f(1) Nature had divided the Piraeus into three basins--
Cantharos, Aphrodisium and Zea. (Cantharos) is Greek for
dung-beetle.

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.(1)

f(1) In allusion to Euripides' fondness for introducing lame
heroes in his plays.

TRYGAEUS 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 upwards from the earth, stretch out your speedy wings and
make straight for the palace of Zeus; for once give up foraging in your
daily food.--Hi! you down there, what are you after now? Oh! my god!
'tis a man emptying his belly in the Piraeus, close to the house where
the bad girls are. But is it my death you seek then, my death? Will
you not bury that right away and pile a great heap of earth upon it and
plant wild thyme therein and pour perfumes on it? If I were to fall from
up here and misfortune happened to me, the town of Chios(1) would owe a
fine of five talents for my death, all along of your cursed rump. Alas!
how frightened I am! oh! I have no heart for jests. Ah! machinist, take
great care of me. There is already a wind whirling round my navel; take
great care or, from sheer fright, I shall form food for my beetle....
But I think I am no longer far from the gods; aye, that is the dwelling
of Zeus, I perceive. Hullo! Hi! where is the doorkeeper? Will no one
open?

f(1) An allusion to the proverbial nickname applied to the
Chians (in Greek)--'crapping Chian.' There is a further
joke, of course, in connection with the hundred and one
frivolous pretexts which the Athenians invented for exacting
contributions from the maritime allies.

(THE SCENE CHANGES AND HEAVEN IS PRESENTED.)

HERMES Meseems I can sniff a man. (HE PERCEIVES TRYGAEUS ASTRIDE HIS
BEETLE.) Why, what plague is this?

TRYGAEUS A horse-beetle.

HERMES Oh! impudent, shameless rascal! oh! scoundrel! triple