Merc. Ay, but you never saw the lady alive, Menippus, or you would surely have said with Homer,—
For such a woman should long toils endure:
Like the immortal goddesses is she."[1]
If one looks at withered flowers which have lost their colour, of course they seem to have no beauty; but when they are in bloom, and have all their natural tints, they are very beautiful to see.
Men. Still I do wonder, Mercury, that the Greeks should never have bethought themselves that they were quarrelling for a thing that was so short-lived, and would perish so soon.
Merc. I have really no leisure for moralising, my good Menippus. So pick out a spot for yourself, and lay yourself down quietly; I must go and fetch some more dead people.
DIOGENES AND MAUSOLUS.
Diogenes. Prithee, my Carian friend, why do you give yourself such airs, and claim precedence of all of us?
Mausolus. In the first place, my friend of Sinope, by reason of my royal estate; I was king of all Caria, ruled over much of Lydia, reduced several of the islands, advanced as far as Miletus, and subdued most part of Ionia. Then, because I was handsome and tall, and a good warrior. Most of all, because I have a magnificent monument set up over me at Halicar-
- ↑ Hom., Il. iii. 156.
