Lamachus: From where did I hear a warlike shout?
Lamachus: Where must one come to the aid? Where must one throw in the confusion?
Lamachus: Who stirred up Gorgo from the sack?
Dikaiopolis: Oh hero Lamachus, of the hills and of the ambushes.
575
Half-chorus A: O Lamachus, for this man is not a human being long ago.
Half-Chorus A: Does he slander our entire city?
Lamachus: You, being poor, dare to say these things?
Dikaiopolis: O hero Laches, but please forgive me,
Dikaiopolis: if, being poor, I said something and swore an oath.
Lamachus: What did you say about us? You will not tell?
580
Dikaiopolis: I do not know yet.
Dicaeopolis: For I am reeling from the fear of the weapons.
Dikaiopolis: But I implore you, carry my little lamb away for me.
Lamachus: Look here.
Dikaiopolis: Put her down on her back here for me now.
Lamachus: He is lying dead.
Dicaeopolis: Bring me now the feather from the helmet.
Lamachus: this is a little shirt for you.
585
Dikaiopolis: Now take my head,
Dikaiopolis: in order that I may vomit; for I detest the mounds.
Lamachus: What will you do to this? Are you going to fight me with the helmet?
Lamachus: for it is a feather-bed—
Dikaiopolis: Tell me, whose is it, then?
Dikaiopolis: Is it a bird? A boastful one?
Lamachus: Alas, how you will die!
590
Dikaiopolis: By no means, Laches.
Dikaiopolis: For it is not by strength; but if you are strong,
Dikaiopolis: Why haven't you spat on me? For you are well-armed.
Lamachus: Are you saying these things, poor man, about the general?
Dikaiopolis: for am I a beggar?
Lamachus: But who are you, then?
Dikaiopolis: Who? A good citizen, not a demagogue,
595
Dikaiopolis: but from whatever time the war began, soldier,
Dicaeopolis: But you, since the war began, are a mercenary.
Lamachus: For they have voted for me —
Dikaiopolis: three cuckoos, indeed.
Dicaeopolis: Therefore, since I detest these things, I have drunk them,
Dicaeopolis: seeing men who are grey-haired indeed in the ranks,
600
Dikaiopolis: 'young men such as you have done,'
Dikaiopolis: the men hired for Thrace, three drachmas,
Dikaiopolis: Taisamenophainippos Panourgipparchildas,
Dikaiopolis: some with Charis, others with Chaos,
Dikaiopolis: Geretodōrous, Diomeialazonas,
605
Dikaiopolis: But the ones in Kamarina, and in Gela, and in Katagela.
Lamachus: For they were elected.
Dikaiopolis: but what is the reason?
Dicaeopolis: You, however, are always serving as mercenaries in a mixed crowd,
Dicaeopolis: Not one of these, then? It is true, Marilades.
Dicaeopolis: You have already been an envoy, you being grey-haired, one or two?
610
Dikaiopolis: he nodded. And yet he is a sensible man and a worker.
Dikaiopolis: What then, Drakyllos or Euphorides or Prinides?
Dicaeopolis: Has one of you seen the baggage, or the Chaones?
Dikaiopolis: They do not say so. But the Coisyran and Laches,
Dikaiopolis: on which, recently at one time, through a contribution and of debts,
615
Dikaiopolis: like a dish-rinse pouring out in the evening,
Dikaiopolis: All my friends were urging me to flee.
Lamachus: O democracy, these things are surely unbearable?
Dikaiopolis: No, certainly not, if Lamachus does not get paid.
Lamachus: but nevertheless I, for my part, to all the Peloponnesians
620
Lamachus: I will always fight and cause confusion everywhere.
Lamachus: with ships and foot soldiers according to the standard.
Dikaiopolis: But I proclaim to the Peloponnesians!
Dicaeopolis: to everyone, both to the Megarians and to the Boeotians.
Dikaiopolis: Sell and buy from me, but not from Lamachus.
625
Acharnians. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.