EURIPIDES. Stand up; I am now going to remove your hair. Bend down.
MNESILOCHUS. Alas! alas! they are going to grill me like a pig.
EURIPIDES. Come now, a torch or a lamp! Bend down and take care of the
tender end of your tail!
MNESILOCHUS. Aye, aye! but I'm afire! oh! oh! Water, water, neighbour, or
my rump will be alight!
EURIPIDES. Keep up your courage!
MNESILOCHUS. Keep my courage, when I'm being burnt up?
EURIPIDES. Come, cease your whining, the worst is over.
MNESILOCHUS. Oh! it's quite black, all burnt below there all about the
hole!
EURIPIDES. Don't worry! that will be washed off with a sponge.
MNESILOCHUS. Woe to him who dares to wash my rump!
EURIPIDES. Agathon, you refuse to devote yourself to helping me; but at
any rate lend me a tunic and a belt. You cannot say you have not got
them.
AGATHON. Take them and use them as you like; I consent.
MNESILOCHUS. What must be taken?
EURIPIDES. What must be taken? First put on this long saffron-coloured
robe.
MNESILOCHUS. By Aphrodité! what a sweet odour! how it smells of a man's
genitals![565] Hand it me quickly. And the belt?
EURIPIDES. Here it is.
MNESILOCHUS. Now some rings for my legs.
EURIPIDES. You still want a hair-net and a head-dress.
AGATHON. Here is my night-cap.
EURIPIDES. Ah! that's capital.
MNESILOCHUS. Does it suit me?
AGATHON. It could not be better.
EURIPIDES. And a short mantle?
AGATHON. There's one on the couch; take it.
EURIPIDES. He wants slippers.
AGATHON. Here are mine.