35–36
Well, then, make plans that befit the festival and are safest for you. Lighten their great poverty for them, and at slight cost you will find friends who are far from despicable.
4. THE RICH TO CRONUS—GREETINGS!
Do you really think that you are the only one written to by the poor in this vein, Cronus? Isn’t Zeus already quite deaf from the din of their de- mands for just that, a redistribution of wealth, and of their charges against fate for inequality in distri- bution and against us for not considering giving them any share? But he, being Zeus, knows who is to blame, and for that reason takes no notice of most of their complaints. Nevertheless we shall defend ourselves to you, since you are our lord at present.
We for our part have set before us all you have written—that it was a fine thing to succour the needy out of our plenty, and that it was more agreeable to mix and feast with the poor. This is what we always used to do, putting ourselves on an equal footing with them so that not even our guest himself could find anything to complain of.
