Lucian Contemplantes 1

HERMES

Wht are you laughing at, Charon, and why have you left your ferry and come up here to our part of the world? You are not at all in the habit of concerning yourself with affairs up above.

CHARON

I wanted to see what it is like in life, Hermes, what men do in it, and what they lose that makes them all grieve when they come down to us; for none of them has ever made the crossing without a tear. So, like the young Thessalian (Protesilaus), I obtained shore leave from Hades for a single day and came up to the sunlight, and I fancy that I have been lucky to meet you, for you will surely go about with me and guide me, and will show me everything, knowing all about it as you do.

HERMES

I haven't time, ferryman; I am on my way to carry out a little commission among men for Zeus in Heaven. ¹ He is quick-tempered, and I fear that if I am slow about it he will let me be yours altogether, committing me to the nether gloom, or else that he will treat me as he did Hephaestus the other day, taking me.by the foot and throwing me from the parapet of Heaven, so that I too may limp and make them laugh as I fill their cups.

CHARON

Then will you let me wander aimlessly above ground, you who are a comrade and a shipmate and a fellow guide of souls? Come now, son of Maea, you would do well to remember this at least, that I have never ordered you to bale or take an oar. On the contrary, you stretch yourself out on deck and snore, in spite of those broad shoulders of yours, or if you find a talkative dead man, you chat with him throughout the trip, while I, old as I am, row both oars of my boat alone. Come, in your father’s name, Hermie dear, don’t leave me stranded; be my guide to everything in life, so that I may feel I have seen something when I go back. If you leave me, I shall be no better off than the blind, for they stumble and reel about in the darkness, while I, to the contrary, am dazed in the light. Be good to me, Cyllenian, and I shall remember your kindness forever.

Hermes

So gay, Charon? What makes you leave your ferry to come up here? You are quite a stranger in the upper world.

Charon

I thought I should like to see what life is like; what men do with it, and what are these blessings of which they all lament the loss when they come down to us. Never one of them has made the passage dry-eyed. So I got leave from Pluto to take a day off, like that Thessalian lad, ¹ you know; and here I am, in the light of day. I am in luck, it seems, to fall in with you. You will show me round, of course, and point out all that‘is to be seen, as you know all about it.

Hermes

I have no time, good ferryman. I am bound on certain errands of the Upper Zeus, certain human matters. He is short-tempered: any loitering on my part, and he may hand me over to you Powers of Darkness for good and all; or treat me as he did Hephaestus the other day—hurl me down headlong from the threshold of Heaven; there would be a pair of lame cupbearers then, to amuse the gods.

Charon

And you would leave an old messmate wandering at large on the face of the earth? ‘Think of the cruises we have sailed together, the cargoes you and I have handled! You might remember one thing, son of Maia; I have never set you down to bale or row. You lie sprawling about the deck, you great strong lubber, snoring away, or chatting the whole trip through with any communicative shade you can find; and the old man plies both oars at once. Come, stand by me, like a true son of Zeus as you are, and show me all the ins and outs, there’s a dear lad. I want to see something of life before I go back, and if you leave me in the lurch, I shall be no better off than a blind man: he comes to grief because he is always in the dark, and, contrariwise, I can make nothing of it in the light. Do me this good turn, and I’ll not forget it.

Hermes

Clearly this is to be a flogging matter for me.