Parodos
[Parodos]
Torotix, torotix.
Pisthetaerus
Wait, friend, there's a bird.
Euelpides
By Zeus, it is a bird, but what kind? Isn't it a peacock?
Pisthetaerus
Epops will tell us. What is this bird?
270
Epops
It's not one of those you are used to seeing; it's a bird from the marshes.
Euelpides
Oh! oh! but he is very handsome with his wings as crimson as flame.
Epops
Undoubtedly; indeed he is called flamingo.
Euelpides
Hi! I say! You!
Pisthetaerus
What are you shouting for?
Euelpides
Why, here's another bird.
Pisthetaerus
Aye, indeed; this one's a foreign bird too.
To Epops. What is this bird from beyond the mountains with a look as solemn as it is stupid?
275
Epops
He is called the Mede.
Euelpides
The Mede! But, by Heracles, how, if a Mede, has he flown here without a camel?
Pisthetaerus
Here's another bird with a crest.
Euelpides
Ah! that's curious. I say, Epops, you are not the only one of your kind then?
280
Epops
This bird is the son of Philocles, who is the son of Epops; so that, you see, I am his grandfather; just as one might say, Hipponicus, the son of Callias, who is the son of Hipponicus.
Euelpides
Then this bird is Callias! Why, what a lot of his feathers he has lost!
Epops
That's because he is honest; so the informers set upon him and the women too pluck out his feathers.
285
Euelpides
By Poseidon, do you see that many-coloured bird? What is his name?
Epops
This one? That's the glutton.
Euelpides
Is there another glutton besides Cleonymus?
But why, if he is Cleonymus, has he not thrown away his crest?
290
But what is the meaning of all these crests? Have these birds come to contend for the double stadium prize?
Epops
They are like the Carians, who cling to the crests of their mountains for greater safety.
Pisthetaerus
Oh, Poseidon! look what awful swarms of birds are gathering here!
Euelpides
By Phoebus! what a cloud! The entrance to the stage is no longer visible so closely do they fly together.
295
Pisthetaerus
Here is the partridge.
Euelpides
Why, there is the francolin.
Pisthetaerus
There is the poachard.
Euelpides
Here is the kingfisher.
