Parodos
Pisthetaerus
Well then, what name can you suggest?
Euelpides
Some name borrowed from the clouds, from these lofty regions in which we dwell —in short, some well-known name.
Pisthetaerus
Do you like Nephelococcygia?
Leader of the Chorus
Oh! capital!
820
truly that's a brilliant thought!
820
Euelpides
Is it in Nephelococcygia that all the wealth of Theogenes and most of Aeschines' is?
Pisthetaerus
No, it's rather the plain of Phlegra, where the gods
withered the pride of the sons of the Earth with their shafts.
825
Leader of the Chorus
Oh! what a splendid city! But what god shall be its patron? for whom shall we weave the peplus?
Euelpides
Why not choose Athena Polias?
Pisthetaerus
Oh! what a well-ordered town it would be
to have a female deity armed from head to foot, while Clisthenes was spinning!
830
Leader of the Chorus
Who then shall guard the Pelargicon?
Leader of the Chorus
One of us? What kind of bird?
Pisthetaerus
A bird of Persian strain, who is everywhere proclaimed to be the bravest of all,
a true chick of Ares.
835
Euelpides
Oh! noble chick!
835
Pisthetaerus
Because he is a god well suited to live on the rocks. Come! into the air with you to help the workers who are building the wall; carry up rubble, strip yourself to mix the mortar,
take up the hod, tumble down the ladder, if you like, post sentinels, keep the fire smouldering beneath the ashes, go round the walls, bell in hand, and go to sleep up there yourself; then despatch two heralds, one to the gods above, the other to mankind on earth
840
Euelpides
As for yourself, remain here, and may the plague take you for a troublesome fellow!
He departs.
845
Pisthetaerus
Go, friend, go where I send you, for without you my orders cannot be obeyed. For myself, I want to sacrifice to the new god, and I am going to summon the priest who must preside at the ceremony.
Slaves! slaves! bring forward the basket and the lustral water.
850
[Lyric-Scene 1]
I do as you do, and I wish as you wish, and I implore you to address powerful and solemn prayers to the gods, and in addition
Chorus
to immolate a sheep as a token of our gratitude. Let us sing the Pythian chant in honor of the god, and let Chaeris accompany our voices.
855
Pisthetaerus
Enough! but, by Heracles! what is this?
Great gods! I have seen many prodigious things, but I never saw a muzzled raven.
The Priest arrives. Priest! it's high time! Sacrifice to the new gods.
860
Priest
I begin, but where is the man with the basket? Pray to the Hestia of the birds, to the kite, who presides over the hearth, and to all the god and goddess-birds who dwell in Olympus . . .
Pisthetaerus
Oh! Hawk, the sacred guardian of Sunium, oh, god of the storks!
