Chorus.
Come, pull harder, harder.
Hermes.
Heave away, heave, heave, oh!
Chorus.
Still harder, harder still.
Hermes.
Heave away, heave! Heave away, heave, heave, oh!
Trygæus.
Come, come, there is no working together. Come! all pull at the same instant! you Bœotians are only pretending. Beware!
Hermes.
Come, heave away, heave!
Chorus.
Hi! you two pull as well.
Trygæus.
Why, I am pulling, I am hanging on to the rope and straining till I am almost off my feet; I am working with all my might.
Hermes.
Why does not the work advance then?
Trygæus.
Lamachus, this is too bad! You are in the way, sitting there. We have no use for your Medusa’s head, friend.[1]
Hermes.
But hold, the Argives have not pulled the least bit; they have done nothing but laugh at us for our pains while they were getting gain with both hands.[2]
- ↑ The device on his shield was a Gorgon’s head. (See ‘The Acharnians.’)
- ↑ Both Sparta and Athens had sought the alliance of the Argives; they had kept themselves strictly neutral and had received pay from both sides. But, the year after the production of ‘The Wasps,’ they openly joined Athens, had attacked Epidaurus and got cut to pieces by the Spartans.
