OLD WOMAN. Ah! friend, I am pining away with grief.
CHREMYLUS. You are rotting away, it seems to me.
OLD WOMAN. I have grown so thin, I could slip through a ring.
CHREMYLUS. Yes, if 'twere as large as the hoop of a sieve.
OLD WOMAN. But here is the youth, the cause of my complaint; he looks as
though he were going to a festival.
CHREMYLUS. Yes, if his chaplet and his torch are any guides.
YOUTH. Greeting to you.
OLD WOMAN. What does he say?
YOUTH. My ancient old dear, you have grown white very quickly, by heaven!
OLD WOMAN. Oh! what an insult!
CHREMYLUS. It is a long time, then, since he saw you?
OLD WOMAN. A long time? My god! he was with me yesterday.
CHREMYLUS. It must be, then, that, unlike other people, he sees more
clearly when he's drunk.
OLD WOMAN. No, but I have always known him for an insolent fellow.
YOUTH. Oh! divine Posidon! Oh, ye gods of old age! what wrinkles she has
on her face!
OLD WOMAN. Oh! oh! keep your distance with that torch.
CHREMYLUS. Yes, 'twould be as well; if a single spark were to reach her,
she would catch alight like an old olive branch.
YOUTH. I propose to have a game with you.
OLD WOMAN. Where, naughty boy?
YOUTH. Here. Take some nuts in your hand.
OLD WOMAN. What game is this?
YOUTH. Let's play at guessing how many teeth you have.
CHREMYLUS. Ah! I'll tell you; she's got three, or perhaps four.
YOUTH. Pay up; you've lost! she has only one single grinder.
OLD WOMAN. You wretch! you're not in your right senses. Do you insult me
thus before this crowd?
YOUTH. I am washing you thoroughly; 'tis doing you a service.
CHREMYLUS. No, no! as she is there, she can still deceive; but if this
white-lead is washed off, her wrinkles would come out plainly.
OLD WOMAN. You are only an old fool!
YOUTH. Ah! he is playing the gallant, he is fondling your breasts, and
thinks I do not see it.
OLD WOMAN. Oh! no, by Aphrodité, no, you naughty jealous fellow.
CHREMYLUS. Oh! most certainly not, by Hecaté![800] Verily and indeed I
would need to be mad! But, young man, I cannot forgive you, if you cast
off this beautiful child.
YOUTH. Why, I adore her.
CHREMYLUS. But nevertheless she accuses you ...
YOUTH. Accuses me of what?
CHREMYLUS. ... of having told her insolently, "Once upon a time the
Milesians were brave."
YOUTH. Oh! I shall not dispute with you about her.
CHREMYLUS. Why not?
YOUTH. Out of respect for your age; with anyone but you, I should not be
so easy; come, take the girl and be happy.
CHREMYLUS. I see, I see; you don't want her any more.
OLD WOMAN. Nay! this is a thing that cannot be allowed.
YOUTH. I cannot argue with a woman, who has been making love these
thirteen thousand years.
CHREMYLUS. Yet, since you liked the wine, you should now consume the
lees.
YOUTH. But these lees are quite rancid and fusty.
CHREMYLUS. Pass them through a straining-cloth; they'll clarify.
YOUTH. But I want to go in with you to offer these chaplets to the god.
OLD WOMAN. And I too have something to tell him.
YOUTH. Then I don't enter.
CHREMYLUS. Come, have no fear; she won't harm you.
YOUTH. 'Tis true; I've been managing the old bark long enough.
OLD WOMAN. Go in; I'll follow after you.
CHREMYLUS. Good gods! that old hag has fastened herself to her youth like
a limpet to its rock.