"
But Pericles broke in: "Unless my eyes deceive me, I saw just now a
pair of ears projecting from behind the pillar of Hermes, and these
ass's ears can only belong to the notorious tanner."
"Cleon!" exclaimed Alcibiades.
But Euripides continued: "What do I care about the tanner, since I
do not fear the gods of the State? These gods, whose decline
Aeschylus foretold long ago! Does not his _Prometheus_ say that the
Olympian Zeus will be overthrown by his own descendant--the son that
will be born of a virgin? Is it not so, Socrates?"
"Certainly: 'she will bear a son who is stronger than his father.'
But who it will be, and when he will be born, he does not say. Now I
believe that Zeus already lies _in extremis_."
Again the warning voice of Pericles was heard. "The gods of the
State! Hush, friends! Cleon is listening!"
"I, on the other hand," broke in Alcibiades, "believe that Athens is
near her end. While we have been celebrating the victory of Salamis,
the Spartans have risen and devastated the north. Megaris, Locris,
Boeotia, and Phocis are already on her side."
"What you say is well known," answered Pericles deprecatingly, "but
at present there is a truce, and we have three hundred ships at sea.
Do you think, Socrates, that there is danger?"
"I cannot mix in the affairs of State; but if Athens is in danger, I
will take up shield and lance as before.
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