EURIPIDES. There were Scamanders, abysses, griffins with eagles' beaks chiselled upon brazen bucklers, all words with frowning crests and hard, hard to understand.
DIONYSUS. 'Faith, I was kept awake almost an entire night, trying to think out his yellow bird, half cock and half horse.[474]
AESCHYLUS. Why, fool, 'tis a device that is painted on the prow of a vessel.
DIONYSUS. Ah! I actually thought 'twas Eryxis, the son of Philoxenus.[475]
EURIPIDES. But what did you want with a cock in tragedy?
AESCHYLUS. But you, you foe of the gods, what have you done that is so good?
[474] The Scholiast tells us that this expression ([Greek: hippalektruon]) was used in 'The Myrmidons' of Aeschylus; Aristophanes ridicules it again both in the 'Peace' and in 'The Birds.'
[475] An individual apparently noted for his uncouth ugliness.
Studies
