A CON

K EPOS ! what brings thee from the market-place?

K EPOS

What drove me from it, rather ask.

A CON

Well, what?

K EPOS

There was a scramble round about my stall,
And two unlucky boys were fighting hard
Which of them should sweep off the fruit; at last
They overturn'd the board: 'twas time to run.

A CON

And were the people then indifferent?

K EPOS

At first they were not; presently they laught
To see a split pomegranate's slippery fruit
Drop from the fingers of the foremost two,
With nothing left between them but hard rind
And deeply-dyed and ever-during stain.

A CON

Children of Hellas! learn your lesson here,
Nor touch pomegranate in the market-place.