Lines 201–411

PEISTHETAERUS.
But how to call them hither?

HOOPOE.
That’s soon done.
I’ve but to step within the coppice here,
And wake my sleeping nightingale, and then
We’ll call them, both together. Bless the birds,
When once they hear our voices, they’ll come running.

PEISTHETAERUS.
You darling bird, now don’t delay one instant.
O I beseech you get at once within
Your little copse, and wake the nightingale!
[The Hoopoe’s Serenade.]

HOOPOE.
Awake, my mate!
Shake off thy slumbers, and clear and strong
Let loose the floods of thy glorious song,
The sacred dirge of thy mouth divine
For sore-wept Itys, thy child and mine;
Thy tender trillings his name prolong
With the liquid note of thy tawny throat;
Through the leafy curls of the woodbine sweet
The pure sound mounts to the heavenly seat,
And Phoebus, lord of the golden hair,
As he lists to thy wild plaint echoing there,
Draws answering strains from his ivoried lyre,
Till he stirs the dance of the heavenly choir,
And calls from the blessed lips on high
Of immortal Gods, a divine reply
To the tones of thy witching melody.
[The sound of a flute is heard within, imitating the nightingale’s song.]

EUELPIDES.
O Zeus and King, the little birdie’s voice!
O how its sweetness honied all the copse!

PEISTHETAERUS.
Hi!

EUELPIDES.
Well?

PEISTHETAERUS.
Keep quiet.

EUELPIDES.
Why?

PEISTHETAERUS.
The Hoopoe here
Is going to favour us with another song.
[The Bird-call by the Hoopoe and Nightingale conjointly; the Nightingale’s song being imitated, as before, by the flute.]

HOOPOE.
Whoop-ho! Whoop-ho!
Whoop-hoop-hoop-hoop-hoop-ho!
Hoi! Hoi! Hoi! Come, come, come, come, come!
[The land-birds.]
Come hither any bird with plumage like my own;
Come hither ye that batten on the acres newly sown,
On the acres by the farmer neatly sown;
And the myriad tribes that feed on the barley and the seed,
The tribes that lightly fly, giving out a gentle cry;
And ye who round the clod, in the furrow-riven sod,
With voices sweet and low, twitter flitter to and fro,
Singing tio, tio, tio, tiotinx;
And ye who in the gardens a pleasant harvest glean,
Lurking in the branches of the ivy ever green;
And ye who top the mountains with gay and airy flight;
And ye who in the olive and the arbutus delight;
Come hither one and all, come flying to our call,
Trioté, triotó, totobrinx.
[The marsh-birds.]
Ye that snap up the gnats, shrilly voiced,
Mid the deep water-glens of the fens,
Or on Marathon’s expanse haunt the lea, fair to see,
Or career o’er the swamps, dewy-moist,
And the bird with the gay mottled plumes, come away,
Francolin! Francolin! come away!
[The sea-birds.]
Ye with the halcyons flitting delightedly
Over the surge of the infinite Sea,
Come to the great Revolution awaiting us,
Hither, come hither, come hither to me.
Hither, to listen to wonderful words,
Hither we summon the taper-necked birds.

For hither has come a shrewd old file,
Such a deep old file, such a sharp old file,
His thoughts are new, new deeds he’ll do,
Come here, and confer with this shrewd old file.
Come hither! Come hither! Come hither!
Toro-toro-toro-torotinx!
Kikkabau, kikkabau!
Toro-toro-toro-toro-lililinx!

PEISTHETAERUS.
See any bird?

EUELPIDES.
By Apollo no, not I,
Though up I gaze with mouth and eyes wide open.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Methinks the Hoopoe played the lapwing’s trick,
Went in the copse, and whooped, and whooped for nothing.

HOOPOE.
Torotinx! Torotinx.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Comrade, here’s a bird approaching,
coming to receive our visit.

EUELPIDES.
Aye by Zeus, what bird do you call it?
Surely not a peacock, is it?

PEISTHETAERUS.
That the Hoopoe here will teach us.
Prithee, friend, what bird is he?

HOOPOE.
That is not a common object,
such as you can always see;
That’s a marsh-bird.

EUELPIDES.
Lovely creature! nice and red like flaming flame.

HOOPOE.
So he should be, for Flamingo
is the lovely creature’s name.

EUELPIDES.
Hi there!

PEISTHETAERUS.
What? The row you’re making!

EUELPIDES.
Here’s another, full in view.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Aye by Zeus, another truly,
with a foreign aspect too.
Who is he, the summit-ascending,
Muse-prophetical, wondrous bird?

HOOPOE.
He’s a Median.

PEISTHETAERUS.
He a Median! Heracles, the thing’s absurd.
How on earth without a camel
could a Median hither fly?

EUELPIDES.
Here they’re coming; here’s another,
with his crest erected high.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Goodness gracious, that’s a hoopoe;
yes, by Zeus, another one!
Are not you the only Hoopoe?

HOOPOE.
I’m his grandsire; he’s the son
Of the Philocléan hoopoe:
as with you a name will pass,
Callias siring Hipponicus, Hipponicus Callias.

PEISTHETAERUS.
O then that is Callias is it?
How his feathers moult away!

HOOPOE.
Aye, the simple generous creature,
he’s to parasites a prey.
And the females flock around him,
plucking out his feathers too.

PEISTHETAERUS.
O Poseidon, here’s another;
here’s a bird of brilliant hue!
What’s the name of this, I wonder.

HOOPOE.
That’s a Glutton styled by us.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Is there then another Glutton
than our own Cleonymus?

EUELPIDES.
Our Cleonymus, I fancy,
would have thrown his crest away.

PEISTHETAERUS.
But what means the crest-equipment
of so many birds, I pray?
Are they going to race in armour?

HOOPOE.
No, my worthy friend, they make
Each his dwelling, like the Carians,
on the crests for safety’s sake.

PEISTHETAERUS.
O Poseidon, what the mischief!
see the birds are everywhere
Fluttering onward.

EUELPIDES.
King Apollo, what a cloud! O! O! look there,
Now we cannot see the entrance
for the numbers crowding in.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Here you see a partridge coming,
there by Zeus a francolin,
Here a widgeon onward hurries,
there’s a halcyon, sure as fate.

EUELPIDES.
Who’s behind her?

PEISTHETAERUS.
That’s a clipper; he’s the lady halcyon’s mate.

EUELPIDES.
Can a clipper be a bird then?

PEISTHETAERUS.
Sporgilus is surely so.
Here’s an owl.

EUELPIDES.
And who to Athens brought an owl, I’d like to know.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Jay and turtle, lark and sedgebird,
thyme-finch, ring-dove first, and then
Rock-dove, stock-dove, cuckoo, falcon,
fiery-crest, and willow wren,
Lammergeyer, porphyrion, kestrel,
waxwing, nuthatch, water-hen.

EUELPIDES.
(singing) Ohé for the birds, Ohé! Ohé!
Ohé for the blackbirds, ho!
How they twitter, how they go,
shrieking and screaming to and fro.
Goodness! are they going to charge us?
They are gazing here, and see
All their beaks they open widely.

PEISTHETAERUS.
That is what occurs to me.

CHORUS.
Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-where may he be
that was calling for me? In what locality pastureth he?

HOOPOE.
I am ready, waiting here;
never from my friends I stir.

CHORUS.
Te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te-teach me, I pray, in an amicable way,
what is the news you have gotten to say.

HOOPOE.
News amazing! News auspicious!
News delightful, safe, and free!
Birds! Two men of subtlest genius
hither have arrived to me.

CHORUS.
Who! What! When! say that again.

HOOPOE.
Here, I say, have come two elders,
travelling to the birds from man,
And the stem they are bringing with them
of a most stupendous plan.

CHORUS.
You who have made the greatest error
since my callow life began,
What do you say?

HOOPOE.
Now don’t be nervous.

CHORUS.
What is the thing you have done to me?

HOOPOE.
I’ve received two men, enamoured
of your sweet society.

CHORUS.
You have really dared to do it?

HOOPOE.
Gladly I the deed avow.

CHORUS.
And the pair are now amongst us?

HOOPOE.
Aye, if I’m amongst you now.

CHORUS.
O! O! Out upon you!
We are cheated and betrayed,
we have suffered shame and wrong!
For our comrade and our friend
who has fed with us so long,
He has broken every oath, and his holy plighted troth,
And the old social customs of our clan,
He has led us unawares into wiles, and into snares,
He has given us a prey, all helpless and forlorn,
To those who were our foes
from the time that they were born,
To vile and abominable Man!

But for him, our bird-companion,
comes a reckoning by and by;
As for these two old deceivers,
they shall suffer instantly,
Bit by bit we’ll tear and rend them.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Here’s a very horrid mess.

EUELPIDES.
Wretched man, ’twas you that caused it,
you and all your cleverness!
Why you brought me I can’t see.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Just that you might follow me.

EUELPIDES.
Just that I might die of weeping.

PEISTHETAERUS.
What a foolish thing to say!
Weeping will be quite beyond you,
when your eyes are pecked away.

CHORUS.
On! On! In upon them!
Make a very bloody onset,
spread your wings about your foes,
Assail them and attack them,
and surround them and enclose.
Both, both of them shall die,
and their bodies shall supply
A rare dainty pasture for my beak.
For never shall be found any distant spot of ground,
Or shadowy mountain covert, or foamy Ocean wave,
Or cloud in Ether floating,
which these reprobates shall save
From the doom that upon them I will wreak.
On then, on, my flying squadrons,
now’s the time to tear and bite,
Tarry ye not an instant longer.
Brigadier, advance our right.

EUELPIDES.
Here it comes! I’m off, confound them.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Fool, why can’t you remain with me?

EUELPIDES.
What! that these may tear and rend me?

PEISTHETAERUS.
How can you hope from birds to flee?

EUELPIDES.
Truly, I haven’t the least idea.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Then it is I the affair must guide.
Seize we a pot and, the charge awaiting,
here we will combat side by side.

EUELPIDES.
Pot! and how can a pot avail us?

PEISTHETAERUS.
Never an owl will then come near.

EUELPIDES.
What of these birds of prey with talons?

PEISTHETAERUS.
Snatch up a spit, like a hoplite’s spear,
Planting it firmly there before you.

EUELPIDES.
What shall I do about my eyes?

PEISTHETAERUS.
Take a platter, or take a saucer,
holding it over them buckler-wise.

EUELPIDES.
What a skilful neat contrivance!
O you clever fellow you,
In your military science Nicias you far outdo!

CHORUS.
Eleleleu! advance! no loitering;
level your beaks and charge away.
Shatter the pot at once to pieces;
worry, and scratch, and tear, and flay!

HOOPOE.
O, whatever is your purpose? is your villainy so great
You would slay two worthy persons,
kinsmen, clansmen, of my mate?
Men who never sought to harm you,
would you tear and lacerate?

CHORUS.
Why, I wonder, should we spare them,
more than ravening beasts of prey?
Shall we ever find, for vengeance,
enemies more rank than they?

HOOPOE.
Enemies, I grant, by nature,
very friends in heart and will;
Here they come with kindly purpose,
useful lessons to instil

CHORUS.
What, they come with words of friendship?
What, you really then suppose
They will teach us useful lessons,
they our fathers’ fathers’ foes?

HOOPOE.
Yet to clever folk a foeman
very useful hints may show;
Thus, that foresight brings us safety,
from a friend we ne’er should know,
But the truth is forced upon us, very quickly, by a foe.
Hence it is that all the Cities,
taught by foe, and not by friend,
Learn to build them ships of battle,
and their lofty walls extend;
So by this, a foeman’s, teaching
children, home, and wealth defend.

CHORUS.
Well, I really think ’tis better
that their errand we should know;
I admit that something useful
may be taught us by a foe.

PEISTHETAERUS.
(to Eu.) Now their anger grows more slack;
now we had better just draw back.

HOOPOE.
(to Chor.) This is right and friendly conduct,
such as I deserve from you.

CHORUS.
Well, I am sure that we have never
gone against you hitherto.

PEISTHETAERUS.
Now they are growing a deal more peaceful,
now is the time the pot to ground,
Now we may lower the platters twain.
Nay, but the spit we had best retain,
Walking within the encampment’s bound,
Letting our watchful glances skim
Over the edge of the pot’s top rim;
Never a thought of flight must strike us.

EUELPIDES.
Well, but tell me, suppose we die,
Where in the world will our bodies lie?

PEISTHETAERUS.
They shall be buried in Cerameicus,
That will be done at the public cost,
For we will say that our lives we lost
Gallantly fighting the public foe,
(Yea, we will tell the commanders so,)
Gallantly fighting at Orneae.

CHORUS.
Fall back, fall back to your ranks once more,
And stand at ease as ye stood before,
And lay your wrath on the ground, in line
With your angry mood, as a warrior should;
We’ll ask the while who the men may be,
And whence they come, and with what design.
Hey, Hoopoe, hey! to you I speak.

HOOPOE.
What is it that to learn you seek?

CHORUS.
Whence are these visitors and who?

HOOPOE.
From clever Hellas strangers two.

CHORUS.
What’s their aim? Canst thou tell
Why they came Here to dwell?