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DICAEOPOLIS
Here is the block; and, though I am but a very sorry speaker, I wish nevertheless to talk freely of the Lacedaemonians and without the protection of my buckler. Yet I have many reasons for fear. I know our rustics; they are delighted if some braggart comes, and rightly or wrongly, loads both them and their city with praise and flattery; they do not see that such toad-eaters1 are traitors, who sell them for gain. As for the old men, I know their weakness; they only seek to overwhelm the accused with their votes.2 Nor have I forgotten how Cleon treated me because of my comedy last year;3 he dragged me before the Senate and there he uttered endless slanders against me; 'twas a tempest of abuse, a deluge of lies. Through what a slough of mud he dragged me! I almost perished. Permit me, therefore, before I speak, to dress in the manner most likely to draw pity.

1 Orators in the pay of the enemy.

2 Satire on the Athenians' addiction to law-suits.

3 The Babylonians. Cleon had denounced Aristophanes to the Senate for having scoffed at Athens before strangers, many of whom were present at the performance. The play is now lost.

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