Chorus of Women.
Now at any rate you look like a man, and they won’t make fun of you. Ah! if you had not offended me so badly, I would take out that nasty insect you have in your eye for you.
Chorus of Old Men.
Ah! so that’s what was annoying me so! Look, here’s a ring, just remove the insect, and show it me. By Zeus! it has been hurting my eye this ever so long.
Chorus of Women.
Well, I agree, though your manners are not over and above pleasant. Oh! what a huge great gnat! just look! It’s from Tricorysus, for sure.[1]
Chorus of Old Men.
A thousand thanks! the creature was digging a regular well in my eye; now it’s gone, my tears flow freely.
Chorus of Women.
I will wipe them for you—bad, naughty man though you are. Now, just one kiss.
Chorus of Old Men.
No—a kiss, certainly not!
Chorus of Women.
Just one, whether you like it or not.
Chorus of Old Men.
Oh! those confounded women! how they do cajole us! How true the saying: “’Tis impossible to live with the baggages, impossible to live without ’em”! Come, let us
- ↑ A deme of Attica, abounding in woods and marshes, where the gnats were particularly troublesome. There is very likely also an allusion to the spiteful, teasing character of its inhabitants.
