Pagina 801 di 1391

Then, I said, we shall have to obliterate many obnoxious

passages, beginning with the verses,

'I would rather be a serf on the land of a poor and portionless

man than rule over all the dead who have come to nought.'

We must also expunge the verse, which tells us how Pluto feared,

'Lest the mansions grim and squalid which the gods abhor should

be seen both of mortals and immortals.'

And again:-

'O heavens! verily in the house of Hades there is soul and

ghostly form but no mind at all!'

Again of Tiresias:-

'(To him even after death did Persephone grant mind,) that he

alone should be wise; but the other souls are flitting shades.'

Again:-

'The soul flying from the limbs had gone to Hades, lamenting her

fate, leaving manhood and youth.'

Again:-

'And the soul, with shrilling cry, passed like smoke beneath the

earth.'

And,-