The Birds, page 20 by Aristophanes
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is one? 'Tis the glutton.
PISTHETAERUS Is there another glutton besides Cleonymus? But why, if he is Cleonymus, has he not thrown away his crest?[1] But what is the meaning of all these crests? Have these birds come to contend for the double stadium prize?[2]
f[1] Cleonymus had cast away his shield; he was as great a glutton as he was a coward. f[2] A race in which the track had to be circled twice.
EPOPS They are like the Carians, who cling to the crests of their mountains for greater safety.[1]
f[1] A people of Asia Minor; when pursued by the Ionians they took refuge in the mountains.
PISTHETAERUS Oh, Posidon! do you see what 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.
PISTHETAERUS Here is the partridge.
EUELPIDES Faith! there is the francolin.
PISTHETAERUS There is the poachard.
EUELPIDES Here is the kingfisher. And over yonder?
EPOPS 'Tis the barber.
EUELPIDES What? a bird a barber?
PISTHETAERUS Why, Sporgilus is one.[1] Here comes the owl.
f[1] An Athenian barber.
EUELPIDES And who is it brings an owl to Athens?[1]
f[1] The owl was dedicated to Athene, and being respected at Athens, it had greatly multiplied. Hence the proverb, 'taking owls to Athens,' similar to our English 'taking coals to Newcastle.'
PISTHETAERUS Here is the magpie, the turtle-dove, the swallow, the horned owl, the buzzard, the pigeon, the falcon, the ring-dove, the cuckoo, the red-foot, the red-cap, the purple-cap, the kestrel, the diver, the ousel, the osprey, the woodpecker.
EUELPIDES Oh! oh! what a lot of birds! what a quantity of blackbirds! how they scold, how they come rushing up! What a noise! what a noise! Can they be bearing us ill-will? Oh! there! there! they are opening their beaks and staring at us.
PISTHETAERUS Why, so they are.
CHORUS Popop