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Exit
Interlude of dancing by the Chorus.

Plutus
I adore thee, oh! thou divine sun, and thee I greet, thou city, the beloved of Pallas; be welcome, thou land of Cecrops, which hast received me. Alas! [775] what manner of men I associated with! I blush to think of it. While, on the other hand, I shunned those who deserved my friendship; I knew neither the vices of the ones nor the virtues of the others. A two-fold mistake, and in both cases equally fatal! Ah! what a misfortune was mine! But I want to change everything; [780] and in the future I mean to prove to mankind that, if I gave to the wicked, it was against my will.

Chremylus
To the wings
Get you gone! Oh! what a lot of friends spring into being when you are fortunate! They dig me with their elbows and bruise my shins [785] to prove their affection. Each one wants to greet me. What a crowd of old fellows thronged round me on the market-place!

Wife
Oh! thou, who art dearest of all to me, and thou too, be welcome! Allow me, Plutus, [790] to shower these gifts of welcome over you in due accord with custom.

Plutus
No. This is the first house I enter after having regained my sight; I shall take nothing from it, for it is my place rather to give.

Wife
Do you refuse these gifts?

Plutus
[795] I will accept them at your fireside, as custom requires. Besides, we shall thus avoid a ridiculous scene; it is not meet that the poet should throw dried figs and dainties to the spectators; it is a vulgar trick to make them laugh.

Wife
[800] You are right. Look! yonder's Dexinicus, who was already getting to his feet to catch the figs as they flew past him.

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    • Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, The Article
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