Why, Carian, are you so proud, and expect to be honoured above all of us?

Firstly, Sinopean, because of my royal position. I was king of all Caria, ruler also of part of Lydia, subdued some islands, too, and advanced as far as Miletus, subjugating most of Ionia. Moreover, I was handsome and tall and mighty in war. But, most important of all, I have lying over me in Halicarnassus a vast memorial, outdoing that of any other of the dead not only in size but also in its finished beauty, with horses and men reproduced most perfectly in the fairest marble, so that it would be difficult to find even a temple like it. Don’t you think I’ve a right to be proud of these things?

Of your royal position, you say, and your beauty, and the weight of your tomb?

Good heavens, yes.

But, my handsome Mausolus, the strength and the beauty you mention aren’t still with you here. If we chose a judge of beauty, I can’t see why your skull should be thought better than mine. Both of them are bald and bare, both of us show our teeth in the same way, and have lost our eyes, and have snub noses now. Perhaps your tomb and all that costly marble may give the people of Halicarnassus something to show off, and they can boast to strangers of the magnificent building they have, but I can’t see what good it is to you, my good fellow, unless you’re claiming that, with all that marble pressing down on you, you have a heavier burden to bear than any of us.

Will all that, then, be of no good to me? Will Mausolus and Diogenes be on an equal footing?