38 ARISTOPHANES.

S.s. “A gentleman? Bless me, no. I am come
of as poor a lot as any in the town.”

ff, “What luck! You could not have started
better.”

Ss. “But Pve got no education; just a little
writing, and that very bad.”

Hf. “Well, that’s against you, that you can write
at all. Greatness here, you must understand, is not
for educated, respectable people. Dunces and black-
guards get it. So don’t you let the chance slip.
Now listen to the prophecy : —

“Whene’er the eagle in his pride,
With crooked claws and leathern hide,
Shall seize the black, blood-eating snake,
Then shall great Bluster’s tan-pits quake;
And Zeus shall give high rule and place
To men of sausage-selling race,
Unless, perchance, it please them more
To sell the sausage as before.

Do you understand all this? No? Well, listen:
the leathern eagle is Bluster. His claws are his way
of pouncing on people’s money. The snake, of
course, is a black pudding. Snakes are long and
black, so are black puddings; snakes are full of
blood, so are black puddings. There’s a prophecy
for you!” ,

S.-s. “Yes, it sounds fine. But how shall I be
able to manage the people?”

Hl. “Manage the people? The easiest thing in