Very well; but something very strange has
happened
to him.
Aristophanes
HERMES. And why?
TRYGAEUS. Because he is a lamp-maker. Formerly we only directed our
business by groping in the dark; now we shall only deliberate by
lamplight.
HERMES. Oh! oh! what questions she does order me to put to you!
TRYGAEUS. What are they?
HERMES. She wants to have news of a whole heap of old-fashioned things
she left here. First of all, how is Sophocles?
TRYGAEUS.
Very well; but something very strange has happened to him.
HERMES. What then?
TRYGAEUS. He has turned from Sophocles into Simonides. [322]
HERMES. Into Simonides? How so?
TRYGAEUS. Because, though old and broken-down as he is, he would put to
sea on a hurdle to gain an obolus. [323]
HERMES. And wise Cratinus, is he still alive? [324]
TRYGAEUS. He died about the time of the Laconian invasion.
HERMES. How?
