FROM ARISTOPHANES.
73
And again thereafter the kite reappearing announces a
change in the breezes,
And that here is the season for shearing your sheep of
their spring wool. Then does the swallow
Give you notice to sell your greatcoat, and provide
something light for the heat that's to follow.
Thus are we as Ammon or Delphi unto you, Dodona,
nay, Phoebus Apollo.
For, as first ye come all to get auguries of birds, even such
is in all things your carriage,
Be the matter a matter of trade, or of earning your bread,
or of any one's marriage.
And all things ye lay to the charge of a bird that belong
to discerning prediction:
Winged fame is a bird, as you reckon: you sneeze, and
the sign's as a bird for conviction:
