f[1] Aristophanes has already shown us the husbandmen and workers
in peaceful trades pulling at the rope the extricate Peace, while
the armourers hindered them by pulling the other way.
TRYGAEUS
And do you see with what pleasure this sickle-maker is making long
noses at the spear-maker?
HERMES
Now ask the husbandmen to be off.
TRYGAEUS
Listen, good folk! Let the husbandmen take their farming tools and
return to their fields as quick as possible, but without either
sword, spear or javelin. All is as quiet as if Peace had been reigning
for a century. Come, let everyone go till the earth, singing the Paean.
CHORUS
Oh, thou, whom men of standing desired and who art good to
husbandmen, I have gazed upon thee with delight; and now I go to greet
my vines, to caress after so long an absence the fig trees I planted
in my youth.
TRYGAEUS
Friends, let us first adore the goddess, who has delivered us from
crests and Gorgons;[1] then let us hurry to our farms, having first
bought a nice little piece of salt fish to eat in the fields.
f[1] An allusion to Lamachus' shield.
HERMES
By Posidon! what a fine crew they make and dense as the crust of
a cake; they are as nimble as guests on their way to a feast.
TRYGAEUS
See, how their iron spades glitter and how beautifully their
three-pronged mattocks glisten in the sun! How regularly they align
the plants! I also burn myself to go into the country and to turn over
the earth I have so long neglected.--Friends, do you remember the happy
life that Peace afforded us formerly; can you recall the splendid
baskets of figs, both fresh and dried, the myrtles, the sweet wine,
the violets blooming near the spring, and the olives, for which we
have wept so much? Worship, adore the goddess for restoring you so
many blessings.
CHORUS
Hail! hail! thou beloved divinity! thy return overwhelms us with
joy. When far from thee, my ardent wish to see my fields again made me
pine with regret. From thee came all blessings. Oh! much desired
Peace! thou art the sole support of those who spend their lives
tilling the earth. Under thy rule we had a thousand delicious
enjoyments at our beck; thou wert the husbandman's wheaten cake and
his safeguard. So that our vineyards, our young fig-tree woods and all
our plantations hail thee with delight and smile at thy coming.
But where was she then, I wonder, all the long time she spent away
from us? Hermes, thou benevolent god, tell us!
HERMES
Wise husbandmen, hearken to my words, if you want to know why
she was lost to you. The start of our misfortunes was the exile of
Phidias;[1] Pericles feared he might share his ill-luck, he mistrusted
your peevish nature and, to prevent all danger to himself, he threw
out that little spark, the Megarian decree,[2] set the city aflame, and
blew up the conflagration with a hurricane of war, so that the smoke
drew tears from all Greeks both here and over there. At the very
outset of this fire our vines were a-crackle, our casks knocked
together;[3] it was beyond the power of any man to stop the disaster,
and Peace disappeared.
f[1] Having been commissioned to execute a statue of Athene, Phidias was
accused of having stolen part of the gold given him out of the public
treasury for its decoration. Rewarded for his work by calumny and
banishment, he resolved to make a finer statue than his Athene,
and executed one for the temple of Elis, that of the Olympian Zeus,
which was considered one of the wonders of the world.
f[2] He had issued a decree, which forbade the admission of any Megarian
on Attic soil, and also all trade with that people. The Megarians,
who obtained
all their provisions from Athens, were thus almost reduced to starvation.
f[3] That is, the vineyards were ravaged from the very outset of the war,
and this increased the animosity.
TRYGAEUS
That, by Apollo! is what no one ever told me; I could not think
what connection there could be between Phidias and Peace.
CHORUS
Nor I; I know it now. This accounts for her beauty, if she is
related to him. There are so many things that escape us.
HERMES
Then, when the towns subject to you saw that you were angered
one against the other and were showing each other your teeth like
dogs, they hatched a thousand plots to pay you no more dues and gained
over the chief citizens of Sparta at the price of gold. They, being as
shamelessly greedy as they were faithless in diplomacy, chased off
Peace with ignominy to let loose War. Though this was profitable to
them, 'twas the ruin of the husbandmen, who were innocent of all
blame; for, in revenge, your galleys went out to devour their figs.
TRYGAEUS
And 'twas with justice too; did they not break down my black fig tree,
which I had planted and dunged with my own hands?
CHORUS
Yes, by Zeus! yes, 'twas well done; the wretches broke a
chest for me with stones, which held six medimni of corn.
HERMES
Then the rural labourers flocked into the city[1] and let themselves
be bought over like the others. Not having even a grape-stone to munch
and longing after their figs, they looked towards the orators.[2]
These well knew that the poor were driven to extremity
and lacked even bread; but they nevertheless drove away the Goddess,
each time she reappeared in answer to the wish of the country,
with their loud shrieks that were as sharp as pitchforks; furthermore,
they attacked the well-filled purses of the richest among our allies on
the pretence that they belonged to Brasidas' party.[3] And then you would
tear the poor accused wretch to pieces with your teeth; for the
city, all pale with hunger and cowed with terror, gladly snapped up
any calumny that was thrown it to devour. So the strangers, seeing
what terrible blows the informers dealt, sealed their lips with
gold. They grew rich, while you, alas! you could only see that
Greece was going to ruin. 'Twas the tanner who was the author
of all this woe.[4]
f[1] Driven in from the country parts by the Lacedaemonian invaders.
f[2] The demagogues, who distributed the slender dole given to the poor,
and by that means exercised undue power over them.
f[3] Meaning, the side of the Spartans.
f[4] Cleon.
TRYGAEUS
Enough said, Hermes, leave that man in Hades, whither he has
gone; he no longer belongs to us, but rather to yourself.[1] That he was
a cheat, a braggart, a calumniator when alive, why, nothing could be
truer; but anything you might say now would be an insult to one of
your own folk. Oh! venerated Goddess! why art thou silent?
f[1] It was Hermes who conducted the souls of the dead down to the lower
regions.
HERMES
And how could she speak to the spectators? She is too angry at all
that they have made her suffer.
TRYGAEUS
At least let her speak a little to you, Hermes.
HERMES
Tell me, my dear, what are your feelings with regard to them?
Come, you relentless foe of all bucklers, speak; I am listening to
you. (PEACE WHISPERS INTO HERMES' EAR.) Is that your grievance against
them? Yes, yes, I understand. Hearken, you folk, this is her
complaint. She says, that after the affair of Pylos[1] she came to you
unbidden to bring you a basket full of truces and that you thrice
repulsed her by your votes in the assembly.
f[1] The Spartans had thrice offered to make peace after the Pylos disaster.
TRYGAEUS
Yes, we did wrong, but forgive us, for our mind was then
entirely absorbed in leather.[1]
f[1] i.e. dominated by Cleon.
HERMES
Listen again to what she has just asked me. Who was her greatest
foe here? and furthermore, had she a friend who exerted himself
to put an end to the fighting?
TRYGAEUS
Her most devoted friend was Cleonymus; it is undisputed.
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