Dialogi mortuorum

Nireus Here we are; Menippus shall award the palm of beauty, Menippus, am I not better-looking than he?

Menippus Well, who are you? I must know that first, mustn’t I?

Nireus Nireus and Thersites.

Menippus Which is which? I cannot tell that yet.

Thersites One to me; I am like you; you have no such superiority as Homer (blind, by the way) gave you when he called you the handsomest of men; he might peak my head and thin my hair, our judge finds me none the worse. Now, Menippus, make up your mind which is handsomer.

Nireus I, of course, I, the son of Aglaia and Charopus,

Menippus But not comeliest of all that come ’neath the earth, as far as I know. Your bones are much like other people’s; and the only difference between your two skulls is that yours would not take much to stove it in. It is a tender article, something short of masculine,

Nireus Ask Homer what I was, when I sailed with the Achaeans.

Menippus Dreams, dreams, I am looking at what you are; what you were is ancient history.

Nireus Am I not handsomer here, Menippus?

Menippus You are not handsome at all, nor any one else either. Hades is a democracy; one man is as good as another here.

Thersites And a very tolerable arrangement too, if you ask me.

Menippus I have heard that you were a god, Chiron, and that you died of your own choice?

Chiron You were rightly informed. I am dead, as you see, and might have been immortal.

Menippus And what should possess you, to be in love with Death? He has no charm for most people.

Chiron You are a sensible fellow; I will tell you. There was no further satisfaction to be had from immortality.

Menippus Was it not a pleasure merely to live and see the light?

Chiron No; it is variety, as I take it, and not monotony, that constitutes pleasure. Living on and on, everything always the same; sun, light, food, spring, summer, autumn, winter, one thing following another in unending sequence,—I sickened of it all. I found that enjoyment lay not in continual possession; that deprivation had its share therein.

Menippus Very true, Chiron. And how have you got on since you made Hades your home?

Chiron Not unpleasantly. I like the truly republican equality that prevails; and as to whether one is in light or darkness, that makes no difference at all, Then again there is no hunger or thirst here; one is independent of such things.

Menippus Take care, Chiron! You may be caught in the snare of your own reasonings.

Chiron How should that be?

Menippus Why, if the monotony of the other world brought on satiety, the monotony here may do the same. You will have to look about for a further change, and I fancy there is no third life procurable.

Chiron Then what is to be done, Menippus?

Menippus Take things as you find them, I suppose, like a sensible fellow, and make the best of everything.