_Frogs._ Brekeke-kesh, koash, koash! Friends and frogs, we must display All our powers of voice to-day. Suffer not this stranger here, With fastidious, foreign ear, To confound us and abash Brekeke-kesh, koash, koash! _Bacchus._ Well, my spirit is not broke; If it’s only for the joke, I’ll outdo you with a croak. Here it goes--(_very loud_) “Koash, koash!” _Frogs._ Now for a glorious croaking crash, (still louder) Brekeke-kesh, koash, koash! _Bacchus_ (_splashing with his oar_). I’ll disperse you with a splash. _Frogs._ Brekeke-kesh, koash, koash! _Bacchus._ I’ll subdue Your rebellious, noisy crew-- Have among you there, slap-dash! (_Strikes at them._) _Frogs._ Brekeke-kesh, koash, koash! We defy your oar, and you. _Charon._ Hold! We’re ashore. Now shift your oar. Get out. Now pay your fare. _Bacchus._ There--there it is--the twopence. --_The Frogs._ Another play of Aristophanes is _The Birds_. The plot of this is simply that two Athenians, disgusted with the state of things in their native city, form the idea of building a city where the birds shall regain their old traditional supremacy. The proposal is happily received by the birds and the city of Nephelococyggia, or Cloud-cuckoo-town is the result. It was merely a burlesque on the Athenians who were given to building castles in the air. Lack of space forbids further quotation from Aristophanes, but his comedies are available to all who wish to read them. Among the predecessors of Aristophanes was Cratinus, who was an enemy of water drinkers, and expressed the dictum that no verses written by abstainers could ever please or live! Another, whose fragmentary lines have a certain modern ring, is Simonides, who left us a poem of the ladies, which, it has been said, gave the tone to all the Greek pasquinades of the same class. He compares the different types of ladies to various members of the lower orders in creation; and the “Fine Lady” is represented by a high-bred steed. _THE FINE LADY. BY SIMONIDES._