Page:Comedies of Aristophanes (Hickie 1853) vol2.djvu/75

THE THESMOPHORIAZUS^.

[Scene — the front of Agathon's house.' Mnesilochus, Euripides.

Mnes. O Jupiter ! will the swallow ever ' appear ? The man will kill me with dragging me about ^ from early dawn ! Is it possible, Euripides, before I lose my spleen entirely, to learn from you whither you are leading me ?

Eur. [with great seriousness). Nay, you must^ not hear all that you will soon see, being present.

Mnes. How say you ? Tell it me again ! Must I not hear ?

Eur. Not what you are to see.

Mnes. Then must I not even see ?

Eur. Not what you must hear.

Mnes. How do you advise me ? Upon my word, you speak cleverly ! You say I must neither hear nor see.

Eur. Not so; for, be Avell assured, the nature of each of them is distinct, of not hearing, and of not seeing.

' " Erscheint denn nie die FruhUngsschwalbe meiner Miih?"

Droysen. " It is more suitable that Mnesilochus should ask nzan qiiando f than quandof" Wellaner. "As the appearance of the swallow in spring- puts an end to wmter, so the simple Mnesilochus wishes for some kind of a swallow to terminate his painful situation." Droysen. See note on Aves, 161, 1308.

- See Liddell's Lex. in voc. " akoCJv t^wQtv iv kukXoj TriQiaytnv, wg oi tv ToiQ uXiomv." Suidas.

' " Nein, huren nicht das Alles musst du, was du gk^ich Mit Augen sehn wirst ! " Droijsen. Comp. Lidd. Lex. voc. TrapicrrjfiL. " The rich jest of this exor- dium Hes in the philosophical mannerism of Euripides, who is fond of using his odd figures and antitheses everj' where." Droysen.

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