POSIDON If that be the opinion of both of you, why, I consent too.
HERACLES Very well! we accord the sceptre.
PISTHETAERUS Ah! I was nearly forgetting another condition. I will leave
Here to Zeus, but only if the young Basileia is given me in marriage.
POSIDON Then you don't want peace. Let us withdraw.
PISTHETAERUS It matters mighty little to me. Cook, look to the gravy.
HERACLES What an odd fellow this Posidon is! Where are you off to? Are
we going to war about a woman?
POSIDON What else is there to do?
HERACLES What else? Why, conclude peace.
POSIDON Oh! you ninny! do you always want to be fooled? Why, you are
seeking your own downfall. If Zeus were to die, after having yielded
them the sovereignty, you would be ruined, for you are the heir of all
the wealth he will leave behind.
PISTHETAERUS Oh! by the gods! how he is cajoling you. Step aside, that
I may have a word with you. Your uncle is getting the better of you,
my poor friend.(1) The law will not allow you an obolus of the paternal
property, for you are a bastard and not a legitimate child.
f(1) Heracles, the god of strength, was far from being remarkable in the
way of cleverness.
HERACLES I a bastard! What's that you tell me?
PISTHETAERUS Why, certainly; are you not born of a stranger woman?
Besides, is not Athene recognized as Zeus' sole heiress? And no daughter
would be that, if she had a legitimate brother.
HERACLES But what if my father wished to give me his property on his
death-bed, even though I be a bastard?
PISTHETAERUS The law forbids it, and this same Posidon would be the
first to lay claim to his wealth, in virtue of being his legitimate
brother. Listen; thus runs Solon's law: "A bastard shall not inherit, if
there are legitimate children; and if there are no legitimate children,
the property shall pass to the nearest kin."(1)
f(1) This was Athenian law.
HERACLES And I get nothing whatever of the paternal property?
PISTHETAERUS Absolutely nothing. But tell me, has your father had you
entered on the registers of his phratria?(1)
f(1) The poet attributes to the gods the same customs as those which
governed Athens, and according to which no child was looked upon as
legitimate unless his father had entered him on the registers of his
phratria. The phratria was a division of the tribe and consisted of
thirty families.
HERACLES No, and I have long been surprised at the omission.
PISTHETAERUS What ails you, that you should shake your fist at heaven?
Do you want to fight it? Why, be on my side, I will make you a king and
will feed you on bird's milk and honey.
HERACLES Your further condition seems fair to me. I cede you the young
damsel.
POSIDON But I, I vote against this opinion.
PISTHETAERUS Then it all depends on the Triballian. (TO THE TRIBALLIAN.)
What do you say?
TRIBALLUS Big bird give daughter pretty and queen.
HERACLES You say that you give her?
POSIDON Why no, he does not say anything of the sort, that he gives her;
else I cannot understand any better than the swallows.
PISTHETAERUS Exactly so. Does he not say she must be given to the
swallows?
POSIDON Very well! you two arrange the matter; make peace, since you
wish it so; I'll hold my tongue.
HERACLES We are of a mind to grant you all that you ask. But come up
there with us to receive Basileia and the celestial bounty.
PISTHETAERUS Here are birds already cut up, and very suitable for a
nuptial feast.
HERACLES You go and, if you like, I will stay here to roast them.
PISTHETAERUS You to roast them! you are too much the glutton; come along
with us.
HERACLES Ah! how well I would have treated myself!
PISTHETAERUS Let some(one) bring me a beautiful and magnificent tunic
for the wedding.
CHORUS(1) At Phanae,(2) near the Clepsydra,(3) there dwells a people who
have neither faith nor law, the Englottogastors,(4) who reap, sow, pluck
the vines and the figs(5) with their tongues; they belong to a barbaric
race, and among them the Philippi and the Gorgiases(6) are to be found;
'tis these Englottogastorian Philippi who introduced the custom all over
Attica of cutting out the tongue separately at sacrifices.(7)
f(1) The chorus continues to tell what it has seen on its flights.
f(2) The harbour of the island of Chios; but this name is here used
in the sense of being the land of informers ((from the Greek for) 'to
denounce').
f(3) i.e. near the orators' platform, in the Public Assembly, or because
there stood the water-clock, by which speeches were limited.
f(4) A coined name, made up of (the Greek for) the tongue, and (for) the
stomach, and meaning those who fill their stomach with what they gain
with their tongues, to wit, the orators.
f(5) (The Greek for) a fig forms part of the word which in Greek means
an informer.
f(6) Both rhetoricians.
f(7) Because they consecrated it specially to the god of eloquence.
A MESSENGER Oh, you, whose unbounded happiness I cannot express in
words, thrice happy race of airy birds, receive your king in your
fortunate dwellings. More brilliant than the brightest star that illumes
the earth, he is approaching his glittering golden palace; the sun
itself does not shine with more dazzling glory. He is entering with his
bride at his side,(1) whose beauty no human tongue can express; in his
hand he brandishes the lightning, the winged shaft of Zeus; perfumes
of unspeakable sweetness pervade the ethereal realms. 'Tis a glorious
spectacle to see the clouds of incense wafting in light whirlwinds
before the breath of the Zephyr! But here he is himself. Divine Muse!
let thy sacred lips begin with songs of happy omen.
f(1) Basileia, whom he brings back from heaven.
CHORUS Fall back! to the right! to the left! advance!(1) Fly around this
happy mortal, whom Fortune loads with her blessings. Oh! oh! what grace!
what beauty! Oh, marriage so auspicious for our city! All honour to
this man! 'tis through him that the birds are called to such glorious
destinies. Let your nuptial hymns, your nuptial songs, greet him and his
Basileia! 'Twas in the midst of such festivities that the Fates formerly
united Olympian Here to the King who governs the gods from the summit
of his inaccessible throne. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus! Rosy Eros with
the golden wings held the reins and guided the chariot; 'twas he, who
presided over the union of Zeus and the fortunate Here. Oh! Hymen! oh!
Hymenaeus!
f(1) Terms used in regulating a dance.
PISTHETAERUS I am delighted with your songs, I applaud your verses. Now
celebrate the thunder that shakes the earth, the flaming lightning of
Zeus and the terrible flashing thunderbolt.
CHORUS Oh, thou golden flash of the lightning! oh, ye divine shafts of
flame, that Zeus has hitherto shot forth! Oh, ye rolling thunders, that
bring down the rain! 'Tis by the order of OUR king that ye shall now
stagger the earth! Oh, Hymen! 'tis through thee that he commands the
universe and that he makes Basileia, whom he has robbed from Zeus, take
her seat at his side. Oh! Hymen! oh! Hymenaeus!
PISTHETAERUS Let all the winged tribes of our fellow-citizens follow the
bridal couple to the palace of Zeus(1) and to the nuptial couch! Stretch
forth your hands, my dear wife! Take hold of me by my wings and let us
dance; I am going to lift you up and carry you through the air.
f(1) Where Pisthetaerus is henceforth to reign.
CHORUS Oh, joy! Io Paean! Tralala! victory is thing, oh, thou greatest
of the gods!