Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/281

251 THE BIRDS 251

THE BIRDS

THE PLANS FOR THE CITY.

Peisthetairus.^ Euelpides. Hoopoe.

Scene. — A wild desolate country with a bare open prospect on one side, and some upright rocL• covered with shrubs and brushxvood in the centre of the stage. Peisthetairus and Euelpides appear as a couple of worn-out pedestrian travellers, the one with a raven and the other with a jackdaw on hL• hand. They appear to be seeking for a direction, from the motions and signah made to them by the Birds.

Euelpides [^speaking to his jachdaw']. Right on,

do ye say ? to the tree there in the distance ? Peisthetah'us [^speahing first to his raven, and then to his co7npanion~. Plague take ye I Why this creature calls us back ! Euelpides. What use can it answer tramping up and down ? We 're lost, I tell ye : our journey 's come to nothing. Peisthetairus. To think of me travelling a thousand stadia 6

With a raven for my adviser !

Euelpides. Think of me too,

Going at the instigation of a jackdaw, To wear my toes and my toe-nails to pieces !

Peisthetairus. I don't know even the country where

we 've got to. Euelpides. And yet you expect to find a country here, lo

A country for yourself !

Peisthetairus. Truly not I ;

^ Peithetaerus is the better form, but the translator's spelling has been preserved.