To His Friend Melanippos

Drink and be drunk with me, Melanippos. Do you

think when you have crossed the great fuming

river,

you will ever return from Hell to see the clean

bright light of the sun? Do not strive for wild

hopes.

Even the son of Aiolos, King Sisyphos, wisest of

men,

thought he had eluded death. But for all his brains

Fate made him recross Acheron, and the son of

Kronos

assigned him a terrible trial below the dark earth.

Come, I beg you not to brood about these hopeless

matters while we are young. We will suffer what

must

be suffered. When the wind is waiting in the north,

a good captain will not swing into the open sea.

THE END

FOOTNOTES