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230 230 EURIPIDES

Startled him on the shoulder : up he stared^ A.nd oner him^ who stood hut Herakles !

" Thou, there ! " hailed This grand benevolence the ungracious one — 1422

" Why look'st so solemn and so thought-absorbed ? To guests a servant should not sour-faced be, But do the honors with a mind urbane. 1425

While thou, contrariwise, beholding here Arrive thy master's comrade, hast for him A churlish visage, all one beetle-brow — Having regard to gTief that 's out-of-door ! Come hither, and so get to grow more wise ! wso

Things mortal — know'st the nature that they have ? No, I imagine ! whence could knowledge spring ? Give ear to me, then ! For all flesh to die, Is nature's due ; nor is there any one Of mortals with assurance he shall last 1435

The coming morrow : for, what 's born of chance Invisibly proceeds the way it will, Not to be learned, no fortune-teller's prize. This, therefore, haang heard and known through me. Gladden thyself ! Drink ! Count the day-by-day 1440 Existence thine, and all the other — chance ! Ay, and pay homage also to by far The sweetest of divinities for man, Kupris ! ^ Benignant Goddess will she prove ! But as for aught else, leave and let things be ! 1445

And trust my counsel, if I seem to speak To purpose — as I do, apparently. Wilt not thou, then, — discarding overmuch Mournfulness, do away with this shut door, Come drink along with me, be-garlanded H50

This fashion ? Do so, and — I well know what —

1 A by-name of Aphrodite, goddess of love, worshipped on Cyprus.