University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

Priest, Pisthetærus,  Chorus , Prophet.
Priest.
Good omens wait us.

Prophet.
Stay, I charge thee lift not
Thy hand upon the victim.

Pisthetærus.
And what art thou?

Prophet.
What I? A prophet.

Pisthetærus.
I would that thou wert hang'd.

Prophet.
O sir! of things divine be not so reckless.
There is an oracle of Bacis extant,
That plainly doth regard the Cuckoocloudlands.

Pisthetærus.
And why then didst not thou deliver it,
Ere I this city founded?

Prophet.
The divinity
Forbade me.

Pisthetærus.
Well, well; after all is said,
There's nothing like hearing the verses. Out with them.

Prophet.
‘When leagued together wolves and hoary crows,
Their seat, 'twixt Sicyon and Corinth, choose.’

Pisthetærus.
And what is Corinth to me, or I to Corinth?

Prophet.
Thus Bacis enigmatically meant the air.
‘First to Pandora of all powers on high,
A ram with snowy fleece the altar dye.
But on my prophet, first of all, a boon
Grateful bestow,—clean raiment and new shoon.’

Pisthetærus.
What, and are ‘shoon’ in it?

Prophet.
Take the book.
‘A goblet give, with entrails fill his hand—’

Pisthetærus.
And are the entrails there too?

Prophet.
Take the book.
‘And if thou dost, brave boy, what I command,
An eagle shalt thou soar in realms above.
No eagle else, nor woodpecker nor dove.’

Pisthetærus.
What, and is all this written?

Prophet.
Take the book.

Pisthetærus.
The oracle in nought resembles one,
Which from Apollo's I have here transcribed.
‘Whene'er upon the rites there shall intrude,
Unask'd, a fellow impudent and lewd,
Who of the entrails shall demand a share,
Give him some blows between the shoulders bare.’

Prophet.
Poh! Poh! Thou'rt trifling with me.

Pisthetærus.
Take the book.
‘Spare not, were he an eagle, my brave son,
Lampon or great Diopithes, lay it on.’

Prophet.
What, and is all this written?

Pisthetærus.
Take the book.
What, wilt thou not be off with thee?

[Beating him.
Prophet.
Mercy! Mercy!

Pisthetærus.
Take to thy heels, and prophesy elsewhere.

[Exit Prophet.