The Knights [20]
from utterance! call
no more witnesses; close these tribunals, which are the delight of
this city, and gather at the theatre to chant the Paean of
thanksgiving to the gods for a fresh favour.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Oh! torch of sacred Athens, saviour of the Islands, what good
tidings are we to celebrate by letting the blood of the victims flow
in our marketplaces?
AGORACRITUS
I have freshened Demos up somewhat on the stove and have turned
his ugliness into beauty.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
I admire your invertive genius; but, where is he?
AGORACRITUS
He is living in ancient Athens, the city of the garlands of
violets.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
How I should like to see him! What is his dress like, what his
manner?
AGORACRITUS
He has once more become as he was in the days when he lived with
Aristides and Miltiades. But you will judge for yourselves, for I hear
the vestibule doors opening. Hail with your shouts of gladness the
Athens of old, which now doth reappear to your gaze, admirable, worthy
of the songs of the poets and the home of the illustrious Demos.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Oh! noble, brilliant Athens, whose brow is wreathed with
violets, show us the sovereign master of this land and of all Greece.
(DEMOS comes from his house, rejuvenated and joyous.)
AGORACRITUS
Lo! here he is coming with his hair held in place with a golden
band and in all the glory of his old-world dress; perfumed with myrrh,
he spreads around him not the odour of lawsuits, but that of peace.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Hail! King of Greece, we congratulate you upon the happiness you
enjoy; it is worthy of this city, worthy of the glory of Marathon.
DEMOS
Come, Agoracritus, come, my best friend; see the service you
have done me by freshening me up on your stove.
AGORACRITUS
Ah! if you but remembered what you were formerly and what you did,
you would for a certainty believe me to be a god.
DEMOS
But what did I do? and how was I then?
AGORACRITUS
Firstly, so soon as ever an orator declared in the Assembly,
"Demos, I love you ardently; it is I alone who dream of you and
watch over your interests"; at such an exordium you would look like
a cock flapping his wings or a bull tossing his horns.
DEMOS
What, I?
AGORACRITUS
Then, after he had fooled you to the hilt, he would go.
DEMOS
What! they would treat me so, and I never saw it?
AGORACRITUS
You knew only how to open and close your ears like a sunshade.
DEMOS
Was I then so stupid and such a dotard?
AGORACRITUS
Worse than that; if one of two orators proposed to equip a fleet
for war and the other suggested the use of the same sum for paying out
to the citizens, it was the latter who always carried the day. Well!
you droop your head! Why do you turn away your face?
DEMOS
I am blushing at my past errors.
AGORACRITUS
Think no more of them; it's not you who are to blame, but those
who cheated you in this sorry fashion. But, come, if some impudent
lawyer dared to say, "Dicasts, you shall have no wheat unless you
convict this accused man!" what would you do? Tell me.
DEMOS
I would have him removed from the bar, I would bind Hyperbolus
about his neck like a stone and would fling him into the Barathrum.
AGORACRITUS
Well spoken! but what other measures do you wish to take?
DEMOS
First, as soon as ever a fleet returns to the harbour, I shall pay
up the rowers in full.
AGORACRITUS
That will soothe many a worn and chafed bottom.
DEMOS
Further, the hoplite enrolled for military service shall not get
transferred to another service through favour, but shall stick to that
given him at the outset.
AGORACRITUS
This will strike the buckler of Cleonymus full in the centre.
DEMOS
None shall ascend the rostrum,
no more witnesses; close these tribunals, which are the delight of
this city, and gather at the theatre to chant the Paean of
thanksgiving to the gods for a fresh favour.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Oh! torch of sacred Athens, saviour of the Islands, what good
tidings are we to celebrate by letting the blood of the victims flow
in our marketplaces?
AGORACRITUS
I have freshened Demos up somewhat on the stove and have turned
his ugliness into beauty.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
I admire your invertive genius; but, where is he?
AGORACRITUS
He is living in ancient Athens, the city of the garlands of
violets.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
How I should like to see him! What is his dress like, what his
manner?
AGORACRITUS
He has once more become as he was in the days when he lived with
Aristides and Miltiades. But you will judge for yourselves, for I hear
the vestibule doors opening. Hail with your shouts of gladness the
Athens of old, which now doth reappear to your gaze, admirable, worthy
of the songs of the poets and the home of the illustrious Demos.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Oh! noble, brilliant Athens, whose brow is wreathed with
violets, show us the sovereign master of this land and of all Greece.
(DEMOS comes from his house, rejuvenated and joyous.)
AGORACRITUS
Lo! here he is coming with his hair held in place with a golden
band and in all the glory of his old-world dress; perfumed with myrrh,
he spreads around him not the odour of lawsuits, but that of peace.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Hail! King of Greece, we congratulate you upon the happiness you
enjoy; it is worthy of this city, worthy of the glory of Marathon.
DEMOS
Come, Agoracritus, come, my best friend; see the service you
have done me by freshening me up on your stove.
AGORACRITUS
Ah! if you but remembered what you were formerly and what you did,
you would for a certainty believe me to be a god.
DEMOS
But what did I do? and how was I then?
AGORACRITUS
Firstly, so soon as ever an orator declared in the Assembly,
"Demos, I love you ardently; it is I alone who dream of you and
watch over your interests"; at such an exordium you would look like
a cock flapping his wings or a bull tossing his horns.
DEMOS
What, I?
AGORACRITUS
Then, after he had fooled you to the hilt, he would go.
DEMOS
What! they would treat me so, and I never saw it?
AGORACRITUS
You knew only how to open and close your ears like a sunshade.
DEMOS
Was I then so stupid and such a dotard?
AGORACRITUS
Worse than that; if one of two orators proposed to equip a fleet
for war and the other suggested the use of the same sum for paying out
to the citizens, it was the latter who always carried the day. Well!
you droop your head! Why do you turn away your face?
DEMOS
I am blushing at my past errors.
AGORACRITUS
Think no more of them; it's not you who are to blame, but those
who cheated you in this sorry fashion. But, come, if some impudent
lawyer dared to say, "Dicasts, you shall have no wheat unless you
convict this accused man!" what would you do? Tell me.
DEMOS
I would have him removed from the bar, I would bind Hyperbolus
about his neck like a stone and would fling him into the Barathrum.
AGORACRITUS
Well spoken! but what other measures do you wish to take?
DEMOS
First, as soon as ever a fleet returns to the harbour, I shall pay
up the rowers in full.
AGORACRITUS
That will soothe many a worn and chafed bottom.
DEMOS
Further, the hoplite enrolled for military service shall not get
transferred to another service through favour, but shall stick to that
given him at the outset.
AGORACRITUS
This will strike the buckler of Cleonymus full in the centre.
DEMOS
None shall ascend the rostrum,