Chorus
Let us drive away these men of the city who used
301
to stay at home and
302
chatter round the table in the days when only an obolus was paid, whereas now one is stifled by the crowds at the Pnyx. No! during the archonship of generous Myronides, none would have dared
305
to let himself be paid for the trouble he spent over public business; each one brought his own meal of bread, a couple of onions, three olives
307
and some wine in a little wine-skin. But nowadays we run here to earn the three obols, for the citizen has become as mercenary
310
as the stonemason.
Let us drive away these men of the city who used
301
to stay at home and
302
chatter round the table in the days when only an obolus was paid, whereas now one is stifled by the crowds at the Pnyx. No! during the archonship of generous Myronides, none would have dared
305
to let himself be paid for the trouble he spent over public business; each one brought his own meal of bread, a couple of onions, three olives
307
and some wine in a little wine-skin. But nowadays we run here to earn the three obols, for the citizen has become as mercenary
310
as the stonemason.
Ecclesiazusae. Aristophanes. ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.