I went down into the street with the idea of making some one suffer for a gift I would make to another; to make one happy by the suffering of the other. A blow and a note of £20 was all that was necessary. To one the blow, and to the other the note. Is it clear? What is less clear is the way of giving them. --I know it already, interrupted Prometheus. --Oh, really, you know of it, said Zeus. --I have met both Damocles and Cocles; it is precisely about them that I have come to speak to you:--Damocles looks and calls for you, he is very anxious; he is ill;--for goodness’ sake go and see him. --Sir, stop--said Zeus--I have no need of advice from anybody. --What did I tell you? said the waiter. Prometheus was going away, but suddenly turned again: Sir, pardon me. Excuse an indiscreet question. Oh! show it to me, I beg you! I should love so much to see it.... --What? --Your eagle. --But I have no eagle, sir. --No eagle? He has no eagle! But.... --Not so much of one as I can hold in the hollow of my hand. Eagles (and he laughed), eagles! It is I who give them. Prometheus was stupefied. --Do you know what people say? the waiter asked the banker. --What do they say? --That you are God. --I let them say so, said he. III Prometheus went to see Damocles; and then he went very often. He did not talk to him every time; but in any case the waiter gave him the news. One day he brought Cocles with him. The waiter received them. --Well, how is he? asked Prometheus. --Bad. Very bad, replied the waiter. For three days the miserable man has not been able to take any food. His bank-note torments him; he looks for it everywhere; he thinks he may have eaten it;--he takes a purgative and thinks to find it in his stool. When his reason returns and he remembers his adventure, he is again in despair. He has a grudge against you, Cocles, because he thinks you have so complicated his debt that he no longer knows where he is. Most of the time he is delirious. At night there are three of us to watch him, but he keeps leaping upon his bed, which prevents us sleeping. --Can we see him? said Cocles. --Yes, but you will find him changed. He is devoured by anxiety. He has become thin, thin, thin. Will you recognize him?--And will he recognize you? They entered on the tips of their toes. THE LAST DAYS OF DAMOCLES Damocles’ bedroom smelt horribly of medicines. Low and very narrow, it was lighted gloomily by two night-lights. In an alcove, covered with innumerable blankets, one could see Damocles tossing about. He spoke all the time, although there was no one near him. His voice was hoarse and thick. Full of horror Prometheus and Cocles looked at each other; he did not hear them approach and continued his moaning as if he were alone.