Plutus [7]
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
pawned?
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?
LEADER OF THE 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 a proposal as great 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. Now, if Plutus became clear-sighted again and drove out
Poverty, it would 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