εἰπὼν ἔδοξεν αὑτοῦ φαίνεσθαι σπουδαιότερος. καὶ ὁ Διόνυσος πρὸς αὐτόν, Τί δῆτα, εἶπεν, ὦ παππίδιον σπουδάζεις; καὶ ὅς, Ἐξέπληξέ με ὁ γέρων οὑτοσί, ὁ Σάτυρος, ἔφη, καὶ πεποίηκεν ἐκλαθόμενον ἐμαυτοῦ τὰς Ὁμηρικὰς προβαλέσθαι μούσας. [310] ἀλλά σε, εἶπεν, ἕλξει τῶν ὤτων· λέγεται γὰρ αὐτὸς καὶ γραμματιστήν τινα τοῦτο ἐργάσασθαι. οἰμώζων μὲν οὖν, εἶπεν, ἐν τῷ νησυδρίῳ· τὰς Καπρέας αἰνιττόμενος· τὸν ἄθλιον ἁλιέα ψηχέτω. ταῦτα ἔτι παιζόντων αὐτῶν, ἐπεισέρχεται θηρίον πονηρόν. εἶτα οἱ θεοὶ πάντες ἀπέστρεψαν τὰ ὄμματα, κᾆτα αὐτὸν δίδωσιν ἡ Δίκη ταῖς Ποιναῖς, [B] αἱ δὲ ἔρριψαν εἰς Τάρταρον. οὐδὲν οὖν ἔσχεν ὁ Σειληνὸς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ φράσαι. τοῦ Κλαυδίου δὲ ἐπεισελθόντος, ὁ Σειληνὸς ἄρχεται τοὺς Ἀριστοφάνους Ἱππέας ᾄδειν, ἀντὶ τοῦ Δήμου(561) κολακεύων δῆθεν τὸν Κλαύδιον. εἶτα πρὸς τὸν Κυρῖνον ἀπιδών, Ἀδικεῖς, εἶπεν, ὦ Κυρῖνε, τὸν ἀπόγονον ἄγων εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον δίχα τῶν ἀπελευθέρων Ναρκίσσου καὶ Πάλλαντος. ἀλλ᾽ ἴθι, εἶπε, πέμψον ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνους, εἰ βούλει δέ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν γαμετὴν Μεσσαλίναν. ἔστι γὰρ ἐκείνων [C] δίχα τουτὶ τῆς τραγωιδίας τὸ δορυφόρημα, μικροῦ δέω φάναι, καὶ ἄψυχον. ἐπεισέρχεται λέγοντι τῷ Σειληνῷ Νέρων μετὰ τῆς κιθάρας καὶ τῆς δάφνης. εἶτα ἀποβλέψας ἐκεῖνος πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, Οὗτος, εἶπεν, ἐπὶ σὲ παρασκευάζεται. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀπόλλων, Ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγε αὐτόν, εἶπεν, ἀποστεφανώσω, ὅτι με μὴ πάντα μιμεῖται μηδὲ ἐν οἷς με μιμεῖται γίγνεται μου μιμητὴς δίκαιος. ἀποστεφανωθέντα δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Κωκυτὸς εὐθέως ἥρπασεν. (and seemed more serious than was his wont. “Pray, why so solemn, little father?” said Dionysus. “It was this old satyr,” he replied, “he shocked me and made me forget myself and introduce Homer’s Muse.” “Take care,” said Dionysus, “he will pull your ear, as he is said to have done to a certain grammarian.”(562) “Plague take him,” said Silenus, “in his little island”—he was alluding to Capri—“let him scratch the face of that wretched fisherman.”(563) While they were still joking together, there came in a fierce monster.(564) Thereupon all the gods turned away their eyes from the sight, and next moment Justice handed him over to the Avengers who hurled him into Tartarus. So Silenus had no chance to say anything about him. But when Claudius came in Silenus began to sing some verses from the _Knights_ of Aristophanes,(565) toadying Claudius, as it seemed, instead of Demos. Then he looked at Quirinus and said, “Quirinus, it is not kind of you to invite your descendant to a banquet without his freedmen Narcissus and Pallas.(566) Come,” he went on, “send and fetch them, and please send too for his spouse Messalina, for without them this fellow is like a lay‐figure in a tragedy, I might almost say lifeless.”(567) While Silenus was speaking Nero entered, lyre in hand and wearing a wreath of laurel. Whereupon Silenus turned to Apollo and said, “You see he models himself on you.” “I will soon take off that wreath,” replied Apollo, “for he does not imitate me in all things, and even when he does he does it badly.” Then his wreath was taken off and Cocytus