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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
[285] 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
[290] 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
[295] 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. [300] I will denounce you to the Prytanes as the owner of sacred tripe, that has not paid tithe.
Aristophanes. Knights. The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938.
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