11
CHARON
But who are those men whom Croesus is sending out, and what are they carrying on their shoulders?Compare Herodotus i. 50 ff. The conversation between Solon and Croesus on the subject of the ingots is Lucian’s own contribution.
HERMES
He is making an offering of golden ingots to Apollo at Delphi to pay for the prophecies which will bring him to grief a little later on. The man is monstrously daft on divination.
CHARON
Is that gold, the bright substance that shines, the pale yellow substance with a cast of red? This is the first time that I have seen it, though I am always hearing of it.
HERMES
That is it, Charon, the name that they sing of and fight for.
CHARON
Really I don’t see what good there is about it, except perhaps for one thing, that its bearers find it heavy.
5
HERMES
You do not know how many wars there have been on account of it, how many plots, perjuries, murders, imprisonments, trading ventures, and enslavements.
CHARON
On account of this substance, not much different from bronze? I know bronze, for, as you are aware, I collect an obol from everyone who makes the downward journey.
HERMES
Yes, but bronze is plentiful, so that they do not prize it very highly, while this is dug up by the miners at a great depth in small quantities. It comes from the earth, however, like lead and the rest of the metals.
CHARON
Men are terribly stupid, by what you say, since they have such a passion for a yellow, heavy substance.
