Wht are you laughing at, Charon, and why have you left your ferry and come up here to our part of the world? You are not at all in the habit of concerning yourself with affairs up above.
I wanted to see what it is like in life, Hermes, what men do in it, and what they lose that makes them all grieve when they come down to us; for none of them has ever made the crossing without a tear. So, like the young Thessalian (Protesilaus), I obtained shore leave from Hades for a single day and came up to the sunlight, and I fancy that I have been lucky to meet you, for you will surely go about with me and guide me, and will show me everything, knowing all about it as you do.
I haven't time, ferryman; I am on my way to
carry out a little commission among men for Zeus in
Heaven.
Then will you let me wander aimlessly above ground, you who are a comrade and a shipmate and a fellow guide of souls? Come now, son of Maea, you would do well to remember this at least, that I have never ordered you to bale or take an oar. On the contrary, you stretch yourself out on deck and snore, in spite of those broad shoulders of yours, or if you find a talkative dead man, you chat with him throughout the trip, while I, old as I am, row both oars of my boat alone. Come, in your father’s name, Hermie dear, don’t leave me stranded; be my guide to everything in life, so that I may feel I have seen something when I go back. If you leave me, I shall be no better off than the blind, for they stumble and reel about in the darkness, while I, to the contrary, am dazed in the light. Be good to me, Cyllenian, and I shall remember your kindness forever.
This business will stand me in a thrashing ; at any rate I see even now that my pay for playing guide will certainly include plenty of fisticufls. But I must comply all the same, for what can a man do when a friend insists ?
For you to see everything minutely in detail is impossible, ferryman, since it would busy us for many
years. In that event Zeus would be obliged to have
me advertized by the crier, like a runaway slave, and
you yourself would be prevented from doing the
You must determine what is best, Hermes; I know nothing at all about things above ground, being a stranger.
In a word, Charon, we want a high place of some sort, from which you can look down upon everything. If it were possible for you to go up into Heaven, we should be in no difficulty, for you could see everything plainly from on high. But as it is not permissible for one who consorts always with shades to set foot in the palace of Zeus, we must look about for a high mountain.
You know, Hermes, what I am in the habit of telling you and the others when we are on the water. When we are close-hauled and the wind in a sudden squall strikes the sail and the waves rise high, then you all in your ignorance tell me to take the sail in or slack the sheet off a bit or run before the wind ; but I urge you to keep quiet, saying that I myself know what is best. Just so in this case; you must do whatever you think is right, for you are skipper now, and I will sit in silence, as a passenger should, and obey your orders in everything.
Quite right; I will see what is to be done, and
Give your orders ; I will help as much as I can,
The poet Homer says that the sons of Alocus, who,
like ourselves, were two in number, took a faney
once upon a time while they were still mere children
to pluck Ossa from its base and set it on Olympus,
and then to set Pelion on top of it, thinking that
this would give them a suitable ladder with which
to scale Heaven.
Shall we be able to lift Pelion or Ossa and heave it up, Hermes, when there are only two of us ?
Why not, Charon? Surely you don’t consider us weaker than that pair of infants? Moreover, we are gods.
No, but the thing seems to me to involve an
incredible deal of work,
Yes, I have heard that; but whether it is true or not, Hermes, you and the poets only know!
True as can be, Charon. Why should wise men
lie? So let us uproot Ossa first, according to
the directions of the poem and the master-builder,
Homer ;