DICAEOPOLIS
And I was very much at ease, lying on the straw along the
battlements![1]

f[1] Referring to the hardships he had endured garrisoning the walls of
Athens during the Lacedaemonian invasions early in the War.

AMBASSADOR
Everywhere we were well received and forced to drink delicious
wine out of golden or crystal flagons....

DICAEOPOLIS
Oh, city of Cranaus,[1] thy ambassadors are laughing at thee!

f[1] Cranaus, the second king of Athens, the successor of Cecrops.

AMBASSADOR
For great feeders and heavy drinkers are alone esteemed as men
by the barbarians.

DICAEOPOLIS
Just as here in Athens, we only esteem the most drunken debauchees.

AMBASSADOR
At the end of the fourth year we reached the King's Court, but
he had left with his whole army to ease himself, and for the space of
eight months he was thus easing himself in the midst of the golden
mountains.[1]

f[1] Lucian, in his 'Hermotimus,' speaks of these golden mountains as an