Cleon
790
> Never had Demos a defender or a friend more devoted than myself; on my head, on my life, I swear it!
790
> Never had Demos a defender or a friend more devoted than myself; on my head, on my life, I swear it!
Sausage-Seller
You pretend to love him and for eight years you have seen him housed in casks, in crevices and dovecots, where he is blinded with the smoke, and you lock him in without pity;
795
Archeptolemus brought peace and you tore it to ribbons; the envoys who come to propose a truce you drive from the city with kicks in their arses.
You pretend to love him and for eight years you have seen him housed in casks, in crevices and dovecots, where he is blinded with the smoke, and you lock him in without pity;
795
Archeptolemus brought peace and you tore it to ribbons; the envoys who come to propose a truce you drive from the city with kicks in their arses.
Cleon
The purpose of this is that Demos may rule over all the Greeks; for the oracles predict that, if he is patient, he must one day sit as judge in
Arcadia
at five obols per day. Meanwhile, I will nourish him,
800
look after him and, above all, I will ensure to him his three obols.
The purpose of this is that Demos may rule over all the Greeks; for the oracles predict that, if he is patient, he must one day sit as judge in
Arcadia
at five obols per day. Meanwhile, I will nourish him,
800
look after him and, above all, I will ensure to him his three obols.
Sausage-Seller
No, little you care for his reigning in
Arcadia
, it's to pillage and impose on the allies at will that you reckon; you wish the war to conceal your rogueries as in a mist, that Demos may see nothing of them, and harassed by cares, may only depend on yourself for his bread.
805
But if ever peace is restored to him, if ever he returns to his lands to comfort himself once more with good cakes, to greet his cherished olives, he will know the blessings you have kept him out of, even though paying him a salary; and, filled with hatred and rage, he will rise, burning with desire to vote against you. You know this only too well; it is for this you rock him to sleep with your lies.
No, little you care for his reigning in
Arcadia
, it's to pillage and impose on the allies at will that you reckon; you wish the war to conceal your rogueries as in a mist, that Demos may see nothing of them, and harassed by cares, may only depend on yourself for his bread.
805
But if ever peace is restored to him, if ever he returns to his lands to comfort himself once more with good cakes, to greet his cherished olives, he will know the blessings you have kept him out of, even though paying him a salary; and, filled with hatred and rage, he will rise, burning with desire to vote against you. You know this only too well; it is for this you rock him to sleep with your lies.
Cleon
810
Is it not shameful, that you should dare thus to calumniate me before Demos, me, to whom
Athens
, I swear it by Demeter, already owes more than it ever did to Themistocles?
810
Is it not shameful, that you should dare thus to calumniate me before Demos, me, to whom
Athens
, I swear it by Demeter, already owes more than it ever did to Themistocles?
Sausage-Seller
declaiming
Oh! citizens of
Argos
, do you hear what he says?
to Cleon
You dare to compare yourself to Themistocles, who found our city half empty and left it full to overflowing,
815
who one day gave us the
Piraeus
for dinner, and added fresh fish to all our usual meals. You, on the contrary, you, who compare yourself with Themistocles, have only sought to reduce our city in size, to shut it within its walls, to chant oracles to us. And Themistocles goes into exile, while you gorge yourself on the most excellent fare
Oh! citizens of
Argos
, do you hear what he says?
You dare to compare yourself to Themistocles, who found our city half empty and left it full to overflowing,
815
who one day gave us the
Piraeus
for dinner, and added fresh fish to all our usual meals. You, on the contrary, you, who compare yourself with Themistocles, have only sought to reduce our city in size, to shut it within its walls, to chant oracles to us. And Themistocles goes into exile, while you gorge yourself on the most excellent fare
Cleon
820
Oh! Demos! Am I compelled to hear myself thus abused, and merely because I love you?
820
Oh! Demos! Am I compelled to hear myself thus abused, and merely because I love you?
Demos
Silence! stop your abuse! All too long have I been your dupe.
Silence! stop your abuse! All too long have I been your dupe.
Sausage-Seller
Ah! my dear little Demos, he is a rogue who has played you many a scurvy trick;
Ah! my dear little Demos, he is a rogue who has played you many a scurvy trick;
Knights. Aristophanes. ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.
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