats.
The luckiest skin that could be found.
Cleon.—Dog, I'll pin you to the ground
With ten thousand tenter-hooks.
Sausage-Seller.—I'll equip you for the cooks,
Neatly prepared, with skewers and lard.
Cleon.—I'll pluck your eyebrows off, I will.
Sausage-Seller.—I'll cut your collops out, I will.*
Demosthenes.—Yes, by Jove! and like a swine.
Dangling at the butcher's door,
Dress him cleanly, neat, and fine.
Washed and scalded o'er and o'er;
Strutting out in all his pride,
With his carcass open wide.
And a skewer in either side
While the cook, with keen intent,
By the steady rules of art.
Scrutinizes every part,
The tongue, the throat, the maw, the vent.
•It is evident that a scuffle or wrest- Sausage-seller has the advantage; and
ling match takes place here, between the Sausage-seller's soeech of four lines
the two rivals. It continues during the which follows, implies that he is at the
verses of Demosthenes and those of the same time exhibiting his adversary m
Chorus, the last of which mark that the a helpless posture.