APOLLO 
To give him a spokesman if possible, Momus, one of
those eloquent chaps who will say fittingly whatever
Timocles thinks of and suggests.
 MOMUS 
Truly a puerile suggestion which shows that you
still need a tutor, that we should bring a spokesman
into a meeting of philosophers to interpret the
opinions of Timocles to the company, and that Damis
should speak in his own person and unaided while
the other, making use of a proxy, privately whispers
his ideas into his ear and the proxy does the speaking,
perhaps without even understanding what he hears,
Wouldn’t that be fun for the crowd! No, let’s
think of some other way to manage this thing.

 

But
as for you, my admirable friend, since you claim to
be a prophet and have collected large fees for such
work, even to the extent of getting ingots of gold
once upon a time, why do you not give us a timely
display of your skill by foretelling which of the

 

sophists will win in the argument? Of course you
know what the outcome will be, if you are a
prophet:
 APOLLO 
How can I do that, Momus, when we have no
tripod here, and no incense or prophetic spring like
Castaly ?
 MOMUS 
There now! you dodge the test when it comes to
the pinch.
 ZEUS 
Speak up, my boy, all the same, and don’t give
this libeller a chance to malign and insult your profession by saying that it all depends on a tripod and
water and incense, so that if you didn’t have those
things you would be deprived of your skill.
 APOLLO 
It would be better, father, to do such business at
Delphi or Colophon where I have all the necessaries
at hand, in the usual way. However, even thus
devoid of them and unequipped, I will try to foretell
whose the victory shall be: you will bear with me if
my verses are lame.
 MOMUS 
Do speak ; but let it be clear, and not itself in
need of a spokesman or an interpreter. It is not
now a question of lamb and turtle cooking together
in Lydia, but you know what the debate is about.
 ZEUS 
What in the world are you going to say, my boy?
These preliminaries to your oracle are terrifying in
themselves; your colour is changed, your eyes are
rolling, your hair stands on end, your movements are

 

frenzied, and in a word everything about you
suggests demoniacal possession and gooseflesh and
mysteries.