Aeacus

Here is Solon, the son of Execestides, and there is Thales, By them are Pittacus, and the rest of the sages, seven in all, as you see,

Menippus

The only resigned and cheerful countenances yet. Who is the one covered with ashes, like a loaf baked in the embers? He is all over blisters,

Aeacus

That is Empedocles, He was half-roasted when he got here from Etna.

Menippus

Tell me, my brazen-slippered friend, what induced you to jump into the crater?

Empedocles

I did it in a fit of melancholy.

Menippus

Not you. Vanity, pride, folly; these were what burnt you up, slippers and all; and serve you right. All that ingenuity was thrown away, too: your death was detected.—

Aeacus

where is Socrates?

Aeacus

He is generally talking nonsense with Nestor and Palamedes.

Menippus

But I should like to see him, if he is anywhere about.

Aeacus

You see the bald one?

Menippus

They are all bald; that is a distinction without a difference,

Aeacus

The snub-nosed one.

Menippus

There again: they are all snub-nosed.