Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/204

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Just and proper, to proclaim, from this time forth, that we withdraw

From Philocrates, the fowler, the protection of the law:

Furthermore, we fix a price, for bringing him alive or dead,

Four, if he's secured alive; a single talent for his head:

He, that Ortolans and Quails to market has presumed to bring;

And the sparrows, six a penny, tied together in a string,

With a wicked art retaining, sundry Doves in his employ,

Fastened, with their feet in fetters, forced to serve for a decoy;

Farther, we declare and publish our command to men below,

All the Birds you keep in prison, to release, and let them go.

We shall, else, revenge ourselves, and we shall teach the tyrants yet,

How to chirp and dance in fetters, in the tangles of a net.

Chorus. Blest are they,

The Birds alway,

With perfect clothing,

Fearing nothing,

Cold or sleet or summer heat.

As it chances,

As he fancies,

Each his own vagary follows,

Dwelling in the dells and hollows

When, with eager weary strain,

The shrilly grasshoppers complain,

Parched upon the sultry plain;

Maddened with the raging heat,

We secure a cool retreat,

In the shady nooks and coves,

Recesses of the sacred groves,

Many a herb, and many a berry

Serves to feast, and make us merry.

To the judges of the prize, we wish to mention in a word,

The return we mean to make, if our performance is preferred.