You are making game of me, that's clear; but know that I shall never leave you in peace if I do not have wings wherewith to traverse the air.
(CINESIAS departs and an INFORMER arrives.)INFORMER
What are these birds with downy feathers, who look so pitiable to me? Tell me, oh swallow with the long dappled wings.
PITHETAERUS
Oh! it's a regular invasion that threatens us.Here comes another one, humming along.
INFORMER
Swallow with the long dappled wings, once more I summon you.
PITHETAERUS
It's his cloak I believe he's addressing; it stands in great need of the swallows' return.
INFORMER
Where is he who gives out wings to all comers?
PITHETAERUS
Here I am, but you must tell me for what purpose you want them.
INFORMER
Ask no questions.I want wings, and wings I must have.
PITHETAERUS
Do you want to fly straight to Pellene?
INFORMER
I? Why, I am an accuser of the islands, an informer...
PITHETAERUS
A fine trade, truly!
INFORMER
...a hatcher of lawsuits.Hence I have great need of wings to prowl round the cities and drag them before justice.
PITHETAERUS
Would you do this better if you had wings?
INFORMER
No, but I should no longer fear the pirates; I should return with the cranes, loaded with a supply of lawsuits by way of ballast.
PITHETAERUS
So it seems, despite all your youthful vigour, you make it your trade to denounce strangers?
INFORMER
Well, and why not? I don't know how to dig.
PITHETAERUS
But, by Zeus! there are honest ways of gaining a living at your age without all this infamous trickery.
INFORMER
My friend, I am asking you for wings, not for words.
PITHETAERUS
It's just my words that gives you wings.
INFORMER
And how can you give a man wings with your words?
PITHETAERUS
They all start this way.
INFORMER
How?
PITHETAERUS
Have you not often heard the father say to young men in the barbers' shops, "It's astonishing how Diitrephes' advice has made my son fly to horse-riding."-"Mine," says another, "has flown towards tragic poetry on the wings of his imagination."INFORMER
So that words give wings?
PITHETAERUS
Undoubtedly; words give wings to the mind and make a man soar to heaven.Thus I hope that my wise words will give you wings to fly to some less degrading trade.
INFORMER
But I do not want to.
PITHETAERUS
What do you reckon on doing then?
INFORMER
I won't belie my breeding; from generation to generation we have lived by informing.Quick, therefore, give me quickly some light, swift hawk or kestrel wings, so that I may summon the islanders, sustain the accusation here, and haste back there again on flying pinions.
PITHETAERUS
I see.In this way the stranger will be condemned even before he appears.
INFORMER
That's just it.
PITHETAERUS
And while he is on his way here by sea, you will be flying to the islands to despoil him of his property.
INFORMER
You've hit it, precisely; I must whirl hither and thither like a perfect humming-top.
PITHETAERUS
I catch the idea.Wait, I've got some fine Corcyraean wings.How do you like them?
INFORMER
Oh! woe is me! Why, it's a whip!
PITHETAERUS
No, no; these are the wings, I tell you, that make the top spin.
INFORMER (as PITHETAERUS lashes him)
Oh! oh! oh!
PITHETAERUS
Take your flight, clear off, you miserable cur, or you will soon see what comes of quibbling and lying.(The INFORMER flees.To his slaves) Come, let us gather up our wings and withdraw.
(The baskets are taken away.)
CHORUS (singing)
In my ethereal flights I have seen many things new and strange and wondrous beyond belief.There is a tree called Cleonymus belonging to an unknown species; it has no heart, is good for nothing and is as tall as it is cowardly.In springtime it shoots forth calumnies instead of buds and in autumn it strews the ground with bucklers in place of leaves.
Far away in the regions of darkness, where no ray of light ever enters, there is a country, where men sit at the table of the heroes and dwell with them always-except in the evening.Should any mortal meet the hero Orestes at night, he would soon be stripped and covered with blows from head to foot.
(PROMETHEUS enters, masked to conceal his identity.)PROMETHEUS
Ah! by the gods! if only Zeus does not espy me! Where is Pithetaerus?
PITHETAERUS
Ha! what is this? A masked man!
PROMETHEUS
Can you see any god behind me?
PITHETAERUS
No, none.But who are you, pray?
PROMETHEUS
What's the time, please?
PITHETAERUS
The time? Why, it's past noon.Who are you?
PROMETHEUS
Is it the fall of day? Is it no later than that?
PITHETAERUS
This is getting dull!
PROMETHEUS
What is Zeus doing? Is he dispersing the clouds or gathering them?
PITHETAERUS
Watch out for yourself!
PROMETHEUS
Come, I will raise my mask.
PITHETAERUS
Ah! my dear Prometheus!
PROMETHEUS
Sh! Sh! speak lower!
PITHETAERUS
Why, what's the matter, Prometheus?
PROMETHEUS
Sh! sh! Don't call me by my name; you will be my ruin, if Zeus should see me here.But, if you want me to tell you how things are going in heaven, take this umbrella and shield me, so that the gods don't see me.
PITHETAERUS
I can recognize Prometheus in this cunning trick.Come, quick then, and fear nothing; speak on.
PROMETHEUS
Then listen.
PITHETAERUS
I am listening, proceed!
FROM-ETHEUS
Zeus is done for.
PITHETAERUS
Ah! and since when, pray?
PROMETHEUS
Since you founded this city in the air.There is not a man who now sacrifices to the gods, the smoke of the victims no longer reaches us.
Not the smallest offering comes! We fast as though it were the festivall of Demeter.The barbarian gods, who are dying of hunger, are bawling like Illyrians and threaten to make an armed descent upon Zeus, if he does not open markets where joints of the victims are sold.
PITHETAERUS
What! there are other gods besides you, barbarian gods who dwell above Olympus?
PROMETHEUS
If there were no barbarian gods, who would be the patron of Execestides?
PITHETAERUS
And what is the name of these gods?
PROMETHEUS
Their name? Why, the Triballi.
PITHETAERUS
Ah, indeed! 'tis from that no doubt that we derive the word 'tribulation.'
PROMETHEUS
