1
Way, you scurvy cock, may Zeus himself annihilate you for being so envious and shrill-voiced! I was rolling in wealth and having a most delightful dream and enjoying wonderful happiness when you uplifted your voice in a piercing, full-throated crow and waked me up. Even at night you won't let me escape my poverty, which is much more of a nuisance than you are. And yet to judge from the fact that the silence is still profound and the cold has not yet stiffened me as it always does in the morning—which _ is the surest indicator that I have of the approach of day—it is not yet midnight, and this bird, who is as sleepless as if he were guarding the golden fleece, has started crowing directly after dark. He shall suffer for it, though! I'll pay you back, never fear, as soon as it is daylight, by whacking the life out of you with my stick; but if I tried it now, you would bother me by hopping about in the dark.
1
Master Micyllus, I thought I should do you a favour by cheating the night as much as I could, so that you might make use of the morning hours and fnish the greater part of your work early; you see, if you geta single sandal done before the sun rises, you will be so much ahead toward earning your daily bread. But if you had rather sleep, [ll keep quiet for you and will be much more mute than a fish. Take care, however, that you don’t dream you are rich and then starve when you wake up.
2
Zeus, god of miracles, and Heracles, averter of harm! what the devil does this mean? The cock talked like a human being!
2
Then do you think it a miracle if I talk the same language as you men?
2
Why isn’t it a miracle? Gods, avert the evil omen from us!
