Trygæus.
Aye, so that I may not be accused of robbing the State, by blocking up an oar-hole in the galley.[1]
Breastplate-maker.
So you would pay ten minæ[2] for a night-stool?
Trygæus.
Undoubtedly, you rascal. Do you think I would sell my rump for a thousand drachmæ?[3]
Breastplate-maker.
Come, have the money paid over to me.
Trygæus.
No, friend; I find it hurts me to sit on. Take it away, I won’t buy.
A Trumpet-maker.
What is to be done with this trumpet, for which I gave sixty drachmæ the other day?
Trygæus.
Pour lead into the hollow and fit a good, long stick to the top; and you will have a balanced cottabos.[4]
Trumpet-maker.
Ha! would you mock me?
Trygæus.
Well, here’s another notion. Pour in lead as I said, add here a dish hung on strings, and you will have a balance for weighing the figs which you give your slaves in the fields.
- ↑ The trierarchs stopped up some of the holes made for the oars, in order to reduce the number of rowers they had to supply for the galleys; they thus saved the wages of the rowers they dispensed with.
- ↑ The mina was equivalent to about £3 10s.
- ↑ Which is the same thing, since a mina was worth a hundred drachmæ.
- ↑ For cottabos see note above, p. 177.
