Stasimon 2
Pisthetaerus
take up the hod, tumble down the ladder, if you like, post sentinels, keep the fire smouldering beneath the ashes, go round the walls, bell in hand, and go to sleep up there yourself; then despatch two heralds, one to the gods above, the other to mankind on earth
840
Euelpides
As for yourself, remain here, and may the plague take you for a troublesome fellow!
He departs.
845
Pisthetaerus
Go, friend, go where I send you, for without you my orders cannot be obeyed. For myself, I want to sacrifice to the new god, and I am going to summon the priest who must preside at the ceremony.
Slaves! slaves! bring forward the basket and the lustral water.
850
[Lyric-Scene 1]
I do as you do, and I wish as you wish, and I implore you to address powerful and solemn prayers to the gods, and in addition
Chorus
to immolate a sheep as a token of our gratitude. Let us sing the Pythian chant in honor of the god, and let Chaeris accompany our voices.
855
Pisthetaerus
Enough! but, by Heracles! what is this?
Great gods! I have seen many prodigious things, but I never saw a muzzled raven.
The Priest arrives. Priest! it's high time! Sacrifice to the new gods.
860
Priest
I begin, but where is the man with the basket? Pray to the Hestia of the birds, to the kite, who presides over the hearth, and to all the god and goddess-birds who dwell in Olympus . . .
Pisthetaerus
Oh! Hawk, the sacred guardian of Sunium, oh, god of the storks!
Priest
. . . to the swan of Delos, to Leto the mother of the quails, and to Artemis, the goldfinch . . .
Pisthetaerus
It's no longer Artemis Colaenis, but Artemis the goldfinch.
Priest
. . . to Bacchus, the finch and Cybele, the ostrich and mother of the gods and mankind. . .
Pisthetaerus
Oh! sovereign ostrich Cybele, mother of Cleocritus!
Priest
. . . to grant health and safety to the Nephelococcygians as well as to the dwellers in Chios . . .
Pisthetaerus
The dwellers in Chios! Ah! I am delighted they should be thus mentioned on all occasions.
880
Priest
. . . to the heroes, the birds, to the sons of heroes, to the porphyrion, the pelican, the spoon-bill, the redbreast, the grouse, the peacock, the horned-owl, the teal, the bittern, the heron, the stormy petrel, the fig-pecker, the titmouse . . .
Pisthetaerus
Stop! stop! you drive me crazy with your endless list. Why, wretch,
to what sacred feast are you inviting the vultures and the sea-eagles? Don't you see that a single kite could easily carry off the lot at once? Begone, you and your fillets and all; I shall know how to complete the sacrifice by myself.
890
