Say what he thinks; the city travails sore.
DIONYSUS

What does she think herself about him?
She loves, and hates, and longs to have him back.

But give me your advice about the man.
EURIPIDES

I loathe a townsman who is slow to aid,
And swift to hurt, his town: who ways and means

Finds for himself, but finds not for the state.
DIONYSUS

Poseidon, but that's smart! (to AESCHYLUS)
And what say you?

AESCHYLUS
'Twere best to rear no lion in the state:

But having reared, 'tis best to humour him.
DIONYSUS

By Zeus the Saviour, still I can't decide.
One is so clever, and so clear the other.

But once again. Let each in turn declare
What plan of safety for the state ye've got.

EURIPIDES
[First with Cinesias wing Cleocritus,

Then zephyrs waft them o'er the watery plain.
DIONYSUS

A funny sight, I own: but where's the sense?
EURIPIDES

If, when the fleets engage, they holding cruets
Should rain down vinegar in the foemen's eyes,]

I know, and I can tell you.
DIONYSUS

Tell away.
EURIPIDES

When things, mistrusted now, shall trusted be,
And trusted things, mistrusted.

DIONYSUS
How! I don't

Quite comprehend. Be clear, and not so clever.
EURIPIDES

If we mistrust those citizens of ours
Whom now we trust, and those employ whom now

We don't employ, the city will be saved.
If on our present tack we fail, we surely

Shall find salvation in the opposite course.
DIONYSUS

Good, O Palamedes! Good, you genius you.
Is this your cleverness or Cephisophon's?

EURIPIDES
This is my own: the cruet-plan was his.

DIONYSUS (to AESCHYLUS)
Now, you.

AESCHYLUS
But tell me whom the city uses.

The good and useful?
DIONYSUS

What are you dreaming of?
She hates and loathes them.

AESCHYLUS
Does she love the bad?

DIONYSUS
Not love them, no: she uses them perforce.

AESCHYLUS
How can one save a city such as this,

Whom neither frieze nor woollen tunic suits?
DIONYSUS

O, if to earth you rise, find out some way.
AESCHYLUS

There will I speak: I cannot answer here.
DIONYSUS

Nay, nay; send up your guerdon from below.
AESCHYLUS

When they shall count the enemy's soil their
And theirs the enemy's: when they know that ships

Are their true wealth, their so-calledwealth delusion.
DIONYSUS

Aye, but the justices suck that down, you know.
PLUTO

Now then, decide.
DIONYSUS

I will; and thus I'll do it.
I'll choose the man in whom my soul delights.

EURIPIDES
O, recollect the gods by whom you swore

You'd take me home again; and choose your friends.
DIONYSUS

'Twas my tongue swore; my choice is-
Aeschylus.

EURIPIDES
Hah! what have you done?

DIONYSUS
Done? Given the victor's prize

To Aeschylus; why not?
EURIPIDES

And do you dare
Look in my face, after that shameful deed?

DIONYSUS
What's shameful, if the audience think not

so? Have you no heart? Wretch, would you leave me dead?
DIONYSUS

Who knows if death be life, and life be death,
And breath be mutton broth, and sleep a sheepskin?

PLUTO
Now, Dionysus, come ye in,

DIONYSUS
What for?

PLUTO
And sup before ye go.

DIONYSUS
A bright idea.

I'faith, I'm nowise indisposed for that.
Exeunt AESCHYLUS, EURIPIDES, PLUTO, and DIONYSUS.

CHORUS
Blest the man who possesses

Keen intelligent mind.
This full often we find.

He, the bard of renown,
Now to earth reascends,

Goes, a joy to his town,
Goes, a joy to his friends,

Just because he possesses
Keen intelligent mind.

Right it is and befitting,
Not, by Socrates sitting,

Idle talk to pursue,
Stripping tragedy-art of

All things noble and true.
Surely the mind to school

Fine-drawn quibbles to seek,
Fine-set phrases to speak,

Is but the part of a fool
Re-enter PLUTO and AESCHYLUS.

PLUTO
Farewell then Aeschylus, great and wise,

Go, save our state by the maxims rare
Of thy noble thought; and the fools chastise,

For many a fool dwells there.
And this (handing him a rope) to Cleophon give, my friend,

And this to the revenue-raising crew,
Nichomachus, Myrmex, next I send,

And this to Archenomus too.
And bid them all that without delay,

To my realm of the dead they hasten away.
For if they loiter above, I swear

I'll come myself and arrest them there.
And branded and fettered the slaves shall

With the vilest rascal in all the town,
Adeimantus, son of Leucolophus, down,

Down, down to the darkness below.
AESCHYLUS

I take the mission. This chair of mine
Meanwhile to Sophocles here commit,

(For I count him next in our craft divine,)
Till I come once more by thy side to sit.

But as for that rascally scoundrel there,
That low buffoon, that worker of ill,

O let him not sit in my vacant chair,
Not even against his will.

PLUTO (to the CHORUS)
Escort him up with your mystic throngs,

While the holy torches quiver and blaze.
Escort him up with his own sweet gongs,

And his noble festival lays.
CHORUS

First, as the poet triumphant
is passing away to the light,

Grant him success on his journey,
ye powers that are ruling below.

Grant that he find for the city
good counsels to guide her aright;

So we at last shall be freed
from the anguish, the fear, and the woe,

Freed from the onsets of war.
Let Cleophon now and his band

Battle, if battle they must,
far away in their own fatherland.

THE END
.

• humour [´hju:mə] n.幽默，诙谐 (初中英语单词)
• genius [´dʒi:niəs] n.天才(人物)；天赋 (初中英语单词)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
• audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• intelligent [in´telidʒənt] a.聪明的；理智的 (初中英语单词)
• hasten [´heisən] vt.催促；促进 vi.赶紧 (初中英语单词)
• arrest [ə´rest] vt.逮捕 n.逮捕；停止 (初中英语单词)
• mission [´miʃən] n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)
• worker [´wə:kə] n.工人；劳动者；工作者 (初中英语单词)
• vacant [´veikənt] a.空虚的，无表情的 (初中英语单词)
• quiver [´kwivə] v.抖动 n.颤动(声) (初中英语单词)
• comprehend [,kɔmpri´hend] vt.了解；领会；包含 (高中英语单词)
• salvation [sæl´veiʃən] n.救助；拯救 (高中英语单词)
• theirs [ðeəz] pron.他们的 (高中英语单词)
• so-called [´sou ´kɔ:ld] a.所谓的，号称的 (高中英语单词)
• mutton [´mʌtn] n.羊肉 (高中英语单词)
• rascal [´rɑ:skəl] n.流氓 (高中英语单词)
• festival [´festivəl] n.节日；庆祝；欢庆 (高中英语单词)
• anguish [´æŋgwiʃ] n.(极度的)痛苦；苦恼 (高中英语单词)
• loathe [ləuð] vt.厌恶，嫌恶 (英语四级单词)
• saviour [´seiviə] n.救星；救助者 (英语四级单词)
• vinegar [´vinigə] n.醋 (英语四级单词)
• recollect [rekə´lekt] v.重新集合；恢复 (英语四级单词)
• shameful [´ʃeimfəl] a.可耻的；猥亵的 (英语四级单词)
• wretch [retʃ] n.不幸的人；卑鄙的人 (英语四级单词)
• watery [´wɔ:təri] a.水的；像水的 (英语六级单词)
• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
• mistrust [mis´trʌst] v.&n.不信任；怀疑 (英语六级单词)
• frieze [fri:z] n.(墙上的)横饰带 (英语六级单词)
• socrates [´sɔkrəti:z] n.苏格拉底 (英语六级单词)
• loiter [´lɔitə] v.闲逛，消磨时间 (英语六级单词)
• scoundrel [´skaundrəl] n.&a.无赖(的) (英语六级单词)
• mystic [´mistik] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (英语六级单词)