Classic Poem

" THE Frogs . "

Chorus . Eftsoons shall dire anger interne be the Thunderer's portion
When his foe's glib tusk fresh-whetted for blood he descries;
Then fell shall his heart be, and mad; and a pallid distortion
Descend as a cloud on his eyes.

Yea, words with plumes wild on the wind and with helmets a-glancing,
With axles a-splinter and marble a-shiver, eftsoons
Shall bleed, as a man meets the shock of a Thought-builder's prancing
Stanzas of dusky dragoons.

The deep crest of his mane shall uprise as he slowly unlimbers
The long-drawn wrath of his brow, and lets loose with a roar
Epithets welded and screwed, like new torrent-swept timbers
Blown loose by a giant at war.

Then rises the man of the Mouth; then battleward flashes
A tester of verses, a smooth and serpentine tongue,
To dissect each phrase into mincemeat, and argue to ashes
That high-towered labour of lung!

Enter E URIPIDES , D IONYSOS , and A ISCHYLOS .

Euripides . No, no. Don't talk to me! I won't give way;
I claim that I'm more master of my art.
Dionysos . You hear him, Aischylos. Why don't you speak?
Euripides . He wants to open with an awful silence —
The blood-curdling reserve of his first scenes.
Dionysos . My dear sir, I must beg! Control your language.
Euripides . I know him; I've seen thro him years ago;
Bard of the " noble savage, " wooden-mouthed,
No door, no bolt, no bridle to his tongue,
A torrent of pure bombast — tied in bundles.
Aischylos . How say'st thou, Son of the goddess of the Greens? —
You dare speak thus of me, you phrase-collector,
Blind-beggar-bard and scum of rifled rag-bags.
Oh, you shall rue it!
Dionysos . Stop. Stop, Aischylos;
" Strike not thine heart to fire on rancour old. "
Aischylos . No; I'll expose this crutch-and-cripple playwright,
And what he's worth for all his insolence.
Dionysos . A lamb, a black lamb, quick, boys. Bring it out
To sacrifice; a hurricane's let loose!
Aischylos . You and your Cretan dancing-solos! You
And the ugly amours that you set to verse!
Dionysos . One moment, please, most noble Aischylos.
And you, poor wretch, if you have any prudence,
Get out of the hail-stones quick, or else, by Zeus,
Some word as big as your head will catch you crash
Behind the ear, and knock out all the ... Telephos.
Nay, Aischylos, pray, pray control your anger;
Examine and submit to be examined
With a cool head. Two poets should not meet
In fish-wife style; but here you are, straight off,
Ablaze and roaring like an oak on fire.
Euripides . For my part I'm quite ready, with no shrinking,
To bite first or be bitten, as he pleases.
Here are my dialogue, music, and construction;
Here's Peleus at your service, Meleager,
And Aiolos, and ... yes, Telephos, by all means!
Dionysos . Do you consent to the trial, Aischylos? Speak.
Aischylos . I well might take exception to the place;
It's no fair field for him and me.
Dionysos . Why not?
Aischylos . Because my poetry has n't died with me,
As his has; so he'll have it all to hand. . . .
However, I waive the point, if you think fit.
Dionysos . Go, some one, bring me frankincense and fire
That I may pray for guidance, to decide
This contest in the Muses' strictest ways;
To whom, meantime, uplift your hymn of praise.
Chorus . All hail, ye nine heaven-born virginal Muses,
Whiche'er of ye watch o'er the manners and uses
Of the Founts of Quotation, when, meeting in fray —
All hearts drawn tense for who wins and who loses —
With wrestling lithe each the other confuses,
Look on the pair that do battle to-day!
These be the men to take poems apart
By chopping, riving, sawing;
Here is the ultimate trial of Art
To due completion drawing!
Dionysos . Won't you two pray before you show your lines?
Aischylos . Demeter, thou who feedest all my thought
Grant me but worthiness to worship thee.
Dionysos . Won't you put on some frankincense?
Euripides . Oh, thank you;
The gods I pray to are of other metal.
Dionysos . Your own stamp, eh? New struck?
Euripides . Exactly so.
Dionysos . Well, pray away then to your own peculiar.
Euripides . Ether, whereon I batten! Vocal cords!
Reason, and nostrils swift to scent and sneer,
Grant that I duly probe each word I hear. . . .

Euripides . I had the Drama straight from you, all bloated and uncertain,
Weighed down with rich and heavy words, puft out past comprehension.
I took the case in hand; applied treatment for such distention —
Beetroot, light phrases, little walks, hot book-juice, and cold reasoning;
Then fed her up on solos. . . .
Dionysos . With Kephisophon for seasoning.
Euripides . I did n't rave at random, or plunge in and make confusions.
My first appearing character explained, with due allusions,
The whole play's pedigree.
Dionysos . Your own you left in wise obscurity!
Euripides . Then no one from the start with me could idle with security.
They had to work. The men, the slaves, the women, all made speeches,
The kings, the little girls, the hags ...
I gave them canons to apply and squares for marking verses;
Taught them to see, think, understand, to scheme for what they wanted,
To fall in love, think evil, question all things. . . .
Aischylos . Granted, granted.
Euripides . I put things on the stage that came from daily life and business.
Where men could catch me if I tript; could listen without dizziness
To things they knew, and judge my art. I never flasht and lightened
And thundered people's senses out; nor tried to keep them frightened
With Magic Swans and Æthiop knights, loud barb and clanging vizor.
Then look at my disciples too, and mark what creatures his are.
Aischylos . Pray, tell me on what particular ground a poet should claim admiration.
Euripides . If his art is true, and his counsel sound; and if he brings help to the nation
By making men better in some respect.
Aischylos . And suppose you have done the reverse
And have had upon good strong men the effect of making them weaker and worse,
What, do you say, should your recompense be?
Dionysos . The gallows! You need n't ask him. . . .
Aischylos . Observe, from the world's first start
Those poets have all been of practical use who have been supreme in their art.
First, Orpheus withheld us from bloodshed impure, and vouchsafed us the great revelation;
Musaios was next, with wisdom to cure diseases and teach divination.
Then Hesiod showed us the season to plough, to sow and to reap. And the laurels
That shine upon Homer's celestial brow are equally due to his morals!
He taught men to stand, to march, and to arm.
And in his great spirit my plays had a part, with their heroes many and brave —
Teucers, Patrocluses, lions at heart; who made my citizens crave
To dash like them at the face of the foe, and leap at the call of a trumpet. —
But no Stheneboia I've given you, no; no Phaidra, no heroine-strumpet.
If I've once put a woman in love in one act of one play, may my action be scouted!
Euripides . No, you had n't exactly the style to attract Aphrodite.
Aischylos . I'm better without it.
Euripides . But did I invent the story I told of — Phaidra, say? Was n't it history?
Aischylos . It was true, right enough; but the poet should hold such a truth envelopt in mystery,
And not represent it or make it a play. It's his duty to teach, and you know it.
As a child learns from all who may come in his way, so the grown world learns from the poet.
Oh, worlds of good counsel should flow from his voice —
Euripides . And words like Mount Lycabettus
Or Parnes, such as you give us for choice, must needs be good counsel? — Oh, let us,
Oh, let us at least use the language of men.