‘Who art thou that hast no other friend than Jove?’ ‘One whom all mankind unite in calling a wretch.’ ‘Art thou a philosopher?’
‘If philosophy be endurance. But for the rest, I was sometime a king, and am now a scatterling.’ ‘How do they call thee? ‘Ixion of Thessaly.’
‘Ixion of Thessaly! I thought he was a happy man. I heard that he was just married.’
‘Father of Gods and men! for I deem thee such, Thessaly is not Olympus. Conjugal felicity is only the portion of the immortals!’
‘Hem! What! was Dia jealous, which is common; or false, which is commoner; or both, which is commonest?’
‘It may be neither. We quarrelled about nothing. Where there is little sympathy, or too much, the splitting of a straw is plot enough for a domestic tragedy. I was careless, her friends stigmatised me as callous; she cold, her friends styled her magnanimous. Public opinion was all on her side, merely because I did not choose that the world should interfere between me and my wife. Dia took the world’s advice upon every point, and the world decided that she always acted rightly. However, life is life, either in a palace or a cave. I am glad you ordered it to leave off thundering.’
‘A cool dog this. And Dia left thee? ‘No; I left her.’ ‘What, craven?’
‘Not exactly. The truth is——-’tis a long story.
I was over head and ears in debt.’
‘Ah! that accounts for everything. Nothing so harassing as a want of money! But what lucky fellows you mortals are with your post-obits! We Immortals are deprived of this resource. I was obliged to get up a rebellion against my father, because he kept me so short, and could not die.’