This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
Leader of the Chorus
[1300] It is said that the triremes assembled in council and that the oldest spoke in these terms, “Are you ignorant, my sisters, of what is plotting in Athens? They say that a certain Hyperbolus, a bad citizen and an infamous scoundrel, asks for a hundred of us to take them to sea against Carthage.” [1305] All were indignant, and one of them, as yet a virgin, cried, “May god forbid that I should ever obey him! I would prefer to grow old in the harbor and be gnawed by worms. No! by the gods I swear it, Nauphante, daughter of Nauson, shall never bend to his law; [1310] that's as true as I am made of wood and pitch. If the Athenians vote for the proposal of Hyperbolus, let them! we will hoist full sail and seek refuge by the temple of Theseus or the shrine of the Eumenides. No! he shall not command us! No! he shall not play with the city to this extent! Let him sail by himself for Tartarus, if such please him, [1315] launching the boats in which he used to sell his lamps.”
Aristophanes. Knights. The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.