Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

7486

Lucian, Charon Or The Inspectors, 15
nan HER: So much for royalty; and now to the common herd. Do you see them, Charon; — on their ships and on the field of battle; crowding the law-courts and following the plough; usurers here, beggars there? CH: I see them. What a jostling life it is! What a world of ups and downs! Their cities remind me of bee-hives. Every man keeps a sting for his neighbour's service; and a few, like wasps, make spoil of their weaker brethren. But what are all these misty shapes that beset them on every side? HERM: Hopes, Fears, Follies, Pleasures, Greeds, Hates, Grudges, and such like. They differ in their habits. The Folly is a domestic creature, with vested rights of its own. The same with the Grudge, the Hate, the Envy, the Greed, the Know-not, and the What's-to-do. But the Fear and the Hope fly overhead. The Fear swoops on its prey from above; sometimes it is content with startling a man out of his wits, sometimes it frightens him in real earnest. The Hope hovers almost within reach, and just when a man thinks he is going to catch it, off it flies, and leaves him gaping — like Tantalus in the water, you know. Now look closely, and you will make out
nan Her. So much for royalty; and now to the common herd. Do you see them, Charon;— on their ships and on the field of battle; crowding the law courts and following the plough; usurers here, beggars there?Ch. I see them. What a jostling life it is! What a world of ups and downs! Their cities remind me of bee hives. Every man keeps a sting for his neighbour’s service; and a few, like wasps, make spoil of their weaker brethren. But what are all these misty shapes that beset them on every side?Her. Hopes, Fears, Follies, Pleasures, Greeds, Hates, Grudges, and such like. They differ in their habits. TheFolly is a domestic creature, with vested rights of its own. The same with the Grudge, the Hate, the Envy, the Greed, theKnow not, and the What’s to do. But the Fear and the Hope fly overhead. The Fear swoops on its prey from above; sometimes itis content with startling a man out of his wits, sometimes it frightens him in real earnest. The Hope hovers almost within reach, and just when a man thinks he is going to catch it, off it flies, and leaves him gaping — like Tantalus in the water, you know.

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Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
art	Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 916
michelangelo	Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 916
psychology	Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 916
slavonic josephus, and mss. of greek josephus	Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 916
symbolism, religious'	Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 916