THE FERRY-BOAT: OR, THE TYRANT.'

[Charon, ready to set sail, awaits impatiently the appearance of Hermes, who is behind time with his accustomed batch of ghosts; and gives vent to his vexation in complaints to Klotho, his colleague. Presently, the Conductor of the Dead is seen approaching, heated and out of breath, driving the ghosts before him. He accounts for his delay by narrating the attempt to escape of one of his convoy, the tyrant Megapenthes, and the difficulty of the re-capture, which was effected only by the timely assistance of the cynic Kyniskus (a fellow-ghost); and the fugitive tyrant now appears on the scene securely fettered.

Before setting sail for Hades, Klotho receives from Hermes, and enters on his way-bill, the names, nationality, and manner of death of the various passengers. The cynic philosopher complains that she has unfairly neglected him; and declares that he had long been intending to anticipate her decree. In contrast to the disciple of Antisthenes, the tyrant begs long and vehemently for respite, however brief, on various pretences, all of which are sternly rejected by the Fate. In the end, he is forcibly carried on board by Hermes and Charon, aided by the Cynic, and bound to the mast. At this stage, the cobbler, Mykillus, comes forward to expostulate with Klotho yet more strongly at her long neglect of him, and, to her expressions of astonishment at his eagerness to embark, he replies by narrating,

1 Karánλovs Tupávvoç. Strictly, "The Putting-in, or Arrival of the Ferry-Boat," etc. For the sake of brevity, the usual title has been adopted here. The opening scene, it is highly probable, was suggested to Lucian by some graphic picture.

at considerable length, his reasons for not shunning Charon's boat; and, at the same time, confesses his previous illusions in regard to the imagined happiness of the despot, Megapenthes.

Klotho now gives orders for weighing anchor; when the cobbler, finding that he was to be left behind until the next day, owing to the crowded state of the boat, struggles hard to get on board, and, failing in the attempt, jumps into the Styx, to get across by swimming. He is, then, perforce, taken into the boat-a place being found for him on the shoulders of the tyrant-which proceeds on its voyage: while Kyniskus, like the cobbler afterwards on landing, declares his inability to pay the small coin required as the fare, and earns his passage by taking an oar.

The tedium of the rest of the voyage he relieves by giving the "time" to his fellow-rowers, to the tune of some popular sea-song, and in jeering at the lamentations of the rich passengers, in which amusement he is joined by the cobbler. Upon landing, the cynic and cobbler join company, and proceed arm in arm towards the tribunal of Rhadamanthys. The Infernal Judge orders that the various dead men be brought before him. The cynic at once demands to be heard against the tyrant; and, after previous satisfactory examination of himself, which results. in his receiving a passport for the Elysian Fields, he charges Megapenthes with his foul deeds of cruelty and of debauchery. That royal criminal is found to be covered with the stigmata -the brand-mark, of his crimes and vices; and, to establish the accusations of his principal accuser, the tyrant's own lamp and bed are brought forward as witnesses. At the suggestion of his accuser, Megapenthes, in place of being consigned to the flames of Pyriphlegethon, is prohibited from drinking of the waters of Lethe; and his punishment in Tartarus consists in an ever-present recollection of his evil deeds. In accordance with the terms of his sentence, he is now dragged away by the Erinyes, and chained by the side of another royal criminal, Tantalus; who, as a comparatively innocent offender, had some reason to complain of this unexpected addition to his torture.]

Charon, Klotho, Hermes, Megapenthes (a newly-deceased king), Kyniskus (a Cynic philosopher), Mykillus (a Cobbler), Rhadamanthys, Tisiphone, and a number of Dead Men.

Charon (fretfully). Well, Klotho, this little craft of ours long ago has been ready and excellently equipped for putting to sea for the bilge-water has been all baled out, the mast has been hoisted, the sail spread, every one of the oars supplied with its thong, and as far as I am concerned, nothing prevents our hauling our little anchor aboard, and proceeding on our voyage. But that Hermes is behind his time, whereas he ought to have been here long since. Our ferry-boat, therefore, as you see, has not a single passenger on board, though it might have made the passage three times to-day already. And it's close upon evening;1 and we have not yet turned over even a penny. And So, I know very well Pluto will suspect me of laziness in the business; and that, though the blame lies with another. Our fine honourable gentleman undertaker, like any mortal, has himself drunk of the waters of Lethe, up yonder, and has quite forgotten to return to us; and, either he is wrestling with his young men in the Palæstra, or playing his lyre, or reciting some oration, and showing off his own silly nonsense. Or, maybe, perhaps, the excellent gentleman is practising his light-fingered art, and outwitting some one-for that, too, is one of his accomplishments." And so he takes his liberties with us, and that, while he half belongs to our establishment.

3

Klotho. But what would you have? How do you know,

66

1 Exedòv aμpi Bovλuróv. Lit. "close upon ox-loosing time." See 'IX. xvi. 779; '08. ix. 58. (according to Eustathius, in loco, Bovλuróvde denotes ή μεσημβρία ἢ ὀλίγον τὶ μετὰ μεσημβρίαν, " about noon,” when they unyoked the oxen to avoid the midday heats); Aristoph. 'Opvíles, 1500. Cf. Virg. Ec. ii.; Hor. Car. iii. 6.

2 *σTEρ Tis alλos (Jacobitz), following the principal MSS. Lehmann adopts the reading of the Scholiast, εTEρ Tiç alλoç, "if any one else."

The waters of the upper Lethe" is Charon's euphemism for the juice of the grape. See Lucian's Iɛpi Пév0ovç, 25; Aristoph. Barp. 106 (where Xanthias terms the infernal stream rò Anons Tεdiov). The idea of the river of Lethe is later than the theology of Homer and Hesiod. 4 See . A. vii.

Charon, whether some pressing business has not been imposed on him, from Zeus wanting to use his services after time, for some commission above? He, too, is his lord and master, you know.

2

Charon. But not, Klotho, to make despotic use beyond all fairness of a common possession; for, we never have detained him when he had to be off. But I know the reason. We have only asphodel,' and libations, and cakes, and the offerings to the dead; and all the rest gloom, and mist, and darkness: while in heaven all is bright, and they have large supplies of ambrosia, and abundance of nectar. So I fancy it is pleasanter to linger with them : indeed, he takes wing from us to the upper regions, just as if he were escaping from some prison. But when it is time for him to come down to us, leisurely, and with slow enough steps, and painfully he makes the descent at last.

:

Klotho. Don't give way to your temper, Charon, any longer for here is the very person himself hard by, as you see, bringing us a number of individuals; or rather scaring them along en masse with his rod, for all the world like a herd of goats. But what's this? I see one of them handcuffed, and another grinning, and one individual with a wallet suspended from his shoulder and with a club in his hand, staring grimly at them, and urging on the rest. And don't you see Hermes himself in a bath of perspiration, his feet covered with dust, and all out of breath? His mouth, anyway, is a regular steam-engine ?3-what's this, Hermes ? what's all this hurry about, for you seem to me to be a good deal put out?

1 The asphodel, a plant of the lily kind, is one of the few delights of the Elysian fields. See 'Od. ix. 538, xxiv. 13; and cf. Hesiod. "Epya, 40:

Νήπιοι, οὐδὲ ἴσασιν, ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντός, Οὐδ ̓ ὅσον ἐν μαλάχῃ τε καὶ ἀσφοδέλῳ μὲγ ̓ ὄνειαρ. For a description of the " Fields of the Blessed," see in the 'Avboλoyia a beautiful epitaph on a girl named Πρώτη :

Οὐκ ἔθανες Πρώτη, μετέβης δ' ἐς ἀμείνονα χώραν.

2 For the use of Tóπava and έvayioμara in the Greek sacrifices to the dead, see the dictionaries of Hesychius and Suidas.

3 Μεστὸν γοῦν ἄσθματος αὐτῷ τὸ στόμα.—The anachronism may be allowed, perhaps, for the sake of the illustration. Wieland translates: -"wie er keucht und kaum zu Athem kommen kann."

Hermes (puffing and perspiring). What else, Klotho, than that, from chasing this runaway sinner here, I was within an ace of being a deserter from my ship to-day?

Klotho. But who is he? Or what was his intention in running away?

Hermes. That's plain enough-he preferred living. He is some king or despot-to judge, at least, by his lamentations, and the wailings he gives vent to; he says he has been deprived of vast pleasure of some sort.

Klotho. Then did the fool run away, as if he could have a longer lease of life, when his spun out thread had actually failed?

Hermes. Run away, do you say? Why, if this most excellent gentleman here, he of the club, had not aided me, and we had not caught and handcuffed him, he would even have got clean off from us altogether. From the moment, in fact, Atropos had delivered him over to me, all the way he resisted and struggled; and, firmly planting his feet on the ground, he was by no means an easy charge. Sometimes, too, he would fall to supplications and make vehement entreaty, demanding to be let off for a little, with offers of large bribes. However, I, as you may well imagine, did not let him off, seeing that he wanted the impossible. Well, when we were now at the very mouth of Orcus, while, as was my custom, I was counting over the tale of the dead to Eakus, and he was making up their reckoning by the ticket sent him by your sister, somehow or other, without being observed, the thrice-damned fellow got clean away. One dead man, accordingly, was wanting to the full tale; and, says Eakus, raising his eyebrows, "Pray, Hermes, don't practise your thievish art with everyone you meet you have quite enough sport in heaven; the affairs of the Dead are managed with strict attention to business, and by no means can they be slurred over. The ticket, as you observe, has 'one thousand and four' scratched on it; whereas you come to me with one short: this won't do, unless you tell me that Atropos has cheated

1

Atropos ("the Sunderer"); Klotho being "the Spinner," and Lachesis "the Apportioner" of human life. See Hesiod. Oɛoy. 905, "Aσπ. 258; Juv. Sat. ix. 135, 136. Hermes appears to have forgotten that to cross the Styx Charon's boat was de rigueur.

Ꭱ