ZEUS 
Then why are you angry at them? Both sorts
pay a fine penalty ; for these last, like Tantalus, go
hungry and thirsty and dry-lipped, merely gaping at

 

their gold, while the others, like Phineus, have their
food snatched out of their mouths by the Harpies.
But be off with you now to Timon, whom you will
find far more discreet.
 RICHES 
What, will he ever stop acting as if he were in a
leaky boat and baling me out in haste before I have
entirely flowed in, wanting to get ahead of the
entering stream for fear that I will flood the boat and
swamp him? No, and so I expect to carry water to
the jar of the Danaids and pour it in without result, because the vessel is not tight but all that flows
in will run out almost before it flows in, so much
wider is the vent of the jar and so unhindered is
the escape. There are two distinct figures here. In both of them wealth is compared to water; but in the first it leaks in and is ladled out, while in the second it is ladled in and leaks out. In the first figure we want a word meaning “boat,” not ‘“basket”; and I assume therefore that κόφινος means “a coracle” here.