Zeus the Tragedian (41-45)

Alas, alack! What an outcry the crowd made, deities, applauding Damis! And our man seems to have lost his head. He is frightened, certainly, and trembling, and on the point of throwing away his shield. He is already looking about for some loop-hole through which he can slip and make his escape.

Perhaps you do not think that Euripides says anything sound, either, when he introduces the gods themselves upon the stage and shows them engaged in saving the good among

But, most illustrious of philosophers, if the dramatists have convinced you by such means as that, one of two things follows. Either you believe the actors to be for the moment gods, or else the divine masks themselves, and the shoes, and the tunics flowing to the feet, and the cloaks, and the loose sleeves, and the false paunches, and the padding, and all the rest of the apparatus which makes the tragedy impressive, which is most ridiculous, I think. But whenever Euripides speaks his own mind, unforced by the exigencies of the dramas, hear how bold he is:

Beware what you are doing, wretched Damis. You are all but overturning the very seats and altars of the gods with your arguments.

No, not all their altars, Timokles; for what harm do they do if they are full of incense and fragrance? But those of Artemis in Tauris I should be delighted to see turned upsidedown, whereon the maiden goddess feasts joyously on the things we wot of.

Whence has this overwhelming evil come upon us? There is not a divinity that the man stands in awe of. He speaks his mind as freely as a wench in a procession, and he

In truth, Zeus, you would find very few who do not deserve it among us. And surely the man will go on to lay hold of even the very greatest.

Perhaps you do not hear Zeus thundering, you fighter against the gods?

Of course I hear the thunder; but as to whether it is Zeus who thunders, your knowledge would be more reliable if you had come from somewhere up there among the gods. For travellers from Crete tell us a different story: that a certain tomb is shown in that country, and beside it stands a pillar telling that Zeus will thunder no more, being long since dead.

I knew long ago that the man was going to say that. But, Zeus, why have you turned pale? Why do you tremble so that your teeth chatter? You must take heart and despise such manikins.

What do you say, Momos? Despise them? Do you not see how large the audience is, and how they are persuaded against us already, and how Damis is leading them away with their ears stopped?

But, Zeus, if you liked you could let down a rope and