230 ARISTOPHANES.

hissed like a serpent, and bit it. Thereupon she
drew it back, and covered her head with ‘the bed-
clothes. As for me, I had a good meal from the
porridge, and lay down in my bed. After a while
Esculapius himself came round with his two daugh-
ters, Recovery and All-Healer,! followed by a boy
who carried a stone mortar, a pestle, and a small
chest. I was very much frightened and covered

myself up; still I could see what was done through . |

a peep-hole in my cloak—TI had a good choice of
peep-holes. The god began by making an ointment
to plaster on the eyes of that blind thief I spoke
of; he mixed together three heads of garlic, fig-tree
sap,? and mastic, and moistened it with vinegar.
Then he turned the fellow’s eyelids out—to hurt
him more, you understand. The thief roared like
a bull, and ran out of the temple. The god laughed
and said, ‘There, there; now you may learn not to
forswear yourself.’ After this he came and sat
down by Plutus. The first thing that he did was to
stroke his head; then he took a clean napkin, and
wiped his eyelids with it. Next, AllHealer covered
his head with a purple kerchief. Then the god
whistled, and two huge serpents came out of the
sanctuary. These put their heads under the ker-
chief, and, I imagine, licked the eyelids; and — in

1 Taso and Panacea are the Greek names.
2 This was an acrid fluid used by the Greeks instead of rennet to
curdle milk for cheese-making.