Laudator Temporis Acti

CHARON. Is that gold, the bright substance that shines, the pale yellow substance with a cast of red? This is the first time that I have seen it, though I am always hearing of it.

HERMES. That is it, Charon, the name that they sing of and fight for.

CHARON. Really I don't see what good there is about it, except perhaps for one thing, that its bearers find it heavy.

HERMES. You do not know how many wars there have been on account of it, how many plots, perjuries, murders, imprisonments, trading ventures, and enslavements.

ΧΑΡΩΝ.Ἐκεῖνο γάρ ἐστιν ὁ χρυσός, τὸ λαμπρὸν ὃ ἀποστίλβει, τὸ ὕπωχρον μετ᾿ ἐρυθήματος; νῦν γὰρ πρῶτον εἶδον, ἀκούων ἀεί.

ΕΡΜΗΣ. Ἐκεῖνο, ὦ Χάρων, τὸ ἀοίδιμον ὄνομα καὶ περιμάχητον.

ΧΑΡΩΝ. Καὶ μὴν οὐχ ὁρῶ ὅ τι τὸ ἀγαθὸν αὐτῷ πρόσεστιν, εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἕν τι μόνον, ὅτι βαρύνονται οἱ φέροντες αὐτό.

ΕΡΜΗΣ. Οὐ γὰρ οἶσθα ὅσοι πόλεμοι διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπιβουλαὶ καὶ λῃστήρια καὶ ἐπιορκίαι καὶ φόνοι καὶ δεσμὰ [καὶ πλοῦς μακρὸς] καὶ ἐμπορίαι καὶ δουλεῖαι;

καὶ πλοῦς μακρὸς del. Spath