CHREMYLUS. But of you they never tire. Has a man got thirteen talents, he
has all the greater ardour to possess sixteen; is that wish achieved, he
will want forty or will complain that he knows not how to make the two
ends meet.
PLUTUS. All this, methinks, is very true; there is but one point that
makes me feel a bit uneasy.
CHREMYLUS. And that is?
PLUTUS. How could I use this power, which you say I have?
CHREMYLUS. Ah! they were quite right who said, there's nothing more
timorous than Plutus.
PLUTUS. No, no; it was a thief who calumniated me. Having broken into a
house, he found everything locked up and could take nothing, so he dubbed
my prudence fear.
CHREMYLUS. Don't be disturbed; if you support me zealously, I'll make you
more sharp-sighted than Lynceus.[756]
PLUTUS. And how should you be able to do that, you, who are but a mortal?
CHREMYLUS. I have great hope, after the answer Apollo gave me, shaking
his sacred laurels the while.
PLUTUS. Is _he_ in the plot then?
CHREMYLUS. Aye, truly.
PLUTUS. Take care what you say.
CHREMYLUS. Never fear, friend; for, be well assured, that if it has to
cost me my life, I will carry out what I have in my head.
CARIO. And I will help you, if you permit it.
CHREMYLUS. We shall have many other helpers as well--all the worthy folk
who are wanting for bread.
PLUTUS. Ah! ha! they'll prove sorry helpers.
CHREMYLUS. No, not so, once they've grown rich. But you, Cario, run quick
...
CARIO. Where?
CHREMYLUS. ... to call my comrades, the other husbandmen, that each of
them may come here to take his share of the gifts of Plutus.
CARIO. I'm off. But let someone come from the house to take this morsel
of meat.[757]
CHREMYLUS. I'll see to that; you run your hardest. As for you, Plutus,
the most excellent of all the gods, come in here with me; this is the
house you must fill with riches today, by fair means or foul.[758]
PLUTUS. I don't like at all going into other folks' houses in this
manner; I have never got any good from it. If I got inside a miser's
house, straightway he would bury me deep underground; if some honest
fellow among his friends came to ask him for the smallest coin, he would
deny ever having seen me. Then if I went to a fool's house, he would
sacrifice me as a prey to gaming and to girls, and very soon I should be
completely stripped and pitched out of doors.
CHREMYLUS. That's because you have never met a man who knew how to avoid
the two extremes; moderation is the strong point in my character. I love
saving as much as anybody, and I know how to spend, when 'tis needed. But
let us go in; I want to make you known to my wife and to my only son,
whom I love most of all after yourself.
PLUTUS. Aye, after myself, I'm very sure of that.
CHREMYLUS. Why should I hide the truth from you?
CARIO. Come, you active workers, who, like my master, eat nothing but
garlic and the poorest food, you who are his friends and his neighbours,
hasten your steps, hurry yourselves; there's not a moment to lose; this
is the critical hour, when your presence and your support is needed by
him.
CHORUS. Why, don't you see we are speeding as fast as men can, who are
already enfeebled by age? But do you deem it fitting to make us run like
this before ever telling us why your master has called us?
CARIO. I've grown hoarse with the telling, but you won't listen. My
master is going to drag you all out of the stupid, sapless life you are
leading and ensure you one full of all delights.
CHORUS. And how is he going to manage that?
CARIO. My poor friends, he has brought with him a disgusting old fellow,
all bent and wrinkled, with a most pitiful appearance, bald and
toothless; upon my word, I even believe he is circumcised like some vile
barbarian.
CHORUS. These are news worth their weight in gold! What are you saying?
Repeat it to me; no doubt it means he is bringing back a heap of wealth.
CARIO. No, but a heap of all the infirmities attendant on old age.
CHORUS. If you are tricking us, you shall pay us for it. Beware of our
sticks!
CARIO. Do you deem me so brazen as all that, and my words mere lies?
CHORUS. What serious airs the rascal puts on! Look! his legs are already
shrieking, "oh! oh!" they are asking for the shackles and wedges.
CARIO. 'Tis in the tomb that 'tis your lot to judge. Why don't you go
there? Charon has given you your ticket.[759]
CHORUS. Plague take you! you cursed rascal, who rail at us and have not
even the heart to tell us why your master has made us come. We were
pressed for time and tired out, yet we came with all haste, and in our
hurry we have passed by lots of wild onions without even gathering them.
CARIO. I will no longer conceal the truth from you. Friends, 'tis Plutus
whom my master brings, Plutus, who will give you riches.
CHORUS. What! we shall really all become rich!
CARIO. Aye, certainly; you will then be Midases, provided you grow ass's
ears.
CHORUS. What joy, what happiness! If what you tell me is true, I long to
dance with delight.
CARIO. And I too, threttanello![760] I want to imitate Cyclops and lead
your troop by stamping like this.[761] Do you, my dear little ones, cry,
aye, cry again and bleat forth the plaintive song of the sheep and of the
stinking goats; follow me with erected organs like lascivious goats ready
for action.
CHORUS. As for us, threttanello! we will seek you, dear Cyclops,
bleating, and if we find you with your wallet full of fresh herbs, all
disgusting in your filth, sodden with wine and sleeping in the midst of
your sheep, we will seize a great flaming stake and burn out your
eye.[762]
CARIO. I will copy that Circé of Corinth,[763] whose potent philtres
compelled the companions of Philonides to swallow balls of dung, which
she herself had kneaded with her hands, as if they were swine; and do you
too grunt with joy and follow your mother, my little pigs.
CHORUS. Oh! Circé[764] with the potent philtres, who besmear your
companions so filthily, what pleasure I shall have in imitating the son
of Laertes! I will hang you up by your testicles,[765] I will rub your
nose with dung like a goat, and like Aristyllus[766] you shall say
through your half-opened lips, "Follow your mother, my little pigs."
CARIO. Enough of tomfoolery, assume a grave demeanour; unknown to my
master I am going to take bread and meat; and when I have fed well, I
shall resume my work.
CHREMYLUS. To say, "Hail! my dear neighbours!" is an old form of greeting
and well worn with use; so therefore I embrace you, because you have not
crept like tortoises, but have come rushing here in all haste. Now help
me to watch carefully and closely over the god.
CHORUS. Be at ease. You shall see with what martial zeal I will guard
him. What! we jostle each other at the Assembly for three obols, and am I
going to let Plutus in person be stolen from me?
CHREMYLUS. But I see Blepsidemus; by his bearing and his haste I can
readily see he knows or suspects something.
BLEPSIDEMUS. What has happened then? Whence, how has Chremylus suddenly
grown rich? I don't believe a word of it. Nevertheless, nothing but his
sudden fortune was being talked about in the barbers' booths. But I am
above all surprised that his good fortune has not made him forget his
friends; that is not the usual way!
CHREMYLUS. By the gods, Blepsidemus, I will hide nothing from you. To-day
things are better than yesterday; let us share, for are you not my
friend?
BLEPSIDEMUS. Have you really grown rich as they say?
CHREMYLUS I shall be soon, if the god agrees to it. But there is still
some risk to run.
BLEPSIDEMUS. What risk?
CHREMYLUS. What risk?
BLEPSIDEMUS. What do you mean? Explain.
CHREMYLUS. If we succeed, we are happy for ever, but if we fail, it is
all over with us.
BLEPSIDEMUS. 'Tis a bad business, and one that doesn't please me! To grow
rich all at once and yet to be fearful! ah! I suspect something that's
little good.
CHREMYLUS. What do you mean, that's little good?
BLEPSIDEMUS. No doubt you have just stolen some gold and silver from some
temple and are repenting.
CHREMYLUS. Nay! heaven preserve me from that!
BLEPSIDEMUS. A truce to idle phrases! the thing is only too apparent, my
friend.
CHREMYLUS. Don't suspect such a thing of me.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Alas! then there is no honest man! not one, that can resist
the attraction of gold!
CHREMYLUS. By Demeter, you have no common sense.
BLEPSIDEMUS. To have to persist like this in denial one's whole life
long!
CHREMYLUS. But, good gods, you are mad, my dear fellow!
BLEPSIDEMUS. His very look is distraught; he has done some crime!
CHREMYLUS. Ah! I know the tune you are playing now; you think I have
stolen, and want your share.
BLEPSIDEMUS. My share of what, pray?
CHREMYLUS. You are beside the mark; the thing is quite otherwise.
BLEPSIDEMUS. 'Tis perhaps not a theft, but some piece of knavery!
CHREMYLUS. You are insane!
BLEPSIDEMUS. What? You have done no man an injury?
CHREMYLUS. No! assuredly not!
BLEPSIDEMUS. But, great gods, what am I to think? You won't tell me the
truth.
CHREMYLUS. You accuse me without really knowing anything.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Listen, friend, no doubt the matter can yet be hushed up,
before it gets noised abroad, at trifling expense; I will buy the
orators' silence.
CHREMYLUS. Aye, you will lay out three minae and, as my friend, you will
reckon twelve against me.
BLEPSIDEMUS. I know someone who will come and seat himself at the foot of
the tribunal, holding a supplicant's bough in his hand and surrounded by
his wife and children, for all the world like the Heraclidae of
Pamphilus.[767]
CHREMYLUS. Not at all, poor fool! But, thanks to me, worthy folk,
intelligent and moderate men alone shall be rich henceforth.
BLEPSIDEMUS. What are you saying? Have you then stolen so much as all
that?
CHREMYLUS. Oh! your insults will be the death of me.
BLEPSIDEMUS. 'Tis rather you yourself who are courting death.
CHREMYLUS. Not so, you wretch, since I have Plutus.
BLEPSIDEMUS. You have Plutus? Which one?
CHREMYLUS. The god himself.
BLEPSIDEMUS. And where is he?
CHREMYLUS. There.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Where?
CHREMYLUS. Indoors.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Indoors?
CHREMYLUS. Aye, certainly.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Get you gone! Plutus in your house?
CHREMYLUS. Yes, by the gods!
BLEPSIDEMUS. Are you telling me the truth?
CHREMYLUS. I am.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Swear it by Hestia.
CHREMYLUS. I swear it by Posidon.
BLEPSIDEMUS. The god of the sea?
CHREMYLUS. Aye, and by all the other Posidons, if such there be.
BLEPSIDEMUS. And you don't send him to us, to your friends?
CHREMYLUS. We've not got to that point yet.
BLEPSIDEMUS. What do you say? Is there no chance of sharing?
CHREMYLUS. Why, no. We must first ...
BLEPSIDEMUS. Do what?
CHREMYLUS. ... restore him his sight.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Restore whom his sight? Speak!
CHREMYLUS. Plutus. It must be done, no matter how.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Is he then really blind?
CHREMYLUS. Yes, undoubtedly.
BLEPSIDEMUS. I am no longer surprised he never came to me.
CHREMYLUS. And it please the gods, he'll come there now.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Must we not go and seek a physician?
CHREMYLUS. Seek physicians at Athens? Nay! there's no art where there's
no fee.[768]
BLEPSIDEMUS. Let's bethink ourselves well.
CHREMYLUS. There is not one.
BLEPSIDEMUS. 'Tis a positive fact, I don't know of one.
CHREMYLUS. But I have thought the matter well over, and the best thing is
to make Plutus lie in the Temple of Aesculapius.[769]
BLEPSIDEMUS. Aye, unquestionably 'tis the very best thing. Be quick and
lead him away to the Temple.
CHREMYLUS. I am going there.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Then hurry yourself.
CHREMYLUS. 'Tis just what I am doing.
POVERTY. Unwise, perverse, unholy men! What are you daring to do, you
pitiful, wretched mortals? Whither are you flying? Stop! I command it!
BLEPSIDEMUS. Oh! great gods!
POVERTY. My arm shall destroy you, you infamous beings! Such an attempt
is not to be borne; neither man nor god has ever dared the like. You
shall die!
CHREMYLUS. And who are you? Oh! what a ghastly pallor!
BLEPSIDEMUS. 'Tis perchance some Erinnys, some Fury, from the
theatre;[770] there's a kind of wild tragedy look in her eyes.
CHREMYLUS. But she has no torch.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Let's knock her down!
POVERTY. Who do you think I am?
CHREMYLUS. Some wine-shop keeper or egg-woman. Otherwise you would not
have shrieked so loud at us, who have done nothing to you.
POVERTY. Indeed? And have you not done me the most deadly injury by
seeking to banish me from every country?
CHREMYLUS. Why, have you not got the Barathrum[771] left? But who are
you? Answer me quickly!
POVERTY. I am one that will punish you this very day for having wanted to
make me disappear from here.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Might it be the tavern-keeper in my neighbourhood, who is
always cheating me in measure?
POVERTY. I am Poverty, who have lived with you for so many years.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Oh! great Apollo! oh, ye gods! whither shall I fly?
CHREMYLUS. Now then! what are you doing? You poltroon! Will you kindly
stop here?
BLEPSIDEMUS. Not I.
CHREMYLUS. Will you have the goodness to stop. Are two men to fly from a
woman?
BLEPSIDEMUS. But, you wretch, 'tis Poverty, the most fearful monster that
ever drew breath.
CHREMYLUS. Stay where you are, I beg of you.
BLEPSIDEMUS. No! no! a thousand times, no!
CHREMYLUS. Could we do anything worse than leave the god in the lurch and
fly before this woman without so much as ever offering to fight?
BLEPSIDEMUS. But what weapons have we? Are we in a condition to show
fight? Where is the breastplate, the buckler, that this wretch has not
pledged?
CHREMYLUS. Be at ease. Plutus will readily triumph over her threats
unaided.
POVERTY. Dare you reply, you scoundrels, you who are caught red-handed at
the most horrible crime?
CHREMYLUS. As for you, you cursed jade, you pursue me with your abuse,
though I have never done you the slightest harm.
POVERTY. Do you think it is doing me no harm to restore Plutus to the use
of his eyes?
CHREMYLUS. Is this doing you harm, that we shower blessings on all men?
POVERTY. And what do you think will ensure their happiness?
CHREMYLUS. Ah! first of all we shall drive you out of Greece.
POVERTY. Drive me out? Could you do mankind a greater harm?
CHREMYLUS. Yes--if I gave up my intention to deliver them from you.
POVERTY. Well, let us discuss this point first. I propose to show that I
am the sole cause of all your blessings, and that your safety depends on
me alone. If I don't succeed, then do what you like to me.
CHREMYLUS. How dare you talk like this, you impudent hussy?
POVERTY. Agree to hear me and I think it will be very easy for me to
prove that you are entirely on the wrong road, when you want to make the
just men wealthy.
BLEPSIDEMUS. Oh! cudgel and rope's end, come to my help!
POVERTY. Why such wrath and these shouts, before you hear my arguments?
BLEPSIDEMUS. But who could listen to such words without exclaiming?
POVERTY. Any man of sense.
CHREMYLUS. But if you lose your case, what punishment will you submit to?
POVERTY. Choose what you will.
CHREMYLUS. That's all right.
POVERTY. You shall suffer the same if you are beaten!
CHREMYLUS. Do you think twenty deaths a sufficiently large stake?
BLEPSIDEMUS. Good enough for her, but for us two would suffice.
POVERTY. You won't escape, for is there indeed a single valid argument to
oppose me with?
CHORUS. To beat her in this debate, you must call upon all your wits.
Make no allowances and show no weakness!
CHREMYLUS. It is right that the good should be happy, that the wicked and
the impious, on the other hand, should be miserable; that is a truth, I
believe, which no one will gainsay. To realize this condition of things
is as great a proposal as it is noble and useful in every respect, and we
have found a means of attaining the object of our wishes. If Plutus
recovers his sight and ceases from wandering about unseeing and at
random, he will go to seek the just men and never leave them again; he
will shun the perverse and ungodly; so, thanks to him, all men will
become honest, rich and pious. Can anything better be conceived for the
public weal?
BLEPSIDEMUS. Of a certainty, no! I bear witness to that. It is not even
necessary she should reply.
CHREMYLUS. Does it not seem that everything is extravagance in the world,
or rather madness, when you watch the way things go? A crowd of rogues
enjoy blessings they have won by sheer injustice, while more honest folks
are miserable, die of hunger, and spend their whole lives with you.
CHORUS. Yes, if Plutus became clear-sighted again and drove out Poverty,
'twould be the greatest blessing possible for the human race.
POVERTY. Here are two old men, whose brains are easy to confuse, who
assist each other to talk rubbish and drivel to their hearts' content.
But if your wishes were realized, your profit would be great! Let Plutus
recover his sight and divide his favours out equally to all, and none
will ply either trade or art any longer; all toil would be done away
with. Who would wish to hammer iron, build ships, sew, turn, cut up
leather, bake bricks, bleach linen, tan hides, or break up the soil of
the earth with the plough and garner the gifts of Demeter, if he could
live in idleness and free from all this work?
CHREMYLUS. What nonsense all this is! All these trades which you just
mention will be plied by our slaves.
POVERTY. Your slaves! And by what means will these slaves be got?
CHREMYLUS. We will buy them.
POVERTY. But first say, who will sell them, if everyone is rich?
CHREMYLUS. Some greedy dealer from Thessaly--the land which supplies so
many.
POVERTY. But if your system is applied, there won't be a single
slave-dealer left. What rich man would risk his life to devote himself to
this traffic? You will have to toil, to dig and submit yourself to all
kinds of hard labour; so that your life would be more wretched even than
it is now.
CHREMYLUS. May this prediction fall upon yourself!
POVERTY. You will not be able to sleep in a bed, for no more will ever be
manufactured; nor on carpets, for who would weave them if he had gold?
When you bring a young bride to your dwelling, you will have no essences
wherewith to perfume her, nor rich embroidered cloaks dyed with dazzling
colours in which to clothe her. And yet what is the use of being rich, if
you are to be deprived of all these enjoyments? On the other hand, you
have all that you need in abundance, thanks to me; to the artisan I am
like a severe mistress, who forces him by need and poverty to seek the
means of earning his livelihood.
CHREMYLUS. And what good thing can you give us, unless it be burns in the
bath,[772] and swarms of brats and old women who cry with hunger, and
clouds uncountable of lice, gnats and flies, which hover about the
wretch's head, trouble him, awake him and say, "You will be hungry, but
get up!" Besides, to possess a rag in place of a mantle, a pallet of
rushes swarming with bugs, that do not let you close your eyes for a bed;
a rotten piece of matting for a coverlet; a big stone for a pillow, on
which to lay your head; to eat mallow roots instead of bread, and leaves
of withered radish instead of cake; to have nothing but the cover of a
broken jug for a stool, the stave of a cask, and broken at that, for a
kneading-trough, that is the life you make for us! Are these the mighty
benefits with which you pretend to load mankind?
POVERTY. 'Tis not my life that you describe; you are attacking the
existence beggars lead.
CHREMYLUS. Is beggary not Poverty's sister?
POVERTY. Thrasybulus and Dionysius[773] are one and the same according to
you. No, my life is not like that and never will be. The beggar, whom you
have depicted to us, never possesses anything. The poor man lives
thriftily and attentive to his work; he has not got too much, but he does
not lack what he really needs.
CHREMYLUS. Oh! what a happy life, by Demeter! to live sparingly, to toil
incessantly and not to leave enough to pay for a tomb!
POVERTY. That's it! Jest, jeer, and never talk seriously! But what you
don't know is this, that men with me are worth more, both in mind and
body, than with Plutus. With him they are gouty, big-bellied, heavy of
limb and scandalously stout; with me they are thin, wasp-waisted, and
terrible to the foe.
CHREMYLUS. 'Tis no doubt by starving them that you give them that waspish
waist.
POVERTY. As for behaviour, I will prove to you that modesty dwells with
me and insolence with Plutus.
CHREMYLUS. Oh! the sweet modesty of stealing and breaking through
walls.[774]
BLEPSIDEMUS. Aye, the thief is truly modest, for he hides himself.
POVERTY. Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor,
both State and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they
are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice,
plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.
CHREMYLUS. That is absolutely true, although your tongue is very vile.
But it matters not, so don't put on those triumphant airs; you shall not
be punished any the less for having tried to persuade me that poverty is
worth more than wealth.
POVERTY. Not being able to refute my arguments, you chatter at random and
exert yourself to no purpose.
CHREMYLUS. Then tell me this, why does all mankind flee from you?
POVERTY. Because I make them better. Children do the very same; they flee
from the wise counsels of their fathers. So difficult is it to see one's
true interest.
CHREMYLUS. Will you say that Zeus cannot discern what is best? Well, he
takes Plutus to himself ...
BLEPSIDEMUS. ... and banishes Poverty to earth.
POVERTY. Ah me! how purblind you are, you old fellows of the days of
Saturn! Why, Zeus is poor, and I will clearly prove it to you. In the
Olympic games, which he founded, and to which he convokes the whole of
Greece every four years, why does he only crown the victorious athletes
with wild olive? If he were rich he would give them gold.
CHREMYLUS. 'Tis in that way he shows that he clings to his wealth; he is
sparing with it, won't part with any portion of it, only bestows baubles
on the victors and keeps his money for himself.
POVERTY. But wealth coupled to such sordid greed is yet more shameful
than poverty.
CHREMYLUS. May Zeus destroy you, both you and your chaplet of wild olive!
POVERTY. Thus you dare to maintain that poverty is not the fount of all
blessings!
CHREMYLUS. Ask Hecaté[775] whether it is better to be rich or starving;
she will tell you that the rich send her a meal every month and that the
poor make it disappear before it is even served. But go and hang yourself
and don't breathe another syllable. I will not be convinced against my
will.