Third Episode
EUR. Don't talk to me; I won't give up the chair,I say I am better in the art than he.
DIO. You hear him, Aeschylus: why don't you speak?
EUR. He'll do the grand at first, the juggling trickHe used to play in all his tragedies.
DIO. Come, my fine fellow, pray don't talk too big.
EUR. I know the man, I've scanned him through and through,A savage-creating stubborn-pulling fellow,Uncurbed, unfettered, uncontrolled of speech,Unperiphrastic, bombastiloquent.
AESCH. Hah! sayest thou so, child of the garden quean!And this to ME, thou chattery-babble-collector,Thou pauper-creating rags-and-patches-stitcher?Thou shalt abye it dearly!
DIO. Pray, be still; Nor heat thy soul to fury, Aeschylus.
AESCH. Not till I've made you see the sort of manThis cripple-maker is who crows so loudly.
DIO. Bring out a ewe, a black-fleeced ewe, my boys:Here's a typhoon about to burst upon us.
AESCH. Thou picker-up of Cretan monodies,Foisting thy tales of incest on the stage--
DIO. Forbear, forbear, most honoured Aeschylus;And you, my poor Euripides, begoneIf you are wise, out of this pitiless hail,Lest with some heady word he crack your scullAnd batter out your brain-less Telephus.And not with passion. Aeschylus, but calmlyTest and be tested. 'Tis not meet for poetsTo scold each other, like two baking-girls.But you go roaring like an oak on fire.
EUR. I'm ready, I!I don't draw back one bit.I'll lash or, if he will, let him lash firstThe talk, the lays, the sinews of a play:Aye and my Peleus, aye and Aeolus,And Meleager, aye and Telephus.
DIO. And what do you propose? Speak, Aeschylus.
AESCH. I could have wished to meet him otherwhere.We fight not here on equal terms.
DIO. Why not?
AESCH. My poetry survived me: his died with him:He's got it here, all handy to recite.Howbeit, if so you wish it, so we'll have it.
DIO. O bring me fire, and bring me frankincense.I'll pray, or e'er the clash of wits begin,To judge the strife with high poetic skill.Meanwhile (to the Chorus) invoke the Muses with a song.
CHOR. O Muses, the daughters divine of Zeus, the immaculate Nine,Who gaze from your mansions serene on intellects subtle and keen,When down to the tournament lists, in bright-polished wit they descend,With wrestling and turnings and twists in the battle of words to contend,O come and behold what the two antagonist poets can do,Whose mouths are the swiftest to teach grand language and filings of speech:For now of their wits is the sternest encounter commencing in earnest.
DIO. Ye two, put up your prayers before ye start.
AESCH. Demeter, mistress, nourisher of my soul,O make me worthy of thy mystic rites!
DIO. (To Eur.) Now put on incense, you.
EUR. Excuse me, no; My vows are paid to other gods than these.
DIO. What, a new coinage of your own?
EUR. Precisely.
DIO. Pray then to them, those private gods of yours.
EUR. Ether, my pasture, volubly-rolling tongue,Intelligent wit and critic nostrils keen,O well and neatly may I trounce his plays!
Words in this poem 19
- quean n.
- A woman; a young or unmarried woman; a girl. [Originally, a woman, AS. cwene; akin to OS. quena, OHG. quena, Icel. kona, Goth qin, and AS. cwén, also to Gr. gna goddess. Cf. Queen.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- abye v. t.
- To pay for; to suffer for; to atone for; to make amends for; to give satisfaction. [AS. abycgan to pay for; pref. a- (cf. Goth. us-, Ger. er-, orig. meaning out) + bycgan to buy. See Buy, and cf. Abide.]
- typhoon n.
- A violent whirlwind; specifically, a violent whirlwind occurring in the Chinese seas. [Earlier tuffoon, tuffon, Pg. tufao, Ar. tufan a violent storm; probably fr. Gr. tyfw^n, tyfw^s, a violent whirlwind, that rushes upward from the earth, whirling]
- cretan a.
- Pertaining to Crete, or Candia.
- incest n.
- The crime of cohabitation or sexual commerce between persons related within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law. [F. inceste, L. incestum unchastity, incest, fr. incestus unchaste; pref. in- not + castus chaste. See Chaste.]
- heady a.
- Willful; rash; precipitate; hurried on by will or passion; ungovernable. [From Head.]
- scull n.
- A shoal of fish. [See 1st School.]
- propose v. i.
- To speak; to converse.
- otherwhere adv.
- In or to some other place, or places; elsewhere.
- handy a.
- Performed by the hand. [OE. hendi, AS. hendig (in comp.), fr. hand hand; akin to D. handig, Goth. handugs clever, wise.]
- howbeit conj.
- Be it as it may; nevertheless; notwithstanding; although; albeit; yet; but; however. [How + be + it.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- immaculate a.
- Without stain or blemish; spotless; undefiled; clear; pure. [L. immaculatus; pref. im- not + maculatus, p. p. of maculare to spot, stane, fr. macula spot. See Mail armor.]
- tournament n.
- A mock fight, or warlike game, formerly in great favor, in which a number of combatants were engaged, as an exhibition of their address and bravery; hence, figuratively, a real battle. [OE. turnement, tornement, OF. torneiement, tornoiement, F. tournoiement a turning or wheeling round. See Tourney.]
- nourisher n.
- One who, or that which, nourishes.
- coinage n.
- The act or process of converting metal into money. [From Coin, v. t., cf. Cuinage.]
- trounce v. t.
- To punish or beat severely; to whip smartly; to flog; to castigate. [F. tronce, tronche, a stump, piece of wood. See Truncheon.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Third Episode is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Frogs of Aristophanes, translated by Benjamin Bickley Rogers (Harvard Classics vol. 8, 1909; Rogers's translation first published 1902), Project Gutenberg ebook #7998, the Benjamin Bickley Rogers translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Aristophanes, Third Episode, in The Frogs (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/aristophanes-frogs/third-episode.html, id L28746.
Form and metre
Third Episode is 65 lines in 26 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in trochaic pentameter.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 11 A---A---- aeschylusA · begone · hail · scull · telephusA · calmly · poets · girls · fire
- 12 ----AA i · bit · first · play · aeolusA · telephusA
- 18 --AA--- nine · keen · descendA · contendA · do · speech · earnest
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| EUR. Don't talk to me; I won't give up the chair, | 11 | ··········· |
| I say I am better in the art than he. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| DIO. You hear him, Aeschylus: why don't you speak? | 11 | ··········· |
| EUR. He'll do the grand at first, the juggling trick | 11 | ········/˘· |
| He used to play in all his tragedies. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| DIO. Come, my fine fellow, pray don't talk too big. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| EUR. I know the man, I've scanned him through and through, | 11 | ··········· |
| A savage-creating stubborn-pulling fellow, | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Uncurbed, unfettered, uncontrolled of speech, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Unperiphrastic, bombastiloquent. | 10 | ·········· |
| AESCH. Hah! sayest thou so, child of the garden quean! | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And this to ME, thou chattery-babble-collector, | 13 | ········/˘˘/˘ |
| Thou pauper-creating rags-and-patches-stitcher? | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Thou shalt abye it dearly! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| DIO. Pray, be still; Nor heat thy soul to fury, Aeschylus. | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| AESCH. Not till I've made you see the sort of man | 11 | ··········· |
| This cripple-maker is who crows so loudly. | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| DIO. Bring out a ewe, a black-fleeced ewe, my boys: | 11 | ··········· |
| Here's a typhoon about to burst upon us. | 11 | ···/······· |
| AESCH. Thou picker-up of Cretan monodies, | 10 | ··/˘··/˘·· |
| Foisting thy tales of incest on the stage-- | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| DIO. Forbear, forbear, most honoured Aeschylus; | 11 | ·˘/˘/·/˘··· |
| And you, my poor Euripides, begone | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| If you are wise, out of this pitiless hail, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Lest with some heady word he crack your scull | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And batter out your brain-less Telephus. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And not with passion. Aeschylus, but calmly | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Test and be tested. 'Tis not meet for poets | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To scold each other, like two baking-girls. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But you go roaring like an oak on fire. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| EUR. I'm ready, I! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| I don't draw back one bit. | 6 | ······ |
| I'll lash or, if he will, let him lash first | 10 | ·········· |
| The talk, the lays, the sinews of a play: | 10 | ·········· |
| Aye and my Peleus, aye and Aeolus, | 9 | ········· |
| And Meleager, aye and Telephus. | 9 | ········· |
| DIO. And what do you propose? Speak, Aeschylus. | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| AESCH. I could have wished to meet him otherwhere. | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| We fight not here on equal terms. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| DIO. Why not? | 3 | ··· |
| AESCH. My poetry survived me: his died with him: | 11 | ··/˘˘/····· |
| He's got it here, all handy to recite. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Howbeit, if so you wish it, so we'll have it. | 12 | ˘/˘········· |
| DIO. O bring me fire, and bring me frankincense. | 11 | ····/···/˘· |
| I'll pray, or e'er the clash of wits begin, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To judge the strife with high poetic skill. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Meanwhile (to the Chorus) invoke the Muses with a song. | 14 | /···/˘˘/·/˘··· |
| CHOR. O Muses, the daughters divine of Zeus, the immaculate Nine, | 16 | ··/˘·/˘˘/···˘/˘· |
| Who gaze from your mansions serene on intellects subtle and keen, | 16 | ····/˘˘/·/˘·/˘·· |
| When down to the tournament lists, in bright-polished wit they descend, | 15 | ····/˘···/˘··˘/ |
| With wrestling and turnings and twists in the battle of words to contend, | 17 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘···˘/ |
| O come and behold what the two antagonist poets can do, | 15 | ···˘/···˘/˘/˘·· |
| Whose mouths are the swiftest to teach grand language and filings of speech: | 16 | ····/˘···/˘·/˘·· |
| For now of their wits is the sternest encounter commencing in earnest. | 17 | ·······/˘˘/˘/˘·/˘ |
| DIO. Ye two, put up your prayers before ye start. | 11 | ··········· |
| AESCH. Demeter, mistress, nourisher of my soul, | 12 | ·˘/˘/˘/˘˘··· |
| O make me worthy of thy mystic rites! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| DIO. (To Eur.) Now put on incense, you. | 9 | ······˘/· |
| EUR. Excuse me, no; My vows are paid to other gods than these. | 15 | ·˘/·······/˘··· |
| DIO. What, a new coinage of your own? | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| EUR. Precisely. | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| DIO. Pray then to them, those private gods of yours. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| EUR. Ether, my pasture, volubly-rolling tongue, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘· |
| Intelligent wit and critic nostrils keen, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| O well and neatly may I trounce his plays! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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