100 ARISTOPHANES,

cense, a pan of coals on which to burn it, and some
sprigs of myrtle.
The colleagues sang : —

“O Phoebus, who dwell’st in the Delphian shrine,
We beseech thee to favour this righteous design.” °

Bdelycleon took up the chant :—

“Great master, who dwellest in front of my gate,
His sternness of temper now somewhat abate.
Let him not be so prompt with accusers to side,
But inclined more to pity the wretch that is tried.”

Phil. “Who is the accused in this case?” os)
“He'll not get off very easily.”

del. “Listen to the indictment: Cur, of the town
of Cydathon, accuses Pincher of AZnone of having
embezzled a Sicilian cheese and eaten it all himself.!
Proposed sentence, a dog-collar of fig-wood.” 2

Phil. “ A collar indeed! To be hanged like a dog,
if he is found guilty.”

_Bdel. “The prisoner Pincher is here, and pleads
not guilty.”

Phil. “A manifest villain! What a thievish look
he has! And how he grins! thinking, I suppose, to
take me in. Where is the accuser, Cur of Cydathon?”

1 There is probably an allusion to some proceedings which had
taken place at Athens six years before. “Cur” represents the Greek
4uon, which is not unlike “Cleon.” “ Pincher” is a rendering of the
Greek /adés, which by the change of a single letter becomes “ Laches.”
Cleon had indicted Laches, in 426 B.c., for peculation committed when
he was in command of an expedition sent by the Athenians to Sicily in

427 B.C.
? Meaning that he would have to be tied up.