BLEPYRUS. And why did you not take your mantle? Instead of that, you carry off mine, you throw your dress upon the bed and you leave me as the dead are left, bar the chaplets and perfumes. PRAXAGORA. 'Twas cold, and I am frail and delicate; I took your cloak for greater warmth, leaving you thoroughly warm yourself beneath your coverlets. BLEPYRUS. And my shoes and staff, those too went off with you? PRAXAGORA. I was afraid they might rob me of the cloak, and so, to look like a man, I put on your shoes and walked with a heavy tread and struck the stones with your staff. BLEPYRUS. D'you know you have made us lose a _sextary_ of wheat, which I should have bought with the _triobolus_ of the Assembly? PRAXAGORA. Be comforted, for she had a boy. BLEPYRUS. Who? the Assembly? PRAXAGORA. No, no, the woman I helped. But has the Assembly taken place then? BLEPYRUS. Did I not tell you of it yesterday? PRAXAGORA. True; I remember now. BLEPYRUS. And don't you know the decrees that have been voted? PRAXAGORA. No indeed. BLEPYRUS. Go to! you can eat cuttle-fish[695] now, for 'tis said the government is handed over to you. PRAXAGORA. To do what--to spin? BLEPYRUS. No, that you may rule ... PRAXAGORA. What? BLEPYRUS. ... over all public business. PRAXAGORA. Oh! by Aphrodité! how happy Athens will be! BLEPYRUS. Why so? PRAXAGORA. For a thousand reasons. None will dare now to do shameless deeds, to give false testimony or lay informations. BLEPYRUS. Stop! in the name of the gods! Do you want me to die of hunger? CHORUS. Good sir, let your wife speak. PRAXAGORA. There will be no more thieves, nor envious people, no more rags nor misery, no more abuse and no more prosecutions and lawsuits. BLEPYRUS. By Posidon! 'tis grand, if true. PRAXAGORA. The results will prove it; you will confess it, and even these good people (_pointing to the spectators_) will not be able to say a word. CHORUS. You have served your friends, but now it behoves you to apply your ability and your care to the welfare of the people. Devote the fecundity of your mind to the public weal; adorn the citizens' lives with a thousand enjoyments and teach them to seize every favourable opportunity. Devise some ingenious method to secure the much-needed salvation of Athens; but let neither your acts nor your words recall anything of the past, for 'tis only innovations that please. Don't delay the realization of your plans, for speedy execution is greatly esteemed by the public. PRAXAGORA. I believe my ideas are good, but what I fear is, that the public will cling to the old customs and refuse to accept my reforms. BLEPYRUS. Have no fear about that. Love of novelty and disdain for the past, these are the dominating principles among us.