"
"Well, no more of this."
"Tell me, are you afraid? I don't think that the feeling I now have
can be called fear."
"I am afraid, although I have less cause than you to be at odds with
the gods. But don't you think that the gods, in abandoning us to
ourselves here in this chaos, have cheated us of our hopes?"
"That depends upon what sort of hopes they were. What did you expect
from the gods, Elpidias?"
"Well, well, what did I expect from the gods! What curious questions
you ask, Socrates! If a man throughout life brings offerings, and at
his death passes away with a pious heart and with all that custom
demands, the gods might at least send some one to meet him, at least
one of the inferior gods, to show a man the way. ... But that reminds
me. Many a time when I begged for good luck in traffic in hides, I
promised Hermes calves----"
"And you didn't have luck?"
"Oh, yes, I had luck, good Socrates, but----".
"I understand, you had no calf."
"Bah! Socrates, a rich tanner and not have calves?"
"Now I understand. You had luck, had calves, but you kept them for
yourself, and Hermes received nothing.
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