_Indegatus._ “Then in virtue of my office as prætor and augur, I will address him. Speak Nuntius: What tidings bear you from the spirit world? and from whose realm do you come in this disguise?” _Gnipho._ “Again I hear his small voice in the chuckling check of merriment, as if he would fain speak in reply.” _Indegatus._ “Then listen, my child, to the message he bears? It surely cannot presage ill if he is in merry mood!” _Gnipho._ (Listening.) “He says he is not a spirit, but of mortal birth, like ourselves. But I will repeat his own words. ‘Say to your father, that I have been long acquainted with his goodness, and desire to relieve his anxiety for the self-imposed misery of his people. Also to render him other efficient aid in a small way!’” _Indegatus._ “Ask him, with grateful thanks, his name, and from whence he came?” _Gnipho._ (Laughing.) “He says his name is Giganteo, the Dosch or patriarch of the Manatitlans, a race of animalculans whose country lies six hundred stadia to the southeast of the deserted city of Heraclea.” _Indegatus._ “Ask him how he proposes to help us?” _Gnipho._ “He says by adding to your knowledge, in a privileged way that enables the small to help the great! He expresses a wish for us to retire with him to the parapet steps of the northern wall, where we shall be comparatively free from the shrill vibrations of the cicada’s winged notes.” _Indegatus._ “We will move as he directs.” _Gnipho._ “Now that we have complied with his request, he charges me to listen, and treasure all that I hear, that I may repeat it to you.” _Indegatus._ “We will keep silence that your attention may not be distracted.”