MNESILOCHUS. 'Tis a certain.... Oh! my god!
CLISTHENES. You don't answer.
FIFTH WOMAN. Withdraw, all of you; I am going to examine her thoroughly
about last year's mysteries. But move away, Clisthenes, for no man may
hear what is going to be said. Now answer my questions! What was done
first?
MNESILOCHUS. Let's see then. What was done first? Oh! we drank.
FIFTH WOMAN. And then?
MNESILOCHUS. We drank to our healths.
FIFTH WOMAN. You will have heard that from someone. And then?
MNESILOCHUS. Xenylla relieved herself in a cup, for there was no other
vessel.
FIFTH WOMAN. You trifle. Here, Clisthenes, here! This is the man of whom
you spoke.
CLISTHENES. What is to be done then?
FIFTH WOMAN. Take off his clothes, I can get nothing out of him.
MNESILOCHUS. What! are you going to strip a mother of nine children
naked?
CLISTHENES. Come, undo your girdle, you shameless thing.
FIFTH WOMAN. Ah! what a sturdy frame! but she has no breasts like we
have.
MNESILOCHUS. That's because I'm barren. I never had any children.
FIFTH WOMAN. Oh! indeed! just now you were the mother of nine.
CLISTHENES. Stand up straight. Hullo! what do I see there? Why, a penis
sticking out behind.
FIFTH WOMAN. There's no mistaking it; you can see it projecting, and a
fine red it is.
CLISTHENES. Where has it gone to now?
FIFTH WOMAN. To the front.
CLISTHENES. No.
FIFTH WOMAN. Ah! 'tis behind now.
CLISTHENES. Why, friend, 'tis for all the world like the Isthmus; you
keep pulling your tool backwards and forwards just as the Corinthians do
their ships.[601]
FIFTH WOMAN. Ah! the wretch! this is why he insulted us and defended
Euripides.
MNESILOCHUS. Aye, wretch indeed, what troubles have I not got into now!
FIFTH WOMAN. What shall we do?
CLISTHENES. Watch him closely, so that he does not escape. As for me, I
go to report the matter to the magistrates, the Prytanes.
CHORUS. Let us kindle our lamps; let us go firmly to work and with
courage, let us take off our cloaks and search whether some other man has
not come here too; let us pass round the whole Pnyx,[602] examine the
tents and the passages.[603] Come, be quick, let us start off on a light
toe[604] and rummage all round in silence. Let us hasten, let us finish
our round as soon as possible. Look quickly for the traces that might
show you a man hidden here, let your glance fall on every side; look well
to the right and to the left. If we seize some impious fellow, woe to
him! He will know how we punish the outrage, the crime, the sacrilege.
The criminal will then acknowledge at last that gods exist; his fate will
teach all men that the deities must be revered, that justice must be
observed and that they must submit to the sacred laws. If not, then woe
to them! Heaven itself will punish sacrilege; being aflame with fury and
mad with frenzy, all their deeds will prove to mortals, both men and
women, that the deity punishes injustice and impiety, and that she is not
slow to strike. But I think I have now searched everywhere and that no
other man is hidden among us.
SIXTH WOMAN. Where is he flying to? Stop him! stop him! Ah! miserable
woman that I am, he has torn my child from my breast and has disappeared
with it.
MNESILOCHUS. Scream as loud as you will, but he shall never suck your
bosom more. If you do not let me go this very instant, I am going to cut
open the veins of his thighs with this cutlass and his blood shall flow
over the altar.
SIXTH WOMAN. Oh! great gods! oh! friends, help me! terrify him with your
shrieks, triumph over this monster, permit him not to rob me of my only
child.
CHORUS. Oh! oh! venerable Parcae, what fresh attack is this? 'Tis the
crowning act of audacity and shamelessness! What has he done now,
friends, what has he done?
MNESILOCHUS. Ah! this insolence passes all bounds, but I shall know how
to curb it.
CHORUS. What a shameful deed! the measure of his iniquities is full!
SIXTH WOMAN. Aye, 'tis shameful that he should have robbed me of my
child.
CHORUS. 'Tis past belief to be so criminal and so impudent!
MNESILOCHUS. Ah! you're not near the end of it yet.
SIXTH WOMAN. Little I care whence you come; you shall not return to boast
of having acted so odiously with impunity, for you shall be punished.
MNESILOCHUS. You won't do it, by the gods!
CHORUS. And what immortal would protect you for your crime?
MNESILOCHUS. 'Tis in vain you talk! I shall not let go the child.
CHORUS. By the goddesses, you will not laugh presently over your crime
and your impious speech. For with impiety, as 'tis meet, shall we reply
to your impiety. Soon fortune will turn round and overwhelm you. Come!
bring wood along. Let us burn the wretch, let us roast him as quickly as
possible.
SIXTH WOMAN. Bring faggots, Mania! (_To Mnesilochus._) You will be mere
charcoal soon.
CHORUS. Grill away, roast me, but you, my child, take off this Cretan
robe and blame no one but your mother for your death. But what does this
mean? The little girl is nothing but a skin filled with wine and shod
with Persian slippers.[605] Oh! you wanton, you tippling woman, who think
of nothing but wine; you are a fortune to the drinking-shops and are our
ruin; for the sake of drink, you neglect both your household and your
shuttle!
SIXTH WOMAN. Faggots, Mania, plenty of them.
MNESILOCHUS. Bring as many as you like. But answer me; are you the mother
of this brat?