RICHES What, will he ever stop acting as if he were in a leaky boat and baling me out in haste before I have entirely flowed in, wanting to get ahead of the entering stream for fear that I will flood the boat and swamp him? No, and so I expect to carry water to the jar of the Danaids and pour it in without result, because the vessel is not tight but all that flows in will run out almost before it flows in, so much wider is the vent of the jar and so unhindered is the escape.There are two distinct figures here. In both of them wealth is compared to water; but in the first it leaks in and is ladled out, while in the second it is ladled in and leaks out. In the first figure we want a word meaning “boat,” not ‘“basket”; and I assume therefore that κόφινος means “a coracle” here.
ZEUS Well, if he doesn’t intend to stop that vent and it turns out to have been opened once for all, you will speedily run out and he will have no trouble in finding his coat of skin and his pick again in the lees of the jar. But be off now and make him rich; and when you come back, Hermes, be sure to bring me the Cyclopes from Actna, so that they may point my thunderbolt and put it in order, for we shall soon need it sharp.
