λισσας αἰγιλιψ ἀπροσδεικτος οἰοφρων ἐρημας γυπιας πετρα, βαθυ πτωμα μαρτυρουσα μοι.[61] That is, my Lord, a precipitous rock, inaccessible to the goat—not to be pointed at (from having, as I take it, its head in the clouds), where there is the loneliness of mind, and the solitude of desolation, where the vulture has its nest, and the precipice testifies a deep and headlong fall. _Lord Anophel Achthar._ I’ll tell you what, Grovelgrub; if ever I catch you quoting Aeschylus again, I’ll cashier you from your tutorship—that’s positive. _The Rev. Mr. Grovelgrub._ I am dumb, my Lord. _Lord Anophel Achthar._ Think, I tell you, of some way of getting down. _The Rev. Mr. Grovelgrub._ Nothing more easy, my Lord. _Lord Anophel Achthar._ Plummet fashion, I suppose? _The Rev. Mr. Grovelgrub._ Why, as your Lordship seems to hint, that certainly is the most expeditious method; but not, I think, in all points of view, the most advisable. On this side of the rock is a _dumetum_: we can descend, I think, by the help of the roots and shoots. O dear! I shall be like Virgil’s goat: I shall be seen from far to hang from the bushy rock _dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbor_! _Lord Anophel Achthar._—Confound your Greek and Latin! you know there is nothing I hate so much; and I thought you did so too, or you have _finished_ your _education_ to no purpose at college. _The Rev. Mr. Grovelgrub._ I do, my Lord; I hate them mortally, more than anything except philosophy and the dumb Baronet. Lord Anophel Achthar proceeded to examine the side of the rock to which the Reverend Mr. Grovelgrub had called his attention; and as it seemed the most practicable mode of descent, it was resolved to submit to necessity, and make a valorous effort to regain the valley; Lord Anophel, however, insisting on the Reverend Mr. Grovelgrub leading the way. The reverend gentleman seized with one hand the stem of a hazel, with the other the branch of an ash; set one foot on the root of an oak, and deliberately lowered the other in search of a resting-place; which having found on a projecting point of stone, he cautiously disengaged one hand and the upper foot, for which in turn he sought and found a firm _appui_; and thus by little and little he vanished among the boughs from the sight of Lord Anophel, who proceeded with great circumspection to follow his example.