Birds

Perseus Greek · Perseus Greek · 902 sections

1410
What are these birds with downy feathers, who look so pitiable to me? Tell me, oh swallow with the long dappled wings.
1412
Oh! it's a regular invasion that threatens us. Here comes another one, humming along.
1415
Swallow with the long dappled wings, once more I summon you.
1416
It's his cloak I believe he's addressing; it stands in great need of the swallows' return.
1418
Where is he who gives out wings to all comers?
1419
Here I am, but you must tell me for what purpose you want them.
1420
Ask no questions. I want wings, and wings I must have.
1421
Do you want to fly straight to Pellene?
1422
I? Why, I am an accuser of the islands, an informer ...
1423b
A fine trade, truly!
1424
... a hatcher of lawsuits. Hence I have great need of wings
1425
to prowl round the cities and drag them before justice.
1426
Would you do this better if you had wings?
1427
No, but I should no longer fear the pirates; I should return with the cranes, loaded with a supply of lawsuits by way of ballast.
1430
So it seems, despite all your youthful vigor, you make it your trade to denounce strangers?
1432
Well, and why not? I don't know how to dig.
1433
But, by Zeus! there are
1435
honest ways of gaining a living at your age without all this infamous trickery.
1436
My friend, I am asking you for wings, not for words.
1437
It's just my words that gives you wings.
1437b
And how can you give a man wings with your words?
1438b
They all start this way.
1439b
How?
1439c
Have you not often heard
1440
the father say to young men in the barbers' shops, It's astonishing how Diitrephes' advice has made my son fly to horse-riding. —Mine, says another, has
1445
flown towards tragic poetry on the wings of his imagination.
1446
So that words give wings?
1446b
Undoubtedly; words give wings to the mind and make a man soar to heaven. Thus I hope that my wise words will give you wings
1450
to fly to some less degrading trade.
1450b
But I do not want to.
1451
What do you reckon on doing then?
1451b
I won't belie my breeding; from generation to generation we have lived by informing. Quick, therefore, give me quickly some light, swift hawk or kestrel wings,
1455
so that I may summon the islanders, sustain the accusation here, and haste back there again on flying pinions.
1456b
I see. In this way the stranger will be condemned even before he appears.
1458b
That's just it.
1459
And while he is on his way here by sea, you will be flying to the islands
1460
to despoil him of his property.
1460b
You've hit it, precisely; I must whirl hither and thither like a perfect humming-top.
1461b
I catch the idea. Wait, I've got some fine Corcyraean wings. How do you like them?
1464
Oh! woe is me! Why, it's a whip!
1464b
No, no; these are the wings,
1465
I tell you, that make the top spin.
1466
Oh! oh! oh!
1468b
Take your flight, clear off, you miserable cur, or you will soon see what comes of quibbling and lying. The Informer flees. To his slaves. Come, let us gather up our wings and withdraw.
1.1470
In my ethereal flights I have seen many things new and strange and wondrous beyond belief.
1.1475
There is a tree called Cleonymus belonging to an unknown species; it has no heart, is good for nothing and is as tall as it is cowardly. In springtime it shoots forth calumnies instead of buds and
1.1480
in autumn it strews the ground with bucklers in place of leaves.
1.1482
Far away in the regions of darkness, where no ray of light ever enters, there is a country,
1.1485
where men sit at the table of the heroes and dwell with them always —except in the evening.
1.1490
Should any mortal meet the hero Orestes at night, he would soon be stripped and covered with blows from head to foot.
1.1494
Ah! by the gods! if only Zeus does not see me!
1.1495
Where is Pisthetaerus?
1.1495b
Ha! what is this? A masked man!
1.1496b
Can you see any god behind me?
1.1497b
No, none. But who are you, pray?
1.1498b
What's the time, please?
1.1499
The time? Why, it's past noon.
1.1500
Who are you?
1.1500b
Is it the fall of day? Is it no later than that?
1.1501
This is getting dull!
1.1501b
What is Zeus doing? Is he dispersing the clouds or gathering them?
1.1503
Watch out for yourself!
1.1503b
Come, I will raise my mask.
1.1504
Ah! my dear Prometheus!
1.1504b
Sh! Sh! speak lower!
1.1505
Why, what's the matter, Prometheus?
1.1505b
Sh! sh! Don't call me by my name; you will be my ruin, if Zeus should see me here. But, if you want me to tell you how things are going in heaven, take this umbrella and shield me, so that the gods don't see me.
1.1510
I can recognize Prometheus in this cunning trick. Come, quick then, and fear nothing; speak on.
1.1513
Then listen.
1.1513b
I am listening, proceed!
1.1514
Zeus is done for.
1.1514b
Ah! and since when, pray?
1.1515
Since you founded this city in the air. There is not a man who now sacrifices to the gods; the smoke of the victims no longer reaches us. Not the smallest offering comes! We fast as though it were the festival of Demeter.
1.1520
The barbarian gods, who are dying of hunger, are bawling like Illyrians and threaten to make an armed descent upon Zeus, if he does not open markets where joints of the victims are sold.
1.1525
What! there are other gods besides you, barbarian gods who dwell above Olympus?
1.1526b
If there were no barbarian gods, who would be the patron of Execestides?
1.1528
And what is the name of these gods?
1.1529b
Their name? Why, the Triballi.
1.1529c
Ah, indeed!
1.1530
'tis from that no doubt that we derive the word ‘tribulation.'
1.1531
Most likely. But one thing I can tell you for certain, namely, that Zeus and the celestial Triballi are going to send deputies here to sue for peace. Now don't you treat with them, unless
1.1535
Zeus restores the scepter to the birds and gives you Basileia in marriage.
1.1537
Who is this Basileia?
1.1537b
A very fine young damsel, who makes the lightning for Zeus; all things come from her,
1.1540
wisdom, good laws, virtue, the fleet, calumnies, the public paymaster and the triobolus.
1.1542
Ah! then she is a sort of general manageress to the god.
1.1542b
Yes, precisely. If he gives you her for your wife, yours will be the almighty power. That is what I have come to tell you;
1.1545
for you know my constant and habitual goodwill towards men.
1.1546
Oh, yes! it's thanks to you that we roast our meat.
1.1547
I hate the gods, as you know.
1.1548
Aye, by Zeus, you have always detested them.
1.1549
Towards them I am a veritable Timon; but I must return in all haste,
1.1550
so give me the umbrella; if Zeus should see me from up there, he would think I was escorting one of the Canephori.
1.1552
Wait, take this stool as well. Prometheus leaves. Pisthetaerus goes into the thicket.
1.1553
Near by the land of the Sciapodes there is a marsh, from the borders whereof the unwashed
1.1555
Socrates evokes the souls of men. Pisander came one day to see his soul, which he had left there when still alive. He offered
1.1560
a little victim, a camel, slit his throat and, following the example of Odysseus, stepped one pace backwards. Then that bat of a Chaerephon came up from hell to drink the camel's blood.
1.1565
This is the city of Nephelococcygia, to which we come as ambassadors. To Triballus. Hi! what are you up to? you are throwing your cloak over the left shoulder. Come, fling it quick over the right! And why, pray, does it draggle in this fashion? Have you ulcers to hide like Lespodias?
1.1570
Oh! democracy! whither, oh! whither are you leading us? Is it possible that the gods have chosen such an envoy?
1.1572
You are undisturbed?

Perseus Greek. CTS URN tlg0019.tlg006.perseus-eng2. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source.