9–11
Megapenthes
I will throw in the two bowls, if you like, that I got when I killed Kleakritos. kam They weigh a hundred talents of unalloyed gold apiece.
Klotho
Drag him in, for apparently he will not embark of his own will.
Megapenthes
I call you people to witness that my wall and my dockyards are unfinished. I could have completed them if I had lived five days longer.
5
Klotho
Never mind. Some one else will build them.
Megapenthes
Anyhow, this one thing it is perfectly reasonable to ask for.
Megapenthes
To come to life long enough to subdue the Persians, and impose taxes on the Lydians, and raise a huge monument to myself, inscribing on it how many great and warlike deeds I did in my lifetime.
Klotho
My man, this is not asking for a single day any longer, but to spend about twenty years.
10
Megapenthes
I am ready, moreover, to furnish sureties for my quickness and my reappearance. If you wish it, I will even provide you a substitute in my place in the person of my one beloved son.
Klotho
You wretch, him whom you have often prayed you might leave behind you?
Megapenthes
That used to be my prayer, but now I see the better course.
Klotho
He, too, will join you soon, slain by the new king.
Megapenthes
Well, but do not refuse me this thing at any rate, Fate.
Megapenthes
I wish to know what the course of events will be after me.
Klotho
You shall, for your knowledge will be an added torment. Midas the slave will have your wife; he has been her lover this long time.
Megapenthes
The villain! It was by her persuasion that I gave him his freedom.
5
