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A Literal Translation, with Notes.
96 pages - You are on Page 70
PISTHETAERUS. Of which gods are you speaking?
IRIS. Of which? Why, of ourselves, the gods of heaven.
PISTHETAERUS. You, gods?
IRIS. Are there others then?
PISTHETAERUS. Men now adore the birds as gods, and 'tis to them, by Zeus, that they must offer sacrifices, and not to Zeus at all!
IRIS. Oh! fool! fool! Rouse not the wrath of the gods, for 'tis terrible indeed. Armed with the brand of Zeus, Justice would annihilate your race; the lightning would strike you as it did Lycimnius and consume both your body and the porticos of your palace.[321]
PISTHETAERUS. Here! that's enough tall talk. Just you listen and keep quiet! Do you take me for a Lydian or a Phrygian[322] and think to frighten me with your big words? Know, that if Zeus worries me again, I shall go at the head of my eagles, who are armed with lightning, and reduce his dwelling and that of Amphion to cinders.[323] I shall send more than six hundred porphyrions clothed in leopards' skins[324] up to heaven against him; and formerly a single Porphyrion gave him enough to do. As for you, his messenger, if you annoy me, I shall begin by stretching your legs asunder and so conduct myself, Iris though you be, that despite my age, you will be astonished. I will show you a fine long tool that will fuck you three times over.
[321] Iris' reply is a parody of the tragic style.--'Lycimnius' is, according to the Scholiast, the title of a tragedy by Euripides, which is about a ship that is struck by lightning.
[322] i.e. for a poltroon, like the slaves, most of whom came to Athens from these countries.
[323] A parody of a passage in the lost tragedy of 'Niobe' of Aeschylus.
[324] Because this bird has a spotted plumage.--Porphyrion is also the name of one of the Titans who tried to storm heaven.
Aristophanes Complete Works
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