That is a different matter, Hermes; I do not go
on my own feet then, and it is not Zeus but Pluto
who sends me; for he, too, is a bestower of riches
and a generous giver, as his name implies. When I
am to go from one man to another, they put me in
wax tablets, seal me up carefully, take me up and
carry me away. The dead man is laid out in a dark
corner of the house with an old sheet over his knees,
to be fought for by the weasels, while those who
have expectations regarding me wait for me in the
public square with their mouths open, just as the
When the seal is removed, the thread cut, and the
tablets opened, they announce the naine of my new
master, cither a relative or a toady or a lewd slave
held in high esteem since the days of his wanton
youth, with his chin still shaven clean, who in this
way gets a generous recompense, deserving fellow
that he is, for many and various favours which he did
his master long after he had earned a discharge.
Whoever he may be, he snatches me up, tablets and
all, and runs off with me, changing his name from
Pyrrhias or Dromo or Tibius to Megacles or
Megabyzus or Protarchus, while those others who
opened their mouths in vain are left looking at one
another and mourning in earnest because such a
fine fish has made his escape from the inmost
pocket of their net after swallowing quantities of
bait.