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The Birds of Aristophanes, tr. by H.F. Cary, with notes
The Birds of Aristophanes tr by HF Cary with notes Author:Aristophanes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ACT II. SCENE I. PlSTHET/ERUS, ElTELPIDES, EPOPS. Pisthetcerus. Here'tis; the very thing. Ha! ha! by Jove, A droller business never yet saw I. Euelpide... more »s. What dost thou laugh at thus ? Pisthetcerus. At what ? Thy pennons. Know'st what thou 'rt likest to, now thou art fledg'd ? To an ill-pictur'd goose. Euelpides. And thou to a blackbird Having his pate pluck'd. Pisthetcerus. There then we Ve our likenesses, As Eschylus says,' taken not by others' plumes, But by our own.'' 1 The passage alluded to was in the same tragedy of the Myrmidons, and is preserved by the Scholiast. 'Q.s S' tffn fiLanduv Tt Epops. Come, come; what es to be done next ? Pisthetcerus. First we must put a name upon the city, Some great and famous one ; then after this To the Gods make sacrifice. Epops. I 'm of your mind. Pisthetcerus. Well, let me see. What shall our city's name be ? Will you we go to Lacedaemon for it, And put a noble name upon her—Sparta ? Epops. Hercules! I 'd not put Sparta on my city; Nor on my pallet not a Spartan' girth, If I had one of reeds. Pisthetcerus. What shall we choose then ? Epops. We'll take one hence; even from the clouds and these Meteorous regions. Pisthetcerus. Something grand, I warrant, And swelling. Cuckoocloudland. Will that do ? The conceit has been often repeated; among others, prettily enough by Waller: On a Lady who sang his Verses. ' That eagle's fate and mine are one, Which on the shaft that made him die Espy'd a feather of his own, Wherewith he wont to soar so high.' 1 There is a pun on this word that cannot be preserved in English; if ri, being both a cord, and the name of the country, Sparta. Epops. O famous! famous! Thou'st found out a name That's passing fine, an ex...« less