f(1) Young unmarried girls wore golden ornaments; the apparel of married
women was much simpler.
EUELPIDES Oh! how I should like to kiss her!
PISTHETAERUS Why, wretched man, she has two little sharp points on her
beak!
EUELPIDES I would treat her like an egg, the shell of which we remove
before eating it; I would take off her mask and then kiss her pretty
face.
EPOPS Let us go in.
PISTHETAERUS Lead the way, and may success attend us.
CHORUS Lovable golden bird, whom I cherish above all others, you, whom I
associate with all my songs, nightingale, you have come, you have come,
to show yourself to me and to charm me with your notes. Come, you,
who play spring melodies upon the harmonious flute,(1) lead off our
anapaests.(2)
Weak mortals, chained to the earth, creatures of clay as frail as the
foliage of the woods, you unfortunate race, whose life is but darkness,
as unreal as a shadow, the illusion of a dream, hearken to us, who
are immortal beings, ethereal, ever young and occupied with eternal
thoughts, for we shall teach you about all celestial matters; you shall
know thoroughly what is the nature of the birds, what the origin of
the gods, of the rivers, of Erebus, and Chaos; thanks to us, even
Prodicus(3) will envy you your knowledge.
At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and
deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence. Firstly,
black-winged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite
deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages,
sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the
whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos,
winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the
first to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist until Eros
had brought together all the ingredients of the world, and from their
marriage Heaven, Ocean, Earth and the imperishable race of blessed gods
sprang into being. Thus our origin is very much older than that of the
dwellers in Olympus. We are the offspring of Eros; there are a thousand
proofs to show it. We have wings and we lend assistance to lovers. How
many handsome youths, who had sworn to remain insensible, have not been
vanquished by our power and have yielded themselves to their lovers when
almost at the end of their youth, being led away by the gift of a quail,
a waterfowl, a goose, or a cock.(4)
And what important services do not the birds render to mortals! First
of all, they mark the seasons for them, springtime, winter, and autumn.
Does the screaming crane migrate to Libya,--it warns the husbandman
to sow, the pilot to take his ease beside his tiller hung up in his
dwelling,(5) and Orestes(6) to weave a tunic, so that the rigorous cold
may not drive him any more to strip other folk. When the kite reappears,
he tells of the return of spring and of the period when the fleece of
the sheep must be clipped. Is the swallow in sight? All hasten to sell
their warm tunic and to buy some light clothing. We are your Ammon,
Delphi, Dodona, your Phoebus Apollo.(7) Before undertaking anything,
whether a business transaction, a marriage, or the purchase of food,
you consult the birds by reading the omens, and you give this name of
omen(8) to all signs that tell of the future. With you a word is an
omen, you call a sneeze an omen, a meeting an omen, an unknown sound
an omen, a slave or an ass an omen.(9) Is it not clear that we are a
prophetic Apollo to you? If you recognize us as gods, we shall be your
divining Muses, through us you will know the winds and the seasons,
summer, winter, and the temperate months. We shall not withdraw
ourselves to the highest clouds like Zeus, but shall be among you
and shall give to you and to your children and the children of your
children, health and wealth, long life, peace, youth, laughter, songs
and feasts; in short, you will all be so well off, that you will be
weary and satiated with enjoyment.
Oh, rustic Muse of such varied note, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx, I sing
with you in the groves and on the mountain tops, tio, tio, tio, tio,
tiotinx.(10) I poured forth sacred strains from my golden throat in
honour of the god Pan,(11) tio, tio, tio, tiotinx, from the top of the
thickly leaved ash, and my voice mingles with the mighty choirs who
extol Cybele on the mountain tops,(12) tototototototototinx. 'Tis to our
concerts that Phrynichus comes to pillage like a bee the ambrosia of
his songs, the sweetness of which so charms the ear, tio, tio, tio, tio,
tinx.
If there be one of you spectators who wishes to spend the rest of
his life quietly among the birds, let him come to us. All that is
disgraceful and forbidden by law on earth is on the contrary honourable
among us, the birds. For instance, among you 'tis a crime to beat your
father, but with us 'tis an estimable deed; it's considered fine to run
straight at your father and hit him, saying, "Come, lift your spur if
you want to fight."(13) The runaway slave, whom you brand, is only a
spotted francolin with us.(14) Are you Phrygian like Spintharus?(15)
Among us you would be the Phrygian bird, the goldfinch, of the race of
Philemon.(16) Are you a slave and a Carian like Execestides? Among us
you can create yourself fore-fathers;(17) you can always find relations.
Does the son of Pisias want to betray the gates of the city to the foe?
Let him become a partridge, the fitting offspring of his father; among
us there is no shame in escaping as cleverly as a partridge.
So the swans on the banks of the Hebrus, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx,
mingle their voices to serenade Apollo, tio, tio, tio, tio. tiotinx,
flapping their wings the while, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx; their notes
reach beyond the clouds of heaven; all the dwellers in the forest stand
still with astonishment and delight; a calm rests upon the waters, and
the Graces and the choirs in Olympus catch up the strain, tio, tio, tio,
tio, tiotinx.
There is nothing more useful nor more pleasant than to have wings. To
begin with, just let us suppose a spectator to be dying with hunger and
to be weary of the choruses of the tragic poets; if he were winged, he
would fly off, go home to dine and come back with his stomach filled.
Some Patroclides in urgent need would not have to soil his cloak, but
could fly off, satisfy his requirements, and, having recovered his
breath, return. If one of you, it matters not who, had adulterous
relations and saw the husband of his mistress in the seats of the
senators, he might stretch his wings, fly thither, and, having appeased
his craving, resume his place. Is it not the most priceless gift of all,
to be winged? Look at Diitrephes!(18) His wings were only wicker-work
ones, and yet he got himself chosen Phylarch and then Hipparch; from
being nobody, he has risen to be famous; 'tis now the finest gilded cock
of his tribe.(19)
f(1) The actor, representing Procne, was a flute-player.
f(2) The parabasis.
f(3) A sophist of the island of Ceos, a disciple of Protagoras, as
celebrated for his knowledge as for his eloquence. The Athenians
condemned him to death as a corrupter of youth in 396 B.C.
f(4) Lovers were wont to make each other presents of birds. The cock and
the goose are mentioned, of course, in jest.
f(5) i.e. that it gave notice of the approach of winter, during which
season the Ancients did not venture to sea.
f(6) A notorious robber.
f(7) Meaning, "We are your oracles." --Dodona was an oracle in
Epirus.--The temple of Zeus there was surrounded by a dense forest,
all the trees of which were endowed with the gift of prophecy; both the
sacred oaks and the pigeons that lived in them answered the questions of
those who came to consult the oracle in pure Greek.
f(8) The Greek word for 'omen' is the same as that for 'bird.'
f(9) A satire on the passion of the Greeks for seeing an omen in
everything.
f(10) An imitation of the nightingale's song.
f(11) God of the groves and wilds.
f(12) The 'Mother of the Gods'; roaming the mountains, she held dances,
always attended by Pan and his accompanying rout of Fauns and Satyrs.
f(13) An allusion to cock-fighting; the birds are armed with brazen
spurs.
f(14) An allusion to the spots on this bird, which resemble the scars
left by a branding iron.
f(15) He was of Asiatic origin, but wished to pass for an Athenian.
f(16) Or Philamnon, King of Thrace; the scholiast remarks that the
Phrygians and the Thracians had a common origin.
f(17) The Greek word here is also the name of a little bird.
f(18) A basket-maker who had become rich.--The Phylarchs were the
headmen of the tribes. They presided at the private assemblies and were
charged with the management of the treasury.--The Hipparchs, as the name
implies, were the leaders of the cavalry; there were only two of these
in the Athenian army.
f(19) He had become a senator.
PISTHETAERUS Halloa! What's this? By Zeus! I never saw anything so funny
in all my life.(1)
f(1) Pisthetaerus and Euelpides now both return with wings.
EUELPIDES What makes you laugh?
PISTHETAERUS 'Tis your bits of wings. D'you know what you look like?
Like a goose painted by some dauber-fellow.
EUELPIDES And you look like a close-shaven blackbird.
PISTHETAERUS 'Tis ourselves asked for this transformation, and, as
Aeschylus has it, "These are no borrowed feathers, but truly our
own."(1)
f(1) Meaning, 'tis we who wanted to have these wings.--The verse from
Aeschylus, quoted here, is taken from 'The Myrmidons,' a tragedy of
which only a few fragments remain.
EPOPS Come now, what must be done?
PISTHETAERUS First give our city a great and famous name, then sacrifice
to the gods.
EUELPIDES I think so too.
EPOPS Let's see. What shall our city be called?
PISTHETAERUS Will you have a high-sounding Laconian name? Shall we call
it Sparta?
EUELPIDES What! call my town Sparta? Why, I would not use esparto for my
bed,(1) even though I had nothing but bands of rushes.
f(1) The Greek word signified the city of Sparta, and also a kind of
broom used for weaving rough matting, which served for the beds of the
very poor.
PISTHETAERUS Well then, what name can you suggest?
EUELPIDES Some name borrowed from the clouds, from these lofty regions
in which we dwell--in short, some well-known name.