Wherever am I to stow myself?

CLISTHENES
Each and every one must pass the scrutiny.

MNESILOCHUS (aside)
Oh! great gods!

FIRST WOMAN
You ask me who I am? I am the wife of Cleonynus.

CLISTHENES (to the LEADER OF THE CHORUS)
Do you know this woman?

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Yes, yes, pass on to the rest.

CLISTHENES
And she who carries the child?

FIRST WOMAN
Surely; she's my nurse.

MNESILOCHUS (aside)
This is the end.

(He runs off.)
CLISTHENES

Hi! you there! where are you going? Stop. What are you running
away for?

MNESILOCHUS (dancing on one leg)
I want to take a pee, you brazen thing.

CLISTHENES
Well, be quick about it; I shall wait for you here.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Wait for her and examine her closely; she's the only one we do not

know.
CLISTHENES

That's a long leak you're taking.
MNESILOCHUS

God, yes; I am constricted; I ate some cress yesterday.
CLISTHENES

What are you chattering about cress? Come here! and be quick.
(He starts to pull MNESILOCHUS back.)

MNESILOCHUS
Oh! don't pull a poor sick woman about like that.

CLISTHENES (looking MNESILOCHUS square in the eye)
Tell me, who is your husband?

MNESILOCHUS (embarrassed)
My husband? Do you know a certain individual at Cothocidae...?

CLISTHENES
Whom do you mean? Give his name.

MNESILOCHUS
He's an individual to whom the son of a certain individual one

day...
CLISTHENES

You are drivelling! Let's see, have you ever been here before?
MNESILOCHUS

Why certainly, every year.
CLISTHENES

Who is your tent companion?
MNESILOCHUS

A certain.... Oh! my god!
CLISTHENES

That's not an answer!
FIRST WOMAN

Withdraw, all of you; I am going to examine her thoroughly about
last year's mysteries. But move away, Clisthenes, for no man may

hear what is going to be said. Now answer my questions! What was
done first?

MNESILOCHUS
Let's see now. What was done first? Oh! we drank.

FIRST WOMAN
And then?

MNESILOCHUS
We drank to our healths.

FIRST WOMAN
You will have heard that from someone. And then?

MNESILOCHUS
Xenylla asked for a cup; there wasn't any thunder-mug.

FIRST WOMAN
You're talking nonsense. Here, Clisthenes, here This is the man

you were telling us about.
CLISTHENES

What shall we do with him?
FIRST WOMAN

Take off his clothes, I can get nothing out of him.
MNESILOCHUS

What! are you going to strip a mother of nine children naked?
CLISTHENES

Come, undo your girdle, you shameless thing.
FIRST WOMAN

Ah! what a sturdy frame! but she has no breasts like we have.
MNESILOCHUS

That's because I'm barren. I never had any children.
FIRST WOMAN

Oh! indeed! just now you were the mother of nine.
CLISTHENES

Stand up straight. What do you keep pushing that thing down for?
FIRST WOMAN (peering from behind)

There's no mistaking it.
CLISTHENES (also peering from behind)

Where has it gone to now?
FIRST WOMAN

To the front.
CLISTHENES (from in front)

No.
FIRST WOMAN (from behind)

Ah! it's behind now.
CLISTHENES

Why, friend, it's just like the Isthmus; you keep pulling your
stick backwards and forwards more often than the Corinthians do

their ships
FIRST WOMAN

Ah! the wretch! this is why he insulted us and defended Euripides.
MNESILOCHUS

Aye, wretch indeed, what troubles have I not got into now!
FIRST WOMAN

What shall we do?
CLISTHENES

Watch him closely, so that he does not escape. As for me, I'll
go to report the matter to the magistrates.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Let us kindle our lamps; let us go firmly to work and with

courage, let us take off our cloaks and search whether some other
man has not come here too; let us pass round the whole Pnyx, examine

the tents and the passages. Come, be quick, let us start off on a
light toe and rummage all round in silence. Let us hasten, let us

finish our round as soon as possible.
CHORUS (singing)

Look quickly for the traces that might show you a man hidden here,
let your glance fall on every side; look well to the right and to

the left. If we seize some impious fellow, woe to him! He will know
how we punish the outrage, the crime, the sacrilege. The criminal will

then acknowledge at last that gods exist; his fate will teach all
men that the deities must be revered, that justice must be observed

and that they must submit to the sacred laws. If not, then woe to
them! Heaven itself will punish sacrilege; being aflame with fury

and mad with frenzy, all their deeds will prove to mortals, both men
and women, that the deity punishes injustice and impiety, and that she

is not slow to strike.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS

But I think I have now searched everywhere and that no other man
is hidden among us.

FIRST WOMAN
Where are you flying to? Stop! stop! Ah! miserable woman that I

am, he has torn my child from my breast and has disappeared with it.
MNESILOCHUS

Scream as loud as you will, but you'll never feed him again. If
you do not let me go this very instant, I am going to cut open the

veins of his thighs with this cutlass and his blood shall flow over
the altar.

FIRST WOMAN
Oh! great gods! oh! friends, help me! terrify him with your

shrieks, triumph over this monster, permit him not to rob me of my
only child.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Oh! oh! venerable Moirai, what fresh attack is this? It's the

crowning act of audacity and shamelessness! What has he done now,
friends, what has he done?

MNESILOCHUS
Ah! your insolence passes all bounds, but I know how to curb it!

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
What a shameful deed! the measure of his iniquities is full!

FIRST WOMAN
Aye, it's shameful that he should have robbed me of my child.

CHORUS (singing)
It's past belief to be so criminal and so impudent!

MNESILOCHUS (singing)
Ah! you're not near the end of it yet.

CHORUS (singing)
Little I care whence you come; you shall not return to boast of

having acted so odiously with impunity, for you shall be punished.
MNESILOCHUS (speaking)

You won't do it, by the gods!
CHORUS (singing)

And what immortal would protect you for your crime?
MNESILOCHUS (speaking)

You talk in vain! I shall not let go the child.
CHORUS (singing)

By the goddesses, you will not laugh presently over your crime and
your impious speech. For with impiety, as 'tis meet, shall we reply to

your impiety. Soon fortune will turn round and overwhelm you.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS

Come there, bring some firewood. Let's roast the wretch as quickly
as we can.

FIRST WOMAN
Bring faggots, Mania! (To MNESILOCHUS) You will be nothing but

charcoal soon.
MNESILOCHUS

Grill away, roast me, but you, my child, take off this Cretan robe
and blame no one but your mother for your death. But what does this

mean? The little girl is nothing but a skin filled with wine and
shod with Persian slippers. Oh! you wanton, you tippling women, who

think of nothing but wine; you are a fortune to the drinking-shops and
are our ruin; for the sake of drink, you neglect both your household

and your shuttle!
FIRST WOMAN

Faggots, Mania, plenty of them.
MNESILOCHUS

Bring as many as you like. But answer me; are you the mother of
this brat?

FIRST WOMAN
I carried it ten months.

MNESILOCHUS
You carried it?

FIRST WOMAN
I swear it by Artemis.

MNESILOCHUS
How much does it hold? Three cotylae? Tell me.

• wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
• thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
• barren [´bærən] a.贫瘠的；不生育的 (初中英语单词)
• firmly [´fə:mli] ad.坚固地，稳定地 (初中英语单词)
• hasten [´heisən] vt.催促；促进 vi.赶紧 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• punish [´pʌniʃ] vt.(惩)罚；痛击；折磨 (初中英语单词)
• criminal [´kriminəl] a.犯罪的 n.罪犯 (初中英语单词)
• acknowledge [ək´nɔlidʒ] vt.(公开)承认；感谢 (初中英语单词)
• submit [səb´mit] vt.使服从；使忍受 (初中英语单词)
• sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
• miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
• instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
• triumph [´traiəmf] n.胜利 vi.得胜，战胜 (初中英语单词)
• monster [´mɔnstə] n.怪物 a.大得异常的 (初中英语单词)
• measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)
• belief [bi´li:f] n.相信；信仰，信条 (初中英语单词)
• immortal [i´mɔ:təl] a.不死的n.不朽的人物 (初中英语单词)
• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• persian [´pə:ʃən] a.波斯的 n.波斯人 (初中英语单词)
• neglect [ni´glekt] vt.&n.疏忽；忽视；忽略 (初中英语单词)
• nonsense [´nɔnsəns] n.胡说 int.胡说!废话 (高中英语单词)
• girdle [´gə:dl] n.腰带 vt.用带束(缠) (高中英语单词)
• sturdy [´stə:di] a.坚强的；坚定的 (高中英语单词)
• kindle [´kindl] v.点燃；(使)激动 (高中英语单词)
• outrage [´aut,reidʒ] n.残暴 vt.虐待；伤害 (高中英语单词)
• injustice [in´dʒʌstis] n.不公正，不公平 (高中英语单词)
• terrify [´terifai] vt.使恐怖；惊吓 (高中英语单词)
• overwhelm [,əuvə´welm] vt.压倒；淹没；打翻 (高中英语单词)
• brazen [´breizən] a.黄铜制的；无耻的 (英语四级单词)
• wretch [retʃ] n.不幸的人；卑鄙的人 (英语四级单词)
• frenzy [´frenzi] n.&vt.(使)狂乱 (英语四级单词)
• venerable [´venərəbəl] a.可尊敬的；森严的 (英语四级单词)
• audacity [ɔ:´dæsiti] n.大胆；卤莽；无礼 (英语四级单词)
• shameful [´ʃeimfəl] a.可耻的；猥亵的 (英语四级单词)
• whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
• wanton [´wɔntən, ´wɑ:n-] a.顽皮的 n.&vi.荡妇 (英语四级单词)
• backwards [´bækwədz] ad.向后 a.向后的 (英语六级单词)
• impious [´impiəs] a.不敬的；不孝的 (英语六级单词)
• insolence [´insələns] n.傲慢；无礼 (英语六级单词)
• impunity [im´pju:niti] n.不受惩罚 (英语六级单词)
• firewood [´faiəwud] n.柴，薪 (英语六级单词)