Aristophanes, Frogs
Matthew Dillon, Ed.

Euripides
All right then, I'll turn to your prologues themselves,
so that first of all I can test the first section
of this clever poet's tragedy.
For he was unclear in the explanation of events.

Dionysus
Which one of his will you test?

Euripides
Quite a lot.
First, recite to me the start of the Oresteia.

Dionysus
Now silence, every one! Speak, Aeschylus.

Aeschylus
“Subterranean Hermes, guardian of my father's realms,
Become my savior and my ally, in answer to my prayer.
For I am come and do return to this my land.”

Dionysus
Do you have something to criticize in this?

Euripides
More than a dozen.

Dionysus
But the whole thing wasn't more than three lines.

Euripides
And each one has twenty mistakes.

Dionysus
I warn you to keep quiet, Aeschylus—if not,
on top of these three verses you'll wind up owing more.

Aeschylus
ME be quiet for HIM?

Dionysus
If you take my advice.

Euripides
Right off he made mistakes as high as heaven.

Aeschylus
You see that you're ranting!

Euripides
Doesn't bother me in the least.

Aeschylus
What mistakes do you claim I make?

Euripides
Repeat it from the start one more time.

Aeschylus
“Subterranean Hermes, guardian of my father's realms,”—

Euripides
Doesn't Orestes say this at the grave
Of his dead father?

Aeschylus
I grant that much.

Euripides
Well, seeing that his father died a death
of violence, slain by a woman's hand,
in a secret plot, how can he say that Hermes guarded anything?

Dionysus
Not that one, but the Luck-Bringer
Hermes he called “Subterranean”, and he made it clear by saying
that he has this function from his father.

Euripides
You made an even bigger mistake than I imagined.
For if he has this underground junction from his father—

Dionysus
Then he'd be a grave robber on his father's side.

Aeschylus
Dionysus, the wine you drink doesn't smell too good.

Dionysus
Recite another for him. And you watch out for damage.

Aeschylus
“Become my savior and my ally, in answer to my prayer.
For I am come and do return to this my land.”

Euripides
Sage Aeschylus has said the same thing twice.

Dionysus
How twice?

Euripides
Look at his words and I'll tell you.
“I am come to this my land”, he says, “and do return.”
To come is the same thing as to return.