DICAEOPOLIS (_enters with two courtesans_). Oh! my gods! what bosoms! Hard as a quince! Come, my treasures, give me voluptuous kisses! Glue your lips to mine. Haha! I was the first to empty my cup. LAMACHUS. Oh! cruel fate! how I suffer! accursed wounds! DICAEOPOLIS. Hah! hah! hail! Knight Lamachus! (_Embraces Lamachus._) LAMACHUS. By the hostile gods! _(Bites Dicaeopolis.)_ DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! great gods! LAMACHUS. Why do you embrace me? DICAEOPOLIS. And why do you bite me? LAMACHUS. 'Twas a cruel score I was paying back! DICAEOPOLIS. Scores are not evened at the feast of Cups! LAMACHUS. Oh! Paean, Paean! DICAEOPOLIS. But to-day is not the feast of Paean. LAMACHUS. Oh! support my leg, do; ah! hold it tenderly, my friends! DICAEOPOLIS. And you, my darlings, take hold of my tool both of you! LAMACHUS. This blow with the stone makes me dizzy; my sight grows dim. DICAEOPOLIS. For myself, I want to get to bed; I am bursting with lustfulness, I want to be fucking in the dark. LAMACHUS. Carry me to the surgeon Pittalus. DICAEOPOLIS. Take me to the judges. Where is the king of the feast? The wine-skin is mine! LAMACHUS. That spear has pierced my bones; what torture I endure! DICAEOPOLIS. You see this empty cup! I triumph! I triumph! CHORUS. Old man, I come at your bidding! You triumph! you triumph! DICAEOPOLIS. Again I have brimmed my cup with unmixed wine and drained it at a draught! CHORUS. You triumph then, brave champion; thine is the wine-skin! DICAEOPOLIS. Follow me, singing "Triumph! Triumph!" CHORUS. Aye! we will sing of thee, thee and thy sacred wine-skin, and we all, as we follow thee, will repeat in thine honour, "Triumph, Triumph!" * * * * * FINIS OF "THE ACHARNIANS" * * * * * Footnotes: [147] A name invented by Aristophanes and signifying 'a just citizen.' [148] Cleon had received five talents from the islanders subject to Athens, on condition that he should get the tribute payable by them reduced; when informed of this transaction, the Knights compelled him to return the money. [149] A hemistich borrowed from Euripides' 'Telephus.' [150] The tragedies of Aeschylus continued to be played even after the poet's death, which occurred in 436 B.C., ten years before the production of the Acharnians. [151] A tragic poet, whose pieces were so devoid of warmth and life that he was nicknamed [Greek: chi_on], i.e. _snow_. [152] A bad musician, frequently ridiculed by Aristophanes; he played both the lyre and the flute. [153] A lively and elevated method. [154] A hill near the Acropolis, where the Assemblies were held.