Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/316

286 286 ARISTOPHANES

Neptune [with a start of surprise and disgust^.

Turn the roast ! leo

A pretty employment ! Won't you go with us ? Hercides, No, thank ye ; I 'm mighty comfortable

here. Peisthetairus. Come, give me a marriage robe ; I must be going.

THE FROGS

The Crossing of the Styx.

Bacchus, accompanied by his slave Xanthias, has come down to the lower world to get a tragic poet to carry back to Athens. Charon, the old ferryman, is ready at the bank of the Styx to carr}' him across to Hades.

Charon. Bacchus. Xanthias. Charon. Hoy I Bear a hand, there. — Heave ashore. Bacchus. What 's this ?

Xanthias. The lake it is, the place he told us of. By Jove ! and there 's the boat, and here 's old Charon. Bacchus. Well, Charon ! Welcome, Charon ! AVel-

come kindly ! Charon. Who wants the ferryman ? Anybody waiting s

To remove from the sorrows of life ? A passage any- body To Lethe's wharf ? — to Cerberus's Keach ? To Tartarus ? — to Taenarus ? ^ — to Perdition ? Bacchus. Yes, I. Charon. Get in then.

Bacchus (hesitatingly'). Tell me, where are you going ? To Perdition really — ?

1 Cape Matapan, the most southerly point of Greece and of Europe, where was a cavern which was said to lead to Hades.