Historical Parallels, vol. 3 (of 3)Malkin, Arthur Thomas
History
Historical Parallels, vol. 3 (of 3)
Malkin, Arthur Thomas
History -- Popular works; World history -- Popular works
_Saus._ The kitchen and the scullery gave me breeding; And teachers I
had none, save blows and cuffs.
_Cleon._ My mind misgives me. But pass we on; say further, what the
wrestling–master Instructed you?
_Saus._ To steal; to look the injured Full in the face, and then
forswear the theft.
* * * * *
_Cleon._ One only hope remains. Resolve me, practised you Within the
market–place, or at the gates?[112]
_Saus._ Nay, at the gates, among the men who deal In salted fish.
_Cleon._ All is accomplished: It is the will of heaven:—bear me within.
Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness! Adieu, fair chaplet!
‘gainst my will I quit thee, And give thy matchless sweets to other
hands! There may be knaves more fortunate than I, But never shall the
world see thief more rascally.[113]
_Saus._ (_devoutly._) Thine be triumph, Jove Ellanian![114]
p. 269–73.
The Chorus now enters upon an address, first in praise of the
equestrian order, and then proceeding to satirize individuals by name.
Meanwhile Demus is undergoing a thorough purgation under the hands
of the sausage–seller. He reappears “in his former splendour of the
days of Miltiades and Aristides,” delivers a recantation of his former
principles, and concludes the piece by confirming the appointment of
the sausage–seller to Cleon’s place, and investing Cleon solemnly with
the tray, and other implements of the sausage–seller.
To those who are disappointed in the specimen here given of the wit
and humour of Aristophanes, we have only to suggest in defence of
our author, that a large proportion of the most remarkable passages
have been omitted, on account of the impossibility of rendering them
intelligible, even by a prolix commentary, to those who cannot read the
original; and that our description of the ‘Knights’ is but a set of
fragments from a translation, which professes its inability to render
its original as a whole. And we may quote, as much more applicable
to this short attempt than to the work to which it is prefixed, the
singularly happy and modest motto of Mr. Mitchell’s translation,
applicable as it must be to all translations, but especially to those
of Aristophanes.
Among the rest, he culled me out a root;
The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it;
And in another country, as he said,
Bore a bright golden flower, _but not in this soil_.
_Comus._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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