Racine: Phaedra

THE KNIGHTS 90I
Agoracritus.—Moreover, if a couple of orators
Were pleading in your presence ; one proposing
To equip a fleet, his rival arguing
To get the same supplies distributed
To the jurymen, the patron of the juries
Carried the day. But why do you hang your head so?
What makes you shuffle about ? Can't ye stand still ?
Demus.—I feel ashamed of myself and all my follies.
Agoracritus.— 'Twas not your fault—don't think of it. Your
advisers
Were most to blame. But for the future—tell me,
If any rascally villainous orator
Should address a jury with such words as these:
" Remember, if you acquit the prisoner
Your daily food and maintenance are at stake,"
How would you treat such a pleader? Answer me.
Demus.—I should toss him headlong into the public pit,
With a halter round his gullet, and Hyperbolus
Tied fast to the end of it.
Agoracritus.— That's a noble answer I
Wise and judicious, just and glorious!
Now tell me, in other respects, how do you mean
To manage your affairs ?
Demus.— Why first of all
I'll have the arrears of seamen's wages paid
To a penny, the instant they return to port.
Agoracritus.—There's many a worn-out rump will bless ye
and thank ye.
Demus.—Moreover, no man that has been enrolled
Upon the list for military service.
Shall have his name erased for fear or favor.
Agoracritus.—That gives a bang to Cleonymus's buckler.
Demus.—I'll not permit those fellows without beards
To harangue in our Assembly; boys or men.
Agoracritus.—Then what's to become of Cleisthenes and
Strato ?
Where must they speak ?
Demus.— I mean those kind of youths,
The little puny would-be politicians,
Sitting conversing in perfumers' shops,