TIMOCLES Then can’t you even hear Zeus when he thunders,
Damis, you god-fighter?
 DAMIS Why shouldn’t I hear thunder, Timocles? But
whether it is Zeus that thunders or not, you no
doubt know best, coming as you do from some place
or other where the gods live! However, the people
who come here from Crete tell us a different tale,
that a grave is pointed out there with a tombstone
standing upon it which proves that Zeus cannot
thunder any more, as he has been dead this long
time.
 MOMUS I knew far in advance that the fellow would say
that. But why have you become so pale, Zeus, and
why do you tremble till your teeth chatter? You
should be bold and despise such mannikins.
 ZEUS What’s that you say, Momus? Despise them?
don’t you see how many are listening, and how they



 

have already been persuaded against us and he is
leading them after him tethered by the ears?
 MOMUS But whenever you like, Zeus, you can let down a
cord of gold and

 Sway them aloft, with the earth and the sea, too,
into the bargain. Iliad8, 24.