Trygaeus
Intoning.
Now come, my Pegasus, get a-going with up-pricked ears
155
and make your golden bridle resound gaily. Eh! what are you doing? What are you up to? Do you turn your nose towards the cesspools? Come, pluck up a spirit; rush upwards from the earth,
160
stretch out your speedy wings and make straight for the palace of Zeus; for once give up foraging in your daily food. —Hi! you down there, what are you after now? Oh! my god! it's a man taking a crap
165
in the
Piraeus
, close to the whorehouses. But is it my death you seek then, my death? Will you not bury that right away and pile a great heap of earth upon it and plant wild thyme therein and pour perfumes on it? If I were to fall
170
from up here and misfortune happened to me, the town of
Chios
would owe a fine of five talents for my death, all because of your damned arse.
Now come, my Pegasus, get a-going with up-pricked ears
155
and make your golden bridle resound gaily. Eh! what are you doing? What are you up to? Do you turn your nose towards the cesspools? Come, pluck up a spirit; rush upwards from the earth,
160
stretch out your speedy wings and make straight for the palace of Zeus; for once give up foraging in your daily food. —Hi! you down there, what are you after now? Oh! my god! it's a man taking a crap
165
in the
Piraeus
, close to the whorehouses. But is it my death you seek then, my death? Will you not bury that right away and pile a great heap of earth upon it and plant wild thyme therein and pour perfumes on it? If I were to fall
170
from up here and misfortune happened to me, the town of
Chios
would owe a fine of five talents for my death, all because of your damned arse.
Peace. Aristophanes. ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.
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