Parodos
[Parabasis 1]
and feed on the germ when it has scarcely formed in the calyx; I destroy those who ravage the balmy terrace gardens like a deadly plague;
1065
First Semi-Chorus
all these gnawing crawling creatures perish beneath the lash of my wing.
1070
[Parabasis]
I hear it proclaimed: A talent for him who shall kill Diagoras of Melos,
Leader of First Semi-Chorus
and a talent for him who destroys one of the dead tyrants. We likewise wish to make our proclamation: A talent to him among you who shall kill Philocrates, the Struthian; four, if he brings him to us alive. For this Philocrates skewers the finches together and sells them at the rate of an obolus for seven.
1075
He tortures the thrushes by blowing them out, so that they may look bigger, sticks their own feathers into the nostrils of blackbirds, and collects pigeons, which he shuts up and forces them, fastened in a net, to decoy others. That is what we wish to proclaim. And if anyone is keeping birds
1080
shut up in his yard, let him hasten to let them loose; those who disobey shall be seized by the birds and we shall put them in chains, so that in their turn they may decoy other men.
1085
[Parabasis 1]
Happy indeed is the race of winged birds who
Second Semi-Chorus
need no cloak in winter! Neither do I fear the relentless rays of the fiery dog-days;
1090
when the divine grasshopper, intoxicated with the sunlight, as noon is burning the ground, is breaking out into shrill melody; my home is beneath the foliage in the flowery meadows. I winter in deep caverns, where I frolic with the mountain nymphs, while in spring I despoil
1095
the gardens of the Graces and gather the white, virgin berry on the myrtle bushes.
1100
[Parabasis]
I want now to speak to the judges about the prize they are going to award; if they are favourable to us, we will load them with benefits far greater than those Paris received.
Leader of Second Semi-Chorus
Firstly, the owls of Laurium, which every judge desires above all things, shall never be wanting to you; you shall see them homing with you, building their nests in your money-bags and laying coins. Besides, you shall be housed like the gods,
1105
for we shall erect gables over your dwellings; if you hold some public post and want to do a little pilfering, we will give you the sharp claws of a hawk. Are you dining in town, we will provide you with stomachs as capacious as a bird's crop. But, if your award is against us, don't fail to have metal covers fashioned for yourselves,
1110
like those they place over statues; else, look out! for the day you wear a white tunic all the birds will soil it with their droppings.
1115
Pisthetaerus
Birds! the sacrifice is propitious. But I see
no messenger coming from the wall to tell us what is happening. Ah! here comes one running himself out of breath as though he were in the Olympic stadium.
1120
Messenger
Where, where, where is he? Where, where, where is he? Where, where, where is he? Where is Pisthetaerus, our leader?
Messenger
The wall is finished.
Pisthetaerus
That's good news.
Messenger
It's a most beautiful, a most magnificent work of art. The wall is so broad that Proxenides, the Braggartian, and Theogenes could pass each other in their chariots, even if they were drawn by steeds as big as the Trojan horse.
1125
Pisthetaerus
That's fine!
Messenger
Its length is one hundred stadia; I measured it myself.
1130
Pisthetaerus
A decent length, by Poseidon! And who built such a wall?
Messenger
Birds —birds only; they had neither Egyptian brickmaker, nor stonemason, nor carpenter;
the birds did it all themselves; I could hardly believe my eyes. Thirty thousand cranes came from Libya with a supply of stones, intended for the foundations. The water-rails chiselled them with their beaks. Ten thousand storks were busy making bricks;
1135
plovers and other water fowl carried water into the air.
1140
Pisthetaerus
And who carried the mortar?
Messenger
Herons, in hods.
Pisthetaerus
But how could they put the mortar into the hods?
