The Birds

“It’s not because we loathe the city itself.

We’d like to see it flourish and keep its greatness,

And give a share to all in—paying taxes.

Cicadas whine each year a month or two

While sitting in the trees. But Athenians

Sit in the courts and whine throughout their lives!

Now that’s the reason why we’re on the road,

And why we’ve brought this basket, pot, and wreaths

To roam in search of a land that’s free from trouble:

That’s where we’d like to settle ourselves for good.”

Addressing the audience, Euelpides explains why he and Peisetairos want to leave Athens, tracing their discontent not to any specific political, social, or ideological issue (as routinely lampooned in Aristophanes’s other plays) but to the general drudgery of city life. By the end of the play, though, Peisetairos will reproduce much of what he sought to escape in Athens in his city of the birds.

“You used to be a man—just like us two.

And owed the city money—just like us two.

And liked not paying your debts—just like us two.

But then you changed your nature for a bird’s,

And flew across the land and over the sea.

Your mind contains the thoughts of man and bird.

That’s why we’ve come as suppliants to your door,

To ask if you know a city that’s warm and woolly—

A place to curl up in, like a big soft blanket.”

Having once been a human being, the Hoopoe occupies a strategic position, as he has experienced the world as a bird as well as a man. The Hoopoe’s hybrid nature introduces The Relationship Between Humanity and Animals that will become important throughout the play. In this passage, Peisetairos and Euelpides hope the Hoopoe will be able to point them toward the kind of carefree land they seek. At first glance, it will seem that the home of the birds is just such a “warm and woolly” land until Peisetairos turns the city of the birds into a parody of the human society that he and Euelpides claimed they were escaping.