12–14
Hermes
It looks, Zeus, as though this one would be left on your hands.
Zeus
Set him aside and put up another. These two, for choice, the laugher from Abdera and the weeper from Ephesus, for I should like to sell the two together.
Hermes
Let them come down into full view. I offer the noblest lives; we announce the sagest of all!
Buyer
Heavens, what a contrast! The one never stops laughing, and the other seems to be in grief for somebody. He is consumed with weeping. What is the matter, fellow? Why are you laughing?
Demokritos
What a question! Because all your doings and you yourselves strike me as so funny!
Buyer
What? You are laughing at us all, and don't take our doings seriously?
5
Demokritos
Even so, for there is nothing serious in them. They are all empty, a whirl of atoms, the infinite.
Buyer
By no means; it is you that are really empty and infinitesimal. What impudence! Will you not stop laughing?
But what are you weeping for, my good fellow? I imagine it will be much pleasanter to talk with you.
