AESCHYLUS. No, he did not become so, for he never ceased being so. Look at the facts! First of all, when scarcely born, he is exposed in the middle of winter in an earthenware vessel, for fear he might become the murderer of his father, if brought up; then he came to Polybus with his feet swollen; furthermore, while young, he marries an old woman, who is also his mother, and finally he blinds himself. DIONYSUS. 'Faith! I think he could not have done worse to have been a colleague of Erasinidas.[504] EURIPIDES. You can chatter as you will, my prologues are very fine. AESCHYLUS. I will take care not to carp at them verse by verse and word for word;[505] but, an it please the gods, a simple little bottle will suffice me for withering every one of your prologues. EURIPIDES. You will wither my prologues with a little bottle?[506] AESCHYLUS. With only one. You make verses of such a kind, that one can adapt what one will to your iambics: a little bit of fluff, a little bottle, a little bag. I am going to prove it. EURIPIDES. You will prove it? AESCHYLUS. Yes. DIONYSUS. Come, recite. EURIPIDES. "Aegyptus, according to the most widely spread reports, having landed at Argos with his fifty daughters[507] ..." AESCHYLUS. ... lost his little bottle. EURIPIDES. What little bottle? May the plague seize you! DIONYSUS. Recite another prologue to him. We shall see. EURIPIDES. "Dionysus, who leads the choral dance on Parnassus with the thyrsus in his hand and clothed in skins of fawns[508] ..." AESCHYLUS. ... lost his little bottle. DIONYSUS. There again his little bottle upsets us. EURIPIDES. He won't bother us much longer. I have a certain prologue to which he cannot adapt his tag: "There is no perfect happiness; this one is of noble origin, but poor; another of humble birth[509] ..." AESCHYLUS. ... lost his little bottle. DIONYSUS. Euripides! EURIPIDES. What's the matter? DIONYSUS. Clue up your sails, for this damned little bottle is going to blow a gale. EURIPIDES. Little I care, by Demeter! I am going to make it burst in his hands. DIONYSUS. Then out with it; recite another prologue, but beware, beware of the little bottle. EURIPIDES. "Cadmus, the son of Agenor, while leaving the city of Sidon[510] ..." AESCHYLUS. ... lost his little bottle. DIONYSUS. Oh! my poor friend; buy that bottle, do, for it is going to tear all your prologues to ribbons. EURIPIDES. What? Am I to buy it of him? DIONYSUS. If you take my advice. EURIPIDES. No, not I, for I have many prologues to which he cannot possibly fit his catchword: "Pelops, the son of Tantalus, having started for Pisa on his swift chariot[511] ..." AESCHYLUS. ... lost his little bottle. DIONYSUS. D'ye see? Again he has popped in his little bottle. Come, Aeschylus, he is going to buy it of you at any price, and you can have a splendid one for an obolus. EURIPIDES. By Zeus, no, not yet! I have plenty of other prologues. "Oeneus in the fields one day[512] ..."