4
Why not, Charon? Surely you don’t consider us weaker than that pair of infants? Moreover, we are gods.
4
No, but the thing seems to me to involve an incredible deal of work,
4
Of course, for you are only a prosaic body, Charon, and not a bit of a poet. Good Homer, however, has made it possible for us to scale Heaven in a jiffy with a pair of verses, for he puts the mountains together as easily as that. I am surprised that you think this miraculous, for, of course, you know Atlas, who carries Heaven itself without any help, upholding us all. And no doubt you have heard about my brother Heracles, how he himself once took the place of Atlas and relieved him of his load for a time by taking the burden on his own shoulders.
4
Yes, I have heard that; but whether it is true or not, Hermes, you and the poets only know!
4
True as can be, Charon. Why should wise men lie? So let us uproot Ossa first, according to the directions of the poem and the master-builder, Homer; then upon Ossa Pelion quivering-leaved. Od. 11, 305. Don’t you see how easily and poetically we have done the job? Come now, let me climb up and see if this is enough or we shall have to add to the pile.
5
Upon my word, we are still away down among the foot-hills of Heaven! Toward the east I can only just. see Ionia and Lydia, toward the west not beyond Italy and Sicily, toward the north only the country on this side the Danube, and in that direction Crete, but not very plainly. Apparently we must move up Oeta too, ferryman, and then Parnassus to top them all.
5
Let’s do so. But take care that we don’t make the structure too slender by heightening it beyond all reason, and so tumble down with it and pay bitterly for our experiment in Homeric building by breaking our heads.
5
Never fear; everything will be secure. Move Oeta over. Roll Parnassus this way. There now, I am going up again. — It is all right, I see everything: now come up yourself.
