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Sausage-Seller
So when I saw myself defeated by this ox dung, I outbade the fellow, crying, “Two hundred!” And beyond this [660] I moved that a vow be made to Diana of a thousand goats if the next day anchovies should only be worth an obol a hundred. And the Senate looked towards me again. The other, stunned with the blow, grew delirious in his speech, [665] and at last the Prytanes and the Scythians dragged him out. The Senators then stood talking noisily about the anchovies. Cleon, however, begged them to listen to the Lacedaemonian envoy, who had come to make proposals of peace; [670] but all with one accord cried “Certainly it's not the moment to think of peace now! If anchovies are so cheap, what need have we of peace? Let the war take its course!” And with loud shouts they demanded that the Prytanes should close the sitting [675] and then they leapt over the rails in all directions. As for me, I slipped away to buy all the coriander seed and leeks there were on the market and gave it to them gratis as seasoning for their anchovies. It was marvellous! [680] They loaded me with praises and caresses; thus I conquered the Senate with an obol's worth of leeks, and here I am.
Aristophanes. Knights. The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938.
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