§871ἴθι νυν λιβανωτὸν δεῦρό τις καὶ πῦρ δότω. §872ὅπως ἂν εὔξωμαι πρὸ τῶν σοφισμάτων §873ἀγῶνα κρῖναι τόνδε μουσικώτατα· §874ὑμεῖς δὲ ταῖς Μούσαις τι μέλος ὑπᾴσατε.
DIONYSUS: Come now, let someone give me incense and fire here, so that I may pray before these clever wits, to judge this contest in the most poetic way; and do you sing some song for the Muses.
§875ὦ Διὸς ἐννέα παρθένοι ἁγναὶ §876Μοῦσαι, λεπτολόγους ξυνετὰς φρένας αἳ καθορᾶτε §877ἀνδρῶν γνωμοτύπων, ὅταν εἰς ἔριν ὀξυμερίμνοις §878ἔλθωσι στρεβλοῖσι παλαίσμασιν ἀντιλογοῦντες, §879ἔλθετʼ ἐποψόμεναι δύναμιν §880δεινοτάτοιν στομάτοιν πορίσασθαι §881ῥήματα καὶ παραπρίσματʼ ἐπῶν.
CHORUS: O nine holy virgins, daughters of Zeus, Muses, who look down upon the subtle, wise minds of maxim-coining men, when they come to strife contesting with sharp-minded, twisting wrestling-moves, come to look upon the power of two most formidable mouths to provide words and chippings of lines.
§882νῦν γὰρ ἀγὼν σοφίας ὁ μέγας χωρεῖ πρὸς ἔργον ἤδη.
For now the great contest of wisdom is already proceeding to action.
§885εὔχεσθε δὴ καὶ σφώ τι πρὶν τἄπη λέγειν.
DIONYSUS: Do you two also pray before saying your lines.
AESCHYLUS: Demeter, who nourished my mind, may I be worthy of your mysteries.
§888ἐπίθες λαβὼν δὴ καὶ σὺ λιβανωτόν.
DIONYSUS: Take and place some incense you too now.
EURIPIDES: Very well; for there are other gods to whom I pray.
§890ἴδιοί τινές σοι, κόμμα καινόν;
DIONYSUS: Are they some of your own, a new coinage?
§890bκαὶ μάλα.
EURIPIDES: Very much so.
§891ἴθι δὴ προσεύχου τοῖσιν ἰδιώταις θεοῖς.
DIONYSUS: Come then, pray to your private gods.
§892αἰθὴρ ἐμὸν βόσκημα καὶ γλώσσης στρόφιγξ §893καὶ ξύνεσι καὶ μυκτῆρες ὀσφραντήριοι, §894ὀρθῶς μʼ ἐλέγχειν ὧν ἂν ἅπτωμαι λόγων.
EURIPIDES: O Air, my food, and pivot of the tongue, and intelligence, and smelling nostrils, may I correctly refute whatever arguments I lay hold of.
§895καὶ μὴν ἡμεῖς ἐπιθυμοῦμεν §896παρὰ σοφοῖν ἀνδροῖν ἀκοῦσαι §896aτίνα λόγων ἐμμέλειαν §897ἔπιτε δαΐαν ὁδόν.
CHORUS: Indeed we desire to hear from two wise men what harmony of words you will go upon in your hostile way.
For the tongue has been made wild, and the spirit of both is not lacking in daring, nor are their minds unmoved.
§900προσδοκᾶν οὖν εἰκός ἐστι §901τὸν μὲν ἀστεῖόν τι λέξειν §902καὶ κατερρινημένον, §903τὸν δʼ ἀνασπῶντʼ αὐτοπρέμνοις §903aτοῖς λόγοισιν §904ἐμπεσόντα συσκεδᾶν πολλὰς §904aἀλινδήθρας ἐπῶν.
Therefore it is reasonable to expect that one will say something refined and polished with a file, while the other, tearing up with words uprooted from the bottom, falling upon him, will scatter many wallowing-places of lines.
§905ἀλλʼ ὡς τάχιστα χρὴ λέγειν· οὕτω δʼ ὅπως ἐρεῖτον §906ἀστεῖα καὶ μήτʼ εἰκόνας μήθʼ οἷʼ ἂν ἄλλος εἴποι.
DIONYSUS: But you must speak as quickly as possible; and in such a way that you say things that are refined, and neither clichés nor what anyone else would say.
§907καὶ μὴν ἐμαυτὸν μέν γε τὴν ποίησιν οἷός εἰμι, §908ἐν τοῖσιν ὑστάτοις φράσω, τοῦτον δὲ πρῶτʼ ἐλέγξω, §909ὡς ἦν ἀλαζὼν καὶ φέναξ οἵοις τε τοὺς θεατὰς §910ἐξηπάτα μώρους λαβὼν παρὰ Φρυνίχῳ τραφέντας.
EURIPIDES: Indeed, as for myself, what kind of poet I am, I will state in the final part, but first I will refute this man, to show how he was an impostor and a cheat, and in what ways he used to deceive the foolish spectators he took over, who had been brought up on Phrynichus.
§911πρώτιστα μὲν γὰρ ἕνα τινʼ ἂν καθῖσεν ἐγκαλύψας, §912Ἀχιλλέα τινʼ ἢ Νιόβην, τὸ πρόσωπον οὐχὶ δεικνύς, §913πρόσχημα τῆς τραγῳδίας, γρύζοντας οὐδὲ τουτί.
For first of all he would seat some single character, wrapping them up, an Achilles or a Niobe, not showing their face, a mere facade of tragedy, grunting not even this much.
§914μὰ τὸν Δίʼ οὐ δῆθʼ.
DIONYSUS: By Zeus, they certainly did not.
EURIPIDES: And the chorus would strike up strings of songs one after another, four in a row continuously, while they remained silent.
DIONYSUS: But I enjoyed the silence, and this pleased me no less than those who chatter now.
§918bκἀμαυτῷ δοκῶ.
DIONYSUS: I think so myself.
τί δὲ ταῦτʼ ἔδρασʼ ὁ δεῖνα;
But why did what's-his-name do this?
§919ὑπʼ ἀλαζονείας, ἵνʼ ὁ θεατὴς προσδοκῶν καθοῖτο, §920ὁπόθʼ ἡ Νιόβη τι φθέγξεται· τὸ δρᾶμα δʼ ἂν διῄει.
EURIPIDES: Out of imposture, so that the spectator would sit waiting in expectation, of when Niobe would utter something; and the drama would go on.
§921ὢ παμπόνηρος, οἷʼ ἄρʼ ἐφενακιζόμην ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ.
DIONYSUS: Oh, what a thorough scoundrel! How I was cheated by him!
§922τί σκορδινᾷ καὶ δυσφορεῖς;
DIONYSUS: Why do you stretch yourself and show distress?
§922bὅτι αὐτὸν ἐξελέγχω.
EURIPIDES: Because I am refuting him.
§923κἄπειτʼ ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα ληρήσειε καὶ τὸ δρᾶμα §924ἤδη μεσοίη, ῥήματʼ ἂν βόεια δώδεκʼ εἶπεν, §925ὀφρῦς ἔχοντα καὶ λόφους, δείνʼ ἄττα μορμορωπά, §926ἄγνωτα τοῖς θεωμένοις.
And then, when he had talked this nonsense and the drama was already half over, he would speak a dozen ox-like words, having brows and crests, some dreadful, bugbear-faced things, unknown to the spectators.
§926bοἴμοι τάλας.
AESCHYLUS: Alas, miserable me!
§926cσιώπα.
DIONYSUS: Be silent.
EURIPIDES: And he would say not a single clear thing— DIONYSUS: Do not grind your teeth.
§928ἀλλʼ ἢ Σκαμάνδρους ἢ τάφρους ἢ ʼπʼ ἀσπίδων ἐπόντας §929γρυπαιέτους χαλκηλάτους καὶ ῥήμαθʼ ἱππόκρημνα, §930ἃ ξυμβαλεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιʼ ἦν.
EURIPIDES: but either Scamanders, or trenches, or on shields brass-beaten hook-nosed griffins, and cliff-hanging words, which were not easy to understand.
§930bνὴ τοὺς θεοὺς ἐγὼ γοῦν §931ἤδη ποτʼ ἐν μακρῷ χρόνῳ νυκτὸς διηγρύπνησα §932τὸν ξουθὸν ἱππαλεκτρυόνα ζητῶν τίς ἐστιν ὄρνις.
DIONYSUS: By the gods, I at any rate once stayed awake through a long part of the night trying to find what kind of bird the tawny horse-cock is.
§933σημεῖον ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ὦμαθέστατʼ ἐνεγέγραπτο.
AESCHYLUS: It was painted as a device on the ships, you most ignorant man.
§934ἐγὼ δὲ τὸν Φιλοξένου γʼ ᾤμην Ἔρυξιν εἶναι.
DIONYSUS: But I thought it was Eryxis, the son of Philoxenus.
§935εἶτʼ ἐν τραγῳδίαις ἐχρῆν κἀλεκτρυόνα ποιῆσαι;
EURIPIDES: So then was it necessary to make a cock in tragedies?
§936σὺ δʼ ὦ θεοῖσιν ἐχθρὲ ποῖʼ ἄττʼ ἐστὶν ἅττʼ ἐποίεις;
But, you enemy of the gods, what sort of things did you make?
§937οὐχ ἱππαλεκτρυόνας μὰ Δίʼ οὐδὲ τραγελάφους, ἅπερ σύ, §938ἃν τοῖσι παραπετάσμασιν τοῖς Μηδικοῖς γράφουσιν· §939ἀλλʼ ὡς παρέλαβον τὴν τέχνην παρὰ σοῦ τὸ πρῶτον εὐθὺς §940οἰδοῦσαν ὑπὸ κομπασμάτων καὶ ῥημάτων ἐπαχθῶν, §941ἴσχνανα μὲν πρώτιστον αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ βάρος ἀφεῖλον §942ἐπυλλίοις καὶ περιπάτοις καὶ τευτλίοισι λευκοῖς, §943χυλὸν διδοὺς στωμυλμάτων ἀπὸ βιβλίων ἀπηθῶν· §944εἶτʼ ἀνέτρεφον μονῳδίαις— §944bΚηφισοφῶντα μιγνύς.
EURIPIDES: Not horse-cocks, by Zeus, nor goat-stags, which you did, such as they paint on Persian tapestries; but when I first received the art from you, swollen with boastings and oppressive words, first of all I reduced its weight and took away its heaviness with little verses, and walks, and white beets, giving it a juice of chatter, strained from books; then I nourished it with monodies— DIONYSUS: Mixing in Cephisophon.
§945εἶτʼ οὐκ ἐλήρουν ὅ τι τύχοιμʼ οὐδʼ ἐμπεσὼν ἔφυρον, §946ἀλλʼ οὑξιὼν πρώτιστα μέν μοι τὸ γένος εἶπʼ ἂν εὐθὺς §947τοῦ δράματος.
EURIPIDES: Then I did not talk nonsense about whatever I hit upon, nor did I rush in and muddle things, but the one who came out first would immediately tell my audience the pedigree of the play.