Klotho

Come, let me know who he is.

Hermes

Megapenthes, son of Lakydes, a despot.

Klotho

Come aboard.

Megapenthes

Not for worlds, Madam Klotho. Let me go up for a little while. Then I will come to you by my own free-will at no one's summons.

Klotho

What is the reason you want to go?

Megapenthes

Give me time to finish my house. I left my dwelling behind half built.

Klotho

Nonsense! Get in.

Megapenthes

I do not ask for a long time, Fate. Let me stay just this one day, to appear to my wife and tell her something about my moneywhere I kept my great treasure hidden.

Klotho

It is fixed. You cannot do it.

Megapenthes

Then will all that gold be lost?

Klotho

Not at all; you may be at ease about that. Your cousin Megakles will get hold of it.

Megapenthes

Oh, what an affront! My enemy, whom I was too easy-going to put to death before me?

Klotho

The same. He will survive you forty years and something over, in possession of your harem and your clothes and all your wealth.

Mcgapenthes

It is unjust, Klotho, to assign my property to my greatest enemies.

Klotho

I suppose, my noble sir, that you did not seize it when it belonged to Kydimachos, murdering the man himself and then slaying his children on their father's warm body?

Megapenthes

But at present it was mine.

Klotho

Well, your time of possession had run out.

Megapenthes

Listen, Klotho. There is something I should like to say to you in private without witnesses. You others step aside a moment. If you will give me a chance to run away I promise to give you this day a million dollars in coin of the realm.

Klotho

You are absurd. Can you not get gold and dollars out of your head yet?

Megapenthes

I will throw in the two bowls, if you like, that I got when I killed Kleakritos. kam They weigh a hundred talents of unalloyed gold apiece.

Klotho

Drag him in, for apparently he will not embark of his own will.

Megapenthes

I call you people to witness that my wall and my dockyards are unfinished. I could have completed them if I had lived five days longer.

Klotho

Never mind. Some one else will build them.

Megapenthes

Anyhow, this one thing it is perfectly reasonable to ask for.

Klotho

What is that?

Megapenthes

To come to life long enough to subdue the Persians, and impose taxes on the Lydians, and raise a huge monument to myself, inscribing on it how many great and warlike deeds I did in my lifetime.

Klotho

My man, this is not asking for a single day any longer, but to spend about twenty years.

Megapenthes

I am ready, moreover, to furnish sureties for my quickness and my reappearance. If you wish it, I will even provide you a substitute in my place in the person of my one beloved son.

Klotho

You wretch, him whom you have often prayed you might leave behind you?

Megapenthes

That used to be my prayer, but now I see the better course.

Klotho

He, too, will join you soon, slain by the new king.