The Dark Ages Collection. David Hume

have a son who is a murderer. It is the twenty-sixth murder that has been committed in the Zeugma;202 the victim was a spectator in the morning, in the afternoon, O lord of all! he was butchered. Blues. Yourselves are the only party in the hippodrome that has murderers among their number. Greens. When ye commit murder ye leave the city in flight. Blues. Ye shed blood, and debate. Ye are the only party here with murderers among them. Greens. O lord Justinian! they challenge us and yet no one slays them. Truth will compel assent.203 Who slew the woodseller in the Zeugma, O Emperor? Mandator. Ye slew him. Greens. Who slew the son of Epagathus, Emperor? Mandator. Ye slew him too, and ye slander the Blues. Greens. Now have pity, O Lord God! The truth is suppressed. I should like to argue with them who say that affairs are managed by God. Whence comes this misery? Mandator. God cannot be tempted with evil.

      Greens. God, you say, cannot be tempted with evil? Who is it then who wrongs me? Let some philosopher or hermit explain the distinction. Mandator. Accursed blasphemers, when will ye hold your peace? Greens. If it is the pleasure of your Majesty, I hold my peace, albeit unwillingly. I know all — all, but I say nothing. Good-bye, Justice! you are no longer in fashion. I shall turn and become a Jew. Better to be a “Greek” (pagan) than a Blue, God knows. Blues. You are detestable, I cannot abide the sight of you. Your enmity dismays me. Greens. Let the bones of the spectators be exhumed.204 The language of this astonishing dialogue obeys metrical laws, which concern not quantity but the number of the syllables and the accentuation of the last word in each clause. The most frequently occurring form is five syllables with the penultimate accented + four with the antepenultimate (or ultimate?) accented, e.g.: οὐδὲ τὸ παλάτιν τρισαύγουστε.

      It is evident that to converse in metrical chant both the Imperial mandator and the spokesmen of the demes must have had a special training in the art of improvising.205