Οι αποκαλύψεις με κουράζουν πια! Καθε μέρα, κάθε βράδυ κάποια αποκάλυψη, κάποια απόδειξη έρχεται να μου ταράξει τη ζωή. Προχθες ήταν τα στρώματα, τα βρώμικα κι αμαρτωλά! Χθες ήταν τα έπιπλα, η ξυλεία που τη δηλητηριάζουν με αρσενικο για να στείλουν στον αγύριστο με το χειρότερο τροπο παιδάκια που παίζουν στις παιδικές χαρες. Στη συνέχεια, αφου κοιμόμαστε στο πάτωμα και περιορρίζουμε το παιδί μας σε κύκλο καμωμενο απο πλαστικό οικολογικής κατασκευής -αν υπάρχει τέτοιο- ακούμε τις νεες αποκαλύψεις σοκ για τις υποκλοπες και για το θανατο του δυσμοιρου υπαλληλου της αδιάκριτης εταιρείας για να τελειώσουμε την πρώτη φάση της αποκαλυπτικής μέρας με την καταγγελια μετ αποδείξεων περι σάπιων κρεατων σε μια κρεαταγορα της πρωτευουσας. Κουράστηκα, πραγματικά κουράστηκα... Μην αποκαλυπτετε άλλο παρακαλώ! Αφήστε τον κόσμο να αποκαλυφθει μόνος του. Αλλωστε απο που να προφυλαχθεις πια; Αν σωθεις απο την τζιβα θα την πάθεις απο το σάπιο κρεας απο το μολυσμενο τυρί του Μελιταιου πυρετού, ή απο το έμφραγμα που θα σου προκαλέσουν οι συνεχεις αυξήσεις της τιμης του πετρελαιου! Ας είναι Let it grow, let it be! 

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WISH YOU AND TO MYSELF HAPPY DAYS!

 Here i post some of my heavy thoughts

 I adore this tableau! This is raffinated art!

Μια μερα σαν ολες τις άλλες και πάλι κι ισως να ειναι καλυτερα έτσι! Μετα απο τις μεσημεριανες οδομαχιες επικρατει ηρεμια στο κ΄νετρο της πρωτεουσας. Ειναι προφανες οτι για σήμερα έγιναν τα ψώνια απο τις σπασμένες βιτρινες κι έτσι ησυχάσαμε κι εμεις οι πολίτες του καναπε! Χριστος Ανέστη!

Μεγαλη Δευτερα!

Μεγάλη εβδομάδα, τα πάθη των αμνων...

ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ

420 BC
THE
CLOUDS

by Aristophanes
anonymous translator
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY


STREPSIADES


PHIDIPPIDES


SERVANT OF STREPSIADES


DISCIPLES OF SOCRATES


SOCRATES


JUST DISCOURSE


UNJUST DISCOURSE

PASIAS, a Money-lender
AMYNIAS, another Money-lender

CHORUS OF CLOUDS


CLOUDS

(SCENE:-In the background are two houses, that of Strepsiades and
that of Socrates, the Thoughtery. The latter is small and dingy;
the in, terior of the former is shown and two beds are seen, each
occupied.)


STREPSIADES (sitting up)

GREAT gods! will these nights never end? will daylight never come?
I heard the cock crow long ago and my slaves are snoring still! Ah! Ah!
It wasn't like this formerly. Curses on the war! has it not done
me ills enough? Now I may not even chastise my own slaves. Again
there's this brave lad, who never wakes the whole long night, but,
wrapped in his five coverlets, farts away to his heart's content.
(He lies down) Come! let me nestle in well and snore too, if it be
possible....oh! misery, it's vain to think of sleep with all these
expenses, this stable, these debts, which are devouring me, thanks
to this fine cavalier, who only knows how to look after his long
locks, to show himself off in his chariot and to dream of horses!
And I, I am nearly dead, when I see the moon bringing the third decade
in her train and my liability falling due....Slave! light the lamp and
bring me my tablets. (The slave obeys.) Who are all my creditors?
Let me see and reckon up the interest. What is it I owe?....Twelve
minae to Pasias....What! twelve minae to Pasias?....Why did I borrow
these? Ah! I know! It was to buy that thoroughbred, which cost me so
much. How I should have prized the stone that had blinded him!
PHIDIPPIDES (in his sleep)
That's not fair, Philo! Drive your chariot straight, I say.

STREPSIADES

This is what is destroying me. He raves about horses, even in
his sleep.
PHIDIPPIDES (still sleeping)
How many times round the track is the race for the chariots of
war?

STREPSIADES

It's your own father you are driving to death....to ruin. Come!
what debt comes next, after that of Pasias?....Three minae to
Amynias for a chariot and its two wheels.
PHIDIPPIDES (still asleep)
Give the horse a good roll in the dust and lead him home.

STREPSIADES

Ah! wretched boy! it's my money that you are making roll. My
creditors have distrained on my goods, and here are others again,
who demand security for their interest.
PHIDIPPIDES (awaking)
What is the matter with you, father, that you groan and turn about
the whole night through?

STREPSIADES

I have a bum-bailiff in the bedclothes biting me.

PHIDIPPIDES

For pity's sake, let me have a little sleep. (He turns over.)

STREPSIADES

Very well, sleep on! but remember that all these debts will fall
back on your shoulders. Oh! curses on the go-between who made me marry
your mother! I lived so happily in the country, a commonplace,
everyday life, but a good and easy one-had not a trouble, not a
care, was rich in bees, in sheep and in olives. Then indeed I had to
marry the niece of Megacles, the son of Megacles; I belonged to the
country, she was from the town; she was a haughty, extravagant
woman, a true Coesyra. On the nuptial day, when I lay beside her, I
was reeking of the dregs of the wine-cup, of cheese and of wool; she
was redolent with essences, saffron, voluptuous kisses, the love of
spending, of good cheer and of wanton delights. I will not say she did
nothing; no, she worked hard...to ruin me, and pretending all the
while merely to be showing her the cloak she had woven for me, I said,
"Wife you go too fast about your work, your threads are too closely
woven and you use far too much wool."
(A slave enters witk a lamp.)
SLAVE
There is no more oil in the lamp.

STREPSIADES

Why then did you light such a thirsty lamp? Come here, I am
going to beat you.
SLAVE
What for?

STREPSIADES

Because you have put in too thick a wick....Later, when we had
this boy, what was to be his name? It was the cause of much
quarrelling with my loving wife. She insisted on having some reference
to a horse in his name, that he should be called Xanthippus, Charippus
or Callippides. I wanted to name him Phidonides after his grandfather.
We disputed long, and finally agreed to style him Phidippides....She
used to fondle and coax him, saying, "Oh! what a joy it will be to
me when you have grown up, to see you, like my father, Megacles,
clothed in purple and standing up straight in your chariot driving
your steeds toward the town." And I would say to him, "When, like your
father, you will go, dressed in a skin, to fetch back your goats
from Phelleus." Alas! he never listened to me and his madness for
horses has shattered my fortune. (He gets out of bed.) But by dint
of thinking the livelong night, I have discovered a road to salvation,
both miraculous and divine. If he will but follow it, I shall be out
of my trouble! First, however, he must be awakened, but it must be
done as gently as possible. How shall I manage it? Phidippides! my
little Phidippides!

You want more of Aristophanes's birds? Go HERE

410 BC
THE
BIRDS

by Aristophanes
anonymous translator
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
EUELPIDES
PITHETAERUS
TROCHILUS, Servant to Epops
EPOPS (the Hoopoe)
A BIRD
A HERALD
A PRIEST
A POET
AN ORACLE-MONGER
METON, a Geometrician
AN INSPECTOR
A DEALER IN DECREES
IRIS
A PARRICIDE
CINESIAS, a Dithyrambic Poet
AN
INFORMER

PROMETHEUS
POSIDON
TRIBALLUS
HERACLES
SLAVES OF PITHETAERUS
MESSENGERS
CHORUS OF BIRDS
BIRDS
(SCENE:-A wild and desolate region; only thickets, rocks, and a
single tree are seen. EUELPIDES and PITHETAERUS enter, each with a
bird in his hand.)

EUELPIDES (to his jay)
Do you think I should walk straight for yon tree?
PITHETAERUS (to his crow)
Cursed beast, what are you croaking to me?...to retrace my steps?

EUELPIDES

Why, you wretch, we are wandering at random, we are exerting
ourselves only to return to the same spot; we're wasting our time.

PITHETAERUS

To think that I should trust to this crow, which has made me cover
more than a thousand furlongs!

EUELPIDES

And that I, in obedience to this jay, should have worn my toes
down to the nails!

PITHETAERUS

If only I knew where we were....

EUELPIDES

Could you find your country again from here?

PITHETAERUS

No, I feel quite sure I could not, any more than could Execestides
find his.

EUELPIDES

Alas!

PITHETAERUS

Aye, aye, my friend, it's surely the road of "alases" we are
following.

EUELPIDES

That Philocrates, the bird-seller, played us a scurvy trick,
when he pretended these two guides could help us to find Tereus, the
Epops, who is a bird, without being born of one. He has indeed sold us
this jay, a true son of Tharrhelides, for an obolus, and this crow for
three, but what can they do? Why, nothing whatever but bite and
scratch! (To his jay) What's the matter with you then, that you keep
opening your beak? Do you want us to fling ourselves headlong down
these rocks? There is no road that way.

PITHETAERUS

Not even the vestige of a trail in any direction

EUELPIDES

And what does the crow say about the road to follow?

PITHETAERUS

By Zeus, it no longer croaks the same thing it did.

EUELPIDES

And which way does it tell us to go now?

PITHETAERUS

It says that, by dint of gnawing, it will devour my fingers.

EUELPIDES

What misfortune is ours! we strain every nerve to get to the
crows, do everything we can to that end, and we cannot find our way!
Yes, spectators, our madness is quite different from that of Sacas. He
is not a citizen, and would fain be one at any cost; we, on the
contrary, born of an honourable tribe and family and living in the
midst of our fellow-citizens, we have fled from our country as hard as
ever we could go. It's not that we hate it; we recognize it to be
great and rich, likewise that everyone has the right to ruin himself
paying taxes; but the crickets only chirrup among the fig-trees for
a month or two, whereas the Athenians spend their whole lives in
chanting forth judgments from their law-courts. That is why we started
off with a basket, a stew-pot and some myrtle boughs! and have come to
seek a quiet country in which to settle. We are going to Tereus, the
Epops, to learn from him, whether, in his aerial flights, he has
noticed some town of this kind.

PITHETAERUS

Here! look!

EUELPIDES

What's the matter?

PITHETAERUS

Why, the crow has been directing me to something up there for some
time now.

Οι Κυριακες είναι πάντα θλιμμενες. Οι δρομοι στο κέντρο της πόλης μονοπωλουνται απο τους μεταναστες, είναι η πιο ευχαριστη νοτα της ημέρας! Ανθρωποι της διπλανης πόρτας που τους βλεπεις όμως μόνο την Κυριακη, Τα αυτοκινητα λιγοστα κι όμως η ατμοσφαιρα ποτε δεν γινεται πιο ελαφρια. Τα καφενεια μισοαδεια και οι θαμωνες δείχνουν πάντα μισογεματοι απο αισθηματα. Γιατι;

About the word: RAPACIOUSRapacious comes from Latin rapax, rapac-, "seizing, grasping, greedy," from rapere, "to seize, to snatch."

Source: DICTIONARY

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:
To throw out of a window.

Source: DICTIONARY

legionary ant - tropical nomadic ant that preys mainly on other insects

The beaver in his sagacity, his industry, his ingenuity, and his perseverance, is a most respectable animal: a much better emblem for our country than the rapacious eagle or even the lordly lion; but he is also a type of unvarying instincts and Old World traditions.
John W. Dawson