Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/196

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Father, patron, mighty lord,

Founder of the rising state,

What thy bounty can afford,

Be it little, be it great,

With a quick resolve, incline

To bestow on me and mine.

Peisthetairus, the essential man of business and activity, entertaining a supreme contempt for his profession and person of the poet, is at no great pains to conceal it; but recollecting at the same time, that it is advisable to secure the suffrages of the literary world, and that the character of a patron is creditable to a great man, he patronises him accordingly, not at his own expense, but by bestowing upon him certain articles of apparel put in requisition for that purpose. This first act of confiscation is directed against the property of the church; the Scholiast informs us, that he begins by stripping the Priest.

Peis. This fellow will breed a bustle, and make mischief,

If we don't give him a trifle, and get rid of him.

You there, you've a spare waistcoat; pull it off!

And give it this same clever, ingenious poet—

There, take the waistcoat, friend! Ye seem to want it! Poet. Freely, with a thankful heart,

What a bounteous hand bestows,

Is received in friendly part;

But amid the Thracian snows,

Or the chilly Scythian plain,

He the wanderer, cold and lonely,

With an under-waistcoat only,

Must a further wish retain;

Which, the Muse averse to mention,

To your gentle comprehension,

Trusts her enigmatic strain. Peis. I comprehend it enough; you want a jerkin;

Here, give him yours; one ought to encourage genius.

There, take it, and good bye to ye! Poet. Well, I'm going;

And as soon as I get to the town, I'll set to work;

And finish something, in this kind of way.