Yes, and I am delighted at having done so.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
And are they already with us?
EPOPS
Just as much as I am.
CHORUS (singing)
Ah! ah! we are betrayed; 'tis sacrilege! Our friend, he who picked up corn-seeds in the same plains as ourselves, has violated our ancient laws; he has broken the oaths that bind all birds; he has laid a snare for me, he has handed us over to the attacks of that impious race which, throughout all time, has never ceased to war against us.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
As for this traitorous bird, we will decide his case later, but the two old men shall be punished forthwith; we are going to tear them to pieces.
PITHETAERUS
It's all over with us.
EUELPIDES
You are the sole cause of all our trouble.Why did you bring me from down yonder?
PITHETAERUS
To have you with me.
EUELPIDES
Say rather to have me melt into tears.
PITHETAERUS
Go on! you are talking nonsense.How will you weep with your eyes pecked out?
CHORUS (singing)
Io! io! forward to the attack, throw yourselves upon the foe, spill his blood; take to your wings and surround them on all sides.
Woe to them! let us get to work with our beaks, let us devour them.
Nothing can save them from our wrath, neither the mountain forests, nor the clouds that float in the sky, nor the foaming deep.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Come, peck, tear to ribbons.Where is the chief of the cohort? Let him engage the right wing.
(They rush at the two Athenians.)
EUELPIDES
This is the fatal moment.Where shall I fly to, unfortunate wretch that am?
PITHETAERUS
Wait! Stay here!
EUELPIDES
That they may tear me to pieces?
PITHETAERUS
And how do you think to escape them?
EUELPIDES
I don't know at all.
PITHETAERUS
Come, I will tell you.We must stop and fight them.Let us arm ourselves with these stew-pots.
EUELPIDES
Why with the stew-pots?
PITHETAERUS
The owl will not attack us then.
EUELPIDES
But do you see all those hooked claws?
PITHETAERUS
Take the spit and pierce the foe on your side.
EUELPIDES
And how about my eyes?
PITHETAERUS
Protect them with this dish or this vinegar-pot.
EUELPIDES
Oh! what cleverness! what inventive genius! You are a great general, even greater than Nicias, where stratagem is concerned.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Forward, forward, charge with your beaks! Come, no delay.Tear, pluck, strike, flay them, and first of all smash the stew-pot.
EPOPS (stepping in front of the CHORUS)
Oh, most cruel of all animals, why tear these two men to pieces, why kill them? What have they done to you? They belong to the same tribe, to the same family as my wife.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Are wolves to be spared? Are they not our most mortal foes? So let us punish them.
EPOPS
If they are your foes by nature, they are your friends in heart, and they come here to give you useful advice.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Advice or a useful word from their lips, from them, the enemies of my forebears?
EPOPS
The wise can often profit by the lessons of a foe, for caution is the mother of safety.It is just such a thing as one will not learn from a friend and which an enemy compels you to know.To begin with, it's the foe and not the friend that taught cities to build high walls, to equip long vessels of war; and it's this knowledge that protects our children, our slaves and our wealth.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Well then, I agree, let us first hear them, for that is best;one can even learn something in an enemy's school.
PITHETAERUS (to EUELPIDES)
Their wrath seems to cool.Draw back a little.
EPOPS
It's only justice, and you will thank me later.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Never have we opposed your advice up to now.
PITHETAERUS
They are in a more peaceful mood,-put down your stew-pot and your two dishes; spit in hand, doing duty for a spear, let us mount guard inside the camp close to the pot and watch in our arsenal closely; for we must not fly.
EUELPIDES
You are right.But where shall we be buried, if we die?
PITHETAERUS
In the Ceramicus; for, to get a public funeral, we shall tell the Strategi that we fell at Orneae, fighting the country's foes.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Return to your ranks and lay down your courage beside your wrath as the hoplites do.Then let us ask these men who they are, whence they come, and with what intent.Here, Epops, answer me.
EPOPS
Are you calling me? What do you want of me?
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Who are they? From what country?
EPOPS
Strangers, who have come from Greece, the land of the wise.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
And what fate has led them hither to the land of the birds?
EPOPS
Their love for you and their wish to share your kind of life; to dwell and remain with you always.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Indeed, and what are their plans?
EPOPS
They are wonderful, incredible, unheard of.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Why, do they think to see some advantage that determines them to settle here? Are they hoping with our help to triumph over their foes or to be useful to their friends?
EPOPS
They speak of benefits so great it is impossible either to describe or conceive them; all shall be yours, all that we see here, there, above and below us; this they vouch for.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Are they mad?
EPOPS
They are the sanest people in the world.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Clever men?
EPOPS
The slyest of foxes, cleverness its very self, men of the world, cunning, the cream of knowing folk.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Tell them to speak and speak quickly; why, as I listen to you, Iam beside myself with delight.
EPOPS (to two attendants)
Here, you there, take all these weapons and hang them up inside dose to the fire, near the figure of the god who presides there and under his protection; (to PITHETAERUS) as for you, address the birds, tell them why I have gathered them together.
PITHETAERUS
Not I, by Apollo, unless they agree with me as the little ape of an armourer agreed with his wife, not to bite me, nor pull me by the balls, nor shove things into my...
EUELPIDES (bending over and pointing his finger at his anus)Do you mean this?
PITHETAERUS
No, I mean my eyes.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Agreed.
PITHETAERUS
Swear it.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS