thoroughbred, but from where I know not, this great beetle, whose groom
he has forced me to become. He himself caresses it as though it were
a horse, saying, "Oh! my little Pegasus,(1) my noble aerial steed, may
your wings soon bear me straight to Zeus!" But what is my master doing?
I must stoop down to look through this hole. Oh! great gods! Here!
neighbours, run here quick! here is my master flying off mounted on his
beetle as if on horseback.

f(1) The winged steed of Perseus--an allusion to a lost
tragedy of Euripides, in which Bellerophon was introduced
riding on Pegasus.

TRYGAEUS Gently, gently, go easy, beetle; don't start off so proudly, or
trust at first too greatly to your powers; wait till you have sweated,
till the beating of your wings shall make your limb joints supple. Above
all things, don't let off some foul smell, I adjure you; else I would
rather have you stop in the stable altogether.

SECOND SERVANT Poor master! Is he crazy?

TRYGAEUS Silence! silence!

SECOND SERVANT (TO TRYGAEUS) But why start up into the air on chance?

TRYGAEUS 'Tis for the weal of all the Greeks; I am attempting a daring
and novel feat.

SECOND SERVANT But what is your purpose? What useless folly!

TRYGAEUS No words of ill omen! Give vent to joy and command all men to
keep silence, to close down their drains and privies with new tiles and
to stop up their own vent-holes.(1)

f(1) Fearing that if it caught a whiff from earth to its
liking, the beetle might descend from the highest heaven to
satisfy itself.

FIRST SERVANT No, I shall not be silent, unless you tell me where you
are going.

TRYGAEUS Why, where am I likely to be going across the sky, if it be not
to visit Zeus?

FIRST SERVANT For what purpose?

TRYGAEUS I want to ask him what he reckons to do for all the Greeks.

SECOND SERVANT And if he doesn't tell you?

TRYGAEUS I shall pursue him at law as a traitor who sells Greece to the
Medes.(1)

f(1) The Persians and the Spartans were not then allied as
the scholiast states, since a treaty between them was only
concluded in 412 B.C., i.e. eight years after the production
of 'Peace'; the great king, however, was trying to derive
advantages out of the dissensions in Greece.

SECOND SERVANT Death seize me, if I let you go.

TRYGAEUS It is absolutely necessary.

SECOND SERVANT Alas! alas! dear little girls, your father is deserting
you secretly t