Trygæus.
Eh! don’t you see, little fool, that then twice the food would be wanted? Whereas my beetle devours again as filth what I have eaten myself.
Little Daughter.
And if it fell into the watery depths of the sea, could it escape with its wings?
Trygæus (showing his penis).
I am fitted with a rudder in case of need, and my Naxos beetle will serve me as a boat.[1]
Little Daughter.
And what harbour will you put in at?
Trygæus.
Why, is there not the harbour of Cantharos at the Piræus?[2]
Little Daughter.
Take care not to knock against anything and so fall off into space; once a cripple, you would be a fit subject for Euripides, who would put you into a tragedy.[3]
Trygæus.
I’ll see to it. Good-bye! (To the Athenians.) You, for love of whom I brave these dangers, do ye neither let wind nor go to stool for the space of three days, for, if, while cleaving the air, my steed should scent anything, he would fling me head foremost from the summit of my hopes. Now come, my Pegasus, get a-going with up-pricked ears and make your golden bridle resound gaily. Eh! what are you doing? What are you up to? Do you turn your nose towards the cesspools? Come, pluck up a spirit; rush
- ↑ Boats, called ‘beetles,’ doubtless because in form they resembled these insects, were built at Naxos.
- ↑ Nature had divided the Piræus into three basins—Cantharos, Aphrodisium and Zea; κάνθαρος is Greek for a dung-beetle.
- ↑ In allusion to Euripides’ fondness for introducing lame heroes in his plays.
