30–31
Momus
Goon, then; but remember, Apollo: lucidity; no ‘able counsel,See Croesus in Notes. no solutions that want solving themselves. It is not a question of lamb and tortoise boiling’ in Lydia now; you know what we want to get at.
Zeus
What will thine utterance be? How dread, even now, is the making ready! The altered hue, the rolling eyes, the floating locks, the frenzied gesture—all is possession, horror, mystery.
Apollo
Who lists may hear Apollo’s soothfast rede Of stiff debate, heroic challenge ringing. Shrill, and each headpiece lined with fence of proof.. Alternate clack the strokes in whirling strife;. Sore buffeted, quakes and shivers heart of oak.. But when grasshopper feels the vulture’s talons,. Then the storm-boding ravens croak their last,. Prevail the mules, butts his swift foals the ass..
Zeus
Why that ribald laughter, Momus? It is no laughing matter. Stop, stop, fool; you'll choke yourself.
Momus
Well, such a clear simple oracle puts one in spirits.
Zeus
Indeed? Then perhaps you will kindly expound it.
Momus
No need of a Themistocles this time; it is absolutely plain. The oracle just says in so many words that he is a quack, and we pack-asses (quite true) and mules to believe in him; we have not as much sense, it adds, as a grasshopper.
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