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Rhadamanthys (to the new witnesses). Tell us, pray, what you are privy to about this Megapenthes. And do you, Couch, speak first.

Couch. All the accusations of Kyniskus are true. I, however, my lord, blush to speak of these things: such were the deeds which he was accustomed to perpetrate upon

me.

Rhadamanthys. You certainly give your evidence against him most plainly, seeing you cannot endure even to mention the particulars.-And you, Lamp, now let us have your evidence.

Lamp. I do not know what happened by day, for I was not present and as to his acts and experiences by night, I shrink from speaking of them. But I saw many indescribable things, and that surpassed all conceivable unnatural debauchery; although I would willingly often have not drunk in the oil, and I longed to be extinguished. But he even would bring me up close to the very scene of his acts, and would pollute my light in every possible way.

Rhadamanthys. We have now had enough of witnesses. (To the officers of the Court) Well, now, strip off this purple dress, that we may count the number of his brandings. -Ha! The fellow here is livid all over, and everywhere marked;1 or, rather, he is black and blue from them. In what way should he be punished? Is he to be thrown into the flames of Pyriphlegethon, or to be given up to Kerberus ?

Kyniskus. Not so. But, if you will permit me, I will suggest to you a new and befitting kind of punishment for

him.

Rhadamanthys. Speak, for I shall acknowledge my extreme indebtedness to you for so doing.

Kyniskus. It is a custom, I believe, for all who die to drink the water of Lethe.

Rhadamanthys. Certainly.

Kyniskus. Then let this man be the exception, and not drink.

Rhadamanthys. Why, pray?

1 Karáуpapos. Borrowed from Plato by Lucian, from Lucian by Julian (Kaioapes)-Bourdelotius.

Kyniskus. In that way he will undergo a punishment hard to bear, recollecting, as he will, what he was, and how great was his power in the upper world, and pondering over his lost delights.1

Rhadamanthys. You are right. Let him be sentenced accordingly, and let him be dragged away and put in chains by the side of Tantalus, and let him retain memory of all his deeds committed in his lifetime.

1 So Dante :

"Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria."

Inferno, v.

MENIPPUS: OR, THE ORACLE OF

THE DEAD.1

[MENIPPUS, the Cynic philosopher, just returned from a visit of inquiry to Hades, meets his friend Philonides, who earnestly begs him to reveal the reasons, and the experiences, of his interesting journey. Thus adjured, with some display of reluctance, Menippus, after having been assured by his friend that human life has not at all improved during his absence, professes that he had been impelled to take so hazardous a journey by an ardent desire to learn the truths of philosophy and life-vainly sought alike in the popular Theology and in the schools of the Philosophers, or Sophists, who were all at variance one with the other, and contradicted themselves; while they failed to practise their own teaching.

Thus forced to trust to his own resources, after much mental inquietude, he determines to go to Babylon, a

1 Μένιππος ἤ Νεκυομαντεία. This Lucianic Dialogue (for its genuineness is doubtful, as shewn, among modern critics, by Wieland and Lehmann) borrows its alternative title from the Eleventh Book of the Odyssey, of which it is, in great part, a parody. It is a sort of epitome of the Dialogues of the Dead and other writings of the great master, which satirize the popular theology respecting the Under-World, and is of high interest as a résumé of this province of Hellenic superstition.

Rabelais (who is indebted, especially, to the True History) borrows one of his most instructive scenes from this Dialogue. In the battle with the Dipsodes, on behalf of the Amaurotes (the "shadowy" or "fleeting" people, a name suggested to Rabelais by the Utopia of More, himself indebted to Lucian), Pantagruel's companion, Epistemon-who loses his head, but afterwards recovers it through the skilful surgery of Panurge -upon returning from his temporary sojourn in Hades, reports the altogether reversed conditions of some of the heroes of antiquity and of later times. (Gargantua and Pantagruel, ii.) The Spanish satirist, Quevedo, also, has obligations to the Menippus, in his Sueños.

principal seat of the Magi and the Mystics, and by their occult science obtain admission to the Under-World, and, like his prototype, Odysseus, consult the soul of the Theban prophet Teiresias. Arrived at Babylon, Menippus introduces himself to one of these Magi, named Mithrobarzanes, and, with considerable difficulty, obtains from him promise of assistance. Under the tuition of the Magus, he enters upon a course of purificatory and mystic rites, and a strict dietetic regimen, until he is properly prepared for the dreadful descent. Embarking on the Euphrates, they sail to a certain secluded place, where they leave their boat, and begin the prescribed infernal rites and sacrifices-still faithfully following the authority of the poet of the Odyssey -invoking Hekate, the Erinyes (or Furies), and all the dæmons. The Earth opens, and the various infernal sights are revealed. Descending, with much difficulty, the travellers secure places on board Charon's boat, already overladen with dead men, who, for the most part, had received their quietus in battle. The lion's skin, and mane of Herakles, with which the Cynic had provided himself, secure for them places on board, and a courteous reception from the Ferryman of the Styx. Disembarking, with the Magus for guide, Menippus makes his way, through "squealing" ghosts, to the tribunal of Minos. There they see the various punishments for crime and injustice administered, and a novel sort of witnesses in the shadows of the accused. Among those most severely punished appear the arrogant Rich; and Menippus does not lose his opportunity for the exercise of his satirical faculty. Leaving the judgmentseat of Minos, they proceed to the scenes of punishment, and view the various instruments and infliction of torture.

In the Acherusian plains, they verify the accounts of the poet of the Odyssey, as to the ȧμέvηva kapýva, and other particulars. The iooriuía is found to be complete and indubitable. Thersites and Nireus, Irus and Alkinous, have nothing whatever to distinguish them one from the other. Under the influence of this spectacle, Menippus compares human life to a gigantic public Procession, and to the Stage, where the several constituents play their diverse parts, for a short time, liable to extremest vicissitudes of fortune. Mausolus, and other vain-glorious princes, with

their "lying trophies" and inscriptions, in particular, fall under the Cynic's satire; and the Earthly kings and potentates who, in the Under-World, cut so abject and inglorious a figure. As for Sokrates and Diogenes, they still pursue their peculiar and favourite occupations. At this point of his narrative, Menippus is reminded that he has omitted to quote the solemn Decree against the Plutocrats, passed by the Popular Assembly of Hades (to which he had referred at the beginning of his report), the purport of which is the apportionment of a severe retribution.

At the point of going back to the Upper-World, Menippus approaches Teiresias, and begs him to reveal the secret, which was the object of his descent. This the prophet's ghost does with laconic brevity. The philosophers then return, by a short cut, to Earth, near to the Cave of Trophonius.]

Menippus

Menippus and Philonides.

"Domestic hearth, ancestral palace, hail!
To light restored, I gladly you salute."1

Philonides (seeing the Cynic at a distance). Is not this Menippus the Dog? Surely it is no other, unless my eyes see wrong (rubbing his eyes). Menippus every inch of him! But what means his strangeness of dress-felt hat, and lyre, and lion's skin? However, I must go up to him. Good-day, Menippus! And where do you hail from ? Why, you have not shown yourself in the city 2 this long while. Menippus

"I come, th' infernal vault, and Hades' gates
Deserted, where, apart, dark Pluto broods."

Philonides. Herakles! Menippus dead without our knowing it. And so he has come back to life again?

1

3

Ὦ χαῖρε, μέλαθρον, πρόπυλα θ' ἑστίας, ἐμῆς·

Ως ἄσμενος σ' ἐσεῖδον ἐς φάος μολών.

Eurip. Ηρακ. Μαιν. 523.

2 Athens, which, like Rome, was known, par excellence, as “the city.”
Ηκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα, καὶ σκότου πύλας
Λιπών, ἵν ̓ “Αιδης χωρὶς ᾤκισται θεῶν.
Eurip. 'Exaßn. i.

The opening address of the ghost of Polydorus, the son of Hekabe and
Priam, who had been murdered by his Thracian host.

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