AESCHYLUS. "Oh! river Sperchius! oh! meadows, where the oxen graze!"[522]
DIONYSUS. Cuckoo! let go! Oh! the verse of Aeschylus sinks far the lower of the two.
EURIPIDES. And why?
DIONYSUS. Because, like the wool-merchants, who moisten their wares, he has thrown a river into his verse and has made it quite wet, whereas yours was winged and flew away.
EURIPIDES. Come, another verse! You recite, Aeschylus, and you, weigh.
DIONYSUS. Hold the scales again.
AESCHYLUS AND EURIPIDES. Ready.
DIONYSUS (to Euripides). You begin.
EURIPIDES. "Eloquence is Persuasion's only sanctuary."[523]
AESCHYLUS. "Death is the only god whom gifts cannot bribe."[524]
[522] Fragment from Aeschylus 'Philoctetes.' The Sperchius is a river in Thessaly, which has its source in the Pindus range and its mouth in the Maliac gulf.
[523] A verse from Euripides' 'Antigone.' Its meaning is, that it is better to speak well than to speak the truth, if you want to persuade.
[524] From the 'Niobe,' a lost play, of Aeschylus.
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