Indeed I will; I am urgently needed to be at Athens to attend the Assembly; for I am charged with the interests of Pharnaces. Pisthetaerus Take it then, and get on your way. This is your salary. 
 He beats him. Inspector What does this mean? Pisthetaerus This is the assembly where you have to defend Pharnaces. Inspector You shall testify that they dare to strike me, the inspector. Pisthetaerus Are you not going to get out with your urns? It's not to be believed; they send us inspectors before we have so much as paid sacrifice to the gods. The Inspector goes into hiding. A Dealer in Decrees arrives. Dealer in Decrees Reading. If the Nephelococcygian does wrong to the Athenian ... Pisthetaerus What trouble now? What book is that? Dealer in Decrees I am a dealer in decrees, and I have come here to sell you the new laws. Pisthetaerus Which? Dealer in Decrees The Nephelococcygians shall adopt the same weights, measures and decrees as the Olophyxians. Pisthetaerus And you shall soon be imitating the Ototyxians. He beats him. Dealer in Decrees Ow! what are you doing? Pisthetaerus Now will you get out of here with your decrees? For I am going to let you see some severe ones. The Dealer in Decrees departs; the Inspector comes out of hiding. Inspector Returning. I summon Pisthetaerus for outrage for the month of Munychion. Pisthetaerus Ha! my friend! are you still here? The Dealer in Decrees also returns. Dealer in Decrees Should anyone drive away the magistrates and not receive them, according to the decree duly posted ... Pisthetaerus What! rascal! you are back too? He rushes at him. Inspector Woe to you! I'll have you condemned to a fine of ten thousand drachmae. Pisthetaerus And I'll smash your urns. Inspector Do you recall that evening when you crapped on the column where the decrees are posted? Pisthetaerus Here! here! let him be seized.
 The Inspector runs off. Why, don't you want to stay any longer? But let us get indoors as quick as possible; we will sacrifice the goat inside. First Semi-Chorus Singing. Henceforth it is to me that mortals must address their sacrifices and their prayers. Nothing escapes my sight nor my might. My glance embraces the universe, I preserve the fruit in the flower by destroying the thousand kinds of voracious insects the soil produces, which attack the trees and feed on the germ when it has scarcely formed in the calyx; I destroy those who ravage the balmy terrace gardens like a deadly plague; all these gnawing crawling creatures perish beneath the lash of my wing. Leader of First Semi-Chorus I hear it proclaimed: A talent for him who shall kill Diagoras of Melos , and a talent for him who destroys one of the dead tyrants. We likewise wish to make our proclamation: A talent to him among you who shall kill Philocrates, the Struthian; four, if he brings him to us alive. For this Philocrates skewers the finches together and sells them at the rate of an obolus for seven. He tortures the thrushes by blowing them out, so that they may look bigger, sticks their own feathers into the nostrils of blackbirds, and collects pigeons, which he shuts up and forces them, fastened in a net, to decoy others. That is what we wish to proclaim. And if anyone is keeping birds shut up in his yard, let him hasten to let them loose; those who disobey shall be seized by the birds and we shall put them in chains, so that in their turn they may decoy other men.