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Trygaeus
[400] Have mercy, mercy, let yourself be touched by their words; never was your worship so dear to them as to-day. Aside. Really they are the greatest thieves that ever were. To Hermes. And I shall reveal to you a great and terrible plot that is being hatched against the gods. Hermes
[405] Hah! speak and perchance I shall let myself be softened. Trygaeus
Know then, that the Moon and that infamous Sun are plotting against you, and want to deliver Greece into the hands of the barbarians. Hermes
What for? Trygaeus
Because [410] it is to you that we sacrifice, whereas the barbarians worship them; hence they would like to see you destroyed, that they alone might receive the offerings. Hermes
Is it then for this reason that these untrustworthy charioteers have for so long been defrauding us, one of them robbing us of daylight [415] and the other nibbling away at the other's disk? Trygaeus
Yes, certainly. So therefore, Hermes, my friend, help us with your whole heart to find and deliver the captive and we will celebrate the great Panathenaea in your honor as well as all the festivals of the other gods; [420] for Hermes shall be the Mysteries, the Dipolia, the Adonia; everywhere the towns, freed from their miseries, will sacrifice to Hermes the Liberator; you will be loaded with benefits of every kind, and to start with, I offer you this cup for libations as your first present. Hermes
[425] Ah! how golden cups do influence me!
Aristophanes. Peace. The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938.
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