lawsuits.

CLEON
Eh! what! Knights, are you helping them? But, if I am beaten, it

is in your cause, for I was going to propose to erect a statue in
the city in memory of your bravery.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Oh! the impostor! the dull varlet! See! he treats us like old

dotards and crawls at our feet to deceive us; but the cunning
wherein his power lies shall this time recoil on himself; he trips

up himself by resorting to such artifices.
CLEON

Oh citizens! oh people! see how these brutes are bursting my
belly.

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
What shouts! but it's this very bawling that incessantly upsets

the city!
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I can shout too-and so loud that you will flee with fear.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS

If you shout louder than he does I will strike up the triumphal
hymn; if you surpass him in impudence the cake is ours.

CLEON
I denounce this fellow; he has had tasty stews exported from

Athens for the Spartan fleet.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

And I denounce him; he runs into the Prytaneum with an empty belly
and comes out with it full.

DEMOSTHENES
And by Zeus! he carries off bread, meat, and fish, which is

forbidden. Pericles himself never had this right.
(A screaming match now ensues, each line more raucous than the

last. The rapidity of the dialogue likewise increases.)
CLEON

You are travelling the right road to get killed.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I'll bawl three times as loud as you.
CLEON

I will deafen you with my yells.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

And I you with my bellowing.
CLEON

I shall calumniate you, if you become a Strategus.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

Dog, I will lay your back open with the lash.
CLEON

I will make you drop your arrogance,
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I will baffle your machinations.
CLEON

Dare to look me in the face!
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I too was brought up in the market-place.
CLEON

I will cut you to shreds if you whisper a word.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

If you open your mouth, I'll shut it with shit.
CLEON

I admit I'm a thief; that's more than you do.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

By our Hermes of the market-place, if caught in the act, why, I
perjure myself before those who saw me.

CLEON
These are my own special tricks. I will denounce you to the

Prytanes as the owner of sacred tripe, that has not paid tithe.
CHORUS (singing)

Oh! you scoundrel! you impudent bawler! everything is filled
with your daring, all Attica, the Assembly, the Treasury, the decrees,

the tribunals. As a furioustorrent you have overthrown" target="_blank" title="overthrow的过去分词">overthrown our city; your
outcries have deafened Athens and, posted upon a high rock, you have

lain in wait for the tribute moneys as the fisherman does for the
tunny-fish.

CLEON (somewhat less loudly)
I know your tricks; it's an old plot resoled.

SAUSAGE-SELLER
If you know naught of soling, I understand nothing of sausages;

you, who cut bad leather on the slant to make it look stout and
deceive the country yokels. They had not worn it a day before it had

stretched some two spans.
DEMOSTHENES

That's the very trick he played on me; both my neighbours and my
friends laughed heartily at me, and before I reached Pergasae I was

swimming in my shoes.
CHORUS (singing)

Have you not always shown that blatant impudence, which is the
sole strength of our orators? You push it so far, that you, the head

of the State, dare to milk the purses of the opulent aliens and, at
sight of you, the son of Hippodamus melts into tears. But here is

another man who gives me pleasure, for he is a much greater rascal
than you; he will overthrow you; 'tis easy to see, that he will beat

you in roguery, in brazenness and in clever turns. Come, you, who have
been brought up among the class which to-day gives us all our great

men, show us that a liberal education is mere tomfoolery.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

Just hear what sort of fellow that fine citizen is.
CLEON

Will you not let me speak?
SAUSAGE-SELLER

Assuredly not, for I too am an awful rascal.
DEMOSTHENES

If he does not give in at that, tell him your parents were awful
rascals too.

CLEON
Once more, will you let me speak?

SAUSAGE-SELLER
No, by Zeus!

CLEON
Yes, by Zeus, you shall!

SAUSAGE-SELLER
No, by Posidon! We will fight first to see who shall speak first.

CLEON
I will die sooner.

SAUSAGE-SELLER
I will not let you....

DEMOSTHENES
Let him, in the name of the gods, let him die.

CLEON
What makes you so bold as to dare to speak to my face?

SAUSAGE-SELLER
Because I know both how to speak and how to cook.

CLEON
Hah! the fine speaker! Truly, if some business matter fell your

way, you would know thoroughly well how to attack it, to carve it up
alive! Shall I tell you what has happened to you? Like so many others,

you have gained some petty lawsuit against some alien. Did you drink
enough water to inspire you? Did you mutter over the thing

sufficiently through the night, spout it along the street, recite it
to all you met? Have you bored your friends enough with it? And for

this you deem yourself an orator. You poor fool!
SAUSAGE-SELLER

And what do you drink yourself then, to be able all alone by
yourself to dumbfound and stupefy the city so with your clamour?

CLEON
Can you match me with a rival? Me? When I have devoured a good hot

tunny-fish and drunk on top of it a great jar of unmixed wine. I say
"to Hell with the generals of Pylos!"

SAUSAGE-SELLER
And I, when I have bolted the tripe of an ox together with a sow's

belly and swallowed the broth as well, I am fit, though slobbering
with grease, to bellow louder than all orators and to terrify Nicias.

DEMOSTHENES
I admire your language so much; the only thing I do not approve is

that you swallow all the broth yourself.
CLEON

Even though you gorged yourself on sea-dogs, you would not beat
the Milesians.

SAUSAGE-SELLER
Give me a bullock's breast to devour, and I am a man to traffic in

mines.
CLEON

I will rush into the Senate and set them all by the ears.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

And I will pull out your arse to stuff like a sausage.
CLEON

As for me, I will seize you by the rump and hurl you head foremost
through the door.

DEMOSTHENES
By Posidon, only after you have thrown me there first.

CLEON
(Beginning another crescendo of competitive screeching)

Beware of the carcan!
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I denounce you for cowardice.
CLEON

I will tan your hide.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I will flay you and make a thief's pouch with the skin.
CLEON

I will peg you out on the ground.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I will slice you into mince-meat.
CLEON

I will tear out your eyelashes.
SAUSAGE-SELLER

I will slit your gullet.
DEMOSTHENES

We will set his mouth open with a wooden stick as the cooks do
with pigs; we will tear out his tongue, and, looking down his gaping

throat, will see whether his inside has any pimples.
CHORUS (singing)

Thus then at Athens we have something more fiery than fire, more
impudent than impudence itself! 'Tis a grave matter; come, we will

push and jostle him without mercy. There, you grip him tightly under
the arms; if he gives way at the onset, you will find him nothing

but a craven; I know my man.
DEMOSTHENES

That he has been all his life and he has only made himself a
name by reaping another's harvest; and now he has tied up the ears

he gathered over there, he lets them dry and seeks to sell them.
CLEON

I do not fear you as long as there is a Senate and a people
which stands like a fool, gaping in the air.

CHORUS (singing)
What unparalleled impudence! 'Tis ever the same brazen front. If I

don't hate you, why, I'm ready to take the place of the one blanket
Cratinus wets; I'll offer to play a tragedy by Morsimus. Oh! you

cheat! who turn all into money, who flutter from one extortion to
another; may you disgorge as quickly as you have crammed yourself!

Then only would I sing, "Let us drink, let us drink to this happy
event!" Then even the son of Ulius, the old wheat-fairy, would empty

his cup with transports of joy, crying, "Io, Paean! Io, Bacchus!"
CLEON

• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• statue [´stætʃu:] n.塑像，雕像 (初中英语单词)
• deceive [di´si:v] vt.欺骗，欺诈 (初中英语单词)
• likewise [´laikwaiz] ad.同样地；也，又 (初中英语单词)
• whisper [´wispə] v.耳语 n.低语；沙沙声 (初中英语单词)
• sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
• assembly [ə´sembli] n.集会；装配；与会者 (初中英语单词)
• furious [´fjuəriəs] a.狂怒的；猛烈的 (初中英语单词)
• tribute [´tribju:t] n.贡物；献礼；颂词 (初中英语单词)
• fisherman [´fiʃəmən] n.渔民，渔夫，打鱼人 (初中英语单词)
• liberal [´libərəl] a.大方的 n.开明的人 (初中英语单词)
• thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
• inspire [in´spaiə] v.鼓舞；使感悟；吸入 (初中英语单词)
• mutter [´mʌtə] v.&n.咕哝；嘀咕 (初中英语单词)
• recite [ri´sait] v.背诵；叙述 (初中英语单词)
• approve [ə´pru:v] v.赞成；同意；批准 (初中英语单词)
• swallow [swɔləu] n.燕子 v.吞，咽；淹没 (初中英语单词)
• traffic [´træfik] n.交通，运输 (初中英语单词)
• wooden [´wudn] a.木制的；呆板的 (初中英语单词)
• harvest [´hɑ:vist] n.&v.收获；收割 (初中英语单词)
• tragedy [´trædʒidi] n.悲剧；惨案；灾难 (初中英语单词)
• flutter [´flʌtə] vi.飘扬；摆 n.拍动 (初中英语单词)
• surpass [sə´pɑ:s] vt.超过，胜过 (高中英语单词)
• denounce [di´nauns] vt.指责；告发；揭发 (高中英语单词)
• torrent [´tɔrənt] n.奔流，激流，洪流；迸发 (高中英语单词)
• overthrown [,əuvə´θrəun] overthrow的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• athens [´æθinz] n.雅典 (高中英语单词)
• naught [nɔ:t] n.无；零 (高中英语单词)
• heartily [´hɑ:tili] ad.衷心地；亲切地 (高中英语单词)
• overthrow [´əuvəθrəu] n.推翻；打倒 (高中英语单词)
• grease [gri:s] n.脂肪；油脂 vt.涂油 (高中英语单词)
• bellow [´beləu] v.吼叫；轰鸣 (高中英语单词)
• terrify [´terifai] vt.使恐怖；惊吓 (高中英语单词)
• devour [di´vauə] vt.吞食；毁坏 (高中英语单词)
• senate [´senit] n.参议院；上院 (高中英语单词)
• tightly [´taitli] ad.紧，紧密地 (高中英语单词)
• rapidity [rə´piditi] n.迅速；险峻；陡 (英语四级单词)
• baffle [´bæfəl] vt.&n.阻碍；徒劳；困惑 (英语四级单词)
• daring [´deəriŋ] a.&n.勇敢(的) (英语四级单词)
• orator [´ɔrətə] n.演说者；雄辩家 (英语四级单词)
• competitive [kəm´petitiv] a.竞争的，比赛的 (英语四级单词)
• jostle [´dʒɔsəl] v.&n.推，撞，挤(人) (英语四级单词)
• brazen [´breizən] a.黄铜制的；无耻的 (英语四级单词)
• recoil [ri´kɔil] vi.&n.退缩；弹回 (英语六级单词)
• incessantly [in´sesntli] ad.不断地，不停地 (英语六级单词)
• deafen [´defən] vt.使聋，震聋 (英语六级单词)