Some LOUNGERS from the Market with torches approach the Banqueting hall. The PORTER bars their entrance.
1ST MARKET-LOUNGER
Open the door.
PORTER
Here move along.
1ST MARKET-LOUNGER
What's this?
You're sitting down. Shall I singe you with my torch?
That's vulgar! O I couldn't do it ... yet
If it would gratify the audience,
I'll mortify myself.
2ND MARKET-LOUNGER
And I will too.
We'll both be crude and vulgar, yes we will.
PORTER
Be off at o~ce now or you'll be wailing
Dirges for your hair. Get off at once,
And see you don't disturb the Spartan envoys
Just coming out from the splendid feast they've had.
The banqueters begin to come out.
1ST ATHENIAN
I've never known such a pleasant banquet before,
And what delightful fellows the Spartans are.
When we are warm with wine, how wise we grow.
2ND ATHENIAN
That's only fair, since sober we're such fools:
This is the advice I'd give the Athenians—
See our ambassadors are always drunk.
For when we visit Sparta sober, then
We're on the alert for trickery all the while
So that we miss half of the things they say,
And misinterpret things that were never said,
And then report the muddle back to Athens.
But now we're charmed with each other. They might cap
With the Telamon-catch instead of the Cleitagora,
And we'd applaud and praise them just the same;
We're not too scrupulous in weighing words.
PORTER
Why, here the rascals come again to plague me.
Won't you move on, you sorry loafers there!
MARKET-LOUNGER
Yes, by Zeus, they're already coming out.
SPARTANS
Now hinnie dearest, please tak' up your pipe
That I may try a spring an' sing my best
In honour o' the Athenians an' oursels.
ATHENIANS
Aye, take your pipe. By all the gods, there's nothing
Could glad my heart more than to watch you dance.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
Lysistrata. Aristophanes.