that it was necessary and unavoidable, he began to show himself courageous, as though, forsooth, ready to suffer not unwillingly what he was bound certainly to undergo, so that the spectators might admire his conduct. And, in short, about all such persons I could tell you, up to the entrance they show daring and manliness; but what happens within is a clear proof of their fear.

Menippus. And I, what did you think of my coming below? Kerberus. You alone, Menippus, and Diogenes before you,' made the descent in a manner worthy of your species; because you entered without being compelled, or pushed in, but of your free will, laughing, after having bidden all the world to go to the devil.

XXII.

CHARON DEMANDS FROM MENIPPUS HIS ACCUSTOMED FEE. UPON THE ABSOLUTE REFUSAL OF THE CYNIC TO PAY, A LIVELY

ALTERCATION ENSUES.

Charon and Menippus.

Charon. Pay me, damned rascal, my passage-fee. Menippus. Bellow, if that is more agreeable to you than anything else, Charon.

Charon. Pay me, I say, for my having ferried you across. Menippus. You will not get anything from a fellow who has nothing.

Charon. And is there any man in the world who has not a couple of pence? 2

2

See

1 The manner of the death of Diogenes is variously related. Diog. Laert. Lucian in his Iloάoig Biwv makes him kill himself by swallowing an uncooked polypus. Cf. Plutarch, Пepi The apkopayias. He is, however, usually represented as having died of old age (at ninety) at Korinth, the year of the death of Alexander of Macedon.

· Οβολον. See Περὶ Πένθους, ii. (the principal authority on the subject); Aristoph. Barp. 140; Diodorus, ii. 5; Juvenal, Sat. iii. 267 :"Infelix, nec habet quem porrigat ore trientem."

Also Staekelberg's Die Gräber der Hellenen. Apuleius (De Aureo Asino), on the descent of Psyche to the Infernal Regions, refers to this practice :— "in ipso ore duas ferre stipes, quarum alteram primam transvectionem, reditum altera mercetur," for (as we are told) et inter mortuos Avaritia vivit.

Menippus. If there is anyone else who hasn't got them I don't know; but I have not got them.

Charon. By Pluto, I will certainly throttle you, villain, if you don't pay up (taking him by the throat).

Menippus. And I will beat and break your skull to pieces with my staff.

Charon. Then you will have made your so long voyage in vain.'

Menippus. Let Hermes, who handed me over to you, pay you for me.

Hermes. Much profit should I get, faith, if I am going to pay for the dead, too!

Charon. I shall not let go of you (tightening his grasp). Menippus. Then haul your craft on shore, and stop till you get it. But, however, how can you receive what I have not got?

2

Charon. But did you not know it is absolutely necessary to provide oneself with it?

Menippus. I knew well enough: but I had not got it. What then? Ought I not to be dead on that account? Charon. Are you then to be the only one to boast of having made the passage gratis?

Menippus. Not gratis, my fine Sir! For indeed I baled out the bilge-water, and lent a hand at the oar, and was the only one of all the passengers not to weep.

Charon. That's nothing to do with the ferryman. You must pay your twopence. It's not lawful and right for it to be otherwise.

Menippus. Then take me back to life again.

Charon. A pretty idea to get blows for my pains from Eakus, into the bargain!

Menippus. Don't bother me, then.

Charon. Show us what you have got in your wallet. Menippus. Lupines-if you want them-and Hekate's supper.

"The meaning is: You will in vain have made so long a voyage, for if you do not give me the obolos, you will have to return to the upper world."-Jacobitz.

The vauλov or "fee."

See N. A. i. The Lupine (a species of flowering pulse) was the common and staple food of the disciples of Antisthenes. See Diog.

Charon. From where in the world did you bring us this dog, Hermes? And what language he used during the passage-laughing and jeering at all the whole lot of passengers, and, while the rest were groaning and lamenting, the only one to give us a song!

Hermes. Don't you know, Charon, what personage it is you have brought over-a free man and no mistake; he cares for nobody. He is the famous Menippus everyone knows.

Charon. All the same, should I ever catch you (shaking his fist)

Menippus. Should you catch me, my fine Sir: but you don't catch me twice (making off).

XXIII.

PROTESILAUS, AN ACHEAN HERO, WHO HAD FALLEN BEFORE ILIUM, SUPPLICATES PLUTO TO PERMIT HIM TO RETURN TO LIFE, FOR A DAY, TO VISIT HIS WIFE LAODAMEIA, AND ADDUCES AS PRECEDENTS THE EXAMPLES OF ORPHEUS AND ALKESTIS. AT THE INTERCESSION OF PERSEPHONE, PLUTO AT LENGTH GRANTS THE FAVOUR.

Protesilaus, Pluto, and Persephone.

Protesilaus. O Lord, and King, and our God here below, and you, daughter of Demeter, do not contemn a lover's prayer.

Pluto. And you—what do you want from us, or who may you be?

Protesilaus. I am Protesilaus, the son of Iphiklus, of Phylake, who fought with the Achæans, and was the first of the army against Ilium to die, and my supplication is that I may have leave of absence for a short time, and return to life again.

Pluto. That's a sort of love, Protesilaus, all dead people indulge in but not one of them will ever succeed in it.

:

Laert. With the poets of the New Comedy it was a fertile subject for ridicule, as displayed in Athenæus.

See N. A. xix.

Protesilaus. But it's not life, Aïdoneus,' I am in love with, but my wife, whom I left behind still a young bride in the bridal chamber, and went off on the voyage: for, ill-fated wretch, I died by the hands of Hektor, at the disembarkation. Love for my wife, accordingly, wears me away immeasurably, my Lord, and I am ready, after having appeared to her, if only for a brief time, to come down again.

2

Pluto. Did you not drink the water of Lethe, Protesilaus? Protesilaus. Yes, indeed, my Lord: but the matter was beyond all bounds.

Pluto. Then just wait for her; for she, too, will arrive at some time or other, and there will be no need for you to go up above.

Protesilaus. But I can't endure the delay, Pluto. You've been in love yourself, before now, and you know what a thing love is.

Pluto. Besides, what good will it do you to live again for one day, when you will have to experience the same griefs shortly afterwards?

Protesilaus. I think I shall persuade her, too, to follow me to you, so that, in a little while, in place of one you will receive two dead people.

Pluto. It is not lawful and right that this should be, nor has it ever been so.

Protesilaus. I will refresh your memory, Pluto. Why, on this very same plea you delivered up Eurydike to Orpheus, and you sent off my kinswoman Alkestis to gratify Herakles.

Pluto. But would you wish thus, with your bare and ugly skull, to appear to that beautiful bride of yours? and how, too, will she admit you to her, when she is not able even to distinguish you? Why, she will be frightened, I am well

A paragogic form of Aides or Hades.

2 In the Iliad (ii. 695) his slayer is anonymous. Lucian here follows Ovid (Metam. xii. 67) or some other authority.

3 With Persephone, in particular, who:

"Gathering flowers,

Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis
Was gathered."

assured, and will flee from you, and you will have made your long journey to the upper world to no purpose.

Persephone. Do you all the same, my husband, set that right, and direct Hermes, as soon as ever Protesilaus is in daylight, to touch him with his caduceus,' and make him a handsome youth again, such as he was when he came out from the nuptial chamber.

Pluto (to Hermes). Since it's Persephone's pleasure, conduct this man to the upper regions, and just make him a bridegroom again.—(To Protesilaus.) And do you remember you have got only one day.

XXIV.

IDOGENES DEMANDS OF MAUSOLUS, THE KARIAN SATRAP, THE REASON OF HIS ARROGANCE AND PRIDE, AND RIDICULES THE VANITY OF HIS GRANDEUR AND POWER ON EARTH, AND, IN PARTICULAR, THE USELESSNESS TO HIM OF HIS MAGNIFICENT TOMB AT HALIKARNASSUS. HE CONCLUDES HIS DIATRIBE WITH CONTRASTING HIS OWN COMPLETE IGNORANCE AND INDIFFERENCE IN REGARD EVEN TO THE MANNER, OR PLACE, OF HIS OWN SEPULTURE.

Diogenes and Mausolus.2

Diogenes. For what reason are you so high and mighty, and claim to have precedence of us all in honour, Karian? Mausolus. Indeed, by reason of my kingdom, O Sinopian-seeing I was king of all Karia, and ruled over some

1 For the magic property of the paẞcoç, see 0. A. vii.

2 Mausolus was Satrap of Karia, on the S.W. of the Lesser Asia, under the Persian monarch Artaxerxes the Second, or Mnemon (as he was called by the Greeks). With other Satraps he revolted, and estab lished himself as an independent prince-377-353 B.C. At his death, his sister and wife Artemisia, who succeeded him. built the splendid monument which has given its name to succeeding edifices of the kind— none of which in the Western world have any title to rivalry with it. For a description, see Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. 36. More justly than were most of the others, it was reckoned among the "seven wonders." In modern times, however, in the Eastern world the tomb of Marsolus has been surpassed by that paragon of architectural beauty, the Taj Mahal at Agra.