The Birds | Page 8

What for?
EUELPIDES Epops is going to sing again.
EPOPS (IN THE COPPICE) Epopoi poi popoi, epopoi, popoi, here, here, quick, quick, quick, my comrades in the air; all you who pillage the fertile lands of the husbandmen, the numberless tribes who gather and devour the barley seeds, the swift flying race who sing so sweetly. And you whose gentle twitter resounds through the fields with the little cry of tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio; and you who hop about the branches of the ivy in the gardens; the mountain birds, who feed on the wild olive berries or the arbutus, hurry to come at my call, trioto, trioto, totobrix; you also, who snap up the sharp-stinging gnats in the marshy vales, and you who dwell in the fine plain of Marathon, all damp with dew, and you, the francolin with speckled wings; you too, the halcyons, who flit over the swelling waves of the sea, come hither to hear the tidings; let all the tribes of long-necked birds assemble here; know that a clever old man has come to us, bringing an entirely new idea and proposing great reforms. Let all come to the debate here, here, here, here. Torotorotorotorotix, kikkobau, kikkobau, torotorotorotorolililix.
PISTHETAERUS Can you see any bird?
EUELPIDES By Phoebus, no! and yet I am straining my eyesight to scan the sky.
PISTHETAERUS 'Twas really not worth Epops' while to go and bury himself in the thicket like a plover when a-hatching.
PHOENICOPTERUS Torotina, torotina.
PISTHETAERUS Hold, friend, here is another bird.
EUELPIDES I' faith, yes, 'tis a bird, but of what kind? Isn't it a peacock?
PISTHETAERUS Epops will tell us. What is this bird?
EPOPS 'Tis not one of those you are used to seeing; 'tis a bird from the marshes.
PISTHETAERUS Oh! oh! but he is very handsome with his wings as crimson as flame.
EPOPS Undoubtedly; indeed he is called flamingo.[1]
f[1] An African bird, that comes to the southern countries of Europe, to Greece, Italy, and Spain; it is even seen in Provence.
EUELPIDES Hi! I say! You!
PISTHETAERUS What are you shouting for?
EUELPIDES Why, here's another bird.
PISTHETAERUS Aye, indeed; 'tis a foreign bird too. What is this bird from beyond the mountains with a look as solemn as it is stupid?
EPOPS He is called the Mede.[1]
f[1] Aristophanes amusingly mixes up real birds with people and individuals, whom he represents in the form of birds; he is personifying the Medians here.
PISTHETAERUS The Mede! But, by Heracles, how, if a Mede, has he flown here without a camel?
EUELPIDES Here's another bird with a crest.
PISTHETAERUS Ah! that's curious. I say, Epops, you are not the only one of your kind then?
EPOPS This bird is the son of Philocles, who is the son of Epops;[1] so that, you see, I am his grandfather; just as one might say, Hipponicus,[2] the son of Callias, who is the son of Hipponicus.
f[1] Philocles, a tragic poet, had written a tragedy on Tereus, which was simply a plagiarism of the play of the same name by Sophocles. Philocles is the son of Epops, because he got his inspiration from Sophocles' Tereus, and at the same time is father to Epops, since he himself produced another Tereus. f[2] This Hipponicus is probably the orator whose ears Alcibiades boxed to gain a bet; he was a descendant of Callias, who was famous for his hatred of Pisistratus.
PISTHETAERUS Then this bird is Callias! Why, what a lot of his feathers he has lost![1]
f[1] This Callias, who must not be confounded with the foe of Pisistratus, had ruined himself.
EPOPS That's because he is honest; so the informers set upon him and the women too pluck out his feathers.
PISTHETAERUS By Posidon, do you see that many-coloured bird? What is his name?
EPOPS This one? 'Tis the glutton.
PISTHETAERUS Is there another glutton besides Cleonymus? But why, if he is Cleonymus, has he not thrown away his crest?[1] But what is the meaning of all these crests? Have these birds come to contend for the double stadium prize?[2]
f[1] Cleonymus had cast away his shield; he was as great a glutton as he was a coward. f[2] A race in which the track had to be circled twice.
EPOPS They are like the Carians, who cling to the crests of their mountains for greater safety.[1]
f[1] A people of Asia Minor; when pursued by the Ionians they took refuge in the mountains.
PISTHETAERUS Oh, Posidon! do you see what swarms of birds are gathering here?
EUELPIDES By Phoebus! what a cloud! The entrance to the stage is no longer visible, so closely do they fly together.
PISTHETAERUS Here is the partridge.
EUELPIDES Faith! there is the francolin.
PISTHETAERUS There is the poachard.
EUELPIDES Here is the kingfisher. And over yonder?
EPOPS 'Tis the barber.
EUELPIDES What? a bird a barber?
PISTHETAERUS Why, Sporgilus is one.[1] Here comes the owl.
f[1] An Athenian barber.
EUELPIDES And who is it brings an owl to Athens?[1]
f[1]