No More Learning

When you ought to be thanking heaven That your Plague is out of the way,
You all keep fussing and fretting — Where is my Plague to-day ?
If a Plague peeps out of the window, Up go the eyes of the men ;
If she hides, then they all keep staring Until she looks out again.
of the Clouds.
(From "The Clouds" : translated by Andrew Lang. )
Immortal Clouds from the echoing shore
Of the father of streams from the sounding sea,
Dewy and fleet, let us rise and soar ; Dewy and gleaming and fleet are we !
Let us look on the tree-clad mountain crest,
On the sacred earth where the fruits rejoice,
On the waters that murmur east and west,
On the tumbling sea with his moaning voice,
For unwearied glitters the Eye of the Air, And the bright rays gleam;
Then cast we our shadows of mist, and fare
In our deathless shapes to glance everywhere
From the height of the heaven, on the land and air,
And the Ocean Stream.
Song
CHORUSES FROM ARISTOPHANES. 46
Let us on, ye Maidens that bring the Bain, Let us gaze on Pallas' citadel,
In the country of Cecrops fair and dear, The mystic land of the holy cell,
Where the Rites unspoken securely dwell,
And the gift of the gods that know not stain, And a people of mortals that know not fear.
For the temples tall and the statues fair,
And the feasts of the gods are holiest there ;
The feasts of Immortals, the chaplets of flowers,
And the Bromian mirth at the coming of spring, And the musical voices that fill the hours,
And the dancing feet of the maids that sing !
The Birds' Cosmology.
(From "The Birds " : translated by John Hookham Frere. )
Ye Children of Man ! whose life is a span, Protracted with sorrow from day to day, Naked and featherless, feeble and querulous, Sickly calamitous creatures of clay !
Attend to the words of the Sovereign Birds (Immortal, illustrious, lords of the air),
Who survey from on high, with a merciful eye, Your struggles of misery, labor, and care. Whence you may learn and clearly discern Such truths as attract your inquisitive turn; Which is busied of late with a mighty debate, A profound speculation about the creation,
And organical life, and chaotical strife,
With various notions of heavenly motions,
And rivers and oceans, and valleys and mountains, And sources of fountains, and meteors on high,
And stars in the sky. . . . We propose by and by
(If you'll listen and hear) to make it all clear.
And Prodicus henceforth shall pass for a dunce,
When his doubts are explained and expounded at once.
Before the creation of Ether and Light, Chaos and Night together were plight,
In the dungeon of Erebus foully bedight, Nor Ocean, or Air, or substance was there, Or solid or rare, or figure or form,
But horrible Tartarus ruled in the storm :
At length, in the dreary chaotical closet Of Erebus old, was a privy deposit,
--
CHORUSES FROM ARISTOPHANES.
By Night the primeval in secrecy laid —
A mystical egg, that in silence and shade
Was brooded and hatched, till time came about, And Love, the delightful, in glory flew out,
In rapture and light, exulting and bright, Sparkling and florid, with stars in his forehead, His forehead and hair, and a flutter and flare,
As he rose in the air, triumphantly furnished
To range his dominions on glittering pinions,
All golden and azure, and blooming and burnished:
He soon, in the murky Tartarean recesses, With a hurricane's might, in his fiery caresses Impregnated Chaos ; and hastily snatched
To being and life, begotten and hatched
The primitive Birds : but the Deities all,
The celestial Lights, the terrestrial Ball,
Were later of birth, with the dwellers on earth More tamely combined, of a temperate kind ; When chaotical mixture approached to a fixture.
Our antiquity proved ; it remains to be shown That Love is our author and master alone,
Like him we can ramble, and gambol and fly
O'er ocean and earth, and aloft to the sky ;
And all the world over, we're friends to the lover, And when other means fail, we are found to prevail, When a Peacock or Pheasant is sent as a present.
All lessons of primary daily concern
You have learned from the Birds, and continue to learn, Your best benefactors and early instructors ;
We give you the warning of seasons returning.
When the Cranes are arranged, and muster afloat
In the middle air, with a creaking note,
Steering away to the Libyan sands,
Then careful farmers sow their lands ;
The crazy vessel is hauled ashore,
The sail, the ropes, the rudder, and oar
Are all unshipped, and housed in store.
The shepherd is warned, by the Kite reappearing,
To muster his flock, and be ready for shearing,
You quit your old cloak at the Swallow's behest,
In assurance of summer, and purchase a vest.
For Delphi, for Ammon, Dodona, in fine
For every oracular temple and shrine,
The Birds are a substitute equal and fair,
For on us you depend, and to us you repair
CHORUSES FROM ARISTOPHANES. 47
For counsel and aid when a marriage is made, A purchase, a bargain, a venture in trade : Unlucky or lucky, whatever has struck ye, An ox or an ass that may happen to pass,
A voice in the street, or a slave that you meet,
A name or a word by chance overheard,
If you deem it an omen, you call it a Bird ;
And if birds are your omens, it clearly will follow, That birds are a proper prophetic Apollo.
Then take us as gods, and you'll soon find the odds, We'll serve for all uses, as prophets and muses ;
We'll give ye fine weather, we'll live here together ; We'll not keep away, scornful and proud, atop of a cloud (In Jupiter's way) ; but attend every day
To prosper and bless all you possess,
And all your affairs, for yourselves and your heirs. And as long as you live, we shall give
You wealth and health, and pleasure and treasure, In ample measure ;
And never bilk you of pigeon's milk
Or potable gold ; you shall live to grow old,
In laughter and mirth, on the face of the earth, Laughing, quaffing, carousing, boozing,
Your only distress shall be the excess
Of ease and abundance and happiness.
His Vindication.
(From "The Acharnians" : same translation. )
Our poet has never as yet Esteemed it proper or fit To detain you with a long, Encomiastic song,
On his own superior wit.
But being abused and accused,
And attacked of late,
As a foe to the state,
He makes an appeal in his proper defense
To your voluble humor and temper and sense, With the following plea :
Namely, that he
Never attempted or ever meant
To scandalize
In any wise
CHORUSES FROM ARISTOPHANES.
Your mighty imperial government.
Moreover he says,
That in various ways
He presumes to have merited honor and praise, Exhorting you still to stick to your rights,
And no more to be fooled with rhetorical nights; Such as of late each envoy tries
On the behalf of your allies,
That come to plead their cause before ye,
With fulsome phrase, and a foolish story Of violet crowns, and Athenian glory ; With " sumptuous Athens " at every word ; " Sumptuous Athens " is always heard,
" Sumptuous " ever ; a suitable phrase For a dish of meat or a beast at graze. He therefore affirms,
In confident terms,
That his active courage and earnest zeal Have usefully served your common weal : He has openly shown
The style and tone
Of your democracy ruling abroad.
He has placed its practices on record ;
The tyrannical arts, the knavish tricks, That poison all your politics.
Therefore we shall see, this year,
The allies with tribute arriving here,
Eager and anxious all to behold
Their steady protector, the bard so bold : The bard, they say, that has dared to speak, To attack the strong, to defend the weak. His fame in foreign climes is heard,
And a singular instance lately occurred.
It occurred in the case of the Persian king, Sifting and cross-examining
The Spartan envoys. He demanded
Which of the rival states commanded
The Grecian seas ? He asked them next (Wishing to see them more perplext)
Which of the two contending powers
Was chiefly abused by this bard of ours ?
For he said, " Such a bold, so profound an adviser By dint of abuse would render them wiser,
More active and able ; and briefly that they
Must finally prosper and carry the day. "
CHORUSES FROM ARISTOPHANES.
Now mark the Lacedaemonian guile !
Demanding an insignificant isle !
" JDgina," they say, " for a pledge of peace,
As a means to make all jealousy cease. "
Meanwhile their privy design and plan
Is solely to gain this marvelous man, —
Knowing his influence on your fate, —
By obtaining a hold on his estate
Situate in the isle aforesaid.
Therefore there needs to be no more said.
You know their intention, and know that you know it You'll keep to your island, and stick to the poet.
And he for his part
Will practice his art
With a patriot heart,
With the honest views
That he now pursues,
And fair buffoonery and abuse ;
Not rashly bespattering, or basely beflattering,
Not pimping, or puffing, or acting the ruffian ;
Not sneaking or fawning j
But openly scorning
All menace and warning,
All bribes and suborning :
He will do his endeavor on your behalf ;
He will teach you to think, he will teach you to laugh. So Cleon again and again may try ;
I value him not, nor fear him, I
His rage and rhetoric I defy.
His impudence, his politics,
His dirty designs, his rascally tricks
No stain of abuse on me shall fix.
Justice and right, in his despite,
Shall aid and attend me, and do me right:
With these to friend, I ne'er will bend,
Nor descend
To an humble tone
(Like his own),
As a sneaking loon,
A knavish, slavish, poor poltroon.
vol. xv. —4
!
50 THE MOCK HERCULES.
THE MOCK HERCULES.
By ARISTOPHANES.
[For biographical sketch, see Vol. 3, p. 385. ]
(From " The Frogs ": translated by John Hookham Frere. )
Bacchus and his slave Xanthias go to Hades to bring back Eurip ides, whose death has taken away Athens' last great tragic artist. Bacchus, having called on Hercules for directions, is eager to emulate him. Scene: the gate of Pluto's palace.
Bacchus [going up to the door with considerable hesitation] —
Well, how must I knock at the door now ? Can't ye tell me ? How do the native inhabitants knock at doors ?
Xanthias —
Pah ! don't stand fooling there ; but smite it smartly, with the
very spirit and air of Hercules. Bacchus —
Holloh!
j35acus [from within, with the voice of a royal and infernal porter] —
Who's there ?
jEacus [coming out] —
Thou brutal, abominable, detestable,
Vile, villainous, infamous, nefarious scoundrel !
— How durst thou, villain as thou wert, to seize
Our watch-dog, Cerberus, whom I kept and tended, Hurrying him off, half strangled in your grasp ?
— But now, be sure we have you safe and fast, Miscreant and villain ! — Thee, the Stygian cliffs,
With stern adamantine durance, and the rocks
Of inaccessible Acheron, red with gore,
Environ and beleaguer ; and the watch,
And swift pursuit of the hideous hounds of hell ;
And the horrible Hydra, with her hundred heads,
Whose furious ravening fangs shall rend and tear thee ; Wrenching thy vitals forth, with the heart and midriff; While inexpressible Tartesian monsters
And grim Tithrasian Gorgons toss and scatter
With clattering claws, thine intertwined intestines.
To them, with instant summons, I repair,
Moving in hasty march with steps of speed.
[iEAcus departs with a tremendous tragical exit, and Bacchus falls to the ground in a fright. ]
Bacchus [with a forced voice] — 'Tis I, the valiant Hercules !
THE MOCK HERCULES.
61
Xanthias —
Holloh, you ! What's the matter there ?
Bacchus —
Oh dear, I've had an accident.
Xanthias — Poh! poh! jump up I Come ! you ridiculous simpleton ! don't lie there,
The people will see you.
Bacchus — Indeed, I'm sick at heart; lah! . . . Xanthias —
Was there ever in heaven or earth such a coward ? Bacchus— Me ?
A coward ! Did not I show my presence of mind — And call for a sponge and water in a moment ? Would a coward have done that ?
Xanthias — What else would he do ? Bacchus —
He'd have lain there like a nasty coward ;
But I jumped up at once, like a lusty wrestler, And looked about, and wiped myself, withal.
Xanthias —
Most manfully done !
By Jove, and I think it was ;
Bacchus —
But tell me, weren't you frightened with that speech ? — Such horrible expressions ! —
Xanthias [coolly, but with conscious and intentional coolness] No, not I; I took no notice
Bacchus — Well, I'll tell you what, Since you're such a valiant-spirited kind of fellow —
Do you be me — with the club and the lion skin,
Now you're in this courageous temper of mind ;
And I'll go take my turn and carry the bundles. Xanthias —
Well — give us hold — I must honor you forsooth; Make haste [he changes his dress] : and now behold the
Xanthian Hercules,
And mind if I don't display more heart and spirit.
Bacchus — .
Indeed and you look the character completely.
Enter Proserpine's Servant Maid (a kind of Dame Quickly), who immediately addresses Xanthias.
Dear Hercules. Well, you're come at last. Come in, For the goddess, as soon as she heard of set to work, Baking peck loaves and frying stacks of pancakes,
And making messes of furmety; there's an ox
it,
52 THE MOCK HERCULES.
Besides, she has roasted whole, with a relishing stuffing,
If you'll only just step in this way.
Xanthias [with dignity and reserve] — I thank you,
I'm equally obliged.
Servant Maid — No, no, by Jupiter !
We must not let you off, indeed. There's wild fowl And sweetmeats for the dessert, and the best of wine ; Only walk in.
Xanthias [as before] — I thank you. You'll excuse me. Servant Maid — No, no, we can't excuse you, indeed we can't;
There are dancing and singing girls besides.
Xanthias [with dissembled emotion] — What ! dancers ? Servant Maid —
Yes, that there are ; the sweetest, charmingest things that evei you saw—and there's the cook this moment
Is dishing up the dinner. —
Xanthias (with an air of lofty condescension)
Go before, then, And tell the girls — those singing girls you mentioned —
To prepare for my approach in person presently.
[ To Bacchus] — You, sirrah ! follow behind me with the bundles. Bacchus —
Holloh, you ! what, do you take the thing in earnest, Because, for a joke, I drest you up like Hercules?
—
[Xanthias continues to gesticulate as Hercules. Come, don't stand fooling, Xanthias. You'll provoke me.
There, carry the bundles, sirrah, when I bid you. Xanthias [relapsing at once into his natural air] —
Why, sure ? do you mean to take the things away
That you gave me yourself of your own accord this instant ?
Bacchus —
I never mean a thing ;
Let go of the lion's skin directly, I tell you.
I
do it at once.
Xanthias [resigning his heroical insignia with a tragical air and To you, just Gods, I make my last appeal,
Bear witness !
tone]
Bacchus — What ! the Gods ? — do you think they mind you ? How could you take it in your head, I wonder —
Such a foolish fancy for a fellow like you,
A mortal and a slave, to pass for Hercules ?
Xanthias — —
There. Take them.
You may come to want my help some time or other.
There
— — [God you may have them but please
Enter Two Women, Sutlers or Keepers of an Eating House.
1 Woman —
What, Platana ! Goody Platana ! there ! that's he,
THE MOCK HERCULES. 53
The fellow that robs and cheats poor victualers ;
That came to our house and eat those nineteen loaves. 2 Woman —
Ay, sure enough that's he, the very man. Xanthias [tauntingly to Bacchus] —
There's mischief in the wind for somebody ! 1 Woman —
And a dozen and a half of cutlets and fried chops,
At a penny halfpenny a piece —
Xanthias [significantly] — There are pains and penalties
Impending —
1 Woman — And all the garlic : such a quantity
As he swallowed —
Bacchus [delivers this speech with Herculean dignity, after his fash
ion, having hitherto remained silent on the same principle] — Woman, you're beside yourself ;
You talk you know not what —
2 Woman — No, no! you reckoned
I should not know you again with them there buskins. 1 Woman —
Good lack ! and there was all that fish besides.
Indeed — with the pickle, and all — and the good green cheese That he gorged at once, with the rind, and the rush baskets ; And then, when I called for payment, he looked fierce,
And stared at me in the face, and grinned, and roared —
Xanthias —
Just like him ! That's the way wherever he goes.
1 Woman —
And snatched his sword out, and behaved like mad.
Xanthias —
Poor souls ! you suffered sadly !
1 Woman — Yes, indeed ;
And then we both ran off with the fright and terror, And scrambled into the loft beneath the roof ;
And he took up two rugs and stole them off.
Xanthias — — Just like him again
but something must be done. Go call me Cleon, he's my advocate.
2 Woman —
And Hyperbolus, if you meet him send him here. He's mine ; and we'll demolish him, I warrant.
1 Woman [going close up to Bacchus in the true attitude of rage
and defiance, with the arms akimbo, and a neck and chin thrust
out] —
How I should like to strike those ugly teeth out
With a good big stone, you ravenous greedy villain !
THE MOCK HERCULES.
64
2
1 Woman —
And I should like to rip that gullet out
With a reaping hook that swallowed all my tripe, And liver and lights, — but I'll fetch Cleon here, And he shall summon him. He shall settle him, And have it out with him this very day.
You gormandizing villain, that I should —
Yes, that I should ; your wicked ugly fangs
That have eaten up my substance, and devoured me.
Woman —
And I could toss you into the public pit
With the malefactors' carcasses ; that I could, With pleasure and satisfaction ; that I could.
[Exeunt 1st and 2d Woman. Bacchus [in a pretended soliloquy] —
I love poor Xanthias dearly, that I do;
I wish I might be hanged else.
Xanthias — Yes, I know —
I know your meaning — No ; no more of that,
I won't act Hercules
Bacchus — Now pray don't say so,
My little Xanthias.
Xanthias — How should I be Hercules ?
A mortal and a slave, a fellow like me ? Bacchus —
I know you're angry, and you've a right to be angry : And if you beat me for it I'd not complain ;
But if ever I strip you again, from this time forward, I wish I may be utterly confounded,
With my wife, my children, and my family,
And the blear-eyed Archedemus into the bargain. Xanthias —
agree, then, on that oath and those conditions.
2Eacus enters again as a vulgar executioner of the law, with suitable understrappers in attendance.
[JEacus is exhibited in the following scene as the ideal character of a perfect and accomplished bailiff and thief-taker, and is marked by traits which prove that the genus has remained unchanged in the two thousand years between the times of Aristophanes and Fielding. The true hardness of mind is most strik ingly apparent in those passages where he means to be civil and accommodating. Thus Foote has characterized his Miser by traits of miserly liberality. ]
JEacus —
Arrest me there that fellow that stole the dog. There ! — Pinion him ! — Quick !
I
THE MOCK HERCULES.
55
Bacchus [tauntingly to Xanthias] —There's somebody in a scrape.
Xanthias [in a menacing attitude] — Keep off, and be hanged.
JEacus — Oh, hoh ! do you mean to fight for it ? Here ! Pardokas, and Skeblias, and the rest of ye,
Make up to the rogue, and settle him. Come, be quick.
[A scuffle ensues, in which Xanthias succeeds in obliging jEacus's runners to keep their distance. ]
Bacchus [mortified at Xanthias's prowess] — — Well, is not this quite monstrous and outrageous
To steal the dog, and then to make an assault
In justification of it. —
Xanthias [triumphantly and ironically]
jSSacub [gravely, and dissembling his mortification] —
Quite outrageous 1
An aggravated case !
Xanthias [with candor and gallantry] — Well, now — by Jupiter,
May I die ; but I never saw this place before —
Nor ever stole the amount of a farthing from you :
Nor a hair of your dog's tail — But you shall see now, I'll settle all this business nobly and fairly.
— This slave of mine — you may take and torture him; And if you make out anything against me,
You may take and put me to death for aught I care.
JEacus [in an obliging tone, softened into deference and civility by the liberality of Xanthias's proposal] —
But which way would you please to have him tortured ? Xanthias [with a gentlemanly spirit of accommodation] —
In your own way — with . . . . the lash — with . . . . knots and screws,
With . . . . the common usual customary tortures.
With the rack — with . . . . the water torture — any way — With fire and vinegar — all sorts of ways.
[After a very slight pause. There's only one thing I should warn you of :
I must not have him treated like a child,
To be whipt with fennel, or with lettuce leaves. jSHacus —
That's fair — and if so be . . . . he's maimed or crippled
In any respect — the valy shall be paid you. Xanthias —
Oh no! —by no means ! not to me ! —by no means ! You must not mention it ! — Take him to the torture.
56
THE MOCK HERCULES.
jEacus —
It had better be here, and under your own eye.
Bacchus —
Come you
— [To Bacchus. put down your bundles and make ready.
And mind — let me hear no lies !
Bacchus — I'll tell you what :
I'd advise people not to torture me ;
I give you notice — I'm a deity.
So mind now — you'll have nobody to blame But your own self
jEacus —
Wnat's that you're saying there ? Why, that I'm Bacchus, Jupiter's own son:
[Pointing to Xanthias.
That fellow there's a slave.
JEacus [to Xanthias] — Xanthias —
Do you hear ?
I hear him — A reason the more to give him a good beating ;
If he's immortal, he need never mind it. Bacchus —
Why should not you be beat as well as I, then,
If you're immortal, as you say you are ? Xanthias — —
Agreed and him, the first that you see flinching, Or seeming to mind it at all, you may set him down For an impostor and no real deity. —
JEacus [to Xanthias, with warmth and cordiality]
Ah, you're a worthy gentleman, I'll be bound for't ;
You're all for the truth and the proof. Come — strip there,
both o' ye. Xanthias —
But how can ye put us to the question fairly,
Upon equal terms ?
dSacus [in the tone of a person proposing a convenient, agreeable
arrangement] — Oh, easily enough. Conveniently enough — a lash apiece,
Each in your turn : you can have 'em one by one.
Xanthias —
That's right [putting himself in an attitude to receive the blows].
Now mind if you see me flinch or swerve. jEacus [strikes him, but without producing any expression of
pain] — I've struck.
Xanthias — Not you ! ^Eacus —
Why, it seems as if I had not.
I'll smite this other fellow. [Strikes Bacchus.
THE MOCK HERCULES. 57
Bacchus [pretending not to feel] — When will you do it ?
[^Eacus perseveres, and applies his discipline alternately to Bacchus and Xanthias, and extorts from them various involuntary exclamations of pain, which they immediately account for, and justify in some ridiculous way. The passage cannot be translated literally, but an idea may be given of it. Suppose Bacchus to receive a blow, he exclaims —]
Oh dear ! [and immediately subjoins] companions of my youthful years —
Xanthias [to Macus] —
Did ye hear ? he made an outcry.
JEacus — Bacchus —
A favorite passage from Archilochus.
What was that ?
[Xanthias receives a blow, and exclaims] — — 0 Jupiter ! [and subjoins] that on the Idean height
[and contends that he has been repeating the first line of a
well-known hymn. ] — JEacus [at length gives the matter up]
Well, after all my pains, I'm quite at a loss
To discover which is the true, real deity.
By the Holy Goddess — I'm completely puzzled ; 1 must take you before Proserpine and Pluto : Being gods themselves, they're likeliest to know.
Bacchus —
Why, that's a lucky thought. I only wish It had happened to occur before you beat us.
Scene : Xanthias and ^Eaous.
[When two persons, perfectly strangers, are thrown together in a situation which makes it advisable for them to commence an immediate intimacy, they commonly begin by discovering a marvelous coincidence of taste and judgment upon all current topics. This observation, which is not wholly superfluous here, appears to have been so far trite and hackneyed in the time of Aristophanes as to allow of its being exemplified in a piece of very brief burlesque. Xanthias and jEacus are the strangers ; they discover immediately an uniformity of feel ing and sentiment upon the topics most familiar to them as slaves, and conclude by a sudden pledge of friendship. It is to be observed that, in the dialogue which follows, iEacus never departs from the high ground of superiority in point of local information. All his answers have a slight tinge of irony, as if he was saying, " Yes — much you know about it l "]
^Sacus —
By Jupiter ! but he's a gentleman, That master of yours.
Xanthias — A gentleman ! To be sure he is : Why, he does nothing but wench and drink.
58
THE MOCK HERCULES.
JEacus —
His never striking you when you took his name — Outfacing him and contradicting him ! —
Xanthias —
It might have been worse for him if he had.
jEacus —
Well, that's well spoken, like a true-bred slave. It's just the sort of language I delight in.
Xanthias —
You love excuses ?
jEacus —
Yes, but Iprefer Cursing my master quietly in private.
Xanthias —
Mischief you're fond of ?
What think ye of muttering as you leave the room After a beating ?
jEacus — Xanthias —
Very fond, indeed.
jEacus — Xanthias —
Why, that's pleasant, too.
By Jove, is it ! But listening at the door To hear their secrets ?
jEacus — Xanthias —
Oh, there's nothing like it.
And then the reporting them in the neighborhood. jEacus —
That's beyond everything. — That's quite ecstatic. Xanthias —
Well, give me your hand. And there, take mine — and buss me —
And there again — and now for Jupiter's sake ! — (For he's the patron of our cuffs and beatings)
Do tell me what's that noise of people quarreling And abusing one another there within ?
jEacus [as if to say, " You're a new man — we're used to this "] — iEschylus and Euripides only ! — —
Xanth ias— Heh ? ? ? jEacus —
Why, there's a desperate business has broke out
Among these here dead people; — quite a tumult. Xanthias —
As how ?
^Eacus — First, there's a custom we have established
In favor of professors of the arts.
When any one, the first in his own line,
Comes down amongst us here, he stands entitled
THE MOCK HERCULES. 69
To privilege and precedence, with a seat
At Pluto's royal board.
Xanthias — Iunderstand you. uEacus —
So he maintains till there comes better
Of the same sort, and then resigns Xanthias —
But why should iEschylus be disturbed at this jEacus —
He held the seat for tragedy, as the master
In that profession.
Xanthias — Well, and who's there now
JEacus —
He kept till Euripides appeared: But he collected audiences about him,
And flourished, and exhibited, and harangued Before the thieves, and housebreakers, and rogues, Cut-purses, cheats, and vagabonds, and villains, That made the mass of population here
— [Pointing to the audience. being quite transported and delighted
And they
With his equivocations and evasions, —
His subtleties and niceties and quibbles
In short — they raised an uproar, and declared him Arch-poet, by general acclamation.
And he with this grew proud and confident,
And laid claim to the seat where JSschylus sat.
Xanthias —
And did not he get pelted for his pains
jEacus [with the dry concise importance of superior local informa
tion] —
Why, no — the mob called out, and was carried,
To have public trial of skill between them. Xanthias —
You mean the mob of scoundrels that you mentioned jEacus —
Scoundrels indeed Ay, scoundrels without number. Xanthias —
But jEschylus must have had good friends and hearty ^Eacus —
Yes—but good men are scarce both here and elsewhere. Xanthias
Well, what has Pluto settled to be done jSSacus —
To have an examination and trial In public.
up.
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60 THE MOCK HERCULES.
Xanthias — But how comes it ? — Sophocles ? — Why does not he put forth his claim amongst them ?
JEacus — — No, no!
—
I tell ye ; the first moment that he came,
He's not the kind of man
not he !
He went up to iEschylus and saluted him
And kissed his cheek and took his hand quite kindly ; And jEschylus edged a little from his seat
To give him room, so now the story goes
(At least I had it from Cleidemides) ;
He means to attend there as a stander-by,
Proposing to take up the conqueror ;
If iEschyhis gets the better, well and good,
He gives up his pretensions — but if not
He'll stand a trial, he says, against Euripides.
Xanthias —
There'll be strange doings.
^Eacus — That there will — and shortly — Here — in this place — strange things, I promise you ; A kind of thing that no man could have thought of ; Why, you'll see poetry weighed out and measured.
Xanthias —
What, will they bring their tragedies to the steelyards ?
JEacus — — Yes, will they
with their rules and compasses They'll measure, and examine, and compare,
And bring their plummets, and their lines and levels, To take the bearings — for Euripides
Says that he'll make a survey, word by word.
Xanthias —
JSschylus takes the thing to heart, I doubt.
JEacus —
He bent his brows and pored upon the ground ; I saw him.
Xanthias— Well, but who decides the business ? JEacus —
Why, there the difficulty lies — for judges,
True learned judges, are grown scarce, and JSschylus Objected to the Athenians absolutely.
Xanthias —
Considering them as rogues and villains mostly.
JEacms —
As being ignorant and empty generally;
And in their judgment of the stage particularly. In fine, they've fixed upon that master of yours, As having had some practice in the business.
GREEK WIT AND PHILOSOPHY. 61
GREEK WIT AND PHILOSOPHY. (Mainly from Diogenes Laertiua. ) Maxims of Pythagokas.
Do not stir the fire with a sword [roil the powerful].
Do not sit down on a bushel [idle in daily labor] .
Do not eat your heart [poison your life with envy] .
Do not help men to lay down burdens, but to bear heavier
ones.
Keep your bed packed up [be ready for misfortune].
Do not wear a god's image on a ring [trivialize sacred
things].
Efface the traces of a pot in the ashes [keep your private
affairs secret].
Do not wipe a seat with a lamp [use unsuitable or dangerous
means].
Do not walk in the main street [be independent in judgment].
Do not offer your right hand lightly.
Do not cherish swallows under your roof [? for fear those trying to smoke them out may fire the thatch : a warning against one-sided alliances? ]
Do not cherish birds with crooked talons [birds of prey]. Defile nothing.
Do not stand upon your nail parings or hair cuttings [sweep
away all traces of cast-off foibles ; make each advance in charac ter permanent].
Avoid a sharp sword [as dangerous to the owner as to the
foe].
When traveling, do not look back at your own borders
["let the dead past bury its dead"].
Aristipptts.
The tyrant Dionysius asked him why philosophers infest rich men's houses, not rich men philosophers' houses. Aristip pus answered, "Because philosophers know what they need and rich men don't. " " The same sneer being uttered at another time, he answered, Yes, and physicians infest sick men's houses; but nobody would be the patient rather than the doctor. "
62 GREEK WIT AND PHILOSOPHY.
He once asked Dionysius for money. Dionysius replied, " I thought philosophers had no need of money. " " Give," said Aristippus, " and I will answer you. " Dionysius gave him some gold pieces. " Now" said Aristippus, " I have no need of money. "
Being censured for wasting money on costly food, he an swered, " If you could buy the same things for a dime, wouldn't you do it? " "Yes," was the reply. "Then," he said, "it is you that are stingy, not I that am a gourmet. "
In a storm on shipboard, he showed such fright that another passenger said to him, " We common people keep our heads ; it takes you philosophers to play coward. " "That is because we risk losing something more than such worthless lives as yours," was the reply.
Having vainly tried to gain Dionysius' consent to a request, he at last threw himself at the tyrant's feet, and was successful. On being reproached for so meanly humiliating himself, he re plied, " It is not my fault, but that of Dionysius, who carries his ears in his feet. "
He said he took his friends' money, not so much to use it himself as to teach them how to use it.
His capricious obedience now to lofty theoretic principles and now to self-indulgent practical action caused Plato to say to him, " You are the only one who can wear a sound cloak and a mass of rags at once. "
Bias.
He too was once overtaken by a storm on shipboard. Among his companions were some very bad characters, who began to call on the gods for help. Bias said, " Hold your tongues ; don't let them know you are on board ! "
An unprincipled man asked him what piety was. He made no answer ; and on being asked the reason for his silence, re plied, "Because you are inquiring about things you have no concern with. "
Being shown a temple where votive offerings were hung, from sailors who had been saved from shipwreck after prayers to the gods for help, he asked, "But where are the offerings from those who were drowned after praying for help? "
GREEK WIT AND PHILOSOPHY.
Diogenes.
68
Some one asked him why people gave money to beggars and would not give it to philosophers. He replied, " Because they think they are much more likely to become beggars than phi losophers themselves. "
Plato had denned man as a featherless biped. Diogenes picked the feathers off a chicken and brought it to Plato's school, saying, as he showed it, "This is one of Plato's men. "
Asked when people should marry, he said, "Young men,
not yet; old men, never. " " Asked the best hour to dine, he answered, when you like ; if you are poor, when you can.