XANTHIAS. But am I not carrying it? DIONYSUS. No, since you are on your beast. XANTHIAS. Nevertheless I am carrying this.... DIONYSUS. What? XANTHIAS. ... and it is very heavy. DIONYSUS. But this burden you carry is borne by the ass. XANTHIAS. What I have here, 'tis certainly I who bear it, and not the ass, no, by all the gods, most certainly not! DIONYSUS. How can you claim to be carrying it, when you are carried? XANTHIAS. That I can't say; but this shoulder is broken, anyhow. DIONYSUS. Well then, since you say that the ass is no good to you, pick her up in your turn and carry her. XANTHIAS. What a pity I did not fight at sea;[384] I would baste your ribs for that joke. DIONYSUS. Dismount, you clown! Here is a door,[385] at which I want to make my first stop. Hi! slave! hi! hi! slave! HERACLES (_from inside the Temple_). Do you want to beat in the door? He knocks like a Centaur.[386] Why, what's the matter? DIONYSUS. Xanthias! XANTHIAS. Well? DIONYSUS. Did you notice? XANTHIAS. What? DIONYSUS. How I frightened him? XANTHIAS. Bah! you're mad! HERACLES. Ho, by Demeter! I cannot help laughing; it's no use biting my lips, I must laugh. DIONYSUS. Come out, friend; I have need of you. HERACLES. Oh! 'tis enough to make a fellow hold his sides to see this lion's-skin over a saffron robe![387] What does this mean? Buskins[388] and a bludgeon! What connection have they? Where are you off to in this rig? DIONYSUS. When I went aboard Clisthenes[389].... HERACLES. Did you fight? DIONYSUS. We sank twelve or thirteen ships of the enemy. HERACLES. You? DIONYSUS. Aye, by Apollo! HERACLES. You have dreamt it.[390] DIONYSUS. As I was reading the 'Andromeda'[391] on the ship, I suddenly felt my heart afire with a wish so violent.... HERACLES. A wish! of what nature? DIONYSUS. Oh, quite small, like Molon.[392] HERACLES. You wished for a woman? DIONYSUS. No. HERACLES. A young boy, then? DIONYSUS. Nothing of the kind. HERACLES. A man? DIONYSUS. Faugh! HERACLES. Might you then have had dealings with Clisthenes? DIONYSUS. Have mercy, brother; no mockery! I am quite ill, so greatly does my desire torment me! HERACLES. And what desire is it, little brother? DIONYSUS. I cannot disclose it, but I will convey it to you by hints. Have you ever been suddenly seized with a desire for pea-soup? HERACLES. For pea-soup! oh! oh! yes, a thousand times in my life.[393] DIONYSUS. Do you take me or shall I explain myself in some other way? HERACLES. Oh! as far as the pea-soup is concerned, I understand marvellously well. DIONYSUS. So great is the desire, which devours me, for Euripides. HERACLES. But he is dead.[394] DIONYSUS. There is no human power can prevent my going to him. HERACLES. To the bottom of Hades? DIONYSUS. Aye, and further than the bottom, an it need. HERACLES. And what do you want with him? DIONYSUS. I want a master poet; "some are dead and gone, and others are good for nothing."[395]