Stasimon 2
Euelpides
call my town Sparta? Why, I would not use esparto for my bed, even though I had nothing but bands of rushes.
815
Pisthetaerus
Well then, what name can you suggest?
Euelpides
Some name borrowed from the clouds, from these lofty regions in which we dwell —in short, some well-known name.
Pisthetaerus
Do you like Nephelococcygia?
Leader of the Chorus
Oh! capital!
820
truly that's a brilliant thought!
820
Euelpides
Is it in Nephelococcygia that all the wealth of Theogenes and most of Aeschines' is?
Pisthetaerus
No, it's rather the plain of Phlegra, where the gods
withered the pride of the sons of the Earth with their shafts.
825
Leader of the Chorus
Oh! what a splendid city! But what god shall be its patron? for whom shall we weave the peplus?
Euelpides
Why not choose Athena Polias?
Pisthetaerus
Oh! what a well-ordered town it would be
to have a female deity armed from head to foot, while Clisthenes was spinning!
830
Leader of the Chorus
Who then shall guard the Pelargicon?
Leader of the Chorus
One of us? What kind of bird?
Pisthetaerus
A bird of Persian strain, who is everywhere proclaimed to be the bravest of all,
a true chick of Ares.
835
Euelpides
Oh! noble chick!
835
Pisthetaerus
Because he is a god well suited to live on the rocks. Come! into the air with you to help the workers who are building the wall; carry up rubble, strip yourself to mix the mortar,
