Dialogi mortuorum

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?