Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/172

154 Hoo. What's your question?

Chorus. Who are these?

Hoo. Strangers from the land of Greece.

Chorus. What design has brought them thence?

What's their errand or pretence?

Hoo. They come here simply with a view

To settle and reside with you;

Here to remain and here to live.

Chorus. What is the reason that they give?

Hoo. A project marvellous and strange.

Chorus. Will it account for such a change,

Coming here so vast a distance?

Does he look for our assistance

To serve a friend or harm a foe?

Hoo. Mighty plans he has to show

(Hinted and proposed in brief)

For a power beyond belief;

Ocean, earth, he says, and air,

All creation everywhere,

Everything that's here or there,

An empire and supremacy

Over all beneath the sky,

Is attainable by you,

Your just dominion and your due.

Chorus. Tell us, was he fool or mad?

Hoo. No, believe me: grave and sad.

Chorus. Did his reasons and replies

Mark him as discreet and wise?

Hoo. With a force, a depth, a reach

Of judgment; a command of speech;

An invention, a facility,

An address, a volubility,

More than could be thought believable;

'Tis a varlet inconceivable!

Chorus. Let us hear him! let us hear him!

Bid him begin! for raised on high

Our airy fancy soars; and I

Am rapt in hope; ready to fly.

The King Hoopoe now gives some orders in a pacific spirit, directing that all warlike weapons be removed and hung up at the back of the chimney as before. He then calls upon Peisthetairus to