148 ARISTOPHANES.

to you, they will get all kinds of blessings. Say that
a flock of locusts comes when the vines are in bloom,
a troop of owls or hawks will eat them up; then as
for the maggots which spoil their figs, a flock of
thrushes will dispose of them.”

K. H. “But how shall we make them rich? That
is the thing they really care about.”

Plaus. “Easily enough. You will show them
profitable mines, and good places for trade, and will
take care that no seaman be lost.” ’

KK. H. “ How shall we manage that?”

Plaus. “When they consult the oracle about a
voyage some bird will give them information. ‘ Don’t
sail now,’ it will say, ‘there is going to be a storm’;
or, ‘Sail now; you will make a good thing of it.’”

Hope. (interrupting). “I am not going to stop with
you. | I shall buy a merchantman, and make a for-
tune by trade.”

Plaus. “Then the birds will show them treasures
that have been buried in former times. They know
all about such things. Don’t people say, ‘Nobody
knows of the hoard, except it may be a bird’?”

FTope. “1 shall sell my merchantman, buy a mat-
tock, and dig up pots full of money.”

K. H. “ How shall we give them health? Health
is a gift of the gods.”

lope. “That won’t matter much. Depend upon
it that a man is never ill if his affairs go well, and
never well if they go ill.”