_Mummy_. A moment ago, precisely at midnight, was completed for the first time that great mathematical epoch referred to so often by the ancients. To-night also the dead have spoken for the first time. And all the dead in every cemetery and sepulchre, in the depths of the sea, beneath the snow and the sand, under the open sky, and wherever they are to be found, have like us chanted the song you have just heard. _Ruysch_. And how long will your singing or speaking last?' _Mummy_. The song is already finished. We are allowed to speak for a quarter of an hour. Then we are silent again until the completion of the second great year. _Ruysch_. If this be true, I do not think you will disturb my sleep a second time. So talk away to your hearts' content, and I will stand here on one side, and, from curiosity, gladly listen without interrupting you. _Mummy_. We can only speak in response to some living person. The dead that are not interrogated by the living, when they have finished their song, are quiet again. _Ruysch_. I am greatly disappointed, for I was curious to know what you would talk about if you could converse with each other. _Mummy_. Even if we could do so, you would hear nothing, because we should have nothing to say to one another. _Ruysch_. A thousand questions to ask you come into my mind. But the time is short, so tell me briefly what feelings you experienced in body and soul when at the point of death. _Mummy_. I do not remember the exact moment of death. _The other Mummies_. Nor do we. _Ruysch_. Why not? _Mummy_. For the same reason that you cannot perceive the moment when you fall asleep, however much you try to do so. _Ruysch_. But sleep is a natural thing. _Mummy_. And does not death seem natural to you? Show me a man, beast, or plant that shall not die. _Ruysch_. I am no longer surprised that you sing and talk, if you do not remember your death. "A fatal blow deprived him of his breath; Still fought he on, unconscious of his death "-- as says an Italian poet. I thought that on the subject of death you fellows would at least know something more than the living. Now tell me, did you feel any pain at the point of death? _Mummy_. How can there be pain at a time of unconsciousness? _Ruysch_. At any rate, every one believes the moment of departure from this life to be a very painful one. _Mummy_. As if death were a sensation, and not rather the contrary. _Ruysch_. Most people who hold the views of the Epicureans as to the nature of the soul, as well as those who cling to the popular opinion, agree in supposing that death is essentially a pain of the most acute kind.