Kitap 22
9
Were you rich, then, and grieve at having left great luxury by your death?
9
Nothing of the kind. I was about ninety years old, I got a poor living by rod and line, I was utterly penniless, had no children, and besides all that, was lame and half blind.
9
And in spite of your condition you still wanted to live?
9
Yes, for the light was sweet to me, and death was a frightening thing and to be avoided.
9
You’re out of your mind, old fellow, and acting just like a boy, with such timidity in the face of the inevitable, though you’re as old as our ferryman. Why should we talk any more about the young, when men as old as you are such lovers of life, men who ought to be eager for death as a cure for the evils of old age? But let’s be off now, or we may be suspected of plotting our escape, if we’re seen crowding round the entrance.
