food swept away from its very gullet, as the Harpies served Phineus.
Come, be off with you; you will find Timon has much more sense
nowadays.

_Pl_. Oh, of course! he will not do his best to let me run out of a
leaky vessel before I have done running in! oh no, he will not be
consumed with apprehensions of the inflow's gaining on the waste and
flooding him! I shall be supplying a cask of the Danaids; no matter
how fast I pour in, the thing will not hold water; every gallon will
be out almost before it is in; the bore of the waste-pipe is so large,
and never a plug.

_Zeus_. Well, if he does not stop the hole--if the leak is more than
temporary--you will run out in no time, and he can find his
smock-frock and spade again in the dregs of the cask. Now go along,
both of you, and make the man rich. And, Hermes, on your way back,
remember to bring the Cyclopes with you from Etna; my thunderbolt
wants the grindstone; and I have work for it as soon as it is sharp.

_Her_. Come along, Plutus. Hullo! limping? My good man, I did not know
you were lame as well as blind.

_Pl_. No, it is intermittent. As sure as Zeus sends me _to_ any one, a
sort of lethargy comes over me, my legs are like lead, and I can
hardly get to my journey's end; my destined host is sometimes an old
man before I reach him. As a parting guest, on the other hand, you may
see me wing my way swifter than any dream. 'Are you ready?' and almost
before 'Go' has sounded, up goes my name as winner; I have flashed
round the course absolutely unseen sometimes.