CARIO. How pleasant it is, friends, to live well, especially when it
costs nothing! What a deluge of blessings flood our household, and that
too without our having wronged ever a soul! Ah! what a delightful thing
is wealth! The bin is full of white flour and the wine-jars run over with
fragrant liquor; all the chests are crammed with gold and silver, 'tis a
sight to see; the tank is full of oil,[788] the phials with perfumes, and
the garret with dried figs. Vinegar flasks, plates, stew-pots and all the
platters are of brass; our rotten old wooden trenchers for the fish have
to-day become dishes of silver; the very night-commode is of ivory. We
others, the slaves, we play at odd and even with gold pieces, and carry
luxury so far that we no longer wipe ourselves with stones, but use
garlic stalks instead. My master, at this moment, is crowned with flowers
and sacrificing a pig, a goat and a ram;[789] 'tis the smoke that has
driven me out, for I could no longer endure it, it hurt my eyes so.
A JUST MAN. Come, my child, come with me. Let us go and find the god.
CHREMYLUS. Who comes here?
JUST MAN. A man who was once wretched, but now is happy.
CHREMYLUS. A just man then?
JUST MAN. You have it.
CHREMYLUS. Well! what do you want?
JUST MAN. I come to thank the god for all the blessings he has showered
on me. My father had left me a fairly decent fortune, and I helped those
of my friends who were in want; 'twas, to my thinking, the most useful
thing I could do with my fortune.
CHREMYLUS. And you were quickly ruined?
JUST MAN. Entirely.
CHREMYLUS. Since then you have been living in misery?
JUST MAN. In truth I have; I thought I could count, in case of need, upon
the friends whose property I had helped, but they turned their backs upon
me and pretended not to see me.
CHREMYLUS. They laughed at you, 'tis evident.
JUST MAN. Just so. With my empty coffers, I had no more friends.
CHREMYLUS. But your lot has changed.
JUST MAN. Yes, and so I come to the god to make him the acts of gratitude
that are his due.
CHREMYLUS. But with what object now do you bring this old cloak, which
your slave is carrying? Tell me.