Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/314



Ch. Whither are you going so brisk and in such haste, Alastor 1 Al. O Charon, you come in the nick of time, I was coming to you. Ch. Well, what news do you bring? Al. I bring a message to you and Proserpine that you will be glad to hear. Ch. Out with what you have brought, and lighten your burden. AL The Furies have been no less diligent than they have been successful in gaining their point : there is not a foot of ground upon earth that they have not infected with their hellish calamities, seditions, wars, robberies, and plagues ; so that they are grown quite bald, having shed their snakes, and having quite spit all their venom, they ramble about in search after whatever they can find of vipers and asps ; being become as smooth as an egg, not having so much as a single hair upon their heads, and not one drop of venom more in their breasts. Do you get your boat and your oars ready ; you will have such a vast multitude of ghosts come to you anon, that I am afraid you will not be able to carry them all over yourself. Ch. I could have told you that. Al. How came you to know itl Ch. Ossa brought me that news above two days ago. Al. Nothing is more swift than that goddess. But what makes you loitering here, having left your boat ? Ch. My business brought me hither; I came hither to provide myself with a good strong three-oared boat, for my boat is so rotten and leaky with age, that it will not carry such a burden, if Ossa told me true. But, indeed, what need was there of Ossa? for the thing shews itself, for I have suffered shipwreck already. Al. Indeed you are dropping dry, I fancied you were just come out of a bath. Ch. No, I swam out of the Stygian lake. Al. Where did you leave the ghosts? Ch. They are swimming among the frogs. Al. But what was it that Ossa told you ? Ch. That the three monarchs of the world were bent upon one another's destruction with a mortal hatred, and that there was no part of Christendom free from the rage of war ; for these three have drawn all the rest in to be engaged in the war with them. They are all so haughty, that not one of them will in the least submit to the other. Nor are the Danes, the Poles, the Scots, nor the Turks at quiet, but are preparing to make dreadful havoc. The plague rages everywhere, in Spain, Britain, Italy, and France ; and more than all, there is a new fire sprung out of the variety of opinions, which has so corrupted the minds of all men that there is no such thing as sincere friendship anywhere ; but brother is at enmity with brother, and husband and wife cannot agree. And it is to be hoped that this distraction will be a glorious destruction of man- kind, if these controversies, that are now managed by the tongue and the pen, come once to be decided by arms.

Al. All that fame has told you is very true ; for I myself, having been a constant companion of the Furies, have with these eyes seen more than all this, and that they never at any time have approved themselves more worthy of their name than now. Ch. But there is danger lest some good spirit should start up and of a sudden exhort