Ah, if a double term of life were given us by Zeus, the son of Cronos, or
by changeful Fate, ah, could we spend one life in joy and merriment, and
one in labour, then perchance a man might toil, and in some later time
might win his reward. But if the gods have willed that man enters into
life but once (and that life brief, and too short to hold all we desire),
then, wretched men and weary that we are, how sorely we toil, how greatly
we cast our souls away on gain, and laborious arts, continually coveting
yet more wealth! Surely we have all forgotten that we are men condemned
to die, and how short in the hour, that to us is allotted by Fate. {181}
X
Happy are they that love, when with equal love they are rewarded. Happy
was Theseus, when Pirithous was by his side, yea, though he went down to
the house of implacable Hades. Happy among hard men and inhospitable was
Orestes, for that Pylades chose to share his wanderings. And _he_ was
happy, Achilles Æacides, while his darling lived,—happy was he in his
death, because he avenged the dread fate of Patroclus.