Stasimon 2
[Parabasis 1]
the gardens of the Graces and gather the white, virgin berry on the myrtle bushes.
1100
[Parabasis]
I want now to speak to the judges about the prize they are going to award; if they are favourable to us, we will load them with benefits far greater than those Paris received.
Leader of Second Semi-Chorus
Firstly, the owls of Laurium, which every judge desires above all things, shall never be wanting to you; you shall see them homing with you, building their nests in your money-bags and laying coins. Besides, you shall be housed like the gods,
1105
for we shall erect gables over your dwellings; if you hold some public post and want to do a little pilfering, we will give you the sharp claws of a hawk. Are you dining in town, we will provide you with stomachs as capacious as a bird's crop. But, if your award is against us, don't fail to have metal covers fashioned for yourselves,
1110
like those they place over statues; else, look out! for the day you wear a white tunic all the birds will soil it with their droppings.
1115
Pisthetaerus
Birds! the sacrifice is propitious. But I see
no messenger coming from the wall to tell us what is happening. Ah! here comes one running himself out of breath as though he were in the Olympic stadium.
1120
Messenger
Where, where, where is he? Where, where, where is he? Where, where, where is he? Where is Pisthetaerus, our leader?
Messenger
The wall is finished.
Pisthetaerus
That's good news.
Messenger
It's a most beautiful, a most magnificent work of art. The wall is so broad that Proxenides, the Braggartian, and Theogenes could pass each other in their chariots, even if they were drawn by steeds as big as the Trojan horse.
1125
Pisthetaerus
That's fine!
Messenger
Its length is one hundred stadia; I measured it myself.
1130
Pisthetaerus
A decent length, by Poseidon! And who built such a wall?
Messenger
Birds —birds only; they had neither Egyptian brickmaker, nor stonemason, nor carpenter;
the birds did it all themselves; I could hardly believe my eyes. Thirty thousand cranes came from Libya with a supply of stones, intended for the foundations. The water-rails chiselled them with their beaks. Ten thousand storks were busy making bricks;
1135
plovers and other water fowl carried water into the air.
1140
Pisthetaerus
And who carried the mortar?
Messenger
Herons, in hods.
