And we, Charon, were condemning Hermes for neglecting his duty, indeed !
Well, why do we keep dilly-dallying as though we had not had delay enough already.
Right ; let them get aboard. I will hold the book
and sit by the gangway as usual, and as each of them
Here you are, ferryman, three hundred of them, including those that were abandoned.
I say, what a rich haul! It’s green-grape dead you have brought us.
Clotho, do you want us to get the unmourned aboard next ?
You mean the old people? Yes, for why should I
bother now to investigate what happened before the
food?
Here you are again, three hundred and _ninetyeight, all tender and ripe and harvested in season.
Good Lord, yes! They’re all raisins now !
Bring in the wounded next, Hermes. (To the
DEAD) First tell me what deaths brought you
Here they are!
Seven committed suicide for love, among them the
philosopher Theagenes for the courtesan from
Megara.
Where are the men who killed each other fighting for the throne?
Here they stand.
And the man who was murdered by his wife and her lover ?
There beside you.
Now bring in the output of the courts, I mean
those who died by the scourge and the cross. And
where are the sixteen who were killed by pirates,
Hermes ?
By all means, and also those lost at sea, for they died in the same way. And those who died of the fever, bring them in together, too, and their doctor Agathocles along with them.
Where is the philosopher Cyniscus, who was to die from eating the
dinner of Hecate and the lustral eggs and a raw
squid besides ?
I left you behind to observe and prescribe for the sins of man. But get aboard, and good luck to you. :
No, by Heaven, not till we have put this man in
fetters aboard. I am afraid he may come it over you
with his entreaties.
Come, let’s see who he is.
Megapenthes,
Aboard with you !
Oh no, good lady Clotho! Do let me go back to earth for a little while. Then [ll come of my own accord, you will find, without being summoned by anyone.
Why is it that you want to go back ?
Let me finish my house first, for the building has been left half-done.
Nonsense! Come, get aboard.
It’s not much time that I ask for, Lady of Destiny ; let me stay just this one day, till I can give my wife directions about my money—the place where I kept my great treasure buried.
It is settled ; you can’t be permitted.
Then is all that gold to be lost?
No, it will not be lost. Be easy on that score
your cousin Megacles will get it.
The very man ; and he will outlive you forty years and a little more, taking over your concubines and your clothing and all your plate.
You are unjust, Clotho, to bestow my property on my worst enemies.
Why, did not it formerly belong to Cydimachus, and did not you take it over after killing him and slaughtering his children upon him while the breath was still in his body ?
But it was mine now.
Well, the term of your ownership has now expired.
Listen, Clotho, to something that I have to say to you in private, with nobody else listening. (Yo the others.) You people stand aside a moment. (Yo ctoruo) If you let me run away, I promise to give you a thousand talents of coined gold to-day.
What, you ridiculous creature, have you gold and talents still on the brain ?
And I'll give you also, if you wish, the two winebowls that I got when I put Cleocritus to death ;
they are of refined gold and weigh a hundred talents
each.
I call you all to witness, the town wall and the docks remain unfinished. I could have finished them if I had lived only five days longer.
Never mind ; someone else will build the wall.
But this request at all events is reasonable.
What request ?
To live only long enough to subdue the Pisidians and subject the Lydians to tribute, and to build myself a huge mausoleum and inscribe on it all the great military exploits of my life.
Why, man, you are no longer asking for this one day, but for a stay of nearly twenty years !
But I tell you I am ready to give bail for my speedy return. If you wish, I’ll even surrender you my beloved as a substitute for myself.
Vile wretch! Have not you often prayed that he night outlast you on earth?
That was long ago, but now I perceive whawi is for
the best.
Well, at all events don't refuse me this, Lady of Destiny. ,
What ?
I want to know how things will turn out after my death.
Listen, for it will vex you all the more to know. Midas, your slave, will have your wife ; indeed, he has been her lover a long time.
Curse him, I set him free at her request !
Your daughter will be enrolled among the concubines of the present tyrant, and the busts and statues which the city long ago set up in your honour will all be pulled down and will make everyone who looks at them laugh.
Tell meé, will none of my friends get angry at these doings ?
Why, what friend did you have, and how did you
make him? Don’t you know that all those who
bowed the knee and praised your every word and
deed did so either from hope or from fear, being
But as they poured their libations at our drinking parties they used to pray at the top of their voices that many blessings might descend upon me, saying every one of them that he was ready to die for me if so might be ; in a word, they swore by me.
Consequently, you died after dining with one of them yesterday : it was that last drink he gave you that sent you down here.
Then that is why I noticed a bitter taste. But what was his object in doing it?
You are asking me many questions when you ought to get aboard.
There is one thing that sticks in my throat above all, Clotho, and on account of it I longed to slip back again to the light of day, if only for a moment.
What is that? It must be something tremendous.
As soon as Cario, my valet, saw that I was dead,
toward evening he came into the room where I lay,
having nothing to do, for nobody was doing anything,
not even guarding me, and brought in my mistress
Glycerium; they had been on good terms a long time,