Racine: Phaedra

i84
ARISTOPHANES
A distracted anxious man ;
The Milesian question *^ pending,
Which you then should be defending.
With a talent for your hire
If you g^in what they desire.
Then their agent, in a sweat,
Comes to say the Assembly's met
All in haste you snatch and follow.
And in vain attempt to swallow
Running with your gullet filled,
Till we see you choked and killed.
Chorus.—So be it, mighty Jove ! so be it
And holy Ceres, may I live to see \t\
Demus Irotising himself gradually from his meditation].—
. . . 2n truth and he seems to me, by far the best
The worthiest that has been long since—the kindest.
And best disposed, to the honest sober class
Of simple humble three-penny citizens.
You, Paphlagonian, on the contrary
Have offended and incensed me. Therefore now
Give back your seal of office ! You must be
No more my steward!
Cleon.— Take it ! and withal
Bear this in mind ! That he, my successor,
Whoever he may be, will prove a rascal
More artful and nefarious than myself
A bigger rogue be sure, and baser far
Demus.—This seal is none of mine, or my eyes deceive me
The figure's not the same ! I'm sure
Sausage-Seller.— Let's see
What was the proper emblem upon your seal ?
Demus.—A sirloin of roast beef
Sausage-Seller.— It is not that
Demus.—Not the roast beef ! What is it ?
Sausage-Seller.— A cormorant
Haranguing open-mouthed upon a rock **
Demus.—Oh mercy!
Sausage- Seller.— What's the matter?
*»The Scholiast affords us bo light * The Pnyx, the place o! assembly,
as to the allusion to the Milesian ques- was called the Rock.
tion.