AMBASSADOR. On my honour, he also had us served with a bird three times as large as Cleonymus,[165] and called the Boaster.
DICAEOPOLIS. And do we give you two drachmae, that you should treat us to all this humbug?
AMBASSADOR. We are bringing to you, Pseudartabas,[166] the King's Eye.
DICAEOPOLIS. I would a crow might pluck out thine with his beak, thou cursed ambassador!
DICAEOPOLIS. Eh! Great gods! Friend, with thy great eye, round like the hole through which the oarsman passes his sweep, you have the air of a galley doubling a cape to gain the port.
AMBASSADOR. Come, Pseudartabas, give forth the message for the Athenians with which you were charged by the Great King.
PSEUDARTABAS. Jartaman exarx 'anapissonnai satra.[167]
AMBASSADOR. Do you understand what he says?
AMBASSADOR. He says, that the Great King will send you gold. Come, utter the word 'gold' louder and more distinctly.
DICAEOPOLIS. Thou shalt not have gold, thou gaping-arsed Ionian.[168]
DICAEOPOLIS. Ah! may the gods forgive me, but that is clear enough.
DICAEOPOLIS. That the Ionians are debauchees and idiots, if they expect to receive gold from the barbarians.
AMBASSADOR. Not so, he speaks of medimni[169] of gold.
DICAEOPOLIS. What medimni? Thou art but a great braggart; but get your way, I will find out the truth by myself. Come now, answer me clearly, if you do not wish me to dye your skin red. Will the Great King send us gold? (_Pseudartabas makes a negative sign._) Then our ambassadors are seeking to deceive us? (_Pseudartabas signs affirmatively._) These fellows make signs like any Greek; I am sure that they are nothing but Athenians. Oh, ho! I recognize one of these eunuchs; it is Clisthenes, the son of Sibyrtius.[170] Behold the effrontery of this shaven rump! How! great baboon, with such a beard do you seek to play the eunuch to us? And this other one? Is it not Straton?
HERALD. Silence! Let all be seated. The Senate invites the King's Eye to the Prytaneum.[171]
DICAEOPOLIS. Is this not sufficient to drive one to hang oneself? Here I stand chilled to the bone, whilst the doors of the Prytaneum fly wide open to lodge such rascals. But I will do something great and bold. Where is Amphitheus? Come and speak with me.