400 BC

THE FROGS
by Aristophanes

Characters in the Play
XANTHIAS, servant of dionysus

DIONYSUS
HERACLES

A CORPSE
CHARON

AEACUS
A MAID SERVANT OF PERSEPHONE

HOSTESS, keeper of cook-shop
PLATHANE, her partner

EURIPIDES
AESCHYLUS

PLUTO
CHORUS OF FROGS

CHORUS OF BLESSED MYSTICS
FROGS|

The scene shows the house of HERACLES in the
background. There enter two travellers: DIONYSUS on foot, in his

customary yellow robe and buskins but also with the club and lion's
skin of Heracles, and his servant XANTHIAS on a donkey, carrying the

luggage on a pole over his shoulder.
XANTHIAS

Shall I crack any of those old jokes, master,
At which the audience never fail to laugh?

DIONYSUS
Aye, what you will, except "I'm getting crushed":

Fight shy of that: I'm sick of that already.
XANTHIAS

Nothing else smart?
DIONYSUS

Aye, save "my shoulder's aching."
XANTHIAS

Come now, that comical joke?
DIONYSUS

With all my heart.
Only be careful not to shift your pole,

And-
XANTHIAS

What?
DIONYSUS

And vow that you've a belly-ache.
XANTHIAS

May I not say I'm overburdened so
That if none ease me, I must ease myself?

DIONYSUS
For mercy's sake, not till I'm going to vomit.

XANTHIAS
What! must I bear these burdens, and not make

One of the jokes Ameipsias and Lycis
And Phrynichus, in every play they write,

Put in the mouths of their burden-bearers?
DIONYSUS

Don't make them; no! I tell you when I see
Their plays, and hear those jokes, I come away

More than a twelvemonth older than I went.
XANTHIAS

O thriceunlucky neck of mine, which now
Is getting crushed, yet must not crack its joke!

DIONYSUS
Now is not this fine pampered insolence

When I myself, Dionysus, son of-Pipkin,
Toil on afoot, and let this fellow ride,

Taking no trouble, and no burden bearing?
XANTHIAS

What, don't I bear?
DIONYSUS

How can you when you're riding?
XANTHIAS

Why, I bear these.
DIONYSUS

How?
XANTHIAS

Most unwillingly.
DIONYSUS

Does not the donkey bear the load you're bearing?
XANTHIAS

Not what I bear myself: by Zeus, not he.
DIONYSUS

How can you bear, when you are borne yourself?
XANTHIAS

Don't know: but anyhow my shoulder's aching.
DIONYSUS

Then since you say the donkey helps you not,
You lift him up and carry him in turn.

XANTHIAS
O hang it all! why didn't I fight at sea?

You should have smarted bitterly for this.
DIONYSUS

Get down, you rascal; I've been trudging on
Till now I've reached the portal, where I'm going

First to turn in. Boy! Boy! I say there, Boy!
Enter HERACLES from house.

HERACLES
Who banged the door? How like prancing Centaur

He drove against it Mercy o' me, what's this?
DIONYSUS

Boy.
XANTHIAS

Yes.
DIONYSUS

Did you observe?
XANTHIAS

What?
DIONYSUS

How alarmed he is.
XANTHIAS

Aye truly, lest you've lost your wits.
HERACLES

O by Demeter, I can't choose but laugh.
Biting my lips won't stop me. Ha! ha! ha!

DIONYSUS
Pray you, come hither, I have need of you.

HERACLES
I vow I can't help laughing, I can't help it.

A lion's hide upon a yellow silk,
A club and buskin! What's it all about?

Where were you going?
DIONYSUS

I was serving lately
Aboard the-Cleisthenes.

More than a dozen of the enemy's ships.
HERACLES

You two?
DIONYSUS

We two.
HERACLES

And then I awoke, and lo!
DIONYSUS

There as, on deck, I'm reading to myself
The Andromeda, a sudden pang of longing.

Shoots through my heart, you can't conceive how keenly.
HERACLES

How big a pang?
DIONYSUS

A small one, Molon's size.
HERACLES

Caused by a woman?
DIONYSUS

No.
HERACLES

A boy?
DIONYSUS

No, no.
HERACLES

A man?
DIONYSUS

Ah! ah!
HERACLES

Was it for Cleisthenes?
DIONYSUS

Don't mock me, brother: on my life I am
In a bad way: such fierce desire consumes me.

HERACLES
Aye, little brother? how?

DIONYSUS
I can't describe it.

But yet I'll tell you in a riddling way.
Have you e'er felt a sudden lust for soup?

HERACLES
Soup! Zeus-a-mercy, yes, ten thousand times.

DIONYSUS
Is the thing clear, or must I speak again?

HERACLES
Not of the soup: I'm clear about the soup.

DIONYSUS
Well, just that sort of pang devours my heart

For lost Euripides.
HERACLES

A dead man too.
DIONYSUS

And no one shall persuade me not to go
After the man.

HERACLES
Do you mean below, to Hades?

DIONYSUS
And lower still, if there's a lower still.

HERACLES
What on earth for?

DIONYSUS
I want a genuine poet,

"For some are not, and those that are, are bad."
HERACLES

What! does not Iophon live?
DIONYSUS

Well, he's the sole
Good thing remaining, if even he is good.

For even of that I'm not exactly certain.
HERACLES

If go you must, there's Sophocles-he comes
Before Euripides-why not take him?

DIONYSUS
Not till I've tried if Iophon's coin rings true

When he's alone, apart from Sophocles.
Besides, Euripides, the crafty rogue,

Will find a thousand shifts to get away,
But he was easy here, is easy there.

HERACLES
But Agathon, where is he?

• keeper [´ki:pə] n.管理人；看守；保管人 (初中英语单词)
• audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)
• bitterly [´bitəli] ad.悲痛地；憎恨地 (初中英语单词)
• hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
• conceive [kən´si:v] v.设想；表达；怀孕 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• persuade [pə´sweid] v.(被)说服；使相信 (初中英语单词)
• donkey [´dɔŋki] n.驴子；蠢人；顽固的人 (高中英语单词)
• rascal [´rɑ:skəl] n.流氓 (高中英语单词)
• genuine [´dʒenjuin] a.真正的；真诚的 (高中英语单词)
• blessed [´blesid] a.享福的；神圣的 (英语四级单词)
• thrice [θrais] ad.三倍地；三次 (英语四级单词)
• unlucky [ʌn´lʌki] a.倒霉的，不幸的 (英语四级单词)
• portal [´pɔ:tl] n.(正)门；隧道 (英语四级单词)
• comical [´kɔmikəl] a.好笑的；怪里怪气的 (英语六级单词)
• crafty [´krɑ:fti] a.狡猾的 (英语六级单词)