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Trygaeus enters, limping painfully, accompanied by Opora and Theoria.
Trygaeus
Ah! it's a rough job getting to the gods! [820] my legs are as good as broken through it. To the audience. How small you were, to be sure, when seen from heaven! you had all the appearance too of being great rascals; but seen close, you look even worse. Servant
Coming out of Trygaeus' house.
Is that you, master? Trygaeus
So I've been told. Servant
[825] What has happened to you? Trygaeus
My legs pain me; it was such a dammed long journey. Servant
Oh! tell me ... Trygaeus
What? Servant
Did you see any other man besides yourself strolling about in heaven? Trygaeus
No, only the souls of two or three dithyrambic poets. Servant
[830] What were they doing up there? Trygaeus
They were seeking to catch some lyric exordia as they flew by immersed in the billows of the air. Servant
Is it true, what they tell us, that men are turned into stars after death? Trygaeus
Quite true. Servant
And who is the star over there now? Trygaeus
[835] Ion of Chios. The one who once wrote a poem about the dawn; as soon as he got up there, everyone called him the Morning Star. Servant
And those stars like sparks, that plough up the air as they dart across the sky? Trygaeus
They are [840] the rich leaving the feast with a lantern and a light inside it. —But hurry up, show this young girl into my house, pointing to Opora. clean out the bath, heat some water and prepare the nuptial couch for herself and me. [845] When that's done, come back here; meanwhile I am off to present this other one to the Senate. Servant
But where then did you get these girls? Trygaeus
Where? why in heaven. Servant
I would not give more than an obolus for gods who have got to keeping brothels like us mere mortals. Trygaeus
[850] They are not all like that, but there are some up there too who live by this trade. Servant
Come, that's rich! But tell me, shall I give her something to eat? Trygaeus
No, for she would touch neither bread nor cake; she is used to licking ambrosia at the table of the gods. Servant
[855] Well, we can give her something to lick down here too.He takes Opora into the house.
Aristophanes. Peace. The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938.
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