and cracked his head. His Gorgon roused herself
flew off his shield, and his splendid plumage rolled down onto the rocks. As he saw this the hero gave out a dismal groan and said,
"O radiant eye of heaven, I am now gazing upon thee for the very last time. I am losing my light. I now cease to be.”
That said, he falls back into the water, gets up again, meets some runaway slaves, and chases some robbers with his spear. But here he is. Open up the doors.
LAMACHUS O careful, careful! Ahhh, this dreadful pain!
What wretched suffering! That enemy spear has wounded me, and I am done for. But what would be even more disastrous is Dicaeopolis seeing me wounded and making fun of my misfortunes.
DICAEOPOLIS O careful, careful! What splendid breasts!
As firm as a quince! O my golden treasures, give me some of your spit-swapping kisses, for I was the first to drain my wine cup!
LAMACHUS What miserable luck! All my suffering. Ah, these painful wounds.
DICAEOPOLIS Ha, ha! Greetings,
little horseman Lamachus!
LAMACHUS I am cursed!
Why do you irritate me so much
DICAEOPOLIS [to one of the Courtesans] Why are you kissing me so much?
LAMACHUS I am a wretched mess—in a bad way.
That charge of mine came at a heavy cost.
DICAEOPOLIS You mean you were charged for the Feast of Jars?
LAMACHUS O Apollo, a healer! a healer—please.
DICAEOPOLIS Today is not the feast of Apollo.
LAMACHUS Hold onto my legs . . . that hurts. My friends, help support me.
My dears, why don’t you both grab hold of my cock, here in the middle,
LAMACHUS That blow from the stone has made me dizzy— I’m blacking out.
And I’m dying to go to bed
My cock is full, and I ready to unload!
LAMACHUS Carry me off to the healer Pittalus.
DICAEOPOLIS Take me to the judges! Where is he--
the king of the feast? Give me the wineskin!
LAMACHUS A spear has pierced me to the very bone.
It’s agony!
DICAEOPOLIS You see this empty jug— I am victorious!
CHORUS LEADER Hurrah for you, old man.
I answer your call—Hurrah for the victor!
DICAEOPOLIS I filled up my cup with unmixed wine and drained it—all in one gulp!
CHORUS You are now victorious,
a worthy champion! Take the wineskin!
Frederick William Hall (1865–1948) was a classical scholar and Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. Together with William Martin Geldart, he produced the Oxford Classical Text of several authors. Hall was a careful editor known for his thorough collation of manuscripts and his conservative approach to textual criticism.
The Hall–Geldart editions in the Oxford Classical Texts series provide reliable critical texts with selective apparatus criticus. The OCT series, established in 1894 as the Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, aims to present the best available Greek and Latin texts in a format suitable for both scholarly use and teaching. Each volume provides a clean text with the most significant manuscript variants recorded at the foot of each page.
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