The Ferry (6)

Bring on the wounded next to these,

I will begin with you. Tell me by what death you have come here; or, rather, I will examine you by reference to the documents. Eightyfour must have died in battle yesterday in Mysia, among them Gobares, the son of Oxyartes.

They are here.

Seven cut their own throats for love, and Theagenes the philosopher on account of the courtesan from Megara.

These are at hand.

Where are the two who killed each other fighting for the throne?

They are here.

And he who was murdered by his wife and her lover?

Here he is, close by.

Now bring those from the law-courts; I mean the impaled and the flogged to death. And where are the sixteen who were killed by robbers?

You see this lot are here, the wounded. Shall I bring on the women en masse?

By all means; and the shipwrecked en masse, for they died in the same way. And as for the fever patients, bring them all at once, too, and Agathokles the doctor with them.