with enjoyment.
Oh, rustic Muse of such varied note, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx, I sing with you in the groves and on the mountain tops, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx.257 I pour forth sacred strains from my golden throat in honour of the god Pan,258 tio, tio, tio, tiotinx, from the top of the thickly leaved ash, and my voice mingles with the mighty choirs who extol Cybelé on the mountain tops,259 tototototototototinx. 'Tis to our concerts that Phrynicus comes to pillage like a bee the ambrosia of his songs, the sweetness of which so charms the ear, tio, tio, tio, tio, tinx.
If there be one of you spectators who wishes to spend the rest of his life quietly among the birds, let him come to us. All that is disgraceful and forbidden by law on earth is on the contrary honourable among us, the birds. For instance, among you 'tis a crime to beat your father, but with us 'tis an estimable deed; it's considered fine to run straight at your father and hit him, saying, "Come, lift your spur if you want to fight."260 The runaway slave, whom you brand, is only a spotted francolin with us.261 Are you Phrygian like Spintharus?262 Among us you would be the Phrygian bird, the goldfinch, of the race of Philemon.263 Are you a slave and a Carian like Execestides? Among us you can create yourself forefathers;264 you can always find relations. Does the son of Pisias want to betray the gates of the city to the foe? Let him become a partridge, the fitting offspring of his father; among us there is no shame in escaping as cleverly as a partridge.
So the swans on the banks of the Hebrus, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx, mingle their voices to serenade Apollo, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx, flapping their wings the while, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx; their notes reach beyond the clouds of heaven; all the dwellers in the forests stand still with astonishment and delight; a calm rests upon the waters, and the Graces and the choirs in Olympus catch up the strain, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx.
There is nothing more useful nor more pleasant than to have wings. To begin with, just let us suppose a spectator to be dying with hunger and to be weary of the choruses of the tragic poets; if he were winged, he would fly off, go home to dine and come back with his stomach filled. Some Patroclides in urgent need would not have to soil his cloak, but could fly off, satisfy his requirements, and, having recovered his breath, return. If one of you, it matters not who, had adulterous relations and saw the husband of his mistress in the seats of the senators, he might stretch his wings, fly thither, and, having appeased his craving, resume his place. Is it not the most priceless gift of all, to be winged? Look at Diitrephes!265 His wings were only wicker-work ones, and yet he got himself chosen Phylarch and then Hipparch; from being nobody, he has risen to be famous; 'tis now the finest gilded cock of his tribe.266
PISTHETAERUS. Halloa! What's this? By Zeus! I never saw anything so funny in all my life.267
EUELPIDES. What makes you laugh?
PISTHETAERUS. 'Tis your bits of wings. D'you know what you look like? Like a goose painted by some dauber-fellow.
EUELPIDES. And you look like a close-shaven blackbird.
PISTHETAERUS. 'Tis ourselves asked for this transformation, and, as Aeschylus has it, "These are no borrowed feathers, but truly our own."268
EPOPS. Come now, what must be done?
PISTHETAERUS. First give our city a great and famous name, then sacrifice to the gods.
EUELPIDES. I think so too.
EPOPS. Let's see. What shall our city be called?
PISTHETAERUS. Will you have a high-sounding Laconian name? Shall we call it Sparta?
EUELPIDES. What! call my town Sparta? Why, I would not use esparto for my bed,269 even though I had nothing but bands of rushes.
PISTHETAERUS. Well then, what name can you suggest?
EUELPIDES. Some name borrowed from the clouds, from these lofty regions in which we dwell—in short, some well-known name.
PISTHETAERUS. Do you like Nephelococcygia?270
EPOPS. Oh! capital! truly 'tis a brilliant thought!
EUELPIDES. Is it in Nephelococcygia that all the wealth of Theogenes271 and most of Aeschines'272 is?
PISTHETAERUS. No, 'tis rather the plain of Phlegra,273 where the gods withered the pride of the sons of the Earth with their shafts.
EUELPIDES. Oh! what a splendid city! But what god shall be its patron? for whom shall we weave the peplus?274
PISTHETAERUS. Why not choose Athené Polias?275
EUELPIDES. Oh! what a well-ordered town 'twould be to have a female deity armed from head to foot, while Clisthenes276 was spinning!
PISTHETAERUS. Who then shall guard the Pelargicon?277
EPOPS. One of ourselves, a bird of Persian strain, who is everywhere proclaimed to be the bravest of all, a true chick of Ares.278
EUELPIDES. Oh! noble chick! what a well-chosen god for a rocky home!
PISTHETAERUS. Come! into the air with you to help the workers, who are building the wall; carry up rubble, strip yourself to mix the mortar, take up the hod, tumble down the ladder, an you like, post sentinels, keep the fire smouldering beneath the ashes, go round the walls, bell in hand,279 and go to sleep up there yourself; then despatch two heralds, one to the gods above, the other to mankind on earth and come back here.
EUELPIDES. As for yourself, remain here, and may the plague take you for a troublesome fellow!
PISTHETAERUS. Go, friend, go where I send you, for without you my orders cannot be obeyed. For myself, I want to sacrifice to the new god, and I am going to summon the priest who must preside at the ceremony. Slaves! slaves! bring forward the basket and the lustral water.
CHORUS. I do as you do, and I wish as you wish, and I implore you to address powerful and solemn prayers to the gods, and in addition to immolate a sheep as a token of our gratitude. Let us sing the Pythian chant in honour of the god, and let Chaeris accompany our voices.
PISTHETAERUS (to the flute-player). Enough! but, by Heracles! what is this? Great gods! I have seen many prodigious things, but I never saw a muzzled raven.280
EPOPS. Priest! 'tis high time! Sacrifice to the new gods.
PRIEST. I begin, but where is he with the basket? Pray to the Vesta of the birds, to the kite, who
An imitation of the nightingale's song.
God of the groves and wilds.
The 'Mother of the Gods'; roaming the mountains, she held dances, always attended by Pan and his accompanying rout of Fauns and Satyrs.
An allusion to cock-fighting; the birds are armed with brazen spurs.
An allusion to the spots on this bird, which resemble the scars left by a branding iron.
He was of Asiatic origin, but wished to pass for an Athenian.
Or Philamnon, King of Thrace; the Scholiast remarks that the Phrygians and the Thracians had a common origin.
The Greek word here, [Greek: pappos], is also the name of a little bird.
A basket-maker who had become rich.—The Phylarchs were the headmen of the tribes, [Greek: Phulai]. They presided at the private assemblies and were charged with the management of the treasury.—The Hipparchs, as the name implies, were the leaders of the cavalry; there were only two of these in the Athenian army.
He had now become a senator, member of the [Greek: Boul_e].
Pisthetaerus and Euelpides now both return with wings.
Meaning, 'tis we who wanted to have these wings.—The verse from Aeschylus, quoted here, is taken from 'The Myrmidons,' a tragedy of which only a few fragments remain.
The Greek word signified the city of Sparta, and also a kind of broom used for weaving rough matting, which served for the beds of the very poor.
A fanciful name constructed from [Greek: nephel_e], a cloud, and [Greek: kokkux], a cuckoo; thus a city of clouds and cuckoos.—
He was a boaster nicknamed [Greek: Kapnos],
Also mentioned in 'The Wasps.'
Because the war of the Titans against the gods was only a fiction of the poets.
A sacred cloth, with which the statue of Athené in the Acropolis was draped.
Meaning, to be patron-goddess of the city. Athené had a temple of this name.
An Athenian effeminate, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes.
This was the name of the wall surrounding the Acropolis.
i.e. the fighting-cock.
To waken the sentinels, who might else have fallen asleep.—There are several merry contradictions in the various parts of this list of injunctions.
In allusion to the leather strap which flute-players wore to constrict the cheeks and add to the power of the breath. The performer here no doubt wore a raven's mask.
