DIONYSUS. There are two chariots and two corpses in the verse; why, 'tis a weight a hundred Egyptians could not lift.[528]
AESCHYLUS. 'Tis no longer verse against verse that I wish to weigh, but let him clamber into the scale himself, he, his children, his wife, Cephisophon[529] and all his works; against all these I will place but two of my verses on the other side.
DIONYSUS. I will not be their umpire, for they are dear to me and I will not have a foe in either of them; meseems the one is mighty clever, while the other simply delights me.
PLUTO. Then you are foiled in the object of your voyage.
DIONYSUS. And if I do decide?
PLUTO. You shall take with you whichever of the twain you declare the victor; thus you will not have come in vain.
DIONYSUS. That's all right! Well then, listen; I have come down to find a poet.
EURIPIDES. And with what intent?
[528] i.e. one hundred porters, either because many of the Athenian porters were Egyptians, or as an allusion to the Pyramids and other great works, which had habituated them to carrying heavy burdens.