Menippus，Amphilochus and Trophonius^注

Me. Now I wonder how it is that you two dead men have been honoured with temples and taken for prophets；those silly mortals imagine you are Gods.

Amp. How can we help it，if they are fools enough to have such fancies about the dead？

Me. Ah，they would never have had them，though，if you had not been charlatans in your lifetime，and pretended to know the future and be able to foretell it to your clients.Tro. Well，Menippus，Amphilochus can take his own line，if he likes；as for me，I am a Hero，and do give oracles to any one who comes down to me. It is pretty clear you were never at Lebadea，or you would not be so incredulous.

Me. What do you mean？ I must go to Lebadea，swaddle myself up in absurd linen，take a cake in my hand，and crawl through a narrow passage into a cave，before I could tell that you are a dead man，with nothing but knavery to differentiate you from the rest of us？ Now，on your seer?ship，what is a Hero？ I am sure I don.t know.

Tro. He is half God，and half man.

Me. So what is neither man （ as you imply） nor God，is both at once？ Well，at present what has become of your diviner half？

Tro. He gives oracles in Boeotia.

Me. What you may mean is quite beyond me；the one thing I know for certain is that you are dead—the whole of you.

注：Amphilochus，中譯名安菲阿剌俄斯，希臘神話中的阿耳戈斯國(guó)王和預(yù)言家，在希臘一些地方被作為醫(yī)療和算命之神加以崇拜。 Trophonius可能是一位古希臘英雄或神祇，在希臘的Boeotia地區(qū)有對(duì)他的崇拜。