'O you who on every occasion] and in all cases of bribery settle on flowers, may you vomit [the bribe] out as readily as you found it.[1] For only then would I sing "Drink, drink at [these] happy events"; and I think that the son of Ioulios, an aged corn-ogler, would be delighted and cry "io Paian" and sing "Bacchos, Bacchos".' Aristophanes [sc. writes this]; the speech [is directed] against Kleon. "O [you who are] approved for every treachery and wickedness". He uttered the entire concept figuratively, from bees; just as bees, he is saying, [do] everything. Hence you [Kleon] found it easy and facile, as you had not even expected to gain such a reputation; for it seemed that [you were] doing well after the success at Pylos;[2] and thus you are throwing [this reputation] away. "And then would I sing" the [verse] of Simonides, "Drink, drink at these [happy] events." "An aged corn-ogler": this elderly man was being slandered as a pederast; alternatively [it is said] of someone guarding the grain in the Prytaneion.[3] "To sing Bacchos, Bacchos" means to praise Dionysos; Dionysos [is] Bacchos.[4]