8 - ARISTOPHANES.

_ Amb. “Youre quite wrong; he didn’t say ‘jest,’
but ‘chest.’ He told us that we should get. chests
full of gold.”

__ Hon. “Chests indeed! You're nothing but a swin-
dler. Stand off, now, and I will get the truth out of
the fellow. Now listen to me, Mr. Sham-Artabas,
and answer me plainly. You see this fist; if you
don’t want a bloody nose of right royal purple, speak
the truth. Is the king going to send us any gold?”

The Eye shook his head.

“ Are the ambassadors cheating us?”

The Eye nodded.

“Well, anyhow, the creature knows how to nod in
Greek.”

While saying this he closely scrutinized the stran-
gers, and cried out, “I believe he comes from this
very city; and, now I come to look, I see two scoun-
drels in his train whom I know as well as I know my
own brother. Ho there, you rascal! what do you
mean —?”

“ Silence!”? shouted the herald; “the Senate in-
vites the King’s Eye to dine in the Town Hall.”

Hon. “Is not that enough to make a man hang
himself? These rascals are to dine in the Town
Hall, and I am left outside here! ‘But here comes
Demigod. Now, my good fellow, take these two
half-crowns, and make the best of your way to
Sparta, and conclude a separate peace for me, my
wife, my children, and my maid-servant. But whom
have we here?”