Chapter 27
PISTHETAERUS. But we have also an ancient law written in the code of the storks, which runs thus, "When the stork father has reared his young and has taught them to fly, the young must in their turn support the father."
PARRICIDE. 'Tis hardly worth while coming all this distance to be compelled to keep my father!
PISTHETAERUS. No, no, young friend, since you have come to us with such willingness, I am going to give you these black wings, as though you were an orphan bird; furthermore, some good advice, that I received myself in infancy. Don't strike your father, but take these wings in one hand and these spurs in the other; imagine you have a c.o.c.k's crest on your head and go and mount guard and fight; live on your pay and respect your father's life. You're a gallant fellow! Very well, then! Fly to Thrace and fight.[330]
PARRICIDE. By Bacchus! 'Tis well spoken; I will follow your counsel.
PISTHETAERUS. 'Tis acting wisely, by Zeus.
CINESIAS.[331] "On my light pinions I soar off to Olympus; in its capricious flight my Muse flutters along the thousand paths of poetry in turn..."
PISTHETAERUS. This is a fellow will need a whole s.h.i.+pload of wings.
CINESIAS.... it is seeking fresh outlet."
PISTHETAERUS. Welcome, Cinesias, you lime-wood man![332] Why have you come here a-twisting your game leg in circles?
CINESIAS. "I want to become a bird, a tuneful nightingale."
PISTHETAERUS. Enough of that sort of ditty. Tell me what you want.
CINESIAS. Give me wings and I will fly into the topmost airs to gather fresh songs in the clouds, in the midst of the vapours and the fleecy snow.
PISTHETAERUS. Gather songs in the clouds?
CINESIAS. 'Tis on them the whole of our latter-day art depends. The most brilliant dithyrambs are those that flap their wings in void s.p.a.ce and are clothed in mist and dense obscurity. To appreciate this, just listen.
PISTHETAERUS. Oh! no, no, no!
CINESIAS. By Hermes! but indeed you shall. "I shall travel through thine ethereal empire like a
PISTHETAERUS. Stop! easy all, I say![333]
CINESIAS.... as I soar over the seas, carried by the breath of the winds...
PISTHETAERUS. By Zeus! but I'll cut your breath short.
CINESIAS.... now rus.h.i.+ng along the tracks of Notus, now nearing Boreas across the infinite wastes of the ether." (_Pisthetaerus beats him._) Ah!
old man, that's a pretty and clever idea truly!
PISTHETAERUS. What! are you not delighted to be cleaving the air?[334]
CINESIAS. To treat a dithyrambic poet, for whom the tribes dispute with each other, in this style![335]
PISTHETAERUS. Will you stay with us and form a chorus of winged birds as slender as Leotrophides[336] for the Cecropid tribe?
CINESIAS. You are making game of me, 'tis clear; but know that I shall never leave you in peace if I do not have wings wherewith to traverse the air.
AN INFORMER. What are these birds with downy feathers, who look so pitiable to me? Tell me, oh swallow with the long dappled wings.[337]
PISTHETAERUS. Oh! but 'tis a perfect invasion that threatens us. Here comes another of them, humming along.
INFORMER. Swallow with the long dappled wings, once more I summon you.
PISTHETAERUS. It's his cloak I believe he's addressing; 'faith, it stands in great need of the swallows' return.[338]
INFORMER. Where is he who gives out wings to all comers?
PISTHETAERUS. 'Tis I, but you must tell me for what purpose you want them.
INFORMER. Ask no questions. I want wings, and wings I must have.
PISTHETAERUS. Do you want to fly straight to Pellene?[339]
INFORMER. I? Why, I am an accuser of the islands,[340] an informer...
PISTHETAERUS. A fine trade, truly!
INFORMER.... a hatcher of lawsuits. Hence I have great need of wings to prowl round the cities and drag them before justice.
PISTHETAERUS. Would you do this better if you had wings?
INFORMER. No, but I should no longer fear the pirates; I should return with the cranes, loaded with a supply of lawsuits by way of ballast.
PISTHETAERUS. So it seems, despite all your youthful vigour, you make it your trade to denounce strangers?
INFORMER. Well, and why not? I don't know how to dig.
PISTHETAERUS. But, by Zeus! there are honest ways of gaining a living at your age without all this infamous trickery.
INFORMER. My friend, I am asking you for wings, not for words.
PISTHETAERUS. 'Tis just my words that give you wings.
INFORMER. And how can you give a man wings with your words?
PISTHETAERUS. 'Tis thus that all first start.
INFORMER. All?
PISTHETAERUS. Have you not often heard the father say to young men in the barbers' shops, "It's astonis.h.i.+ng how Diitrephes' advice has made my son fly to horse-riding."--"Mine," says another, "has flown towards tragic poetry on the wings of his imagination."
INFORMER. So that words give wings?
PISTHETAERUS. Undoubtedly; words give wings to the mind and make a man soar to heaven. Thus I hope that my wise words will give you wings to fly to some less degrading trade.
INFORMER. But I do not want to.
PISTHETAERUS. What do you reckon on doing then?